remember earth hour today

Remember to flick your switches tonight at 8.30pm for an hour.

SpeakZA: bloggers for a free press

Today's blog has nothing to do with Dubai, but is in fact about my home country, South Africa, and part of a blogging protest (#SpeakZA), so apologies but this is NB to me. Thank you, Catherine.

Last week, shocking revelations concerning the activities of the ANC Youth League spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu came to the fore. According to a letter published in various news outlets, a complaint was laid by 19 political journalists with the Secretary General of the ANC, against Shivambu. This complaint letter detailed attempts by Shivambu to leak a dossier to certain journalists, purporting to expose the money laundering practices of Dumisani Lubisi, a journalist at the City Press. The letter also detailed the intimidation that followed when these journalists refused to publish these revelations.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reprisals against journalists by Shivambu. His actions constitute a blatant attack on media freedom and a grave infringement on Constitutional rights. It is a disturbing step towards dictatorial rule in South Africa. We call on the ANC and the ANC Youth League to distance themselves from the actions of Shivambu. The media have, time and again, been a vital democratic safeguard by exposing the actions of individuals who have abused their positions of power for personal and political gain.

The press have played a vital role in the liberation struggle, operating under difficult and often dangerous conditions to document some of the most crucial moments in the struggle against apartheid. It is therefore distressing to note that certain people within the ruling party are willing to maliciously target journalists by invading their privacy and threatening their colleagues in a bid to silence them in their legitimate work.

We also note the breathtaking hubris displayed by Shivambu and the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema in their response to the letter of complaint. Shivambu and Malema clearly have no respect for the media and the rights afforded to the media by the Constitution of South Africa. Such a response serves only to reinforce the position that the motive for leaking the so-called dossier was not a legitimate concern, but a insolent effort to intimidate and bully a journalist who had exposed embarrassing information about the Youth League President.

We urge the ANC as a whole to reaffirm its commitment to media freedom and other Constitutional rights we enjoy as a country.

Blog Roll

http://thoughtleader.co.za/siphohlongwane
http://rwrant.co.za
http://vocfm.co.za/blogs/munadia/
http://vocfm.co.za/blogs/shafiqmorton/
http://blogs.news24.com/needpoint
http://capetowngirl.co.za
http://thoughtleader.co.za/sentletsediakanyo
http://thoughtleader.co.za/davidjsmith
http://letterdash.com/one-eye-only
http://boyuninterrupted.blogspot.com
http://amandasevasti.com
http://blog.empyrean.co.za/
http://letterdash.com/brencro
http://6000.co.za
http://chrisroper.co.za
http://pieftw.com
http://hamishpillay.wordpress.com
http://memoirs4kimya.blogspot.com
http://thoughtleader.co.za/azadessa
http://watkykjy.co.za
http://fredhatman.co.za
http://thelifeanddeathchronicles.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/common-dialogue/
http://clivesimpkins.blogs.com/
http://mashadutoit.wordpress.com
http://nicharalambous.com
http://sarocks.co.za
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/stompies/
http://helenmoffett.book.co.za/blog/
http://01universe.blogspot.com
http://groundwork.wordpress.com
http://iwrotethisforyou.me
http://fionasnyckers.book.co.za
http://attentiontodetail.wordpress.com
http://blogs.women24.com/editor
http://www.missmillib.blogspot.com
http://snowgoose.co.za
http://dreamfoundry.co.za
http://www.vanoodle.blogspot.com
http://www.exmi.co.za
http://cat-dubai.blogspot.com
http://alistairfairweather.com
http://www.zanedickens.com
http://www.nickhuntdavis.com
http://guysa.blogspot.com
http://book.co.za
http://baldy.co.za
http://skinnylaminx.com
http://blogs.african-writing.com/zukiswa
http://www.mielie.wordpress.com
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/gatherer/
http://thoughtleader.co.za/sarahbritten
http://stii.co.za
http://blogs.news24.com/FSB_AP
http://twistedkoeksuster.blogspot.com
http://whensmokegetsinyoureyes.blogspot.com/
http://trinklebean.wordpress.com
http://commentry.wordpress.com/
http://matthewbuckland.com
http://blogs.news24.com/colour-me-fran
http://gormendizer.co.za
http://helenmoffett.book.co.za/blog/
http://www.harassedmom.co.za
http://ravingfans.co.za
http://khadijapatel.co.za
http://simon.co.za/speakza
http://gnatj.com
http://moralfibre.co.za
http://www.exmi.co.za
http://fsi.org.za/
http://synapses.co.za
http://www.macgeek.co.za

clarification number 1

So I blogged yesterday about the No Boozy Food ruling that was to be enforced with immediate effect. In true Dubai fashion though it seems that someone got ahead of them-selves making the statement in the first place, and so today, as expected by many, there has been a clarification. This from the 7days:

Dubai Municipality said yesterday that the ban had been a 'misunderstanding' and that alcohol could be used.

