POWER, POLITICS AND WOMEN: A VOICE OF DISSENT
“To the women and men who choose to pay the price and be free, rather than pay the price of slavery”, the people of the mind, those who will stop to think, and those who would endure torture at the hands of authority, rather than give up their principles- it is those people she endeavours to address; and she does so with striking passion.
Nawal el Saadawi-Egyptian feminist writer with an almost notorious trail behind her. The seemingly eccentric woman with a shock of dishevelled white hair would not be the obvious choice to lead a long rally against the hypocrisy that has yet plagued many societies. And yet she talks, she talks with a fervour and sincerity that makes her causes endearing to the world. A Muslim by birth, a writer by choice, she has shaped the mind and ambitions of veiled women, throughout the Middle East, and subsequently through the rest of the world, for more than half a century. She has written over 20 books in Arabic, and has been translated to about 12 languages, including English.
She is, in essence, a psychiatrist, a novelist and a feminist campaigner. Her refusal to accept conventional norms, and to dissect her faith completely has also made her a notable name on the hit lists of Islamic fundamentalist groups. Religion, it is said, is not a matter of conjecture and speech, but an ultimate truth and a way of life. For el Saadawi however, religion has been a canvas on which her most radical experiments could be performed. A grand total of 3 marriages, a series of jail terms, political exile, and a rebel organisation for women that sought to enlighten, rather than eradicate. The Arab Women’s Solidarity Organisation (AWSO) was established in 1982 by Saadawi to ensure the rights of the Arab women. Her proclamation that “women’s rights are human rights”, enraged many Muslim clerics in Egypt. She was imprisoned by President Sadat for dissidence, as were many other intellectuals in patriarchal Egypt. She was released a week after Sadat was assassinated by the Jihadi groups. She says that her time in prison was an eye-opener for her in many ways. “I was surrounded by women who were hard-core Marxists, and extreme fundamentalists. I was caught in the middle. And yet, I could never stop writing. It was like breathing for me. ” There was a certain prostitute in prison with her who smuggled toilet paper in for Saadawi to write on. She wrote passionately, and with a black eye pencil. It is remarkable how the greatest works of creativity come under the blows of adversity.
When asked to comment upon September 11th, she remarked that a case of civil genocide was not acceptable, no matter what the reason may have been. And yet she justifies the Palestinian suicide bombings, saying that the war between Israel and Palestine is not really a war- it is the perpetration of violence by a state-sponsored army, endorsed and financed by Uncle Sam, against a defenceless lot of civilians. Their lack of weapons propels them to use their bodies as shields. Though Islam does not accept suicide, the faith does encourage death for a noble or a religious cause. She also attacks the stand of supposedly neutral organisations such as the UN-while Iraq was victimised and 5000 of her children starved to death, because Saddam Hussein resisted UN weapons’ inspection, Israel was never made to suffer because of Ariel Sharon’s refusal to allow the entry of a fact-finding team to the refugee camps of Jenin. It is precisely these kinds of double standards, which she so fervently disputes. Though conveniently cloaked under a whole range of fancy jargon, the major wars in the world fought post- 1946 have been for the cause of oil and subsequent control of these oil-rich regions.
She explored the fine like between creativity and delusion, female subjugation from downright tyranny, education from fragmented knowledge, democracy from a dictatorship, and capitalism from a form of neo-colonialism. Being a medical doctor, she initially specialised in chest diseases, and later moved on psychiatry to suppress her unhappiness. She found that psychiatry did not do much to fuel her imagination; she was forced to accept the word of western psychoanalysts and her professors as the absolute and the ultimate. This form of worship repulsed the headstrong Saadawi, and she focussed her energies on creative writing and journalism full-time. Her statement that she was less educated after she finished college, than before she entered it further emphasises her stance on the system of fragmented education. She believes that before medicine, she was able to view human beings as a whole; this was compartmentalised, as she had to view a man in terms of his body parts. The link between man’s physical self and his spiritual energies were broken, as the system propagated complete isolation of the human factions.
In an interview to the BBC, the announcer introduced her as the first woman to introduce the concept of Western feminism to the Middle East. Saadawi immediately retorted that feminism per se was a universal concept, and the notion of ‘east’ and ‘west’ merely distorted the truth behind the thought. Her refusal to distinguish from women in different cultures, further stresses the relevance of her philosophies, preventing them from being stereotyped as Arabic literature. She believes that women in post-modern cultures were not necessarily any more liberated from their Eastern counterparts. She calls makeup a form of the “Post-modern Veil”. The growing objectifying of women as sexual toys, and the continual depiction of women as merely homemakers, and objects for childbirth and rearing, are marks of a chauvinistic society. Although she agrees that women are relatively more liberated than in the past, the residual fascism in the area of woman’s rights are still ignored. She vehemently disputes the writings of prominent psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. He also depicted women as sexual objects, underlining the fact that men were more creative than women, because of the fact that feminine energies were channelised in domestic and carnal duties.
