Words of Women from the Egyptian Revolution | Episode 5: Hanan Sadek & Mona El Sabbahy
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0:11 - 0:14My name is Mona El-Sabbahy, I´m 18 years old.
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0:14 - 0:19I study architecture, and I´m in the No Military Trials for Civilians campaign
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0:19 - 0:22I´m also in the Popular Committee to Defend the Revolution.
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0:22 - 0:28My name is Hanan Sadek, 52 years old. I work in an oil company.
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0:28 - 0:33I heard about the 25th of January on the internet.
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0:33 - 0:37There was an event & everyone was talking about it.
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0:37 - 0:43I hadn´t decided to participate, until they posted a manual
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0:43 - 0:48in case of injuries or arrests, to do so and so.
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0:48 - 0:57So it was a bit reassuring, and I decided to participate a day before the protest.
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0:57 - 1:01And I started sending invitations out, but I was still afraid,
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1:01 - 1:05because I still didn´t understand it, and was hesitant about telling people.
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1:05 - 1:09Wondering if State Security will come to arrest me.
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1:09 - 1:16I told her "Be wise Mona, don´t get yourself in anything reckless"
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1:16 - 1:23But I wasn´t worried, I saw that the invitations were on Facebook.
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1:23 - 1:30"We will do the same as Tunisia" "A revolution on so and so date"
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1:30 - 1:36I felt it was a sort of a joke. Not that I took it lightly,
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1:36 - 1:41but felt it was like the Khaled Said protests that we hear a lot about
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1:41 - 1:45and we tried to join them in Alexandria and Cairo.
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1:45 - 1:50I didn´t expect anything more.
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1:50 - 1:56Mona was going with very high hopes, because she had been participating
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1:56 - 2:00for three days, kind of warming up. I wasn´t there.
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2:00 - 2:05I was just the mother worried for her daughter who is going to demos.
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2:05 - 2:09So on January 28th I took part for the first time.
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2:09 - 2:17People were chanting "freedom, human dignity" and stuff like that.
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2:17 - 2:20Fine, I didn´t say anything.
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2:20 - 2:24We started at the Mustafa Mahmoud mosque,
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2:24 - 2:28through Batal Ahmad street, there were a lot of people.
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2:28 - 2:32They started chanting "the people wants to overthrow the regime"
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2:32 - 2:36My daughter Mona was next to me, a young girl with her mother.
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2:36 - 2:38I told her "Hush, don´t chant that"
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2:38 - 2:44She look at me. For me it was the first time I hear this chant.
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2:44 - 2:48And I was startled, thinking if they´ll beat us or kill us.
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2:48 - 2:51The overthrowing of the regime is a big thing.
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2:51 - 2:54So she looked at me, she didn´t understand since she was living
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2:54 - 2:58different stages. I was still new and fresh.
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2:58 - 3:06I don´t know if she ended up chanting, but I remained silent.
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3:06 - 3:15Till the end of January 28th I almost didn´t chant at all.
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3:15 - 3:21Except when riot cops started to move on Asr El-Nil bridge
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3:21 - 3:26I then started to shout and swear.
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3:26 - 3:34They had 4 amroured cars with 3 or 4 rows of police in front of them,
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3:34 - 3:39dressed in black. They moved towards us, the birdge was full of people.
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3:39 - 3:46They were moving as if they were a machine, a moving robot.
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3:46 - 3:52A machine pushing in front of it the big mass of people.
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3:52 - 4:00It was as if they were a black giant walking wall.
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4:00 - 4:04As if those in front were not humans.
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4:04 - 4:08They were moving as if the street was empty.
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4:08 - 4:14My mom first went down on January 28th, I had been protesting
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4:14 - 4:17since Januray 25th. So I had experience.
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4:17 - 4:21I was telling her what to do and when.
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4:21 - 4:26At first I was leading her, but when the teargas started,
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4:26 - 4:31I couldn´t see anything, she was holding me and moving me around.
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4:31 - 4:37When the gas got really heavy she took me in her jacket.
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4:37 - 4:43At some point we went to the front and met someone we know.
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4:43 - 4:48He was hurt badly, bleeding from his face and his body covered with blood.
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4:48 - 4:52He is tall, so since I´m tall too, I supported his body.
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4:52 - 4:57Even though I´m a woman and he is a man, but the others were short.
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4:57 - 5:04Till some people came and said they´d talk him to an ambulance at the other side of the bridge.
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5:04 - 5:10Mona and I know this person, he was Mona´s teacher at school.
