Category Archives: Primary Sources

Media of the Masses: Cassette Culture in Modern Egypt / Andrew (Andrew G.) Simon

Media of the Masses” investigates the social life of an everyday technology—the cassette tape—to offer a multisensory history of modern Egypt. Over the 1970s and 1980s, cassettes became a ubiquitous presence in Egyptian homes and stores. Audiocassette technology gave an opening to ordinary individuals, from singers to smugglers, to challenge state-controlled Egyptian media. Enabling an unprecedented number of people to participate in the creation of culture and circulation of content, cassette players and tapes soon informed broader cultural, political, and economic developments and defined “modern” Egyptian households.

Drawing on a wide array of audio, visual, and textual sources that exist outside the Egyptian National Archives, Andrew Simon provides a new entry point into understanding everyday life and culture. Cassettes and cassette players, he demonstrates, did not simply join other twentieth century mass media, like records and radio; they were the media of the masses. Comprised of little more than magnetic reels in plastic cases, cassettes empowered cultural consumers to become cultural producers long before the advent of the Internet. Positioned at the productive crossroads of social history, cultural anthropology, and media and sound studies, “Media of the Masses” ultimately shows how the most ordinary things may yield the most surprising insights.

  • Andrew Simon received his Ph.D. in the field of Near Eastern studies from Cornell’s Graduate School in 2017. He is Lecturer and Research Associate in Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College.
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stanford University Press; 1st edition (April 19, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1503629430
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1503629431

17 bin Laden documents / Combating Terrorism Center (CTC)

وثائق بن لادن

Seventeen of the of the 6,000 documents seized from the compound of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 were released May 3, 2012. The documents – provided by the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC), and totalling 175 pages in the original Arabic and 197 pages in the English translation:

* Original Arabic (.zip) باللغة العربية

* English Translations (.zip) باللغة الانجليزية

نشرت يوم الخميس، 3 أيار/مايو، 17 وثيقة من أصل آلاف الوثائق التي عثر عليها في مجمع أسامة بن لادن في أيار/مايو 2011، بعد يوم على الذكرى الأولى لمقتل زعيم القاعدة

وتصف الوثائق التي نشرها مركز مكافحة الارهاب، ويبلغ عددها 175 صفحة باللغة العربية و197 صفحة مترجمة إلى الانجليزية، آليات عمل التنظيم الداخلية ومنها خلافات داخلية ونصائح للجماعات المرتبطة بالتنظيم ومخاوف لقادة بارزين فيه

The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point website has provided the following summary:

This report is a study of 17 de-classified documents captured during the Abbottabad raid and released to the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC). They consist of electronic letters or draft letters, totaling 175 pages in the original Arabic and 197 pages in the English translation. The earliest is dated September 2006 and the latest April 2011. These internal al-Qa`ida communications were authored by several leaders, most prominently Usama bin Ladin. In contrast to his public statements that focused on the injustice of those he believed to be the “enemies” of Muslims, namely corrupt “apostate” Muslim rulers and their Western “overseers,” the focus of Bin Ladin’s private letters is Muslims’ suffering at the hands of his jihadi “brothers”. He is at pain advising them to abort domestic attacks that cause Muslim civilian casualties and focus on the United States, “our desired goal.” Bin Ladin’s frustration with regional jihadi groups and his seeming inability to exercise control over their actions and public statements is the most compelling story to be told on the basis of the 17 de-classified documents. “Letters from Abbottabad” is an initial exploration and contextualization of 17 documents that will be the grist for future academic debate and discussion.

 

The 17 documents totaled nearly 200 pages in their English translation. The earliest one is dated 2006. The latest is from 2011, according to the center. Here are the 17 documents and summaries, which were based on a CTC document that accompanied the release of the bin Laden letters.

Text of Document 1

Summary: Bin Laden asks for a lengthy version of Anwar al-Awlaqi’s resume.

Text of Document 2

Summary: American Qaida spokesman Adam Gadahn writes on a media strategy for the anniversary of 9/11.

Text of Document 3 

Summary: Bin Laden declines al-Shababa’s request for unity with al-Qaida.

Text of Document 4

Summary: This letter suggests that al-Qaida’s relationship with other terror groups was the subject of internal debate.

