Winds of Change
The output of young artists in the Arab world is clear evidence that young people here have for a long time been grappling with prevailing social conditions in their particular nations. Observations by Charlotte Bank
Many in Europe have been surprised by the revolutions in the Arab world and the key role played in these by young people. For too long, the West has been accustomed to seeing this part of the world represented by authoritarian regimes and backward, traditional societies.
The fact that Arab youth has long broken out of this straitjacket was quite simply overlooked on many counts. The old rulers with their antediluvian rhetoric and backward world view faced a generation of highly educated young people – people who have, as a matter of course, embraced the digital modes of communication that have emerged in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.