As a child, she grew up learning the three holy scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While she was 10 years old, she drew parallels between the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran, and also pointed out the contradictions in each of it. Her remarks that the kissing of the black stone in the religious pilgrimage of the Hajj was a form of paganism immediately made her a ‘Kafir’, or a non-believer. Her defence was that even the Prophet Mohammed abhorred idolatry, and he ordered the destruction of all the 365 statues that were found in God’s house, or the ‘Kaaba’ in Mecca. The worship of inanimate objects was the practice of pagans, she argued. At age 6, she was forcefully circumcised by her parents. When she was asked if she ever resented her parents for that, she cheerfully remarked that she loved her parents deeply, and that her creativity and independence are a result of her mother’s encouragement. It is evident from this that though she tended to challenge convention, and overcome taboos, she still remained deeply embedded in her roots, and held a great regard for all the people she loved. Her staunch feminism made her question the notable paradox in the Quran relating to the status of women. It is said that men and women were created from the same spirit. And yet it is also said that men are superior to women because of the fact that Eve was created from a small backbone of Adam. It is supposedly because of this that a woman’s tendencies are always crooked. She also questions the relative lack of women who feature in the three holy texts.
The only men in her life that she grew to resent, inside her family circle, were her first two husbands. They tried to suppress her spirit, by asking her to be mindful of social stigmas and norms. When she was asked by her second husband to choose between him and writing, she immediately chose writing over the chauvinistic loveless union. She also aborted the foetus from him to completely sever any form of ties that still remained with the man she married. People deemed her as insane and abnormal. She always refused to attach the name of her husband to her own name, saying that no man ever owned her, or guarded her; she relied on her self to do the same. Dr. Sherif Hetata, however was unlike any man she had ever met before. She remains married to him to this day. She is quoted as saying that he really understood her passions, and never felt threatened by her refusal to comply. In fact, her marriage was put through the acid test when the court ordered the divorce of Saadawi and Hetata due to her dissidence. But they both decided that no matter what the authorities dictated, they would remain married, and they would also never leave their country.
Nawal el Saadawi’s life and literature has sparked off a whole gamut of thinkers and intellectual movements that were previously unheard of in Shariat-bound Egypt, and the rest of the Muslim world. This strange woman with alien philosophies has done more to stand out and ridicule the crowd, rather than fit in. Her whole life has been a testament to the ride of passion and logic over cultural and religious stereotypes. Saadawi is simply, a living legend, and a woman who redefined the concept of feminism to the rest of the world. Whether it is in the Universities of Cairo, or the ivy-leagues in America, her works continue to be taught to a generation of youth - people who would observe, analyse and rule, rather than be bound by the shackles of tradition and taboo.
Nawal el Saadawi-Egyptian feminist writer with an almost notorious trail behind her. The seemingly eccentric woman with a shock of dishevelled white hair would not be the obvious choice to lead a long rally against the hypocrisy that has yet plagued many societies. And yet she talks, she talks with a fervour and sincerity that makes her causes endearing to the world. A Muslim by birth, a writer by choice, she has shaped the mind and ambitions of veiled women, throughout the Middle East, and subsequently through the rest of the world, for more than half a century. She has written over 20 books in Arabic, and has been translated to about 12 languages, including English.
She is, in essence, a psychiatrist, a novelist and a feminist campaigner. Her refusal to accept conventional norms, and to dissect her faith completely has also made her a notable name on the hit lists of Islamic fundamentalist groups. Religion, it is said, is not a matter of conjecture and speech, but an ultimate truth and a way of life. For el Saadawi however, religion has been a canvas on which her most radical experiments could be performed. A grand total of 3 marriages, a series of jail terms, political exile, and a rebel organisation for women that sought to enlighten, rather than eradicate. The Arab Women’s Solidarity Organisation (AWSO) was established in 1982 by Saadawi to ensure the rights of the Arab women. Her proclamation that “women’s rights are human rights”, enraged many Muslim clerics in Egypt. She was imprisoned by President Sadat for dissidence, as were many other intellectuals in patriarchal Egypt. She was released a week after Sadat was assassinated by the Jihadi groups. She says that her time in prison was an eye-opener for her in many ways. “I was surrounded by women who were hard-core Marxists, and extreme fundamentalists. I was caught in the middle. And yet, I could never stop writing. It was like breathing for me. ” There was a certain prostitute in prison with her who smuggled toilet paper in for Saadawi to write on. She wrote passionately, and with a black eye pencil. It is remarkable how the greatest works of creativity come under the blows of adversity.
When asked to comment upon September 11th, she remarked that a case of civil genocide was not acceptable, no matter what the reason may have been. And yet she justifies the Palestinian suicide bombings, saying that the war between Israel and Palestine is not really a war- it is the perpetration of violence by a state-sponsored army, endorsed and financed by Uncle Sam, against a defenceless lot of civilians. Their lack of weapons propels them to use their bodies as shields. Though Islam does not accept suicide, the faith does encourage death for a noble or a religious cause. She also attacks the stand of supposedly neutral organisations such as the UN-while Iraq was victimised and 5000 of her children starved to death, because Saddam Hussein resisted UN weapons’ inspection, Israel was never made to suffer because of Ariel Sharon’s refusal to allow the entry of a fact-finding team to the refugee camps of Jenin. It is precisely these kinds of double standards, which she so fervently disputes. Though conveniently cloaked under a whole range of fancy jargon, the major wars in the world fought post- 1946 have been for the cause of oil and subsequent control of these oil-rich regions.
