Snapchat takes on the West Bank, gives Palestinians a chance to share their lives with the world

Published July 12th, 2015 - 04:39 GMT
A boy rides his bike next to Israel's separation wall, which cuts off the West Bank.  Social media platform Snapchat featured the West bank July 9 after outcry following it's Tel Aviv feature on the one year anniversary of last summer's Gaza war.  (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
A boy rides his bike next to Israel's separation wall, which cuts off the West Bank. Social media platform Snapchat featured the West bank July 9 after outcry following it's Tel Aviv feature on the one year anniversary of last summer's Gaza war. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)

#WestBankLive vs. #TelAvivLive, and the battle for Snapchat  

On July 7, nearly 100 million active Snapchat users had the opportunity to view user generated video clips from Tel Aviv through the app’s twenty-four-hour live story stream. Every person – not to mention every people – has the right to tell his or her story. But to many, streaming sunny, party imagery from the capitol of a nation that murdered more than 2,000 people during a fifty-one day onslaught that began exactly one year before seemed insensitive at best and politically motivated at least. At worst, it made Snapchat appear complicit in Israel’s violence against the Palestinians.

Source: Muftah

 

Ramadan 2015 for Uyghurs: another crackdown on Islam in China's Xinjiang  

In the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), another Ramadan inevitably ushers in an intensified campaign to crack down on the Uyghurs’ religious beliefs, practices, and identity, alongside year-round social, political, and religious restrictions. As in previous years, local Xinjiang authorities have instituted a ban on Ramadan fasting this year for Uyghur civil servants and students, prohibited mosque attendance for Uyghurs under eighteen years of age, monitored mosque sermons and staff, and forced Uyghur restaurants and businesses to stay open during the daytime.

Source: Jadaliyya

 

I won't apologize for being a Palestinian feminist  

I am neither a criminal nor a terrorist. Yes sir, I’ll admit it: I founded a women’s organization, and I wish to be judged severely for my actions. I want, once and for all, to hang the dirty laundry for all to see and be tried in a court of law.

Source: +972Mag

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