Massacre in Hama, Syria

On the night before Ramadan 2011, the Syrian regime demonstrated their moral bankruptcy and sheer desperation by massacring a staggering amount of people, mostly in the central Syrian city of Hama. Reports claim that at least 80-100 civilians were massacred in Hama alone, with several others killed in other Syrian cities. 


The massacre today has even caught the attention of President Obama; "The reports out of Hama are horrifying and demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime," Obama said in a statement released by the White House.


News agency Al-Arabiya tweeted, "The Syrian army in Kiswa prevents people from performing Ramadan Tarawih night prayers #HamaMassacre #Assad."


For Tweets from the ground in Syria, some Tweeps to follow are @SyrianProtests & @MalathAumran 

Morocco's Protests in Pictures

Big banner reads: No to the joining between power and wealth

Sign reads: "The people want a new Morocco"

Egyptian Police Kill 14 Year-Old Boy

Reports are surfacing on Twitter that a 14 year-old boy was killed by an Egyptian officer in Abu Qarn area. The officer was from Manyal police department and today the family and neighbors of the young victim and some protesters went the Police station. Another report from Twitter claimed (in Arabic) "a 14 year-old boy was shot with a bullet in the head and his corpse is still in the street and the army and CSF (Central Security Forces) are protecting the police department." Another report from Twitter claims that tear gas is being used to disperse the crowd.

This is only a recent report of the police brutality in Egypt that has been going on for decades. We must not forget that the Egyptian revolution was started because of the outrage caused from the torture of Khalid Said by the Egyptian police.

Below is a video of another peaceful youth being gunned down by police for no apparent reason.

Some hashtags to follow for this story are #Manyal #14yob

Palestinians Revolt Through Art

Many people are used to seeing Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli tanks as a symbolic form of resistance. What may be a less familiar image of a Palestinian, is one of the Palestinian artist using his or her art as a form of peaceful resistance.

Several creative Palestinians have used their own interpretation of art as a means of expressing their identity in a land where they have been robbed of an 'official' identity.

Khaled Jarrar, a Palestinian artist, has come up with an original way to express his identity. He created a passport stamp for Palestine and he offers to stamp the passports of people visiting the West Bank. Watch the video below to see Khaled in action.

Khaled Jarrar's Palestinian passport stamps

Instead of passport stamps, a young group of Palestinian guys have found another way to express themselves; Parkour. Parkour or Free Running is about physically overcoming obstacles in your own way, something Palestinians can definitely relate to. Watch the videos below to see Gaza Parkour in action.

The video below (which is also about Gaza Parkour) totally made me cry (happy tears). 

You have been warned.

In other Palestinian art news, a Picasso painting has been sent to a Palestinian art museum for the first time ever!

Palestinian security guards keep close to the "Buste De Femme" by Pablo Picasso.
It's on loan from a museum in the Netherlands.