| Dream Deferred Essay Contest: 2009 US Winners |
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The author envisions a movement of young Americans helping to publish the taboo writings of their counterparts in the Middle East. Rather than simply lament artistic repression in the “no-longer-fertile crescent,” Americans harness new technology to create an open publishing platform for dissident voices. At once a simple concept and a challenging effort to circumvent censorship, the immediate impact of the project is young Middle Eastern reformers liberated at least to share their ideas in public. The long term potential impact? “A Middle Eastern Renaissance.”
Carmel Delshad, Florida, Age 21
The Middle Eastern Artistic Revolution
 NEW YORK, 2012 – In an age where digital communication is as instantaneous and natural as breathing, it can finally be declared that new technology has been utilized to help achieve the passage of civil rights reform in the Middle East.
It started roughly three years ago, in February 2009. America made great strides that year, with the ascension of Barack Obama to the Presidential office. A black president, whose uplifting speech inspired Americans to push for a stronger alliance with the Middle Eastern nations; a man who opened the eyes of common Americans to the plight of our fellow human beings, living in the no-longer-fertile crescent.
A new age was coming to both America and the Middle East. It began as a grassroots movement started by a few passionate Arab-American college students torn over an internal battle between their roots in the Middle East and their future in America. No more, they said.
They banded together, fundraised, spoke on campus, and spread the word to other college students via Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, and virtually every other networking site to create AMEASA: The American and Middle Eastern Artistic Solidarity Alliance. AMEASA currently funds the publishing of the artistic works of authors overseas, whether it is merely on a blog or in an actual book.
“It seemed so vacuous worrying about only finals and what sort of pizza to eat during study sessions while innocent civilians were being tortured overseas for sharing their artistic thoughts,” said Sarah Suleiman, president of the Tampa AMEASA chapter. “It was time to do more with our lives, and we decided on helping build a bridge between America and the Middle East through art.”
Najla Said, an artistic activist and daughter of the famed Edward Said, currently manages AMEASA in America. Her constituents in the Middle East range from journalists living in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria, to young poets and authors who wish to end the silence on their creative voices.
“What we face is a barrier to the freedom of thoughts and ideas, and the freedom to share those ideas,” said Said. “It is so sad for someone put their heart into a book or an article, only to have it turned away by publishing companies because it isn’t ‘socially proper.’ The Middle East doesn’t need to another printed love poem or cute love story. It needs works that push the envelope to get dialogue flowing amongst citizens.”
Push the envelope AMEASA did. Numerous attempts have been made to hack into AMEASA’s website and e-mail system to destroy the dialogue of ideas between authors and artists in the Middle East. Saudi Arabian rulers declared that anyone caught reading AMEASA-published material would be jailed. Corrupt officers in Egypt were offered monetary rewards for turning in anyone connected to the group. Said notes that thanks to a strong security system and talented IT employees, AMEASA’s website has been virtually snag-free since 2011.
Egyptian author Amira Mahmoud has been sending her short stories to AMEASA since the moment the group shot into the mainstream.
“I know I can trust my works with them,” said Mahmoud. “It is so liberating to finally be able to print my stories – stories that may seem normal to the average American – and share them with the world. We all talk about these topics in the privacy of our own home, so what is the difference if I write a story containing adultery, sex, abortion, drugs, or corruption? These things are going on here everyday. Walk down the street and hear the gossip. We can talk all day but we cannot put such talk into a tangible document. It’s ridiculous.”
Ahmad Khatib, a Palestinian journalist living in Jordan, said his works were denied by every news agency in Amman, Jordan.
“Editors told me to burn my papers and erase the documents from my computer,” Khatib recalled. “They said if I didn’t comply, my life would be at risk because I was treading on thin ice. ‘Don’t mock the government, don’t challenge the rules, just do what you are assigned and shut up before you get hurt,’ they said. How can I live a life like that? With a muzzle over my mouth like a dog.”
AMEASA has been forced to become a sort of underground operation overseas. Police and other officials are told to be on the lookout for “rogue and revolutionary artists,” according to Al-Jazeera.com. In America, however, the operation is going full steam ahead.
With the help of donations from generous philanthropists, fundraising by college students, and the utilization of today’s vast array of technology, AMEASA’s vision of publishing and sharing the artistic works of Middle Eastern authors has become more than a reality. It has become a source of dialogue within Arab homes, Al-Jazeera documentaries, BBC interviews, and most importantly, it has become the sound board for frustrated artists wishing to get their ideas heard in a land where such opportunities do not exist.
“This isn’t just about poetry or essays,” Said stated. “It is a movement out of the Dark Ages. I want to be able to look back and say that AMEASA brought forth a Middle Eastern Renaissance. We know deep down that this is the beginning of a prosperous time for these Arab nations, culturally. Maybe in the next 10 years we can see more of a dialogue between families about these topics seen as taboo today. Artistic advances will eventually bring about social change, and that is exactly what this region needs.”
