SAMAR “Tahrir”, my revolution. Episode 7 Nihal (ENG)

SAMAR MEDIA – “Tahrir”, my revolution.
Episode 7- NIHAL (Feb. 8)

Co-founder of Bassma Movement
Dokki, Cairo.
26.

Inspired by her family heritage and her faith, Nihal has been socially active in the community since she was a teenager. She explains how the revolution impacted on her way of life and her way of thinking. She has since created a movement made of volunteers called “Bassma” that works against sexual harassment in Cairo.

She denounces the attitude of the new government led by the Muslim Brothers. She adds that the new ruling Party has an obvious problem: “Woman”.

Egypt’s Revolutionaries Struggle to be heard

My interview with DW

Egypt’s Revolutionaries Struggle to be heard

Ahead of Egypt’s run-off presidential poll, the young, progressive activists who formed the backbone of the country’s revolution are struggling to remain hopeful and relevant despite lacking a coherent position.

We said NO they said Yes

After the sexual harassments and assaults that has been happening all week; A few activists and I decided to do an anti-sexual harassment stand in Mohamed Mahmoud where everything happened on friday the 8th of June. The stand was fine; about 60 people showed up even though about 500 people RSVPed on the event on facebook (sad i think). Then we decided to go to Talaat Harb when it got dark.

A human chain, men formed a cordon, around us and we started moving. Several women expressed their disagreement with this and said we dont need protection. In principle they are right we should be able to walk without protection but in practice mobs in Tahrir are targeting women, and if/when it happens that 50 men attacks at the same time there is no way that anyone can save us in time.

This is exactly what happened 2 girls and a guy who broke the chain and went out; one of the girls got groped so she slapped the guy who did it, he tried to attack back but the men started beating him. The rest of the crowd didnt see what happened they are seeing many men beating up one man so they interfered to save that man, in the middle of all this some other men took advantage of the situation and started attacking the girls. Luckily our men were able to get them to a bakery where they stayed till this fight over.

One of the men had a gun (we dont who he is probably one of the shop owners ) and fired once in the air thinking he will disperse the men but it actually brought more men, others from tahrir thought there are thugs and started running towards talaat harb, towards us. We started running because we didnt people to run over us, we wanted to hide in one of the shops but the wouldnt let us in, 2 min later (which seemed like an hour) our friends got us out and we were fine. we kept moving towards Bostan street then to the Egyptian Museum. We were finally out of harms way and I learned later that the girls were able to leave the bakery into a taxi then home.

I think several would disagree with me but i really believe that those assaults are planned and deliberate to make us not to come to tahrir. Anyone who fears the power of Tahrir has something to gain out of this. I am really frustrated that Tahrir is turning into such a horrible place.

What happened was really outrageous but we got the attention of the media and we gave an interview with Hafez el Mihrazy on Dream 2 which was a really good interview (this is a short clip of it), several newspapers wrote about us and showed their support.

This is just the beginning of a long and tough fight but we will not give up and we will clean up Egypt. We will continue to do anti-sexual harassment campaigns…

We will NOT be silenced….Nothing will keep us down.

Photos Taken by Leil-Zahra Mortada. 

We can’t Win

We can’t win because we are not united…we can’t win because we are looking for our own interests not the country’s however if we were smart we would what is best for the country and then eventually we gain much more than we could imagine.

We cant win because we wake up after its too late…presidential committee? now? really? The law of political isolation? Ya lahwyyy where were you when Shafiq was hanging his posters?

Protesting on the streets, closing off the streets and squares will not do any good anymore…that card is dead and gone…we need to start educating the people on the constitution and what are their rights and duties so that we wont hit the wall like what happened in March with referendum amendments in the constitution…

Most of the people are tired exhausted and most of them are getting poorer and desperate by the day. Everyday that passes by we are losing our revolution. we need to use new methods of pressure. Education is the key its the long term solution for our problems….The old regime and current are running the Egyptian people to the ground…they are making harder and harder everyday to put food on the table.

The majority are starting to hate the revolution because they believe its what is causing the instability… can we please start to show them that its not? we are currently choosing between 2 candidates and we r choosing the one we r less afraid of…fear should be in the equation at ALL…but this is the reality that we have to deal with due to all the mistakes that we have done in the past year and half.

