No legitimate social contract can be devoid of stewardship, responsibility and duty. Recognising this allows us to assess both the historical significance of the democratic revolutionaries of our time, and the scale of the political challenge posed today by hypocrisy.
If politics is “the art of the possible” then 2011 has left us, as artists, with suddenly a much larger canvas and a new palate of colours to choose from. This broadened scope requires of us a new capacity for imagination.
When legitimate protesters are showered with contempt by those whose job it is to serve the community, humanity is insulted, but democracy especially. This is an important tipping point.
What is it about the nation in Libya and Egypt’s own backyards, which in the face of poorer and worsening conditions, continues to be characterised by a culture of complacency?
The Arab Spring has been inspirational in sub-Saharan Africa, home to some of the world’s longest serving leaders. Yet the protagonists of the Arab Spring have more to learn from their sub-Saharan Africa counterparts than the other way round.
By showing us the possibility of democracy in revolution, they have ignited a revolution in democracy, one that is redefining the meaning of both terms.
It is necessary to find a new system where decisions can only be taken if they have sufficient support from the people to legitimate them. This is why we cannot deny that we have entered into a new era.
In the Arab spring, new social media and the established media disseminated the voices of dissent and images of state brutality worldwide. The sheer drama of these unfolding events conveyed to us by correspondents physically embedded among the protestors, vividly conveyed the elation involved in c
Thoughts on the Arab revolution from an Arab nationalist.
Malaysia is at the crossroads … again. The government is acting with great insecurity in the face of persistent demands for democratic reform. The history of Malaysia's post-colonial settlement continues to weigh
