nasawiya: a feminist collective » International Women’s Day

#HelloWomen: We Wanna Talk to You

joelle — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:41:58 +0000

In preparation for the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day (March 8), we are hitting the streets on Saturday, March 5, 2011 and Sunday, March 6, 2011 to talk to women about the challenges they face in Lebanon and what changes they would like to see.

We’re calling our action: Hello Women, that’s #HelloWomen for all you tweeps out there.

Throughout the weekend, we’ll be roaming the following areas to talk to all the women we meet:

Hamra, Bliss Street, Furn el Chebbak, Chiah, Sassine Square, Dawra / Nabaa, Bourj Hammoud, Tareeq el Jdeedi, Haret Hreik, Sabra Camp, Downtown Beirut, Tyre, Saida, Jounieh, Jbeil, Zahle, Tripoli, and Saida.

The objective of our action is:

For us, as feminists, to listen, grow and learn from what women have to say.
To let the women we meet to express themselves, think about the questions, voice their opinions, concerns, and stories.
To let women know that our collective is out there and is supporting them and that they are welcome to join us and work with us.

We’ll be updating this page with regular posts throughout the weekend. You can also follows us on Twitter using the hashtag #HelloWomen or on our own account @nasawiya. You can also check our Facebook Page for updates.

And don’t forget to join us on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 6:00 PM for our Take Back the Night March on International Women’s Day.

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Hello Women Update 1: Day 1 – Saturday, March 5, 2011

Layal and Zainab talk to women in Chiyah

The feminists were out all day today talking to the women they met on the streets. To see pictures of our preparations for “Hello Women” and our feminists’ work on Day 1, click here.

Throughout the day, we’ve been tweeting some of the women’s thoughts on life in Lebanon as women, and the changes they wanted to see. You can read all our tweets by following the hashtag #HelloWomen. In the below, we list a selection of the women’s impressions and opinions, as well as other passersby who wanted to give their two cents, as they were tweeted by our feminists:

>> Voices from Batroun

“الأم تعطي الجنسية لأولادها، هيدا إسمه فلتان”

>> Voices from Bourj Hammoud

An Armenian man: “In 5 years, women will rule but this will be bad for the marriage.”

>> Voices from Chiyah

“People think that if a woman is “mouhajaba” (veiled) she should obey!”

>> Voices from Downtown Beirut

“كل شي غلط بلبنان. بدّو نفضة ما بتفهم”
“يسطفلوا. ما بهمنا”

>> Voices from Furn El Chebback

“Women have enough rights!”
“The situation of women in society is nil, in politics, double nil.”
“Violence only happens with ‘Arriérés’ (Retards).”

>> Voices from Jbeil

“المجتمع الشرقي هيك، الزلمي رأس المرأة ورأس هونيك شغلة”
“الشعب يريد إسقاط الحريم”
“أنا آخدة حقوقي بإيدي. مش ناطرة الدولة”

>> Voices from Hamra

“وضعنا تعتير ونحنا منشتغل وعندنا ولاد – نحن بحاجة لقانون للعمل أحسن ومتفهم أكير”
“الرجّال بخاف من طاقات المرأة”
“النسوان في البرلمان ما بمثّلوني”
When asking a girl in Hamra about the law against domestic violence، a man interrupted and said: “Women are the ones who are violent.”
“الأم العاملة خارج المنزل لازم تتقدّر أكتر”
“Domestic violence and abuse rarely happen in Lebanon. It’s a problem women elsewhere face.”

>> Voices from Sassine

“If I were a minister I’d grant the right to nationality.”
“If I was the president, I would dig a hole and put in it all the people with patriarchal minds and burn them.”
“You get harassed everywhere: at work, in cabs… even your husband harasses you.”
“SOIS BELLE ET TAIS TOI: المرأة عندها كل حقوقها. شاطرة تنمحن”
A nun – “ما بجاوب على هيك سؤال. روحي إسألي المرأة”
“بدنا حرّية جنسية”
“المرأة أصلا مش عارفة شو بدّها”

>> Voices from Tarik El Jdideh

“Why would I become worthless when my man dies! I am a person. I have power. Give it to me! I am a woman!”
“My kids speak Lebanese better than I do and they’re not Lebanese. They can’t own a house, they can’t work.”

>> Voices from Tyre

“Women should get married at 20 because of their hormones.”
“Rebellious women need violence!” – a woman claiming to be very open-minded.
A man we ran into: “المرأة عندها كل حقوقها. روحوا إنضبّوا”

>> Voices from Zahle

“Women have the right to go out without having to worry about harassment or anything.”
“مظلوم الرجّال. كل النسوان مشلّفين”
“We’re single women, why would we care about women’s rights?”

