English and Arabic this is my body wounded, ripped, ruptured, bleeding. It’s been made a battlefield. But today, I reclaim it. And one day, it will heal. هذا جسدي المجروح، النازف والممزق والذي قد جعلوا منه ساحة حرب اليوم، سأدوّن ملكيّتي على جسدي، سأضمّد جراحه وفي يوم ما سيصبح معافى . #meToo #healing #وأنا_كمان #تسكتيش Tuskuteesh (don’t remainContinue reading “#MeToo – I’m a survivor of sexual violence”
Tag Archives: oppression
#StopPolicingOurBodies
This week, the women of Poland took to the streets in black Black Monday protests against the criminalization of abortions, with up to five years of imprisonment for women who terminate their pregnancies. Until when do we have to fight for our rights over our bodies? It’s the same thing throughout history – trying toContinue reading “#StopPolicingOurBodies”
Safe Space for Arab Women to Share Experiences of Sexual Violence
Tuskuteesh (Arabic for don’t remain silent, #تسكتيش), a safe space for Arab women to share experiences and testimonies of sexual violence, which I co-founded with my friend and sister in the struggle, Reem Jaramneh, was born out of the dire need to break the silence on this issue, which is still a huge taboo inContinue reading “Safe Space for Arab Women to Share Experiences of Sexual Violence”
I will say the words – status in context
* status in context * I will say the words. Even if saying them puts my very life in danger. I will say my words. I will stand with you, sister, and fight for your right until my very last breath, until my very last words. Even if I am the only one standing withContinue reading “I will say the words – status in context”
Privilege is relative.
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to an anthropology student about her research. Part of her research included talking to young Arab women who have been able to build an independent life for themselves, free – to some degree – of some of the patriarchal oppressions in our society. Somehow, not surprisingly, the conversationContinue reading “Privilege is relative.”
stop policing my body
you will not drag my body through your – muddy dirty battlefield. you will not – dress me undress me police me. my body is not the battlefield for your morals – religious or secular. my morals reside in my heart my morals are – not hidden in the folds of my clothes (and justContinue reading “stop policing my body”
Palestinians on the Beach
A few days ago, a post about racism popped up in my newsfeed. It was yet another Palestinian young man who couldn’t rent an apartment in Tel Aviv, because he is an Arab. He saw the apartment, and the landlord agreed to rent it to him. Then, when they met again to sign the contract,Continue reading “Palestinians on the Beach”
Not the article I planned to write
This is not the article I planned to write. I’m writing an article about the dangers and potentials of Facebook activism, after being disillusioned by Facebook, deactivated my account, and then returned to Facebook with new insights. Coming back to Facebook after a while, it feels strange, as if I’m in a new dimension. IContinue reading “Not the article I planned to write”
On the Art of Political Poetry
Recently I’ve been invited to give a workshop for university students in a course on “Women, Poetry, History.” My first reaction was: “What? Me? A poet? No, no, you got it wrong. I ain’t no poet. I’m a fiction writer, a novelist. I don’t do poetry.” But then, slowly, I realized that actually, I amContinue reading “On the Art of Political Poetry”
Writing in the Margins – Fluid Identities
Writing in the Margins – Fluid Identities In her Feminist Theory – from Margin to Center, bell hooks opens with the following preface: “To be in the margin is to be part of the whole but outside the main body. As black Americans living in a small Kentucky town, the railroad tracks were a dailyContinue reading “Writing in the Margins – Fluid Identities”
Writing in the Margins 