On Defamation of Religions

The Human Rights Council in the United Nations passed a resolution combating defamation of religion. Islamic countries voted for this resolution. This resolution will be used to censor any speech against religions or holy persons. This resolution is passed as a way to solve crisis like the Danish cartoons and the Dutch movie Fitna


I still remember the Danish cartoons crisis, and the hatred calls that were raised after this crisis and the damage of properties . I remember how sad I was that we Muslims changed the image of Prophet in the eyes of the world from the mercy brought to humanity to a pervert and terrorist, the cartoonist drew the image of so called contemporary Muslim not the idealistic image of the Prophet. Danish cartoons was a crisis between governments not people, it was lead by some Islamic countries to effect the internal balance of power not to defend a religious dogma. I recall the meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference and its role in erupting this crisis not solving it, it was desperate attempt to say that we exist even if by creating irrational battle and how they made the masses the scapegoat for their international failures .
I am a practicing Muslim woman, who respect the scared texts and prophets, however I respect the freedom of expression and I see it a vital component for any society, if you have some actors or some ideas that are unquestionable, that will give authority to certain sectors of the society to claim their right to consider which speech is defamation and which is not. We will end up again in society with a sector that censor others and evaluate their speech. Injustice and inequality will take place. Sadly we will create theological system that judge people and hinder their freedom
I feel sad when persons attack the Prophet, however if I am free I will say my own point of view and defend what I believe in, I remember the great experience in Egypt in the 60's when an atheist published a book " Why I am Atheist" another book named " Why I am Muslim" was published as a reaction.

If freedom is exercised we will be equal, but if freedom is violated inequality will be the outcome.

Women and Work in Egypt

Work is essential part of our life, it is not only securing our living by its revenue, it is also remedy for social exclusion and a right to be claimed.

In the conference of women and work organized by European Training Foundation ETF. Many insights and views were shared and many arguments were raised. We discussed women and their endeavor to equality.

In Egypt, the principles of equality and egalitarianism are enshrined in the constitution. Article 40 stipulated that all citizens are equal; this article says that women should be treated equally in labor market. However this frequently violated. The last incident was the refusal of the general assembly of State Council court to hire female judges. In addition to that women are the majority of university students but they are the minority of the labor force, this is taking place because of the difficulty of transition from school to work. Women are existing in the labor market but invisible because women are working in informal sector of economy, where they have unjust work conditions.

Another article of the Egyptian constitution is article 11, which states that the state has to ensure and to assist women in juggling their careers and family responsibilities. This article entitles women to access to daycare facilities, adequate maternity vacation and flexible working hours.
i know that my sweet school mate is having hard time finding a new job because she is pregnant.

The final article I want to discuss is article 151 which states that any international treaty ratified by the parliament is considered to be part of national law. I would love to remind the Egyptian government to respect and apply its international obligations under Convention of Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women CEDAW, the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other Human Rights treaties.

I believe that women will break their chains, achieve their potentials and shape their future to enjoy equality and freedom. Wrote in celebration of International Women Day.

Viva Humans

I am attending a confernce on Women and Work from 7 to 8 March 2010 in Turin, Italy. it is organised by the European Training Foundation. we are celebrating International day of women in 8 of March and 100 years of Copenhagen conference.

We are disscussing three main themes: the first is transition from school to work and why women are the majority of school studnets and minority in the labour market. the second theme is enterpernuershipand how women can be economically empowered.and the third theme is socail inclusion and gender equality, why women are disadvantaged in the labour market and in the society in general.
the participants are from all over the world, only one male participant.

i am so happy, because it snowed and it is my first time to witness this and because this confernce reinforced my belif in human solidarity.we sahre almost everything but ib different ways.

i was touched when a particaipant from the former USSR encourged me to talk about the tyrannical Egyptian system, she said this is a safe place and change and better days can come.

Viva Humans
Viva Universal Human Rights
Viva Gender Equality

we are equal and we share the same destiny

Early Happy International Women Day

Nubia: Home Sweet Home

This post is not about women as usual, it is about the right to house as stipulated in the UN Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural rights and the situation of housing in Egypt. I am writing this post as a feedback to a workshop of the housing rights, held by Hisham Mubark Center of legal advocacy; the workshop was organized to address the conditions of housing in natural catastrophes, like the current floods in Egypt in Sinai and Aswan.

We are facing huge problem of housing in Egypt, not only in the natural catastrophes, but also in the so called ordinary situations. This problem is multifaceted, it faces the ordinary Egyptian who can not afford the price of a reasonable apartment , the populations living in slums or the poverty margins surrounding Cairo and other cities, the populations who lost their houses because of natural disasters like people who are losing their houses now because of the floods in Sinai and Aswan or the populations who lost their housed because of mistake of government in dealing with the natural conditions or because of corruption like the collapse of the houses in Dowiqa hill or finally the population that displaced for developmental project like Nubians  to build the High Dam to .

The main factor in all these miseries is governmental corruption or inadequate policies. In Nubia, we were frequently displaced with each rise to Aswan Dam, and then we were displaced in 1964 to Com ombo valley, which was called the valley of death. We lost almost everything the wealth, the houses, the ecological context and the cultural environment next to the Nile, leaving old Nubia meant the losses of home as the safe place in universe, Nubians are still struggling against the unjust governmental policies of compositions and resettling, they are also trying to preserve their culture to avoid its loss with all the other losses.

