The Arabic edition of Newsweek has named Nancy Ajram one of the 43 faces symbolizing change in the Arab world (via Elaph).
Readers of Abu Aardvark already knew about the centrality of Nancy Ajram to Arab cultural politics, of course, but it's always nice to see the idea go mainstream. Newsweek also mentioned the Islamist TV figure Amr Khaled one of its faces of change (read this interesting piece by Lindsey Wise in TBS Journal for more on him), but for some reason only chose to use a picture of Nancy. 
does Amr Khaled really wear purple suits?
Posted by: praktike | April 22, 2005 at 12:01 PM
Interesting to call Amr Khaled Islamist. If the term has to do with politics, he's always running away from it!
Posted by: Mohamed | April 22, 2005 at 02:43 PM
Mohamed, you're absolutely right, that was very sloppy of me. All culture, no politics for Amr Khaled. Oh well, the damage has been done, but I do stand corrected.
Posted by: the aardvark | April 22, 2005 at 02:56 PM
Picked up this observation by Karl Popper to suggest that sexy pop idols must necessarily be the camp followers of the march of liberal democracy: Being a liberal is nothing more than being a timid libertine.
Posted by: Nur al Cubicle | April 22, 2005 at 09:53 PM
Why 43 faces? Does the number 43 have some sort of significance?
Posted by: Fox | April 25, 2005 at 04:33 AM