This is how things look right, the world sees that we had a fair elections and we were stupid enough to choose someone from the old regime…then we are objecting on it…democracy is a bitch that just bit in the ass…we must accept it and deal with it.

The trial of Mubarak was a nice charade…and we all knew it was but yet we acted surprised that they were all acquitted….they were tried in a civil court and the evidence were all burnt or destroyed, so did we really expect them to be found guilty? they should have been tried by a revolutionary trial but its too late now to ask for that. You know why we didnt ask for that from the beginning; for LACK of education…knowledge…the capability to think critically.

Now we are back chanting and protesting AGAIN doing the same mistakes…definition of stupidity repeating the same action and expecting different results.

Dr Aboul Fotooh and Mr Sabahy formed a coalition and offered to join Morsi, Sabahy said no and the 3 of them couldn’t reach a solution..now what do we do? I think we keep that coalition and start doing good things for the country, develop it and create jobs…they both have a team that would do anything for their country…but instead they are using all their energy on the streets protesting and making more people hate us and the revolution.

SCAF is tossing us around like a ball because they know that we dont know how to think critically, we dont know our Constitution, because the majority of the people are illiterate and just want to put food on the table.

Can we channel our energy to educate people? can we channel our energy in finding similarities not differences?

We dont have the luxury to choose the candidates who represent our ideas….we never did.

At the end everyone has the right to protest and chant but we must think of the consequences

I felt evil

Saturday evening I went to Tahrir with no interest in protesting I just went to check things out, I was really frustrated about the fact that the Egyptian people were not united. That everyone was looking for their own interest and not the interest of the country and its people.

There werent many people at first but then many came and it felt we were coming together. I was so happy. we were 5, 3 girls and 2 guys and we were walking in the square among the crowd and I thought it would be safe. But it wasn’t. Suddenly men started grabbing us away from each other. They started groping me and grabbing Hijab (headscarf) then i lost friends…I was terrified …some men hid me behind a small kiosk but i kept looking my friends i couldnt find them. I was able finally to reach one of them and she told me she was safe.

The other friend was hurt very badly, my heart aches for her and I keep playing the whole thing in my head over and over again, she was right there infront of me then someone grabbed my ass so i looked behind then looked back and she was gone, I kept looking for her i couldn’t see her anymore, it was as if i was in high sea and all the waves are just tossing me all over the place.

How can people be so evil…why is it that no one is held accountable for what they do? those men are walking freely on the streets looking for their next victim and there is nothing I can do about it.

I was raised that good people get rewarded and bad people get punished but i came out to the world and its not true. its the other way around….and i feel betrayed…i feel angry…i feel guilty for not protecting my friend….I wish it was me not her….

Who should I blame for this? Mubarak for destroying my country’s education so those men have no respect for women and have become just animals ….our useless police who are incapable of defending us…our religious leaders who claim that they want whats best but they don’t go to these young men and teach them whats right….our educators who turned into business men…our politicians who just want power…who???!!!!

I don’t know who to blame…But i am really angry at many religious leaders who prefer to appear on TV thinking they reach more people while there are certain people who dont even have a TV…our leaders tweet and do commercials targeting a specific segment of the people leaving the mass majority who needs help….

I am angry at everyone who just do remote control charity and not get involved in the society and try to help them….just throwing some money thinking they have done their part in helping the society…

I am angry at all the mothers who teach their sons that they superior just because they are men….and tell their daughters that they inferior just because she is a woman…

I am angry because me and my friends were humiliated….

I am angry but I am not broken…

I have seen the best and worst of people that night…I have faith that Allah will help me through this and will give me the strength to help others…

I know that many will not like that i wrote this about Tahrir square thinking i am trying to vandalize the image of the Egyptian revolution…but this is not my intention, I have participated in almost all the battles and marches since Jan28 2011 but Sexual Harassment in Egypt is growing and growing and we need to address it. We ignored it for too long and it is becoming a monster that is eating us all…I feel hate towards those men who molested us…I cant smile in the face of anyone that i dont know anymore…hell i cant smile the way i used to….

I am sorry for not being there to protect my friend…i am sorry for being weak…i am sorry that it was her not me…i am sorry that my country is fucked up…i am sorry that my leaders are addicted to power…i am sorry for the women of Egypt…

I hope no one else will have to face that fear….

I hope that world turns and things get better…