A Leap Forward

Last night I went to the Al-Balad Theater to attend a discussion by Rana Husseini on honor killings. Rana is the Jordan Times journalist who has led the fight against these crimes and persevered for over a decade to keep the issue in the public eye. Her talk was in Arabic but there was a translator and individual listening devices for all who needed the English version. The discussion was sponsored by the Jordanian-Danish Youth Dialogue Center who had attracted an audience of about 150 interested and concerned young people. I left after two hours and before the discussion finished, so I don’t know how long it went on. But I left with a great feeling of progress. Publicly recognizing a problem is the first step and a major leap toward finding a solution.

Not only did I leave holding such a positive feeling about the topic, I left with an exciting feeling about the theater itself and what it hosts. A few weeks ago I attended a free showing there of a Canadian movie during the Canadian film week, and although I liked the movie, I was cold and couldn’t see the screen very well. But last night I changed my opinion about the place, although it was still cold, at least I sat in the front row. Al-Balad theater is in the old part of Jebel Amman on a narrow one-way street with limited parking. There is no marquee, there are no lights or visible signs (at least I didn’t see any) advertising that this square building houses a theater. The building is old, without heat, no permanent seats, but of a size to accommodate a couple hundred people. I don’t know what the owners plan for it in the future, if anything, but at the moment it is like a town-hall meeting place. A place where meaningful discussions take place, where grass roots democracy lives. Bravo!

ASH