Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Hope to see a similar campaign in #Egypt "Updated"

From a week ago a campaign against domestic violence in Saudi Arabia made headlines worldwide. For the first time a campaign launched in the conservative kingdom tackling this social taboo under the name “No More Abuse”. The campaign is launched and sponsored by King Khaled Foundation.
Something can not be hidden indeed
The tagline of the extreme powerful ad in this campaign in English says “Something can not be hidden”
I think the incident of Lama Al Ghamadi could be one of the triggers in this campaign.
I hope to see a similar campaign in Egypt dealing with this taboo. I once saw a TV ads campaign about domestic violence in ONTV from two years ago and that’s it. It was a campaign sponsored by the government then showing the cycle of violence in the society.
 
Unfortunately this campaign was stopped and nobody remembers it except very few.
Domestic violence is from the unholy taboos in Egypt that nobody dares to come near for real. Myth says that it has to do with education and class but it is a myth.
 Domestic violence has nothing to do with education or class , I have witnessed many cases of domestic violence where women are beaten by their very well educated and wealthy husbands. It also has nothing to do with religion.
Many Muslim and Christian women suffer unbearable violence and yet they have to stick with their husbands till death does apart because of family prestige and the myth that the children need a father regardless of the fact that that father is abusive and the kids will not be raised normally. Christian Orthodox ladies got the divorce dilemma too and in the end we got Muslim and Christian ladies praying God that either their abusive husbands die or turn good miraculously and it will be the last time they physically abuse them.
While writing this I remember my grandma’s late sister who asked for divorce in 1949 from her filthy rich Upper Egyptian husband when she was 18 years old only because he started to abuse her physically. That ex-husband was a spoiled rich young man turned to be an alcoholic.
My late grandma told me that what her sister had done then was considered to be somehow revolutionary act for real , still she got her total family support. Young ladies in their time would not dare to do for fear on their family prestige and that “divorced” reputation. That’s besides the fact that most of the city girls and ladies did not work.
Of course that came with a a price during then. My late grand aunt had to lose her only son’s custody because of the bad family laws and corrupted judges in the family court then. The 1970s and 1980s family and personal affairs laws are really a bless.
Needless to say violence in working classes even get worse because women fear of losing their source of income in case of being unemployed especially when they are uneducated.
I remember that from couple of years ago our former house keeper came late and mom knew from her that her husband had beaten her badly the other night, it was not the first. My mom asked her why she would stay with him when he constantly treated her like that especially she was working and earned her living plus he was her second husband and not the father of her children. She was divorced from first husband because he was violent by the way.
The lady told mom that she loved him so much plus “ a man’s shadow is better than nothing !!”
My mom did not know what to say to her , she gave her painkillers and cream as well the rest of the week off.
Another type of domestic violence Egyptians do not dare to speak is the violence against Children. There is clear line between discipline and domestic violence that many Egyptian families do not see unfortunately.
I hate to say but up till now we do not have the guts in Egypt as civil society , as feminists and as activists to discuss this problem affecting millions of women and children as we should.
Domestic violence is really a big taboo but one day we will have to deal with it , we can not escape it for too long.
I will not be exaggerating that part of the violence we see now in the Egyptian street is partially rooted in the domestic violence. Once a child raised up that violence is the only way for dialogue in his home , he or she will grow up to accept and adopt this type of dialogue forever.
Thanks to Ahmed Awadalla , I found this clip about domestic violence in Egypt with English subtitles. It is short by the way.

15 comments:

  1. In bad taste, but this reminds me of a joke:

    "What do you tell a woman with two black eyes?"

    "I don't know. What?"

    "Nothing. You've already told her twice."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What do you call a woman with one black eye?

      A quick learner.

      Delete
  2. What's the first thing a woman does when she gets out of the battered wives' shelter?

    The dishes, if she knows what's good for her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Jason,
      If your mother, sister, grandmother or daughter were abused, you would not post these tasteless jokes.
      But maybe you need to spend a week in a all Black jail to realize what abuse means, but on second thought you may enjoy your stay.

      Delete
    2. I am not homosexual. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

      Delete
    3. You think of all the people on this blog that it is Jason who doesn't understand what abuse against women is? Seriously? Even this blogger, Zeinobia, made some extremely dubious claims about what happened to Lara Logan, including posting and apparently promoting some disgusting crap by an Italian alleged journalist where he accused her of making it all up.

      Egyptians can only dream of a day when all they have to worry about is tasteless jokes.

      Delete
    4. "Egyptians can only dream of a day when all they have to worry about is tasteless jokes."

      This is a good point.

      Delete
  3. @Jason Your jokes are very tasteless, stupid and heartless. In Egypt, the percentage of women who have experienced domestic violence is alarmingly high, few feel they can seek out help, and there is currently no law against domestic violence. http://middleeastvoices.voanews.com/2012/11/voices-opening-the-closed-door-addressing-domestic-violence-in-egypt-video-86655/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's amazing how these days everyone is supposed to talk about these issues, but just a few short years ago revolutionaries such as Zeinobia were calling anyone who brought up social problems in Egypt "zionist" or "neocon" and accusing them of conspiring against Arabs. I guess the global supply of self-serving agenda driven hypocrisy will never be in short supply, will it? Maybe Egyptians can eat that when they run out of food.

      Delete
    2. @b TriggerHappyMedia -- Link enabled: Addressing Domestic Violence in Egypt

      Jason Your jokes are very tasteless

      OK. Last one then:

      Of the millions of women who suffer from domestic abuse each year, what do they all have in common?

      They didn't know when to STFU.

      Delete
  4. Yep, bad taste and not a bit funny Jason :(

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Global Oyster blog also supported this campaign. Most of our readers are in Europe, but not only! It's good to spread good initiatives, awareness is the first step towards achievement. Domestic violence is outrageous in every country and every situation, not to criminalize it is even worse.
    Have a look at our blog too ;)
    http://theglobaloyster.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/new-anti-domestic-violence-campaign-in-saudi-arabia/

    ReplyDelete
  6. When the day comes that any Egyptian, man woman or child stop what he or she is doing and goes over and reprimands another Egyptian for mistreating an animal will be the day the first step is taken in addressing violence.

    I have yet to see a single incident where that happens. I have been here 6 years and Egyptians walk past each other abusing animals and say nothing. Egypt is a country full of Muslims and zero Islam.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Egyptians are unkind to animals? Is that true? I never heard that.

      Link enabled: New anti-domestic violence campaign in Saudi Arabia

      Delete
    2. dear anonymous we as a family stop all the time and tell them to have mercy if you do it too it means we are not alone thank you for bringing up the subject

      Delete

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