Text of Document 5

Summary: This letter is written by Mahmud al-Hasan (Atiyya) and criticizes the tactics of Pakistan’s Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Text of Document 6

Summary: Jaysh al-Islam and Atiyya write back and forth on financial matters and legal advice.

Text of Document 7

Summary: This letter is part of another that was not released to CTC, but the author is concerned about al-Qaida’s image. The author was also concerned that because the name al-Qaida lacks religious overtones, the U.S. is able to wage war against the group without offending all Muslims.

Text of Document 8

Summary: Bin Laden lays out his views of the Arab Spring. The letter is dated a week before the raid that killed him.

Text of Document 9

Summary: This letter is addressed to a legal scholar who is alarmed with the conduct of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Text of Document 10

Summary: Atiyya wrote this letter addressed to the sheik, possibly bin Laden. The letter addresses the release of jihadi “brothers” from Iran.

Text of Document 11

Summary: The CTC summary says this document shows al-Qaida’s editing process: An unknown editor (possibly bin Laden) marks up statements form Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Text of Document 12

Summary: This document has two letters that, according to CTC, “read very much like an intelligence assessment, designed to provide Atiyya with some perspective on al-Qaida generally and the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) more specifically.”

Text of Document 13

Summary: This letter focuses on issues in Afghanistan and Pakistan but also mentions the organization’s media plan for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Text of Document 14

Summary: The author of this letter, possibly bin Laden, Atiyya, or both of them, advises al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to focus attacks on the U.S., not Yemen’s government.

Text of Document 15

Summary: This letter focuses on strategy and the need for the group to attack the United States.

Text of Document 16

Summary: This letter is critical of bin Laden and urges him to change al-Qaida’s policy. The author says that people are now repulsed by the term jihad.

Text of Document 17

Summary: This is a long letter written by bin Laden in which he discusses his concern over the mistakes that regional jihadi groups have made.

*****

RELATED:

Key Documents — Al Qaeda & Jihadi Movements Worldwide (volumes 1-50)

Reference Corporation’s on-going Al Qaeda & Jihadi Movements Worldwide (AQJM) reference series, in early 2011, in 50 volumes, has several built-in finding guides to assist researchers. One finding guide is the Key Documents list, a bibliography with extensive cross references and scope notes. However, Key Documents is a large document and cannot be reprinted in every new incremental set of AQJM reference books. For example, the Key Documents list in the cumulative index to the first twenty volumes of AQJM is over 120 pages long. AQJM for volumes 1-50 is 332 pages long.

To make Key Documents more useful, this downloadable Key Documents list is cumulative for all AQJM volumes and will always be current.

This Key Documents edition is a cumulative finding aid for AQJM volumes 1-50

Timbuktu’s Manuscripts, Archives and Patrimony Under Threat

Citizens of Timbuktu, Mali’s historic city and the legendary UNESCO World Heritage Site, are rallying to protect ancient documents dating back to the Golden Age of the 12th and 15th centuries that officials fear may be looted or trafficked under the current occupation by Tuareg groups. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova on Tuesday (April 17th) appealed to Mali’s neighbours to help prevent any looting or destruction of Timbuktu’s centuries-old cultural heritage:  “Reports about the rebel takeover of Timbuktu’s Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Islamic Studies and Research (IHERI-AB) and other cultural institutions are cause for great alarm.”  “These centres contain ancient documents, written or copied locally, and others written in Morocco, Andalusia or some African countries, or sent to Timbuktu by pilgrims from distant Islamic lands hundreds of years ago,” Bokova added.  These documents, she said, date back to “Timbuktu’s golden period of glory between the 12th and 15th centuries” and cover subjects “from religious studies to mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and music”.

Moussa Ag Hamta, owner of a private library, told Magharebia that the concerns of the UNESCO Director-General were shared by the residents of Timbuktu who link their history to these historical centres.

“I’m proud of the documents I own because they contain many sciences,” he said. “However, the takeover of the city by the extremist Islamic groups has put an end to the arrival of European tourists and made me hide these documents lest I should be forced to destroy or turn them in to them.”  “They consider these documents to be a heresy and believe that preserving them is some sort of worship, which contradicts the Islamic Sharia in their opinion,” he concluded.

