The towers of fear, erected upon six decades of dictatorship, were cracked and giving way on Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt.Over eighteen days, glued to our electronic gadgetry, we watched a huge diversity of Egyptians pour onto the square in unity, to protest corruption of the Hosni Mubarak regime, and to sing. An eruption of freedom was bursting along the fissure of universal human desire
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The Lost Dream (Podcast)
The year's end brings reflection on the power of great creative work. This December, I Interviewed Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehan Harney about her film "Dream of America," which documents Iraqi men who fled to America after risking their lives in defiance of Saddam Hussein. Listen to how the men's story literally made Washington Post headlines earlier in 2010. The resulting publicity garnered welcome support for the film's main subject, a father of four, whose fidelity to the U.S. led him into serious and continuing personal struggles.
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Daniel Pearl World Music Days
Loss and creative power seem to be inextricably connected. This month of October marks the 9th year of concerts performed globally in memory of Daniel Pearl, a journalist (and musician) who was brutally murdered by terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan, in early 2002.
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The Ground Zero Debate
The high octane debate over Park 51, the proposed Islamic community center of lower Manhattan, rages on. The Americans I know have only compassion in their hearts for the devastating losses of September 11. In fact, one Muslim-American friend of mine, born in Cairo, was especially grief-stricken on that day, due to her love of America and the provenance of those terrorist acts.
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Ambivalence Over Afghanistan
Barack Obama is edging closer to a decision on whether to reinforce the 68,000 U.S. troops who will be fighting in Afghanistan by year's end. Since routing out Al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts in Afghanistan after 9-11, the Taliban has made a steady comeback, fueled by failures of the Bush administration, profits from the opium trade,
Read MoreU.S. Muslim Engagement Project
A cross-section of American leaders met recently via the U.S. Muslim Engagement Project in order to address the underlying causes of terrorism, and to help set a new course of action in the Middle East. Terrorism measurements are difficult to pin down. But most intelligence data suggest linkage between the “war on terror” and significant increases in terrorism worldwide.
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Charter for Compassion
In follow-up to my Gateways post on September 25th, Scholar Karen Armstrong is leading the call for a “Charter for Compassion” to be created by people all over the world. As every religion has a history of intolerance, so each religion has principles for overcoming intolerance. The Charter aims to shift religious conceptions and relieve
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Hole in the Wall Camps
September brought a sad, sweet farewell to Paul Newman, who died of cancer at the age of 83. Amidst the media gloom and campaign rancor of the season, a glance at his life makes for refreshing fare. What film lover could forget Newman's understated blue-eyed "Cool Hand Luke," his tortured soul as Brick in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," his romantic charm as Butch Cassidy. Over the years, his characters helped us to articulate the spirit of our times. He became like a friend, journeying alongside us through the decades. His colleagues have long commented on his lack of outsized ego, his generosity on stage, and his abiding Ohio-born, down-to-earth perspective.
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