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A review by trish204
Here I Stand: Stories that Speak for Freedom by Amnesty International UK, Liz Kessler, Christie Watson, Tim Wynne-Jones, Amy Leon, Chibundu Onuzo, Bali Rai, John Boyne, Mary and Bryan Talbot, Al Kennedy, Sita Brahmachari, Chelsea Manning, Kevin Brooks, Neil Gaiman, Sarah Crossan, Chris Riddell, Ryan Gattis, Jackie Kay, Tony Birch, Frances Hardinge, Matt Haig, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jack Gantos, Kate Charlesworth, Elizabeth Laird
5.0
We all here know the term book hangover. We all know what it means.
This book had a similar effect on me while being a completely different case. Let me explain:
=> It was similar because it made me cry and stopped me from being able to think of anything else or concentrate on anything else.
=> It was completely different because there are no "characters" here. The stories in this book are either original accounts from people affected or inspired by true stories.
Amnesty International has collected stories about child abuse, domestic violence, refugees, war zones, witch hunts (yes, nowadays, not hundreds of years in the past), the Suffragette movement and many other topics to illustrate the rights and freedoms many in the Western world enjoy but are not aware of - or are aware that we enjoy these freedoms as a right but don't know what it is like in the rest of the world. Some rights and freedoms are even only theoretical in our Western world but are often ignored by governments.
(No idea why Goodreads flips the picture unto its side, sorry.)
The stories gutted me. Seriously. I started reading this and the first 2 pages killed me (it was about child abuse stories so trigger warning right there). I marched on, thinking that was the least I owed all the people around the globe who suffered exactly from such things. And let me tell you: it doesn't lighten up. This book isn't supposed to be fluffy. The "fluffiest" thing is Neil Gaiman's Credo about mid-way through and everyone knowing it and how/why/when it was written also knows that it's not really fluffy. The book made me cringe and cry and the fates of people sickened me. It's a powerful reminder of how far we have come as a society but how far we yet have to go. It's a wake-up call to all those who do not spare a thought to those less lucky about their birth place (although I doubt these people will read this book) or who believe the media that everything is "fine". Of course it also draws the attention to what the organization Amensty International is and what they do, but only minimally.
I'd like to give you excerpt from the preface and the afterword that summarize what this book is all about:
They go on to point out how they believe that every person can initiate change and that the rights we have today come from people realizing that and standing together. They then point out certain stories that are accounts of actual events (with changed names of course) and I was flabberghasted when I realized which ones they meant.
The last story in this book is an interview conducted by Amnesty International with Chalsea Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning). I think we all know who she is and what she is "famous" for. The interview made me realize what an idealist this person is and just how easily a country like the US ignores its own rules and does what it wants (and gets away with it too)! It was frightening. No wonder Julian Assange (no matter what you think of him and the rape allegations) refuses to leave the Ecuadorian embassy!
I was truly humbled by the stories here and by realizing that besides any possible personal hardships I had a great life so far when compared to so many other people on this planet. This is not to say the book diminishes personal hardships but it had that effect on me. I, personally, don't think bullying as bad as vaginal mutilation that still happens on a daily basis in Africa, or as bad as excorcisms performed on so-called witches, or as bad as actual torture. None of these things happened to me so yes, I'm grateful for that. What makes me angry is that these stories are not just of countries far away. Many are about people in the UK and USA and that's a shame.
So no, this book and what it contains is not easy but so very important that I can only hope many people around the world will read it and take heart!
This book had a similar effect on me while being a completely different case. Let me explain:
=> It was similar because it made me cry and stopped me from being able to think of anything else or concentrate on anything else.
=> It was completely different because there are no "characters" here. The stories in this book are either original accounts from people affected or inspired by true stories.
