Society, Uncut!

Subjected to flagrant harassment, she lets herself sink in her wounds for some time. And then, breaking free from fear, she gathers all her strength and, armed with determination, steps out of her shell and exposes the harasser. In return, the city slams her with charges of libel and slander, allowing the offenders to prosecute their victim! There, crowds close ranks around her, crowds of stone-throwers amongst which no man comes forward to repel her grievance, to defend her if not with a thin cloak as a shield. That could be the story of any woman, anywhere.

It is not an imagined novel from the dark ages, but rather it is a tragic reality experienced by most women around the world. Only the level of discrimination and unaccountable abuse may vary from one society to another. Still, the fact remains that all of it is imposed by a patriarchal system that stands in control of various aspects of life. The dominance of this system may have somewhat receded in societies that have achieved the industrial revolution, nonetheless hiding behind manifestations of luxury (Sweden, for example, ranks fifth in the world in the number of rape cases). However, it is still bluntly pronounced in societies that continue to struggle to reach growth within a global neo-liberal system, a savage system filled with greed, leaving no place for any other under the sun and dragging the world to its doom.

That is the reality of the situation in our Arab countries. When a woman dares to expose an incident of harassment, the patriarchal system with all its instruments, social, religious, political, legal, mediatic, and sometimes scientific, academic, and artistic, comes to condemn her and hold her responsible for the crime committed against her. It is a bleak reality documented by countless facts and testimonies, such as what Rasha Azab has just gone through in Egypt, to name one in so many.

In the creative sector, what Rasha Azab revealed, speaking on behalf of the victims and exposing a harasser, is not an isolated case. In the past few years, many instances of harassment emerged to the public, the perpetrators of which are criminals working in the field. What we are witnessing seems to be nothing but the tip of a colossal iceberg floating in a sea of thousands of tragedies. And in that sea of established patriarchy, tears are lost, and victims are condemned. In the sea of patriarchy, victims are not allowed to escape, as they are survivors who threaten the instruments of the system’s rule.

Survival does not mean erasing the crime from memory, for forgetting is forcibly closing unhealed wounds. Society must confront perpetrators, and the aggressor here is a whole system. We must impose justice, and justice means holding criminals accountable, preventing harassers from repeating their acts, and making them serve as examples to those who even consider assaulting a woman.

Our duty is to provide the necessary tools for healing in an uncompromising confrontation with patriarchy. In the cultural sector, it is our responsibility to work on securing those tools. Announcing solidarity with the victims of harassment, promulgating their narratives, urging the enactment of appropriate policies and laws is of utmost importance but it is not enough.
Worldwide, and especially in our Arab region, we must make greater efforts.

How many aggressors are still comfortably present in various cultural activities?

How many aggressions is the sector overlooking and continues to cooperate with the harassers?

How many aggressors are still awarded prizes and invited to participate in cultural events?

We call for a boycott of all harassers until their innocence is proven, that is if we can ever trust the judiciary system and its laws, not to mention those responsible for their implementation, to be impartial and do victims justice. Condemning victims so that aggressors may freely go on practicing assault has become too familiar a fact!

We must stand with those who are attacked and take their narratives as our own. The narrative that holds the victim responsible for her injury must be replaced. The narrative that builds on a primitive perception of women as dehumanized individuals, unable to manage their lives and bodies and make their own decisions must be replaced by a narrative that promotes equality between human beings altogether and genders in particular.

Women are not half of society. Society is not halves and parts, but rather a single integrated unit, and any disease that strikes it affects everyone in it. Women, as men, are society uncut. It is a sick society when men grant themselves privileges and women are deprived of their most basic rights; when discrimination is ruled in the name of law, religion, and other ambiguous concepts; when stereotypes prevail, crushing any expanse for justice and equality between people. Such a society is doomed to regression and discord.

The emancipation of women (therefore society as a whole) from the dominating grasp of the patriarchal system is the only way out of our chronic collapse. Any injustice inflicted on women reproduces itself as an inevitable result that forms the culture of future generations and shapes their experiences. It is impossible to achieve any emancipation of our societies without that of women. The battle for liberation from tyranny and occupation goes hand in hand with the fight for women’s emancipation, not only in our societies but in the entire world. We believe in that, and we act upon it.

We believe the victims, acknowledge and support their survival, stand by them because they are not half of the society.

Women ARE society, uncut.