Getting closer
June 23, 2011
In the auditorium of Berlin's Otto-Suhr Institute, a state of excitement prevailed ahead of a study into the upheavals that has taken hold across the Arab world.
Several working groups of students were presenting their findings about the upheavals that have gripped much of the Arab world, and the world media, in recent months.
"These are not the distant protests of people who we have nothing to do with - these are colleagues and friends, people who we are in contact with," said Cilja Harders, a professor and Egypt expert.
Such was the enthusiasm for the subject that Harders changed two previously planned seminars to put the Arab revolution on the agenda instead.
From Libya to Syria
About 60 students in eight working groups have been occupying themselves with the situation in North Africa, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen. They examined the policies of international agencies such as the European Union, NATO and the United Nations and analyzed the coverage that was given to events in the Western media.
"It occurred to us that women do not seem to appear anywhere in the coverage of the situation in Libya," said one student, Julana. Together with fellow students Alexa, Franziska and Antonia, she has focused on developments within the North African country.
When reports about women did sporadically appear, said Julana, they were cliché-ridden and from a Westernized, distorted point of view.
In the auditorium, the group has created a display with posters, photos, maps, graphics and reports about the conflict.
An eyewitness report
The seminar room of the Bahrain working group was packed as the human rights activist Maryam al-Khawaja, a young woman from Bahrain, spoke.
"I want to explain the situation in my country to you," she said, claiming that her father, the internationally-renowned human rights activist Abdel Aziz al-Kawaja was just one among the victims of torture in Bahrain's prisons.
"We want freedom and democracy," said al-Khawaja, explaining that her sister had been arrested the previous day at a demonstration in the capital, Manama.
"She has been freed since then," she added, with relief.
The students listened intently, visibly moved by the personal experiences of someone their own age.
Al-Khawaja's visit was organized by one of the students, Tessa, who until recently had known very little about the Arab world and its problems. "That's why I have signed up for a seminar on the Middle East," she said.
Research into Bahrain was not easy at first but, through various Facebook groups, she soon managed to gain some insight into events in the distant island state.
Facebook and other social network sites including Twitter and YouTube were an important source of information for the Berlin students. Without such tools, it would have been impossible to get so close to the Arab revolution and those involved in it.
From Tahrir Square to the classroom
Late in the afternoon, Harders declared herself satisfied with the outcome of the seminar day, particularly with the experience that students had gained of working together.
"I believe that, through this common experience we have created something new and that, to me, is important because that is also very much the experience of Tahrir Square," she said.
Hopefully the students would be encouraged to study further and become more politically engaged, she added.
And, more than anything, Harders hopes the students will retain the links they have made with their new friends in the Middle East.
Author: Bettina Marx / rc
Editor: Martin Kuebler