Below is the report that was issued by the initiative to carry the voices of Yemeni youth to participants of the international summit on Yemen that was held in London, UK, on January 27.The report is titled “Combating Terrorism in Yemen — A Youth Perspective”. You can download an English or Arabic version of the report by clicking the appropriate image.

Midman International supported the initiative through consultations on campaigning, social media, and PR activities. A Facebook group was established and (within 10 days) became the largest Yemen-related group on the popular social networking site. Press releases were issued in English and Arabic, and were published on 7 news websites and three print newspapers.

An organized youth campaign beat the Yemeni government and was first to receive an official and comprehensive statement (in video!) from the British Secretary of State, Ivan Lewis, regarding Britain’s intent from the summit on Yemen called for by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkOk-gX7LrM

With increased attention on Yemen (following the failed 2009 Christmas Day bombing attempt of a US plane over Detroit), organizers of the initiative believe that discussions about combating terrorism in Yemen are missing a key partner. Since 70% of Yemen’s population are under the age of 25, there is a good argument that involving youth representatives is more than just good politics.

“When was the last time you heard of a 50-year old suicide bomber?” said Rafat Al-Akhali, the Canadian-based founder of the initiative. “Any serious discussions about tackling terrorism should always involve youth representatives from the problem regions.”

90 per cent of the September 11 hijackers were under the age of 30. The shoe bomber was 28 when apprehended, and the Christmas bomber is 23. The data overwhelmingly points to youth being the key target demographic for terrorist/jihad recruiters.

The report was delivered to The Yemen Forum at Chatham House, a center for international studies in London, the US Embassy in Yemen, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, as well as a number of local and international NGO’s and journalists/researchers interested in Yemen. The report was also sent to officials in the Yemeni government who showed their interest and support for this initiative.

An interview about the initiative was published by the Yemen Times and can be viewed here.

Utilizing YouTube tags and annotations, the company did not only succeed in engaging its website visitors in a very unique way, but it was also able to gain tremendous viral reach as the new site/video propelled it to being one of the top five viral videos on the internet for the week of June 12-19 (Viral Blog rankings).

Check out the video below, or go to BooneOakley.com to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rueFzxwXaxM

The Associated Press reported today that Judge Leon ruled that a man can be held in Guantanamo for no more a reason other than being a cook for the Taliban.

Al Baihani, a citizen of Yemen, says he never fired a weapon while serving with the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was an assistant in the kitchen.

Now, granted, these may just be lies spoken by a man (terrorist?) who, you know, has been imprisoned in a chicken coop for over 7 years without charge and he will say anything to get out.

But, I’d like to draw attention to the fact that the judge’s decision was not based on the possibility that the man may have been lying and was, infact, an enemy combatant who willfully held arms against the US Military in Afghanistan.

No, the judge made his ruling solely on the question of whether being a cook for ‘the enemy’ is a punishable offense. As noted below by the AP:

Leon said that Al Bihani’s work (cooking) supported the Taliban, nevertheless, and that the U.S. government has appropriately classified him as an enemy combatant. In his ruling, Leon quoted Napoleon as saying: “An army marches on its stomach.”

Ah, yes! You show them ter’rists! For some reason the theme song from Team America World Police jumps to mind.

One poet squeezed out this bitter piece at a recent Gaza rally in New York City. It may give you a glimpse into what the Palestinians see as the real unresolved issue. Before the suicide bombs. Before the rockets came along.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a22CNVrrT-w

The root of the problem has persisted since the establishment of the state of Israel. There is no real will from the international community (read: USA & Britain) to resolve the real issues, as they refuse to instate a permanent and viable solution for the Palestinian refugees who have been displaced by the creation of Israel.

According to the latest figures from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), there are currently over 4.5 Million Palestinian refugees who persist in shanty houses in refugee camps and cities in and around the disputed territories.

It is widely believed that there can be no two-state solution until clear provisions are made to address where the refugees will return to, seeing how their homes and lands have been appropriated by Israel. You can’t squeeze that many new people into the little slice proposed as the Palestinian “state” (that Israel and the US will “bestow” on the Palestinian people, but only if they begged nicely) and expect everything to be fine.

