the corner office

I'm not sure what to make of this M&G article: Hamas spends $180k on an image makeover. Basically, Hamas needs some image work if they're going to be taken seriously as a political force, so they hired someone to help out.

I mean, a lot of it is common sense, really. Stop the anti-Semitic talk. Stop blowing people up. Portray a softer side:

Hamas is also attempting to soften its image at home with the launch of a television station in Gaza that includes a children's show presented by "Uncle Hazim" and men in furry animal suits. The station, named al-Aqsa Television after Islam's third holiest site, says it intends to put across the group's message "but without getting into the tanks, the guns, the killing and the blood". It will instead focus on religious readings, discussion programmes and a talent show.

Hehehe. Hehe. Um.

It would be easy to be cynical about this, but as I've said before, the South African experience, where 'terrorists' become 'the government', casts a different, marginally optimistic light on this. I don't think one can directly equate Hamas with the ANC, but it raises the question: can an organisation with a blood-spattered history make the change to becoming a legitimate political movement? And no matter how strongly one might feel that they're a bunch of bloodthirsty religious nuts, is it not a good thing if they are able to make the change, and to hope that they do?