The Mood Diaries

30/4/2014

A few weeks ago was when a psychologist told me that I was exhibiting symptoms of a mood disorder. Less than a week ago I went to meet a psychiatrist. I was prescribed medicines for bipolar disorder and anxiety issues. At the time I had no idea what those medicines had been prescribed for- I had simply presumed that they were anti-depressants. That they would numb me. That I wouldn’t get all violent with my friends anymore. That things would be alright. Perhaps I would be the spicy tangy minx that I always have been but the storms inside me would calm down to a certain extent. That perhaps the fierce edges would smoothen out. Not realizing,  that those fiery aspects are what make me who I am.

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Why Muslim states fail

By Khaled Ahmed

States released from colonial rule in the 20^th century have by and large not done well. Today, most of them are either failing or failed states. Only a few have reached the finishing line of liberal democracy with a survivable economic model beyond the 21^st century. Most of the Muslim states are included in the failing postcolonial model. Dictators with mental bipolar disorder — historically mistaken for charisma — who aimed to achieve romantic goals have crumbled, leaving in their wake equally romantic mobs of youths demanding what they presume is liberal democracy.

After Saddam Hussein, Iraq is in disarray; after Hosni Mubarak, Egypt is teetering; Libya promises nothing better. And after Musharraf, Pakistan’s democracy is dysfunctional. Among Muslims, only the market state in the Gulf may survive. In the Far East, too, it is the market state that looks like marching on. Muslim Indonesia and Malaysia may survive if they don’t exterminate their entrepreneur Chinese minorities under the spur of Islam. In Europe, when the dictator quits, civilisation takes over and the state survives. No such thing happens in the Muslim world. The premodern seduction of the Muslim mind prevents return to democracy. The blasphemy law is more powerful than any democratic constitution. …

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