Great Pic from the Benghazi Street, Hanging Up on 3rd World Stereotypes

Props to the NYT for the photo accompanying this morning’s political update on Libya.

The caption reads:

Residents of Benghazi, Libya, the rebel stronghold, went about their business on Tuesday, but the situation in Misurata was dire after attacks by government forces.

All too often, street scenes from the Middle East — even during the democracy uprising these past few months — amplify a sense of third-world hardship and people behind the times. In this shot, on the other hand — charged with activism by the poster with the Libyan liberation flag, as well as the bit of graffiti and even the arrow — we see (not just via two guys on cell phones, but a guy in his djellaba on his laptop on the street corner) the people dialed in.

(photo: Bryan Denton for The New York Times)