The latest issue of Cultural Anthropology features an article by Revealer writer Yasmin Moll (read the entire issue here) titled, “Building the New Egypt: Islamic Televangelists, Revolutionary Ethics, and ‘Productive’ Citizenship.”  (You can read Yasmin’s article and the entire issue here.  You can read Yasmin’s articles for The Revealer here.)  An excerpt from “Building the New Egypt”:

While the revolution started as a response to the neo-liberal policies pursued by the Mubarak regime in its later years (Armbrust 2011), the idea of individual economic productivity as the “solution” only makes sense through neo-liberalism’s own normative lens of what makes for good governance and what doesn’t (cf. Mikdashi 2011). Within this discursive universe, individual citizens are morally responsible for economically improving both their own lives and the lives of others through their own efforts, rather than through holding the nation-state accountable to its own developmentalist rhetoric.

Kyrgyzstan has taken steps to ban Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church.  The country’s prosecutor general began court proceedings last month, though exact motives for the case are unclear.

Rightly, a lot of concern U.S is being expressed for religious persecution of Christians around the world (of note, not for Unification Church members). You can read up on how persecution of Christians worldwide is being used to justify Islamophobia at persecution.org. (via where else? Family Research Council.)

Kristin Rawls (who’s working on a piece for us about redemption and feminism!) has an article at AlterNet today on the involvement of U.S. Christian groups with anti-gay legislation in Africa.  She writes:

We really just know one thing with certainty: Members of the Christian right in the United States are promoting human rights abuses against LGBT people throughout the continent. But it is not always possible to find specific information about what they do. Very few American evangelicals are willing to admit the extent of their involvement in the wave of anti-gay legislation sweeping Africa.

The revolution will not be rebranded!  “If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, don’t worry: it’s not the high prices, poverty, or unemployment. You are suffering from Islamic Awakening.”

Surprise!  The American Constitution is no longer the model for democracy around the world:

There are lots of possible reasons. The United States Constitution is terse and old, and it guarantees relatively few rights. The commitment of some members of the Supreme Court to interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning in the 18th century may send the signal that it is of little current use to, say, a new African nation. And the Constitution’s waning influence may be part of a general decline in American power and prestige.