Dreaming About Civil Rights in the Arab World

January 18, 2007 at 6:36 pm · Filed under Arabisms, Roba, Seriously

At a time when young Arabs are being tossed into jails for writing down their thoughts on their blogs, it appears like the dream will stay deferred for a while.The least we could do though, till things get brighter, is speak up. We need to shout out that we want more rights.

Do you have anything to say? Well, if you do, I strongly encourage you to join HAMSA’s “The Dream Deferred” essay contest, where you write an essay in answer to your choice of one of three questions about civil rights in the Arab world. You have till January 31st to come up with 600-2,000 words, so that’s a good 12 days to get your thinking hats on.

Last year, I joined the competition with an essay “playing” with the last question- “3. What is your “dream deferred” – a vision of your society with civil rights for all people?”, and my essay won third place (you can read it here). I also got to go to Cairo for a little seminar on civil rights in the Arab world that was organized by HAMSA. It was a brilliant experiment, eye-opening in many ways. I would most definitely encourage anyone with something to say to join the essay contest, so go ahead, give it a try.

Quoting myself from the essay, “Of course, we still have a long way to go, for after all, achieving civil rights and societal equality is a long, uphill battle. But for now, I’m smiling over the work that has been done and hope for an even bigger smile tomorrow. We must continue to fight, so that we move forward – together. “

Here’s to a better tomorrow!




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  • http://blog.sweetestmemories.com Qwaider قويدر

    It’s interesting that last year all the winners were between 20 and 24. Is there something wrong with this picture? How much suffering has previous generations endured that were lost(?) or had no representation? Or maybe was just too realistic to capture any of the advanced positions!
    I wonder.

    Thanks Roba, yours was a stimulating read

  • http://andfaraway.net Roba

    Actually, because it was aimed at that target age. If I recall correctly, you had to be between 18 and 25 to participate.
    Glad you enjoyed the read.

  • http://blog.sweetestmemories.com Qwaider قويدر

    You’re right and there is actually an age limitation. That’s a little bit odd from a human rights group, but maybe one of the people who had their rights violated can have his story told through the eyes of his son or daughter or maybe grand children!

  • Ayyob

    hey Roba, i read your essay. its a great one. I want to say to Qwaider that they probably put the age limitation on because they wanted the “youth” to think of such issues which might not affect them so much at this part of their life. Not everyone has his/her rights violated but the contest wante Everyone to get involved and think about the issue.

  • http://blog.sweetestmemories.com Qwaider قويدر

    Right, and only less than 25 need to think about it and get involved.. I see your point
    Thanks

  • http://altapatio.blogspot.com eltapatio

    WoW!!!

    your essay should have been in 1st place. your style, similes, and, of course, the plot are very interesting. I rarely get attached to, and finish, an article on the subject of civil liberties in the ME. But yours had all the right ingredients.

    Get published!!!

  • AG

    Dude calm down. Thats not my point. Im just trying to say that some youngsters live a shallow worry free life. this contest gives them a motive to participate in the contest and therefore get them thinking

  • http://blog.sweetestmemories.com Qwaider قويدر

    wow… and I didn’t even disagree.

  • http://www.kinziblogs.wordpress.com kinzi

    Yea, Roba, great! not surprised, not surprised