خاطرة 11 مايو 2011

ااكتب عن نظرة و ما يدور بها ، تفاصيل كثيرة و شخوص اكثر في هذه الفكرة ، ااكتب عن القادم لحياتي بطيف و الوان ليمنحها معني جديد، اشعر انني عاطفية جدا و انني سابدو مثل المراهقة ان كتبت عنه ، ااكتب عن ما يدور في الحركة النسوية و ما يعتريها من زخم ، اشعر انني اقرب للصحافية عندما اقوم بذلك و اكره ذلك

ساكتب عن نفسي ، انا متمركزة حول نفسي ، تبدأ الدنيا من حيث اري و ينتهي الطرف الاخر من الدنيا من الافق الاخر . لعل السبب في هذا اهتمام كل من ربوني باشعار بكوني متميزة ولا اخفيكم سرا ، انني اتوتر اذا شعرت اني افقد هذا التميز . حياتي تتغير ، عمري يتقدم ، اتقربت من الثلاثينيات، ما كان مسمومح به في العشرينات لم يعد مسموح به الان، هناك العديد من المسئوليات ، لم اعد الباحثة الشابة التي تتحثث طريقها ، يجب ان تكون كلماتي اكثر حكمة و دقة و رزانة . اعاني و اخاف . هل ان اهل لك ما انا مقدمة عليه ، اعلم اني اكتسبت في طريقي مهارات ليست بقليلة و بقليل من التركيز ، ستصبح ايامي افضل . فقط علي ان اقرر ان اكون افضل و الا اكون طفولية النزعة . هذا قرار العام التاسع و العشرين ان احتفي بنهاية العشرينات بان اترك عهد الطفولة و ابحث عن عمر اخر

Baher el Baqer , بحر البقر

I had a chance when I was in the Carter Center, Human Rights defenders forum, to talk for few minutes with President Jimmy Carter. I told him that I was born in 1982, when the sovereignty over Sinai peninsula returned back to Egypt. And I appreciated his role in sponsoring the peace treaty.


I am pro peace and I am against impunity from the war crimes, I am saying that because yesterday the 8th of April was the memory of the massacre of Baher el Baqer which happened in 1970, which was committed by the Israeli army against the Egyptian school . the Israeli army bombed a civilian target, which is children school.

I am mad because the Rome convention of the international criminal court ICC does not prosecuted the war crimes before its establishment in 2000, so the Israeli criminals who killed the Egyptian kids will not be prosecuted. Add to this that the ICC is only applicable for its signatories and Israel will never be a signatory to escape from the justice. , ICC jurisdiction is also applied when the Security Council refer a case to the ICC, like the case of Darfur, Sudan.

I believe that the crimes committed by the Israeli army should be left unaccounted , the international human rights system should be reformed to entrench justice.

When the criminals enjoy impunity , the only result will happen is the spread of hatred and the lust for revenge .

Stop impunity.

Prosecute the criminals .

Power politics should deny human their rights

Perpetrators of human rights should be prosecuted if even time goes on

سنحت لي الفرصة أن التقي بالرئيس الأمريكي الأسبق جيمي كارتر ، في أثناء انعقاد مؤتمر منتدى المدافعين عن حقوق الإنسان في مركز كارتر باطلا نطا ، و أبلغته أني ولدت في عام 1982 حين استعادت مصر السيطرة الكاملة علي شبه جزيرة سيناء بموجب اتفاقية كامب ديفيد

علي آن اعترف أني من مؤيدي السلام و ذلك فانا ضد إفلات المجرمين من العقاب ، أتحدث بهذا الخصوص لان الأمس كان ذكري مذبحة بحر البقر التي ارتكبها الجيش الإسرائيلي في الثامن من ابريل 1970. حيث قصفت الطائرات الإسرائيلية هدف مدني و هو مدرسة بحر البقر الابتدائية

ما زالت أتذكر مشهد قصف المدرسة في فيلم "العمر لحظة" و أتذكر كم كنت ارتعد و أنا طفلة صغيرة أن تتكرر المأساة في مدرستي ، أتذكر كشاكيل الأطفال الغارقة في الدماء و لافتة المدرسة المرمية علي الأرض في أعقاب القصف.

