“Stop yourself before we stop you”

Story Forty Eight: Tarek from Syria

I am a secular person and I don’t follow any religion. A girl and I, who is secular as I am and doesn’t follow a certain religion, loved each other (like all the lovers say) in a way no one else have loved.

The problem was that she is from a different religious sect than mine. But…no.. neither me nor her belonged to any religion or followed any sect. So let me rephrase…Me and her were from different religious sects that our parents haven’t thought for one second that they have just inherited these beliefs like their skin colors. But the difference is that they could change these sects or even do without them if they were not convinced with them or they didn’t want them.

Anyways, I didn’t even think about it. My parents knew she was of a different sect, and they didn’t even think of discussing this topic with me! I am a guy!! A guy!! whatever a guy wants he gets!! Its not a small deal for God when you are a man!

When the girl’s parents found out, what happened was beyond the borders of humanity!

Ofcourse after the talking her out of it didn’t work, the phase of forcing her out of this relationship started. What they did with the girl was something beyond belief! She is an educated, working, even iconic woman in her society. But they hit her, they yelled , and threats were made from the eldest to the youngest of her family. Her new title became “The whore, the bitch!!!” she became their entertainment….hitting, hitting, hitting,,,her.

They managed to get us to a point where me and her have lost focus…I started wishing that anything could happen so she can rest from all of this.

When we tried to explain to them that what we have is real and we wanted to have a happy ending…and that was the catastrophe! They thought that the whole relationship was just a phase and we will grow out of it, and they were only interested in trying to do whatever it takes to prevent it. But when they realized that the aim was to get engaged, in two weeks a groom appeared out of the blue, and the girl was already engaged ….by force…by beatings…

Two weeks the PERFECT groom was found (of course he belonged to the same sect) and the engagement rings were on their fingers, with a death threat for the girls life in case any intervention happened. The letters she and I have received about the threats of ending her life should be considered as a crime themselves!

What happened was just society traditions more than a religious belief. What happened was a waste of a young woman’s life just because (and literally the way I have received it in the letter) ” The family doesn’t want to walk around with their heads lowered with shame between the sect they follow”

Her life, her decision, her choice, her love, her future, her memories, her emotions, her heart, her mind, her smile, her laughter….all went away and faded just so that the men of her family can walk around with their heads up high. They ruined her life because she wanted to go out of their sect, and they walk with their heads up high because they managed to get her married in two weeks..and what she told me after all that? ” I wish they killed me…..”

The arab male finds that killing a woman and leave her breathing is better for him than him not being able to walk with a head held up high between the males of the society that is just so tribal, held back and animalistic beyond limits!

I am an arab man with the uprising of women in the middle east, because a woman is not a tool to put your head up high or down.

I am an arab man with the uprising of women in the middle east, because a woman has the right to choose and a male is not her guardian.

I am an arab man with the uprising of women in the middle east because it is the right of a secular, atheist, religious, or even conservative woman, whomever she is, to make choices regarding her religion or her life by herself. And religion or sects that she believes or doesnt believe in them should not be a reason to lose her life while she is still breathing.

I am an arab man with the uprising of the women in the middle east, so that I don’t lose the Arab woman I love…

Story Fifty Four: Lina from Palestine-Jordan

There is a lot I can share and that would justify why I am with the uprising of women in the Middle East.

And believe me once I get started it’s impossible for anyone to stop me because I am just upset. But I will try to make it short. I will not talk about the stories that happened to me and that I have faced from the males of my family that consider me “a girl with no manners” just because I talk about the rights of women, and say that it is no man’s right to kill a female under their honor excuse! And that no one is someone else’s honor, each one of us has his own honor!

I will tell you a few stories that happened in my life, the first one was when I got molested in the public buss. At first I thought that the guys hand touched my underarm by mistake! but he touched a lot by “mistake”!!!

So I decided I will shout at him and I didn’t get scared so I yelled and I told him I will break his hand if he ever lays it on me or any other young girl again! I yelled so loud meaning for everyone to hear me but the “Men” in the bus didn’t do anything and they were not even moved. why? Because the one who molested me was a male and victim isn’t veiled. So he has the right to molest and she deserves it!!!!!!

This story is nothing compared to the ample amount of stories of stress I feel when I am walking down the street with my sisters or friends. I would be so stressed and anxious that one of the “human wolves” would attack us with a word or would molest us. I would be nervous because I am not the kind that endures such things and I am willing to hit anybody who gets to the animalistic point of laying his hands on a woman. But this stress is nothing to be compared with my friends situation. Her uncle molested her when she was young and after 10 years she decided to tell her mother and her mother’s reaction was to justify why her uncle did that!!

This is not compared to the pain and silence I see in her eyes. Its not to be compared to the fact that each time I see her I feel like she is still a young girl that wishes the whole world would stop and pays attention to her pain and the childhood that was scratched with a disgusting hand that decided to burry her alive!

This also can not be compared to any child that lost his childhood’s innocence because of sexual suppression that some retarded males have.

All these stories and alot of others for girls I don’t even know, drive me with anger to be with the uprising of the women in the Middle East. Because I have had it enough with people saying that when a girl is trying to defend her rights and freedom is rude and has no manners and she is only seeking to make her parents look bad.

I have had it enough with the belief that a girls life is in her brother’s “the man” hands, he, whome decides when she lives and when she dies because he is suspecting her behavior!

