Next stop UAE?

Following a link from John Chilton's recent post, I pasted the following link one post down. NZM (thanks) thought it would be an interesting piece for discussion.

UAE Citizens petition for direct elections and legislative powers

Generally -- and it's a self-imposed rule -- I never indulge in political discussions outside home turf. On the few occasions that I've gotten involved in politically-influenced discussions here, they've turned nasty. One of the reasons could be the lack of knowledge and etiquette for getting involved in online debates.

Anyway, back to the CNN article and the petition presented to HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan by prominent UAE citizens for free elections amongst other requirements that leans or embodies democratization of the UAE.

1) Is that possible?

2) Would the ruling family that's been in power from December 2nd, 1971 relinquish its power and govern from the sidelines?

3) Consider (hypothetically) 2 a done-deal, would the UAE citizens measure up and deliver?

Freedom, free elections, etc amongst other things come at a price. Would the UAE citizens so used to their easy-come-easy-go lifestyle be willing to forego all these for a paycheck based on merits & achievements?

A question for the community?

Is there a reason the UAE Community Blog doesn't deal with topical, contentious issues? I remember a time when it was less apolitical. Is it self censorship or lack of interest? Or what?

Did the shift happen when the economy tanked?

GeekFest Abu Dhabi!

Calling all geeks in Abu Dhabi - GeekFest is coming to your city!

After the success of GeekFests in Dubai and with several others popping up in various other cities, GeekFest is coming to Abu Dhabi on Thursday March 3rd, from 6.30pm onwards.

If you're a blogger, tweep, facebooker, or just want to meet and greet with people, then please do stop by! The event is free to attend and open to all. The event will be held at twofour54 in Abu Dhabi, at the Lime Green building. For a location map, please go here.

For anyone in Dubai who is interested in attending, there is a bus service that leaves from The Shelter in Al Quoz - please RSVP here if you want to jump on the GeekFest bus, as seats are limited!

If you have no idea what a GeekFest is, or want full details on the event, click here!


Much love,
@theregos

Benihana Kuwait and Justice

I have been meaning to post here for days. Sorry it's late, but you never know - there might be someone out there who's missed this. I thought I'd just document the whole Benihana Kuwait goof up.

Arguably the most popular Kuwaiti blog, 2:48AM, put up a post last December which talked about dining at the newly opened Benihana restaurant there. It wasn't a glowing review, objective enough but deeply disappointed with the quality of the food and the lack of spectacle, apparently a major part of the Benihana experience.

The post attracted a slew of astroturf, identified as such in comments by 2:48AM blogger Mark, and then a venomous little comment from a chap purporting to be the GM of the franchise holder which threatened to sue the blog. It also made some odd comments about elephants but that, as they say, is another story.

Mark received the law suit on January 30th. I caught his shocked tweet and retweeted it, then nipped off to post about the whole affair - as eny fule no, this is something of a landmark as it's the first time a company has sued a blogger in the Middle East (do please correct me if I'm wrong) - we could all really do without this sort of thing. Obviously, suing the most popular blog in Kuwait is not something most communications professionals would counsel, let alone as an opening gambit..

The news spread quickly, with a lot of very unhappy people leaving comments on Benihana Kuwait's Facebook page. Opinion was 100% behind Mark and angry towards Benihana Kuwait for taking this action. There was not one dissenting voice - everyone agreed that Benihana Kuwait had been arrogant, stupid and misguided in filing suit against a customer expressing an opinion. It was a rollicking read, but eventually Benihana Kuwait did what any craven, arrogant sod would do and deleted the whole wall. Twitter had quite a bit of fun around the #BenihanaKUW hashtag, particularly with the antics of @BenihanaGPR, the 'global PR' joke account that was eventually suspended (presumably it had been reported as spam).

Some tried contacting Benihana Kuwait, one person got through to GM Mike Servo and was rewarded with a subsequent threatening phone call. Mark asked that people not try to telephone Benihana as it may prejudice his case.