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5:10 - 5:16Mona collapsed. She was scared and crying really hard.
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5:16 - 5:20I remember I held her and told her not to be afraid.
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5:20 - 5:22She told me "he is going to die"
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5:22 - 5:25I told her "No, he is fine"
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5:25 - 5:32I had seen his injury, his elbow was hurt and some around his eye.
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5:32 - 5:37But he was conscious and he knew what he was saying.
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5:37 - 5:42But this terrified her.
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5:42 - 5:48People around us were shouting at me, telling me to take her home.
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5:48 - 5:52They felt I was a harsh on her, telling her that he will be fine
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5:52 - 5:56and that she should pull herself together.
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5:56 - 6:03I felt then that if I had taken her home, she won´t be able to continue.
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6:03 - 6:05And she needs to continue, and she has to know that
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6:05 - 6:08people will get hurt, people will fall, people will die.
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6:08 - 6:11But if we don´t continue it won´t work.
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6:11 - 6:16If I get scared and transmit this fear to her, she won´t be able to continue.
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6:16 - 6:18And she is the one who has to go on, we are old
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6:18 - 6:23and thanks to God it´s enough that we´ve witnessed this day.
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6:23 - 6:26I was in the security committee in (Tahrir) square
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6:26 - 6:30I was even at Lazoghli
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6:30 - 6:34We were in charge of checking people on the entrances,
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6:34 - 6:37to see if they have weapons or the like.
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6:37 - 6:43I felt this was humiliating. When I was the one being searched it was totally fine.
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6:43 - 6:50When I was doing the searching, it was uncomfortable to open their bags.. touch them.
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6:50 - 6:56A big part of my participation was outside the square.
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6:56 - 7:03Bringing things to the people there, Mona was more the one participating.
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7:03 - 7:08When she would be in the sqaure, I´d feel she is happy
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7:08 - 7:11and that she feels safe among the people.
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7:11 - 7:13The real problem was me at home not being able to sleep.
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7:13 - 7:19During the Shafik sit-in there was attack on the church in Sol, Atfih
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7:19 - 7:24We heard that there were lots of people, and things were tense (at Maspero)
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7:24 - 7:31It was a bit strange for me, surprised that the Christians are organizing protests
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7:31 - 7:35So I went there (to Maspero) and there were lots of people.
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7:35 - 7:39People who looked like it was their first time at a demonstration.
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7:39 - 7:44People were like "Some were chanting here, others there. What shall we do?"
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7:44 - 7:47And I was like "just go and join"
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7:47 - 7:50So I sat there, and met lots of people.
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7:50 - 7:53At first I got some weird looks.
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7:53 - 7:56First because I´m a girl and it was already late at night.
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7:56 - 7:59Second because I´m veiled, so people thought "what are you doing here?"
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7:59 - 8:03"You must be an infiltrator"
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8:03 - 8:09But I spoke to many and then went back to sleep in (Tahrir) square.
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8:09 - 8:14But after that, when they started the sit-in there (at Maspero)
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8:14 - 8:18They had women in the middle and men on both sides.
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8:18 - 8:23With ropes dividing them. I felt that was strange.
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8:23 - 8:30At first I was with the men, then they told me "go with the women"
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8:30 - 8:35So I felt if I say no, being a veiled woman, it will be too confusing for them.
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8:35 - 8:38And I didn´t want to do anything wrong.
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8:38 - 8:40So I went to where the women were.
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8:40 - 8:43When I was passing under the rope separating men from women
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8:43 - 8:48my veil fell off, and there was a moment of clarity.
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8:48 - 8:51I joined the women and the veil went back on my head.
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8:51 - 8:57Concerning my daughter sleeping in Tahrir, this was of course
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8:57 - 9:00a revolutionary decision. I think.
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9:00 - 9:04This is from the effect of the revolution on our way of thinking.
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9:04 - 9:11I´d remind her that during the Shafik sit-in I took part without any problem.
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9:11 - 9:14But after that the March 9 sit-in was evicted,
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9:14 - 9:23followed by another sit-in that was forcefully evicted by the army on April 9
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9:23 - 9:28I wanted to join the sit-in and she didn´t allow me.
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9:28 - 9:32She started telling me that I was a girl..
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9:32 - 9:37I was confused, asking her "how could you say this to me?"
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9:37 - 9:43Very confused. I told her "You never said this before"
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9:43 - 9:48She told me "we live among people who think this way, and we have to live by their rules"
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9:48 - 9:55I was really really upset with her. Very upset.
