Yesterday was the birthday of the great Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum, at least as far as records in her home province indicate. The 30th of December is also cited sometimes, but Google took notice yesterday and marked the occasion with a Google Doodle on the Egyptian version of their site. Given her significance in Egyptian culture, indeed Arab culture as a whole, the tribute is appropriate. Indeed, she probably ranks among the best known and most loved singers the world has ever know.
I dare say, however, that few in America that are not of Arab descent have ever heard of Umm Kulthum. I certainly hadn’t until I was introduced to her by Middle Eastern television. To me that begs a question. Google Doodles are a learning opportunity, as the are accompanied by links to whatever the image represents. Of course Google wins points my honoring this great diva in Egypt and it also does its part in keeping her memory alive for a younger generation that, like young people all over the world, is becoming used to shorter pop songs, accompanied by slick video images.
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Category Archives: Global News
Scholars at Risk Academic Freedom Media Review, April 24-30
Academic Freedom Media Review
April 24 – 30, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
Scholar wages FoI battle for bank collapse data
Melanie Newman, The Times Higher Education, 4/29
Studying global universities
Glenn C. Altschuler, The Boston Globe, 4/29
Pakistan university mourns murdered woman professor
BBC News, 4/28
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Global Connections and Exchange Program Combines Technology and In-Person Exchanges
Midlothian High School students planted trees in honor of their guests. | photo courtesy of Jamie Schlais Barnes
Two weeks ago, three men walked into Midlothian High School looking for a better understanding of American culture. Ten days later, they left having changed their own perceptions of U.S. citizens and their students’ perceptions of Arabic culture. Their challenge and that of the students at Midlothian High School is to continue spreading what they learned.
Abdulwahab Albaadani, a teacher at Ibn Majed in Sanaa, Yemen, Amine Slimani, a teacher from the Secondary School of Nedroma in Nedroma, Algeria and his pupil, Mohamed Belmeliami, traveled to the U.S. as a culmination of nearly a year’s worth of video conferencing, cultural lessons, and web logging with social studies classes at Midlothian High School…
Comparing Global Medias
Today, via Geeky Mom Laura Blankenship, I discovered an article in TechCrunch, about a site that lines up the front page of CNN or other news sites with those of Al Jazeera, France 24, BBC, NPR, or several others, so that visitors may compare for themselves the differences between the stories covered, from which perspectives, to what degree of detail and whether or not it is through first hand reporting or some other source. Unfortunately, CNN seldom compares favorably, hence the URL for the site, http://wtfcnn.com/.
Sadly, the disaster which is cable news in this country is, in large part, media giving the people what they want and not, as some would believe, some vast elitist conspiracy to keep the masses hypnotized by mindless infotainment so they are distracted which they go about undermining the foundation of our society. If you need evidence of that, compare an hour of the domestic feed of CNN in the US to an hour of the feed on CNN International. The network caters to its international audience not just with an hour of news the focuses on international subjects, but with broadcasts that are more serious in tone, and that devote much less time to entertainment and puff pieces.
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Here we go again!
A new attack ad targeting three Democratic senators and one Republican criticizes “hidden taxes on … pensions and retirement accounts” in the financial regulation legislation being considered by Congress, and urges the senators to “vote against this phony financial reform.”
The ad gives a false impression. The Senate bill doesn’t contain the tax mentioned in the ad.
(It) is the work of a less-than-transparent group calling itself “Stop Too Big To Fail,” which says its $1.6 million ad buy is targeting senators in Nevada, Virginia and Missouri (Sens. Harry Reid, Mark Warner, Claire McCaskill and Kit Bond).
So begins a April 23, 2010 posting from Fact Check.org…
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Higher Education, Technology, and the Job Market in Morocco… and the USA
King Fahd School of Translation
I was in Morocco last week for two events relating to the the role of the university in preparing graduating students for the evolving job market in this country. The first was the annual April seminar at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies. This year it focused on higher education and the job market and delved into some important issues. I found developments at Abdelmalek Essadi University particularly exciting because I have something of a relationship with that institution. I taught at the King Fahd School of Translation for 2 1/2 years which is a branch of the university, and because a close friends used to teach there.
The universities in Morocco have much more autonomy than they did when I was there, and it appears that the Abdelmalek Essadi, which has campuses in both Tetouan and Tangier, is one of the institutions that has taken greatest advantages of this. It’s outgoing President, Mohammed Bennounna, has done much to transform the institution into one that is responsive to the rapidly changing economic and social realities of contemporary Morocco. Representatives of the private sector at the seminar seemed quite impressed with what has been done, so it seems that the reform is, in fact, movement in the right direction.
Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane
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What's Wrong with Arizona?
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SAR ACADEMIC FREEDOM MEDIA REVIEW
Academic Freedom Media Review
April 3 – 9, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
Tariq Ramadan Gets the American Debate He Says He Craved
Peter Schmidt, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/9
UCSD prof turns meeting into protest rally
Eleanor Yang Su, The Union Tribune, 4/9
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Higher Education, Collaboration, and Education for the 21st Century
TALIM
In a few days I am off to Morocco for a seminar at TALIM on higher education and employment in Morocco. But the job market in the United States is also very challenging of college graduates right now, and American educators may well be asking themselves if higher education in this country is adequately preparing students to enter the work force of the global era.
We still function in terms of national economies, but those economies are increasingly connected so that a crisis in one affects many others. We also live in a world in which graduating students in America compete for employment, directly or indirectly, with their peers in Mexico, Morocco, India and Taiwan. And the whole lot of them are also competing with graduating students in Pakistan, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Israel and Poland. Continue reading
Academic Freedom Media Review
March 19-26, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
‘Wide-ranging’ inquiry urged on higher education future
BBC News, 3/26
China bans poet from traveling to US conference
Associated Press, 3/25
Principles of scientific advice
Hannah Devlin, The Times Online, 3/24
2 Formerly Excluded Scholars Coming to U.S.
Inside Higher Ed, 3/24
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