Surprisingly, most public comments I have read in Nova Scotian news articles regarding the recent Gaza situation show an overwhelming tendency by readers to fall into the practice of cursing the symptom while ignoring the disease. “Hamas are terrorists”, they say. “The rocket attacks must stop”. “Don’t poke the bear if you don’t want to be mauled”, they wisely offer.

So here is a crude attempt at providing a bit of perspective to those Halifax/Nova Scotia readers, from the Palestinian side of things. Feel free to dispute this version of events, but remember that truth is in the eyes of the beholder. What really happened is somewhere between the following fictional analogy, and what you believe to be the truth.

Imagine that tomorrow an army of Vulcans arrives at Halifax harbour, having been displaced from their Vulcan planet due to unfathomable reasons that have rendered their planet un-inhabitable, and with the understanding that Nova Scotia really belonged to their ancestors, who had landed and lived in the area some 10,000 years ago.

Jewish settlers arriving at Haifa harbour, Palestine in 1946

This army, using the latest and greatest in military might, then proceeded to herd all current residents of Halifax (including you and your family) into two designated areas: Sackville and Cole Harbour (Gaza and the West Bank). This army then proceeded to appropriate all vacant lands, and moved their families into the homes that previously belonged to Haligonians.

As Haligonians huddled in Sackville around camp fires and in gas stations, they pondered their future. The humiliation was unbearable. Food was scarce, medical capacity inadequate, and the ever watchful eye of the Vulcan troops surrounding their area are a constant reminder of their state of imprisonment in their own city.

Of course, they were always given the choice to leave the city altogether and seek shelter in another province or country, but Haligonians were silly people with salty sea-faring blood who clung to such old fashioned notions like ‘home’, ‘pride’, ‘freedom’, ‘justice’ and ‘resistance’. So they decided to stay.

Those without homes in Sackville and Cole Harbour formed camps and shelters which they built out of scrap metal and any materials they could gather to protect themselves from the harsh winters. The Vulcan army controlled entry and exit to these camps, ensuring that occupants do not obtain any weapons or significant means of resistance.

Palestinian Refugee Camp, 1952

Yet, Haligonians persisted. They refused to leave the city, and continuously caused trouble with various attempts at resistance over the years. This kept the Vulcan army at a constant state of alert, and prevented them from enjoying normal lives with their families and friends that had moved in to the rest of Halifax. So, they decided to create ‘incentives’ to encourage the occupants of Sackville and Cole Harbour to leave the area permanently.

For example, on one dreadful evening, guards at a particular camp (called Sabra & Shatila) in Sackville gathered a gang of known enemies of the Haligonians (let’s call them the Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia). They let the armed gang into the camp, then closed the gates behind them. In the following 60 hours, the gang carried out a systemic rampage of rape and murder on the men, women, and children who occupied the camp. An estimated 400 to 800 were killed. (Israel launched an inquiry into the Sabra/Shatila massacre and found then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon to be ‘partially’ responsible, and forced him to resign his post. He later became Prime Minister of Israel, while preparing to defend himself against charges of war crimes.)

As similar ‘incentives’ were creatively introduced across the designated Haligonian areas, more and more Haligonians left the area for fear of the safety of their families and children. They became the largest known group of nation-less refugees in the world, surviving on the charity of neighbouring nations and requiring special permission papers to be able to move from one place to another.

Meanwhile, life for the Vulcan families in Halifax was prosperous. Vulcan children played in school yards. Vulcan students attended Dalhousie University, which was renamed “Vulcan Institute of Higher Learning”. Vulcan guys and girls partied the nights away at the Lower Deck, oblivious to the strife of Haligonians a few miles away.

Slowly, the simmering anger and discontent of Haligonians erupted into a major uprising (the first intifada). Men, women, and children picked up what they could and attacked their Vulcan prison guards in any way they could. They threw rocks, whacked tanks with sticks, and shot at anything wearing a military uniform, using any ammunition they could get their hands on. The resistance took to the streets of Sackville and Cole harbour, and urban warfare was in full effect.

