Interview on Global Voice Hall

This was a recent Arabic interview on the book held by journalist Ahmed Abdul Razzaq on Global Voice Hall. The specific topic of discussion was Lebanon and regional instability effects on its democracy.

http://www.globalvoicehall.com/al_mihak_episode_17.

According to the attached Agence France Press article, Libya's elections will field some 3700 candidates, of which 200 will be chosen by a total of 3 million eligible constituents 80% of whom have been shown to want an election ... And all this less than 1-year from the end of an almost 40-year Gadhafi dictatorship.

Can anybody still doubt the Arab people's true desire for democracy?

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/45814-libyans-cast-ballots-in-post-gadhafi-vote-some-polling-stations-closed

Congratulations Egypt on your election ! Here's to a better future free of corruption and nepotism ... It won't be easy any which way. Hang in there for the ride ... For now, all Egyptians should be proud of there democratic accomplishment. Go Egypt !!!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18571580

Egyptian Presidential Debate: Yet another Egyptian surprise

As the Egyptian presidential election looms, Egyptians got a rare occasion in the Arab World to witness two candidates actually go through a civilized debate based on substance and ideas. Egypt continues to surprise the Arab world and make many proud. Hopefully, this debate and others will give a chance to Egyptian voters to cast their ballots in the upcoming elections based on knowledge about the candidate and not the coersion of this or that regime. Good for you Egypt!

Here is an interesting report on the subject by AlJazeera English:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMnaXzBwQuU.

This is a new interview on the book conducted by Mona Alame with Lebanon Now, which can be accessed here:

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=394329&MID=0&PID=0

Syria: Unvoting with their feet

An article about Syria's recent parliamentary elections as reported by Agence France press via Annahar, Lebanon's daily described turnout across Syria:

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/39354-7-killed-as-syria-holds-election-snubbed-by-opposition

It is interesting to compare and contrast the Syrian election under its new constitution with that of Iraq's a few years ago. The recent Syrian election does not seem to have appealed to large swathes of the population; and apparently several populated cities witnessing clampdown barely saw any voting. This stands in stark contrast to Iraq's which saw millions still show up to vote- notwithstanding the sectarian violence and the American occupation occuring at the time.

The conclusion to be drawn is that it seems while regimes may force people into submission, they are still incapable of forcing them to vote for something they deem unfair and illegitimate.

People can unvote with their feet after all ...

Book Interview with Karen Boustany on MTV

This is a recent book interview with Karen Boustany on her MTV Lebanon book show titled Kitab. It is in Arabic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIR5FtMe61U