Household to fifty liters of water a day thats the equivalent of about one full bath and water minister is urging everyone to just cut back on their water use. Those are the headlines the news continues on aljazeera up front is next and more news keep it or. Facing realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place a socalled secret city getting to the heart of the matter the mean maher government calls you a gringo lead terrorist hear their story on the tour to aljazeera at this time. Some say the harsh tag me to campaign is too white and too privileged so how theres a movement to call out Sexual Assault being received outside of the west and out front special. In two thousand and six the slogan me two started as a movement by us activists to write a book as a way to show solidarity with the victims of Sexual Assault but that slogan went viral overnight in the wake of hollywoods Harvey Weinstein scandal last october which prompted women around the world to break a lot of the silence around Sexual Assault and harassment and begin sharing their stories with more than twelve million posts on facebook in just twenty four hours since then the hash tag has been shared at least eighty five countries around the world so why does this particular campaign prove to be so powerful and how is it being received outside of the west joining me to discuss this are Mona Eltahawy a journalist based between cairo in new york and author of headscarves and hymens why the middle east needs a sexual revolution run gena kumari womens rights activist and director of the center for social research in new delhi. Or a gun and writer and director of communications for the ngo the association for womens rights in development thank you all for joining me on this special edition of outfront i want to start by asking you all how has the hashtag mean to movement been received outside of the u. S. Outside of the west rangel youre a long time champion of womens rights in india whats the response to me to be like over there. The little red and the whole campaign started on social media it has take me to the million women also on to the whole you know the kind of speaking out as talking about themselves and around twenty five thousand women joined that campaign in india and also a lot of them really wanted to speak about their own experiences but when we restart the kind of expression they did not really come out with i didnt become the person and they did not really got regret it happened to them but there is definitely said that they also feel stiction hardest men at work please there were also been victim of the kind of relationship that was based with their bosses with the professors and also the whole media became very very active but relieved to camp in what really was very critical was involved i can see the destruction the heart of every woman that they could find a space on social media and could see that this is what happened to me too not a recently the African Union ambassador to the u. S. Said during a discussion about how to take me to the quote in africa the conversation is not even begun we are nowhere near where we need to be whats your reaction to that. I very much agree with embassador and my country ghana the conversation has been extremely muted about me too and the sense that people have not been publicly name in those who have violated them those who have assaulted them people have actually been speaking about the need for us to have this conversation but no one is really speaking of thats because the consequences for woman who name people who violates them is really still too harsh and about a few years ago in twenty fifteen that prominent. Public personality quickly changed the chua was allegedly accused of raping a young woman there were people who were witnesses to the fact that she had been abused by this man she went to hospital the doctors verified that she had been sexually assaulted the state of ghana took up a case back to this woman was vilified in the press so much she eventually withdrew the case. And this is an example of what happens when women speak up and when weve happened at this care just other women from speaking up because they can see that theres no justice for the victim and even aware. Of the victim isnt just repute moaner when youre listening to none and speak about gardner and some of the other african countries does that resonate with what youre hearing and what youve experienced in the middle east living in cairo traveling through the region or has be to be embraced in the arab world. Has take me to has been embracing our world under it arabic equivalent which is and they come in and ive seen several activists share their own experiences and say that this happens to every woman i know this has happened to me personally but i think the importance of hashtag me too. Is not just about women speaking out and not been able to speak out and as the community blame the woman or not i think what this particular moment in history has done it allowed it has allowed women around the world to see each other as all being victims of patriarchy that this is an institutionalized form of discrimination that regardless of where youre from will affect every woman and will affect members of the q community we also affect men weve seen gay men whove spoken out about this so i think that as hard as it is to speak out in certain communities its important to recognise that this doesnt just affect white actors in hollywood and its not just white men who are salting them we need to move the conversation outside of of this very very specific white us lens and make it a global one critics say that the voices of women around the world and rajan i want to ask you this question first critics are the voices of women around the world who work in factories are victims of sex trafficking minority women women in rural areas living in poverty are missing from this campaign from this movement is it fair to say that white western women especially white affluent women are still dominating this campaign and if so what do you do about that. As you know very few women are in the. Social media space in and yet only about twenty seven percent of women who really are the Internet Users these are the the men also recruit among these twenty seven percent who have mostly working in people who are in the organized sector or people who are really in some very have been capacity is it or is there was still majority of the women who are from the Informal Sector of the ground commonly tribal women should all cause women as you said classes victims prostitutes and trusted to remain the engage in prostitution are forced into prostitution all those women have not found that space the majority of the women say about almost like ninety percent women were not a department a con artist a good economy who are not organized who do not have access to internet is not that they dont use fear is this kind of harassment but then orderly use this they are not able to see things