The Root has an interview with the irrepressible Dr Nawal El Saadawi, the Egyptian feminist, doctor and activist, amongst other things - "Now 79, she has lived in exile off and on for the past 15 years, teaching at Duke University and Spelman College. For the past year or so, she's been back at home in Egypt, writing and organizing young activists."In the piece Dr Saadawi talks about the hopes for women coming out of the current revolution in Egypt, saying "...Of course if you know the history of revolutions, you find that after the revolution, often men take over and women's rights are ignored. In order to keep our rights after the revolution, women must be unified. We must have our women's union again. We cannot fight individually." She also talks about the USA ("I don't expect the power or support or interference of anyone, of any government. We here in Egypt are fed up with U.S. colonialism") and dismisses the power of the Muslim Brotherhood ("All of this talk about the Brotherhood is an attempt to use religion to divide the people. Do not worry; the Muslim Brotherhood will never rule Egypt.").
One of the compelling factors for me about Dr Saadawi is her secularist hopes for Egypt.
I was lucky enough to attend an 'in conversation' event with this woman a couple of years ago locally at Goldsmiths, University of London, as part of a three-day Race in a Modern World conference there. She was inspiring. You can read my post about that here 'Nawal El Saadawi in conversation'.
Related previous post: 'The women of Tharir Square'
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