- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
- Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon to land
- Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
- Biden official urges talks as US port strike enters second day
- Huge protests in Argentina over public university cuts
- Rally in oil prices loses steam on mixed day for global stocks
- South America treated to rare 'ring of fire' eclipse
- Biden official says port strike deal not as far as parties think
- Mexico's new president offers apology for 1968 student massacre
- Historic funding round values OpenAI at $157 billion
- Mixed US car sales in Q3 as industry hopes for post-election bounce
- Thunderstorms are a 'boiling pot' of gamma rays, scientists find
- Scientists unlock secret of 'Girl With Pearl Earring'
- Dolphins flash friendly grins when they're ready to play
- Facing backlash, EU moves to delay deforestation rules
- US private sector adds more jobs than expected in September: ADP
- Boys out of critical condition after Zurich stabbings
- Spain logs record summer tourism as inflow draws protests
- Hedi Slimane quits as Celine's artistic director
- Oil prices extend rally on Iran attack
- Spain welcomed record number of tourists this summer
- France says coming tax hikes on the wealthy to be 'temporary'
- Why are Thailand's roads so deadly?
- Oracle to invest $6.5 bn in Malaysian cloud services region
- Parkrun marks 20 years of a free weekly jog, run... or walk
- Oil extends rally after Iran attack, Hong Kong soars again
- Prostitutes, prospectors drive spread in DR Congo mpox capital
- Oil extends rally after Iran attack, Hong Kong resumes surge
- Extreme heat another form of death sentence in Texas jails
- Can music help plants grow? Study suggests sound boosts fungus
BCC | -1.33% | 139.53 | $ | |
SCS | -2.56% | 12.87 | $ | |
JRI | -1.12% | 13.38 | $ | |
NGG | -1.85% | 68.78 | $ | |
RIO | -0.48% | 70.82 | $ | |
GSK | -2.15% | 39.45 | $ | |
BCE | -1.13% | 34.44 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.04% | 24.78 | $ | |
AZN | 1.14% | 79.58 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.04% | 24.93 | $ | |
RBGPF | 100% | 59.99 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.14% | 6.91 | $ | |
BTI | -1.33% | 35.97 | $ | |
BP | 0.86% | 32.37 | $ | |
VOD | -2.16% | 9.74 | $ | |
RELX | -0.11% | 47.29 | $ |
Young Arab artists dream of freedom in unique talent show
Young musicians, dancers, actors and comedians from across the Arab world took to the stage in Tunisia to express their visions of freedom, more than a decade after the Arab Spring uprisings.
The show, performed under the stars at a seaside theatre in the resort of Hammamet and broadcast across the region, featured winners of an online video competition to complete the phrase: "I will only be free when..."
It was the latest in a string of talent and debate programmes organised by media action group Munathara ("debate"), which aims "to spark much-needed conversations about rights, freedoms and social change in the Arab world", according to founder Belabbas Benkredda.
"Public debates even about fundamental rights can be very polarising, especially on social media," the 43-year-old Algerian-German said.
Munathara was born in 2012, the year after the Arab Spring revolts, kicked off by the ouster of Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which had sparked high hopes for democracy in a region with an overwhelmingly young population.
But ironically, as Munathara marked its 10th anniversary with the show in Hammamet on Saturday, it was overshadowed by President Kais Saied consolidating a power-grab that has sparked fears for Tunisia's democratic gains.
Other countries in the region have seen the rise of even more repressive systems than before, while others have witnessed devastating civil wars.
- 'Freedoms under attack' -
Munathara was founded at "a time of great hope and aspiration -- but the optimism has given way to cynicism, including among youth", Benkredda said.
"The Arab world's Gen Z came of age politically amid increasing despair and social division."
Syrian refugee and stand-up comedian Mohamed al-Kurdi, one of the performers in Saturday's show, said that today, "young people's freedom is restricted, and not just in the Arab world".
"All over the world freedoms are under attack," the 23-year-old added, sitting at the edge of a stage bathed in spotlights during a break from rehearsals.
Kurdi, whose TikTok account "MidoKrdi" has over 2.3 million followers, said that rather than dealing with politics, he wanted to discuss "the limits we impose on ourselves: fear of failure, fear of success. These things rein in our freedom."
For Saturday's event, he teamed up with fellow comedian and actress Dana Ali Makki, 22, in a comedy act about an overbearing husband and his wife.
Makki, from the southern Lebanese region of Nabatiyeh, said she believed young Arabs had slightly more freedom than a few years ago.
"People can be a bit different from their parents and from the society and culture they grew up in," she said.
"There's more subversion against customs, traditions, religion and society."
Asked how she defined her own freedom, she said: "I'm free when I'm able to say whatever I want, loudly, without being afraid of anyone. Free of all the restrictions society imposes, especially on women."
- 'Learn to resist!' -
The show, the fourth of its kind, also served as a showcase for up-and-coming talent, such as Ahmed al-Qrinawi from Gaza, a Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade for the past 15 years.
He was a twice-published poet when he started teaching himself the oud -- a kind of lute widely played in the Middle East -- at the age of 22.
He would sit under a shelter he built on the family's roof in Gaza City, to avoid the disapproving ears of his conservative family.
To learn music theory, he used copies of music books borrowed from friends at a music school he couldn't afford to attend.
Last weekend, three years later, he appeared on stage playing an unusual seven-stringed oud, home-made with the help of a carpenter friend.
He said he had only heard about the competition shortly after the deadline, and composed, recorded and submitted his song in just an hour.
Fortunately, judges accepted the entry, and he went on to become one of the winners and perform with a professional band.
"I will only be free when I have a normal country, where death doesn't keep an eye on me," runs the first line of his song.
"In Gaza there's no freedom," Qrinawi said.
"Freedom's not just about food and drink. You can get a bird and put it in a cage and bring it food, but it's still in captivity."
For Lebanese actress and comedian Makki, who has a tattoo on her forearm reading "resist", the show was a chance to deliver another message.
"You can't stay in your house with your hands tied or stay silent," she said.
"Learn to say no to oppression and repression."
M.García--CPN