Egypt – Online Digital Museum Showcases Women of the January 25, 2011 Revolution
Author: WUNRN
Date: December 16, 2015
Egypt – Online Digital Museum Showcases Women of the January 25, 2011 Revolution
The Digital Museum of Egyptian Women showcases the stories of women’s struggles and sacrifices during the January 25 Revolution in Egypt. (photo by digimow.wix.com/)
Online Museum: https://digimow.wix.com/digimow-#!/copb
By Khalid Hassan – December 7, 2015
CAIRO — Life is a thought, and thoughts do not die, no matter how much time has passed. They remain engraved in our minds until death as long as we believe in them, defend them and aim to spread them and implement them firmly. These words are engraved in the mind of a 29-year-old woman who sought a better future for women and dedicated her life to defending their causes.
Yasmine Ibrahim, a women’s rights activist, is a woman who dreamed of an idea and succeeded in implementing it. She established on June 16, 2013, an online digital museum to document the role of women in the success of the January 25 Revolution, when the Egyptian people revolted against the regime of then-President Hosni Mubarak under the slogan “Bread, Freedom and Social Justice.” The Digital Museum of Women tells the stories of women’s struggles and sacrifices during the revolution.
Ibrahim told Al-Monitor, “The museum is a fixed and constantly updated information system available online, and it is divided into four categories: women and politics, women and economy, women and culture, and women and social life. We talk to women who performed heroic acts during the revolution, asking them to write their story and describe the role they played so that we can publish it in the system and let everyone learn about the sacrifices women made during the revolution. The system uses digital technology such as photos, videos, audio files and graphics. We also established an interactive forum where women can discuss all aspects of cultural, political and economic life in order to empower women in Egypt.”
“We only accept stories about women’s struggle in the Egyptian revolution and the preceding period, given that this was a remarkable period in Egypt’s history and generations to come ought to know the sacrifices Egyptian women made for the sake of Egypt,” she added.
She noted that Egypt’s women have sacrificed their lives for these causes and cried out in Egypt’s squares against corruption, marginalization and injustice.
On the museum’s page, there is a section called “Profile” that is dedicated to pictures of women who struggled during the revolution, regardless of whether their struggle was political, social or artistic. One of these revolutionaries is Duaa’ al-Adel, known as the “ink of the revolution.” Adel would draw caricatures on the walls of Tahrir Square, where the revolution broke out, about young people’s struggle for a better tomorrow.
“I took part in the events of the revolution from the beginning. I protested in Tahrir Square for long days. On that day [Jan. 25, 2011], we broke the barrier of fear and silence, as we refused to return from the square to our homes despite being accused by the enemies of the Egyptian state and agents of the former regime of having sex inside the tents. They do not realize that the young people of the square are purer than they are,” Adel told Al-Monitor.
Another woman, identified on the museum’s website by only her first name, Majida, described her struggle and said that whoever went to the square during those famous 18 days knows full well the true face of the revolution and recognizes its voice.
“I used to stand for hours in the bread line before going back home and cooking for my husband. Bread full of gravel, dirt and sawdust was our daily and irreplaceable provision. I stopped to wonder why this daily suffering was occurring, and who should be held accountable. The only answer that I found was Mubarak. When the revolution started, I felt I belonged in the square and the first time I joined the demonstrations was Jan. 31, 2011. My life turned upside down, and I started inventing slogans at night. Demonstrators would gather around me and repeat slogans after me; I felt I was free and victorious,” Majida recounted on the museum website.
Ibrahim explained that the idea for the digital museum initially came from the scarcity of historical works about women’s participation in politics from 1800 until 1900, except for some information about Nazli Fazl, daughter of Mustafa Fazl Pasha, who ran a literary salon with writers and intellectuals to discuss political issues during the Arab Revolution in 1879. Nothing else is mentioned about women’s contributions between 1800 and 1900. Ibrahim came across this piece of information while she was preparing a research paper for a conference announced by the Umea University in Sweden in 2008, to discuss the role of women in political life during the period between 1800 and 1900, and the university allowed human rights activists to go and discuss the role of women in their communities.
After her idea to launch the website in 2013 succeeded, and she received an International Center for Journalists award and her museum was chosen as one of the top eight media initiatives on the Middle East and North Africa, Ibrahim did not stop. She thought of establishing a women’s museum in downtown Cairo to welcome visitors from across the world. However, bureaucracy and a lack of funding have prevented her from making this dream a reality thus far. “For the past two years, I have been trying to get the necessary permits and documents to establish the museum in Cairo. I succeeded in solving the funding problem by finding several interested individuals who like the idea. However, the Ministry of Social Solidarity in Egypt is stalling in granting permits,” she noted. Yet, she says she will press on to make it a reality.
“I dream of the day when women will be able to participate in public life without feeling shy. I want women to have the right to occupy leading positions in the country, just like in any developed country. The current constitution gives women the right to participate in political life, but traditions eclipse its provisions.”
Categories: Releases