Blogs were a-posting across the region, from the UAE to Lebanon (Egypt has obviously had rather bigger fish to fry) as people heard of the story. By the afternoon, the UAE newspapers had picked up the story, the next day saw it featuring in the Kipp Report as well as Arabian Business. We also featured it on the DubaiToday radio show yesterday and brought Mark on to talk about how being sued for a blog post made him feel. (The audio link is over at FPS if you want to listen in to how it went) And then The Next Web, Slashdot and BoingBoing. The Benihana Wikipedia page was updated with the usual speed to include the fact that Benihana Kuwait had sued a blogger. This has been edited out by Wikipedia contributor Donald Albury because it cited blogs and they're not a reliable source. Odd. Googling Benihana would have got him the mainstream media references. Oh well...

By this time, Google was showing the blogs and other media reporting the story as every entry bar one in the first page of search for "Benihana Kuwait" and the story was on the first page of search for "Benihana". Mark posted up a list of media that have covered this and it's here.

A statement, first shared when it was sent to Ghassan Deeb (@gabdallah), was posted on the Benihana Inc Facebook page distancing the company from the growing furore. Benihana Inc operates restaurants in America - it's actually a separate company, Benihana Tokyo, that's responsible for the international franchise business, and so for Kuwait. That statement has now, in a priceless escalation of a situation that was always utterly avoidable, been shared with the world's media via PR Newswire:

"Benihana Inc. (Nasdaq: BNHNA; BNHN) has recently become aware of a lawsuit allegedly filed by Benihana against a blogger in Kuwait for his unfavorable review of a local BENIHANA restaurant. Benihana Inc. wishes to correct the misinformation being disseminated on the Internet and published in articles connecting Benihana Inc. to this lawsuit, when it is not."


This will doubtless have a great many journalists around the world asking 'what lawsuit?'. It's the latest in a series of almost wilfully insane mis-steps by the company at every level - and, by the way, the 'Internet' has not been disseminating 'misinformation' - to consumers, a Benihana is a Benihana.


As of this morning, there was also a 'Boycott Benihana Kuwait' Facebook page - the inevitable reaction to deleting unhappy comments on your own Facebook page. It's linked here.



The charge sheet, then:

• Astroturfing a blog.
• A company officer leaving a long, rambling, angry, incoherent and threating comment on a blog.
• Filing suit rather than attempting to have a discourse. 
• Filing suit against the most popular blog in the country.
• Suing a customer who had a bad experience in your restaurant and dared to say so.
• Ignoring aggrieved consumers on your Facebook page.
• Deleting customer comments on your Facebook page.
• Failing to respond quickly to a growing crisis caused by one of your franchisees.
• Responding poorly and escalating the issue with an unhelpful news release.
• Silence from both the franchisee and franchise owner in the face of thousands of concerned consumers.

The damage to the Benihana brand can only be imagined. And it's not over yet. If you haven't already, I would ask that you leave a comment on the Benihana Tokyo website asking them to pressure Benihana Kuwait into dropping this awful lawsuit - which seeks damages at a minimum of KD 5001 (About Dhs60k!). Links and stuff are over here at the Fake Plastic blog.


Cheers!

The most inspiring story of 2010

There were many things that made international news from the UAE in 2010.

One story that caught my attention and touched me deep within was that of Haidar Taleb.

Haidar travelled 80 miles nonstop for 14 hours. And then 300 miles across the UAE on National Day. See this movie to find out why it was so special...

It was the most inspiring story out of the UAE - and we captured it on film to share our emotion with more people here and around the world...



[Via Copywriter in UAE blog]

Happy New Year

If the fireworks at Burj Khalifa are anything to go by, 2011 doesn't seem too promising but keeping some optimism in our heads, here's hoping for happier times in 2011 and beyond...

A consultant's notes

A friend just sent me the links below, which is a consultant (from Boston Consulting Group/BCG) writing about his time in Dubai. Please find the links below, along. It is nice to read an inside view from someone unable to pretend in this country...

I quite liked this quote summing up nicely the work of many consultants I have seen around here:

"In any case it fell to us to decide for ourselves what question we had been hired to answer, and as a matter of convenience, we elected to answer questions that we had already answered in the course of previous cases — no sense in doing new work when old work will do."

http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N16/dubai.html
http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N17/dubai.html
http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N18/dubai.html
http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N19/dubai.html

Light in a dark world: Sami Yusuf

Light in a dark world: Sami Yusuf


Some Really Nice

39th UAE National Day 2010 celebrations in Abu Dhabi UAE

The 39th UAE National Day in 2010 was one of the most memorable with people from all nationalities joining in the celebrations as always. Buildings lighted up. Cars decorated in the most unexpected ways. And wars of foam. Here are a few moments captured in the capital - Abu Dhabi.