Two young men – one an uninformed American and the other a foreign student – meet on a college campus and decide to act together. Their goal: to inspire collaboration between young Americans and young Middle Easterners in pressuring repressive regimes. The result: a massive grassroots wave of protest far exceeding their expectations. This article from the future argues that nonviolent civil rights movements can suddenly emerge as powerful forces – if activists can effectively seize upon historic opportunities.
Kyle Oskvig, Iowa, Age 23
Milestone Victory for Grassroots Civil Rights Movement
 The sweeping tide of civil rights reform in the Mideast celebrated another important victory Tuesday when the Iranian government publicly announced that it would consider legislating suggestions put forth by the Students' Council for International Civil Rights (SCICR). Leaders across the globe have praised Iran's decision to step down from its increasingly uncomfortable position as the last significant barrier to recent reforms in the Mideast and are saluting SCICR for its efforts. The announcement followed weeks of increasing tension surrounding the country's conspicuous silence amidst an unprecedented wave of grassroots activism in the region.
Shasa Bakhar, Mideast Chair of the SCICR, says the outcome was never really in doubt. “We were all very confident that Iran's government would listen to the united voice of their people. These things take time, and Iran was not the only country that did not immediately respond. With gentle but firm persistence, we have won a great victory today.”
The 23-year-old Pakistani is representative of the student organization that has spearheaded the drive for awareness and the abolition of civil rights violations in the region. The resultant crumbling of what had seemed to be intractably deep-rooted social barriers in nearly every Mideast country has taken pundits by surprise.
“It's come out of the left field like nothing since perhaps the fall of the Soviet Union,” says Michael Pronst, professor of sociology at Harvard University. “Nobody saw that coming, and really, none of us saw this one coming either.”
SCICR has grown in visibility and membership by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the year, finally reaping the harvest of the effort and dedication put forth by its founders and early members since the organization's humble beginnings three years ago.
It all began in a small coffee shop in the U.S. heartland, where Bakhar, studying abroad at the University of Iowa, met the Council's co-founder, 22-year-old Blake Ellis.
“I'd always had an interest in civil rights reform, but I never really knew where to start,” Ellis remembers. “When I met Shasa, I became well acquainted with the specifics of the situation in the Mideast – and he painted a pretty grim picture.”
They became fast friends in the ensuing months, but it was a tragedy that finally spurred them to action. On September 4th, 2009, news of unrest in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan turned to confirmed reports of violent mobs and mass lynchings, mostly of women who had recently banded together to make a declaration for political and social equality. All told, 462 people were killed.
“That really galvanized us,” says Ellis, shaking his head. “For me, being so close to someone from that region really brought home the reality of all this suffering and the urgent need to act. Later the same week we drew up the first plans for an organization of campus activism.”
Recruiting several like-minded fellow-students and christening the nascent organization the “Mideast Civil Rights Club,” they began to raise awareness concerning inequality and egregious abuses of social conditions in the Mideast. The club grew to become one of the University's largest.
But the real breakthrough came the following summer, when Bakhar graduated with a degree in International Studies and headed back to his native Pakistan. Once there, he began to raise his voice in the public arena, holding up examples of atrocities and injustice that – in his words – no responsible citizen could ignore.
“Some thought I was endangering myself by speaking out for minority rights, and for women,” remarks Bakhar. “It is true that some people did not like it, but I know my neighbors and countrymen, and most of them are good, compassionate people. They just needed a voice to call them together, to bring them to action.”
Bakhar's assessment proved accurate: his outspokenness triggered a movement that swept the country on an unprecedented scale, largely composed of students and other young people. A year later, he was head of a group so large and outspoken that opposition to it had faded, and the Pakistani government was beginning to listen.
Back in the U.S., Ellis had graduated with a degree in journalism and was supporting Bakhar's efforts by raising awareness in print. The Journal for Mideast Equality and Civil Rights, which Ellis founded in his final year of college, had been a success. Thanks to his contact with friends at other universities across the nation, it not only obtained a wide readership on his own campus, but began to receive submissions and subscriptions from around the country. At graduation, Ellis had passed the torch of editorship to a friend in Oregon, and the Journal was being printed on 34 college campuses nationwide.
Newly aware of the scale and severity of the issues at hand, U.S. students organized gatherings and demonstrations with increasing regularity.
“It was amazing to see how everyone threw themselves into the cause,” says Ellis. “I'm so proud of my fellow Americans for recognizing the importance of these violations, and doing so much to ameliorate them.”
Professor Pronst observes: “These demonstrations grew so widespread frequent that no one could ignore them. We saw this sort of activity during the Vietnam War, but last year I think everyone was extremely impressed to see social activism on a comparable scale for a cause that did not directly impact the U.S.”
In late December, Ellis and Bakhar officially consolidated the movement as SCICR. Pressed in on from east and west, the rest of the Mideast began to respond, with students and young people across the entire region banding together to demonstrate.
“At first, we all held our breath,” remarks Pronst. “Brutal repression of the right to organize was, after all, one reason the students were demonstrating.”
