The C.R.I.M.E. Report

ISSUE #41 CONTENTS:


SPOTLIGHT CASES:

WANTED for Revealing Secrets: Azar Nafisi

Azar Nafisi burst onto the international literary scene five years ago with her massive bestseller, Reading Lolita in Tehran, a memoir about a private book club she ran for students after the Islamic Revolution. She has just released a new memoir - Things I’ve Been Silent About – that delves far deeper into her personal history, revealing long-buried family secrets while tracing Iran’s modern history. A long-serving judge for the Dream Deferred essay contest, Nafisi spoke to The CRIME Report about breaking the silence, perceptions of Middle Eastern women, and writing about the truth.

The second sentence of the new book reveals that your father was unfaithful to your mother. A torrent of intimate family and personal details follows, including your own molestation as a child. Why did you share these secrets?
As a writer, you can’t reveal the world without revealing yourself. My mother died just as Reading Lolita in Tehran was being published. Her passing triggered this new book in the sense that I needed to address the family stories that haunted me for years. I write not as tabloid scandal, but to provoke discussion. Things we don’t talk about don’t exist.

I also wanted to share my personal story in the backdrop of Iran’s modern history so Americans would stop seeing Iranians and Middle Easterners in general as exotic. My family, my friends, and I are all human beings, with good and bad qualities. We are not a different species or strange creatures of the imagination. People forget that women in Iran had the right to vote decades before the women of Switzerland. Finally, it is important to examine and question ourselves and our societies. Writers should have the courage to confront reality and describe it truthfully.

You describe in the book how you initially supported the 1979 revolution. Why?
I was a naïve supporter of the Islamic Revolution. We were so excited about the Shah’s removal that we assumed whatever would replace his rule would be better. But we instead enabled an even more tyrannical system. Being frustrated with the repressive status quo is not enough. We must instead establish a culture of pluralism, a democratic attitude that accepts and celebrates individuality and difference. It is vital that the young generation understands and appreciates these values.

In my generation, we took our freedom for granted as we came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. It was my grandmother’s generation that had struggled for women’s independence after the 1905 constitutional revolution. Of course my daughter’s generation grew up with that independence once again removed. Now women are sometimes arrested simply for having the “wrong” hairstyle. But privacy and individuality should not be confiscated by any government. The basic rights of all individuals to define themselves as they choose must not be violated. And to achieve this goal we must break our silence.

What advice would you give to young writers struggling to write an essay for the contest, perhaps because they feel ashamed about discussing problems in their society or sharing their own dreams for a different future?
It is okay and even healthy to write on things you have been silent about. For instance, I am hopeful for change in the Middle East precisely because we are is in a crisis and questioning ourselves. For some in the Muslim world, the response to such questioning is expressed in extreme violence. But we must encourage the process of questioning – and positive responses. If you do not confront the truth, you cannot be a good writer. And the truth is not simply facts: truth is what lies behind the facts. Hold a mirror up to your society and yourself. If you are a young woman in Saudi Arabia who dreams of driving, you deserve that right and no one should take it away from you.

Speaking out also helps the international community hear beyond the dominating voices of extremists. Every fresh Bin Laden tape is headline news, but the voices of the young essay writers must also be heard. The pursuit of happiness is not a privilege only for people in the West. People in the Muslim world need to reclaim their rights, and young Americans need to stand in solidarity with this civil rights struggle. So write an essay that celebrates your individuality and what you can do to make positive change. You don’t have to be a president or a martyr for your life to be worthy.



Slaves No More: Struggles of the Newly Free

For centuries – including into the 21st Century – significant parts of Mauritania society were structured around slavery. By some estimates, the caste of slaves and former slaves – known as “haratines – comprises more than 40% of the country’s population. Generations of black African slaves served their masters by doing all sorts of manual labor: from washing hands to cooking food to serving as concubines.

Until just a few years ago, Mauritania’s indigenous anti-slavery movement was suppressed by the ruling regime. But the past two years have seen enormous strides, with slavery debated openly during a presidential election and a new law passed creating criminal penalties for human bondage. Still, only 43 cases have been prosecuted so far, and a new report from Sawap (literally, “righteous,” a desert outpost founded by newly liberated slaves) suggests slaves have a long way to go before they can achieve basic independence. The 100 former slave families who founded Sawap are on their own for the first time without a support network. “We have nothing but our muscles to survive by and we keep struggling in the desert,” says one survivor. “The only benefit of living here in a new place is that we have physically moved on from historical exploitation.”

Though legally free from the control of their masters, most former slaves have no established support base, lack government assistance, and still face institutionalized discrimination. Calls for stepped up support, both financial and legal have so far yielded few tangible results. But the now free men and women who pioneered Sawap are nonetheless enjoying their freedom. “We have managed to escape the land of our former masters in order to enjoy our civic rights,” explains resident. “The masters used to instruct us to vote for their choice. We had no choice but to follow their orders blindly. So, no - we are not going back.”



Last Chance: Essay Contest Ends Saturday

The clock is ticking. Entries in the 2009 Dream Deferred essay contest are due by this Saturday, January 31. $10,000 in cash awards and 50 book prizes are waiting to be presented to outstanding writers from the Middle East and the United States. An international panel of celebrity judges is standing by, ready to reward the most compelling calls for civil rights reform.

If the prospect of winning $2,000 (the top prize) is not enough to encourage you to submit an essay by Saturday’s deadline, consider the other benefits of entering the contest. Outstanding writers are often invited to international civil rights conferences, secure international internship opportunities, and find the contest to be a springboard to prominent media exposure. Here are some examples:

2006 winner Tarek Shahin had his essay reprinted in Morocco’s leading weekly magazine. 2008 winner Houda Sidatt recently appeared on Oprah. 2007 winner Ahmad Ghashmary has been recruited for conferences around the region and is currently a visiting researcher in Washington. 2006 finalist Dalia Ziada was recently featured on PBS and Al-Jazeera after organizing the first-ever Cairo International Film Festival. 2008 winner Telmah Parsa just published in the popular online magazine The Daily Beast.

Don’t miss this chance to be rewarded for your creativity and commitment to civil rights reform. Submit your essay online by Saturday. Good luck!

 

Quiz: Who fears the Google translator?
Answer: Bahrain’s Ministry of Information, which just blocked on a large group of websites including Google’s “language tools” translator (see a list of blocked sites). According to Bahraini blogger Ali7, the Google translator has been blocked, un-blocked, and then re-blocked. The Ministry’s sudden ban caught Bahraini web surfers off guard, and local bloggers are discussing a unified campaign in response to protect freedom of information. Outrage, they hope, can be translated into action.

BECOME A PARTNER IN CRIME:
Here is a list of quick ways you contribute to the Middle East civil rights movement: