The protests in Cairo, Egypt have been all over the news these past couple of weeks. They have even been influencing our very own protests in Madison. But where the Wisconsin protests have been hitting close to home, Egypt is not exactly in our backyard, so it is harder to hear what they want to say. Heidi Morrison, assistant professor of history and Middle East studies, recognized this lack of communication as an opportunity to educate students and faculty of the issue and to allow Egyptian protestors to have a voice.
On Thursday, Feb. 3, Morrison organized an Internet conference call between Egyptian protestors and UW-La Crosse students and faculty. The Egypt issue is an important world issue, some people on campus want information directly from the source, and some people in Egypt want to share their stories. A total of 40 to 50 people from the UW-L community showed up to hear the discussion and interact with the people on the other end of the Skype call. Morrison organized this call so people could “hear their voices.” She also said it is “easy to ignore things that don’t happen in your backyard.” People were surprised to have such direct contact with actual Egyptians and were happy to talk to them and hear their personal accounts.
Students and faculty talked to an assortment of people in Egypt, including a medical student, a business magazine editor, and an Egyptian student who had attended UW-L for a short while. Everyone in Egypt who talked via Skype was very excited that people halfway across the world were interested in what was happening in their country. They felt it showed a whole lot of camaraderie. The people were proud to show that they had organized themselves to have non-violent protests, that they were peaceful people, and that they were practicing democracy right there in the streets.
Morrison was in Egypt last year doing research with a faculty research grant. She also lived in Egypt for three years during graduate school. She recently had a book published called “Children in 20th Century Egypt.” Morrison will soon visit Palestine to collect oral histories about children who have experienced violence.
Morrison is a sponsor for the group Invisible Children, which builds school in Africa. This is not quite enough for her though, because she is also interested in starting a group organization called the Human Rights Watch. If there are any students interested in forming this organization, she offered to be the advisor, there just need to be enough people to join.
Heidi Morrison had a wonderful idea to help people witness history in the making and get actual accounts from the actual people creating the history. The students and faculty who attended the meeting were inspired by the Egyptians who stood up for their rights.
