/region/middle_east_north_africa/youth-middle-east-looking-change-01872/ Fact-based, well-reasoned perspectives from around the world Mon, 20 Oct 2014 19:00:41 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /region/middle_east_north_africa/youth-middle-east-looking-change-01872/#comment-27283 Mon, 15 Sep 2014 11:23:37 +0000 http://www.fairobserver.com/?p=45039#comment-27283 a good place to get info is Wamda.com, a site which brings the attention to many creative ideas in the MENA region. It’s about time someone points to some of the – actually thriving – positive initiatives around here 🙂

]]> /region/middle_east_north_africa/youth-middle-east-looking-change-01872/#comment-27014 Fri, 05 Sep 2014 12:18:27 +0000 http://www.fairobserver.com/?p=45039#comment-27014 Hmm, what kind of startups? Does that include grocery stores and similar shops?
Please forgive me the critical question: I think you’re quest to look at the positive sides of the ME is a very noble AND NECESSARY one. Yet, in order to prosper some sort of peace and clear order needs to be restored, which involves solving the current issues. And I don’t mean that Democracy is needed for that but stable structures.
After all, judging from what I see on my facebook feed Fair Obs. almost exclusively focuses on what’s going wrong in the ME (of course this is due to my selective memory as I probably read a lot in all kinds of news, too). Why? Because the problems are so amazingly appalling that it became hard to see what could possibly go right in this petri dish.
Btw. there’s an interesting read: “The Modern World-System, vol. I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century” (Immanuel Wallerstein, NY, 1974), not sure if Atul knows it but I wouldn’t be surprised. Basic idea of the development of a modern democratic system: “first Christendom”, then the estates of the realm, then the economy, the enlightenment, then suffrage, legislature, judiciary and finally executive. Well, a friend of mine pointed out once that you might say, and no one’s laying claim to the truth here, that in Turkey, Egypt, Afghanistan, Ukraine, China, Russia, the Maghreb and Thailand it’s almost the other way around – first police, then judiciary, elections, legislature and finally enlightenment. I don’t know if you can read much into that but it’s an interesting question. And what’s more, where does the economy come in here? Maybe more women with economic power are a very good starting point. I would be very interested what these women’s husbands and male family members are doing at the same time.

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