Want change? Publish.
I had a bit of a surreal experience the other day. While visiting my Lebanese hairdresser (he’s the best, by the way, let me know if you are looking), I picked up an Arabic women’s magazine with the headline, “60% of marriages suffer from boredom – learn what you can do”. My curiosity was piqued. So, I started to read.
First, my eyes widened. Then, I began to laugh. I could not believe it. The article read worst the most 1950s American articles. How could this have been published?
Now, at this point, you might be asking – so, what’s your point? Well, my fascination led me to do a little research on Arab publishing and what I found astounded me. It should astound you too.
The 2002 UN Arab Human Development report remarks on the “dearth of creativity” in the Arab world. There is a severe shortage of new writing and a decline in the film industry. Foreign book translation is also low: in the 1,000 years since the reign of the Caliph Mamoun, say the authors, the Arabs have translated as many books as Spain translates in one year.
To put it bluntly, in the age of blogs, RSS feeds, YouTube, podcasts and enewsletters,you are what you publish and Arab nations are publishing less than anyone else.
So, what can you do? Well, publish. Contribute to blogs and local communities. Express your own point of view because we (Arabs and Arab-Americans) have far too little of a voice in the world today. And you (yes, you with a computer and internet connection) can change that.
This blog post was contributed by Farrah Haidar. She can be reached at farrah.haidar@naaponline.org.
