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| Syria Uprising |
 IN
an interview with The Wall Street Journal in January, Syria´s
president, Bashar al Assad, said that his main objective was
to address his people´s "closed-mindedness".
He made it clear that this alone impeded reform, and it might
be another generation before Syria is ready for real change.
Dictators (including Assad´s father, Hafez) have long
presented themselves as suppressors of extremism in the region
generally, and Syria in particular. They said democracy would
usher in fundamentalists inherently opposed to modernity, civil
dialogue, international community legitimacy and civilised human
political and economic relations. Perhaps because of this fear... |
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| THE POWER OF MOCKERY |
| THE juiciest story behind the Middle East
uprisings doesn´t concern Colonel Moamer Qadhafi´s
"voluptuous" Ukrainian nurse or CIA bags of cash.
Rather, it´s the tale of how a nonviolent revolutionary
strategy crafted by Serbian students and an octogenarian American
scholar came to challenge dictators in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain
and many other countries. This "uprising in a bottle"
blueprint was developed by the Serbian youth movement, Otpor,
to overthrow Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. One of Otpor´s
insights was that the most effective weapon against dictators
isn´t bombs or fiery speeches. It´s mockery. Otpor
activists once put Milosevic´s picture on a barrel that
they rolled down the street, inviting people to hit it with
a bat. Otpor´s strategy mirrors... |
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OIC meet discusses humanitarian initiatives
IHSAN YOUSSEF
DOHA THE first meeting of the newly formed Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Funds was held on Sunday in a bid to support humanitarian initiatives in Afghanistan, Bosnia Sierra Leone and Niger.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Sheikh Abdulaziz al Thani, chairman of the fund, said that Qatar will play a pivotal role in supporting humanitarian activities with active support from government and charity organisations.
He praised the launch of the fund which reflects the joint cooperation among the OIC countries.
“This fund will make a big difference in the lives of people in the conflict-hit countries like Afghanistan,” he added.
He also lauded the efforts of OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in creating the fund.
“Our projects have made a great impact in many crisisridden countries.
We have done a lot for people in Sierra Leone, Bosnia and other countries by re-constructing houses, digging wells, setting up tents for educating students and building 37 medical centres in Afghanistan,” he added.
He said that another meeting of the group will be held soon.
The participants designated Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman al Thani as the chairman of the board of trustees.
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