But after varying periods of vacillating indecision, Mideast governments knuckled under, one by one, to public pressure. Pronst gestures to a newspaper on the desk in front of him, bearing the most well-known photograph of the movement's short history: a picture taken from above Washington, DC on February 12, where over 500,000 people marched as a statement for social equality in the Mideast.
“Similar, though smaller, things were going on in their own cities,” he observes. “Rulers saw the writing on the wall.”
Yesterday, the final major piece of the region succumbed to the new global call for civil rights reform. Millions of people are enjoying better living conditions and improved social standing. Ellis and Bakhar have been invited to the White House.
“It is kind of hard to believe how far we've come,” Ellis admits. “But we believed that everyone deserves to have the same basic rights, and we knew a lot of people believed the same thing. The only thing lacking was a banner for the cause. We set one up, and people vindicated us by going above and beyond what anyone had ever believed they could do.”
Bakhar nods in assent. “People have good hearts, and sometimes they just need a call to action. It shows that you never know how much you can do until you try.”
Third Place (3 winners):
A sixteen-year-old annoyed about biking to school pauses to reflect on the burden of his growing up with guaranteed civil rights while Middle Easterners his own age suffer under tyranny. With the passion of a teenager confronting injustice, the author challenges Americans to self-critically re-examine their own apathy and find the inspiration to act. His provocative questions and heartfelt call to move beyond passive sympathy carry the cadences of an emerging civil rights leader.
Daniel Chiu, California, Age 16
Our Problems
 When asked about the Middle East, most Americans jump straight to Iraq, to oil, to Israel, to our problems. We tend to become so self-centered that we forget about everything else. We forget that people in the Middle East are suffering for a variety of different reasons, be it war, political instability, or lack of civil rights. It is important to remember that we live in an age of global community, and that in such an age, the suffering of even one must not go unnoticed. Equally important to remember is what it means to be human: to have compassion and respect for the hardships of others – to have a will to ease that pain in whatever way possible.
The creed was laid down by America’s Founding Fathers: “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” True, the words of the American Declaration of Independence meet the bounds of their jurisdiction at the borders of our country. But so long as it applies to those of us who believe in the principles upon which our nation was born, who believe in freedom and liberty and justice, and who would not suffer others to take our rights from us, so should we not suffer anyone would deny these rights to others.
Let us ask ourselves these questions: Is the mother ruthlessly killed at the hands of tyranny allowed the right to Life? Is the father maimed for voicing his beliefs allowed the right to Liberty? And is the child of that mother and that father given the right to the pursuit of Happiness? The answer to all three questions is no, and these no’s are the sad reality in the Middle East, where tyrants and dictators run rampant.
Let us ask ourselves a fourth question: Can we do nothing and feel nothing and say nothing and walk away guiltless?
It is true that they are not us and we are not them. Because this is the perception, many Americans ask why they should care. Of what importance is it that some family nearly on the other side of the world is mistreated? But what defines “they”? What separates “they” from “us”? Who really are “we”? And what makes “we” so different from “them”? If they were us and we were them, would we not feel the same plight, and hope the same hopes, that someday, somewhere, somebody would stand up and do something to ease our pain and make life just that much more livable?
On August 28, 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the southern coast of the United States, incurring over $81 billion in damages, leaving over a thousand dead, thousands more without homes, and millions in tears. In response, Americans banded together to quickly raise over $4 billion in donations. In a time of great disaster, Americans felt a duty to aid and ease the suffering of others. The disaster of tyranny has been upon the Middle East for decades, yet Americans do very little to stop it. In fact, most Americans seem not to even consider oppression in the Middle East a problem, let alone a disaster.
The difference is this: Americans feel compelled to help fellow Americans, and so a strong will existed to calm the squalls of Katrina. The plight of others, however, seems to catch our attention less. But why should it? Why should Americans care more for fellow Americans than for any other people? Whether American or Iraqi, Christian or Muslim, Sunni or Shiite, fortunate or unfortunate, we are all human. In this melting pot of culture and race that is America, who are we to say that one nation or one race or one culture is any better than the next? Who are we to arbitrarily decide that suffering in the Middle East is not worth paying attention to?
A sixteen year-old American boy bikes the mile to school, annoyed with having to go at all. He locks up his bike and walks to class; same old, same old. Halfway across the world, a Middle Eastern boy, also sixteen years of age, cautiously walks the mile to school, being too poor to afford a bike, and never knowing if today would be the day the ruling regime decides to kill him or his friends or his family. He walks to school everyday knowing that his education is censored, that certain things must not be said, and other things must not be questioned, that each day his own life and that of his family could depend on his actions. He lives in terror.
Back across the world, it’s lunchtime, and the American boy settles down to eat, talk, and laugh with his friends. They talk about girls, grades, and movies – whatever comes to mind. They don’t realize that halfway across the world, people are oppressed and civil rights are not guaranteed. They don’t realize that, to children who would otherwise be just like them, when you can’t say everything you want, everything you think, and everything you mean, friendship can be hard to come by, and trust harder still.
At the end of the day, the American boy will bike home to a family whose love he probably doesn’t entirely deserve. The Middle Eastern boy walks the mile home to a family with no mother and only the empty shell of a man for a father. He returns home to a family whose love he never had the chance to deserve.
