http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/alastair-campbell/ Alistair Campbell is a university student from Sydney that spent considerable time in the Middle East, specifically Jordan and Iraq, working on youth development and empowerment projects during 2008.  en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Talking-about-Green-Day-with-a-cool-chick-in-a-niqab/ One night in an impromptu makeshift dance party in Mosul, in Iraq, I met a young girl of age 20 who I started to talk to about Iraqi politics. We spoke in English - her fractured English was a lot better than my fractured Arabic – and discussed topics as broad as the disconnect between the political class and the people, to the Bollywood blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire.  I fondly remember that conversation, for one simple reason - Lubna was wearing the niqab, or, what most Australians would refer to (incorrectly) as the burqa.  She wasn’t what I had envisaged a typical niqab wearing woman to be like.  She was partying and dancing next to both males and females who were drinking alcohol and rocking out to Katy Perry.  She was progressive, easy going and open-minded. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Alastair Campbell) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Talking-about-Green-Day-with-a-cool-chick-in-a-niqab/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Talking-about-Green-Day-with-a-cool-chick-in-a-niqab/#item3187 Sun, 30 May 2010 19:55:38 +0000 Alastair Campbell | Author bios | The Punch