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Generation Freedom: The Middle East Uprisings and the Remaking of the Modern World Written by: Bruce Feiler. Reviewed by: Scott Berlin. Citation . Feiler , B. S. (2011). Generation freedom: the Middle East uprisings and the remaking of the modern world. New York: Harper Perennial.
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Generation Freedom: The Middle East Uprisings and the Remaking of the Modern WorldWritten by: Bruce Feiler Reviewed by: Scott Berlin
Citation Feiler, B. S. (2011). Generation freedom: the Middle East uprisings and the remaking of the modern world. New York: Harper Perennial.
Who is Generation Freedom? • Feiler describes generation freedom as the one billion Muslims around the world that are under the age of 30 (1 in 7 of all the people in the world) • Describes this generation as different from their parents, possessing traits that include being: • Proactive • Well-Informed • Incredible Social • Lead the regional movement for change, commonly referred to as the “Arab Spring”
Two Pathways for Generation Freedom • Feiler presents the two most common pathways for members of this generation • The Radical Jihadist • Offering a better life through: • Religious Conformity • Violence • Self- Annihilation • Seen to many as the “easy path” • The Proactive “Liberalist” • Offering a better life through: • Voting Booths • Activism • Job Opportunities • Starts with education and becoming a proactive member of society, focusing on making their homeland a better place
The Arab Spring • A youth generated movement consisting of protests, demonstrations, and civil wars beginning in 2010 across the Arab world • The movement is focused on basic freedoms and is in direct conflict with the extreme fundamentalist leadership in many of these countries • Generation Freedoms is considered to be the main force behind the Arab Spring, showing that the youth in many of these counties do not accept the backwards thinking that many of their extremist leaders preach
The Fifth Freedom • Feiler speaks about the idea of a Fifth Freedom that this generation believes they are entitled to; the right to connect • Generation Freedom is known as tech-savvy and globally connected • Their ability to use the Internet and other forms of communication allow them to organize in a means that was not possible until now • This freedom allows for the free flow of ideas and messages inside and outside the middle-east, allowing this generation to gain access to information that was at one time limited to what their government would allow.
A New Future • The book paints an optimistic future for the middle-east, as well as the rest of the world due to Generation Freedom • The are open to new ideas and are willing to reject ideas the they disagree with. This was not common in prior generations from this region • Technology allows their messages to be heard by more people and organize their movement • This generation is against the violence of terrorism against innocent people and will help end the radicalize leaders in many Muslim nations.
Recommendations • I would strongly recommend this book to any youth development professional. This being said, if any professional was working specifically in the Middle-East I would consider this a “must read”. This book gives incredible insight into the minds of this upcoming generation and ties historical events in seamlessly to give evidence of the author’s opinions. This book does a great job of allowing the reader to get into the heads of members of Generation Freedom, it portrays to the reader this generation’s hopes, aspirations, and motivations. It would be difficult for me to find another resource that would give such incredible insight into the minds of the youth of this region.
