Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Fascinating report. "Today, with Gadhafi dead and a provisional government of former rebels in charge, we can begin to uncover the secret, high tech spying machine that helped the dictator and his regime cling to power"
Gripping report on a turning of the tables in Libya. Many of the Gaddafi regime's jailers and torturers are now themselves in prison. Where their victims may confront them, and in some cases exact retribution
The man in charge of Libya's highly corrupt oil industry during the last five years of Gaddafi's rule is dead – his body found floating in the Danube. His death makes uncovering truth about Libyan oil scandals much more difficult
"In the new South Africa that was reborn in the early 1990s, with its freedom hard-won from apartheid, we now have the imminent threat of updated versions of the suppression of freedom of expression that gagged us under apartheid"
Comment on Mona Eltahawy's polemic (linked to below) on the treatment of women in the Arab world. Yes, the problems are real but they need putting in a wider context where wholesale reform is needed. It's not just about gender
Kenyan writer's sharp, entertaining attack on the West's view of Africa. Watch out Jeffrey Sachs. "We will never look like what CNN wants us to look like. But that's fine - we can get online now and completely bypass their nonsense"
A call to arms. "Arab societies hate women. Name me an Arab country, and I'll recite a litany of abuses fueled by a toxic mix of culture and religion that few seem willing or able to disentangle lest they blaspheme or offend"
It's a lot better than you think. "Most African countries have enjoyed more than a decade of economic growth at rates we in the West can only dream about." Two big new forces for growth: Chinese investment, and mobile phones
Morocco avoided revolution, but how much reform has actually happened after a moderate Islamist prime minister was allowed to take office? In terms of reducing corruption and restructuring a cronyistic economy, not much
Portrait of African city taken lately by Tuareg rebels. Wreathed in fantasy and romance. Grew rich on the salt trade. "One could think of Timbuktu as the farthest inland port city in the world, and of the Sahara as its ocean"
He fought for France in World War Two, turned against it in battle for Algerian independence, became his country's first elected president. Courageous, charismatic, cunning. But he didn't tolerate dissent and was overthrown
Islamists rising to the top in the Arab world speak of freedom, equality, democratic values. At the same time, they insist Islam is the basis for these freedoms. Does this allow for genuine religious freedom? Evidence suggests not
Image from Wikimedia Commons
A personal journey to the heart of one of South Africa's most dangerous neighbourhoods
Simon Jenkins, on bombing Libya
"The iron law of plunging into someone else's civil war is choose the side most likely to win and make sure it does"
