Word: civics
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...would bat an eye for these victims of the marketplace, of course, were it not for their perceived importance in the healthy functioning of American civic life. This reputation, couched in the irreproachable quotations of Founding Fathers from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Franklin, has directly led to desperate calls by otherwise cool-headed individuals to save a business model that successfully marketed itself as the sole producer of reliable truth in an otherwise highly competitive and vibrant economy...
...newspaper wing in particular—is no priesthood of truth tellers. Scandals at the most venerable broadsheets are regular enough to set your clock by, and the printing of Friday night football scores in every hamlet across the land is in no guise the highest form of civic duty. The newspaper industry certainly was, however, one of the plumpest cash cows in the landscape of American business for numerous decades. As local newspapers survived on classified advertising, the economics of the industry invariably led to a monopoly paper emerging in literally every local market as the strong got stronger...
...Iraq's civic society has blossomed since the fall of Saddam Hussein, who sought to rigidly repress it. There are some 6,250 registered organizations operating in the country today, as well as a Ministry of State for Civil Society Affairs and civil society committees in provincial governments. But there are still limitations. NGOs cannot merge with one another or form networks without the permission of the government. Furthermore, the participation of non-Iraqis, even in international NGOs, will be limited to 25% of an organization...
More worrisome for some groups, the current draft law imposes provisions legalizing monitoring of the finances and accounts of NGOs, as well as their activities. The government must be notified of, and approve donations to civic organizations, giving it leverage over groups that often depend on contributions to survive. Hussain al-Safi, director general of the NGO Directorate, sidestepped a question about why the government should have its fingers on an NGO's purse strings, saying he hadn't read the 12-page draft law in detail. "I've been waiting for the opportunity to have a spare minute...
Assaf, the NGO representative, acknowledges that there are "corrupt elements" and for-profit associations masquerading as civic groups but says that clamping down on the majority because of a minority is unfair. The security situation is a convenient excuse for ulterior motives. "We speak of a new democratic Iraq that has put the ways of the old regime behind it, but at the same time there are things that make you think that the government wants to try and control NGOs," he says...