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Personal Revolutions Along the Nile

politics & society
6 Mai 17:15 - 17:45
30 Minuten
Experten
English
Vortrag

Kernthese:

The most important and neglected story that people outside Egypt today over the course of the past 2 years have never heard, is the story of the personal changes. The so-called small details that, more-so than the political games and street battles, have made big changes in the lives of individuals, families, and neighborhoods.

Beschreibung:

When it comes to assessing the events unfolding between January 2011 and at this very moment in Egypt, there is no shortage of writing, debating, pontificating, and bullshitting in the media or within the neverending noise of social media. Many claim to know exactly what is going on and pricisely where it is all going, with the main 2 points of view tilting either towards mass chaos or the birth of a new more beautiful, magical nation.   

In November 2012, together with a pioneer of the offline and online radio world, I set out for North Africa in a 100% crowdfunded mission to speak with and above all, listen to creative and active voices of artists and story tellers.  Those that not only create with their minds but also have been observing the changes over these past years and in many cases over the past several decades.  It may sound like another mission to explain what is happening in a troubled and changing nation, but in the end, what it become, was a discovery of the very personal and very real changes taking place in this ancient culture.  It wasn't about presidents and protestors, it was about husbands and wives, parents and children, rich and poor, the street cleaner and the school teacher; small revolutions that impact individuals in a very big way.  

This presentation is the sum total of what I found during my listening and learning from those who have lived and watched changes take place all around them.  My mission is not to tell a dark tale, or a glowing review of a nation in flux.  The purpose is to share minor yet significant bits of information that sadly, are rarely included in the brazen declarations by all the celebrated and experienced Middle East commentators and analysts.

I am no expert. I'm just a curious independent audience-funded reporter with a microphone and a decent pair of ears.