Thursday, April 27, 2006
Shirin Ebadi
I have mentioned Muslim women leaders on several occasions. Here's one every one should know...
Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, former judge, and Nobel Peace Prize winner. She is known for defending women accused of such "crimes" as being raped, as well victims of state violence. In a country where the government acknowledges that it has at times assassinated its opponents, that means a whole lot more than it does in some countries.
Shirin's autobiography -- Iran awakening -- has just been published and I'm currently deep in the middle of the book. It is lyrical, intelligent, and brutally honest. Brutal in the sense that Ebadi does not hesitate to reveal her own faults, her own naivete, and her mistakes in judgement. Nor she does not hesitate to call a spade a spade when it comes to the Islamic Revolution and its lawlessness.
The book is also a fascinating look into the heart of the Iranian opposition. Ebadi is literate and her voice speaks to Americans with a fluency and ease that surprised me. (Excellent translation helps, I am sure, but even the best translator cannot turn dreck into poetry.) It is a voice that many feminists will relate to, with it's concern for women's empowerment.
And it tells a story that many of us have never heard -- the story of those who had misgivings about the Islamic revolution from day one, who have struggled to reel in Iranian theocracy, and bring reform to the government.
I highly recommend this book. 1) because Shirin is a woman you should know. 2) because the story she tells is fascinating 3) because this version of the Iranian Revolution is rarely told in American society and 4) because, with tensions between Iran and the US at an all time high, anything that humanizes Iranians, and reminds us that Iran is not a monolith of religious fanatics, is a thing that works towards peace and away from confrontation and war. ¶ 11:26 PM
Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, former judge, and Nobel Peace Prize winner. She is known for defending women accused of such "crimes" as being raped, as well victims of state violence. In a country where the government acknowledges that it has at times assassinated its opponents, that means a whole lot more than it does in some countries.
Shirin's autobiography -- Iran awakening -- has just been published and I'm currently deep in the middle of the book. It is lyrical, intelligent, and brutally honest. Brutal in the sense that Ebadi does not hesitate to reveal her own faults, her own naivete, and her mistakes in judgement. Nor she does not hesitate to call a spade a spade when it comes to the Islamic Revolution and its lawlessness.
The book is also a fascinating look into the heart of the Iranian opposition. Ebadi is literate and her voice speaks to Americans with a fluency and ease that surprised me. (Excellent translation helps, I am sure, but even the best translator cannot turn dreck into poetry.) It is a voice that many feminists will relate to, with it's concern for women's empowerment.
And it tells a story that many of us have never heard -- the story of those who had misgivings about the Islamic revolution from day one, who have struggled to reel in Iranian theocracy, and bring reform to the government.
I highly recommend this book. 1) because Shirin is a woman you should know. 2) because the story she tells is fascinating 3) because this version of the Iranian Revolution is rarely told in American society and 4) because, with tensions between Iran and the US at an all time high, anything that humanizes Iranians, and reminds us that Iran is not a monolith of religious fanatics, is a thing that works towards peace and away from confrontation and war. ¶ 11:26 PM
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The way you describe Ebadi is very adequate to my impressions on seeing her performance at Columbia Univ. recently while browsing the book she published in rather controversial publishing house and was criticised for that by someone in the audience and she didn't shy away but took all resposability for writing (in eng she doesn't know) it and publishing here which was a legal scharade to overcome.
VIEW at Technologos Logosphere the principal figures that epitomise the religeous aspects or alternative views as Ebadi and Aumann, Nobel prize winners, on the looming global war or confrontation of civilizations which imposed on us by media
I've listened to Shirin Ebadi at NYC while she had presented her book recently and found her being an authentic, credible and responsible to what she has to say or to write. True, she might be playing a devil's advocate game for Iran's nation and even clerical regim as such in the nuclear confrontantion reminiscent of Cold War times.
However, she is definitely knows why and what she's up to taking
this gamble being a genuine Human Rights Advocate for political prisoners and definitely not a politician with powerseeking ambitions.
At VITRUVIUS Technologos Twin Videosphere you may view newsreals on the problem of Middle East as 'WAR, TERROR AND PIACE' THEME that relevant to the concerns
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VIEW at Technologos Logosphere the principal figures that epitomise the religeous aspects or alternative views as Ebadi and Aumann, Nobel prize winners, on the looming global war or confrontation of civilizations which imposed on us by media
I've listened to Shirin Ebadi at NYC while she had presented her book recently and found her being an authentic, credible and responsible to what she has to say or to write. True, she might be playing a devil's advocate game for Iran's nation and even clerical regim as such in the nuclear confrontantion reminiscent of Cold War times.
However, she is definitely knows why and what she's up to taking
this gamble being a genuine Human Rights Advocate for political prisoners and definitely not a politician with powerseeking ambitions.
At VITRUVIUS Technologos Twin Videosphere you may view newsreals on the problem of Middle East as 'WAR, TERROR AND PIACE' THEME that relevant to the concerns
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