anders deutsch

There is a video journalist following out conference. He is there most of the time, standing just in front of the speaker in order to get a good footage, holding his camera next to my head, disturbing a discussion. For me this filming seems very invasive. I am fine that I am filmed, but I do not want the camera and the video journalist to be so dominant. I want to listen and discuss in this group -that is my first priority. For me the filming should be of lower priority. Does film coverage have to be so invasive? Is media coverage more important than the event itself?

The venue of our conference is very posh. It is the Mariott Zamalek in Cairo. And the reason for choosing this place is also acceptable: there are both conference rooms and internet access for all. But it also represents the privileges we all have. We sit here in this posh place, all costs covered, our travel expenses covered as well and all (but one, whose passport was not valid for six months more) got visas. We sit in this room and almost all of us have a notebook/ netbook / Macbook in front of us. Many have smart phones. The habitus of most indicates being situated in the upper middle class or upper class.



I engage with one in a discussion about migrant (domestic) workers (because I am interested in migrants from South Asia to this region) and talk about our privileges and their marginalisations. She gets into a very defensive mode, arguing that the domestic workers are treated well (since they are trusted the kids) and they give wrong accusations about being mistreated by their employers. She adds that she is working hard for her income as well and is not rich. That she can afford a driver, her sister has a domestic servant for her kids, who comes along to London, were they have a flat, etc. just seems normal to them.

Also another claims not to be rich, just comfortable. She drives a good car, has a blackberry, a very upper class habitus and the impression that the poor are less educated and thus more religious/ conservative.

These people are active in supporting the Arab revolutions, women's rights, etc., they are nice people and do good things. But I have a feeling that they do not question their class privileges much (I do that also much too little), that they reproduce classist exclusions and I ask myself, what consequences it has when it is these people who not only raise their voices but are also heard. And what it means that we privileged meet and network. What exclusions are we reproducing together?

In Germany a rather simple image of the Arab world dominates. All are the same, Muslim, etc. That this is a wrong image is nothing very surprising. But I am really glad to have the opportunity to spend three days with 11 bloggers/ journalists from eight different Arab countries. Already the first day showed the different perspectives they have, their different involvement in political struggles and different approaches. As a gender studies scholar I am in particular fascinated by the different feminist approaches, which encompass both those who firmly believe in the dichotomy of women and men as well as heterosexuality to those who question heteronormativity and fight for the rights of the non-heteronormative. It was also interesting to see how two bloggers engaged in the struggle for women's rights in two different countries got into a rather fierce argument about what the right way is. To be precise one of them had the feeling (and I think she was right there) that her home country was taken as the place, which treats women particularly badly, and reacted by defending it (although I later got the experience that she is rather critical of her country). This debate could also have been initiated by a mainstream German, who is anti-muslim, and a woman from the Arab world - but it was among two Arab women.

I am learning lots and ask lots of questions.

I will shift now to blog about the Young media summit (yms) in English, as this gives the other participants a chance that they can read my posts (our working language is English). My plan at the moment is to write some short blog on impressions from the first day. Since our programme is pretty full, there is little time to plan the blogging, so I will just write down without much composing.

Heute abend bin ich in Kairo zum Young Media Summit angekommen.

Mal sehen, was ich alles zu erzählen haben werde. Gerade habe ich das Gefühl, dass ich erstmal vorallem hinschauen und hinhören sollte - und erstmal gar nicht so viel sagen. Ich lerne dazu.

Ende Mai werde ich nach Kairo zum Young Media Summit der Deutsche Welle-Akademie fahren. Ich bin sehr gespannt darauf, dort auf arabische Medienschaffende zu treffen und Kairo etwas kennenzulernen.