Reviving Reforms in Jordan

23 August 2011
women holding protesting posters

 

The day I came back home to Amman, I noticed how involvement in politics and civilians rights have increased in comparison with the past year. It thrills me that we are finally worrying about what really matters. We are becoming a stronger community. The king is talking about reforms and so is the government. But would they really do the effort if we (the people) didn’t stress on it? I don’t believe so!  

I started researching what movements is Jordan witnessing? What is happening? To which activity shall I show support? Unsurprisingly Twitter had all the answers.  #ReformJo hash tag says it all. Where the expression is honest and loud. Issues of great matter are tweeted and retweeted.

One of the issues that grabbed my attention was a movement dedicated to the ultimate imperfection in the Jordanian nationality law, as it doesn't allow Jordanian women married to foreigners pass on their citizenship to their children and husbands. A protest gathered loads of women and I decided to join them, with a paper that says: I’m not half a citizen.

Friday after another people kept going to the streets asking the government to stop the corruption and adopt reforms. Until this one Friday when the special forces of police attacked journalists and protesters, this awful treatment grabbed global attention to the uncontrollable violence against protesters. Here’s the New York Times report on it http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/world/middleeast/16jordan.html?_r=1 I was absolutely shocked with the painful event, I expressed my emotions and reflections on the happenings with a song named Selmeyyeh or Peaceful in English.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Jordan River, precious Palestine is suffering as it has always been. How are we supposed to live with this guilt, we have families there. And the world is watching silently. Here’s a protest that I attended near the Israeli embassy against the recent attacks in Gaza

      

This is a summary of what have been going around me. It is a transitional timing in the world, but we don't necessarily need to lose a lot of members in our human family.