Malta Hanina Khobza w Sardina

 

i travel a lot, i visited many countries, but some countries have place in the heart and soul 

Malta the beloved from 14 Sep 06 till 20 Apr 07 

and back for the graduation in the international human rights day 10th of Dec 2007

but Malta is the only place i fell home. i studied my MA there. i studied International Human Rights from a multidisciplinary perspective, i come political science background and my approach to international law was enhanced in this study tour. 

Presenting African System of Human Rights

it was a scholarship, 

as part of the co operation policies of the European union, i was in the Mediterranean masters, there are four twins in Africa, Balkans, Europe and Latin America.

my first semester was in Malta Hanina Khobza w Sardina and the second semester was in Ghent, Belguim. 

In Malta i met all the class, many nationalities, friends, acquaintances, even enemies .

 

it was a journey for the soul and mind, not only physical journey. 

 i met great people, i had a huge gang to hang out with 

but i still rememberf bad things like the migration authority office, where i felt that i am negr veiled woman coming from the Middle East after 2001 .

Discrimination and racism 

made me tough,

 tougher

 and toughest than ever

 i still remember when they made me stand in the line of black people, and the bad employee was doubting that i am a student and i was mad and angry, and good female officer comfort me by a smile and warm good morning greeting. 

 

i met good people in my class and in Malta 

and i made it to the degree .......

me and H.E Egyptian Ambassador

Southren Egyptian Rock

Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences - Cairo University Rock :) 

featured in Carter Center

 Meet Egyptian  

Fatma Emam

Sept. 17, 2012

Fatma Emam

During Egypt's January 2011 revolution, human rights activist and blogger Fatma Emam demonstrated for change in Tahrir Square day after day with thousands of other men and women. Post-revolution though, she found women's rights left behind.
"There are so many women who like me defied their families," Emam told Bloomberg News at the time. "The revolution is not only taking place in Tahrir, it is taking place in every Egyptian house. It is the revolution of fighting the patriarch."
As a young woman in a religiously conservative and patriarchal society, Emam faces risks both in her life and work as a researcher at Nazra for Feminist Studies, a feminist NGO in Cairo that seeks to advance knowledge related to gender equality and rethink gender roles.
"Even if I am afraid, so what? I just have one life so I must live it as best I can," she said. "I am a typical Egyptian woman; we are fighting for our rights every day. We exist and we are visible."
Several months after the revolution, Emam shared her experiences with other activists at a human rights defenders forum at The Carter Center, where a diverse group of believers, scholars, activists, and traditional leaders from 22 countries met to discuss the impact, both positive and negative, that religious and cultural institutions have on women's rights globally.
Before the forum began, Emam also led a workshop for participants about the benefits of using social media like Facebook and Twitter to change social norms and raise voices.
"Social media can be used to connect a bigger mass of people all over the world for social justice because it highlights a lot of issues," she said. "It is an alternative platform for information, not like the mainstream media."
The workshop was part of two days of technical training for activists on topics such as local fundraising, the use of social media and technology, successes and challenges of working within historically patriarchal contexts, and using the arts in advocacy campaigns.
"Advancement of human rights must come from within society, so The Carter Center works to bolster the efforts of local activists who accept great personal risks in the pursuit of human freedom," said Karin Ryan, director of the Center's Human Rights Program. "We also connect them with each other to share experiences and engage them with new audiences to expand and innovate their efforts."
In February 2013, The Carter Center will host human rights defenders and religious leaders in Cairo to further explore the role of religion in advancing the human rights of women. This event will encourage greater efforts by the leaders of major faiths to ensure that women everywhere enjoy the respect and protections of universal human rights.
For Fatma Emam, the fight for human rights takes place every day in her life and work.
"It is all about fighting for your space. You have to push, push, push until you maximize your space. It's a long-term effort, but we need to start by talking about the problems, like how we are perceiving women, especially in religion," she said.

عن فلسطين : القضية الاكثر عدالة

"ستين عاما و شوية " و انا ابحث عن ارض و عن هوية

ابحث عن بيتي الذي هناك ، عن وطني المحاط بالاشواك

قولوا لمن يبحث عن قضيتي ، بارودتي صارت هي القضية

قضية فلسطين بالنسبة اكثر القضايا السياسية اللي لم اتعامل معاها بعقلي و انما كان قلبي هو اللي بيسيطر... زي كل المصريين من جيلي اتولدنا علي صورة اطفال الحجارة و لسة فاكرة مجلة ماجد الاماراتية مجلتي المفضلة و انا طفلة و فيها مسلسل قصص ان اطفال الحجارة و حكاياتهم ترسمت ادامي مش بس علي الورق كمان في قلبي و عقلي . الم الاطفال دي كان جزء من البديهيات اللي كبرنا عليها . غير تعاطفي مع الاطفال اللي شفت فيهم حاجة مني ، كمان  البعد الديني بالنسبة لي صعب الموضوع جدا و لسة حلمي البعيد اني اصلي في الاقصي، بس مش بتأشيرة اسرائيلي