Local resident Ibrahim Ag Nita described the scene: “Two days ago, some Ansar al-Din and al-Qaeda elements entered the Documents Centre at Ahmed Baba Institute and told the attendees that the Islamic Sharia only approves of Islamic religious books because they help boost doctrine, and that books of other sciences, such as math, astronomy and other sciences, are not useful to Muslims and must be removed.”

“After that, they took away rubber bags containing some documents and went to an unknown place,” he said.

“People here fear a repetition of what the Taliban did when it destroyed some Buddha statues as idols worshipped by people,” he added. “This is the same view that these extremists have of human heritage, as they say that this entire heritage is nothing but a heresy that must be disposed of.”

Timbuktu has been a destination for cultural tourism in recent years, as it contains between 60,000 and 100,000 manuscripts. This is in addition to mosques and shrines of the kings of Sudanese empires that inhabited the Sahara and West Africa, together with buildings dating back to several centuries.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

MaliAncient Books Stolen – NYTimes.com

__________________________________________________

Even people who have never heard of Mali have usually heard of Timbuktu, or at least have heard phrases like “from here to Timbuktu.” Founded between the 5th and 11th centuries by Tuareg desert nomads, Timbuktu became a meeting point between north, south and west Africa and a melting pot of black Africans, Berber, Arab and Tuareg desert nomads. The trade of gold, salt, ivory and books made it the richest region in west Africa and it attracted scholars, engineers and architects from around Africa, growing into a major centre of Islamic culture by the 14th century. Timbuktu is home to nearly 100,000 ancient manuscripts, some dating to the 12th century, written in Arabic or Africanized versions of the Arabic alphabets, and preserved in family homes and private libraries under the care of religious scholars. However, the city is poor now, and is at the center of attacks by Tuareg rebels and al-Qaeda linked jihadists, while Mali itself is being governed by the head of a botched military coup. It’s feared that the violence will lead to the destruction of the manuscripts and Timbuktu’s great earthen architectural wonders.

Source:AFP

_________________________________________________________

More about the Timbuktu manuscripts [with different figures: “700,000 medieval African documents”] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu_Manuscripts

_________________________________________________________

The Tombouctou Manuscripts Project

The Tombouctou Manuscripts Project at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is dedicated to research various aspects of writing and reading the handwritten works of Timbuktu and beyond. Training young researchers is an integral part of its work.

Sauvegarde et Valorisation des Manuscrits pour la Défense de la Culture Islamique

NEWS:

– TF1 News (12 avril 2012) : http://lci.tf1.fr/filnews/monde/nord-mali-les-islamistes-controlent-le-plus-grand-centre-de-manuscrits-7129513.html

– Jeune Afrique (11 avril 2012) :http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article/ARTJAWEB20120411115235/culture-rebelle-tombouctou-manuscritmali-d-importants-manuscrits-anciens-de-tombouctou-sauves-de-la-destruction.html

– Rue89 (Le Nouvel observateur) (10 avril 2012) http://www.rue89.com/2012/04/10/tombouctou-un-tresor-culturel-de-lhumanite-en-peril-231031

________________________________________________________

Tuareg rebellion (2012) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interest in ancient books could restore Timbuktu

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/04/AR2010010403161.html?hpid=artslot

By Karin Brulliard
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 5, 2010; A07

TIMBUKTU, MALI — From a dented metal trunk, Abdoul Wahim Abdarahim Tahar pulled out something sure to make a preservationist’s heart race — or break: a leather-bound book written by hand in the 14th century, containing key verses of the prophet Muhammad, and crumbling at the edge of each yellowed page.

“Every time I touch it, it falls apart,” he said, paging through the book. “Little by little.”

But Tahar saw promise in the brittle volume — for himself, his family and this legendary but now tumbledown town. He is not the only one. A sort of ancient-book fever has gripped Timbuktu in recent years, and residents hope to lure the world to a place known as the end of the Earth by establishing libraries for visitors to see their centuries-old collections of manuscripts.

In a West African town where nomads and traders eke out livings, a revival of world attention to hundreds of thousands of privately held manuscripts — which survived fire, rain, sand and termites — represents an economic opportunity. But researchers and residents say the restoration of the books, most written in Arabic on fragile paper or lambskin, is also vital to showcasing Timbuktu’s — and, by extension, sub-Saharan Africa’s — more glorious past as a vibrant hub of scholarship.