What makes me sad the in the Nubian displacement of 1964, the world UN agencies especially UNESCO cared for the temples, they cared for the rocks more than the human beings. The Nubians scarified their land by force and what did they get in return ???? a law was legislated for the Nubian case in 1964 to regulate the confiscation of their lands to be public property. This notorious law was not general as it should be; it was done to address the Nubian case in particular. It negated the Nubian rights to fair trial; it stated that if the Nubians wanted to oppose the decisions of displacements or compensations to a committee of two clerks and a judge, but justice was a dream that did not come true

Government unjust policies, international apathy for human beings and the societal silence all contributed to add to the pains of Nubians, others are sharing the same pains with different stories in Egypt, when and how to alleviate their pains is the main question.

Women in Egypt : views and ideas

On Wednesday 17 of February 2010, I attended a talk of my best friend and co worker Mozn Hassan
The talk was organized by the Egyptian American friendship Association, sponsored by the US embassy in Cairo. This talk was on feminist movement and women rights issues in Egypt.

Four panelists talked, Mona Ali el Deen, women rights activist and trainer, Dalia Zaida a blogger women rights activist and director of the Islamic American Congress office in North Africa, Nehad Abo el Omsan women rights activist and lawyer and director of Egyptian center of women rights and my dear Mozn Hassan, women rights activist, promising young scholar and chairperson of our NGO Nazra for feminist studies.

The talk was informative and contained wide range of views, they talked about the achievements and challenges facing the feminist movement in Egypt.

Two points ringed my bells, one by Mozn about the relation between the feminist movement and the social change movements and the other by Dalia about the genderless cyberspace.


Mozn said that feminist and women rights movement should be associated and linked to the societal reform movements, I think that women rights are never a priority in any societal change movement. Women are not on the agenda , that's why feminist should have their own agenda, establish their support networks and formulate their strategies, I do not mean to be isolated but they should pave their own way.

The other point was raised by Dalia, about the free genderless cyberspace. I reject this argument, cyberspace inherited the patriarchal sentiments of real society. Women are censored and harassed in the virtual space as well. I remember the Egyptian lesbian anonymous blogger that had tons of negative comments on her posts denouncing what she is articulating only because she dared to discuss her sexuality and also Manal Bahey el Deen the high profiled blogger who had hard times when she talked about an incident of sexual harassment she faced.

The talk was very feminist and the floor feedback was very patrichal with some exceptions of good souls

Look, Listen and Learn

My English book when I was in my primary school was called “Look, Listen and Learn” it was a very sweet and informative book. It taught us life skills not only foreign language. I think it affected my life because I am looking to the facts and realities and trying to question them, then change them, I am listening to people stories and I am trying to know the morale of each story to guide me in my way. And finally I am always learning.

I added a new L word, which is love, although I was not happy in my love life, however I have always believed that love is not only between a man and a women, it has many variations and one of its best variation is love between friends, and this is the motive of writing this post to celebrate valentine or the OSAP day, Organization of Saps, spinsters in Turkish. I formed this organization with my best friends Asli and Ece, to celebrate being independent, mature, well educated, professional and single women.

I still believe that I am complete, even if Mr. Right is not next to me; my photo is perfect and pretty although I am alone. I know that love is an added value to everyone life, but I will not pause my life to search for it, I will never cry for it as a lost blessing, I will enjoy the other blessing in my life till it come to make my life more beautiful, he is a valued contribution but not my pillar.

I am happy by myself, I am happy alone it’s true, I am happy by my self but I am happier with you

Fatma

Politics of Veiling and Revealing

Women’s body is obsession and battle field of any patriarchal society. Women either forced to be veiled and be covered, in this case they are portrayed as source of temptation, or they will be manipulated to reveal their beauty to be deemed desired and emancipated.

Enforcing obligatory veil or banning veil or Hijab is a policy applied by the state to penetrate the private sphere of its citizens. Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan are forcing women to abide by certain dress code, these states consider Hijab part of the Islamic teachings and women must follow it. These states consider itself the enforcer of Allah laws and the individual can not oppose its regulations.

Other states like Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, UK and France ban certain so called religious dress codes, like Niqab or Burqa.

What women want??!! This is the question that invaded my mind, there is no single rights answer, women in the North are not like women in the South and there are many variations of women needs and choices. Another question is why the morality and beauty of women is related to its dress and how much they are covering or revealing.

I have been always critical to the policies of obligatory veil which deem women source of sexual chaos that need to be tamed and covered , these policies also consider men as perverts that perceive women only as sexual objects and they can not control their desires.

I also disagree with the policies of banning certain dress codes like Niqab or Burqa the full body veil. I think it is a personal freedom to reveal or cover your body and I do not accept the argument that this is emancipation of women from the shackles s of outdated traditions.

I still remember my first course of political sciences in Cairo University when Dr Ibrahim Arafaat said that one of the features of totalitarian state is penetrating the private life of its citizens, like the former USSR, ironically I think Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, France and UK are belonging to this category.

I hope one day women will choose their outfits without thinking of the legal dress code or the social moral judgments.I just can not understand the dogmatic absolutist attitude of the states when they claim that it knows the complete truth and can lead its citizens to the only best way. I hope a day will come when all forms of power like force, manipulation and coercion will not shape women’s life.