Egypt

Elle parle à voix basse, chuchotant presque, d’un timbre fluet. Mais, derrière cette timidité, se loge une volonté farouche. Celle d’une jeune fille qui pose nue pour affirmer sa liberté, les yeux plantés dans l’objectif, et publie ensuite sa photo sur Internet, provoquant un gigantesque scandale chez les Egyptiens. « Je ne regrette rien, affirme Aliaa el-Mahdy. Ce ne sont pas les menaces de mort qui me feront changer d’avis, au contraire… » Du haut de ses 20 ans, la jeune étudiante veut changer le monde, propager la révolution et faire sauter les tabous, à commencer par ceux du machisme et du conservatisme écrasants qui pèsent sur l’Egypte. Cette image en noir et blanc montre Aliaa debout, en bas et en ballerines rehaussées de rouge, une fleur dans les cheveux. La jeune femme dénudée regarde le spectateur droit dans les yeux, comme l’« Olympia » de Manet qui scandalisa la France il y a plus d’un siècle.

Dear All,

I am writing to you to tell you about the situation in Egypt at the moment, as I am not sure about the accuracy of the media. Last Friday there was a huge demonstration in Tahrir Square calling for ending the military rule, to end military trials for civilians (more than 12,000 civilians have been referred to military tribunals) and to object to the supra constitutional principles. There was a huge numbers from different communities that attended the demonstration and most of them left the Square by evening.

At the age of six, in the summer of 1937, Nawal El Saadawi was pinned down by four women in her home in Egypt. A midwife, holding a sharpened razor blade, pulled out her clitoris and cut it off. "Since I was a child that deep wound left in my body has never healed," she wrote in her first autobiography, A Daughter of Isis.

"I lay in a pool of blood. After a few days, the bleeding stopped, and the daya [midwife] peered between my thighs and said, 'All is well. The wound has healed, thanks be to God.' But the pain was there, like an abscess in my flesh."

Address: 25 Kadri Street, Sayeda Zeinab, Cairo

Tel: (+202)-391 43 39; (+202)- 10-660 24 37 (reliable)

Fax: (+202)- 392 37 18

Contact: Mrs. Aziza Kaamel