News came yesterday, violent, rotten news. It’s been a steady rhythm from Mali, a country that has already suffered too much. But there’s something brutal in the news that Salafist fighters burned hundreds of rare manuscripts, some of them unique and centuries old, before leaving Timbuktu to French paratroopers. About these ads
Mali in the rainy season has its own rhythm, especially in the South: long days under heavy skies anticipating rain; moments when it comes so powerfully the world seems ready to end. Afterwards, a peculiar freshness and coolness, and new brown streams gurgling everywhere. With Ramadan coming soon, that rhythm will be syncopated, the regular […]
The long running art show, Printemps des Arts, held in La Marsa, a wealthier suburb of Tunisia, was the site of riots and attacks against art that incited the religious rancor among Salafi fundamentalists. On June 10, the last day of the exhibition, fundamentalists were incited to wreak havoc on the art when a government […]
March 25th is dedicated in the world to theater. In the spirit of that day, stage actors gathered at Habib Bourguiba Avenue, in front of the Municipal Theatre, Tunis. But, apparently, this event coincided with a demonstration staged by a religious group that most Tunisians refer to as “Salafists”. The term “Salafist” is beginning to […]
Not unsurprisingly, the news that the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, along with Salafists, received the bulk of votes cast in Egypt’s first elections since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, was met with dismay by our friends in the media. “What does this mean!?” pundits on CNN, Fox and whatever other useless channel you’re […]