Why should that family nearly a world away mean anything to us? Because by some stroke of misfortune, that could be our family with the dead mother, the tortured father, and the underprivileged child. Because in doing nothing, we compound the guilt of those who inflict pain. Because it is only chance that put them where they are, and us where we are. Because they deserve to live a life without oppression and with the civil rights we hold so dear. Because we have the power to implement change. And because we are human as they are – and although a world’s distance separates us and them, we find that differences are few and similarities plentiful.
This essay gives voice to a tension felt by many second-generation Middle Eastern-Americans. The American-born son of a veteran Iranian activist analyzes his own passivity and seeks new inspiration to join the struggle. After deconstructing past attempts to “rationalize my seemingly apathetic demeanor towards the struggle in the Middle East,” the writer concludes that “whoever enjoys their freedoms must realize that they have to fight to achieve freedoms for other people.” With hundreds of young Iranian-Americans now mobilized to stand in solidarity with counterparts in Iran, the essay’s thrust is all the more timely.
N. M., California, Age 19
One is Better than None
 When my father came to America, the overthrow of the Shah was imminent. Eager for a bright future, my father left his life in Iran to see what America could offer. What America offered was an education and an escape from the fundamentalist claws that would claim his homeland.
My father went straight to college upon reaching America, bringing him into contact with other Iranians who had fled. Although he had already committed himself to education, work, and sleep, my father decided to forgo sleep in favor of dedicating his time to political activism. He made it a point to spend his nights with like-minded individuals, who despised the new regime and its effect on human rights. He also made it a point to attend every pro-reform rally and to protest any measures that blocked reform in Iran.
Of course, the example above of a man who only slept a few hours a day so he could help the reform cause is quite extreme. His example, however, serves as a guide to what an individual can do to help bring civil rights to the Middle East.
Whenever my father tells me about the things he did and the sacrifices he made, I initially think of how it was different for him. I rationalize my seemingly apathetic demeanor towards the struggle in the Middle East every time I ponder whether I should help. Whether it be the argument that my primary concern should be education or that one individual cannot change a thing, I come up with a reason for not attending that rally or lecture.
But I was wrong this whole time. While one individual's contribution towards such a daunting task can seem insignificant, an individual's lack of contribution doesn't help either. In the Middle East, many people are dissatisfied with their situation. Every time I have gone to Iran, I meet people thirsty for freedom, not enthusiastic supporters of theocracy. The people of the Middle East are no different than the people in America or Europe: freedom is a universal concept that individuals desire. The problem is that the individuals in the Middle East cannot stand up without fear of repercussions.
That is why the individuals in the free countries have a responsibility. The future generation, which includes me, must take action and make its voice heard. If I want civil rights reform in the Middle East, I have to inform individuals around me. If that means dragging my friends to rallies, then that is what it must come down to. Whoever enjoys their freedoms must realize that they have to fight to help achieve freedoms for other people.
The fact remains that Middle Easterners hungry for their due rights are not able to fight for them without support from the outside world. Therefore, the individuals who can protest should use their freedom to demonstrate. It would take a lot of individuals to make a dent in the dogmatic regimes that control the Middle East. Yet international solidarity can show groups of dissenters in the Middle East that they have the support of the world. Such backing is necessary when fear of the world's apathy hinders any serious action. If the people of Iran overthrew the Shah in the Islamic Revolution, they could do it again now. Now, as then, they will need assurance that the world will stand behind them.
My father fought for civil rights in the Middle East. He went to rallies, got jailed, and almost got deported. He made many sacrifices to show Americans that not all Iranians supported the new regime. He still, to this day, will attend pro-reform rallies and lectures of influential Iranian speakers. If every individual, including myself, could take a step out of his or her comfort zone, and do something to help the Middle East, it would be better than accepting it for what it is.
The author outlines a blueprint for how an individual can make an impact, suggesting a strategy for channeling ideas into action. The plan involves identifying local ways to make a global impact by focusing on a particular cause and compelling human stories. The essay also emphasizes how careful planning is vital to the success of civil rights activism. Simply being moved by repression and having an innovative idea are important first steps – but a long-term plan of action is central to the social entrepreneurial process.
Daniel Robbins, New York, Age 17
Strengthening the Middle East at Home
 Living in an age when information can travel almost instantaneously, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the deluge of news, opinions, and information. This vast interconnectedness makes the voice of the individual seem inconsequential. How can one person really have a lasting impact in a place halfway around the world? Can one person really make a difference in helping secure civil rights for a whole region?
Absolutely! Individuals now possess more power than ever to protect civil rights and raise awareness about social injustice. Consequently, it is important that we use this power effectively and successfully. According to the United Nations Office of the Higher Commissioner for Human Rights, the Middle East is one of the most critical areas with regards to the fight for universal human rights, and “despite improvements, the record in most countries still needs improvement.” On a daily basis, simple human rights, we as Americans often take for granted, are denied to those in the Middle East.
