Moved by the immense courage of Arab men and women who have toppled vicious dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, and those who are still at it in Yemen, Syria and Bahrain, some of the brightest stars of American culture and arts have initiated a campaign to show their solidarity with Arabs and to call on the US government to stop supporting dictators.
The campaign began in January at the height of the Egyptian revolt. It initially boasted some major household names. One of the original organizers, who asked to remain anonymous, because he was concerned about his image, and has since handed over responsibilities to an intern at the campaign, told one of our correspondents about the germ of the project:
“My eyes welled up when I saw the footage of peaceful protesters being savagely attacked by the forces of a dictator funded by my tax dollars. I thought to myself “Shit! I have to do something about this. Like make a movie about it or something. I made a few calls to friends, but then I got distracted. I’m still all for it though, in principle. I’m just busy, you know?”
The campaign seems to have lost steam. Some who were initially enthusiastic have been discouraged by “the morning after.” Others cited personal issues. The volunteer intern working on the mailing list of potential signatories was kind enough to share samples of the responses she’s been receiving when trying to enlist names:
“I was really excited about the revolution at first. It was inspiring to see these people wake up and do something good instead of just blowing themselves up all the time, but then the counter-revolution put a damper on things. . . I’m also worried about these Muslim Brooks Brothers taking over. Why don’t they shave? Anyway, Jenny and I had to go to Tibet and we weren’t answering e-mails. Have you been to Tibet?”
“I really want to support this, but don’t have time to read the whole thing you sent and am not going to sign without reading. Sorry, I’m moving and have tons of packing to do.”
“Look, don’t get me wrong. I love Arabic food and I even have some Iranian friends, but I just can’t get over the burqa thing. When they take it off, I’ll put my name down for anything”
“I’m willing to consider adding my name, but I object to the nomenclature. Are they “revolutions” in the genuine sense of the term?
“Although I read that these were peaceful protests, I’m still worried by all the screaming and anger I saw on TV. What is so upsetting? Can`t they be a bit more civil? I’m not sure these people are ready for it yet.”
“Spring or no spring, please remove me from your list. I’m not an environmentalist.”
“We are both moved by this. Tremendously. They share our American values. They use twitter. We are positive and think we will sign, but we need to think about it a bit. We don’t want to rush.”
“Don’t waste my time.”