Palestinian Parkour: In a Land of Walls and Barriers, The Defiant Arts of Overcoming Obstacles

Free Running Gaza

A Film by George Azar and Mariam Shahin
Maysara Films, for AlJazeeraEnglish on Jul 3, 2011

Two young Palestinians embrace an art form and athletic discipline that offers an escape from life under occupation.
Length: 25mins  |  Year of production: 1999

Free Running Gaza depicts the thoughts and dreams behind the first Gaza Parkour Team, an initiative of two 22–year–old friends, Mohammed al–Jakhbeer and Abdallah Enshsi. Seen through the eyes of this inspirational duo, Parkour, a high octane urban acrobatic sport, forces people to look at obstacles as challenges, and even opportunities. Mariam Shahin and George Azar’s doc follows the ingenious duo as they chart out new spaces to develop their sport, find new stunts to master, and use the internet to share their achievements with a global fraternity of “free runners”.

Al Jazeera video: “Is this the end of Egypt’s revolution?”

Published on Jun 25, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish

The decision by Egypt’s electoral commission ends a week of uncertainty in a country without a parliament or a constitution, and a barely functioning economy. There is a new president, the country’s first elected leader. Mohammed Morsi, the candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood. Is Egypt’s political limbo over? Guests: Hisham Kassem, Waleed El-Haddad, Adel Darwish.

Al Jazeera: African migrants in Europe speak out

Migrants all over Europe fight for their rights and try to improve their situation.
20 Sep 2011

What to do when you are mistreated as an African immigrant in Europe?

Hip hop artist K-Nel presents reports about migrants all over Europe who fight for their rights and try to improve their living conditions.

Sissoko Azoumane from Mali is the spokesman for a protest movement in Paris, that fights for papers for the undocumented migrants who have been living in France for years, contributing to the French economy. But a new law has eroded all of their hopes for papers.

Sorious Samura checks out how some migrants even clone identities in order to try to get a job.

Wahabou from Senegal survived a devastating fire that killed 20 people in an apartment where migrants were housed, and decides to do something about fire safety in Parisian buildings.

In Brescia, Italy, Africans unite to improve housing conditions when they get evicted as a result of anti-immigration sentiments.

Al-Jazeera Egypt shut down for ‘sowing dissent’

[On Sunday, September 11, the military rulers of Egypt shut down AlJazeera, in a move which echoed Mubarak’s shut down of AlJazeera in January 2011.  (see the January news story, below). This, along with the Egyptian military pledge to safeguard relations with the Zionist state of Israel, marks a serious intensification of the struggle between the revolutionary forces of Tahrir Square and the counter-revolution by the Mubarak military forces who remain in power. — Frontlines ed.]

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, September 11th, 2011

CAIRO — The satellite channel Al-Jazeera Egypt said on Sunday the authorities had prevented it from broadcasting, after entering its offices and confiscating transmission equipment.

Ahmed Zain, the channel’s chief in Cairo, told AFP that police, officers from the culture ministry and representatives of Egypt’s public broadcaster had also seized materials and that one technician was arrested.

He said they cited the lack of an official licence to broadcast and a complaint from the neighbourhood. He said a lawyer also presented a complaint accusing the channel of “sowing dissent” and “calling for demonstrations.”

Zain said Al-Jazeera Egypt had on March 20 requested official authorisation, and that it had been assured it could continue broadcasting in the interim.

“The United States Is Not Qualified to Intervene on Behalf of Democracy in the Region”

Al-Jazeera Interview with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad

Jadaliyya on Aug 13, 2011

This interview was conducted with Jadaliyya Co-Editor, Bassam Haddad, on the role of the United States in Syria. After five months of continuous suppression of protests in Syria, resulting in nearly 2000 deaths and more than 15,000 arrests, the Syrian regime is facing growing regional and international pressures to stop the violence and engage in serious dialogue with various segments of the Syrian opposition. Some have critiqued the United States for not doing more, or intervening further, in the Syrian case. Based on its historical record, Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad discusses the role and qualifications of the United States for intervening on the side of democracy, and the protesters, in the Arab uprisings.