Civil rights in the Mid-East

[riderinthestorm]

My daughter has to write an essay about civil rights in the Middle East. Here's the question:

"How can you as an individual support the struggle for civil rights in the Middle East? Without waiting for the government to act, consider how you can leverage your freedom to challenge repression by dictators. Reflect on recent technological advances that empower individuals, as well as recent grassroots organizing by people your age across the Middle East. Consider the tools you have access to that American civil rights activists in the 1960s did not. Propose a specific campaign young Americans could lead to help defend civil rights in the Middle East."

Does anyone have any suggestions on resources/books/scholars/authorities we could look up to get more information to present some good answers for comparison with the US civil rights efforts? Or can you give me any ideas for her to use in the essay? She is really stumped and I told her that DU has such a wide variety of scholars online that this would be a good place to start!

This is a senior class essay project and worth a good portion of her grade so please feel free to range wide and far with suggestions, sources and ideas.

Many thanks!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Have you checked out the Mulsim/Islam forum here?

I posted an article I got today about how a religious minority in Iran, an order of Sufis, have been repressed. I included the part of the email with which I received it. We Sufis are getting out the word about this via message boards and via email and interest groups on the 'net. She might also wish to lurk at an Islamic message board my husband frequents. It seems to me he said they were having a discussion about civil rights there. I know you don't have to be Muslim to post there; in fact, my husband says that about a third who post there say they are atheists!

Here's the url:

http://www.whyislam.org/forum/default.asp

I found this topic about racism at the General forum, it may be of help as well:

http://www.whyislam.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9052&PN=3

I hope that these sources may be of help.

[riderinthestorm]

2. Thank you so much!!! This is just the suggestion I am looking for.

I'll cross-post the question and see what comes up. Thank you so much!

[SongOfTheRayne]

3. Sanctions instead of war...dictators must agree to negotiations.

That would be very effective, especially if they were to be imposed by the U.N., because of their economy's dependence on our purchasing oil from them, but the problem is that we are dependet on their oil. So ending the oil dependency would allow us to impose these sanctions, and thus weakening dictatorship can be accomplished through working to develope and promote alternative energy.

I know...it's been said before...but it still seems like the most powerful tool we have at our disposal at the moment.