أكاد اجن لان ميثاق روما الذي أنشأت بموجبه المحكمة الجنائية لا يعاقب مرتكبي الجرائم التي تقع تحت اختصاصه إلا ما حدث بعد تاريخ إعلانه ، و كذلك لا ينفذ الميثاق إلا بشأن الدول الموقع عليه و إسرائيل لم و لن توقع هذا الميثاق لتفلت من العقاب علي جرائمها في حق شعوب المنطقة. و من الجدير بالذكر أن مجلس الأمن من مكنته إحالة مرتكبي الجرائم التي تقع في اختصاص المحكمة إلي المحاكمة ، كما حدث في حالة دارفور ، السودان

أؤمن أن الجرائم التي ارتكبها الاسرائيلون لا يجب أن تمضي عبثا دون محاكمة ، و كذلك أؤمن أن الجرائم ضد حقوق الإنسان لا تسقط بالتقادم ، علي نظام العدالة الدولية أو ما يعرف بالقانون الدولي لحقوق الإنسان أن يعدل ليرسخ العدالة .

عندما يمضي المجرمون بلا عقاب ، تسود الكراهية و تنتشر الرغبة في الانتقام

أوقفوا الإفلات من العقاب

حاكموا المجرمين و المحرضين علي الجريمة

توازنات القوي لا يجب أن تنتهك حقوق الإنسان

Human Rights Defenders Forum 1

I am participating in the Human Rights Defenders forum organized by Carter Center.

Although it was very difficult to come to Atlanta and I faced hard times with my visa and I was interrogated in the airport, but the discussions of the conference made it up for me.

This forum started by idea raised by former president of US Jimmy Carter about the role of religion in advancement or suppression of women , he raised this idea two years ago in the Congress of the world religions  . And that’s why the center organized this forum to allow people from different places of the world , from different religious traditions to share the best practices in this topic. the attendees of the forum are Human Rights activists, academics , religious leaders , traditions leaders and social media activists .

First of all this conference is so special for me because I met Prof Abduallahi Nai'em and he is just a great inspiration for me and many Muslims, his writing of Human Rights, secularism  and Islam is guiding me and many Muslims all over the world . Prof el Naiem is challenging the traditional interpretations of Islam , deconstructing them and offering a progressive point of view that reconcile Islam with concepts like democracy, secularism and Human rights .

The second reason which make me happy that I am presenting Nazra project "exploring taboos " on using the social media to tackle sexuality issues in Egypt , this project is funded by Rising Voices project.  Exploring taboos is a project that is trying to start a public debate about the taboos in the Egyptian society not to confront it and to deconstruct it but to raise awareness and create a safe zone to tackle such issues .

The last reason for my happiness that I found people I related to , follow feminists from the international solidarity network , Women Live Under Muslim Laws and the international campaign for equality in the family law in Muslim world Musawah

The conference is such a safe place to exchange and question ideas and beliefs  and being here is such a unique experience. 

Vriginity Obessesion

I wrote my last post on the usage of the virginity issue in the Egyptian political scene, I considered it sexualistaion and objectification of women, but these lofty words are not enough to describe the pains and the tragedies associated with virginity issue. The ugly face of the patriarchal society we are living in appeared again , that unfortunately the issue of virginity seems to be dominant on the agenda of the Egyptian politics lately. Recently brutal facts appeared, thanks to the great efforts of El Nadeem center of rehabilitation of the victims of violence. El Nadeem center uncovered the crimes committed by the army against the female detainees of the break into of Tahrir square on the 9th of March. The testimonies showed that the army doctors violated the bodily and sexual rights and integrity of the female detainees by testing their virginity .


