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Geopolitics

ARABICA - A Daily Shot Of What the Arab World is Saying/Hearing/Sharing

ARABICA - A Daily Shot Of What the Arab World is Saying/Hearing/Sharing


A R A B I C A
ارابيكا

By Kristen Gillespie

SAUDI WOMEN
Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah granted the right of women to vote… in 2015. Elections for the Shoura Council, will be held this week, but women are not allowed to participate. Elaph.com published a commentary by Essam Abullah, who calls the decision to allow women to vote "a step in the right direction," but notes that "political rights' should not be confused with "fundamental rights (such as the right to drive a car)" which are very much lacking. "Men dominate strict, traditional societies and do not want to give up their hegemony over women," Essam Abdullah writes.

GADDAFI FAMILY
The Egyptian government is denying reports that eight members of the Gaddafi family have moved to Cairo from Algeria. There is "absolutely no truth to the Algerian media reports," the ruling military leadership said in a statement.

JORDAN ("FAKE") DEMOCRACY
An editorial published on news site JordanZad.com, entitled "Government bullying and fake democracy," laments the failure of any form of democracy in Jordan. The government pretends to reform the electoral process, but the bottom line is that MPs "will face the most severe government bullying and marginalization," the equivalent to "sitting in the back seat of the car," a role reserved for women. "Government bullying has contributed significantly to emptying democracy of its true meaning," the unnamed author notes.

The article cites examples of how Jordan's government makes unilateral decisions without approval or rejection from the public:

- changing monetary policies of the Central Bank

- joining the Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-member union modeled on the European Union

- raising the debt ceiling unilaterally

- building a nuclear power plan.

BAHRAIN MERCENARIES
Bahrain's leading human rights activist, Najeeb Rajab, an active opponent of the ruling Al Khalifa family, said in an interview: "Since the beginning of the revolution, we have been monitoring the mercenaries hired by the government who are vandalizing and stealing and burning and torturing, but this corrupt government is not prosecuting them. Rather, they are prosecuting young people for participating in protests."

AT A MALL
Protesters on Sunday hid in a mall in Sanabis city, a suburb of Manama. As police raided one part of the mall, the longest-serving unelected prime minister in the world (the only premier Bahrain has had since independence, Sheikh Khalifa al-Khalifa, who came to power in 1971) held a photo op in a different part of the mall to reassure citizens.

Sep 27, 2011

photo credit: illustir

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food / travel

How The Sari Conquered The World

The prestigious Design Museum in London – named European Museum of the Year in 2018 – is currently staging a landmark exhibition, The Offbeat Sari, all about this item of dress and the clamour of attention it is enjoying.

Women and children posing for a photo in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.

Group of people posing for a photo, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, December 29, 2019.

Varun Gaba (@varunkgaba) / Unsplash
Andrew Whitehead

London Calling: How does India look from afar? Looming world power or dysfunctional democracy? And what’s happening in Britain, and the West, that India needs to know about and perhaps learn from? This fortnightly column helps forge the connections so essential in our globalising world.

The curry has conquered the world; the sari less so. It is, in concept, the most simple of garments: a single piece of unstitched fabric. In execution, it’s really tricky to wear for those who don’t have the knack. All those pleats – the tucking in – and then the blouse and petticoat which are part of the ensemble. Quite a palaver.

When Western women wear a sari – often as a perhaps misguided token of cultural respect – you often wish they had stuck to a trouser suit. And in its heartland, the sari is nothing like as ubiquitous as it once was. Among young urban Indian women, as far as I can make out, the sari is saved for high days and holidays.

Yet the elegance and versatility of the sari, as well as its timeless quality, have caught the attention of fashion gurus and designers, desi and otherwise. The prestigious Design Museum in London – named European Museum of the Year in 2018 – is currently staging a landmark exhibition, The Offbeat Sari, all about this item of dress and the clamour of attention it is enjoying.

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