On Tuesday 29 May, the Frontline Club showcased ‘Writing Revolution: the Voices from Tunis to Damascus’, a book which celebrates some of the best new writing to emerge from the Arab Spring.
The collection of articles and essays focusses on what the revolutions, which have rumbled across North Africa and the Middle East over the past three years, mean to journalists, bloggers and activists in the region.
L-R: Matthew Cassel, Layla Al-Zubaidi, Mohamed Mesrati, Ali Abdulemam, Rachel Shabi. Picture Credit: Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei
“The process of finding the protagonists was not easy,” said Layla Al-Zubaidi, editor of Writing Revolution and director of the Southern Africa office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Cape Town. She added:
“If you ask revolutionaries to write, it is not easy because they have to sit back and reflect on what they are doing, and for that you need time, space and calm moments. If you’re in the heat of the battle it is hard to find that.”
Al-Zubaidi was joined by Matthew Cassel, a journalist for Al Jazeera English who co-edited the book, Mohamed Mesrati, a Libyan writer and journalist who contributed to the book, and Ali Abdulemam, a Bahraini blogger who agreed to contribute before he went into hiding after a government crackdown. Abdulemam was representing his friend and fellow political refugee Dr. Ali Aldairy, who contributed to the project but was unable to attend the event. Rachel Shabi, a journalist who has written widely on the Middle East, chaired the event. She commented:
“Most of the journalism that came out of the Arab uprisings came from people who rocked up after the revolution started.”
Cassel said that although Western journalists working for mainstream media outlets were a vital part of reporting the Arab Spring, alternative voices could provide a fuller picture of the unfolding events:
“We shouldn’t neglect the young voices that are happening in the country. . . . We need to give a platform to these voices.”
From Cairo to Damascus, Tunisia to Bahrain, the essays and articles highlight the drastic differences between the revolutions which have often been painted with the same brush by the mainstream media. They also explore the histories of the people and their countries, dispelling the myth that the Arab revolutions came from nowhere.
“We wanted to show how much struggle and how much sacrifice happened in the years leading up to the uprisings,” Cassel said, adding that “creative resistance” was a large factor in the uprisings.
Mesrati said that he found it difficult to write down what the Libyan revolution meant to him, when he was commissioned to write a piece:
“When my literary agent said I should write a piece of 3,000 words to 5,000 words, I wanted to write 7,000 words.”
He also mentioned that he wanted to write about Libya’s history and Gaddafi’s influence on the country.
Abdulemam, who went into hiding before he could write his piece, said that he would have focussed on the youth in Bahrain and why they had taken to the streets:
“I would have reflected on youth, what makes them so angry and what they are ready to die for. My essay would try to answer why the youth went out into the street and why until this day they have not gone home. . . . They have this hope that they will bring change. They are sure they will bring it. They don’t want anyone to insult them any more. That’s what makes me sure that change is coming soon.”
Throughout the debate, the editors and writers spoke about the other contributors they encountered along the way.
Aldairy, who was unable to attend the debate, “wrote his experiences from outside the opposition circle”, according to Abdulemam. On the other hand, Al-Zubaidi recalled commissioning a piece from a Syrian writer while avoiding the use of the word ‘activism’, ‘civil society’ and ‘revolution’ on the phone in case it put her in danger:
“She finally said to me: ‘Do you want me to write an article about the revolution? I will say and write what I want. Don’t worry about putting me in danger, I will express myself.’”
Al-Zubaidi continued:
“When [some people] say how disappointing the Arab Spring was, and ask was it worth it, it disregards what these people are doing. You don’t want to risk everything if there’s no hope, and I think these people had hope.”
You can watch the video and listen to the podcast below:
https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/writing-revolution-the-voices
]]>https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/writing-revolution-the-voices
From Cairo to Damascus, Tunisia to Bahrain, Writing Revolution brings together some of the best new writing born out of the profound changes shaking the region.
We will be joined by the editors and two of the contributors to talk about their work and how it has been shaped and influenced by the historic events unfolding around them. They will be reflecting on what they have witnessed and documented, and the political and poetic engagement with questions of identity and activism.
Bringing together authors, journalists, activists, students, writers and bloggers this collection of writing offers a moving testimony to the hopefulness and the heartbreak that has been witnessed across the Arab world.
Chaired by Rachel Shabi, a journalist and writer, she has written widely on the Middle East for a variety of media including the Guardian, Sunday Times, Independent , Al Jazeera English, Jane’s Intelligence Digest, Foreign Policy, and the New Statesman. She was shortlisted for the 2011 Orwell Prize for political journalism, won the Anna Lindh journalism prize 2011 and was also nominated for the Next Century Foundation’s cutting edge media award.
The panel:
Matthew Cassel is a journalist and photographer based in the Middle East since 2004. Formerly assistant editor of The Electronic Intifada online journal, he is a journalist with Al Jazeera English and a contributor to numerous other publications.
Layla Al-Zubaidi is director of the Southern Africa Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Cape Town. She headed the Foundation’s Middle East Office in Beirut for six years, served as Program Manager at its office in Ramallah and worked for several media and development institutions.
Mohamed Mesrati is a Libyan writer and journalist residing in the UK. He started to publish his short stories online in 2007. He works as a journalist for El Kef newspaper, which has featured his investigative reports on social issues in Libya. An extract from his novel-in-progress Mama Pizza appeared in Banipal No. 40.
Ali Abdulemam is a Bahraini blogger, the founder of Bahrain Online and human rights activist. He took part in protests calling for democracy in Bahrain in February-March 2011. He was amongst the first to agree to contribute to the Writing Revolution project before he went into hiding during a government crackdown on the protest movement. He was sentenced, in absentia to 15 years in prison and recently fled Bahrain to the UK where he’s been granted asylum. He is representing his friend and fellow political refugee, Dr. Ali Aldairy, who ended up contributing to this project but was sadly not able to make it to the UK for this event.
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