Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 2009, page 59
Human Rights
Democracy and Human Rights
FREEDOM HOUSE’S International Solidarity Committee hosted an April 16 reception at Darlington House in Washington, DC for young human rights activists and civil society leaders from the Middle East and North Africa. Participants had completed a three-week-long leadership training course and were soon to embark on month-long fellowships with civil society organizations across the United States. They were learning advocacy techniques for promoting political rights, gender equality and freedom of expression efforts back home.
May Kosba, from the Youth and Development Consultancy Institute in Egypt, spoke briefly on behalf of her 17 fellow Egyptians and told attendees, “We dream of a country full of freedom.” She said the young activists who filled the room traveled thousands of miles from countries “ripe with history” whose people “dare to dream.” They arrived in a “country where the dream actually came true—a country that is a leading model of modernization, democracy and diversity,” she said.
Kosba said she and the other Egyptian participants arrived with cultural and ideological differences among themselves. “Some of us are lawyers, journalists, engineers, researchers, pharmacists, and activists,” she said. “We all just happen to strongly believe in reform.”
After three weeks of training, meetings and discussions, Kosba said she concluded that “freedom and reform can only be realized when there is an empowered civil society and a new generation of reformers who are grounded in their faith and freedom.” She thanked her hosts for their continuing support, encouragement and expertise, and said, “eventually, we will share the moment of a dream finally coming true.
“All we need is hope,” she concluded. “As Mustafa Kamel [a fervent patriot and an advocate for Egyptian independence from British colonialism] once said, ”˜Hope is the guide to life and the road to freedom.’” Turning to a more recent role model for young Arabs who currently lives in the White House, Kosba concluded, “And if you ask me whether we can win this struggle for freedom, I am telling you, ”˜Yes we can!’”
—Delinda C. Hanley
