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The dream still lives

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on May 26, 2009

Above: Susan Boyle performs on “Britain’s Got Talent” (Courtesy: musicofsusanboyle.com)

Below: Soraya Manutchehri, played by Mohzan Marno, in The Stoning of Soraya M (Courtesy: Universal Pictures)

Unexpectedly, these past few days have restored my faith in humanity. Not that my faith was irredeemably flagging, but every so often you have to wonder if you’re insane for dreaming big, bold and brash.

I’m happy to report that for entirely rational reasons, I’m dreaming on.

It all started when the Moral Courage Project hosted a private screening of the soon-to-be-released film, “The Stoning of Soraya M.” I’ll tell you more about the movie later. For now, just know that this story goes deeper than the brutal execution of an Iranian woman by her fellow villagers.

The movie introduces us to Zahra, a voice of moral courage who tries to stop Soraya’s death. She fails. In one scene, Soraya’s deceitful husband notices the twitching eye of his barely breathing wife and screams to the stone-clutching villagers, “The bitch still lives!” He summons the crowd to hurl its final fusillade at Soraya.

Still, at the end of the film, the morally courageous Zahra manages to do something that reminds us of a simple, timeless truth: Even when you can’t pre-empt or prevent a heinous crime from unfolding, you can always use your voice to have a longer-term impact.

Soraya dies. But — to paraphrase her tormentor — the dream still lives.

The day after that screening, I shared chai with my fellow NYU professor Suketu Mehta, author of Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found. As we swapped observations about the future of free expression, Suketu introduced me to a name I’d never heard before: Roberto Saviano, a young Italian journo who’s under 24-hour guard for exposing the mafia of Naples.

Suketu is a friend of Roberto.”Does he still live in Naples?” I asked.

“Nobody knows,” Suketu replied. “Not even his family. The police themselves admit he’s a dead man walking.”

That’s not only because Roberto Saviono is speaking truth to power in his community; it’s also because Italians are devouring his efforts. To date, two million copies of his book have sold in Italy alone. More than 40 other countries have translated his works. The mafia can’t abide such outsized success from a puny individual who’s merely practicing his craft.

I’ll say it again: Roberto Saviano might die, but the dream of moral courage still lives.

After my chai date with Suketu, I flipped open my MacBook to google Roberto. As is my (highly inefficient) habit, I felt compelled to check emails first. A message appeared from one of my students, Kate Otto, whom I’ve blogged about as a voice of moral courage in her own right. Kate attended the “Soraya” screening, where we discussed the need for men to challenge other men about how violence victimizes their sons as much as their daughters.

In that vein, Kate sent me a link to her friend Jimmie Briggs. He’s about to launch “Man Up,” a global campaign calling on men to grow up and take responsibility for gender-based violence. One of the campaign’s signature events will cleverly coincide with the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

You have to read this profile of Jimmie. He’s not a sermon-spewing ideologue or woe-is-us protestor. He’s a father trying to get it right by transcending any fear of manning himself up. Moral courage prevails in my emails.

At this point, I have to confess to another bad habit. If I’m not checking emails, I’m surfing The New York Times. Which is what I did before resuming my search for Roberto Saviano.

That’s how I caught a splash-page story of yet another voice of moral courage — from China. The Times profiled Lu Chuan, a rising filmmaker who’s convinced his country’s censorship board to release his movie about the mercy that can flow between combatants in war.

Lu’s film is provocative because it compassionately reveals the complexities of a Japanese soldier — translation: enemy of China — during an episode of horrific conflict between the two countries. So how did he pass muster with government censors? Read The Times.

Bottom line: More threatening than the nationalist dogma of the Communist Party is the hyper-chauvinism of many Chinese themselves. As The Times tells us, “The death threat landed in Lu Chuan’s email inbox the first week his film on the Nanjing massacre was released here in China… Other threats soon followed, as a glance at the tens of thousands of comments on Mr. Lu’s blog shows. One person wishes his parents slow and painful deaths. Another said he would cut off Mr. Lu’s penis.”

