 In which Mohammad Al Khalil, lecturer, Arabic Studies, Zayed University, Dubai, complains that the involvement of comely young women in Lebanon's demonstrations will offend the sensibilities of the Arab world:The heavily-Westernised mix-gender scenes of activists out demonstrating, sometimes in very close quarters like the back of a pickup truck, may not sit well with Arab time-honoured tradition of the separation of the sexes.
The flashy hip way of dress and behaviour of the opposition demonstrators could very well stigmatise them as American sold-outs in the eyes of conservative Arab viewers, which could in turn impact their movement...
Arab society remains overwhelmingly conservative, more so, perhaps than any time in its history, a fact that should not be confused with its thirst for democracy and reform as the Iraq elections proved. But ironically, the liberal-conservative scene here is not much different from the same scene across the Atlantic. He still hasn't caught on to the fact that democracy, at least the way we're pushing it, equates to freedom. That means freedom from the heavy hand of the holy man as well as freedom from the heavy hand of the tin-hat dictator. That also means everyone — the babes included. |
|