My new favorite website -
http://www.sawtalniswa.com/
Sawt al-Niswa, "Women's Voice," is the blog site for Nasawiyya, a new, exciting and active women's right group in Lebanon. They website is subtitled "a feminist webspace," and just from that beginning they had me. This organization put together a really inspirational Take Back the Night march on International Women's Day in March and they got great turnout, even in the pouring spring rain. They've also co-sponsored events with migrant worker's rights groups, Palestinian rights groups, and all kinds of good causes. The humanitarian youth in Lebanon are a multidisciplinary crowd.
The website is updated pretty regularly, and mostly in English, so check it out!
And here's a great article one of my friends sent to me about the sexuality of female domestic migrant workers in Lebanon -
http://twenty-four-7.org/the-public-and-hidden-sexualities-of-filipina-women-in-lebanon/
It focuses on the Filipina community, but you'll see that it draws a pretty comprehensive picture of this often-overlooked aspect of migrant workers' lives in Lebanon. I cannot recommend this article highly enough. The website, twenty-four-7.org, is also a great one to keep up with, documenting and highlighting issues, setbacks and triumphs in the campaign for migrant workers' human rights.
Saw the amazing film "Maid for Sale" about domestic workers in Lebanon on Tuesday at a screening organized by the Migrant Worker Task Force -
Al-jazeera's summary - check out the comments for some interesting feedback. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/2007/04/200852517271337758.html
Directed by Lebanese filmmaker Dima al-Joundi, who was in attendance at the screening, it tells the story of a Sri Lankan woman as she returns home after seven years of work in Beirut, and another one just as she is leaving her home, husband, and young son, to get work in Beirut. A heartbreaking and unflinching look at the desperation that begins this cycle, the profiteering that perpetuates it, the injustice that aggravates it, and the few people of vision and kindness who struggle against it.
Here's an interview with Dima that really gives you an idea of what her process was like:
http://simbarusseau.com/she-cried-with-them-and-told-their-story/
And this site might be the best -
http://qawemeharassment.wordpress.com/
A friend of a friend here has started a blog for women - and all people really - to post incidents of public sexual harassment. What happened, when and where it happened, how it made them feel. Sometimes it's women being able to laugh at the absurdity of their harassers, sometimes it's women using the blog as a place to vent their rage, sometimes as a place to show support, and sometimes to lament. In every case, it's a revelation about the widespread sexism and mistreatment of women in Lebanon, and a chance for all women in Beirut to feel a sense of community, to feel like it's not just you, not just me, this is a serious and shared problem. And the outrage is shared too.
And next week, the AUB Choir and Choral Society and the Ensemble Polyphonica will be having our spring concert! Sweeeeeet poster below:
If you can't fly over to Beirut for the concert, find the music online, it's all excellent, especially the Romancero Gitano and piece by A.R. Rahman, "Zikr", and pretend you're here!
http://www.sawtalniswa.com/
The website is updated pretty regularly, and mostly in English, so check it out!
And here's a great article one of my friends sent to me about the sexuality of female domestic migrant workers in Lebanon -
It focuses on the Filipina community, but you'll see that it draws a pretty comprehensive picture of this often-overlooked aspect of migrant workers' lives in Lebanon. I cannot recommend this article highly enough. The website, twenty-four-7.org, is also a great one to keep up with, documenting and highlighting issues, setbacks and triumphs in the campaign for migrant workers' human rights.
Saw the amazing film "Maid for Sale" about domestic workers in Lebanon on Tuesday at a screening organized by the Migrant Worker Task Force -
Al-jazeera's summary - check out the comments for some interesting feedback. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/2007/04/200852517271337758.html
Directed by Lebanese filmmaker Dima al-Joundi, who was in attendance at the screening, it tells the story of a Sri Lankan woman as she returns home after seven years of work in Beirut, and another one just as she is leaving her home, husband, and young son, to get work in Beirut. A heartbreaking and unflinching look at the desperation that begins this cycle, the profiteering that perpetuates it, the injustice that aggravates it, and the few people of vision and kindness who struggle against it.
Here's an interview with Dima that really gives you an idea of what her process was like:
http://simbarusseau.com/she-cried-with-them-and-told-their-story/
And this site might be the best -
http://qawemeharassment.wordpress.com/
A friend of a friend here has started a blog for women - and all people really - to post incidents of public sexual harassment. What happened, when and where it happened, how it made them feel. Sometimes it's women being able to laugh at the absurdity of their harassers, sometimes it's women using the blog as a place to vent their rage, sometimes as a place to show support, and sometimes to lament. In every case, it's a revelation about the widespread sexism and mistreatment of women in Lebanon, and a chance for all women in Beirut to feel a sense of community, to feel like it's not just you, not just me, this is a serious and shared problem. And the outrage is shared too.
And next week, the AUB Choir and Choral Society and the Ensemble Polyphonica will be having our spring concert! Sweeeeeet poster below:
If you can't fly over to Beirut for the concert, find the music online, it's all excellent, especially the Romancero Gitano and piece by A.R. Rahman, "Zikr", and pretend you're here!
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