Displaying items by tag: street protests
Arab Spring's hits and misses
THE chaos at the second anniversary of the Tahrir Square uprising is only the latest and most vivid illustration that Egypt's revolution is going off the rails. It has revived talk about the failure of the Arab Spring and even some nostalgia for the old order. But Arab dictators such as Hosni Mubarak could not have held onto power without even greater troubles; look at Syria. Events in the Middle East the past two years underscore that constitutions are as vital as elections and that good leadership is crucial in these transitions............Download the full article in pdf attachment (below)
Rekindling that Persian romance
Anyone who thinks Malaysian street protests can get a bit out of hand should look at Iran for all-out carnage. There is, however, another side to the artistic land formerly known as Persia, where romance was in the air long before the arrival of tear gas.
Iran can be considered the romantic heartland of Asia, though few are likely to see it that way these days. Its art is not like the height of lustful abandon that exists in the Himalayas, or the graphic peculiarities of Japan or China, or the near absence of romantic allusion in Southeast Asia............ Download the full article in pdf attachment (below)