Susan warns: This CNN story includes graphic video images of a young woman Neda, who was shot and killed in the streets of Tehran during the recent demonstrations. It is very disturbing. The rest of the story talks about the important role women are playing in the events in Iran.
In eerie, deserted silence on the outskirts of Phnom Penh sits the Prey Speu detention centre.
Barely legible on its grimy walls a few weeks ago were cries for help and whispers of despair from the tormented souls once crammed into its grimy cells. “This is to mark that I lived in terror under oppression,” read one message.
It recalls a Khmer Rouge torture centre from the genocidal 1970s. But in fact the building was used just last year as a “rehabilitation” centre, where detained sex-workers, along with beggars and the homeless, learnt sewing and cooking. They were rounded up in a crackdown on trafficking for the sex industry.
At first an
attempt to clean up Phnom Penh, it soon escalated into a violent
campaign by the police against prostitutes and those living on the
street. According to Licadho, a local human-rights group, guards at the
centre beat three people to death, and at least five detainees killed
themselves.
Sreymoa, a trafficked sex-worker, detained in May 2008 with
her four-year-old daughter, recalls daily beatings, rapes and one death.
If Your Hair Falls Out, Keep Dancing!, a book by AWR member LeslieAnn
Butler, has just received the prestigious national Book of the Year
Award by ForeWord Magazine.
The book, which is about alopecia areata (hair loss), and is llustrated
with twenty-three of Butler's paintings, is filled with tips on how
to discuss alopecia areata with family and friends, available
treatments, doctors, dating, makeup, wigs, and perhaps most important,
attitude.
Written with warmth and humor, If Your Hair Falls Out, Keep Dancing!
helps women realize that they can enjoy and celebrate life with
alopecia areata and go after their dreams knowing they're not alone
I'm following developments in Iran with interest on several different levels. First, it's fascinating to observe transition and change on a macro level as an entire nation experiences yet another revolution of sorts. Second, of course, is the role that women have to play in making change. Third, is the impact of technology and media, social media in particular, in the mix.
A couple of weeks ago, I began to follow Naseem, a 24-year-old UAE National student on Twitter. I was intrigued by her insightful tweets on a diversity of topics. I later learned that she is part Iranian and highly politically aware. Naseem has been tweeting virtually non-stop for three days on the developments in Iran. I'm amazed and inspired by her passion, her persistence and her desire to play a part on an indvidual level in the destiny of her mother's country of birth.
This morning I salute Naseem, and all women (and men) around the world who do whatever they can to initiate positive change in the world. You can follow Naseem, directly or through me, by clicking on the links in the Twitter stream on the right-hand-side of the page.
Below, Octavia Nasr, CNN's senior Arab affairs editor, talks about the role of technology in Iran's presidential election.