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9:55 - 10:02We spent a day upset at each other, then I came to her,
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10:02 - 10:06and asked her if she really believed in what she told me.
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10:06 - 10:08She said "of course not"
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10:08 - 10:11I want to say something really important,
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10:11 - 10:15it is not to remind her because she doesn´t really know it.
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10:15 - 10:18The Mona we knew before January 25th no longer exists.
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10:18 - 10:23Mona became a totally different person after January 25th.
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10:23 - 10:34Mona before Jan 25 was a very shy person, she couldn´t talk to people
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10:34 - 10:39without planning it really well before. "Shall I talk or not?"
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10:39 - 10:43And most of the time ended up not talking to them.
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10:43 - 10:48She used to do Karate exercises to build her self-confidence
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10:48 - 10:52Stuff like that, but now she is totally different.
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10:52 - 10:57Now she is a person who knows what she wants, who knows
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10:57 - 11:06where she is going in life, and has enough convictions and arguments to defend what she believes in.
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11:06 - 11:20This is a transformation that wouldn´t have been possible in such a short time without a revolution.
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11:20 - 11:31I see that the arguments between us have to do with the youth wanting
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11:31 - 11:39everything quickly and the way they see it. Without flexibility or compromises.
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11:39 - 11:47This coming period, the youth who took part in the revolution, not just Mona,
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11:47 - 11:55have to slow down and decide what they want to accomplish
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11:55 - 12:02and plan 1-2-3 steps to get there and how to get there.
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12:02 - 12:05Not just go "Nah, we don´t want this" and that´s it.
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12:05 - 12:08It will take some time and they should accept this.
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12:08 - 12:12But this is all part of growing up.
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12:12 - 12:16O.k. I agree we are asking for a lot of things,
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12:16 - 12:19but I´m not saying we want to build a city in the desert in 3 days.
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12:19 - 12:24I´m sure this will take time, but there are stuff we demand that don´t need time at all.
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12:24 - 12:29Like demanding freedom for the detainees. So free them.
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12:29 - 12:36Of course I tell her. I do tell her.
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12:36 - 12:44I see that she should know, because Mom and I are friends
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12:44 - 12:47we tell each other everything.
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12:47 - 12:55Because the way she is not entitled to prohibit me from something without a valid argument,
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12:55 - 13:01I should tell her everything I´m doing so she knows what she is prohibiting me from.
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13:01 - 13:06I think that the revolution starting... no not that.
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13:06 - 13:15I think that if we remain silent after all those people had taken to the streets, and in the end nothing changes;
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13:15 - 13:20is much worse than if no body had protested in the first place, and we were still waiting for them.
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13:20 - 13:24Unfortunately, we are leaving behind a very complicated task to our kids,
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13:24 - 13:33not easy at all, but in God´s will they will do a good job! The job we couldn´t do.
- Title:
- Words of Women from the Egyptian Revolution | Episode 5: Hanan Sadek & Mona El Sabbahy
- Description:
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FOR SUBTITLES please click on the CC button under the video and choose your language of preference. PARA LOS SUBTITULOS, por favor hacer clic en el botón CC y eligir el idioma preferido.
The participation of women in the Egyptian revolution didn't come as a surprise to us, nor do we view it as an extraordinary phenomenon.
Women are part of every society and form a part of the social, political and economical spectrum. It is history that tends in most cases to ostracize the participation of women and keep them in the shadow while highlighting the participation of men and attributing leading roles exclusively to them. This is why we want to document and share Her-story.
This project intends to shed the light on the participation of women and to document their experiences as part of the historical (herstorical) memory of the Egyptian revolution. We also view it as a tool for women empowerment everywhere and as a resource for researchers, students and everyone interested in the matter.
Team:
Art-Work Marta Paz
Sound Recorder Sandy Chamoun
Editor Ziyad Hawwas
D.O.P Laila Samy
Executive Producer Nazly Hussein
Director Leil-Zahra MortadaMusic by dAAX! "ressonances under our keyboard" from the album "surfing on m03b10s" / cc by sa
http://www.noconventions.mobi/daaxFor the Creative Commons License please check the video.
You can also stay tuned on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/HerstoryEgypt
- Video Language:
- Arabic
- Duration:
- 14:40
HerstoryEgypt edited English subtitles for Words of Women from the Egyptian Revolution | Episode 5: Hanan Sadek & Mona El Sabbahy | ||
HerstoryEgypt added a translation |