Turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa

By Ginny Finch

“The Muslim World in Revolt: Signs of Hope and Crisis”  was a timely subject last Sunday, and Dumbarton’s Pam Constable, Washington Post foreign correspondent, was the ideal guest to brief Dumbartonians on the issues and field their questions.

According to Constable, cross-currents like “rich vs. poor” and “democracy vs. autocracy” are coming together in situations nobody expected. Reasons for the new  populist uprisings in the Middle East vary from country to country, but those involved in the discontent have one thing in common: Leaders who have stayed in power too long and exercised it too much. When people hunger for a change in leadership, the change helps, whether or not it immediately solves people’s problems.

Constable considered questions on religion and “democracy” with eager-to-learn Dumbartonians. For the well-traveled reporter, a country’s location and the correlation of religious, economic, and military forces play a pivotal role in determining the happy co-existence of religion and democracy. Women’s roles and attitudes are shaped more by a country’s individual traditions and culture than by religion..   

    
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Pam Constable has been a Washington Post foreign correspondent for more  than a decade. Recently she was a guest expert on the  PBS Newshour. Constable  is the author of a forthcoming book on Pakistan. Her memoir-- Fragments of Grace: My Search for Meaning in the Strife of South Asia---was published in 2004 to much critical acclaim. To access some of Constable’s recent articles, go to
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/pamela+constable/ .