in form that are theyre not able to even walk through these religiously committees that we have formed with all internal Complaints Committee so certainly there is a kind of divide that you can feel you see not a do you worry about how quote unquote white me too is a result of unfair. I mean what i would like to see more of more of a focus on movements of particularly like the most oppressed groups who have actually been workin and violence against women for a long time some of the work that some of my previous administrations have done such as the African Womens Development Fund which is their macon fund which funds particularly small and medium sized womens rights organizations across the continent you know there are numerous Small Community based groups that have been working to end violence against women and what i tend to see that they focus on me too is focused on yes you know more privileged white woman in hollywood more privileged white women in north america without really acknowledge him the kind of Community Led efforts that have been going on. And balancing why do women why do you think it is that me too has been so successful or high profile in a way that other previous campaigns against gender based violence havent been is it because of the hollywood celebrity angle or is it something else. I think absolutely its because of the hollywood celebrity angle and because it has the Media Attention and for me thats not a bad thing thats a good then but lets also use this opportunity to focus on Community Based organizations that have been working for decades to end violence against well and once and for all about why me to has been so successful i think it is a particular moment where were seeing white women in hollywood confront white men who have hurt them and i think that that gives it a much more Global Platform than say all the individual work that weve heard about but i also think its really important to take it out of this idea that its only these rich and white powerful men who do that because what i worry about is that ordinary men will just kind of sit back and say you know well you know what im not rich im not powerful im not one of those guys and i think this is really in valuable moment where we have an opportunity as a Global Community not just in our individual communities spaces to say look this is about patriarchy this is about how its institutionalised this is about and this is about discrimination against women so how does that affect every woman and how is every men complicit in this because i hear from a lot of men they say well i dont do any of that so this has nothing to do with me but unless youre doing something to stop that from happening your complicit and youre benefiting from that system of patriarchy so i think this has to be a daily occurrence when we talk about this with our friends with our siblings and also politically because i think that as fantastic as this hollywood moment has been were also missing is that the president of the United States has been accused of Sexual Assault himself and were not talking about that at least twenty women have accused donald trump of sexually assaulting them and if you if you just stop and think about that the president of the most powerful country in the world and we almost had a senator in the United States roy moore i mean we always had a really right we once had a candidate become a senator in the u. S. Has been accused of pedophilia and this is a chance for us now i speak now again. That egyptian muslim woman who covers issues from my people they say look we have to confront these issues in every community when you can every Community Pick up on that youve written that muslim women are stuck between a rock and a hard place on the one hand you have islamophobia in europe in the United States who whenever a muslim man is accused of any kind of sex from jump on this and say its the religion is to blame islam is to blame use it to bash the religion on the other hand you have some in muslim communities who dont want to call out mr jonas because they fear that it will give islam a bad rap and theyre giving ammunition to people who already hate them they dont want the community to look bad so how do women in communities like that deal with this dilemma if you can call about the answer to that is exactly what will take us out of me to hashtag me to being a White Hollywood social media moment the answer to that would be that each community has to recognize that the less we can talk about sex the less we can talk about these taboos and the less we confront these taboos the most Vulnerable People in our communities will be affected and the most Vulnerable People are always women children and the eligibility queue so it has to fall on the shoulders of those of us with privilege and to take that even further just also to defund the racism islamophobia when i talk about the middle east and other one of my communities i have to talk about Domestic Workers i have to talk about migrant laborers because in the gulf youre talking about women who come from different very very disadvantaged countries in communities who are often Sexual Assaulted by their employers they have no recourse to justice as a racist of a class that lisa we have to make hash tag need to recognize race gender class able ism and because actual orientation run General Motors talks about the you know the being stuck between a rock and a hard place women of quote unquote elsewhere too its not just about religion is it for example when women fight for their rights in places like india or pakistan or parts of africa some say oh youre attacking our traditional culture values youre supporting western cultural imperialism you often do hear that kind of backlash argument. Well its always there its been always there whenever youre talked about will fry it somewhere you know. Everybody whos not agreeing with you or all these traditionalist forces fundamentalist forces which are really around us always blame us for the not the picking up from this is not what in the end is not what our culture is all about and that the silence that has been imposed on women is also because it feel that if they will speak out they will be targeted they will be seen as the people who are responsible for what is happening the victim blaming all the time so so even to muster the courage to speak there already is you know in some sense punished for speaking out and now you know were all working very hard to change it or certainly the whole thing about you know you are a paying the rent so you are trying to create the kind of alignment in our country where women are now becoming very free they just dont want to follow any tradition and you are responsible so we are certainly very very important but let me tell you one thing in india the situation is very very different now because before farai to enter the temple we are together as Womens Organization and supporting each other so that this is something that is helping us to count