Courtesy: Copywriter in UAE

The Best Advertisement You Will Ever See

Has anyone else come across this advertisement in Dubai by the RTA?







Yes, that's right. The Roads and Transport Authority want to promote people taking taxis in between Emirates Towers and the DIFC Gate.

A whopping distance of 126 meters.

Mr and Mrs Secret

There is a troublesome and growing tendency in the UAE for “secret marriages”. If you have never heard of them, well then that’s the whole purpose of the deal. Unless you know someone personally who is in such a union, you would never find out.
In the last couple of years we have met dozens of men and women who have chosen to go down that road, mostly for odd reasons.
Secret marriages are often described as Islamic marriages without any public registration at any legal entity, such as a court. Fact is, in Islam there is no such thing as a secret marriage. For a marriage to be legal in Islam, one of the many conditions that are required is for it to publicized.
Most couples we’ve met who entered such marriages are Muslim men who “marry” non-Muslim foreigners with no knowledge of the legality issues involved. The girls, mostly from underprivileged backgrounds, are flattered that a guy would propose to them, just days or weeks after meeting their match. They would sign a handwritten marriage contract, signed by two friends-witnesses of the husband, a dowry and probably the guy will rent a place for her, so that she’s “taken care of”.  The guy has the convenience of having a woman at his beck and call, having to spend much less than if it was a proper marriage, avoiding the involvement of his family. Well, it’s not that simple.
Firstly, there is a good reason for marriages being required to be registered. A Muslim man can marry up to four women if he is able to, but if those marriages are not registered, then how will one know, how many wives and children he really has? Likewise, for a woman to be able to marry in a legal way, she cannot be already married. How will a man know, if he marries in “secret”, that his chosen mate is not married in her home country or elsewhere?
Some of the women we’ve met, have only realized they were in a secret marriage, once they got pregnant and the guy just took off, never to be seen again. In fact, one of the girls was arrested for adultery, after she went to the hospital when she wanted to give birth. Of course she could not produce a marriage certificate, her dear “husband” was at large and she ended up in jail. The women had never doubted the validity of their marriage. They thought their man just chose not to tell anyone about the alliance, as his family would never approve the marriage anyway. Then there are others of course, who are well aware that they are in fact in a secret marriage, but who settle for the financial advantages for as long as they are together. To all women who are in such a situation, we really wonder whether  their childhood dream of a marriage looked anything like this: One day the love of my life will come, propose to me within days because he is so smitten by me, then we’ll not tell anyone that we got married and as soon as I get pregnant, he will walk away, never to be seen again. What a romantic image. Such women should spend a few hundred Dirhams on their therapist to find out, why they think so little of themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Secret never have a happy ending. They don’t even exist in fairy tales.

Sat,27th Nov @AUS- Invitation to UAE premiere screening of "Napoleon: Life of an outlaw" documentary film

Please note the change in Date, Time, Venue and Topic

You are invited to the UAE premiere-screening of the documentary film:
Napoleon: Life of an outlaw
"When rags to riches isn't enough..."

The documentary chronicles the life of Mutah Beale. From his turbulent beginnings, witnessing his parents' murder, to his rise to stardom in the music industry as a member of the most infamous rap groups in history, 2pac Shakur's Outlawz and beyond. Napoleon will be present at the screening and will answer questions at the end. People of all faiths are welcome.

Watch Trailer

Date: Saturday, 27th November, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM
Ticket cost: Free
Venue: Lecture hall A & B, Main building, American University of Sharjah
Direction to venue: Click here for location map
*Separate seating for men and women.

About the speaker
Mutah Beale formerly known as Napoleon, of the world-wide bestselling musician 2pac Shakur's music group Outlawz, was a Hip-Hop/ Rap musician and a film actor.

Mutah Beale spent his youth in pain and poverty. After finally acquiring the fame and fortune he had always dreamt of in the music industry, he left it all for faith and peace of mind. He embraced Islam in 2002, he now travels the world as a motivational speaker. Speaking to youth and people of all ages on topics ranging from the realities of stardom to the importance of following the Sunnah (traditions of The Prophet of Islam PBUH).