The statistics and reports are both alarming and unequivocal. The International Press Institute reports that “censorship, in its many guises, is pervasive through the Middle East and North Africa, a region where acceptance of media diversity remains a chimera amidst political leaders who view the empowerment of their populations as a threat to their dominance and despotism.”
According to Reporters Without Borders, in the Middle East 48 journalists were killed, 132 arrested, 95 physically attacked or threatened, and 29 kidnapped in 2007 alone. This puts the region well above any other area of the world. On a similar note, the Heritage Foundation recently stated in its annual “Index of Economic Freedom” that “the people of the Middle East and North Africa have the lowest level of economic freedom of any of five regions surveyed.”
The U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative, as sub-branch of the U.S. State Department, also found that “women in the Middle East are at a profound disadvantage in practically every institution of society: the criminal justice system, the economy, education, health care, and the media. Discriminatory laws and inadequate enforcement of existing laws intended to guarantee equality and fair treatment exacerbate the systematic gender gap.” And with opposition parties often outlawed, emergency constitutions remaining functional for decades, and a litany of other basic rights consistently denied, we cannot continue to sit idly by.
As a result, it is essential we take action now. The following is a four-step process that ordinary individuals can follow on a grassroots level to improve civil rights within Middle Eastern societies. By focusing on a cause, spreading the word, planning events and fundraisers, and sustaining long-term goals, individuals can raise awareness about current infringements on basic human liberties in the Middle East and promote change for a better world.
Step 1: Focusing in on a Cause
While there are a myriad of equally important causes regarding civil rights in the Middle East, focusing on one specific cause is one of the best ways to reach your community. I would focus on freedom for Middle Eastern artists. As an aspiring artist, I find the right to freedom of thought through art is not only extremely important, but also demonstrates that supporting civil rights does not necessarily have to be partisan or political. Because people tend to have a closer attachment to specific stories than human rights in a vague sense, this detailed, precise movement would better resonate within my community. I would incorporate individual stories to help bring the cause to life. For example, I would feature the account of a Middle Eastern artist who had been repressed by a repressive government or someone who had witnessed blatant authoritarianism.
Step 2: Spread the Word and Form a Base
The next step involves getting the word out. I would begin to speak with neighbors and friends about human rights issues in the Middle East, why they are important, and why they matter here in America. Organizations such as Aristotle – which provide databases of phone numbers and addresses organized by geographic region – can help individuals contact neighbors living in their community. A key part of this step is utilizing local media to spread the word. I would advertise in local newspapers and on radio stations to gain coverage, put up posters in my neighborhood, and distribute flyers and emails about my mission.
Step 3: Plan Local Events and Fundraisers
After forming and growing my movement, it would be time to plan an event or fundraiser to get people together and talking. When organizing an event, it is important to outline specific goals. I would start by deciding exactly what I would want to do, what I would want people to know, and how I would want people to respond. For example, in looking to support artistic freedom in the Middle East, I would run an auction that sold solely Middle Eastern art to support individual vendors and artists. This would directly help the economy of the Middle East while bringing the cause close to home.
The first step in planning such an event is to find a central convenient location to draw a lot of people. This could be a community center, someone’s home, or town hall. By enlisting the help of local companies and organizations to sponsor the event, I could not only acquire fiscal backing, but could also raise further awareness and support for my event. Regardless of the cause, it is essential that events are kept specific and individual. If possible, I would look to feature a speaker who has first-hand experience with artistic repression in the Middle East and explain in depth the situation to help raise awareness. Additionally, I would make it known how people could help and what they could do to raise both money and awareness.
Step 4: Move towards Long-Term Goals
As events and fundraisers become more frequent, my movement raises more awareness, and reaches more people within my community, it would be essential that I maintain long-term goals that outline how to sustain the movement and keep it growing. I would come up with more ways to help more people within the Middle East, in order to have a broader impact on Middle Eastern society. One way of doing this would be to set up an exchange program between local and Middle Eastern artists. This would facilitate greater knowledge and understanding between the two regions while fostering development and opportunities for the artists. I would look to continue augmenting the movement’s influence; by staying focused, it would be possible to have a truly incalculable effect on the Middle East and the pursuit for universal human rights.
Ultimately, these four steps demonstrate that anyone can make a difference in the Middle East. By just devoting time and energy to your local community, your impact can be invaluable. As Margaret Mead reminds, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” By using our own liberties, Americans can help people in the Middle East secure universal human rights – a goal that, through the power of the ordinary citizen, is well within reach.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
The author’s can-do attitude is manifested in an ambitious civil rights campaign where Americans play an integral role.
D. X., Indiana, Age 16
My Stand: Supporting the Struggle for Civil Rights
[abridged]
Yesterday, my television set screams out the latest wave of suicide bombings. Today I hear about journalist Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh being sentenced to death in Afghanistan for merely distributing an article that was deemed offensive. How tragic, I constantly think, not only for the injustices being committed but also the sense of apathy we as Americans and westerners feel.
