In the context of the EU project “Civil Initiatives Libya” 14km is currently organising a study trip for ten young Libyans to Berlin. The trip will take place from 14 to 21 September, 2014 under the topic "Promoting the civic and political engagement of youth".  The visitors will meet different youth organisations and other interesting initiatives and institutions from the area of youth work in Berlin. There will be a lot of time for mutual exchange on civil and political engagement of young people in Germany and Libya. Moreover, the programme includes a German-Libyan BarCamp in which concrete projects can be developed jointly with the Libyan youth and strategies and methods for youth participation and engagement can be discussed. Interested Libyan youth can currently apply with CIL for the participation in the study trip. Ideally, applicants are between 18 and 30 years old and already active in a civil society organisation in the country. More information on the study trip as well as the application forms are available from http://cil.org.ly/en/libya-the-eu/study-tours/ The Libya Herald has already published a short article on the study trip.  

Shortly before the elections in Egypt, on May 21 Egyptian media experts discussed the state of the media in Egypt. The event was organised by 14km and Reporters Without Borders and took place at the  Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (ZK/U) . First, the panel participants outlined the Egyptian media landscape and gave information on the working conditions of journalists in Egypt. A first conclusion was that the number of the imprisoned, harassed and murdered journalist in the country has reached a record, while fact-based journalism is still rare. A reason for hope is, however, the burgeoning citizen journalism.   Mohamed Selim Khalil, Egyptian journalist, lecturer at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster and media analyst with research focus on political communication in the Arab world criticised the lack of basic journalistic ethics in Egypt : "The media system always adapts itself to the winners." According to him, in Egypt there is only one narrative, and it is controlled by the state. The media are not independent but closely linked with the Ministry of Information. Thus, in this politically turbulent time, the media are also in a chaotic state. The Egyptian journalist and former vice-director of the Egyptian state-owned TV station Nile-TV Shahira Amin, who quit her job during the protests in 2011 to join the demonstrators and to protest against the state-controlled reporting on the revolution, told the audience that until now she is being ignored by some of her colleagues or is even treated with hostility because she is being seen as a traitress. She noted that journalists in Egypt are hardly trained in journalistic techniques, instead they learn how to follow the official line of the authorities. Currently this line is defined by the military, "censorship is back". Christoph Dreyer, press officer and Middle East expert at Reporters Without Borders, explained this with the fact that the freedom of press, which is recognised in the new Egyptian Constitution, is not being implemented; permanent exceptions are justified by the necessity of fighting terrorism. Large parts of the political landscape are censored, and there is no public discourse about the political events in the country. Also Farid Farid, media coordinator for Middle East and North Africa at  Transparency International, saw no practical effects of the civil rights and liberties defined in the Constitution. He criticised the journalistic practices of the corrupt state media which even fabricate and exaggerate artificial news, thereby distracting from the really important issues. Following the first panel discussion, various independent blogs and bloggers from Egypt were introduced in a brief overview, to discuss the meaning of citizen journalism for critical reporting in Egypt. Regarding this development, all panelists saw reason to hope for an improvement of the situation, as an alternative reporting through social media and open media platforms is now becoming more and more possible. The Egyptians acquired a liking for this new-discovered freedom, said Shahira Amin, and also Farid Farid saw in the new blogs a symbol of hope. However, Christoph Dreyer critically noted that the online social media in Egypt are used only by a minority of people and that still numerous censorship options exist. A question from the audience inquired into who really stands behind the censorship in Egypt. The answer was that censorship needs to be regarded as a mix of several measures. The major media institutions in Egypt are state media, which set the agenda, or media outlets influenced by the state media, who stay loyal to the businessmen from the Mubarak era. In addition, there is a self-censorship of the journalists who do not want to lose their jobs and who therefore adapt to the state narrative. At the same time, critical journalists are always in danger of being accused by prosecutors as terrorists or being attacked on the street by mobs. In the face of the recent turbulent political developments in Egypt, more and more people desire peace, order and security and many of them hope to get this from the presidential candidate Al-Sisi. For Mohamed Selim Khalil this hope lies elsewhere. Asked by the audience whether one could even speak about a revolution, given that everything remained the same concerning the ruling elites, he replied: "We do not need a revolution, we need media, real media. » --- The event was presented by Frédérique Lang (14km). Other contributors from 14km included Anja Gebel, Helena Burgrova, Eugenie Rooke, Elisa Totino, Andreas Fricke and Steffen Benzlers, and Christoph Dreyer from Reporters Without Borders.

