Culture

The Israeli works of popular culture that are the most critically acclaimed in the West are also often the ones that engage the most directly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To outside observers, that has made it seem as though Israeli society was moving in a more conciliatory direction than it actually has in recent years.

When Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reestablished the country’s Ministry of Culture on his first day back in office, the move was greeted by a muted response. The absence of media coverage was surprising, considering that for most of the past decade the ministry had been at the center of Brazil’s culture wars.