In the post 9/11 world, people don’t seem able to talk about the Middle East and Arabic world without putting every single word in a political context. So what would happen if you’d turn this around? What would happen if you would fill an entire issue with beautiful Arabic things, either hailing from or inspired by the Middle East, without referring to politics? Would that even be possible? We guess the answer is ‘no’. Every artist who lives in, or comes from the Middle East is at least somewhat influenced by the political situation. Fortunately, this is an era where people from the Middle East, inspired by each other, are trying to change this. This issue is a celebration of their revolution.