On this year’s International Women’s Day, over 100 people answered Nasawiya’s call to take to the streets to take back the night. For roughly two hours, feminists made their way from Mar Mikhael, Gemayze to Ain el Mraiseh, marching past bedazzled onlookers, curious drivers who ground to a halt, and wary police cars and officers who trailed the march. They were chanting:
- For freedom, for nationality, a feminist revolution.
- One word, shout out loud, feminism won’t die.
- Feminists against sectarianism, racism, sexism, classism, capitalism, Zionism, rape, harassment, patriarchy.
- For Lebanese women in Tripoli, in Byblos, in Saida, in Tyr, in Beirut… a feminist revolution.
- For Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi, Filipino, Sri Lankan women and women of all nationalities, a feminist revolution.
Our words won’t do the event justice. So we thought we’d let these images do the talking instead.
On this year’s International Women’s Day, we decided once again to take our actions to the streets to interact with people and raise awareness about women’s issues.
After weeks of rehearsals, two groups performed over the weekend of March 6-7, 2010 “Invisible Theater” actions in several locations around Beirut. The scenes performed were about sexual harassment, and a brother meddling in his sister’s life. Go to our YouTube Channel to see videos from the sibling meddling group’s performance in Costa, Hamra and ABC Mall, Achrafieh.
Developed by Brazilian activist and theater director, Augusto Boal, the “Theater of the Oppressed and Invisible Theater” technique consists of performing a previously rehearsed play in a public space without the public’s knowing that it is a play. It addresses a precise theme concerning social injustice, such as sexism. It is intended to provoke debate and to clarify the problem with the people who experience it.
We also printed over 40 congratulatory banners which were hung in and around Beirut. You may have spotted them while you were out and about.
Members and friends also distributed 3,000 Happy IWD stickers in streets, offices and universities.
Through a special partnership with the progressive daily Al-Akhbar, other members contributed articles to the paper’s March 8, 2010 issue, celebrating International Women’s Day.
And while the Nasawiya hive was buzzing, another group of activists documented the collective’s preparations for IWD 2010 in a do-it-yourself video.
“How many times have we thought twice about leaving our homes at night?” said Farah Salka, General Coordinator. “How many times have we dreaded the walk back home, even from the car up to our apartment? How many times have we walked at night, always looking over our shoulders? How many times have we been silenced, just because we were women? That’s why we’ve decided to take to the streets to demand that the night be a safe time for women and remind people that gender equality is an integral part of human rights and that there’s still a lot to do for women’s rights and social justice.”
Our march calls for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence, be they verbal, physical, and sexual must be eliminated; the elimination of sexism and all forms of discrimination, and exploitation that are based on gender, sexuality, able-bodiedness, ethnicity, race, religion, class, etc.; the right of women to their bodies and sexualities; and the abolition of all laws that violate women’s rights.
Whichever way you’re celebrating International Women’s Day, we wish you all a very happy one.
The revolution continues…
Mirna (left) and Hussein hanging the banner in Salim Slem.
Mirna (left) and Farah hanging the banner in Corniche El Mazraa.
Farah checking out the banner in Tayouneh
Nadine and Ali on their way to their “Invisible Theater action in Hamra
Stickers reading “Do you know what’s today? Happy Women’s Day” were distributed in streets, restaurants and offices.
Nadine and Ali on their way to their “Invisible Theater action in Hamra.
Busying itself like a bee, Nasawiya is holding a series of events and workshops this week.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 – Book Club – 7:00 PM – T-Marbouta
Nasawiya is kicking off its Book Club (Kira’at Nasawiya) with a discussion on women and quota in light of the newly adopted 20% quota for women in the upcoming municipal elections. The discussion will take place at 7:00 PM at T-Mmarbouta in Hamra (call 01-447192 for directions).
Thursday, February 18, 2010 – Theater Workshop – 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM – IndyACT Office
Nasawiya continues its theater of the oppressed workshops in preparation for International Women’s Day with another 2-hour session starting at 7:00 PM at the IndyACT office in Mar Mikhael (call 01-447192 for directions).
Saturday, February 20, 2010 – Imaging Workshop – 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM – IndyACT Office
The second workshop in our Gender and IT program will be on “Optimizing Images for the Web.” Led by Art Director Naeema Zarif, the workshop will take place between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM at the IndyACT office in Mar Mikhael (call 01-447192 for directions). Participants should have basic knowledge in computer use and preferably have photoshop CS3 installed on their computers.
All events and workshops are free. No registration is required, except for the “Optimizing Images for the Web” workshop, as places are limited to 15. To reserve your place, please email farah@nasawiya.org with a little bit about you. Priority goes to young women and young activists of both or neither gender.
Nasawiya is kicking off its Gender and IT program with a workshop on how to build websites using WordPress. WordPress is a leading open source publishing application powered by PHP and MySQL. It has many features including a user-friendly workflow, a rich plugin architecture, and an advanced templating system.
Using WordPress, you can build a website or blog with lots of interactive features really easily. See our Arab Feminisms website as an example.
The training will take place over two days:
Saturday, February 6 from 11am – 1pm
Introduction to WordPress and its different features: themes, plugins, integration, customization.
A practice homework.
Monday, February 8 from 7pm – 8pm
Recap of workshop + presentation of practice homework for comments
The training is free will take place at the IndyACT office in Mar Mikhael (call 01-447192 for directions) with a wireless connection for those of you who want to try out features during the workshop. It will be given by Nadine Moawad.
To register, please email farah@nasawiya.org with a little bit about you. We have 15 places available and priority goes to young women and young activists of both or neither gender.
Join us in Beirut from October 4 – 7, 2009 for “Arab Feminisms: A Critical Perspective,” an international conference organized by a number of prominent Arab women’s organizations.
Feminism is today undergoing a worldwide re-assessment: What have been its achievements? Where has it failed? Has it remained necessary to the development of society, or has it outlived its usefulness?
Join us at AUB for the talks! More information coming soon.
The Feminist Collective is proud to invite you to the launch of “Bareed Mista3jil,” Lebanon’s first book of stories from the lives of queer women and transgenders in Lebanon.
Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 6pm at Masrah Al Madina in Beirut. Read more about the event here: www.bareedmista3jil.com
On April 23, 2009, the Feminist Collective blogged about the recent “Sois Belle et Vote” (Look Pretty and Vote) billboard campaign that sprouted across Lebanon in the past week. The blog is entitled Top 12 Reasons Why the Billboard Campaign: “Sois Belle et Vote” Is Offensive to Women. The post, which quickly spread over facebook and in the blogosphere, created much controversy around the sexism portrayed in the campaign.
The Feminist Collective has started a series of talks on issues related to the female body in its personal, social, and political manifestations. The talks are hosted by writer and university teacher Lina Mounzer.
After a fantastic general discussion of issues related to the female body and the regulation of its appearance in all social contexts, Lina is back to host another talk on the “morality of food.”
What misconceptions are we made to believe about what our body looks like? What kind of relationships do women develop with food? Why is it that “good girls” must control their appetites? As noted by someone at the last discussion, her aunt would tell her 9-year-old daughter: “La2! ma fee ilik gateau.. mish sheyfi addayshik sayra?? and then tell her 10-year-old son: kole, 7abibi, to2borni kole ba3d ot3it gateau…”
The talk will take place at the Feminist House in Gemmayze and is open to all FC members and their friends (men and women).
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