What makes revolutionary thought unique is its clarity and dignity, and its clear grasp of freedom and justice: simple, clear words that are understood without the need for any help from elite writers or thinkers.
Nawal El SaadawiRead
Interviewer: What would you say to a woman in this country who assumes she is no longer oppressed, who believes women's liberation has been achieved? el Saadawi: Well I would think she is blind. Like many people who are blind to gender problems, to class problems, to international problems. She's blind to what's happening to her.
Interpretation
Awareness of ongoing societal issues is crucial for understanding oppression.
In this quote, Nawal El Saadawi emphasizes that true awareness of social injustices, including gender and class oppression, is essential. She critiques those who complacently believe that liberation has been fully achieved, suggesting that such a belief stems from a lack of insight into the continuing struggles faced by women and marginalized groups globally.
In practice
During a women's rights symposium, one could quote this to highlight the ongoing struggles faced by women.
What makes revolutionary thought unique is its clarity and dignity, and its clear grasp of freedom and justice: simple, clear words that are understood without the need for any help from elite writers or thinkers.
Yet not for a single moment did I have any doubts about my own integrity and honour as a woman. I knew that my profession had been invented by men, and that men were in control of both our worlds, the one on earth, and the one in heaven. That men force women to sell their bodies at a price, and that the lowest paid body is that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another.
To be creative means to connect. It's to abolish the gap between the body, the mind and the soul, between science and art, between fiction and nonfiction.
When you have increasing power of religious groups, oppression of women increases. Women are oppressed in all religions.
My skin is soft, but my heart is cruel, and my bite is deadly.
The family code in Egypt is one of the worst family codes in the Arab world. Polygamy. The husband is having absolute power over the family.
Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. "Corrie," he began gently, "when you and I go to Amsterdam-when do I give you your ticket?" I sniffed a few times, considering this. "Why, just before we get on the train." "Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need-just in time.
Great wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data.
Being free brings a lightness, a carefree surrender to all that is happening around you, and, above all, an acceptance of reality.
What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.
Stupidity is active in every direction, and can dress up in all the clothes of truth. Truth, on the other hand, has for every occasion only one dress and one path, and is always at a disadvantage.
Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life.
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