Word: civilize
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...Outsiders might view the cacophony of complaints at Jantar Mantar as a metaphor for India's vital civil society, where even the loneliest petitioners are entitled to a soapbox. But many in the Jantar Mantar crowd are not so sanguine. Dhingra, the Bhopal protester, says that having this space is better than nothing, but sees Jantar Mantar as a symptom of flawed democracy. "You must scream within these 500 meters," she says. "And even then, you can't be sure you'll be heard...
...economy also showing signs of weakness, there's little doubt that how Beijing handles issues of dissent and social instability in the post-Games period will have a lasting impact on China's future. And though not everyone shares his sunny outlook, Bequelin remains optimistic about China?s nascent civil society, whose development was temporarily put on ice in the lead up to the Games. "It's a battle in which Chinese are trying to get government off their backs," he says. And what's being fought for by people like Zhou is access to information and the right...
...long-standing role in Afghanistan into conflict with its most vital strategic alliance. Pakistan had used Afghan jihadists to wage proxy warfare against the Soviet Union on behalf of the U.S. And after the Red Army withdrew and the U.S. had no interest in the outcome of Afghanistan's civil war, Pakistani security services nurtured the Taliban and shoehorned it into power, ensuring that Afghanistan was ruled by a client of Islamabad. After al-Qaeda struck the U.S., Pakistan's key ally demanded support for a military campaign to oust the Taliban, the hosts of Osama bin Laden. Musharraf tried...
...power of the X chromosome doesn't extend to other parts of Chinese society. With the relaxation of a government quota system, the number of women in the top ranks of civil service has plummeted. A traditional preference for boys over girls has led to widespread sex-based abortions, leaving China with one of the world's most lopsided gender ratios. In 2005, 118 Chinese boys were born for every 100 girls. That means fewer brides for a surplus of Chinese men in the coming decades - not to mention a deficit of future female Olympians...
Chan traces her political awakening to an early age: two, to be exact, when she and her father, a Hong Kong civil servant, marched in solidarity with the student protests that convulsed China in 1989. She has remained a vocal opponent of the Chinese Communist Party, but her biggest beef today is with what she sees as the ethno-centrism of China's majority Han population and its negative impact on Beijing-governed Tibet. "If you love China," she says, "you should care about the welfare of all its people, not just the dominant group." Greeting the Olympic torch...