First Palestinian Uprising (intifada) 1987-1993

The resistance continued for 6 years, yet the Vulcan army kept it firmly contained within the designated Haligonian areas of Sackville and Cole Harbour, ensuring that the daily lives of the Vulcan army’s families and friends in Halifax were not being disturbed by the Haligonian nuisance.

The uprising yielded no results for the Haligonians, and the death toll was far more significant among the stone-throwing Haligonians and their families than the tank-riding Vulcans. However, during 6 years of active resistance since the uprising, Haligonians formed guerrilla groups of former police officers, firemen, volunteers, and anyone who knew anything about handling guns and/or defence tactics. These groups paraded under a variety of uplifting names and acronyms, like HAMAS, FATAH, etc.

These groups studied the futility of the uprising, and came to a dreadful conclusion. They decided that, after nearly 40 years since the Vulcans arrived at the Halifax harbour, the stakes for the Vulcan army were not high enough for the Vulcans to consider any form of change in their policies towards the afflicted haligonians, let alone the idea of returning Halifax to its previous inhabitants.

These groups decided that in order to be effective, the fight has to affect the Vulcan army’s families and children just as much as it is affecting the Haligonian families and children in their camps in Sackville and Cole Harbour. The suffering had to befall both sides of the conflict, not just the side that is trying to break free.

Since the Haligonians did not have the means to remotely launch attacks into Halifax (where the Vulcan families resided), they looked at options and came to the conclusion that the only way for their attack to reach places like the South End or Clayton Park is for one of them to smuggle a bomb in person, then detonate it manually, inevitably sacrificing his own self in the process. These ‘martyrs’ were to be praised as fallen heroes of the resistance, achieving near comic-book fame of caped/masked crusaders of the Justice League.

Following Role Models. A child dressed as a suicide bomber during a demonstration in the West Bank.

Thus began the era of suicide bombings. Unfortunately, the tactic worked. The vastly unaware Vulcan populace in Halifax began to take note that the chirping canaries they had locked up were screaming in pain, not singing in joy. International observers, previously silent, became active and rushed in with proposed ‘solutions’ to end the war and the conflict. Things began to look up, but not for long.

The Vulcan army came up with a new tactic. To stop Haligonians from escaping their settlements and sneaking into old Halifax to plant manual bombs, the Vulcans decided to build a wall around Sackville and shoot anyone that comes within a few hundred yards. This ought to bring things back to the way they were before the uprising, they thought. The same idea they used with the refugee camps in the past, but on a larger scale.

This way they could control what comes in and out of Sackville, and have total rule over the livelihood of the Haligonian inhabitants. If the Haligonians act up, the army can cut off food, medicine, power, and water. They will squeeze Haligonians into submission.

But the Haligonians have learned a few things now. With some help from some PEI volunteers, they learned how to make potato-fueled rockets to carry their homemade bombs a limited distance. They no longer needed to carry bombs in person into the army quarters in Halifax, so the rate of suicide bombings dropped significantly.

Instead, they now lobbed as much as they can over their prison wall, as far as they can get it into Vulcan territory. While the practice was virtually ineffective, it continued to send to the Vulcans the timeless message: that Vulcans will not live in peace in Halifax and drown out the injustice taking place in the besieged territories in Sackville (Gaza) and Cole Harbour (West Bank) until they face what they have done to Haligonians and fix it.

In over 60 years since the Vulcans landed in Halifax and began herding Haligonians out of their homes and concentrate them into the two camps of Sackville and Cole Harbour, no solution has been offered to Haligonians that truly addresses the humiliation and injustice they have suffered. It is as if this little part of the world called Halifax just doesn’t matter to anyone other than the Haligonians themselves.

In 6 decades, Haligonians lost everything. Any notion of a normal future for them and their families had vanished one or two generations ago. There is no industry. There are no jobs. There are no schools. There are no Saturday morning cartoons. Food is scarce. Medical supplies are even fewer. Death and destruction surrounds their daily lives, as they remain besieged in Sackville, hopelessly looking over that notorious wall, wondering if the nightmare will ever end, and if they will ever be let out.