>> Miscellaneous Voices

“قانون الأحوال الشخصية من أصله لازمله محي”
“Women keep comparing our situation in Lebanon with that of those in Arab countries and concluding we’re better off. Women wake up!”
“I’m 74. I’ve been been begging for 10 years now. People disrespect me and all I want is my medicine. Who represents me in parliament?”
“An NGO is nice for women but going to parliament is too much. She is feminine, she can’t handle it!”
“بعد في كتير قمع وإستبداد”

For more Hello Women interactions, play the below video.

International Women’s Day in Lebanon

Nadine Moawad — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:36:26 +0000

Happy International Women’s Day!

We will post all IWD events in Lebanon on this page and keep it updated. Please support our events by linking to this page from your blog using these awesome graphics below.

On Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6, we will be going down to the streets to ask thousands of women what kind of challenges they face in Lebanon and what changes they would like to see. We still need volunteers to help us out so if you’re interested, please email n.moawad@gmail.com right away! We will be live tweeting, blogging, and posting photos and videos so follow @nasawiya and our Facebook page to keep up. The locations we will be at are:

Hamra
Furn el Chebbak
Chiah
Sassine Square
Dawra / Nabaa
Bourj Hammoud
Tareeq el Jdeedi
Haret Hreik
Sabra Camp
Downtown Beirut
Tyre
Saida
Jounieh
Jbeil
Zahle
Tripoli
Saida

On Tuesday, March 8, between 6 and 8 PM, we will be marching in groups from 4 locations in Beirut to the Ain El Mreisse Corniche to Take Back the Night and reclaim our streets from the harassment women face every day. The 4 starting points are:

Hamra (Cafe Younes)
Sodeco Square
Raouche (facing the rocks)
Cola roundabout

Join any of these points on Tuesday at 6pm and walk with us! Or meet us directly at Ain El Mreisseh at 7pm. Check out the event on Facebook for updates and join us. Let us be many to make our voices heard! Bring your friends, your mothers, your sisters, everyone.

On Tuesday, March 8, at 830 PM, right after the sit-in, we will join the Israeli Apartheid Week at Issam Fares Hall in AUB. IAW and Nasawiya will be collaborating on that night to host a talk on Struggle, Resistance and Women by Leila Khaled and Hana Ibrahim. The talk is entitled Why We Struggle: Towards a Just Society.

Leila Khaled will speak on “Towards a Truly Liberated Society”
Hana Ibrahim will speak on “Iraq: Women on the Front Lines of Anti-Imperial Resistance”

The graphics were made by the awesome @Gue3bara and you can customize them freely to suit your blog.

International Women’s Day 2010: Nasawiya Takes Back the Night

joelle — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:11:36 +0000

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.

The revolution continues…

Video: Nasawiya International Women’s Day March – 2010

For more videos, check out our YouTube Channel.

Photo Gallery: Nasawiya International Women’s Day March – 2010

For more photos, go to our Facebook Fan Page.

Now Lebanon Blogs about Marching with Nasawiya on IWD

joelle — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:32:51 +0000

Now Lebanon’s Haeon Lee joined Nasawiya’s International Women’s Day march on Monday night, and blogged about the experience on the news outlet’s website.

Read her post entitled “We take back the night… for ALL our rights!” here.

International Women’s Day 2010 Actions

joelle — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:07:20 +0000

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.

Our actions will culminate tonight at 6:30 PM with a “take back the night” march for all women’s rights.

“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…

Press Coverage of our Women’s Day 2009 Activities

joelle — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:27:08 +0000

Press coverage of our International Women’s Day activities – March 7 and 8, 2009:

- March 12 Al-Hayat:النسوية لمناصرة اللبنانية في الميدان

- March 11 Daily Star: Sit-ins look to highlight gender discrimination

- March 8 Al-Safir: المجموعة النسوية تسأل و إمرأة تجاوب

- March 7 Al Mustaqbal: النسوية تخترق شوارع بيروت في يوم المرأة:
لا للتمييز والعنف والقوانين الجائرة

- March 8 Al-Mustaqbal: النسوية تتابع حملة يوم المرأة: لسنا ضد الرجال بل ضد الذكورية

- March 8 Now Lebanon: A Woman’s Place?

- March 6 Daily Star: Feminists Take Aim at Male-Centered Politics

- March 5 Al-Akhbar: في يوم المرأة هيّا إلى الشارع