As both a Syrian and Spanish citizen Leila Nachawati, activist and journalist and participant of the event The Changing Face of Citizen Action, she has found herself in the middle of citizen mobilisations in both countries at the same time. "Growing up in the Middle Eastern context of repression and lack of freedom, mobilizations in the Arab countries seemed like a miracle to me, to my friends and my family. After decades of dictatorship suddenly everything was shaking".
"And for good or for bad, the world would never be the same. “We should stop talking about “New World Order” and start talking about “New World Disorder”, my friend Nasser said. Amazing disorder where dictators were falling one by one and citizens were inspiring one another. That inspiration has reached the South of the Mediterranean, and the North, and the East and the West, and it keeps spreading and evolving. Citizens in Spain don´t live in fear, like most Arab citizens do. They live in a democracy but they also have work to do to improve their very worn-out structures, and they have found the courage needed to demand those changes in other citizen mobilizations, just like they have inspired others to do the same. The word “Citizen” seems to have gained a new meaning. A new power. Empowered citizens.
As both a Syrian and a Spanish citizen, I had never dreamt of seeing citizen mobilizations in both countries within the same period of time. I had not dreamed of the exciting amount of citizen solidarity either, the amount of people interested in others living far away and sympathizing with their struggles. And it´s only September. 2011: the Year were Citizens woke up."
Also, read an interview with Leila
