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On Tuesday September 7^th Nasawiya introduced their training module “Ghayri 3adtik Bitzeed S3adtik” at a Conference held in Masrah al Madinah-Beirut.  The conference began with a presentation of Nasawiya, a collective that started this year and works on the interrelated issues that affect women from a feminist perspective, as opposed to a women’s rights perspective.

Following this introduction of Nasawiya, Rania Ignatios, a member of the collective, presented the ongoing training program “Ghayri 3adtik Bitzeed Sa3adtik.” Since last April, members of Nasawiya have been traveling the country with a training module that presents issues such as the relationship between biological sex and gender from a feminist perspective. The training demonstrates how this relationship effects all women, who also experience discrimination differently and according to sect, class, and race. Nasawiya stressed that one of the goals of Tuesday’s conference was to begin collaborating with other interested groups for presentations of “Ghayri 3adtik Bitzeed Sa3adtik” in their centers and other locations.

Representatives of NGOs who work on issues related to women’s rights and human rights were in attendance at the conference. Several journalists were also in attendance. The conference ended with a prolonged Q&A session between Nasawiyya members and audience members, which was followed by a cocktail party in the lobby of Masrah al Madina.

Nasawiya is pleased to invite you to a conference on its training program, “Feminist Tools for Change”!

The conference aims at introducing the audience to the objectives of our training program and how we can cooperate on it. Nasawiya had launched this training program back in April 2010 and it includes new ideas and methodology on how to make change from a feminist perspective. It discusses differences between gender and sex, feminism and women’s rights, power dynamics, intersectionality of issues, etc… We would love to have you join our conference and more so, cooperate after it to organize sessions with your organizations and stakeholders.

Date: Tuesday – 7th of September 2010

Time: 2 pm to 5 pm

Location: Beirut – Hamra – Al Madina Theater

Please confirm attendance at maya.elhelou@gmail.com or call 03 – 874 147 / 70- 800 258

Welcome to the first edition of Nasawiya’s newsletter.

 As you know, a year ago a group of us young feminists launched the Feminist Collective (FC) in Beirut.

 After an exciting feminist 2009 full of achievements – and disappointments – and after a few months of hiatus that were not without brainstorming, discussions and conversations, we relaunched a re-attempt at a feminist collective organized differently under Nasawiya (which means “feminist” in Arabic) and with our dear Farah Salka as General Coordinator.

 Here’s a round up of what we’ve been up to over the past six months:

1) On this year’s International Women’s Day, we decided once again to take to the streets to interact with people and raise awareness about women’s issues. Our actions included invisible theater performances, a special partnership with Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, and a “Take Back the Night” march for All our rights.

Read more. 

2) After a few months of hiatus, we relaunched our feminist magazine, Sawt Al Niswa (Women’s Voice), in the form of a feminist webspace, serving the Arab region and the world. The website is designed to function as a pool of knowledge, hosting the various social and political commentaries by women, while questioning the kind of feminist discourse they want to speak and express themselves through.

Visit the site.

3) After a series of successful workshops on empowering young women to use ICTs for social change and an equally successful gender initiative at ArabNetME, we launched Take Back the Tech in Lebanon. As members of the global collective Take Back the Tech, we’re working on reclaiming information and communication technology (ICT) to promote gender equality, through specialized workshops led by women experts in their fields and related initiatives.

Read more.

4) We’ve been traveling Lebanon with “Ghayreh 3adtik Bitzeed S3adtik – Feminist Tools for Change” a training program for women on how to use feminism as a tool for change. The program is designed to provide participants with the knowledge, tools and resources to organize and bring about change – all from a feminist perspective. So far, we’ve visited different schools, universities, scouts groups, youth groups and communities, training over 200 people from different age groups. To learn more about the program or book your sessions, write to farah@nasawiya.org.

Read more.   

5) We worked with the Arab Network of Young Feminists to build a collective network of support for young Arab women activists in the region. Members from Nasawiya participated in the launching meeting of the Network in Cairo April of this year. Tons of networking and joint efforts lie ahead for the months and years to come for this young network. Follow this link for updates: http://www.yafn.org

6) Driven by our belief that sectarianism discriminates against women and between women of different sects, we took part in the first Lebanese Laïque Pride – the march for secularism in Lebanon, as a feminist block.

See photos.

7) Migrant Workers Task Force: Through joint initiatives and/or stand-alone projects, we’ve been working to highlight the plight of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon and the Arab World and combat the discrimination they are subjected to.

Read more.

8 ) Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been holding periodic Feminist Discussions (Kira’at Nasawiya) which serve as open-invitation gatherings for members, friends and interested individuals to explore and discuss issues and topics of interest from a feminist perspective. Our discussions so far have tackled the women’s quota, anarchism and collective living, invisible “isms”, the Armenian genocide, and BDS strategies after the Flotilla attack.

9) On Friday, August 20, 2010, an overjoyed crowd of feminists gathered at Nasawiya’s new space in Beirut to celebrate its much-anticipated inauguration. During the evening, while many raised their glasses to bridge past initiatives with those to come, others played baby-foot, or indulged in tarot reading sessions. Nevertheless, the highlight of the evening was SoliRose’s (Samia AbouSamra and Nia Witherspoon) intense and moving live ceremonial performance. Where sexism, racism, heteronormativity, and classism often pass as the norm, Nasawiya’s new space is a beam of light that looks promising enough to embrace feminists in a vibrant atmosphere of activism. Nasawiya is now located on Chahrouri Street, Braidi Building, 1st Floor, Facing “Laure Mghayzel High-School for Girls” – Ashrafieh.

This is merely a wrap up of our work so far. There’ll be a lot more to do and report on in the months to come.

You can follow our news on:

          •  Our official website: http://nasawiya.org

          •  Twitter: http://twitter.com/nasawiya

          •  Facebook Fan Page

          •  YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/feministcollective

          •  Sawt Al Niswa: http://sawtalniswa.com

          •  Ghayreh 3adtik Bitzeed S3adtik – Feminist Tools for Change: http://nasawiya.org/ghayri

Feel free to drop us a line, if you have any questions or suggestions at farah@nasawiya.org

We look forward to working with you on achieving gender justice in Lebanon and across the Arab World!

On Friday, August 20, 2010, an overjoyed crowd of feminists gathered at Nasawiya’s new space in Beirut to celebrate its much-anticipated inauguration.

During the evening, while many raised their glasses to bridge past initiatives with those to come, others played baby-foot, or indulged in tarot reading sessions. Nevertheless, the highlight of the evening was SoliRose’s intense and moving live ceremonial performance. 

“SoliRose – whose core members are Samia Abou-Samra and Nia Witherspoon – is an emerging ceremonial music venture which seeks to enact home/culture-making in Diaspora by calling on the power of the ancestral lines, and the lands that shaped them. With explicit influences from Lebanon/the Levant, Turkey, North and West Africa, and Flamenco, SoliRose, named after Samia and Nia’s grandmothers and great-grandmothers, seeks to recombine the diversity of musical styles in a way that organically reflects their actual crossings, in both the old world and in the new.”

Where sexism, racism, heteronormativity, and classism often pass as the norm, Nasawiya’s new space is a beam of light that looks promising enough to embrace feminists in a vibrant atmosphere of activism.

With Nasawiya’s bright feminists, we trust that the revolution can only go forth.

For more info please contact Farah at farah@nasawiya.org!

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Nasawiya is now located on Chahrouri Street, Braidi Building, 1st Floor, Facing “Laure Mghayzel High-School for Girls” – Ashrafieh.

By: Shant (www.bekhsoos.com)