“This is not a crisis, this is a fraud.” “We don’t lack money, we just have too many thieves.” “We have the right to be indignant.”
With these and many other slogans, at a time of recession, unemployment, austerity and profound despair, the people of Spain, men and women, young and old, intellectuals with those struggling to make a living, took to the streets and plazas to tell the government: enough. Continue reading
With the flurry of events of the past 24 hours, my only pair of hands unable to type out all the ideas, the amazement, the frustration and laughter inspired by the latest developments, I thought I’d still try to put it all together in a couple of words.
“We just want to remind people, for those who don’t know what is secularism, secularism doesn’t mean being against God, secularism is just the separation between religion and state, secularism makes all citizens equal before the law with the same rights, secularism leads us from confessionalism to citizenship.”
(Closing remarks on satirical show “CHI NN” on Lebanese Al Jadeed TV, February 4, 2013)
With raging discussions on a new electoral law and civil marriage in recent weeks, the role of religion has once again been brought to the mainstream political debate. The role of religion in politics and our daily lives is certainly nothing new in Lebanon. Continue reading
At a time when many argued that democracy was incompatible with the Muslim-majority countries of the Middle East, the Turkish democratic model was always used as the ultimate example to the contrary. Developed in the backdrop of a ruthless military and a fiercely secular tradition, it provided a model that could be easily emulated by its neighbors, given similar societal composition and other commonalities that came with geographic proximity. But is Turkey the best democratic example for its neighbors to follow? The more I read about Turkey and its recent trajectory, the more I believe the answer is no. Continue reading
The face of war is never more real and striking than in the face of those who flee the violence, the bloodshed and the destruction, leaving everything behind but their loved ones, carrying nothing but their own battered lives. Continue reading
Something tells me that I wasn’t the only one that first gasped, was later amazed, laughed and then brushed aside the news that a delegation from March 14 would be going to Gaza. But on November 27, a delegation of journalists and three MPs went indeed, as a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people in view of the latest Israeli assault. Continue reading
