Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

technology infrastructure, blogs areclosed down and young bloggersrepressed, as if a distinction could bemade between knowledge disseminationmechanisms and their knowledge content,even though it is the latter that is moredeserving of patronage, protection, andconcern. This is closely tied to academicand literary freedoms, for Arab writersand scholars risk being declared infidels orlegally interrogated on the opinions theyespouse or the books and creative worksthey publish which express opposition,innovation, or criticism. This can bepartially explained by cultural seclusionand the outward adherence to constantsthat this entails. In some instances,unfortunately, this seclusion is actuallypromoted to isolation from the worldand its latest cultural innovations andintellectual developments (al-Tahir Labib,background paper for the Report, inArabic).Digital content and the internet in theArab world have not escaped censorshipand government interference in recentyears. More and more cases of censorshipand internet site prohibition have beenrecorded; these are a straightforwardviolation of a citizen’s right to privacyand access to information (al-Tahir Labib,background paper for the Report, inArabic). In one Arab country, a decreewas issued requiring internet site ownersto record the personal data of writers ofarticles and comments published on thesites. In another, a blank page appearsinstead of the banned site. And in a third,a message appears saying that the site hasbeen blocked for ‘political, moral, andreligious’ reasons. One Arab governmentobliges companies providing internetservice to implement systems that permitthe blocking of internet sites on a religiousand moral basis. And finally, internetcafes in at least two Arab countries aresubject to the possibility of inspectionand surveillance, and the owners of thesecafes are required to submit informationon those who use them (Naomi Saqr,background paper for the Report).Nor have bloggers and activists escapedsecurity surveillance or even arrest. Inone Arab country, an editor of electronicsites belonging to one of the country’sminorities was arrested and broughtbefore a military tribunal on the charge of‘maligning the president, disparaging thegovernment, and inciting ethnic unrest.’ Inanother country, a blogger was imprisonedfor four and a half months for writingon religious subjects. In a third country,three participants in an electronic chatroom were arrested in 2005 for messages‘inciting hatred of the government,’ andthe government obliged everyone with aninternet site to register it with the ministryof information or risk legal proceedings.It is thus not surprising that thelist of the fifteen most internet-hostilecountries in the world should includefour Arab countries. Five Arab countriesappear on another list of ten so-called‘countries under observation’ (Naomi Saqr,background paper for the Report).ARAB MEDIA ANDGOVERNMENT HEGEMONY 5The Arab media have been established andcontinue to develop under the hegemonyof Arab governments or large multimediacompanies operating on the Arab regionallevel. The alliances and interaction betweenthese are no secret, with the two partiesbetween them owning most of the mediaoutlets, which are put to work for theirmutual interests. Thus, content profferedin the newspapers, radio, television,and satellite channels is characterisedto a large degree by its superficiality, thepredominance of shallow entertainmentpieces, and diminishing knowledgecontent, along with a political discoursecharacterised by loyalty to governmentsand praise of their achievements. Allof this confirms the need for some sortof separation between knowledge andpolitics, or more precisely, an end to thedependency of knowledge on politics.In the Arab region, knowledge contentis subject to a number of restrictionsDigital content andthe internet in theArab world have notescaped censorshipand governmentinterference inrecent yearsThe list of the fifteenmost internet-hostilecountries in theworld includes fourArab countries, andfive of them appearon another list of tenso-called ‘countriesunder observation’The Arab media havebeen establishedand continue todevelop under thehegemony of Arabgovernments orlarge multimediacompanies operatingon the Arabregional levelARAB KNOWLEDGE PERFORMANCE ENVIRONMENTS65