Samira Ibrahim
“Egyptian women are the secret of the revolution. It is the women who have transmitted the sincere and clear voice of the revolution. It is the women who have suffered the most in the revolution” Samira Ibrahim is certainly the most famous Egyptian activist. She initiated the lawsuit condemning the virginity tests on female protesters during the revolution. Samira has been named by Time as one of the one hundred most influential people in 2011. |
Samira speaks to the past, present and future of women in Egypt. Website : http://samiraibrahim.wordpress.com/ Twitter : @SamiraIbrahim4 On social media : http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/samira-ibrahim |
Interview
Interviewed in Arabic in Cairo on 5-May-2012 by Tatiana Philiptchenko. Translation into English by Nouhaymane Amahrit and Tatiana Philiptchenko.
Q: Samira, since when were you a political actvist and why did you choose to immerse yourself in politics? I got politically engaged at fifteen years old in 2003. It was during a meeting about Jamaa El Arabiya and the ex-president Mubarak. I told the audience what was on my mind but this is not what they were expecting: they thought I was going to throw flowers to the government but I was very critical. Q: You are well known in Egypt now, how did this happen? Maybe it is because I am politically engaged for a long time and that I always had problems with the authorities. First it was with Mubarak’s regime and after with the military authorities. Basically, I am always confronting the powers of our country. Q: What happened this past year? Did your life change? My life has not really changed. I love politics and there’s always new things happening. I love change and I want to continue be an activist. Q: So, you consider yourself an activist? Yes, because of my numerous activities on the field. I have founded different movements; one of them is a movement dedicated to women, particularly treating sexual harassment and rape. There are many rapes in Egypt but no one talks about them. So we try to talk about this subject and in parallel we try to give the Egyptian woman a political role. Because the power (government) here considers the woman as the number four: the woman comes after the man, after the animal and after the object. So we really try to introduce woman into politics so the situation of the women improves and becomes equal to the situation of man. Q: In 2011, what was the most important event for you? The most important event was the Egyptian revolution. What I remember personally the most is the day of the 26 January 2011. It was the day of my arrest. They put us in a closed room and threw a teargas bomb on us. In my case, danger was everywhere then and danger is everywhere now since the revolution continues. Q: In your view, what has to change in Egypt? We have the obligation to raise new generations that will be much more educated that the previous generations. We also have to change the education of our children so they will be different. Q: How do you see your future? I see myself as a writer. I love to write and read. I see myself in the political arena. My positions will be strong and I will defend the rights of women. I want the Egyptian woman to have her rights. I want my country to accept that the woman is equal to the man. I want the woman to be as politically as engaged as the man. (continued on the right) |
Q: In your opinion, what are the factors that are not allowing the womens rights to progress at this time?
Women’s organizations are not working enough on the ground. They don’t have an executive role. I don’t see their pertinence in this context. Q: Why? I perceive it as laziness. They don’t have (the women’s organizations) the will to go on the field, to meet people and collaborate with them. For me, it’s as if women’s organizations didn’t exist. After this there was a successful campaign called “Liars”, “Military liars”… where citizens running the campaigns put big screens to run the videos of the trials run by the army. These videos were showed all over the country. Most of the organizers were women, very strong women. The slogan of the campaign was: “we will not hide”. It was very dangerous to do that because in the poorest areas, it was easy for opponents to hire thugs to beat the organizers or create chaos. Q: So you consider woman’s situation in Egypt really not good? Yes, I consider the situation of the Egyptian woman really not good. Egypt is a sexist nation that doesn’t conceive that women could have a role in society. To acquire this role: women are constantly battling. There’s also the Islamic current that doesn’t want women to have a role. Egyptian women are the secret of the revolution. It is the women who have transmitted the sincere and clear voice of the revolution. It is the women who have suffered the most in the revolution. Q: Are there days when you feel discouraged and you feel like quitting your fight? No. The bigger the pressure the higher the challenge and the motivation are, therefore my resistance grows. Q: You had many problems this past year. Aren’t you afraid? No, I am not afraid. I believe in this cause. And when one believes in something, one cannot be afraid. Q: What cause? Egypt’s cause in general. To guide Egypt towards security is the biggest cause. There’s also the cause of the woman, the cause of the society. It is all causes in which I believe so it is impossible for me to be afraid. Q: Is your family supporting you? My family supports me a lot, but not my friends because I had a big problem. Everyone was afraid, that’s why. |