Until then, they might as well send another message in a rocket to the outside world. ‘Help Us’.

……………………………….

I will leave you with a compelling insider account of the deep rooted causes of the conflict in Palestine/Israel, by Jewish Israeli journalist  Gideon Levy of the Haaretz daily news paper in Israel. He gave this talk in Halifax not too long ago. (From the website of the Halifax-based organization called the ‘Canadians, Arabs, and Jews for a Just Peace‘.

Audio: Gideon Levy

Yet, many international viewers who are locking their channels on CNN (or Al-Jazeera) today are unable to decipher the mechanics of how a President is elected in the USA. Do people vote directly for president or do they vote for the party? Is it a count of number of voters? Number of states? What exactly is an ‘electorate?

Many questions indeed, and I believe the folks at CommonCraft.com have one of the best explained answers out there – in plain English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok_VQ8I7g6I

I thought I’d post it here as a ‘welcome back’ piece to the 30,000+ university and college students who returned to Halifax for school this week.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.679580&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Oddly, Verdana, the most commonly used/recommended internet font is not present at this conference.

In the world of video sharing websites, CollegeHumor.com is no match to top contenders like YouTube, Veoh, and Megavideo. Still, the site boasts having “100 Billion Viewers daily”. 60% of visitors are from the United States, but only about 5% come from Canada. Can this be attributed to differences in college culture between Canadian institutions of higher education and their American counterparts?

Enjoy the video. I know I did.

As an iconic part of the New York City skyline, the Chrysler Building has been depicted countlessly in almost every medium—film, photography, video games, art, advertising, music, literature, and even fashion, as its use quickly establishes without doubt the location in which the depicted events are occurring. (Wikipedia)

The purchase marks yet another major North American investment by a Middle Eastern fund. Gulf countries, flush with revenues from unprecedented oil prices, are taking that extra cash and pouring it back into the countries who paid for the oil in the first place.

In Canada, foreign ownership is a sensitive political issue. Critics decry the so called ‘hollowing-out’ of corporate Canada, and warn of its effect on national security and sovereignty interests. Meanwhile, other countries with friendlier ownership regulations are realizing the positive effects of free markets. Businesses, consumers, and shareholders enjoy increases in wealth, competitive services, and exchange/transfer of global expertise.

The Canadian discussion on foreign ownership rules heated up last month with the release of the 65 recommendations arrived at by the Competition Policy Review Panel after a one-year study commissioned by the federal government (click here for report). The panel concluded that “the federal government needs to scrap its ban on bank mergers, lighten up its foreign ownership restrictions of uranium and airline assets, and liberalize the telecommunications industry“, reported the Globe and Mail.

Shortly after the release of the panel’s recommendations on foreign ownership, the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) countered the study with a report arguing that Canada needs less foreign ownership, not more. Readers of this blog who are from Atlantic Canada may remember that the CCPA is the organization that vehemently argued against Atlantica and the proposal led by AIMS (Atlantic Institute for Market Studies). Click here for a previous blog post that discussed the confrontation in more detail.

The recommendations regarding the telcom sector specially hit close to home with many Canadians. The existing oligopoly of wireless providers in Canada has seen increasing criticism in the past few months. In the spotlight are exuberant data charges highlighted by the advent of the iPhone which will hit Canadian shelves for the first time tomorrow exclusively through Rogers Wireless.

Bell Aliant (BCE) and Telus Mobility are also under fire for announcing the introduction of new charges for each text message received by cell phone users unless they subscribe to a monthly plan. Many consumers feel that the competitive landscape in the telcom sector is unfriendly to the needs of the consumer.

While protectionists scorn the findings of the Competition Policy Review Panel, they fail to address a real hollowing-out currently taking place in Canada: existing foreign owners abandoning their Canadian assets and relocating elsewhere.

A rising Canadian dollar coupled with expensive union demands is leaving Ontario with an Auto Workers crisis as American auto plants shut down operations and moved out of Canada to friendlier markets. Atlantic provinces have been experiencing a drain of skilled workers for some time now as various plant shut-downs force skilled workers to relocate to western Canada in search of jobs.

