22 October, 07

I attended the talks of Nawal El Saadawi, the writer of The Hidden Face of Eve, Woman at Point Zero and God Dies by the Nile. A great writer, speaker and rebel. A rebel against all traditional establishment and a great feminist and human write activist. Here is what I jotted down from her speech:
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We need to change the language like the first world, third world, middle east, the writer of the middle east, post colonial. I hate these words as these words are the colonised words. What is the meaning of post colonial? As if the colonisation is over. No, there is still colony. America as the so called super power is colonising the world.
You say that the women in Islamic country are not free. You think you are free. No. You are also not free. You carry your hanband's name. Why? Then how are you free? You are not free too. If you say you are free, don't carry your husband's name. Feminism is not to go against men. It is a humanism. You give respect to your mother.

I watched rugby world cup final and was shocked to see blood oozing out from their head. Sports should not have such violence. Sports like literature is a creativity and there should be pleasure. England lost the match and I watched the face of the captain, so sad, as if he has lost a war. It should not be in the sports.

There is a connection between global politics and female circumcision. G. Bush and female circumcision. Veiling and nakedness are both dangerous. Both take woman just a body. There is connection between family law and state law. Both are controlled by power and money. Media is equally dangerous. It is controlled by the government's mind. We are living in a system controlled by money and power.

Creativity makes people more humane. Best doctors are the writers and musicians.

Aid is such a decieving term. Where America has given aid means Ameraca has taken aid from there, so there is more poverty.
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This is just a random notes I made during what she said and this is just a drop of what she said. An illuminating and worth attending talk.