Arab Spring Dreams
The Next Generation Speaks Out for Freedom and Justice from North Africa to Iran
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From a gay man secretly mourning his lover's suicide in Morocco to a young woman denied schooling because of religious discrimination in Iran, Arab Spring Dreams spotlights some of the Middle East's most outspoken young dissidents. The essayists cover a wide range of experiences, including premarital sex, the lack of educational opportunities, teenage marriage, and the fight for political freedom. They also highlight how repressive laws and cultural mores snuff out liberty and stifle growth and consider how previous movements - particularly the American civil rights struggle - might be channeled to effect change in their own countries. Beautifully written and profoundly moving, these stories present a decisive call for change at a crucial point in the evolution of the Middle East.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Egypt, a man bribes a member of the morality police to avoid being arrested for committing "acts of public indecency." The act in question is a walk in the park with his fianc e. In Iran, a Sunni schoolgirl is rebuked and scorned for praying without a Shi'a prayer stone, and her father faces prison for the same offence. A woman watches a cat cross the Tunisian-Libya border and wishes she had the cat's freedom to travel throughout the Arab world without a male guardian. Less polished than Reading Lolita in Tehran, but more immediate and raw, the essays in this collection were written by activists age 25 and under and culled from 8,000 entries submitted over five years for the Dream Deferred Essay Contest on Civil Rights in the Middle East, conducted online and sponsored by private foundations, including the Earhart Foundation and The Liberty Fund. The essays provide glimpses of daily life in countries where civil rights do not exist. Recognizing that the status of women is "a key barometer to the openness of a society," editors Amari, a law student at Northeastern University, and Weddady, the civil rights outreach director of the American Islamic Congress, devote one section to the additional obstacles women face. Though the essay contest seemed like a quixotic gesture at its inception in 2005, it turns out to have been prescient.
