Nawal El Saadawi, rest in power
Dr Nawal El Saadwi attends an event hosted in her honor in Cairo, 2011
Nawal El Saadawi was a woman who spoke of the “savage and dangerous truth” of women and girls’ lives, her loss is immeasurable.
To read Nawal El Saadawi’s work is to see how fierce her intelligence was, how accurate her diagnosis was, how fearless she was in facing up to these brutal truths, and how deeply relevant her work remains today.
The ideas that Nawal was prepared to voice were dangerous. It is still dangerous to talk about the lives of women and girls in as frank and honest a way as Nawal did. But by having the strength to challenge social and cultural traditions like female genital mutilation, and to do so with such conviction and intellectual power, she opened a path for activists and showed them hope .
Nawal remained fearless and outspoken throughout her life. The hope that she kindled in the hearts of so many women - in Egypt, in the Arab region, across the world - continues to burn brightly.
Nawal El Saadawi was incomparable, truly in a league of her own. Rest in power, Nawal.
Tributes from the Karama Network
“Nawal El Saadawi was my first teacher as a feminist and human rights defender. The courage she had in addressing discrimination and gender inequalities in our societies sets the example to the Arab Women’s movement in deeply understanding the connectivity and intersectionality among political, social religious and economic factors resulting in the subordination and submissiveness of women in our region. She knew it all and fully understood how religion can be abused for political interests and power insisting that what we need are secular societies and political systems to ensure justice as well as rights and freedoms to all. We will always remember you Nawal. RIP”
“The feminist movement has lost an icon. Her legacy will live and we will continue the journey to realize human rights and equality for all.”
“A whole generation of Arab women learnt to liberate themselves through reading her books and move on to liberate men, girls and boys from the deep-rooted social norms. Nawal El Saadawi is the name that deserves what is equal to Nobel Prize in Arab Proressive Social Studies.”
“Dr Nawal El Saadawi was a true inspiration; a shining beacon of hope during the dark ages. I conducted a heart-to heart interview with her over seven years ago. She came off as a fierce fighter - she didn’t hold back as she was narrating the horrific incident she underwent when she was a young kid of only six years - it was shocking to hear all about the terrifying details. She was bold and never was afraid to ask all the “deemed to be taboo” questions, even when she was a young student, that she got suspended repeatedly over this.
Her journey continued twice as strong, as she led a life fighting against the thinly-veiled with religion cultural norms that were violating women and young girls’ basic human rights.
She was iconic in every sense of the word, and she faught all the battles that no one ever dared to even speak of.”
“Nawal El Saadawi was not just a writer or even a doctor, who worked in the countryside of Egypt length and width, but she was the prophet who preached the idea of the man before the woman, in the depths of her heart she carried a clear vision of the scale of the disaster that befell the mind of men and women alike, and she was the one who pointed her hand and conscience for both women and men, when her struggle was not limited to the status of women, but went beyond her to talk about the crisis of masculinity in our Arab society, and she carried in her deep loving thought, the women and men in a society dominated by the idea of exile to both sides of the equation of life, women and men, and personally I owe Nawal Al-Saadawi to my culture. She is the one who illuminated the way for me and defined the course of the entire human issue and its male and female extremes, and she is the one who pushed me to search for myself before searching for solutions to the crisis of society and its prevailing culture. Thank you, Nawal El Saadawi, that you are the first woman who rings the bell in a closed society that only hears the sound of the capital that was planned and managed at night, you were the candle which lightening our life from the darkness, you were the voice of a free person for men and women.”
“Nawal El Saadawi, with her thought and human awareness of feminist rights and the principles of democracy, contributed to crystallizing a human rights movement in the Arab region as a whole. Thousands of us sailed through the paths of knowledge journeys presented by Nawal through anthropological analysis and through social psychology to deepen awareness of feminist identity. She did not bow and did not give in to fundamentalist currents. Militarization and dictatorship ... helped me to deepen and expand the contents of love and self-empowerment .... eternal peace for your spirit, guardian of freedom.”
“The freedom fighter, the human rights defender, the voice of many grieved women and girls, the feminist patriot, the social norms breaker - Nawal El Saadawi in words.”
“Nawal El Saadawi paved the path for women worldwide, she was a pioneer in connecting women’s oppression with social traditions and untrue religious beliefs. Dr. Nawal was a brave, honest and strong believer in women’s capacity to lead and to rule.”
“Nawal left us after she thought through our first step in our self-respect and our humanity, after dislocations of male power, she never bowed down in front of the fundamentalists and traditionalists, after she has threatened their throne and power”
“She was a bold fighter and a pioneer in defying the taboos in the Arab world! A true revolutionary. May her soul Rest In Peace.”
“A great activist has left us. She was a reference point for the whole Arab world through her commitment, sincerity, and forthright language, not beholden to taboos. She is and always will be a model and an inspiration in our fight to end discrimination against women. In our hearts and memories forever. ”
“The first time I heard of Nawal El Saadawi I was 11. My classmate’s father managed to smuggle a couple of her books to Tunisia and we read them secretly in breaks. As I started to see the world differently, her strong words marked me. She was the spark my mind needed, I wasn’t the same after reading her. May she rest in power.”