In our current age of global conflicts and internal strife, it has become increasingly important to recognize and support reform movements around the world, including in hotspots such as the Middle East. The struggle for civil rights in this area has undoubtedly been both dismal and triumphant at different times. However, we must, as both individuals and as a community, support their struggle for civil rights in the Middle East, not only because it is absolutely necessary, but also because we must take control of the situation before it is too late. We simply cannot afford to sit back and wait for action to come — we must be the catalyst for change. Thus, a campaign is critical to support this historic struggle.
Despite the potentially bright future that the Middle East can and will ultimately lead, there are numerous challenges and obstacles to overcome in order to achieve the harmonious society. Severe societal limitations in the Middle East have somewhat impeded crucial progress in the Middle East. Examples of difficulties faced by Middle East reformers include women’s rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider, who was banned from leaving Saudi Arabia; the beating death of Zahra Kazemi, a reformist photojournalist; the arrest of Tunisian web dissident Zouhair Yahyaoui; the imprisonment of Mohammed Benchicou for simply writing a biography on the Algerian president; the poet Abdullah al Ryami blacklisted because of his views, and countless others.
Americans should certainly help Middle East civil rights reformers for a myriad of reasons, not only because involvement is necessary towards a more harmonious world, but also because participation will surely make a difference. Helping reformers not only aids the quest of countless people thousands of miles away, but it affects us at home as well. We often erroneously assume that what happens thousands of miles away will not affect our lives significantly. Not realizing the potentially devastating effects of blatantly ignoring the crisis in the Middle East can have harmful effects.
Ensuring freedom in all parts of the Middle East also ensures the stability of all the places. Fighting for women and minority rights, freedom of expression, media, and religious belief, and artistic and personal freedom benefits the world at large. But precisely how are we to fully accomplish such a seemingly lofty and unreachable goal of promoting civil rights within the Middle East? Through a thorough and well-planned campaign divided into distinct sectors, each with their own manageable set of goals.
Firstly, we must promote public understanding and awareness of the goals. We must fully utilize the power of a media campaign to educate and inform our citizens of the need for civil rights everywhere, including in areas of dire need such as the Mideast. Only after this can we utilize the support of the people in the hopes for a successful campaign. We can accomplish this public awareness campaign by utilizing the power of the internet. Nowadays, the internet is a potent and vast arena of possibilities. We must utilize this fact to our advantage by creating a site to review the seriousness of the situation, with statistical data and anecdotal evidence as well as ways in which the public can support our efforts. Interactivity is a must, as are a variety of more in-depth coverage, such as blogs and pictures and an Action Center offering more information and steps to action for interested citizens.
We must encourage the donation of funds to spur this campaign, easily established by using internet resources. Furthermore, using whatever funds necessary, we ought to develop a public service-type announcement airing on television sets and radios across the nation. While this may seem a bit unrealistic, we might also consider pursuing alternate approaches that are equally effective: encouraging the use of YouTube and other media sites to spread support, or maybe using networking sites such as Facebook to reach mass audiences by using the powerful resource of networking. Public understanding need not be expensive.
The second stage of this action plan is to promote the actual action and advocacy. We should unquestionably utilize the power of student groups and movements to establish our cause. We simply cannot underestimate the power of strongly-minded students across college campuses. Encouraging the establishment of college chapters is a fundamental step in this advocacy effort. By simply informing students, we give them the power and the chance to make a difference, in whatever manner they deem necessary, on both a local and international level.
As secondary targets in the social activism stages, we must promote interaction with Middle Eastern students as well as spur charitable donations, both inextricably linked to the first portion of this campaign. Creating an exchange program is a crucial component in promoting interaction. I firmly believe that only through the peaceful exchange of ideas and friendships can we fully understand and appreciate other cultures. Bigotry often arises from misunderstanding and prejudice, on both sides of the culture clash. Thus, it is hugely important to encourage this exchange program. It certainly does not have to be tremendously complex; it may simply be a pen-pal program. A web of communication with their fellow peers is an excellent and necessary step to both bridge the wide cultural gap and encourage advocacy.
Unquestionably, the dream deferred of civil rights in the Middle East is pertinent and exceedingly important. We Americans must help to promote civil rights in these hotspots in order to create a melodious civilization, benefiting not just ourselves but the entire world. While there are certainly limitations and restrictions within Middle Eastern societies, the possible solutions that activists and governments can and should pursue is limitless and will yield, ultimately, success in combating the deferred dream. One more life senselessly lost and one more second uselessly wasted, is too much. We must take action now, lest it be too late. Imagine a land where people lived in peace, side by side, and the absence of violence or enmity was recognizable; with the activism and support of the world, this lofty goal may soon not be merely a dream. Together, we can do it in the fight against inequality…
Urging Americans not to turn their backs on the Middle East, the author denounces the “’over there’ and ‘over here’ mentality” as outdated in the globalized 21st century.
