How does Mideast Youth pick and choose its projects?

Mideast Youth is extraordinarily open to criticism and feedback. We aim to constantly adjust, adapt, and evolve based on the commentary we receive. But there are a few points of criticism which come up again and again. We’d like to address them here.

First, there’s the question of how we go about choosing issues and projects to take on. People sometimes make unfair assumptions about our selection process, complaining that we are off-handed, or even out-and-out biased, in our choices.

Here’s the main question we ask ourselves when considering whether to take on a project: how far under the radar is this issue? The thing is, we’re Mideast Youth, not Mideast Powerful Middle-Aged Royals. We don’t have the power to raise tons of money, pull lots of strings, or otherwise make things happen. We unfortunately can’t be “Superman to the rescue” for victims of injustice or persecution.

At least not yet!

For now, we’ve found that we’re pretty good at one single thing: finding underreported causes and using our new media skills to whip up thoughtful, highly creative ways of getting the word out. It may not seem like much, but that’s how we’re able to help from our small position in the scheme of things.

We understand – and share! – feelings of frustration that, with so many bad things going on, we’re “not doing enough.” We also understand there’s no moral way to determine that one group’s suffering is less worthy of our efforts than another’s! The main thing is that we always look for causes others ignore. Unfortunately, that can give the false impression we’ve invested our energies on relatively low-priority issues while ignoring important ones.

One example is our project for Baha’i Human Rights. The persecution of Baha’is in modern times has, one might note, resulted in a “mere” 200 deaths over three decades. Such numbers pale in comparison to other persecutions. But it’s precisely because this situation has been shunted off as “minor” that we feel compelled to help!

Consider the larger issue. Iran has abandoned mass executions while simultaneously adopting more insidious forms of persecution. One execution is likely to garner more attention than the systematic expulsion of hundreds of Baha’i students from universities. Realizing that “softer” methods of persecution garner little attention, the authorities act without fear of repercussions. That’s where we come in! We know how to draw attention to under-radar patterns of injustice.

We can’t possibly launch campaigns for every important issue. We’re young people operating with limited means and manpower. So we pick and choose. We work angles others neglect. Our inability to help everyone shouldn’t invalidate our efforts to help anyone!

But here’s the thing. If you feel we’re ignoring something critically important, channel your concern into championing the cause yourself! Get in touch with us; we’ll host you and develop your site for free. We’ll try to help you set up a campaign and provide any assistance we can! Don’t observe us passively, like a television channel, complaining about the programming! Join in. Be a programmer yourself. Take action. Your time and sweat are way more valuable than your back-seat driving.

One last thing: we request that you please not charge in demanding that we apologize for every crime carried out by an Arab/Muslim/etc. We feel the same despair you do about this violent world. And we ask you to be reasonable enough to understand that when some violent lunatic commits heinous crimes in the name of our billion and a half co-religionists, he has neither asked for nor received approval from the rest of us! Requiring us to constantly apologize for lunatics is embarrassing, insulting, and upsetting, so we ask that you be considerate of our feelings – unless, that is, you yourself have personally apologized for every injustice ever perpetrated by anyone who looks like you, worships like you, or is from a hometown near you.

That said, not everyone behind Mideast Youth is an Arab or a Muslim. Many of our members are also Kurds, Baha’is, Iranians, Christians, Israelis, etc.

Again: keep the feedback flowing… especially now that you better understand where we’re coming from!

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