In The News

Confucius vs. Avatar: And the Winner is…

Mary Kay Magistad January 25, 2010
When the movie Avatar was mysteriously pulled from the cinemas in China, bloggers and pundits alike suspected censorship. But why would a science fiction movie about 10 foot tall blue hominids cause such a stir? For one, the themes of land expropriation and forced evictions featured in the movie resonated with the experiences of many Chinese, according to Beijing-based journalist Mary Kay...

Americans’ Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push

Jeffrey Gettleman January 21, 2010
Uganda, a Christian majority nation, hosted three American evangelicals in March 2009 who gave talks describing the gay agenda and its threat to Bible-based values and the traditional African family. The men, widely discredited in the US, spoke to large, rapt audiences, but claim they did not intend what followed a month later: the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 which threatened to hang...

Beyond Minarets: Europe’s Growing Problem with Islam

Shada Islam January 14, 2010
Switzerland’s ban on building minarets is emblematic of a larger issue in Europe, according to Brussels-based journalist Shada Islam. It highlights not only the increasing divide between Muslims and non-Muslims in the continent, but also the need for Europe to embrace multi-culturalism. Indeed, the issues present a stark contrast between perception and reality. Many believe that Muslims are...

Laos Steps into the Globalized World

Bertil Lintner December 15, 2009
Laos’ hosting of the Southeast Asian Games is in some way a metaphor for the country’s entrance into the globalized world. And Laos has crossed that threshold holding China’s hand, according to journalist Bertil Lintner. As a land-locked country, Laos decided to become “land-linked” to China. In other words, the constraints of geo-politics meant Vientiane had two choices: wallow in isolation or...

How to Let Islam and the West Live in Harmony

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono November 23, 2009
The recently-re-elected president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, says that religiosity will continue to rise in coming years. But it will come against the backdrop of rising multiculturalism and tolerance as people realize that cooperation and democracy can help transcend global challenges like climate change and terrorism. To ensure this tolerance is secured, Yudhoyono calls for the...

Globalization Unchecked: How Alien Media is Suffocating Real Culture

Ramzy Baroud November 23, 2009
Globalization is creating “cultural schizophrenia” in developing nations, which lack the ability to protect their traditional ways of life against the constant bombardment of a dazzling and well-packaged Western culture. The author, reflecting on his travels in the Muslim world − a Muslim family watching a barely-clad Beyonce on MTV or Turkish youths playing an American video game that involves...

The Fight Over the Future of Food

Claudia Parsons, Russell Blinch, Svetlana Kovalyova November 18, 2009
Population growth and climate change are creating the need for a second Green Revolution. But the form that revolution should take is heavily contested. Activists argue that the second revolution can’t be like the first, which left behind environmental damage and some claim is not sustainable. The debate is further complicated by a divide between developed and developing nations, and differing...