L. L., California, Age 23
Unsafe Behind the Portcullis: Necessity for Ending the “Castle & Moat”
[abridged]
When one witnesses opprobrium, one often naturally experiences two reactions: The immediate need to stop it, or the immediate need to ignore it. The former reaction tends to be more conducive to bringing about a solution to the problem, while the latter allows the atrocity to be perpetuated. In the Middle East, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria, to name just a few countries, the opprobrium is constant and ongoing. The concept of civil and human rights in these countries, in the grip of autocratic and theocratic regimes, is nothing short of ephemeral, and in some cases, totally nonexistent. Sadly, while these problems are recognized, the majority of Western citizens, especially in America, do little to contribute to those reformers in the Middle East who fight every day to change the region for the better.
These feelings in turn stem from the belief that we, as Americans, can sequester ourselves away from the troubles and dangers of the world outside, just as people of medieval times could run away to their fortified cities in the event of approaching danger. However, just as castles and moats have long since become outmoded forms of fortification, so too has the belief that one can simply keep the problems at bay by retreating to safety and ignoring the danger.
One need not look long or hard to find a cavalcade of civil and human rights violations, any one of which in the United States or Western Europe would be considered the height of opprobrium. In Saudi Arabia, those found guilty of public worship in practice of any religion save Sunni Islam are arrested, imprisoned and often deported. In Iran the ethnic oppression of Arabs, Azeris and Kurds, along the suppression of religious minorities such as Bahai’is and Zoroastrians, is a daily occurrence. For a woman to be found guilty of adultery in such countries is enough to merit the death sentence. To be guilty of apostasy merits the same brutal punishment.
Even in relatively liberal Middle Eastern states such as Qatar, most forms of media are tightly controlled by the government. Save for a handful of relative oases where free-thought, expression, religious freedom, secular education and democratic representation are the order, the vast expanse of the Middle East is a stultified wasteland when it comes to human rights. The majority of Americans will join in to castigate and condemn such atrocity, but when called upon to help, most hem and haw, or simply turn and walk away.
If any real and sustainable civil and human rights reforms are to occur in the Arabic and Persian Middle East, the reformers within such regimes need help from the world’s most powerful democratic nation. But why should Americans take off the blinders that they have willfully put on, especially when the problems that are occurring are happening on the other side of the globe?
The citizenry of the United States needs to awaken to the fact that the lack of civil rights in tyrannical theocratic regimes are not merely the localized concern of the Middle East, but that they are spreading across the world.
In Western Europe, émigrés from despotic nations in the Middle East have brought their aberrant views of how countries should operate with them, and it has been made painfully obvious that they are not compatible with western views. At demonstrations, murder in the name of religion is both lauded and encouraged. Those who die or are caught in the murder of Westerners are lionized. Fighting and rioting over religious and cultural disputes are no longer freak occurrences in several Western countries.
This sampling from a long list of troubles is the result of the continued quelling of the concepts of free thought, free expression, freedom for women and freedom of religion and self-determination that occurs every day in the Middle East.
But it is not enough for Americans to simply voice support for the spread of civil rights in the Middle East. It must be supported physically if reformers are to make the great strides needed. Even in the midst of economic downturns, trials and tribulations, the United States as a whole has had and still has access to resources far outstripping every other country on Earth. These resources could help support and finance change from within the Middle East, and ensure a future in which the region once again becomes a bastion of free thought, science and learning.
Yet there is the stunned torpor among much of the American citizenry, a fatalistic ennui that many seem to cling to: The Middle East is not capable of fostering democracy, Islamic extremism is incapable of change, and those who prescribe to it are just as staunch in their extremist beliefs.
Allowing the status quo to continue onward into the foreseeable future is not only intolerable for those who suffer everyday, but it is an untenable position. To make a blunt analogy, just as a healthy community cannot tolerate a murderous criminal inhabiting it, the world community cannot tolerate regimes that allow the savage brutalization of their own populaces.
As Americans, many of us still cling to the idea that we can remain isolated from the problems of the world surrounding us by virtue of the fact that we are physically isolated from the rest of the world. We retain the conceit that our geography, which presents two vast oceans on either side of us, can keep us safe. While such thoughts are not unique to United States in general, Americans are in the enviable position of actually being isolated geographically from unfriendly nations. This in turn reinforces the age-old mindset which keeps Americans in a state of blissful ignorance.
The result of this quasi-isolation is an “over there” and “over here” mentality, or what may be called the Castle and Moat paradigm. The Middle East, which is not only across an ocean, but on the other side of the planet, holds little interest for Americans in general, except with regards to the price of gasoline. However, in an increasingly globalized world economy, where a person can circumnavigate the Earth in less than 48 hours, the castle and moat mentality becomes not only archaic, but dangerously misguided.
One of the worst and most misguided and common beliefs held by many Americans is that the Middle East, as a region, is somehow incapable of fostering democracy. Worse yet, one may hear statements that the inhabitants of such nations are not ready for democracy. That, if given the choice, most will simply vote the very same oppressive leaders who had staunched the ideals of civil rights, gender equality, and human rights all along.
