The Golden Cage

Book excerpt: Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (2003), and the only Iranian to receive a Nobel Prize in any field, releases a new memoir in April 2011 entitled The Golden Cage: Three Brothers, Three Choices, One Destiny. The book is a fascinating, contemporary autobiographical story of how Iran came to be the nation it is today. The timeliness of her writing is all the more important with daily breaking news of democracy arising in the region. As she says of her new publication, “History is best described through life stories that are told in simple ways by appealing to what human beings hold in common, the love of life and country.” She is a remarkable woman because of her keen intellect, but even more so because of her inbred commitment to, and understanding of, egalitarianism. It is honest to interpret this to mean she is a fierce advocate for women's and children's rights. In addition to focusing on bringing democracy to Iran, she is a visionary in having foreseen what we are now witnessing in the Middle East and foreseeing the same to be inevitable throughout the world for all dictatorships. Dr. Ebadi attributes this in part to the spread of technology, which allows those imprisoned by governments to see how the free world lives. Naturally, the oppressed choose free will. She also believes the innate human spirit to be a driving force behind the inevitability of democracies. Of central importance in Dr. Ebadi's message about Iran and Islam is that she is a moderate. She believes Islam and democracy are compatible. Dr. Ebadi loves peace and abhors violence. In between those two ends, lays a middle ground in which she deftly works to persuade world leaders and the world population to better understand her homeland. A place where she describes the people as a simmering kettle -- bubbling to the top is her voice and those of others calling for Iran's democratization. Clearly this has made her an enemy of the current Iranian regime. She was out of the country when those ruling Iran further attacked in June 2009, compelling her to begin a life in exile. She would face certain arrest and imprisonment were she to return home. For now, she believes it is best to remain living in exile and to continue speaking out around the world, advocating peacefully for all people to be free from oppression. Her new book, The Golden Cage, and companion public speaking itinerary, are crucial parts of her plan.