Speech by Mozn Hassan, Founder of Nazra for Feminist ...



CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYSpeech by Mozn Hassan, Founder of Nazra for Feminist Studies and 2016 Right Livelihood Award LaureateCairo, Egypt, 25 March 2017Excellencies, Honorable guests It is my pleasure to stand here today to accept the Right Livelihood Award for the year 2016 on behalf of Nazra for Feminist Studies and myself. This award has meant a lot to us during the difficult times we are going through, and your presence here today only emphasizes this feeling of recognition, support, and solidarity.The decision of the Right Livelihood Award to hold this ceremony today in Cairo is truly significant as it means that appreciation and solidarity can reach you, despite travel bans, and reaffirms that there is a global human rights movement that challenges tough realities and supports those who need it. The Right Livelihood Award Foundation does not only stand in solidarity with Nazra for Feminist Studies today, or with me personally, but rather with the Egyptian feminist and human rights movement, which faces an unprecedented crackdown. Today, we feel that the work of Egyptian feminists, especially after 2011, is seen and valued by different actors around the world, and that there is a visible Egyptian feminist movement that needs to persevere to ensure its survival.Dear guests,Perhaps, the odds worked to our advantage after all. Although, I was unable to travel to receive the award, your presence here is an opportunity not only to meet Nazra’s team, but see the wide community of feminists and human rights defenders of which we are part of. We consider ourselves to be part of a feminist movement, that has started its struggle more than a century ago, and that has made us who we are, and made our work possible.After 2011, this movement has evolved with the questions of democracy and change that the revolution has imposed, and a new young and decentralized wave of the Egyptian feminist movement has started to shape itself. We are aware that our discourse and work were shaped during, and by, this exceptional time of movement building and change. Our presence only makes sense with the sustainability and continuity of this feminist movement with all its diversity. This is why we consider this award and ceremony to be a recognition of the movement as a whole; it is a recognition that women are agents of change in their societies, that in the tumult of 2011, feminists were able to force the question of “women”, whether with regards to crimes of sexual violence in the public sphere, or women’s participation in the political processes that followed 2011, or their constitutional rights… and that somehow this has not gone unnoticed.Finally, it is true that the existence of independent civil society in Egypt is threatened, yet, we have faith in the ability of younger generations of feminists and rights’ advocates to carry on the struggle, and work on the viability of the movement, with local, regional, and international support such as those present today. --ENDS-- ................
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