youth
Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World
From fashion magazines to social networking, the ‘Mipsterz’ to the ‘Haloodies’, halal internet dating to Muslim boy bands, ‘Generation M’ are making their mark. Shelina Janmohamed, award-winning author and leading voice on Muslim youth, investigates this growing cultural phenomenon at a time when understanding the mindset of young Muslims is critical. While responses to terrorism and Islamic extremism lead to discourse countering Islam and the West, these young leaders are countering stereotypical representations and flexing their economic muscles.
Screening: The War Show + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Andreas Møl Dalsgaard.
Through observational and at times humorous footage of everyday life, The War Show exposes what it is like to be a creative, ambitious young woman living amidst one of the most destructive conflicts of our time. This unprecedented documentary offers a rarely-seen image of youth culture in Syria, following the experiences of a DJ and her friends following Arab Spring of 2011, when the sad realities that follow envelop their hope for liberation.
Screening: 12 O’Clock Boys + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Lotfy Nathan.
Pug, a wisecracking 13 year old living on a dangerous Westside block in Baltimore, has one goal in mind: to join the 12 O’Clock Boys, the city’s notorious urban dirt bike gang. Director Lotfy Nathan followed Pug for three years over the course of the film’s production, documenting his transition from a witty and energetic boy to a teenager eager to find comradeship in a gang that prides in its recklessness and disregard for authority.
Screening: Nowhere to Call Home + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Jocelyn Ford.
Nowhere To Call Home tells the powerful story of Zanta, a Tibetan woman who moves to Beijing against the wishes of her in-laws so that her young son can receive an education. Widowed at 28, Tibetan farmer Zanta defies her tyrannical father-in-law and after her husband’s death refuses to marry the family’s only surviving son. When Zanta’s in-laws won’t let her seven-year-old child go to school, she flees her village and heads to Beijing where she becomes a street vendor.
That back to school feeling: talks and screenings to feed your mind in September
There are plenty of talks and screenings at Frontline Club in September to get the grey matter going after the summer season. At our First Wednesday Special, discuss the cultural and political changes set in motion by the events of 9/11 ten years ago and look ahead to the next decade. We’ll also be discussing extremism, Somalia, photography in […]
Democracy is … POSSIBLE
Despite the arrest and conviction of one of their co-founders, Adnan Hajizade with an apparently trumped-up charges, OL! Youth movement has released a new video telling that they are still in and not disillusioned in their quests.
Two Azeri Bloggers receive prison terms
On 11th November, despite huge international and internal pressure, Sabail District Court of Baku presided by Justice Araz Huseynov convicted two Azerbaijani bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade on controversial hooliganism charges.
Detained Azeri blogger turns 30 in jail
Today, on 14 October, detained Azerbaijani blogger Emin Milli is celebrating his birthday in a Baku jail.
Story of a father and son, with intermission
Democratic activism is a long tradition in Hajizade family, as well as the state of being assaulted and beaten for their activities – the new element here is the fact that Adnan Hajizade now is being tried for both. A story of a father and son with intermission of sixteen years
Republic of Facebook
Following the beating and arrest of two youth activists and bloggers in Baku, who were using new media as well as Facebook to spread their ideas among their followers, the local online community has exploded in a way that prompted support from global community ifor the arrested bloggers and in general, the freedom of speech […]
Beaten activists sentenced for two months while investigation goes on
On 10 July 2009, a session of Sabail District Court of Baku, chaired by Justice Rauf Ahmedov, has sentenced two civil society activists – Emin Abdullayev (Milli) and Adnan Hajizada to two months of pre-trial investigation detention. Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada are accused of ‘domestic group hooliganism’ according to Article 221.2 of Criminal Code […]
Beaten youth activists to stand trial for hooliganism
As I reported in my previous post, two prominent civil society activists and leading figures of youth movement in Azerbaijan – Emin Milli (Abdullayev) and Adnan Hajizada have been attacked while dining at a downtown restaurant and got severely beaten. Moreover, when they tried to complain to police, they were detained as suspects in ‘hooliganism’ […]
Civil society and youth activists beaten and detained in downtown Baku
Two prominent Azeri civil society and youth activists – Emin Milli, one of the founders of Alumni Network, a grassroots youth movement and Adnan Haji-zadeh, a video-blogger from OL! Youth Movement have been attacked by unidentified persons while dining with a group of fellow activists in a restaurant in downtown Baku. According to witnesses, two suspicious ‘sportsmen’ entered the […]
Azerbaijan marks anniversary of its first republic
On 28th of May, Azerbaijan marked 91th anniversary of its first republic. Azerbaijan Democratic Republic or ADR as known by its initials is considered the first democratic republic in Muslim East with a functional parliament and clean record of human rights. As I wrote in my post last year, Proclaimed on 28 May, 1918 and […]
A historic wall in Baku
Well, not as historic as the Berlin wall, but still interesting one with graffiti across all spectra of political scale. Slogans vary from "Sexual Revolution" and "Our Fatherland is USSR" to "Death to Israel" and "F@#$ Bush!". With an English guide by the members of local OL! movement.
Baku shooting: some unanswered questions
According to Reuters on 30 April, 2009, a gunman entered State Oil Academy in Baku, Azerbaijan and “went from floor to floor firing on teachers and students after the bell rang for morning classes” before killing himself. According to official sources 13 people, including the gunman himself – Georgian citizen of Azeri descent, Farda Gadirov […]
Youth activist expelled from university
Once I wrote an innocent piece for azadliqciragi.org, an Azeri-language version of Cato Institute’s Lamps of Liberty and I don’t know how, but my dean N.A. at university got aware of it (too old and conservative to surf in Internet). Later followed what my dean called "educational conversation" between us in order to persuade me […]
Azerbaijan bans foreign broadcasts while preparing for a constitutional referendum
In the last days of 2008, Azerbaijan’s National Council for Television and Radio has banned international radio stations from broadcasting on national frequencies. The decision went effective on the 1st of January removing three radio stations from FM band – VOA, BBC and Azadliq (“Liberty”), RFE/RL’s Azeri service. With another decision, Parliament of Azerbaijan approved […]
A rating of Azerbaijani universities published
The State Students Admission Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan has announced its rating of Azerbaijani universities. In the rating, based mostly on students’ preferences at admission exams and published in Abituriyent journal, the top ten places have been grabbed by state universities. This rating, as well as students’ preferences, reflects one still strong, but […]
The biggest youth movement in Azerbaijan dissolves itself
Yesterday, on 9th December, “Ireli” (“Forward”) Countrywide Youth Movement – the biggest and strongest such organisation in Azerbaijan unexpectedly dissolved itself. The news was so out of the blue that, not only ordinary “Ireli” members, but even local news portals were caught unprepared to it. So what happened? Why a movement so carefully and painstakingly […]