[MORE] … http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/04/AR2010010403161.html?hpid=artslot

 

________________________________________________________

On Apr 10, 2012, at 9:42 PM, “Jennifer Yanco” <1989.wara@gmail.com> wrote:

I am writing to alert you to the situation in Mali, which is increasingly volatile. The conflict has spread to Timbuktu, home of thousands of manuscripts documenting the rich heritage of West Africa through the ages.

I write as a member of the scholarly community, which is concerned for the safety of this cultural and intellectual heritage housed in the many libraries and private collections in Timbuktu. I know that this will be of concern to your institution. Our West African colleagues, Drs. Habib Sy and Ibrahima Lo prepared a petition, urging the parties to the conflict to be mindful of the value of the heritage in these manuscripts and to spare them. We were sent a copy of the petition and were able to make an online petition, which you can now find on the WARA website home page (www.bu.edu/wara) and at the link copied below.

We are pleased to be able to work in solidarity with our West African colleagues on this and hope that you will be able to post the link to the petition or otherwise pass it along to your colleagues. A major treasure of the world is at stake.

http://bit.ly/TIMBUKTU
thanking you in advance for joining this effort.

Jennifer

 

Jennifer J. Yanco, PhD

US Director

West African Research Association

232 Bay State Road

Boston, MA  02215

617-353-8902

www.bu.edu/wara

INTERPOL issues Red Notice for arrest of Muammar Gaddafi

INTERPOL media release

INTERPOL issues Red Notice for arrest of Muammar Gaddafi at request of International Criminal Court

9 September 2011

Issuance is first step to INTERPOL formally recognizing Transitional National Council as leading Libya

LYON, France – INTERPOL has issued Red Notices for Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and former director of military intelligence Abdullah Al-Senussi after the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, requested the world police body to issue internationally wanted persons notices against the Libyan nationals for alleged crimes against humanity, including murder and persecution.

The publication of INTERPOL Red Notices for the three men is part of INTERPOL’s collaboration with the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC to assist cooperating member countries in their efforts to enforce the arrest warrants issued by the ICC.

The Red Notices have been circulated to all of INTERPOL’s 188 member countries and include essential identifying and judicial information.

In addition to the publication of the Red Notices, INTERPOL is offering the full support of its Command and Coordination Centre and asking its member countries to take all measures consistent with their national laws to help the ICC locate and apprehend Gaddafi… [MORE]

2011/ رقم 72 9   أيلول/سبتمبر 2011

الإنتربول يصدر نشرة حمراء لاعتقال معمّر القذافي تلبية لطلب المحكمة الجنائية الدولية
إصدار النشرة الحمراء يشكل خطوة أولى نحو اعتراف الإنتربول رسميا بالمجلس الوطني الانتقالي باعتباره السلطة التي تحكم ليبي

ليون (فرنسا) – أصدر الإنتربول نشرة حمراء بشأن كل من معمّر القذافي وابنه سيف الإسلام القذافي ومدير المخابرات العسكرية السابق عبد الله السنوسي، وذلك بعد طلب المدعي العام للمحكمة الجنائية الدولية، لويس مورينو أوكامبو، من منظمة الشرطة الدولية إصدارَ نشرات خاصة بأشخاص مطلوبين دوليا بحق هؤلاء المواطنين الليبيين بتهمة

ARABIC Full Text [PDF]

interpol01

—◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——◊——

Thursday, September 08, 2011

ICC requests help from INTERPOL to locate Gaddafi
Michael Haggerson at 3:29 PM ET

