Stories about Arts & Culture from November, 2020
Can secularism be compatible with Islam?
"Islam has become an insecure identity that is always undermined by criticism from the Christian or godless, but always colonial, West."
Rubber ducks in Thai protests inspire solidarity and memes
"The image of Thai authorities, armed to the teeth with riot gear and shields, facing off against…rubber ducks…highlights the sheer asymmetry of the battle between protester and state."
In the Middle East, words escape prison walls to inspire freedom and hope
"Why is our homeland so small and tight, and why am I considered a criminal or an enemy that threatens it!”
During the Cold War, Latin American intellectuals found solace in communist Prague
After World War II, Latin America had authoritarian, US-backed anti-communist governments. Facing repression at home, writers found refuge in communist Prague, in a story little-known in today's Czech Republic.
Proposed tax on books in Brazil may disadvantage readers in poorer neighbourhoods
The Brazilian government is considering a 12 percent tax on literary works. Cultural initiatives warn that the proposal risks widening existing inequalities in access to reading.
The pandemic in Bangladesh through the lens of its independent filmmakers
Global Voices spoke with Zuairijah Mou, the co-founder of Bangladeshi filmmaking collective Tong-Ghor Talkies, who have recently released a series of short films set in the context of the pandemic.
The history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, the medieval Jewish book that survived the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and the Yugoslav Wars
When Nazi Germany occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Haggadah was hidden at the mosque of a Muslim village in the Bjelašnica Mountain, where it remained until the end of the war.
A new magazine tells chilling stories from Russia's remote regions
Over the year since it was founded, the award-winning Holod Media has captivated Russian audiences with its longform stories on inequality and injustice in regions poorly covered by federal media.