و بعد كدة  الموضوع اتطور معايا شوية بحكم الوعي و الادراك و كانت انتفاضة الاقصي اول كسرة قلب بجد، كنت اول مرة اشوف صور بالفظاعة دي، لسة صورة ايمان حجو مش راضية تتمحي من دماغي  و لسة فاكرة ازاي  سلم الكلية من الدور الارضي للدور الرابع  كان متغطي بصور الجرحي و القتلي و كنت كل يوم بعد اخر محاضرة ، اشوف العميد د/ كمال المنوفي يغير اعداد القتلي بقلمه و يزود الارقام . و دة كان بالنسبة لي قمة الانقباض و الكأبة . المهم انتفاضة الاقصي دي كانت اول ادراك ليا قد ايه انا صغيرة و ما اقدرش اغير اي حاجة  في العالم دة و من كتر الصدمة ، وقعت و اختل توازني و تعبت لفترة طويلة.

بس بعد كدة يمكن من اول 2004 مع بداية الحراك المصري ، ابتديت اتوتر جدا من الاهتمام الموجه للقضية الفلسطينية من صانع القرار المصري و كمان من النشطاء السياسيين و حسيت اننا محتاجين نركز مع الشأن المصري اكثر حتي لو فلسطين هي القضية الاهم علي الساحة العربية. في نفس الوقت دة كنت ابتديت انمي كره شديد لفكرة القومية العربية و كل ابواقها ، و للاسف اكبر الداعمين لفلسطين هما صقور القومية العربية. و بجد كرهوني في القضية الاكثر عدالة و كرهت كمان ان اد ايه في قضايا عادلة في ما يسمي "بالوطن العربي" الا انها عمرها ما كانت مهمة ، من حس باللي جري في دارفور ، من بيفتكر حلبجة، حد تعاطف مع النوبة ، حد اهتم  بربيع الامازيغ !!!

المهم القضية ابتدت تأخد منحني اصعب يوم بعد يوم ، و اللي حصل بين فتح و حماس كمان كان مقرف اوي بالنسبة لي و حسيت انهم بيتخانقوا علي تورتة و ياريت هما عارفين ياخدوا منها حاجة و كان اللي بيحصل احسن تطبيق لفكرة فكر تسد . المهم بقت فلسطين بالنسبة لي عداد بيعد ايام الحصار و عدد القتلي و المصابين.

 بس في الفترة الاخيرة و بسبب معركة الامعاء الخاوية، رجعت بالنسبة لي القضية الفلسطينية للقبها القديم، القضية الاكثر عدالة، بعيدا عن نعيق الساسة و صراخ الشيوخ و تلون القوميين العرب .... قضية فلسطين مجرد صراع للاعتراف ببشر لهم هوية و حق ...مهما طال الزمن

انا فكرت اكتب التدوينة دي تضامنا مع الاسري الفلسطينيين اللي بيخوضوا معركة سلاحهم الوحيد  فيها عزيمتهم ضد صلف اسرائيل و تجاهل العالم .

on the Why do they hate us debate

Mona el Tahawy wrote her article and a fire spread out along the Middle East. By this is I am not claiming that what Mona wrote was ground breaking or unique, else it showed the dynamics related to women rights discourse in Middle East, identity politics , culture, religion and political affiliations. And finally I can add ethics.

Mona was primarily talking to her audience, which is the western audience, talking about the sexy topic "women rights in Middle East after the Arab spring". And her main argument is men "hate "us and she stated facts to consolidate her arguments. The article came with a photo of a woman painted in black to look like she is in full face cover "Niqab".  

I have to say that I was puzzled when I read the article, that although I am a very clear cut person. But I could not agree with all  what she stated nor reject it all. And by that I am not pretending to be objective, because objectivity is a fallacy that does not exist.

The categorization of "they" as one solid category and "us" as one category is not conveying a clear message and actually it is not reflecting reality. Generalization is the worst trap an analyst can fall in.

I like that she raised the issue of misogyny, asked whether women are hated in the Middle East or not, however I found her argument  is very basic and she did not develop it to create a statement that we can tackle. I see that as a simplification of a very deep and controversial notion, and it is not used in the analysis of women issues in the Middle East. I think she would have presented the claimed misogyny and conceptualize it within the deep rooted patriarchal system in the region and the world as well. She romanticized    a notion that can easily be solidified and help in analysis and creating a new discourse. And in this regard I refer you to the account of my dearest Mozn Hassanon that issue for further details.

