The organizations- CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations of California, San Francisco’s Arab Cultural and Community Center, and MPAC, the Muslim Public Affairs Council- will assist Voice of Witness in advisory roles and with community outreach and fundraising for the forthcoming book. Edited by author Alia Malek (A Country Called Amreeka) with consulting support from journalist/playwright Wajahat Ali (The Domestic Crusaders), the project addresses the rise of hate crimes and discrimination against men and women from Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian and other communities in the US after 9/11.

Editor Alia Malek describes the importance of this project, saying:

“As we approach the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, the country will inevitably pause to reflect on what this decade has meant for us — as a people, as a society, as a nation. It is essential that these commemorations and reckonings include the experiences of a complete range of people whose lives have been impacted by this turning point in US history.”

Voice of Witness co-founder Dave Eggers discovered the need for this type of project through his own writing, he explains:

“Though I’d been aware of it through the news and other means, I learned firsthand, while researching Zeitoun, the intense scrutiny, prejudice and misinformation that plagues Arab- and Muslim-Americans. Their stories need to be told, and Alia Malek’s Voice of Witness book will be an essential tool in the process of American self-education about the lives of the innocents swept up in the War on Terror.”

Voice of Witness’ collaboration will enable the forthcoming book to be adopted as a primary outreach and education resource for partnering organizations. Upon completion, the book will be used as a tool for cultural competency trainings for businesses, social service organizations and healthcare providers, as well as in educational programs in schools and in advocacy work.

Of the partnership, CAIR San Francisco Bay Area Program and Outreach Director Zahra Billoo states, “CAIR-CA is excited to be working with Voice of Witness on this project as it will create an avenue through which to tell the personal stories of American Muslims whose civil rights have been violated in the wake of 9/11.”

About the Participating Organizations:

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties group. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

MPAC is a public service agency working for the civil rights of American Muslims, for the integration of Islam into American pluralism, and for a positive, constructive relationship between American Muslims and their representatives.

The mission of the Arab Cultural and Community Center is to serve both the Arab-American and the greater Bay Area community through cultural programs, outreach, and social services. The ACCC serves over 6,000 people annually and seeks to educate and inform the larger Bay Area community about Arab culture and the contributions that Arab-Americans make to the social and cultural fabric of the Bay Area.

We are still looking for narrators and funders for this crucial project. For more information on the book and how you can help make it a reality, click here.

Alice was a grassroots political organizer for the Movement for Democratic Change, the opposition party in Zimbabwe. Now in her 40s, she lives undercover in a neighboring country while she waits to find out if she will be granted asylum. Here, she relives moment-by-moment her experience in 2008 of abduction and rape, sexual violence as political retribution.

My neighbor said, “I heard they are coming to get you today.”

I said, “I’m tired of running. If they want to come and get me they can come.” Less than an hour later, they came. In winter it gets dark early. It was some time after 6 pm when three cars full up with people arrived at my house. This was the 7th of June, 2008.

When I heard the sound of cars, I looked through the curtain and saw that it was bad. There was nowhere to run. They were wearing camouflage, the Zimbabwean army uniform, and they were armed with guns.

They all got out of the cars. Some jumped over my gate and some went round to my neighbors’ house where I used to go to hide. My house is a typical ghetto house – each one is attached to the neighbors’ houses. In one bedroom, they found my stepson and his wife sleeping. I’d given my stepson the spare keys to my bedroom but he could not get the door open. He was trying to insert the key but I was inside holding the other key. When I realized that they were beating him, I unlocked the door. I said, “Please don’t beat up my son. I am the problem because I am a member of MDC.”

They said, “Are you showing off with your MDC?”

I said, “No, I’m not. You are hurting someone who has done no wrong.”

They said, “Ok, open your bedroom. Why were you locked inside?”

I said, “I was afraid. I’ve never had visitors bring guns before.”

They went into my bedroom and started searching. They found twenty Morgan Tsvangirai  posters and two posters for my MP, and flyers and The Zimbabwean newspaper – I had piles of them for distribution. They searched my house and took some money that I was saving, 300 US dollars and 150 South African rands.

They told me to carry all the stuff out of the house and they took me in their open truck, a cream-colored Mitsubishi. I was sitting in the back, in the middle, and they were surrounding me, sitting on the sides. They were kicking me and hitting me with sticks and fists. Some wanted to throw me into a dam. Another car stopped and someone inside said, “Did you find her?” and they said, “Yes we did.”

They wanted me to tell them where the MDC MPs lived, the MDC youths’ houses, the councilor’s house. I refused to tell them. They said, “So you are being like Jesus who died for others? Are you going to die for those people?” I said, “No. Whoever showed you my house should have shown you all the other houses.” They said I was rude. They beat me up so badly. After that they said, “Take off your clothes.”

When I removed my clothes, just before we got to the Methodist church, they stopped the car and started taking pictures of me, naked. They carried on beating me as they were driving around. Then they stopped somewhere else in the dark and there they raped me.

There were many soldiers. I don’t know how many raped me because I passed out.