Amnesty International has collected stories about child abuse, domestic violence, refugees, war zones, witch hunts (yes, nowadays, not hundreds of years in the past), the Suffragette movement and many other topics to illustrate the rights and freedoms many in the Western world enjoy but are not aware of - or are aware that we enjoy these freedoms as a right but don't know what it is like in the rest of the world. Some rights and freedoms are even only theoretical in our Western world but are often ignored by governments.
(No idea why Goodreads flips the picture unto its side, sorry.)
The stories gutted me. Seriously. I started reading this and the first 2 pages killed me (it was about child abuse stories so trigger warning right there). I marched on, thinking that was the least I owed all the people around the globe who suffered exactly from such things. And let me tell you: it doesn't lighten up. This book isn't supposed to be fluffy. The "fluffiest" thing is Neil Gaiman's Credo about mid-way through and everyone knowing it and how/why/when it was written also knows that it's not really fluffy. The book made me cringe and cry and the fates of people sickened me. It's a powerful reminder of how far we have come as a society but how far we yet have to go. It's a wake-up call to all those who do not spare a thought to those less lucky about their birth place (although I doubt these people will read this book) or who believe the media that everything is "fine". Of course it also draws the attention to what the organization Amensty International is and what they do, but only minimally.
I'd like to give you excerpt from the preface and the afterword that summarize what this book is all about:
[...] Today our freedoms and liberties include the right to vote for our leaders, the prohibition on the use of torture, the right not to be arbitrarily detained, the right to speak freely and the right to protest.
Freedoms do not spontaneously arrive, and they are not handed to citizens by benevolent rulers. Our freedoms in the UK were gained through a long and often bloody history of slowly establishing limits on the powers of mighty monarchs and tyrannical rulers.
[...]
But we need to be ever vigilant, because the freedoms that have been hard won for us can be lost in a moment by the stroke of a politician's pen [...]
We must all be jealous guardians of our freedoms, and appreciate that many of the liberties that we enjoy in the West are still being fought for by citizens in other parts of the world who are ruled by dictators and tyrannical regimes.
[...] This book is inspired by the fact that human rights can be denied or abused even in countries like the UK or the USA, and we need to defend them constantly. Stories and poetry are a wonderful way of making us think, helping us understand the world and other people. More than that, they can inspire our empathy - which we need if we're to overcome prejudice.
In the Western world many of us take our human rights for granted. But our rights are as much part of our proud heritage as our books, music, art and ancient monuments, and they need defending. They are part of our ever-evolving culture and have been crucial to our development beyond the violence and oppression of the Middle Ages.
[...]
Discrimination and bullying happen at home, in schools and in the workplace and it's all too easy for some rights to be cast aside. Writers and artists are often the first to be thrown into prison by dictatorial regimes, probably because those leaders are afraid of the power of stories and pictures to provoke new ideas and inspire actions.[...]
They go on to point out how they believe that every person can initiate change and that the rights we have today come from people realizing that and standing together. They then point out certain stories that are accounts of actual events (with changed names of course) and I was flabberghasted when I realized which ones they meant.
The last story in this book is an interview conducted by Amnesty International with Chalsea Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning). I think we all know who she is and what she is "famous" for. The interview made me realize what an idealist this person is and just how easily a country like the US ignores its own rules and does what it wants (and gets away with it too)! It was frightening. No wonder Julian Assange (no matter what you think of him and the rape allegations) refuses to leave the Ecuadorian embassy!
I was truly humbled by the stories here and by realizing that besides any possible personal hardships I had a great life so far when compared to so many other people on this planet. This is not to say the book diminishes personal hardships but it had that effect on me. I, personally, don't think bullying as bad as vaginal mutilation that still happens on a daily basis in Africa, or as bad as excorcisms performed on so-called witches, or as bad as actual torture. None of these things happened to me so yes, I'm grateful for that. What makes me angry is that these stories are not just of countries far away. Many are about people in the UK and USA and that's a shame.
So no, this book and what it contains is not easy but so very important that I can only hope many people around the world will read it and take heart!