Mideast Youth

Mideast Youth "is a student-owned independent network dedicated to eliminate extremist ideologies and ignorance from the Middle East.

"Arabs, Iranians, Kurds, and Israelis post side-by-side to prove the fact that moderation, interfaith understanding, and sanity does exist in the region."


 * Founder, Esra'a Al Shafei

In an interview, Esra'a Al Shafei described Mideast Youth as "a two-person show, I'm in charge of content management and the ideas, and my friend Lalith, who runs lazybeelab, is in charge of design and technical support. He co-owns MidEast Youth and our many networks. I wouldn't have come this far without his much needed help, this is why I put him in charge of executive decisions regarding the site as well. ... No one supports us financially, we support ourselves. It's not expensive to maintain all these things because we don't pay anyone to do anything for us, like site design or advertising or sponsorship. We work hard on doing everything ourselves."


 * Finalist in the Staples Foundation for Learning Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition

Staff
Accessed January 2009:


 * Esra'a Al Shafei (Bahrain) - Director
 * Kawthar Muhaib (UAE) - Project assistant
 * Tamara Al-Om (Syria) - Moderator & General Assistant
 * Omid T. (Iran/USA) - Moderator & Legal Adviser
 * Tori Egherman (Iran/USA) - Budget manager/General Lifesaver
 * Mohammad Memarian (Iran) - Translation Services - Farsi
 * Nadia Ayadi (Tunisia) - French translations
 * Elisheva Cohen (Israel) - Director of Public Relations
 * Leah Lublin (Israel) - Interfaith Manager
 * Siham Ihouline (Morocco) - Occasional project Translator

Projects
"The diverse Mideast Youth team launches campaigns for people within the region, especially youth activists, who do not have the resources or contacts required to initiate campaigns. If anyone in need would like our assistance in a campaign, request one.

"Through such campaigns, we mainly promote freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and the free flow of information. While we help by hosting other projects that are independently owned and moderated, these are the ones the Mideast Youth team actually run or lead:


 * Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network
 * Free Kareem Campaign: Our campaign for Kareem Amer, an Egyptian blogger who has been sentenced to 4 years in prison merely for expressing his opinions on his personal blog.
 * Sexual Terrorism
 * Migrant Rights
 * Darfur Awareness
 * Free the New Youth 4
 * Inter Iman
 * Dis Moi
 * Arab Network for Kurdish Rights (ANKR)
 * Media Students
 * Itkalem
 * Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights
 * No Honor
 * Parsi Youth
 * Free Activist

Contact

 * Web: http://www.mideastyouth.com

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Esra'a Al Shafei
 * Mideast Youth Foundation