She explored the fine like between creativity and delusion, female subjugation from downright tyranny, education from fragmented knowledge, democracy from a dictatorship, and capitalism from a form of neo-colonialism. Being a medical doctor, she initially specialised in chest diseases, and later moved on psychiatry to suppress her unhappiness. She found that psychiatry did not do much to fuel her imagination; she was forced to accept the word of western psychoanalysts and her professors as the absolute and the ultimate. This form of worship repulsed the headstrong Saadawi, and she focussed her energies on creative writing and journalism full-time. Her statement that she was less educated after she finished college, than before she entered it further emphasises her stance on the system of fragmented education. She believes that before medicine, she was able to view human beings as a whole; this was compartmentalised, as she had to view a man in terms of his body parts. The link between man’s physical self and his spiritual energies were broken, as the system propagated complete isolation of the human factions.
In an interview to the BBC, the announcer introduced her as the first woman to introduce the concept of Western feminism to the Middle East. Saadawi immediately retorted that feminism per se was a universal concept, and the notion of ‘east’ and ‘west’ merely distorted the truth behind the thought. Her refusal to distinguish from women in different cultures, further stresses the relevance of her philosophies, preventing them from being stereotyped as Arabic literature. She believes that women in post-modern cultures were not necessarily any more liberated from their Eastern counterparts. She calls makeup a form of the “Post-modern Veil”. The growing objectifying of women as sexual toys, and the continual depiction of women as merely homemakers, and objects for childbirth and rearing, are marks of a chauvinistic society. Although she agrees that women are relatively more liberated than in the past, the residual fascism in the area of woman’s rights are still ignored. She vehemently disputes the writings of prominent psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. He also depicted women as sexual objects, underlining the fact that men were more creative than women, because of the fact that feminine energies were channelised in domestic and carnal duties.
As a child, she grew up learning the three holy scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While she was 10 years old, she drew parallels between the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran, and also pointed out the contradictions in each of it. Her remarks that the kissing of the black stone in the religious pilgrimage of the Hajj was a form of paganism immediately made her a ‘Kafir’, or a non-believer. Her defence was that even the Prophet Mohammed abhorred idolatry, and he ordered the destruction of all the 365 statues that were found in God’s house, or the ‘Kaaba’ in Mecca. The worship of inanimate objects was the practice of pagans, she argued. At age 6, she was forcefully circumcised by her parents. When she was asked if she ever resented her parents for that, she cheerfully remarked that she loved her parents deeply, and that her creativity and independence are a result of her mother’s encouragement. It is evident from this that though she tended to challenge convention, and overcome taboos, she still remained deeply embedded in her roots, and held a great regard for all the people she loved. Her staunch feminism made her question the notable paradox in the Quran relating to the status of women. It is said that men and women were created from the same spirit. And yet it is also said that men are superior to women because of the fact that Eve was created from a small backbone of Adam. It is supposedly because of this that a woman’s tendencies are always crooked. She also questions the relative lack of women who feature in the three holy texts.
The only men in her life that she grew to resent, inside her family circle, were her first two husbands. They tried to suppress her spirit, by asking her to be mindful of social stigmas and norms. When she was asked by her second husband to choose between him and writing, she immediately chose writing over the chauvinistic loveless union. She also aborted the foetus from him to completely sever any form of ties that still remained with the man she married. People deemed her as insane and abnormal. She always refused to attach the name of her husband to her own name, saying that no man ever owned her, or guarded her; she relied on her self to do the same. Dr. Sherif Hetata, however was unlike any man she had ever met before. She remains married to him to this day. She is quoted as saying that he really understood her passions, and never felt threatened by her refusal to comply. In fact, her marriage was put through the acid test when the court ordered the divorce of Saadawi and Hetata due to her dissidence. But they both decided that no matter what the authorities dictated, they would remain married, and they would also never leave their country.
Nawal el Saadawi’s life and literature has sparked off a whole gamut of thinkers and intellectual movements that were previously unheard of in Shariat-bound Egypt, and the rest of the Muslim world. This strange woman with alien philosophies has done more to stand out and ridicule the crowd, rather than fit in. Her whole life has been a testament to the ride of passion and logic over cultural and religious stereotypes. Saadawi is simply, a living legend, and a woman who redefined the concept of feminism to the rest of the world. Whether it is in the Universities of Cairo, or the ivy-leagues in America, her works continue to be taught to a generation of youth - people who would observe, analyse and rule, rather than be bound by the shackles of tradition and taboo.
posted by Farzana Kader at 12:39 PM
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