Thank you Fouad for the link. It was interesting to see the Analyst's perspective on different treatment of the West which he points to the US's position on Syria and Bahrain. Not too long ago, we watched in horror as the Syrian Government through its army was shooting its own civillians and it appears from the link that Fouad sent, that the same is happening in Bahrain.<div>
<br></div><div>i find interesting the decision by the UN SG Ban Ki-moon and League of Aab States SG on the appointment of a new Joint Special Representative for Syria. It would be great to try to get Lakhdar Brahimi to the Arab IGF to talk about the pursuit of an end to the conflict in Syria.<br>
<div><br></div><div><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">I also hope the people of Bahrain attend the Arab IGF or at least representatives. I know that ISOC has a chapter in Bahrain and they have royalty as a patron. It will be great for our civil society who are present in the Arab IGF to skillfully weave a workshop and help encourage dialogue and diplomacy on why it is critical for the Internet to remain open and free. It was around May this year, when I was in Washington DC that I had met with an Iranian activist in the IGC who shared with me how the Iranian government was deliberately slowing internet access for ordinary people so that they could not access things like facebook etc. </font></div>
<div><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">Without a doubt there needs to be awareness of the governance aspects and multiple issues and maybe help convince people that the internet is a way also that you can get communities to partner with government. A place where they are not threatened by criticism. When people are suppressed this over time boils and simmers and finds a way to spill into what we have seen as "uprisings or revolutions". I was very impressed with a saying that I saw at the US Federal Court of Appeals and can't remember what it said "word for word" except that it was something along the lines that the State or government must be quick to act against itself before the people...and I remember thinking how lucky the US was to have that philosophy so engrained within their culture because there are many parts of the world where this is not so.</font></div>
<div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 9:57 AM, Fouad Bajwa <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:fouadbajwa@gmail.com" target="_blank">fouadbajwa@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<p dir="ltr">Caught this news footage from RT that may inspire food for thought at the ArabIGF. I haven't edited the subject line as its posted by RT:</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BIIEx1srI&feature=youtube_gdata_player" target="_blank">http://</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BIIEx1srI&feature=youtube_gdata_player" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BIIEx1srI&feature=youtube_gdata_player" target="_blank">/watch?v=</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BIIEx1srI&feature=youtube_gdata_player" target="_blank">o5BIIEx1srI</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BIIEx1srI&feature=youtube_gdata_player" target="_blank">&feature=</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BIIEx1srI&feature=youtube_gdata_player" target="_blank">youtube_gdata_player</a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Foooo</p>
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