Given the rise in tragic situations with women and youth, and the desperate behavior of men, women and society in general - all leading to the demise of the family unit and our human values, it's probably high time to up the ante. This country is way too small to be falling apart so badly. There is no excuse for ignoring human-centric needs.
Yesterday I received emails from GOs, NGOs & RNGOs about an Amman gathering on the evening of the 29th for expression against child abuse triggered by the story of Yazan.
While a gathering for artistic expression for a few hours may help soothe some souls momentarily, I must wonder what kind of impact towards action and change will result.
IMHO it is not enough to gather and express. Isn't it a tired tactic? And then what?
This country needs a wall-to-wall call to action that humanizes these tragic happenings and keeps an entire population haunted and awake, motivated to work and deliver serious results towards fundamental change. Total inclusion - today, this year, not sometime in the future. This is our problem, we have no right to pass it forward nor impose inheritance on our kids.
What if:
- 10% of every outdoor communication carried pictures and stories of every single child abused?
- 10% of every outdoor communication showed pictures and stories of every single woman victim of abuse and crimes of dishonor?
- 10% of every outdoor communication revealed pictures and stories of every single fatal road accident?
- 10% of every outdoor communication told stories of the troubled men committing heinous acts of violence against their own?
- In between the super sale and the special on the radio you heard the horror story of the blow by blow slow death of every woman who died as men of her family brought dishonor to themselves?
- Every single working woman did not show up at work tomorrow and the next day and the next day demanding legislative change for basic rights?
- The freebie ads and papers at our doorsteps and on our mobile screens taught us the names and personal stories of Jordanian victims of our own injustice?
- Your 16 year old ran home wanting to know more about such stories, demanding of you a better world than this one you've brought him into?
- Your 14 year old daughter came home everyday and shared with you her fears and torment of being raped like that other girl next door?
- Your 7 year old came home today and told you his friend's secret - the story of how he was molested by that man around the corner
- You walked out of your house every day and heard the woman across the street wailing in pain from the beatings by that man who just left to work wearing his camouflage elegant suit and tie as he got into his expensive car?
The Jordanian family is in dire need of help.
- Why do we have the right to celebrate our kid's 12th birthday when Yazan doesn't get his, ever?
- Why do we have the right to walk in confidence when Ayat's mom can't give her kids a Jordanian passport?
- Why do we have the right to give birth to another kid, while Tariq next door is being beaten up?
- Why do we have the right to dream of amazing when Noor's blood stains her father's soul?
- Why do we have the right to a white wedding when Dana can only wear black bruises on her face and body?
When do we walk the talk?
When would we like to wake up to a better Jordan?
A country that continues to accept laws against the well-being of it's own people should not be allowed to join the global conversation for human dignity.
A country that allows its kids to go into schools to consume archaic curricula should not be invited to engage in stories of enlightenment and empowerment across other lands.
A country that ignores obvious needs to improve it's economy from within should not be eligible to aid from the other.
A country that includes the hatred industry within it's investment portfolio should not be included in the conversation for world peace.
A country that lives knowingly with bad governance should take a stand and change everything.
And just in case we've forgotten what good governance means, HRH Prince El Hassan reminded us during last week's WANA Forum that it includes these characteristics:
5 comments:
Well, this isn't a new thing at all. I think the only thing that happened was that people knew about it through media, We hear stories of abuse and neglect all the time, and the most common thing is that most of them will go unreported. The problem of child abuse in Jordan is so big that people stand helpless in front of it, we stand helpless in front of poverty which is the main driving force for all these cromes
Wow, N, well said. Immerse and penetrate culture with these awful images until they are owned.
Tha2ir, poverty isn't the main cause. I have friends in Deir Ghabaar and Dabooq who are beaten by husbands and children raped by uncles. The evil within is. Dark, hidden evil can be dealt with when it is exposed.
Did you enjoy WANA? A friend organizing it asked me for the most influential bloggers to invite, and I recommended you. Maybe others did too :)
There are days when I too feel like our country is falling apart. It is very disheartening to see people who have the capacity to change things, at no risk to their own lives, but choose to stay quiet instead. I guess to them the problems seem very detached from their own reality, and that is why mobilizing them is so difficult. It’s a sad truth, but I think we have lost sight of each other’s realities.
That is no minor problem – we are no longer bound by our realities… and society as a result suffers. We are badly in need of a binding force again.
It just might be that such a campaign should be about dreams. If every personal story of abuse, violence and dishonourable crime asked the victim a question, toward the end, about ‘the Jordan I dream about’ … maybe the vision, the dream, can bring closer those whose realities are miles apart.
You should be talking to the King and Queen. The King has the power to enforce the proper laws and appoint the right people in government for real reform if he wants improvements in his country!! But it seems he doesn't!!
Harsh! What happened to the optimist in you Nadine?
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