From the perennially brilliant philosopher, cultural theorist and photography critic/theorist Ariella Azoulay, in a lecture delivered to Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, February 2011.

Some saddening news from Egypt about the developing political climate. Beyond the ominous totalitarian actions reportedly undertaken by the military lies the shameful disenfranchisement of Egyptian women from the process of reconstruction and liberation.

It’s easy to forget in the midst of such scattered and dramatic events that there’s a geopolitical arm-wrestle at play, and that China’s unwillingness to countenance encouragement of or forcible intervention in favour of democratic uprisings and revolutionary movements in West Asia has everything to do with the millions of Chinese labourers protesting for human rights, or with its thousands of pro-democracy activists at home. Certainly this sort piece helps contextualise the slow motion response from the Security Council, but it also puts in context the untrammelled mass of people who still want some approximation of free political representation across the globe. Here’s hoping…

Ahdaf Soueif - Our revolt is not Obama’s | Comment is free | The Guardian

If you can spare a few pounds, dollars or euros, please give to the World Medical Camp Libya which is set up on the Egyptian/Libyan border getting badly-needed medical supplies into the country.