I am with the uprising of the women in the Middle East because we have had it enough being the victims of sexual suppression, retardation, and disease that the males in our society have a lot!

I am with the uprising of the women in the Middle East because my voice is not a disgrace and it will always be loud and heard and would never fade away.

Art work: The Honour of Your Mother and Sister

To all those asking us whether their troops can “liberate” us, here is our answer

Story Fifty Five: S.R. from Palestine

I am a girl from Gaza, I am 27 years old and I work for a private company. My family are well know in Gaza….anyways my story begins in 2009 with a colleague in my company, I used to see him as an older brother to me, but unfortunately he turned out to be a sick and mentally ill person who has never seen anything in his life. More importantly he claims that he is religious and he went to Al Haj Twice !!!

One day we had a meeting regarding yearly evaluations and he was meeting every employee individually, when my turn came up and we were sitting down for the evaluation, he stood up suddenly and came close and tried to attack me. I was faster than him, I stood up and I held on to the first thing I could get a hold of (which happened to be the stapler) and yet he tried to attack me again, but I was faster than him again, I hit him with the stapler between his legs and I ran outside the office. Then I threatened him and I told him I will tell my parents and I will make a scene and everyone will know, and I will even report you to the management. He told me that he will just say that I am a cheap girl. I told him anyways I have everything recorded…even though I really had nothing recorded!

From that day on he never had the courage to speak to me because he was so scared for his image as the whole religious man when he doesn’t even deserve to be a human being. I share my story because whomever the man is and even if he is of high position don’t be scared to stand up to him because he is a filthy human being, and you are stronger because you are right and he is wrong. I am with the uprising of women in the Middle East, because we must try and change our reality even with the simplest ways we have even if that were a stapler and most importantly we have to speak of these men so we would show the world what they really are.

Story Fifty Three: Abeer from Jordan

I was thinking of sharing my story since the beginning of this campaign but I didn’t have the courage, maybe because what happened with me is not as ugly as the other stories shared. But a few days ago something happened to me that brought everything back to my memory and made me share.

My aunt asked me why don’t you ever say hi to this person (a molester). For a brief moment I didn’t know what to say. I had forgotten the whole thing temporarily and I have deleted this man from my memory. I really didn’t know what to answer, I was scared that it would show on my face. She asked again..why? I came up with a lame excuse but inside me I wished I could share the truth. I wished that I could say this man is really not god, he is not a good man at all! He molested me when I was 9 years old, he caused me a great terror in my life, till now and even when I am 20 years old I still have the fear that someone might molest me and I wouldn’t be able to defend myself, simply because I am scared.

What happened with me was that I were a very young girl (9 years old) who loved to sleep over her grandfather’s house during vacations, even though we all lived in the same building. One day he came to my room when I was sleeping and he simply just carried me and started touching me and I didn’t know what was happening, I didn’t know what to do! Shout? Hit him? I didn’t know….all I knew was I was so terrified and scared and I felt my voice has disappeared…I was shouting but there was no sound and I was just crying.

Every time he touched me.

I don’t want to go into full details or even mention how many times he molested me because its not important, what’s important is that I didn’t know how to answer the question “Why don’t you ever welcome this guest, and never want to speak to him!” Up till now I never mentioned anything of what happened with me to anyone of my family or friends because I don’t know what to expect of their reactions. Maybe my mother wouldn’t sympathies with me and maybe she wouldn’t even blame him because after all he’s a male. Every time I think that this man is still living with us in the same building I get scared. I get scared for every little girl in our family because he is there and because I know no one pays attention to his behavior just like no one did when it happened with me.

And even though I am not entirely over what happened with me, but now I am expressing my self and I object against my family’s and society’s retarded thinking without any fear, because my life is not for the society.

I am with the uprising of women in the Middle East because a woman is not a disgrace or a shame and because I always hear my father proudly flaunting my male brothers even though I am more successful in my studies and life.

I am with the uprising of women in the Middle East because I want to love a man without fear, and with the ability to share that with my family, to share that I have chosen a partner for my life and I don’t want to be a victim to honor killings.

I am with the uprising of the Middle East because I don’t want to be scared from this day on and because I am simply a human being, and because I still hear every single day something said against me as a woman

Maisa_Palestiene

Because if a woman gets divorced the whole society rejects her,

And because if a woman wants to start any job, she has to go through all kind of harassment,

And because gets shamed from everything! and because I don't have to clean the bathroom after my brother because I'm a woman, and because the revolution is feminine,

And because if a whole society gets liberated of the psychological complex related to hymens, it might get liberated from occupation!!

And because a woman has to put up with ugly comments in the streets and shut up,

And because a woman might be at the top of her success but if she's not married they say about her: "Poor maiden",

And because I went through hell convincing my mother to take this picture for me,

I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world.

Mariam_Lebanon مريم من لبنان

I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because my decision to wear the veil is mine and not that of my father, my uncle or my society

Shereen_Lebanon شيرين من لبنان

I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because many women get fired during their maternity leave

Kareem_Lebanon كريم من لبنان

I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because it is time to break the wall of silence

Youssef_Lebanon يوسف من لبنان

I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because she is the past, present and the future. Let my country be FREE

Yamina_Tunisia يمينة من تونس

I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because I am also against classification, exploitation, scolding based on rejection, and because this cause is important to me and it represents my principles and because I chose to work and build rather than destruct