By now, I was thoroughly distracted from my search for Roberto Saviano. All these glimpses of moral courage reminded me of why I have to finish reading a new book by yet another voice of moral courage. Marc Ellis is a professor of Jewish Studies at Baylor University in Texas. He recently wrote Judaism Does Not Equal Israel, a hi-octane argument for questioning Israeli state policies.

What’s morally courageous about this? Prof. Ellis is animated by core prophetic Jewish values. In effect, he’s speaking truth to power within his own tribe for what he believes is a greater, more universal, good. He hasn’t repudiated his community. He’s saying that Judaism calls on him to have higher expectations of fellow Jews, which is the ultimate expression of faith in your community.

I appreciate that a lot of my Jewish friends would disagree — to the point of branding me a sell-out. They contend that the existential threat facing Israel from the likes of Iran demands unity, even uniformity, of voice. Now more than ever, they say, we can’t afford the kind of moral courage that undermines Israel’s ability to defend itself.

All the more reason, I say, for moral courage — the kind that puts Muslims on notice that we have to “man up” ourselves too.

Aziz Abu Sarah

Upon reading more of Prof. Ellis’s book, I was propelled back to my emails to look for a link sent to me by an Israeli friend, Roi Ben-Yehuda (whom this blog has profiled as a voice of moral courage.)

Roi wanted me to know about a Palestinian, Aziz Abu Sarah, who decided to commemorate Holocaust Day this year. Check out Aziz’s extraordinary editorial. No, it’s not a table-turning on the Holocaust by declaring Palestinian suffering to be of genocidal proportions. It’s a sincere confession of empathy for the other. Gotta love this quote:

Watching Schindler’s List, I was moved by the story to a degree that I cannot describe. It was impossible to fight the tears streaming from my eyes. The connection I made with those who suffered the Holocaust goes beyond nationality, religion or race; it was the connection of one man to another in the face of universally understandable pain.

Fine, the skeptics will snear, but what about Iran and the mortal menace that its regime poses both to Israel and to Persians themselves? Surely, Irshad, you see the urgency of moral courage to hold Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accountable for his manipulations, prevarications and outright atrocities!

Damn straight, I do. That’s why the Moral Courage Project screened “The Stoning of Soraya M” and is now building a human rights campaign around it. The routine violations of dignity within Iran today can’t be divorced from Tehran’s financial support of terrorist outfits in and around the Palestinian territories. It’s one massive barometer of how the clerics and their presidential beotch value life on earth, which is to say not that much.

Stoning presumed adulterers, hanging homosexuals, jailing journalists, bombing Jews as well as Arab Muslims and Christians who happen to be in the way — all of these injustices cry out to be busted. This summer, you’ll learn what the Moral Courage Project is doing on that and related fronts.

The whirlwind adventure that affirms my faith in humanity began with Soraya. But it ends with an angelic voice of moral courage named Susan. Let me explain.

After reflecting on Roberto Saviano, Jimmie Briggs, Lu Chuan, Marc Ellis and Aziz Abu Sarah, I desperately needed a breather. It occurred to me that Susan Boyle, the frumpy Scottish chanteuse who’s grabbed so many of us by the vitals, had just competed in the second round of “Britain’s Got Talent.” I had to find out how she fared.

Turns out that with with this latest appearance, she’s cemented her superstar status and won entry into the final round. Rock on, Braveheart.

Whatever the outcome, Susan’s brave heart can’t be denied. Not only did she rise above the taunts of bullies as a child, but she stared down the snickers of all who expected her to flop on-stage while delivering her first performance for Simon Cowell and gang. Her voice soared. Her detractors soured. The world fell silent. Then it fell in love.

The song that catapulted Susan Boyle? “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables. Evidently, her dream refuses to die.

In the spirit of Soraya, so does mine.