Video - Uprising

Excellent. Thank you for the very useful vocabulary - pity that the wind nearly drowns out your voice at times.

Hey Karen, glad you found the vocab useful. Regarding the wind, it's a shame we only realized it was an issue after the video was recorded and we were using a new camera. So sorry about that.

the winds of change...the most suitable background for this video, maybe you are better than you think you are.On u-tube "goat of the mountains "showed a clip of a hospital that I had visited in kasserine, so painful,I fear it is now being repeated in other places..
thanks for the vocab....im off to tunisia this week so I need it.

Hello Mohamed and Ehab,
fantastic idea to do a video on the current events and related important vocabulary :)
Unfortunately I can only watch the teaser on the home page, I can not open the video here :( even downloading just reverts me back to here where nothing happens, when I click on the video... Any idea???
Berry, have a good trip to Tunisia! The Tunisians can really be proud of what they started with their uprising!!!
Cheers all, Na7la

Berry's right - the wind is a suitable background. Keep up the great work!

@Na7la - You should be able to download the video now, sorry about that. Regarding the playback, all our videos are hosted at Libsyn and there might have been an issue at the time so please try again :)

Dear Ehab and Mohamed,

This new video is a welcome addition to your website. For years you have avoided sensitive political issues, but the situation in Libya has now become so critical that it can no longer be ignored. I’m glad that you have at last decided to take the plunge and speak openly about the revolutions and uprisings which have shaken the Arab world to its very foundations. I think you’ll be able to attract many more learners to your website by providing more videos and podcasts devoted to political subjects in general and the current situation in the Arab world in particular. Here are some of the topics you might deal with: the United Nations, the European Union, the Red Crescent, the Jasmine Revolution, the Egyptian Revolution that led to the departure of Mubarak, the Trabelsi clan, the rise and fall of the Gaddafi clan, censorship in totalitarian countries (including Russia and China), human rights abuses in the Arab world, freedom of the press, etc. Here are some of the words and expressions you might include in your podcasts: “protest march”, “migrant worker”, “refugee”, “self immolation”, “tear gas”, “stun grenade”, “secret police”, “to topple a dictator”, “to overthrow a regime”, etc. A special podcast might be devoted (and dedicated)to Muhammed Al Bouazizi, the unhappy Tunisian street vendor whose suicide triggered the civil unrest that eventually led to the downfall of Ben Ali’s regime. You might also present interviews with some of the courageous people who have risked their lives in order to end years of oppression and corruption.

Today, unfortunately, the civil war in Libya was swept from the headlines by a tsunami. Fires are burning out of control in many places in Japan, and coolant is being rushed to a nuclear power plant in order to prevent a meltdown. There’s another topic for a podcast.

Best wishes,
Desmond

Desmond:
I saw a picture on AlJazeera in which a demonstrator in Cairo was holding a sign that read "إسقاط النظام". Meaning "Overthrow the regime"
I loved taking notes on what everyones signs said at the protests. :)

hi bee and karen, nice to hear from you....i was there when it all began and the young folks were so outraged about the the child who burnt himself to death, The tunisians are a collective folk,unlike europeans and this showed it self in what happened, not face -book the "ummra" of the mind- set got this going, thank GOD.

Thanks a lot for your help, the download worked now. Wonderful lesson, song, pics and most important vocabulary ;-) Let's hope all the uprisings in the Arabic world will bring only good things for the people and for us all!!!
I hope you will be presenting further lessons regarding the happenings and related vocabulary!
BTW, I forgot to say Happy Birthday ArabicPod!
:)

Thanks Na7la, it's been four years since we published the first podcast. Feels like only yesterday.

I have been looking all over the internet for some thing like this. It was a great surprise to find it right here on arabicPod. Lessons to help us understand currrent events would be great.

And hopefully many more wonderful lessons to come!!! مبروك
:)

@ hexagonmoon

Since I often listen to Radio Orient and the Arabic service of the BBC, I’ve already encountered the verb ﺃﺴﻗﻄ (’asqata). It seems to belong to the same family as the verb ﺴﻗﻄ (saqata), which means “fall”. Ehab and Mohamed have used this word in one of their podcasts.

The noun ﺛﻮﺮﺓ (thawra) calls for a few remarks. Its closest English equivalent is “revolution” (not “uprising”). The “Industrial Revolution”, for instance, is known in Arabic as “al-thawra al-sinaa’iyya”. At the beginning of January 2011 the English version of Wikipedia contained an article entitled “the Jasmine Revolution”. This was linked to an Arabic article entitled “al-intifaada al-tuunsiyya” (= the Tunisian uprising), but when Ben Ali was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia the editors of Wikipedia evidently felt the word “intifaada” was not strong enough. The article was thoroughly revised and the word “intifaada” was replaced by “thawra”. A few days ago both the English and the Arabic article disappeared from Wikipedia, but they are now back again. They’ve been carefully revised and expanded. The Arabic article is now entitled “al-thawra al-tuunsiyya 2010-2011”, and the title of the English article has been changed to “Tunisian Revolution”. Perhaps Ehab and Mohamed ought to copy both the articles in case they are deleted or incorporated in longer articles which may be hard to locate.

I can think of only one case where “thawra” corresponds to “uprising”. The Boxer Uprising (1899-1901), which is also known as “the Boxer Rebellion”, is called “thawra al-mulaakimiin” in Arabic.

It’s a pity that the “thawra” video was uploaded so late. Many journalists seem to have lost interest in Gaddafi. The Libyan uprising, which has not yet blossomed into a full-blown revolution, is running out of steam, and the international media have now turned the spotlight on Japan. We need a new video or a new podcast which might be entitled “Nuclear Meltdown” or “insihaar (ﺍﻨﺼﻬﺎﺮ) nawwiyy (ﻨﻮﻮﻱ)”.

Looking at some great pics from the March 15 Movement in Palestine last week, I found this wonderful sign saying:
اسمع اسمع يا محتل
هذا الشبعب ما بنذل

A little bit of extra homework for you guys out there ;-)

BTW, I am getting quite good in typing in Arabic now, all it needs is moooooooore practice :-) and discipline to do so hahaha!!! However I still do not know how to type the letters with the harakat, but will find out sooner or later!!!!

Mohammed and Ehab, I can not thank you enough for these lessons, please keep doing them, they are so important right now!!!

Luv, Na7la