Bicycles and Freedom

One idea I have noticed as a common theme through this class is freedom and resistance through mobility. Most recently, we saw it in the film Wadjda, which was about a young Saudi girl who eventually found her own form of freedom by riding her bike, even though it was shamed by her community, country, and religion. However, if we look back further we can see a similar idea in Playing with Fire. Many of the authors who worked for the NGO described the freedom they felt when they were able to get from village to village through the use of bikes. Bikes are common for children here in the United States and in many nations of the Global North, but in areas who have such strict restrictions on people, as well as products, this seemingly commonplace object becomes a luxury that has the power to inspire.

While reading through some news pieces this past weekend, I found an article about a former child captive of ISIS who has started a movement to provide refugee children with bicycles. "For the 14-year-old boy, the bicycle stands for freedom," the article describes of Emad Mishko Tamo. In 2014, he was separated from his mother and siblings after an attack by ISIS on their village. They were captured and imprisoned separately, but Emad's mother was eventually able to escape from her imprisonment with his siblings. She sought refuge in Canada, and assumed Emad had been killed. However, he was freed with others from the Yazidi culture in 2017, and he was relocated to Canada with his family soon after. Thanks to a local non-profit whose aim was to provide aid to Christian and Yazidi refugees, Emad was given a bike.

Emad wanted to use the generosity he had been shown to give back to other Yazidi refugee children living in Winnipeg, Canada. Eventually, thanks to the support of a generous donor and others, Emad was able to purchase nearly 100 bikes for other Yazidi refugee children, and he only wants to continue his effort.

While something as simple as a bike is often overlooked here in the United States, it can have profound effects on those who do not have similar resources. This idea of freedom through mobility is extremely interesting, as it is often not thought about the same way in many communities in the Global North. The article can be found here.