Dahr Jamail, “The Ongoing Occupation of Iraqi Artists“:
When Art, a crucial component that sustains the socio-cultural fabric of a society, and the Artist, who weaves this fabric, are both under assault, society tends to get frayed and fractious. As my sculptor friend Alawchi stated most succinctly, “It is dangerous for people to leave the arts. It’s dangerous, because art is the front face of the community. We now have the desertification of the art world in Iraq.”
And not only in Iraq. 500 years of imperialism has its effect on the culture.
A Practical Policy 