So where will the next billion dollars of oil money be invested? Most likely not in Canada.

Here are five leads into top business opportunities for businesses seeking to position themselves along growth sectors in the Middle East:

1. Finance and Banking ICT & Software: The Arab banking sector will invest $1.8 Billion in information and communication technologies in 2008, a 15% increase from what they already spent in 2007. Arab banks boast one of the highest rates of growth in technology investment in the world (mainly because they got on the boat a little later than everyone else). Ofcourse, being a late adopter in this sector also means that Arab banks are being fitted with the latest technologies in the industry, giving them an edge compared to banks using archaic systems. Canada has 83 ICT companies that specialize in the Financial industry. Please, at least one of you should go down there and grab a contract or two!

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1. Sharia-Compliant Hospitality Products: Aha! Read that again. It’s not Sharia-compliant Banking. This time, a new Islamic trend is set to launch, and with it a new need for niche products. This May, Dubai-based Al-Mullah Properties will announce plans to invest $2 Billion to develop an Islamically-compliant hotel brand portfolio appealing to lifestyle travelers – both Muslim and non-Muslim. A new chain of up to 90 international hotels (branded as Cliftonwood, Adham and Wings) will operate with universal Islamic codes such as no alcohol and Halal food only. If you are a manufacturer/exporter of luxury and fine food products for the hospitality industry, now is the time to think about new product lines or re-branding existing products.

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1. Cement and Construction Materials/Technologies: Everyone knows it. Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world, with anywhere between 15 to 25% of the world’s cranes working constantly on its towers. The real estate boom in the UAE is about to face a crisis. Cement is on back log! Zawya.com reported that “Companies that provide ready-mix concrete have issued their clients notices that they are not in a position to supply more than 45 percent of the ready-mix orders. In some cases, ready-mix companies have even ceased production.” If any company has a solution, get on the next plane to Dubai and bring home some goat meat! (sorry, no bacon in UAE)

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1. Recycling and Industrial Waste Management Solutions: With all that construction comes much industrial waste. Lots of it. Recycling and Waste Management technologies have an open opportunity here. (Edit July 13 2008: This recommendation has been confirmed here).

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1. Oil, Oil, and Oil: Duh! Oil services are still in high demand. Better, cheaper extraction technologies. Maintenance services for older wells. Training services for labour localization initiatives. It’s all there. This week Bahrain announced plans to add 700 new oil wells to meet increasing energy demands. This summer, Yemen will award its first round of contracts for off-shore operations, prompting a scurry by local firms to find international partners who have much needed expertise in providing offshore services in a market that traditionally relied on on-shore production.

And there you have it. If you are a company that found this advice helpful and was able to capitalize on it in any way, shape, or form… congratulations! You are one of very few smart chicks who found a crack in the shell of Canadian reluctance and broke out successfully!

And so participating Torontonians descended on the TTC yesterday, and proceeded to casually remove their pants and ride the train. The story appeared on the Toronto Sun today.

The requirements for participation were simple:

1) Willing to take pants off on subway
2) Able to keep a straight face about it

“The vast majority of those products that were recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel’s design, not through a manufacturing flaw in China’s manufacturers,” Thomas Debrowski, Mattel’s executive vice-president for worldwide operations, said at a meeting in the office of Li Changjiang, chief of China’s product quality assurance agency.

“We understand and appreciate deeply the issues that this has caused for the reputation of Chinese manufacturers.”

I am sure anti-outsourcing propagandists are not happy with the news. The Mattel recalls brought all critics of China out of the wood-work under the guise of ‘protecting public safety’.

In other news, while the kids’ Toys giant is dealing with outstanding financial repercussions due to their massive toy recalls, Mattel is also suing porn star Terri Gibson, known to her fans as ‘China Barbie’ of ChinaBarbie.com. Mattel is suing Terri for infringing on their trademark ‘Barbie’. The Asia Times has the juice on the lawsuit, as well as the NY Post.