And

The entire issue was misunderstood. We only told the restaurants to declare it in their menus in Arabic and English about the presence of alcohol in the food but not to stop its usage. That’s it.

Personally I am very happy to see this clarification, although I am sure it's not the end of the story. As Seabee from Life in Dubai commented yesterday - "As is normal, the 'clarification' will confuse things even more and in the end the whole thing will be quietly ignored."

It's here if you fancy reading the whole tale.

On a not so happy note it seems that all is not what it appears around the release of Sammy the whale shark (Stu voiced this opinion the day it was in the paper but I chose to give them the benefit of the doubt, silly me). Instead of using the release as a marketing exercise and making a big deal about it, as you would expect given all the negative press and sentiment over the past year, the entire thing was done in secret, and some are now convinced that the poor creature died or was even euthanised. It's as clear as mud, but none of it is painting the hotel in a good light I'm afraid.

More on this story at The Grumpy Goat's blog.

a bit of a shock really

If you were planning to enjoy a steak and Guinness pie, or even a Crêpe Suzette, during your visit to Dubai I have sad news for you. It's not going to happen!

A law that was originally passed in 2003 is now to be enforced with immediate effect according to a story in the 7days today, namely no alcohol may be used in the cooking or preparation of food dishes in restaurants and hotels.

Personally I am having a moment of silence at what this may mean for our culinary adventure.

Art Dubai

Stu finally agreed to go with me to Art Dubai this morning (see nagging does work) as it was the last day of the show and I made him feel guilty that we don't see and do enough cultural stuff here (ok the limited budget isn't helping either but anyway). This acquiesence may have been helped by the fact that there wasn't a Super 14 match on the box at the time but whatever the reason, we went and I am happy.

Sammy free at last

Stu and I have never visited the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah for one simple reason-we were boycotting the place because they would not release Sammy, the whale shark. You may, or may not know the story. The 13-foot creature had wandered into the shallow waters of the Dubai gulf in August of 2008 and was then "rescued" by some fisherman and taken to the aquarium at the hotel. And that is where she stayed, for 18 months, despite orders from the government, requests from PETA, and several petitions and campaigns calling for her freedom.

[The "free Sammy" button from last year's GN campaign]

She was tagged, and released, yesterday according to the paper this morning.

Well done Atlantis, it's about time.

the RTA army does it again!

Two or so days ago there was an item in the paper about the RTA increasing parking tariffs on paid parking meters in the city to 2 dirhams an hour. As is usual with these kinds of stories there was little info on when this would be done and if the new tariff would apply to every hour or just the first one. Well the RTA army has done it again. I am not sure how but overnight it seems they have descended on the city and not only changed the actual charging mechanism on the meter, but also managed to update the notices displayed about the new tariff and in some cases update the parking zone number (used for paying via SMS). New fees shown in the picture - happily a full day is still 10 dirhams.

[new parking tariffs]

it's open

The Greens bridge is finally open. Yay!

what is that?

OK, OK, yes I know it's bird poop but what have they been eating out here in the desert to produce that particularly vile and lurid shade of purple? The mind boggles! (Well mine does).

Glad that didn't land on my clean, white shirt today, had a second interview with a multi-national company here ..decision will be made this week so hold thumbs please! :-)

green "wudu"

"Wudu" is the Islamic act of washing parts of the body using water. According to Wikipedia - Muslims are required to be clean in preparation for ritual prayers which are prescribed to be taken 5 times a day.

[Wudu Washer - from the Xpress]

There are four obligatory acts that have to be performed, if one is omitted then all must be performed again. These are:

1. washing the face once
2. washing both the arms (including the elbows) once
3. performing Masah on one fourth of the head
4. washing both the feet once; up to and including the ankles

The water that is used for this process may only be rain, well, spring, sea or river water; or water from melting snow or hail; or water from a big tank or pond. It must be clean, and cannot be re-used during the process. So as you can imagine this uses a great deal of water. In fact, according to an article I read in the Xpress newspaper, two million pilgrims use fifty million litres of water EVERY DAY during the Haj in Saudi Arabia.

But there is some good news, a company is now producing a high-tech automatic Wudu Washer in Kuala Lumpur that will save up to 80% on the current water usage during ablutions.

I think this is great news, especially in the desert (where it is kinda scarce to start with).

c'est délicieux

It has been a while since Stu and I had a fancy meal out. There hasn't been a really special occasion to celebrate since his 50th in September, and my not earning a whole lot lately has meant we haven't had a great deal of disposable income to waste on lavish feasts. Nevertheless we had reason to push the boat out a little bit on Friday, we celebrated our 5th anniversary.

[bottles of champagne in the entrance]

more rain

[Traffic on SZR]

We had a massive storm last night which has left everything very wet and muddy, as you would expect. This means that onramps are flooded again and closed, leading to horrid traffic and delays. Take it easy out there!