PRESS FREEDOM | Informing citizens, ensuring accountability
08 April 2008
Bloggers in Mauritania Form a Union
Organization would defend rights and promote professional standards
Washington -- Mauritania’s 400 bloggers are putting aside differences in their views on politics, society, religion and even language to form the Mauritanian Bloggers Union as a means of protecting their rights and establishing rules and standards.
The union was founded March 21 at a meeting in Nouakchott, Mauritania, and, in a joint statement released the same day, the bloggers said their new organization is aimed at "protecting the rights of bloggers and defending them in a bid to develop blogging activity in Mauritania.”
A blog, which is an abridgement of the term “web log,” is a Web site dedicated to news and commentary or a personal online diary. It invites readers to leave comments.
In an interview with Lebanon’s Menassat.com Web site March 28, the new bloggers’ union president, Ahmad Ould Islam, said the bloggers had decided to form a union after meeting to discuss their current status in the country and the most efficient ways to enhance their presence and performance.
Islam, who is the only Mauritanian member of the Arab Bloggers Union, said the union seeks to safeguard fundamental rights for the bloggers -- including the right to publish without censorship or without government interference.
He also said the union will seek consensus on issues such as professionalism and source verification, and "the bloggers will be their own censors."
The union also plans to establish a set of rules and standards that union members would unanimously approve, Islam said. These will include respect for Islamic principles, he said, adding that this should not compromise the bloggers' right to freedom of expression, Menassat.com reported.
The Mauritanian Bloggers Union is seeking to represent 400 diverse writers, some of whom write in Arabic, while others post in French. Along with exploring political differences, some blogs promote the Islamic faith while others offer material that devout Muslims would find objectionable.
Blogger Mohammad Salem, who authored the article for Menassat.com, says the union “is an attempt to unite all of them under the same banner, irrespective of political opinion of blogging methods.”
Salem also writes that some bloggers were motivated by concern that Mauritanian authorities could start applying a higher level of scrutiny to bloggers similar to that imposed by many other Middle Eastern and North African governments.
The bloggers’ March 21 statement says the union will apply for a license from the Mauritanian authorities and will prepare the organization's articles of association in advance of the first conference of Mauritanian bloggers.
Some American bloggers have considered unionizing. At an August 2007 conference in Chicago with labor activists, bloggers floated the idea of having an organization similar to the National Writers Union, which represents freelance writers.
Along with ideas such as establishing a blogging code of ethics and accreditation for covering media events, a primary motivation for American bloggers to unionize is obtaining health insurance. With more affordable heath care, some bloggers argued, more would be able to make blogging their full-time career.
Further information in Arabic on the Mauritanian Bloggers Union can be found at http://rimblog.maktoobblog.com.
