"Together as a Community"

by Mike Levy

The constant stream of news from the Middle East feeds my passion for activism, but I have longed for real, ongoing connection to these complex, rapidly evolving human rights struggles. Have I perhaps engaged more with the banners and headlines of these protests than with the courageous people behind them? Now, through our conversations in the Global Room for Women we are challenged to shape our collective activism. The doors are opening to a more personal form of solidarity where I may feel less like a witness and more like a partner in struggle.

How do we act as an ongoing community of support - at once personal, emotional and practical, to these women? How can we help when any of them are in danger? Not long ago,  Mona El-Farra was viciously targeted from our own country on the internet. The innovative approach of Samina Sundas might make a difference (both are recent guests of the Global Room). Might we "lower baskets of onions" (symbolically) to stand with protesters in Ahdaf Soueif's Egypt as the movement evolves to face the complex elements of counter-revolution? How can we help Dr. Rashad Zaydan provide safe passage for frightened children to classrooms in Iraq?
Through the examples of such women, I re-think my activism. Their openness and willingness to adapt to changing needs on the ground, while keeping sight of the big picture are inspiring steps toward ending war, violence and occupation. Wouldn't it be fun if all of our guests were on the phone together? We hear of many other women who daily risk their lives speaking out for freedoms and human rights in Syria, in high schools in Bahrain, in the squares of Yemen. Might we broaden our connections to support them as well?  Around our inter-connected world these struggles are all at different stages and impact one another. Haitians and Bolivians breathe in sync with aspirations of women in the Middle East, and as the frontlines of our struggles in the US reflect back to us the faces in those distant mirrors we have each other.

--Mike Levy

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