“One of the unspoken themes that I'm grappling with in Day of Honey is the relationship between violence and cosmopolitanism. It's one thing to comprehend violence as an outgrowth of ignorance, poverty, and backwardness. It's another matter entirely to confront incredible atrocities in a country with a rich civic and intellectual life.” CountryMatterPovertyRichViolenceOne ThingIgnoranceIntellectualIncrediblesThemeHoneyCivicsAtrocitiesUnspokenGrapplingIntellectual LifeCosmopolitanism Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“How can a country be home to sectarian militias and yet also to people who are educated, sophisticated, and pluralistic? This is not a simple matter. It's the kind of dialectical inquiry that's impossible to present in the world of Twitter feeds and newspapers where stories are shorter and shorter and more simplistic.” PeopleWorldKindCountryMatterStoriesHomeSimpleImpossibleNewspapersEducatedSophisticatedInquiryMilitia Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“Rulers like Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser started subsidizing bread as a way to buy loyalty, or at least obedience, and this system became so pervasive that the Tunisian scholar Larbi Sadiki described countries who used it as dimuqratiyyat al-khubz - "democracies of bread." But the problem with this system of offering bread in exchange for genuine democracy is that it can never last - sooner or later, the bread will run out, and people will start demanding bread and roses too.” PeopleWayCountryProblemRunningLastsUsedDemocracyRoseLoyaltyGenuineBreadObedienceAlsOfferingScholarRulersSooner Or LaterEgypt Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“Being an American journalist can put people on the defensive. In countries where people assume the press is partisan, like in Lebanon, or where it had essentially become an extension of the government, like in Iraq, people tend to see a journalist as an agent of his or her government. That can be dangerous if the United States military is occupying their country, or aligned with their enemies.” PeopleIfsCountryStatesGovernmentUnitedEnemyUnited StatesMilitaryDangerousPressesAssumingIraqAgentsJournalistExtensionsPartisansLebanonUnited States Military Author:Annia Ciezadlo