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| Shahira Amin at the Amerikahaus |
Contrary to popular belief, the revolution
in Egypt is far from over. In fact, the military's repression of Coptic
protests in Cairo last Sunday can be described as the most violent incident
since the overthrow of the Mubarak regime last February. Twenty five died and
more than 300 were injured as soldiers drove their vehicles into crowds of
protesters demanding to know the truth about the attack on a church in Aswan
last month.
The Coptic Christians are not the only ones
still fighting for their rights in the country, Egyptian women are also
struggling to be treated as equals to their male counterparts. Issues such as
the continuation of the Egyptian revolution and the role of women in
post-revolution Egypt were discussed on Thursday by renowned Egyptian
journalist Shahira Amin. The event entitled 'Post-revolution Egypt: Inclusive
Democracy in the Making, A Journalist's View' was organized by the
international advocacy group Women without Borders and their Sisters Against
Violent Extremism (SAVE) initiative, in cooperation with the American Embassy
in Austria.
In February 2011, at the height of the
Egyptian revolution, Amin's face was seen on television screens around the
world, as she resigned from her post of senior
correspondent for state-run Nile TV on live television. While supporters
of the Mubarak regime stormed Tahrir Square and began attacking protesters,
Amin was given a script to read that made no mention of what was happening that
very moment outside her studio, and so, she simply walked out.
Today, Amin has become a symbol of the
continuing fight for freedom of the press in her country. "I find it
tragic that in post-revolution Egypt civilians would get killed for simply
expressing their demands which are very legitimate. Their church had been
torched and they were calling for the protection of their places of
worship" said Amin, referring to the recent Coptic protests.
As for the role of women in her country,
Amin stated that, while female political participation remains considerably
low, it is undeniable that Egyptian women played a major role in the revolution
that ousted Mubarak's 30 year old regime after just 18 days of protests. "Let's not forget that it was young female activists, like
Israa Abdel Fattah and Asmaa Mahfouz, who instigated the mass uprising, by
posting videos of police brutality on Facebook." she said.
Nonetheless, shortly
after the ousting of Mubarak, women activists realized that their fight was far
form over. After the interim government formed what Amin dubbed a 'committee of
so-called wise men' to draft the first constitutional amendments, not a single
woman was invited to take part. As for today, there is only one woman minister
in Egypt.
Furthermore, women who were celebrating Women's Day in
Tahrir Square on the 8th of March were physically assaulted. Amin said the
women "were humiliated by what we were led to believe were conservative
bearded men who shouted 'go home where you belong'." But the journalist
believes that in reality these men were 'thugs' hired by the remnance of the
old regime to 'scare' women away from the political scene.
The journalist also denounced the 'virginity tests' that
were conducted by the military on seventeen female protesters who were arrested
in Tahrir Square in March. Amin interviewed one of the generals of the Supreme
Council of the Armed Forces two months after these tests allegedly occurred,
and when asked if the rumours were true, the general claimed the military had
done it in self defense, so that the
imprisoned women could not later claim they were sexually assaulted by
the army. "As if this wasn't sexual assault already" said Amin.
Amin also urged the West to adopt a more ‘balanced’
attitude towards the region as other revolutions that have occurred in
countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and of course Syria have been more or less
ignored.
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| Women whitout Borders founder Edit Schlaffer & Shahira Amin |
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