Egyptian citizen journalist Lilian Wagdy provides evidence of military abuses in an interview with a local TV station. Picture courtesy of Hossam el-Hamalawy on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). 14km e.V. and Reporters Without Borders e.V. would like to cordially invite you to our upcoming event on the state of the Egyptian media. In the form of a panel discussion we would like to discuss the Egyptian media landscape and the working situation of journalists in Egypt. In addition, we would also like to deal with the topic of citizen media and its (actual and potential) role in the Egyptian media landscape and for critical reporting in Egypt. We are happy to discuss this topic with you as well with the following interesting guests who will be on the panel:  Christoph Dreyer, Middle East expert and responsible for public relations at Reporter without Borders since 2013. Previously he wrote reports about the Arab and Muslim world for radio channels, online media and newspapers. He was editor for Reuters und regional correspondent for the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Shahira Amin an Egyptian journalist and former deputy head of Egyptian state-owned Nile TV. She resigned from the position on February 3, 2011, in the midst of the Egyptian revolution, due to her disapproval of the channel's coverage of the events. Shahira Amin has been a correspondent for CNN’s weekly program Inside Africa for 8 years. Mohamed Selim Khalil, Egyptian journalist (e.g. for the Daily News Egypt) and media analyst with a research emphasis on Political Communication in the Arab World, currently lecturer at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, Germany. In several articles he criticised the lack of press freedom and the deterioration of journalist's work conditions in Egypt. Farid Farid, Middle East and North Africa Media Coordinator at Transparency International. Previously, he worked as an online journalist with SBS World News Australia. He has also published in academic and news publications such as Le Monde Diplomatique, Al Jazeera English, Social Semiotics and Sydney Morning Herald. We would be happy to see you at the event: «The State of the Egyptian Media» on May 21, 2014 from 7 pm at Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (ZK/U), Siemensstraße 27, Berlin. The event will take place in English.

Egyptian citizen journalist Lilian Wagdy provides evidence of military abuses in an interview with a local TV station. Picture courtesy of Hossam el-Hamalawy on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). 14km e.V. and Reporter ohne Grenzen e.V. would like to cordially invite you to our upcoming event on the state of the Egyptian media. In the form of a panel talk followed by an audience discussion with you and several interesting guests we would like to speak about the Egyptian media landscape and the working situation of journalists in Egypt. In addition, we would also like to discuss citizen media and its (actual and potential) role in the Egyptian media landscape and for critical reporting in Egypt. We would be to happy to see you there and kindly ask you to save the date of the event:  « The State of the Egyptian Media » on May 21, 2014 from 7 to 10 pm  at Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (ZK/U), Siemensstraße 27, Berlin. Soon a more detailed programme will be available. The event will take place in English.

„Lebanon – resisting lunacy“, 6:30 pm at Zille-Haus, Rathenower Straße 17, Berlin Moabit We cordially invite you to our film and discussion evening on Lebanon, which will take place on May 13th at 6:30 pm in the context of our Arab Film and Discussion Series. We will be screening the film “Libanon - Standhalten im Wahnsinn” ('Lebanon – resisting lunacy') by Uwe-S. Tautenhahn (2007, 70 mins, German/Arabic with German subtitles). Two Lebanese women, who lived in Germany for 15 years, are organising public performances in Berlin during the Israel-Lebanon war. They travel to Lebanon in order to better understand the impact of the war in their home country. At sites which represent the past and present times, they tell us about their own experiences in Lebanon, meet friends and strangers, and offer personal insights into the 2006 situation in Lebanon – between hope and hopelessness. The film will be followed by an open conversation and audience discussion in presence of Henrik Meyer (expert on Lebanon at The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung) and further guests on the situation in Lebanon 2006 and current developments, as well as on the repercussions on Lebanese migrants in Moabit and Berlin. Attendance is free, donations are welcome. The event will take place at Zille-Haus, Berlin Moabit,1st floor, Rathenower Str. 17, 10559 Berlin. You can see here where the Zille-Haus is located. In regular intervals we screen films which deal with different Arab countries and subsequently discuss the films and the current social and political situation in the respective countries with guests from Berlin Moabit as well as with country experts, always aiming to make links to North-South relationships.    14km Flyer Lebanon download and share!   The project receives financial support in the context of the quarter management Moabit Ost through funds from the Programme Social City (EU, Federal Government, and Federal State of Berlin). Trailer (International release with English subtitles - we present the film in the original with German subtitles!)