Happy Ramadan to you, month of fasting and prayer but we people of the Maghreb we treat it as the month of reckless spending, isn’t it true?

In the name of ِAllah the Merciful. Praise be to Allah for his blessings, including knowledge and non-monopoly. Back in the former days the president used to appear and say tomorrow there will be an earthquake in Japan. Everyone applauded thinking that the President is a god and knows the future. But the emergence of satellite TV exposed everything. The president was no longer the only god who foresees the future. Everyone is a god nowadays and knows what is to happen. Yet, everything has positive and negative sides. People didn’t know that this machine became the engine of everything and that the cable receiver which doesn’t cost more than 10 dollars controls them and puts and removes anyone it wants from power. Yes we are now at the mercy of the heavens, which are controlled by satellite. Even our moves down here are monitored by satellites. This applies also to driving our cars, we do it now with a navigation system that is called GPS. Yes civilisation is good but its bitter part is that we don’t know where it is taking us. We used to see in a simpler past and limited lens a maximum of few meters and now billions of kilometers. They are trying to reach God and this is impossible. They changed the cultures and changed the customs and destroyed everything beautiful in us. We became a machine in front of TV. The culture of books, Presidents, Qur’an and religions is gone. What will happen to future generations

Thank God for this month and use this opportunity to pray

The fourth power has become the first power in the Arab Maghreb, The effect of satellite TV has become very clear in all our lives. However, I do not think that conservative policy may be subversive. Uncovering matters to the citizen in many cases will harm him and not benefit him if he doesn’t understand the truth of the matter. State policy is a long term policy and this is wise. The state does not rush in decision-making even if it is against citizens but in favor of the state. The citizen does not want to make sacrifices. He wants everything but does not want to give anything. Self-denial became a defect. You are giving up your rights and the State is in free fall into the abyss because of people’s egoism and rushed demands. That means we want what we must have immediately. That’s why satellite TV fuels problems intelligently or stupidly. This is unlikely.

The Arab world lacks free media platforms that are independent from the government. All Arab satellite channels depend on the ministry in charge, and are managed according to specific instructions, like Friday sermons in mosques. These sermons are written based on national occasions, and imams have to read them if they want to keep their jobs, without even correcting spelling mistakes, and with a bit of emotion. That is why some worshipers wait outside the mosque until the sermon ends and prayer starts, not because mosques cannot accommodate the number of worshipers or cannot keep pace with the population growth and religious awakening, but rather because they know that the content of the sermon is pointless. This is the reality of most Arab countries, except for a few. Arab governments have known since the beginning how to dominate and control the fate of their peoples, through a unity that gathers them on the same course, by creating satellite channels under their supervision and following the recommendations of major political lobbies. Even religious channels that boast about their integrity and transparency do not enjoy freedom of political opinion and democratic principles. Out of reservation, these channels do not interfere or sympathise with the concerns of citizens, including poverty, the high cost of living, and corruption, unless they have to distinguish between what is allowed and what is forbidden, or if the government falls because of a coup or thanks to a revolution. In this case, scholars and preachers become among the first candidates to share the cake, or at least to atone for the past. Consequently, religion becomes associated with politics, and free fatwas start rolling. This is the how the Arab nation is, everything can be bought with money, even conscience, so who’s selling? Most international satellite channels are also affiliated to governments, except for private ones, which are only a few and mostly funded by Zionist or Masonic lobbies or evangelical Zionist ones that fight the Palestinian cause and discredit it with all their power, and make Arabs or Muslims the enemies of humanity. Those channels have significant funding sources and qualified human resources, and they also achieve high viewing rates, with quality broadcasts and exciting, useful programs that generate huge profits; unlike Arab channels – including the rich ones – that only racket Arab citizens with stupid contests.

If this technology was any good, it wouldn’t have reached us. Technology is more of a destruction tool, than a means of construction.

The Internet and satellite channels have both changed education and information. We had TV for decades before the advent of the Internet, but the momentum of the latter turned television upside down. However, we still enjoy watching TV alone with a good cup of coffee, a cigarette, or an appetizer.

It’s politics that lead TV channels, and not the opposite.

Arab news satellite channels, and especially Maghreb ones, are a joke, and they spread strife.

What satellite channels are we talking about? (Satellite channels that support sedition and evil, spread lies, and incite Muslim peoples against each other.) Thanks.

We are still years behind compared to our Western neighbours in the field of media and communication. Professionalism and objectivity are lacking in our countries. Our satellite channels re-broadcast boring archives, or pick up the crumbs from others. Bye.

Wonderful.

Satellite channels are the main reason for the destruction of Arab peoples in general and Maghreb ones in particular. I think that destruction lies in moral and religious decay, and in the disintegration of family ties. Rafiq, Djelfa, the capital of the high plateaus (Algeria).

Human beings are society’s most important component. People who master technology can lead development. However, without cultural and religious knowledge, man is nothing. Maghreb people should progress by arming themselves with knowledge and rigor.

It’s not the Arab Maghreb; its real name is Tamazgha.

On behalf of the poor people in Morocco: Help!

I wonder if the internet replaces libraries.

I think that we should be careful at this crossroads. It is true that Maghreb peoples lack democracy, but what’s the price? Should we kill each other to establish purely Western values? As a Muslim (not an Islamist) I urge all my brothers and sisters to return to our religion, and I am sure that they will find in it the answers to all society’s questions. People who are fond of lecturing others (i.e. the West) are very poor doers. One of them (CHURCHILL) once said that there are no friends or enemies, but there are only interests. The proof is: SYRIA, LYBIA, IRAQ and so on. I will let you ponder over this. We certainly need change, but it should be ours and based on our convictions; we don’t need change based on Western standards.

You only publish what you like and you claim being democratic.

I think that the internet has more influence than satellite TV. The world has become a small village thanks to the internet and the spread of social networking sites like Facebook and Skype….It distracted people from satellite TV and I think it has an influence on political changes in the Arab Maghreb