A predawn raid today increased clashes between the military and civilian populations in Egypt, triggering women in Cairo to mobilize around the ongoing violence which in recent days has targeted women.
This week horrifying images of just how brutal the military can be towards women went viral. The video showing military police dragging a woman wearing a hijab through the street, beating her senseless, then stomping on her stomach, her bright blue bra exposed as she lay motionless on the street defines the struggle of the Egyptian people. Protesters held up signs with her images, chanting warnings such as, "This is the army that is protecting us!"
CNN reports that several hundred women kicked off a "Million Woman" march to expose the military's sexual violence against female demonstrators. Protesters held up pictures of women, elderly people and teenagers who had been beaten up by the police, demanding a regime change. Many men even formed a protective circle around female marchers so they would not be assaulted.
There is a reason why Time magazine picked the protester as its Person of the Year. There is a reason why the image of the protester on its cover is that of a woman. Since the Arab Spring, it has been women, from Iran to Saudi Arabia to Egypt, who have not only been on the front-lines of the protests, demanding more rights, but also shaping their country's revolutions.
The problem is not with getting women on the streets during these times of passionate protests, but keeping them there. It is after the euphoria fades, after the dictator is placed in custody when the political blueprint of a country is being determined that women are nowhere to be heard.
We repeatedly see this. From Bangladesh's '71 War of Independence, to Iran in '79, to Libya, and all over the Middle East today, where are the women when it comes to forming the new government?
What Egyptian women are showing us today is truly revolutionary because they are refusing to be sidelined in determining the future of their country. They were and are a part of Egypt's revolution. Social media and the Internet are women's weapons to ensure their voices will not be silenced.
If the image of the woman in her blue bra being stomped senseless on the streets of Cairo shows us anything, it is that this revolution is being televised, and the world is watching. Egyptian women are showing us that without women, and without women's rights, no country can become a real democracy.
Cross-Posted from Anushay's Point. Become a Fan on Facebook.