Freedom Riders inspire new generation of Arab protest leaders
by John Blake, articles.cnn.com
May 15th 2011
"So much of what has happened in Egypt is like déjà vu," says Mulholland, who
appears on PBS Monday at 9 p.m. in a mesmerizing documentary called "Freedom
Riders."
"The pictures that have been in the news have been almost interchangeable with
the civil rights movement here years ago," she says about the Egyptian protests
that toppled a dictator. "I've seen so many visual parallels that I'm starting
to save pictures in a scrapbook."
The Freedom Riders were called communists and outside agitators. As they
commemorate the 50th anniversary of their rides this month, another group of
people in the Middle East is calling them something else -- inspiration.
Several leaders in the protests sweeping the Middle East say they are using the
same nonviolent playbook Freedom Riders and other civil rights activists used
years ago to resist oppression.
Dalia Ziada, North Africa director of the American Islamic Congress, a group
that promotes interfaith tolerance, says some Egyptian protesters took heart
from the disciplined nonviolent resistance activists once displayed during
civil rights campaigns like the Freedom Rides.
"It was inspirational," she says. "I realized that no matter how long it takes,
nonviolent tactics lead to success in the end. This made me and all my
colleagues here in Egypt stand strong in the face of police brutality during
revolution time.''
Reading MLK in Arabic
At first glance, there seems to be little connection between Freedom Riders and
the "Arab Spring," a wave of civil uprisings sweeping the Middle East. The
series of protests are being driven by people from various ideologies that have
nothing to do with nonviolence.
Yet there are signs that the seeds of nonviolent resistance that Freedom Riders
and other civil rights activists planted years ago in America are being
scattered throughout the Arab Spring.
Original Page:
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-15/us/freedom.riders.arab_1_civil-rights-protesters-freedom-rides?_s=PM:US
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