I read Marwa Rakha post on the Million women march. I enjoyed reading the opposite point of view of mine; I felt she is saying everything I am disagreeing with.
Lets start with the holding the march itself, i believe that the women who struggled to achieve the liberty of Egypt side by side with men should not be banned from claiming their right to public sphere to advocating for their rights as women and as citizens, we can debate whether the time is appropriate to hold this march or not but Marwa discourse of refusing any women marches is just not logical and denying women their rights in the public sphere.
Another point was raised that the people who harassed the women rights activists are not the Jan25 people, who said we were expecting those people, we knew before the protest that the ordinary Egyptian citizen will be there, with all the complexity of misogyny and patriarchy and those are the people who the feminist movement will be targeting in its struggle to end discrimination in Egypt, we had many good, valid rational discussion yesterday with many women and men, I remember a discussion I did with a woman she approached me and she said I seem like a good girl , mainly because I am veiled and she said to ma women have gained every single rights, go home and mind your business, I used the family law deficiency to show her theta legal reform is needed and she agreed with me. Yes the situation escalated and yes there were some feminists very snoppish and they were rude and provocative, but these are personal manners not be questioned when you address a movement.
I have to say that the problem that I found with Marwa's article is her part when she said if a woman is happy in her suppressed life, I as a feminist should not bother to fight for her. I have to admit this is a very weird critique and a very weak one to a main principle of feminism which is the women sisterhood, that a feminist can advocate for other women rights if they are encountering discrimination even if the woman is not aware by what she is facing, educating her, articulating her interests and advocating for her rights is the core of feminism.
I am still advocating for calling for women rights as women and as citizens and I think that’s the argument which is saying that feminists are representatives of delegates of women is just too ridiculous that I can not even argue with .
Women in Egypt are and will be visible with many different point of views and that the beauty of the Egyptian feminist movement
7 comments:
I am sad. Sad because when Women in Egypt went to the Square, some or many felt that their demands addressed men and not the society of which they are probably the majority. Sad because some Egyptian men thought poked and felt obliged to counter demonstrate going as far as beating and injuring many of the brave women. As if men will not also benefit from women's claim forgetting they are part of the same society and not another club. Sad because not enough men were standing beside the women of the Square to corroborate their societal move. Women were not screaming for more lipstick or facial cream. Sad there was not enough men o protect and defend women of the Square against men. Thus, defending their own society. Sad. Sad. Sad.
your reply is very passionate and that is what i alwaysw count on the solidarity.
the attacks were from the society women and men , not only men.
it is lesson we learned that we need to aggergate more people for our cause and plan better :)
still a long fight to handle, cheer up we need to continue
Very heartfelt and well-argued Fatma.
thanks dear appreciate it :)
I had to read the Marwa Rakha post for my self to believe it.. i still cant..!! She sounds very elitist and mean actually. This is ill researched point of "we will not help if you dont help your selves" has no place in human rights. In fact it sounds more and more like the conservative right in the US where poor people need to lift themselves up and we wont help because they brought it on to themselves. This point is rejected with any one who was exposed not only to any decent education but also defy common sense. Thank you for your reply and for you sound writings too.
I had to read the Marwa Rakha post for my self to believe it.. i still cant..!! She sounds very elitist and mean actually. This is ill researched point of "we will not help if you dont help your selves" has no place in human rights. In fact it sounds more and more like the conservative right in the US where poor people need to lift themselves up and we wont help because they brought it on to themselves. This point is rejected with any one who was exposed not only to any decent education but also defy common sense. Thank you for your reply and for you sound writings too.
Thank you Fatma...I was there as well and still in shock at what happened. Wrote about it myself. I read parts of Marwa's blog and the only thing it tells me is that she is just as ignorant as the men that were protesting against us. Thats ok though. We know that our road ahead of us is long and tough...we know that we have a majority of Egyptians against us...and we know that one day, we will succeed. We have seen it in other countries, and so we will do the same here.
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