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Egypt: Protests against Harassment This Week

July 6, 2012 By HKearl

"I Hope..." campaign against sexual harassment - Egypt
"I Wish..." Anti-Sexual Harassment Movement Event

Because sexual assault and street harassment continue unabated in Cairo, Egypt, protests against it are regularly occurring.

On Wednesday, the “I Hope…” (Nefsi) anti-sexual harassment campaign organized a human chain along a road and participants held up signs with anti-harassment messaging. In the photo on the right, the posters read from left to right: “Harassment degrades the male (harasser) before it degrades the female;” “I wish I could ride a bike without anyone bothering me;” and, “I wish you would respect me as I respect you.”

Right now, about 30 activists are wrapping up another protest on Tahrir Square.

The Safe Tahrir For Women Facebook Event page reads:
“On Friday 6th July, we’re asking everyone, men and women, to meet at Midan Talaat Harb at 1.30pm, ready to go to Tahrir to set up a safe place where women can join the protests in safety, and independent journalists can document our revolution.

We want strong people to act as guards to protect women from thugs who have been abusing them in the square. We want to catch these criminals who are destroying the reputation of the revolution, expose and shame them, and bring them to justice.

We want to say, “Enough, No!” to the terrible assaults against women which have been happening in Tahrir. We believe them to have been carried out by state-sponsored paid thugs: let’s catch them, and prove that the people of Tahrir are amongst the noblest in the world…

We want to set up a Safe Point in the square where women can join the revolutionary protest, and set up escorts to take women safely in and out of the square to the Safe Point. We want to spray paint and handcuff any thug who touches a woman, so he can be exposed and shamed for behaving like a dog. We’re asking every political group and each individual, as a human being: please help.”

On Twitter, people are posting photos and videos about the action and right now, it sounds like the male protectors out number the female protesters….but is it any wonder when the last protest against sexual harassment on Tahrir Square ended with the women being groped and chased away?!

I am traveling to Egypt for the first time next week. Many concerned family members and friends have been emailing me articles about the assaults and harassment against women, urging me to “be careful.”

It makes me angry that just because I’m female, just because every other woman in Egypt is female, we have to be careful. And it makes me angry that even if we are “careful,” that won’t ensure complete protection from groping, harassment and even assault. We must continue to live our lives; we shouldn’t be cloistered away.

I’m glad that activists are persistent with their outcry and action and I look forward to joining their actions next week.

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Filed Under: News stories, street harassment Tagged With: activism, Cairo, Egypt, protests, sexual harassment

“We won’t be broken”

June 15, 2012 By HKearl

“Sexual harassment is a tool to keep women out of the public spaces (streets) and forcing them into the private spaces (homes),” wrote @jazkhalifa during the Egyptian-led #EndSH day of online activism this week. – via ABC News

That is why we must speak out against street harassment. It keeps women out of public spaces, and out of public life. There can never be gender equality as long as we’re relegated to the home.

It’s been one week since the attack on activists protesting against street harassment in Tahrir Square, Egypt. They’re still re-grouping, deciding on next steps and responses. In the meantime, where is a powerful video from the protest (before the attacks) you can watch and testimonies of people who were there that you can read.

“Women are at the heart of the revolution. We march, we lead chants, we sleep in sit-ins…We won’t be broken,” says one woman in the video.

Exactly. And so we’ve got to keep talking about this issue. We can’t let it fade away. Street harassment is real, it’s a problem, and it’s got to end.

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: Egypt, protests, street harassment, Tahrir Square

Sexual Harassment in Tahrir: “Let’s keep the square safe for the women of the revolution”

November 26, 2011 By HKearl

Street harassment and sexual assault are in full force at Tahrir Square in Egypt as tens of thousands of Egyptians rally and call for military rule to end before parliamentary elections are held. Here is a disturbing account of it, via Storyful.

“An increasing number of women have become victims of sexual harassment and assault at protests in Egypt over recent weeks. While some claim the attacks have been organised by the military and police to intimidate female protesters, others blame it on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. International female reporters have also been among those targeted, with French correspondent Caroline Sinz assaulted for 45 minutes in Tahrir Square by youths on November 24. One website has started mapping reports of sexual harassment around Cairo and is calling for women to step forward and tell their story.

The events of recent days, in which both activist and journalist Mona El-Tahawy and Sinz were sexually assaulted, have prompted women to speak out about endemic sexual harassment in Egypt….

On Thursday Sinz and her cameraman were reportedly mobbed by youths, as they walked down Mohammed Mahmoud street. They were dragged to Tahrir Square, where they were separated, and she was assaulted. Afterwards Sinz recalled: “Some people tried to help me but failed. I was lynched. It lasted three quarters of an hour before I was taken out. I thought I was going to die.”…

The feminist activist, journalist and blogger El-Tahawy claimed she was beaten and sexually assaulted by police officers on Thursday, after she was arrested on Tahrir Square. After her release she tweeted details of her assault on Twitter: @monaeltahawy 5 or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers.”

If you’re in Tahrir, this is for you:

@sallyzohney All females in #tahrir, pls share with me ANY harassment or assault, I am doing a report on this! very important!!

No matter where you are, here is an important article by @Rouelshimi about the current state of street harassment/sexual harassment in Tahrir Square and why this is NOT okay.  An excerpt:

“In Egypt, sexual harassment has been an issue for quite sometime. Women can’t walk down the street without being harassed whether verbally, physically or just by inappropriate looks….

So yes it has been a problem. Today though, was out of the ordinary; even for a huge Friday protest. More than one girl I’ve spoken to personally today has had horrible (and multiple) sexual harassment experiences. Not to mention the amount of complaints on twitter just from today. Personally, I had a very negative experience with harassment today with much groping and verbal abuse.

So this got me thinking; why today? The square is different this time around. There is much more tension in the air. Sadness over the lost and injured. Giving food and supplies became more of a business; even if there is still a big dependence on donations and sharing. Anger from SCAF’s brutality. All of this with hope and faith in a bright future.

So why today? Today, there was also a pro-scaf rally in Abbasiya square reported at about 15,000 people participating. There was also a ceasefire with the police, after the army built a concrete wall (oh the irony!) between the protesters and the police following 5 days of fighting and breaking of ceasefires from both sides. Today was also the day that had the most sexual harassment. It got so far that Media rights group Reporters Without Borders advised media outlets to stop sending female reporters to Tahrir Square, in light of continued reports of sexual violence against female reporters covering unrest in the square.

And why are there so many cases with this intensity today? Is it because of the amount of people there? Or maybe even army or police insiders in the square trying to make women uncomfortable? Is it because it was full of people who were not there for the protests, but are just going to Tahrir because its cool? I’m not sure. But something definitely was up and we need to fight it.

If women are being chased away from the square after terrible experiences, and if fathers and husbands start making their daughters and wives stop going, it weakens us. It weakens our revolution and our cause. Stand up for sexual harassment, whether you are male or female. Don’t let it go unnoticed. Whether you are male or female. Speak up to it, make a scene. Lets deal with this whether through street justice or organised awareness and policing. Let’s keep the square safe for the women of the revolution.”

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Filed Under: News stories, street harassment Tagged With: freedom, groping, protests, sexual harassment, street harassment, Tahrir

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