Just as a handful of scholars and statesmen changed the North American colonies from a state that defended the divine right of kings to one that fostered egalitarianism, democracy, free speech, free thought, and free inquiry, so too can a handful of men and women bring about change in the Middle East. But just as the Founding Fathers of America did not undertake the great struggle towards freedom alone, so too must the reformers in the Middle East be given the support they need to win their own struggle.
As terrorist attacks have proven around the world since the turn of the century, there is no longer any “over there,” nor any barrier that can protect against those who have been raised in an environment where it is considered a sacred obligation to do violence unto others. There is a need to foster change in the mindset of the peoples of the Middle East, to where such activities are neither publicly supported nor tolerated. Support for change must be given to the point at which the common man and woman inhabiting any given Middle Eastern state finds it atrocious that anybody should be deprived of their civil rights. When such a mindset becomes the norm, a lasting peace between the Eastern and Western world may truly be realized.
An American who grew up in Saudi Arabia, the author has an unusual perspective on discrimination and provides concrete solutions to promoting a truly multicultural society.
F. O., Louisiana, Age 19
Campaign for Equality
[abridged]
Although I am an American currently living in the United States, I was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there until December 2007. Because I have significant insight into the culture and operation of the country, I have written my essay from the point of view of what residents of Saudi Arabia could do to fight for civil rights.
One of the many serious problems present in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) today is that of ethnic discrimination. Despite being the Islamic core of the world, and despite having a large foreign population, it is common for expatriates to experience less than equal treatment by Saudi nationals. What’s worse, is that this does not pertain only to manual laborers and servants, but to teachers and doctors as well – if somewhat more indirectly. Ethnic discrimination is never acceptable, but the fact that even individuals with rarer, more refined skills are victims of it as well aptly illustrates how blind prejudice is to an individual’s ability to aid his or her community.
The most frustrating thing is that the residents of this region hold prejudices against foreigners, yet they take pride in being the center of the Muslim world – even though Islam requires adherent societies to treat one another with fairness and respect. It is commonplace to find a maid or driver being sent to eat separately from his or her employing family, in substandard conditions, or for a patient to subtly reject treatment from a doctor who is Indian or Egyptian. Often, in grade schools, staff members with prominent foreign accents are ridiculed by their students; they are mimicked, spoken badly of, and disrespected. Considering tone and body language, this is not something that goes undetected by the hard working teachers, assistants, or janitors.
It is because of these things that I propose the Campaign for Equality. In order to have a permanent affect on the situation, all members of Saudi society, native and foreign, young and old, must address these issues. As a former teacher myself, with a lifelong experience in dealing with Saudis, I believe that the best place to start would be in schools, where students could be better disciplined in polite, appropriate behavior. This strategy, however, is useless without the participation and serious commitment of the parents, which, unfortunately, is not altogether easy to establish.
Having grown up in Saudi Arabia, I am familiar with how many families function. Children’s primary sources of attention are servants and nannies, and whatever attention they get from their parents is momentary and non-engaging. Also, the country does not have any strong parent-teacher association like those in the United States. These two factors combined make it very difficult to engrain acceptable behavior into children’s minds in a way that will affect all their social interactions for the rest of their lives.
Therefore, if we hope to truly make an impact, it would be necessary to acquire and retain parents’ attention to the matter. There would have to be a committee that consisted of parents, educators, and school administration officials that could implement teaching styles that encourage social equality and good manners in the school system.
These techniques could range from there being a set of rules and consequences for behavior, to there being actual lessons on it. Such lessons could even be given as extensions of Islamic studies classes (which are required by law in the KSA), which would help to drive the point home by paralleling issues of discrimination with the requirements for social fairness and justice in Islam.
Teachers could assign specific seating arrangements that would not allow students to unconsciously separate into same-culture groups. Gratitude and patience could be better enforced; for instance, if a stu
esdent failed to phrase a request or question politely, they would be ignored or even reprimanded until they rehearsed it. These may seem either like very basic concepts that one wouldn’t think needed a campaign to promote, or like somewhat extreme measures to go to for cordiality, but such is the dire circumstance of ethnic discrimination in Saudi Arabia – not to mention various other countries.
As with anything one wishes to teach, respect for foreigners cannot only be presented in one or two classes, but students and parents also need to be reminded of it several times a day. One excellent way to ensure this would be TV commercials and cartoons depicting family situations in which servants are treated as valued employees and members of the family, rather than as people who could be treated inconsiderately because they are servants. There could be multi-cultural commercials, where people from different cultures are seen being friendly with one another, or where Saudi natives are shown trusting foreigners and being advised or cared for by them.
Advertising multi-cultural scenarios could even be extended beyond the direct efforts of the Campaign for Equality, and be used also in unrelated advertising to help get the public more used to the concept and implications of equality. The same way Thanksgiving ads are advertised in the US with actors from seemingly random racial and cultural backgrounds, so could Ramadan ads be advertised in Saudi Arabia in similar ways.
I sincerely feel that with enough resources, commitment, and motivation to bettering the Saudi Arabian society, that even within the span of two years, a significantly positive difference could be made that would not only provide foreigners with improved civil rights, but also make Saudis themselves more comfortable and satisfied with having foreigners in their country.
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