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The 2009–2011 Icelandic financial crisis protests, also referred to as the Kitchenware Revolution or Icelandic Revolution (Icelandic: Íslenska Byltingin) occurred in the wake of the Icelandic financial crisis. There had been sporadic protests since October 2008 against the Icelandic government's handling of the financial crisis. The protests intensified on 20 January 2009 with thousands of people showing up to protest at the parliament (Althing) in Reykjavík.

Protesters were calling for the resignation of government officials, and for new elections to be held. The protests stopped for the most part with the resignation of the old right-wing government. A new left-wing government was formed after elections in late April 2009. It was supportive of the protestors, and initiated a reform process that included the judicial prosecution before the Landsdómur of the former Prime Minister Geir Haarde.

Also, several referenda were held to ask the citizens about paying or not the Icesave debt of their banks. Finally, a complex and unique process took place, in which 25 common people of no political party were to be elected to form an Icelandic Constitutional Assembly. The assembly would write a new Constitution of Iceland. After some legal problems, a Constitutional Council that included those people presented a Constitution Draft to the Iceland Parliament on 29 July 2011.

The Icelandic revolution is also known as The Pots and Pans Revolutionhttp://iceland2012.mediajungle.dk/, referring to the protestors' use of pots and pans to create attention in front of the parliament.

NEW ARTICLE
I have improved an article on Ali Farzat to include more recent information and correct some information about his career and early life.

Ali Farzat (علي فرزات; born 22 June 1951) is a renowned Syrian political cartoonist. He has published more than 15,000 caricatures between Syrian, Arab and international newspapers. He serves as the head of the Arab Cartoonists' Association. Farzat was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2012.

Life and career
Farzat was born and raised in the city of Hama, in central Syria on 22 June 1951. His first professional drawings appeared, when he was 14, on the front pages of al-Ayyam newspaper, shortly before it was banned by the ruling Baath Party. In 1969 he began drawing caricatures for the state-run daily, al-Thawra. He enrolled at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Damascus University in 1970, and left before graduating in 1973. In the mid-1970s he moved to another government controlled daily, Tishreen, where his cartoons appeared every day. The same newspaper later verbally attacked him and tried to implicate him with the worst conspiracies of Zionism. International recognition followed in 1980 when he won the first prize at the Intergraphic International Festival in Berlin, Germany, and his drawings began to appear in the French newspaper Le Monde. His exhibition in 1989 at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, France, brought on him a death threat from Saddam Hussein, and a ban from Iraq, Jordan and Libya. The drawing that brought about the most controversy was called The General and the Decorations which showed a general handing out military decorations instead of food to a hungry Arab citizen. . Farzat was reportedly asked by the then Iraqi ambassador to France,Abdul-Razzak al-Hashimi,to take down this particular cartoon from an art exhibit held at the Arab World Institute in Paris.

Farzat's initial encounter with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was prior to his presidency in 1996. According to Farzat, "He [Bashar] actually laughed at some of the cartoons—specifically at those targeting security personnel—he had a bunch of them with him and he turned to them and said: 'Hey, he is making fun of you. What do you think?" Afterward the two developed a friendship. In December 2000 Farzat started publishing al-Domari ("The Lamplighter"), which was the first independent periodical in Syria since the Baath Party came to power in 1963. The newspaper was based on political satire and styled in a similar way to the French weekly Le Canard enchaîné. The first issue of the paper came out in February 2001 and the entire 50,000 copies were sold in less than four hours. In 2002 he won the prestigious Dutch Prince Claus Award for "achievement in culture and development". By 2003, however, frequent government censorship and lack of funds forced Farzat to close down al-Domari. He has been called "one of the most famous cultural figures in the Arab world".

2011-13 Syrian uprising
As the ongoing Syrian uprising against the rule of al-Assad grew, Farzat had been more direct in his anti-regime cartoons, specifically targeting government figures, particularly al-Assad. Following the fall of Tripoli in late August to anti-regime rebels seeking to topple Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, Farzat published a cartoon depicting a sweaty Bashar al-Assad clutching a briefcase running to catch a ride with Gaddafi who is anxiously driving a getaway car. Other cartoons Farzat published previously include one where al-Assad is whitewashing the shadow of large Syrian security force officer while the actual officer remains untouched with the caption reading "Lifting the emergency law" and another showing al-Assad dressed in a military uniform flexing his arm in front of a mirror. The mirror's reflection shows Assad being a dominant muscular figure contrasting with his actual slim stature. http://voiceseducation.org/sites/default/files/images/cate1_110827173001.jpg

On August 25, 2011, Farzat was reportedly pulled from his vehicle in Umayyad Square in central Damascus by three masked gunmen believed to be part of the security forces and a pro-regime militia. The men assaulted him, focusing mainly on his hands, and dumped him on the side of the airport road where passersby found him and took him to a hospital. According to one of his relatives, the security forces notably targeted his hands with both being broken and then told Farzat it was "just a warning." His official website verifies this story His brother As'aad, however, claims Farzat was kidnapped from his home around 5am by five gunmen and then taken to the airport road after being beaten "savagely." The gunmen then warned him "not to satirize Syria's leaders." The Local Coordination Committee (LCC), an activist group representing the rebellion in Syria, stated that his briefcase and the drawings in them were confiscated by the assailants.

In response to news of Farzat's ordeal, Syrian opposition members have expressed outrage and several online activists changed their Facebook profile picture with that of a hospitalized Farzat in solidarity with the cartoonist. The incident provoked an outpouring of solidarity by cartoonists in the Arab world and internationally. Egyptian Al Sharouk's Waleed Taher had drawn a map of the Arab world with a face emerging out of Syria screaming "They beat up Ali Farzat, World!" Egypt's Al Masry Al Youm published a cartoon depicting a man with two amputated hands, taken aback by how another person guessed that he was a cartoonist. In the Lebanese daily Al Akhbar Nidal al-Khairy published a cartoon depicting Farzat's broken hand being stabbed by three security men smaller than the hand in size with the caption reading "The hands of the people are above their hands." Well-known Carlos Latuff of Brazil drew a rifle with a pen as its barrel pursuing a frantic al-Assad.

The United States condemned the attack calling it "targeted, brutal." According to the BBC's Arab affair's analyst, Farzat's beating is a sign that the Syrian authorities "tolerance for dissent is touching zero." One month earlier, Ibrahim al-Qashoush, the composer of a popular anti-regime song, was found dead with his vocal cords removed.

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Following the attack Farzat stated that he would not meet with al-Assad any longer, although he was not sure if al-Assad directly ordered the assault against him. Farzat said he would continue to criticize al-Assad, stating "I was born to be a cartoonist, to oppose, to have differences with regimes that do these bad things. This is what I do."

Style
Farzat's drawings criticized bureaucracy, corruption and hypocrisy within the government and the wealthy elite. His drawings, typically without captions, are renowned for their scathing criticism and for depicting types rather than individuals. Through his cutting caricatures he gained the respect of many Arabs while drawing the ire of their governments. However, since the uprising in Syria began Farzat has been more direct in his caricatures, depicting actual figures including the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad.

Awards
Farzat was given the Gebran Tueni 2012 Award, that honors an outstanding individual from the news media in the Arab world. The award recognizes Farzat’s unprecedented contribution to freedom of expression and acknowledges his unwavering commitment, despite physical attack, to exposing the excesses of power through his cartoons. Farzat was also names the journalist of the year for year 2011 by Reporters Without Boarders for his defense of press freedom. The international award aims to recognize journalists who continued to fight against crimes against humanity despite brutal threats.

Collections

 * A Pen of Damascus Steel (2005)