My second problem with the article is the attitude of the writer, she seemed to speak as if she the one and only one who stated these facts or raised these arguments. She did not break the wall of silence  And this is not true you can easily find more radical arguments raised  by Arab feminists in the Arab region in eras where even "the white man" betrayed his "nobility" and sold women rights issues to support dictators and fanatics in the region. Claiming that you are a pioneer only because you are well presented in media is a really problematic for me.

Finally the photo issue, assuming that someone is not empowered because of inch of clothes she wears is really a very "orientalist" argument, and in this regard i refer you to my dear friend Daila Abdel Hamid account on the neo oriental-ism disource of Mona.  Many activists and scholars debated with the dress code in the Islam empower women or not. Some sees it as the only legitimate way to access the public sphere. Personally I see it as a patriarchal bargain that women have to fit some standards in order to gain agency.  I can easily say the dress code in whatever way it is do limit women freedom of expressing her sensuality and this is not limited to Hijab only. It is a fact worldwide that women clothes are deemed to a measurement to how much a woman is "decent". In all contexts there are social pressures on women. Have a look on Cameroon where in certain tribes, traditions obliged women to show their beasts and because of "international ethics" that was outlawed by the government, negating these tribes their right to exercise their culture. So what to show and what to hide is related to societal dynamics.

I have to come to the responses on the article; I have to admit that there was a lot of patronization in replying back to what Mona wrote. I found it really annoying that many responds did not tackle the article, but tackle Mona as a person with a certain political agenda and back ground. Many raised her quotations in the incidents of banning Niqab in France and her relation with the Neo cons in the US and her point of view of "Israel". I found that sort of inquisition court style.  And I am quite sure that if somebody else wrote the same argument in Arabic and in Arabic newspaper, he/she would have been tolerated, if not celebrated.

And I have to express my astonishment from some stuff as well, the first who is allowed to represent "us". Who have the accreditation power? I know that I have always hate Leila Ahmed because she claims she is an insider, while she is wearing an outsider lens. However the issue of authenticity is really not understandable for me.

The second things that this article made some "unexpected" voices respond back, and by unexpected I mean voices which is not interested or raising women rights issue in the "normal" case. It created a situation of antagonist-ion . That it created a space of attention the international media. So the Ikhwanweb talked about their program on women rights, in English by their AUC educated Sondous Asem. And a socialist diva who has always denied any relation to her gender on her activism and always defined herself as a socialist and that's it without any related identities. I felt that many showed "genuine" care about women rights. They never ever showed before. It was all for the exportation, not for the local market.

  

I am not pro the article, yet I do agree with many arguments she raised. I deeply feel that women rights issue is a hot topic, yet a seasonal topic and somebody likes to be under the light .

The Shades of grey color : the Isreali protests

I do not know why I am feeling so hesitant to write this post , lately I am feeling that the freedom I used to enjoy in my blog is questioned, yes it is not censored, but the mixed responses on the post of taking off the veil alerted me that I should not wait for  tolerant feedbacks only  from all my readers. I think that this post as well might or might not raise some questions .

The issue I want to raise is the feedback of the Arabs  to certain uprisings taking place now. I think that the human history is witnessing a new phase and it started with an act of rebellion by Bou Azizi and it ended up into massive demonstrations all over the Middle East. And these revolutions varied in the level of the success, Tunisia and Egypt toppled the head of the state and still struggling with the rest of the system, Yemen stooped in a mid point where nothing is clear, Bahrain revolution faded because of the unethical intervention of the Gulf Cooperation Council, or basically the Saudi Arabia and Libya and Syria are facing bloody attacks on civilians from the so called national army .

  Throughout these revolutions many facts were proved, like there is  no more supremacy of the states of the media and in addition to that the citizen media played a crucial role in informing and documenting the revolutions, the vocal presence of women and youth  and the most important factor in my view was the global  support for the cause of the revolution from all over the world regardless the political stances and the cultural backgrounds

I remember how I was happy to get solidarity calls and emails from all over the world and in the other hand I was happy to see the Spanish protesters using a banner saying: this is Tahrir square , or walk like an Egyptians, I had this feeling again with the Greek protests.

However in a third case which is the Israeli protests had completely different echo in the Arab world, and hereby I am building my opinion on my observations  on the social media , mainly FaceBook and Twitter.

The reaction was creating pages like "supporting the revolution of the sons of the dogs " and creating a hash tag on Twitter with the same name . I totally understand the reasons behind these reactions, this is a product of years of war and bloodshed and sadly it is still ongoing conflict . however I did not understand how Arabs ignore the point that such protests might be beneficial for their interests, if it brought to power a government willing to change the situation in the Middle East issue. If a failed prime minister like Bibi is toppled, a "better" peace partner might show off.

I know that Arabs will never consider Israelis friends , however the human and strategic relations  have a lot of shades of the grey color. Should Arabs start searching for persons believing on similar principles in the other bank of the river , I am just wondering .