The Independent Television Service (which produces Independent Lens) and PBS NewsHour have partnered to help provide Egypt & Democracy, an amazing range of resources for educators to help frame events in Egypt for students in a historical and global context. Included is a live online event on Tuesday, February 15, at 11 AM PST. Entitled Historic Changes in Egypt: Lessons in Democracy, Culture, Technology and moderated by PBS NewsHour Correspondent Hari Sreenivasan, the discussion will add context and background for educators and students. The discussion will provide voices from the region, media resources and lesson plans for the classroom.
Historic Changes in Egypt: Lessons in Democracy, Culture, and Technology — February 15, 11 AM PST
At the very center of these resources is the ITVS film called Shayfeen.com: We Are Watching You, about three women who worked tirelessly — employing digital media — to try to ensure that the 2005 elections in Egypt were free and fair (they were not, and the film shows the voter intimidation that was rampant). This cinematic document is an astonishingly prescient story about the nascent populist (and digitally empowered) movement to win democracy in an autocratic nation.
Also provided are clips and lesson plans related to the critically acclaimed Garbage Dreams, which aired on Independent Lens last season. Garbage Dreams is about the historically disenfrachised coptic Christian Zaballeen, known as Cairo’s “garbage people.”