Photo source or description

[JURIST] Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile], announced on Thursday that he is seeking assistance [press release] from INTERPOL [official website] to locate and arrest former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. The ICC issued arrest warrants [JURIST report] for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi for alleged crimes against humanity. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was allegedly captured [JURIST report] last month but a free Saif al-Islam vowed to continue fighting [The Telegraph report] to foreign media. The whereabouts of Gaddafi and Abdullah al-Sanussi are currently unknown.The Libya conflict [JURIST backgrounder] has been ongoing since February. Last month, Libyan Prime Minister Al Baghdad Ali Al-Mahmoudi requested that the UN create a “high-level commission” to investigate alleged human rights abuses [JURIST report] by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) [official website]. Though NATO was mandated by the UN to use force in order to stop Muammar from fomenting violence upon Libyan citizens, the campaign has allegedly gone beyond the scope of protecting civilians and recently led to the death of 85 civilians in one night after NATO forces bombed a residential area supposedly housing a rebel command center. In June, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] decided to extend a mandate to an investigative panel instructing it to continue its investigation of human rights abuses in Libya, after it published a 92-page report [JURIST reports]. The report claims Libyan authorities have committed crimes against humanity such as acts constituting murder, imprisonment and other severe deprivations of physical liberties, torture, forced disappearances and rape “as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population with knowledge of the attack.”

libya_flag_button-p 5

Yemen 2011 Stability Survey

Yemen.svgYemen

Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI)

In April 2011, FPRI posted the most extensive survey done to date of Yemen’s population. Conducted by Glevum Associates, a firm run by FPRI Senior Fellow Andrew Garfield, the survey indicated a disquieting level of support for Al Qaeda among Yemen’s populous as well as a profound resistance to US intervention in the country.

In response to the enormous interest in the survey, and rising tensions in the country, FPRI brought together a group of experts to discuss the survey as well as recent developments, including the reported shift in US policy toward a public role in easing Yemen’s President out of office despite his cooperation in fighting Al Qaeda.

Audio

Of Related interest

About the Panelists

Andrew Garfield is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Reseearch Institute and founder of Glevum Associates, which conducts extensive face-to-face social science research in several countries on behalf of the Department of Defense and other clients. He is former European Director of the Terrorism Research Center, Deputy Director of International Policy Institute (IPI) at King’s College London, and Senior Director of Influence and Insight for the Lincoln Group. Mr. Garfield is also a former senior British military then civilian intelligence officer and former senior policy advisor at the UK Ministry of Defense. While serving in the UK Defense Intelligence Staff he led two major studies that reviewed key aspects of that organization’s approach to post-Cold War intelligence analysis and recommended radical changes to policy and organization that were subsequently implemented in full. After moving into academia with King’s College London, he devised and successfully led three major projects for the U.S. Department of Defense focusing on the terrorist threat; likely adversary asymmetric warfare strategies; and the development of U.S. strategic influence operations and cultural intelligence.

Christopher Swift is an attorney and political scientist specializing in international law and contemporary armed conflict. A fellow at the University of Virginia Law School’s Center for International Security Law, he has travelled to Afghanistan, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union to examine al-Qaeda’s relationships with indigenous Muslim insurgencies. Dr. Swift’s legal practice focuses on complex international disputes, compliance with U.S. foreign trade and investment laws, and various aspects of public and private international law. Prior to joining the University of Virginia, he served in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), where he enforced economic sanctions programs targeting terrorist syndicates, weapons proliferators, and other specially designated entities. Between 2006 and 2007, he served an international law fellow at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, where he examined armed conflict and sectarian violence in Iraq. He was previously affiliated with organizations including Freedom House, where he worked on Russian affairs, and the Center for Strategic & International Studies, where he served as an aide to former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. A term member of the Council on Foreign Relations,

Dr. Swift is the author of The Fighting Vanguard: Local Insurgencies in the Global Jihad, which addresses the deficiencies in, and the growing need to, distinguish between different strains of Islamic militancy. He holds an A.B. in Government and History from Dartmouth College, a M.St. in International Relations of the University of Cambridge, and a J.D. from Georgetown University. He successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis in Politics & International Studies at the University of Cambridge in October 2010.

Curtis Cobb is a sociologist who does research on attitude formation, change, and effects, on the psychology of political behavior, and on survey research methods. He is a research scientist at Glevum Associates, LLC. Cobb received his B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Southern California, an M.A. from Columbia University, and his PhD in sociology from Stanford University. Prior to graduate school, he was a policy and budget consultant to the California State Senate. He has lectured on survey methodology at universities and for corporations and has served as a survey consultant to such organizations as the National Science Foundation, American Bar Foundation, and Stanford University. He has collaborated on surveys with the Associated Press, Yahoo News, and the Los Angeles Times.