I think they threw water on me because I became conscious when we got to the police station. They said, “Get off and carry your stuff.” I got off the back of the truck but I couldn’t even walk. I fell down and they said get up and I did.

Inside, when they got behind the counter in the police station, they threw a bullet at me and said, “Kiss it” and I did and they said, “That bullet is yours.”

To read the article, click here.

To help make this book possible with a donation, click here.

Right now, we’re in the beginning stages of the project: locating narrators and connecting with communities, but we’re ready to move forward. Voice of Witness needs to raise an initial sum of $7,000 to send a team of interviewers out into the field.

Can you help us kick-start this project? Click here to donate today.

Click here to read more about the grant.

This week, volunteer interviewer Claire Kiefer travelled to Alabama to speak with several women prisoners and record their life stories. For Claire, who has worked as a teacher in San Quentin Prison as well as with at-risk youth with incarcerated parents, this was a powerful experience. She writes:

“Yesterday I got up at 5 am and drove to Montgomery, Alabama to meet with two women at the AIM (Aid for Inmate Mothers) center downtown. I prepared my (incredibly futuristic) audio recorder and sat down with the first woman I was to interview. To say that she silenced me with her strength, resilience, and grace would be a drastic understatement.”

To read more about her experience as an interviewer for Voice of Witness, click here.

Visit the site to learn their thoughts on the power of storytelling, human rights in Burma, and more. Click here to read the article.

If I explained how I became a political organizer, I would have to tell you my whole life story. Ever since 1988, I feel like the military regime took me, put me in a pot, and has been shaking me around.

– Kyaw Zwar, Narrator

Dear Voice of Witness Readers,

Political prisoner. Refugee. Child soldier. Trafficked woman. It’s hard to understand Burma’s human rights crisis when entire lives are reduced to labels and sound bites. Whether it was in a makeshift refugee camp hidden in the jungle outside Kuala Lumpur or a bustling Starbucks in Bangkok, the people from Burma who’ve told us their entire life stories remind us that Burma isn’t a country of human rights abuses - it’s a country of people.

It’s not every day that you have the privilege of listening to someone’s life story. You can read the short quotes we’ve put here for you, but we want you to see that they only scratch the surface as an introduction to the narrators. In our book you will meet Hla Min, who was a child soldier for six years. Hla Min deserted the army when he was ordered to shoot monks during the 2007 Saffron Revolution; he now works as a tobacco farmer in Bangladesh. In his free time, Hla Min studies human rights.

“I have had no contact with my family since the army took me. I don’t remember a lot from when I was young. I may not even be able to remember or recognize my family. My parents were workers and we were a poor family in Rangoon. I remember this. I remember that when I went to school for the first time, my family was really happy. I went to school until I was nine, when they took me for the army. In the army, I never got to study. I was only taught about guns.”

At Kutupalong Makeshift Camp, Bangladesh

2010 marks an important year in Burma — the military regime will hold elections for the first time in twenty years in an attempt to legitimize their power. With the continued detention of almost 2,200 political prisoners and ongoing attacks on ethnic communities, it is crucial that the voices of Burma’s people are heard.

The upcoming Voice of Witness book, Nowhere to Be Home: Narratives from Survivors of Burma’s Military Regime, will delve into the diverse lives of people who have lived under Burma’s repressive regime. It is our heartfelt belief that this book will be a valuable tool for seasoned activists, policy makers, and academics as well as those learning about Burma for the first time.

We hope that you will help us complete this important work. Click here to support Voice of Witness with a donation today.

Sincerely yours,

M. Lemere and Z. West

Help Voice of Witness raise $2500 by May 31st to support this  important book! Donate today.

You can also help Voice of Witness by spreading the word about  this project. Share this message with your friends and colleagues  today.

This month, we’re counting on you to help us raise the $2,500 we need to conduct crucial interviews from inside Burma. This is one of the final steps to completing our forthcoming book, Nowhere to Be Home: Narratives From Survivors of Burma’s Military Regime. Our narrators and editors are bringing these stories to light at great risk and they can’t do it without you.
We need your support to make this incredible project a reality.

If you’ve been thinking about making a contribution to Voice of Witness but haven’t yet, now is the time to show your dedication to human rights and to the mission of Voice of Witness! We need your help now and until May 31st, we’ll be thanking you by sending donors of $50 or more a beautiful Shepard Fairey ‘Freedom to Lead’ poster.

Will you help us tell the stories of the men and women of Burma?

Click here to help now!

These posters have been generously donated by Shepard Fairey and the Human Rights Action Center.  Posters will be shipped to addresses within the US only.

Voice of Witness is a small nonprofit with low overhead and a mostly volunteer staff. Your donation is  100% tax deductible and goes directly to our work to educate and empower through telling the stories  behind contemporary human rights crises.

From all of us at Voice of Witness– thank you! We couldn’t bring these stories to light without the help of our supporters. Please help us spread the word about this important project. Subscribe to our newsletter, email this post to your friends, become a fan of VOW on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

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