Dignity is the basic human right
By Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng
August 2012 EDITORIAL
The so-called Arab spring that began with the public suicide on December 17, 2010 of a miserable Tunisian vegetable seller whose cart was towed away by the police is often denoted a pro-democracy movement.That latter term is technically correct, seeing how it quickly led to the fall of dictators and to popular elections in certain Arab countries. But the easy categorisation of these momentous events as a struggle for democracy, besides reducing human yearning into a simple wish to vote,...
Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng
is the Executive Director of Penang Institute. His latest book is Signals in the Noise: Notes on Penang, Malaysia and the World (Singapore: Faction Press) Homepage: wikibeng.com.