To cut it short , let's say that this is beyond disgusting , and it shows the obsession of a whole society by inch of membrane and the rooted tendency to evaluate women according to their sexual activity . I really cannot imagine what parochial mentality can control a society to judge women morality according to her usage of her vagina. I cannot see more humiliation than the virginity test which classify women either into respectable women or whores .

I strongly believe that women have the full and free well to discuss how , when and with whom to have sex, and I think that the obsession of women " honor" is just attempt by the family, partner and the community to impose their control on women and regulate their behavior according to what so called social norms .

The obsession by virginity reminds me with the chastity belts in the medieval times , that when a society categorize women according to the existence of their hymens or not , it is exactly the same like hanging unseen chastity belt in each women genitals and taking the keys from them . The unseen belt might be based on religion or tradition, but whatever reasons behind it this unseen belt , it transforms women into a commodity to be evaluated , sold and enslaved.

I am not pro or anti pre martial sex, however I am a vocal advocate of women autonomy , women should decide whether or not to be engaged in sexual relations and the consequences of their decisions should not stigmatize them .

Finally , I am still traumatized and speechless that the state of women's hymen can be used against her in a legal case in a court in Egypt, I cannot believe that woman can be judged because she decided to exercise my rights over her own body. I know that virginity is a taboo in Egypt and it will still be for very long time, but taboos are not eternal facts , they are moveable yet resisting rocks . I wish that one day our society will come to an understanding that the autonomy of women is not promiscuity and it will not disturb the balance of the universe .

Honor of a woman is beyond blood and felsh

the virginity and the constitution

My friend Doaa Abd elAal sent me a video of amending the constitution, which is the hot political topic in Egypt. The opposition to this amendments called  it trail to rebuild the constitution, but the term used in Arabic was "Terqee'" aka rebuilding the hymen.

And that was visualized in a video of a woman seems not " good enough " according to the Egyptian conservative standard and she was described that she was doing all what she wants , mainly having sex before marriage . The scene after that an innocent bride and her groom and the video ends by you deserve better than that.

The bottom line is this is sexism, the Ad used the women sexuality and judged women who choose certain choices that that is not accepted by the society that the are not " good " women, I just want to ask why this primary questions is still valid, I feel that many things changes and some things seems to be unmovable rocks like the issue of virginity.

replying on the Anti Million Mrach article by Marwa RAKHA

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

Women day march : between overwhelmed and brutal

I came to the internet café, tired from carrying the banner, I was thinking I will get rest then go back to the "celebration". It was planned to have bands playing. But rather something else happened.


In my rest and happiness while writing the last post, the misogynist demonstrations which were a combination of thugs or regulars people started to be very provocative, they shouted male protesters that they should wear veil as sign of their femininity and that they are gays because they are supporting women cause. On the other side the long provocative pathetic dialogues between the protesters and the regular people on the street started to get violent verbally, they started calling them whores, agents of Suzanne Mubarak and the west. Then the harassments, I mean the physical ones started, when I was listening to the stories of the "survivors" I just recalled the organized sexual harassment crime in the referendum of 2005, I remembered when sexual harassment is the weapon against women.

So the fear made everyone leave the square and we were scattered in Cairo streets. What a day, it was weird I felt very optimistic in the beginning in the march from the press syndicate to Tahrir, It was liberation, then I had mixed feeling, I was irritated by the feminist divas and I was annoyed that the regular women are not there it was very elitist, I hated the mania of western media to cover the event, and then I started to be frustrated and angry when Egyptians played the wicked game of using religion to suppress women and the ending sentence for this dramatic day was brutalizing women.

Since the beginning of revolution my favorite words were "overwhelmed" and " brutal", I was half skeptical, half optimistic, now I feel there that Tahrir ethics was temporary and we are back to earth , Tahrir and all Egypt streets is not heaven we have to fight as hard as it get to achieve equality

VIVA WOMEN RIGHTS

IT IS OUR STRUGGLE AND WE WILL CONTINUE