Evanston scholar Riad Ismat dies from COVID-19 — mourned by the Arab world as the brave former culture minister of Syria

In Dec. 2010, a government inspector confiscated the wares of a Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi, overturning the cart from which he sold fruit and confiscating his scales. Shortly afterwards, after trying and failing to lodge an appeal and while declaring “How do you expect me to make a living?,” Bouazizi set himself aflame in the street. Thus was born a people’s revolution in …