Celebrating IWD on its 100th year means that for 100 years now women and a few men have been celebrating that day, celebrating the successes that have happened so far and highlighting the struggle that is forever ongoing for gender justice.

It is quite challenging and hard to explain how the march was and be fair to every beautiful detail that happened on the day, to explain the mercyless rain, the the number of new faces, the revolving energy, the will power to walk for hours amidst all obstacles, the heart throbbing chants and the other things. The pictures and footage might be more reflective of the night. So check them out.

TBTN 2011 started out from 4 different locations in Beirut and converged into Korniche.

Two big banners marked the march:
إسترجعي الليل- يوم المرأة العالمي and ثوري تمردي ارفعي صوتك

Iloubnan

Posters we held included:
My body is not public property
If it’s all wrong, then it’s all got to change
Be the feminist you want your mom to be
عم بمشي عن امي بتخلص شغلا ٨ بالليل
المرأة تريد إسقاط التمييز
Parliament #Fail
نسوية يعني ناس قوية
Feminists against Sectarianism
Investigate the deaths of migrant domestic workers, not just billionaires

Nothing was spared on the day. Sectarianism. Racism. Sexual harassment. Patriarchy. Sexism. And several other isms. It was a march and sit-in against all the different structures that oppress women in their own ways, not just one.

After the sit in at Korniche, most of us, although drowned with wet clothes, marched to AUB to take part in the panel 0by Palestinian icon Laila Khaled and Iraqi activist Hanaa Ibrahim on “Women and Resistance” as part of the Israeli Apartheid Week series of events.

So this IWD, its #HelloWomen part and its #TakeBackTheNight part were beyond amazing in combination, amazing enough to make us want to do them again and again, but not just once a year. Again and again and marching not just against sexual harassment but all the other things we have on our mind 24-7.

The wave of change and potential for change that has been hitting the region around us has been too inspiring. It has been such an easy drive for optimism and believing not only in change (which we always did believe in) but more so in short term change and the ability to mobile and galvanize more and more supporters for our feminist causes, to make people embrace feminism and understand that it is for them, not just for us.

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Today marked the 3rd protest to bring down the sectarian regime in Lebanon. It started from Sassine and ended at the Ministry of Interior in Sanayeh. Tens of thousands marched, with so many differences and but many more common demands. It was also beautiful and goose-bumpy.

So other countries were able to do it. Lebanon is doing it. So should we. Check www.nasawiya.org to stay updated with our upcoming events and marches. We’re going to do this again, way sooner than you expect.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49609463@N05/5506190132/sizes/o/in/photostream/

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

The video showcases achievements in women’s rights in Lebanon and examples of what remains to be done.

The message of the video is simple: Change is possible. We just have to work on it.

If you’d like to us to take the training program to your university, school, organization or group, please write to farah[at]nasawiya.org.

The video was produced for our training program “Ghayreh 3adtik Bitzeed S3adtik – Feminist Tools for Change” which aims at empowering women with the knowledge, tools and resources to bring about change from a feminist perspective.

The message of the video is simple: Change is possible. We just have to work on it.

If you’d like to us to take the training program to your university, school, organization or group, please write to farah[at]nasawiya.org.

هذه المدخلة غير متوفرة باللغة العربية