85 Heart Throbbing Experience of Arab Spring * The Opening Ceremony of 33rd Sharjah International Book Fair, 2014 “Two days ago, while sitting at the dining table with my children, they insisted that I improvise today’s speech, so I left the subject until this morning without preparation, till I sat today in my room, silent and the surroundings were quite. My heart was pounding continuously, so I said: O heart, what is with you? Are those the hooves of your horses striding to victory, or hooves of your horses retreating in defeat?. It didn’t answer.” “ I said: is this pounding the sound of the hammers of our factories or is it bombings and pickaxes destroying our culture, * Speech delivered on 5th November, 2014, during the opening ceremony of 33rd Sharjah International Book Fair.
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