Abstract
Few months back I was asked to write a synopsis of my book on women’s experiences in the 2011 Egyptian uprising. In Women and the Egyptian Revolution: Engagement and Activism During the 2011 Arab Uprisings, I offered an oral history of women’s engagement in the January 25th uprising that led to the ousting of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. As I sat down thinking about my book, remembering my fieldwork, and reflecting on the present turn of events in Egypt, I, yet again, was quickly overwhelmed by feelings of futility. Futility is increasingly an all-too-common feeling; it is present whenever I think or write about the experiences of women in the 2011 episode of contention. The uprising, a then seemingly political juncture in Egypt’s history, ended with the consolidation of authoritarianism and the persecution of activists, including independent feminists. Even as I write about my swirl of emotions, I feel guilty; they pale in comparison to the experiences of activists who risked their lives for reform only to live through the consolidation of authoritarianism. Notwithstanding the overwhelming disappointment, I sit down to write this chapter. More importantly, many activists continue to maintain hope and hold onto the memory of resistance notwithstanding a crippling political system and an overwhelming disappointment. This affective status ignites the essence of the chapter, the essence of the chapter is ignited by activists’ affirmation that their experience in the uprising has changed them, and that “things cannot go back to the old days,” notwithstanding their disappointment over the turn of events. In this chapter, I map some of the ways in which hope unfolded among female activists after the 2011 Egyptian uprising. The analysis presented attempts to provide preliminary answers to the following question: How can we explain women’s activism following the uprising notwithstanding the prevalence of disappointment among women’s groups?
Some of the materials used in this chapter draw from my article titled “Activism Amid Disappointment: Women’s Groups and the Politics of Hope in Egypt” published in Middle East Law and Governance journal, 2018.
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Notes
- 1.
Interview with female activist 95, author’s interview, Cairo: Egypt, November 2015.
- 2.
I elaborate on the concept of al-Sisi syndrome and the implications of his policies on the discourse of women’s rights in my forthcoming article, Smoke and Mirrors: State-Sponsored Feminism in Post-uprising Egypt. By al-Sisi syndrome the reference here is to how the president, rather than the first lady and its clique, intervenes on behalf of women’s groups through his special position in power and champion the role of women and their rights. Unlike the former regimes of Mubarak and Sadat, where the first lady played a central role in the policies of state-sponsored feminism, the figure of the first lady is not central in al-Sisi’s brand of state feminism. This new configuration—while similar to the first lady syndrome—is marked by even a higher level of control and consolidation.
- 3.
I have explained in shorter pieces how al-Sisi’s public advocacy for women’s rights stands in stark contrast to the regime’s attitude toward independent feminists and its ongoing campaigns to curtail their presence and target their organizations. The function, operation, and funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are strictly constricted under the current controversial NGO law. Under Law 70 of 2017 for Regulating the Work of Associations and Other Institutions Working in the Field of Civil Work, the advocacy as well as the charitable work carried out by women’s rights organizations along with other civil society groups are limited and closely overseen by a national board with members from security as well as intelligence agencies. Even before passing this controversial law, a number of independent women’s rights organizations were targeted by the regime. They were subject to asset freezes, closure, and their staff and leaders faced travel bans and ongoing interrogations. Among those who faced legal litigations are Mozn Hassan, the director of Nazra for Feminist Studies, Azza Soliman, the director of the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA), and Aida Seif al-Dawla, the cofounder of the Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence. Whether the attacks were part of the state’s broader effort to “control” dissidence or were specifically targeting women’s groups, the attacks, as I have argued earlier, had dire implications on the experiences of female activists and created disappointments in politics as well as in state institutions.
- 4.
In her book, The Promise of Happiness, Sarah Ahmed, a postcolonial queer and feminist theorist, examines the relationship between affect, belonging, and subjugation. Happiness, she argues, is directive; it can function as a mechanism of discipline or governance. Focusing on the figure of the melancholic migrant, feminist killjoy, and the unhappy queer, she emphasizes the coercive side of happiness in multicultural neoliberal societies. Her discussion of the operations of happiness in contemporary society reveals how certain groups are constructed as problems because they fail to let go of “bad” feelings attached to experiences of subjugation and refuse to seek happiness in the “right things.”
- 5.
For the purpose of this chapter, I define activists as members of women’s groups who participated in the 2011 Egyptian uprising and continued to be active in organizations and initiatives and to navigate the post-uprising structure.
- 6.
Interview with female activist 105, author’s interview, Cairo, Egypt, March 2017.
- 7.
Interview with female activist 112, author’s interview, Cairo, Egypt, March 2017.
- 8.
Interview with female activist 107, author’s interview, Cairo, Egypt, March 2017.
- 9.
Interview with female activist 95, author’s interview, Cairo: Egypt, November 2015.
- 10.
Massumi views affect as a non-conscious experience of intensity; it is the recollection of the experience partially stored in the body.
- 11.
Interview with female activist 27, author’s interview, Cairo, Egypt, July 2013.
- 12.
Interview with female activist 27.
- 13.
See Langohr (2013) for a close and detailed survey of sexual violence against female protestors, the history of anti-sexual harassment initiatives, and the ways in which the campaigns evolved during and after the uprising.
- 14.
Full discussion published in Allam, N. (2018). Activism Amid Disappointment: Women’s Groups and the Politics of Hope in Egypt. Middle East Law and Governance, 10(3), 291–316.
- 15.
In a study published by Nazra for Feminist Studies, researchers documented the developments in women’s movement and its growing decentralization post the uprising. They emphasized the rising number of organic initiatives in different communities and the ways in which the leaders of these new initiatives were influenced by the uprising and its aftermath.
- 16.
I have explained in earlier work the significance of these initiatives, while groups such as Nazra, Al Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, and Centre for Egyptian Women Legal Assistance among others have a long history and legacy in exposing and challenging sexual violence, they are increasingly targeted by the state and their work can be limited by their positionality as external agencies in relation to the local community. In contrast to external agencies, the new groups can be more apt to reach different groups and communicate in a language that does not leave the communities feeling ostracized.
- 17.
Interview with female activist 115, author’s interview, Cairo, Egypt, March 2017.
- 18.
Full discussion published in Allam, N. (2018). Activism Amid Disappointment: Women’s Groups and the Politics of Hope in Egypt. Middle East Law and Governance, 10(3), 291–316.
- 19.
- 20.
- 21.
Bussy is an Arabic verb, meaning “look!” in a command and feminine form.
- 22.
Included an interview with Sondos Shabayek.
- 23.
Interview with cofounder and female activist 102, author’s interview, Cairo, Egypt, December 2014.
- 24.
Ibid.
- 25.
Ibid.
- 26.
Full discussion published in Allam, N. (2018). Activism Amid Disappointment: Women’s Groups and the Politics of Hope in Egypt. Middle East Law and Governance, 10(3), 291–316.
- 27.
Interview with women’s rights consultant 118, author’s interview, Cairo, Egypt, March 2017.
- 28.
Interview with female activist 95, author’s interview, Cairo: Egypt, November 2015.
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Allam, N. (2020). Affective Encounters: Women, Hope, and Activism in Egypt. In: Mohamed, E., Fahmy, D. (eds) Arab Spring. Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24758-4_8
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