كفاية (kefaya)
1) كفاية : "Enough," popular name of the Egyptian Movement for Change, which became famous for its monitoring of the corrupt 2005 and 2010 elections.
2) !كفاية : "Enough!," what we are told to say in cases of prolonged street harassment--according to the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights, 60% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women experience street harassment on a daily basis. http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/revolution-hasnt-made-egypt-safer-for-women
3) كفاية: "enough," one of the words that I understood yesterday morning when I went to church.
4) كفاية: "enough," walking down 26th of July street eating eighteen-cent falafel to go see a global jazz concert at an underground theater.
I can't fully understand what it was like to vote in the corrupt elections of the Mubarak era, or what it is like to live with street harassment every day for years, and I'm not so good at accepting either the English or Arabic words that say that what we have been given by God is enough. Most of the time, I'd prefer to think about how much more there is to see and figure out. But what I am starting to realize is that being here is enough for me.
Good morning!
1) كفاية : "Enough," popular name of the Egyptian Movement for Change, which became famous for its monitoring of the corrupt 2005 and 2010 elections.
2) !كفاية : "Enough!," what we are told to say in cases of prolonged street harassment--according to the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights, 60% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women experience street harassment on a daily basis. http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/revolution-hasnt-made-egypt-safer-for-women
3) كفاية: "enough," one of the words that I understood yesterday morning when I went to church.
4) كفاية: "enough," walking down 26th of July street eating eighteen-cent falafel to go see a global jazz concert at an underground theater.
I can't fully understand what it was like to vote in the corrupt elections of the Mubarak era, or what it is like to live with street harassment every day for years, and I'm not so good at accepting either the English or Arabic words that say that what we have been given by God is enough. Most of the time, I'd prefer to think about how much more there is to see and figure out. But what I am starting to realize is that being here is enough for me.
Good morning!
What a beautiful post, Anne. I like the thought of you reflecting on the experience you've recently begun as the Nile flows past the island you'll call home for the next few months.
ReplyDeleteI've begun reading The Yacoubian Building and can already see evidence of the sort of harassment discussed in the article that you posted as a sub-theme of the novel. As I read the article, I couldn't help but think about some of the similarities between white supremacist harassment (and outright violence) and the prevalence of sexual harassment described in the article. In the American South, many of the practioners may have been resentful working-class whites, but the enablers were often educated people who looked the other way (or even encouraged the harassment.)
Wherever this sort of abuse takes place, it is hard to combat. But if you don't figure out a way to disable it you squander the talents and human resources of the victimized people who could otherwise make profound contributions to your society if they were only left alone (or, best case, encouraged) to pursue their potential.