Napoleon & Loon (of P Diddy's Bad Boy Records) are a new generation of "bad-boy" Hip-Hop/ Rap artist following a trend of celebrity converts to Islam. An interesting feature is the drastic change in lifestyle towards spirituality and simplicity that they have managed to achieve.

Eid Mubarak everyone. Be safe... :)

GeekFest

Just a quick note to let you all know that GeekFest is once again occuring at The Shelter in Al Quoz tonight. It'll be kicking off around 7.30pm and will feature five talks, a workshop on how to put together podcasts and a display from the EWS/WWF asking us to be nicer to turtles. The talks are:



To Nablus by Cam
Blogger Sara has won numerous hearts with her delightful accounts of life as a volunteer teaching in Nablus. Her blog, UssaNabulsiyeh, instantly gained a wide readership that has grown steadily day by day. We’re going to talk to Sara over videochat and listen to what she’s made of the Nablus experience so far. If this works we’ll try and do other cam link-ups in future.

The Giga-Pixel Man
Gerald Donovan’s videos of the Dubai fountains have gained him over two million views on YouTube, while his speeded up Dubai Metro video was hosted by Gizmodo and CNN. His GigaPixel images of Dubai have been similar smash hits. How does a man who seems to have the knack of ‘going viral’ view the phenomenon and what’s he going to get up to next? One answer is a stunning Gigapixel image of Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed mosque, unveiled especially for GeekFest!

New Music Nation
DJ RoneJaxx is one of a burgeoning band of Middle East based hip-hop artists who are finding a growing audience around the region as young people take to the musical form to find expression. With catchy tunes and smart videos, he’s a leading member of a regional scene that’s finding its feet – but does the Arab World need to ape US rap and hip-hop or does it need a musical identity of its own? And how is technology affecting artists with something to say and no deal with ‘the man’ to help them say it? (A name-check here to Hass, whose Re-Volt Radio hip hop blog led to us discovering Monsieur Jaxx!)

Where are we going to go now?
Needing no introduction, Yousef Tuqan Tuqan comes from a long line of computer nerds and is one of the most respected figures in the world of Web Development in the Middle East. Online agency Flip Media have carved a niche as the go-to guys for web stuff, from sites to apps – even if they command a premium in return for a ferocious reputation for quality work. So who better to ask where the Internet is actually going next? Yousef’s promised to tell us...

The New Entrepeneurialism
There’s more talk of innovation, funding and the like these days than ever before. There’s more concrete reality taking place as well, with funds like Jordan’s Oasis500 and angel investors popping up to support new online businesses. One of the team behind the amazingly successful, and arguably first, entrepreneurial event in the region, ArabNet, Samer Karam Founder and CEO of Seeqnce, the first startup catalyst in the Arab World, will be outlining some of the initiatives in the region that are driving a new wave of online entrepreneurship – taking from similarly risk averse cultures: their challenges, opportunities, threats, solutions.



On a slightly more sober note than usual, we're also looking at ways we can raise funds to help Ola, a little girl from Nablus who needs to find $18,000 urgently to fund the operation that will save her life - without it her immediate future is exceedingly uncertain as she has a brain tumour that could snuff it out within days. Ola came to our attention because of Sara's blog (featured above).

GeekFest Dubai (The NOTGITEX Edition) Here's a link to The Shelter in Al Quoz. You can do the Facebook thing or follow @GeekFestDubai on Twitter (or tap me up at @alexandermcnabb) for more information.

Cheers!

Dubai Rental Property

Has anyone else been suffering with comment spam from Dubai Rental Property or Dubai Furnished Property? Neither of my blogs are about property, rental or furnished, in Dubai, and they are bugging me bigtime. Their whole aim, of course, is to score well in the search engines. If they've been bugging you, do a blog post about it, making sure you mention the words 'Dubai', 'property', 'rental' and 'furnished' in your post's title and the body of the post, and also as keywords or labels.

It would also help if you linked to either of my blog posts about this: http://probablymadrid.blogspot.com/2010/10/dubai-rental-property.html
and
http://webmasterdubai.blogspot.com/2010/10/dubai-furnished-property.html