towards the flight bag with all the fundamentalist force forces you want to come in earlier. Yes i did because i think you know women have have been actually speak an app for ages about the need to end violence and i think i have some of the small moment. I dont want people i dont know moment to feel like they have to put themselves out there we have to name the people who have perpetrated violence especially when the repercussions are so syria i think the focus needs to be and how do we change the societal context of the culture which leads to this harassment which leads to this continuous violence that women face how do we change this rape culture which is really the problem and its so endemic everywhere so i would love for us to have a bit of a conversation around that give us one of your suggestions and tell us something positive of what can be done because this is a very depressing cover they should give us tell us what community. I mean i feel like a couple of things that need to be done you know the conversation as well i really feel like we need men to step up we need men to be speaking to each other and we need we need men to be holding themselves responsible you know i feel like too much of the onus is on women and valance we really need men to step up and take responsibility for their own role in this situation and i want to see some of that happen and some of that change interesting that never talks about government stepping up which is obviously important parts crucial but the backlash against me too in the west and there has been a backlash hasnt just come from men its even come from some women too french actress Catherine Deneuve along with nearly one hundred other french women wrote a letter defending mens quote freedom to pastor response to a let alone in this climate it was outrageous maybe i couldnt believe it and it was an important moment to remind everyone it was a moment to remind everyone of just how powerful internalized misfortune is these are women who have internalized patriarchy and the power of patriarchy and these are women who are white and privileged and very affluent and very telling to me that they are white privileged affluent women who are basically saying the men who have the right to pester are white and affluent because while Catherine Deneuve were saying this were talking about the rise of a horrendous fascist right wing across europe that wants to prevent migration especially on the basis of this socalled right or freedom to pester because the queues the hordes of men and these black hordes of men are basically going to europe to rape white women so it was an outrageous letter to publish not only was it basically a policy they were apologists for this kind of violence that were fighting against but they were also just talking about the men they are not talking about these are not working class women these are not poor women these are not women of different abilities in. These are not out to be seen to women and they are not talking about men who live in the inner cities in france who live in various communities in europe who are vilified with this whole remodeling missed your window but its also important to recognize that in europe brown and black men are accused of increasing rates of rape because they want to rape white women so i think this letter was very dangerous and i think that the this kind of position is exactly why hashtag need to have to move out from these affluent White Hollywood actresses roger you wanted to come in one hour i want to support you that you know this is what the privilege of anyone talking about in our own country is that you know all of this never happened to me ive never faced any kind of discrimination what is easiest of is talking about these feminists are really trying to remove the relationship in Family Gathering the family i think need to campaign is extremely important in one sense that it has are pleased given the kind of why are you so spain is that its not just happening to us melissa as event traveling by buses and walking in small places where people are trying to exploit and trying to have as work also is happening at the at the highest level at the discrimination in terms of age parity discrimination in terms of you know search on how to smile and all kinds of you know many privileges really own title and thats what is the problem that men are men who are in these positions of power and consider that as their entitlement so that has been question and challenge and that also comes down to the level of a village woman whos working in somebody farms or the field that has to come down to our labor women whos trying to walk in the Construction Industry or building that are old and getting exploited by the contractor so i think this is just one thing which are at the scene as a strength of this Campaign Manager be with her i very much want to agree with angela because i think what this moment also calls for the interest supports the Womens Movement a womans rights of the legislations have been calling for you know woman know themselves the solutions to the child. It is the phase and they are very often able to work on those solutions but womens rights organizations and womens rights movements. Are so underfunded this is part of the work that my organization has been leading. In some research that we did the fabric of the twentieth home should the most womens rights organizations exist on twenty thousand u. S. Dollars or less a year these are their movements and these are going to is ations theyre actually working to end violence in small communities from village levels to communities to the regional level and this is really where we need to place the efforts this is really where the change needs to happen and now youve written about the difficulty in defining issues like Sexual Consent getting agreement on those issues when things are sometimes not clear how does a Movement Like hash tag me to empower women in particular but to feel more comfortable about setting boundaries about being clear about consent about saying no how can it teach men to respect womens choices and womens communications on this issue because its now broadened out beyond workplace harassment and Sexual Assault. Absolutely and actually i think right now is also the moments where men really need to take time to learn what consent really means and to know that consent should always be enthusiastic consent should be given them all to pull ways confer consent should be a fair several times you know i feel like the way men have been socialized traditionally have especially in my context especially in ghana you know we often speak of men chase than woman right its like women have to be pursued and men always assume that women are being core or they need to be persuaded no i dont think that should be the case and men need to recognize that women have agency women can speak up and say when they want to take part in a Sexual Activity or when they do not want to take part in a Sexual Activity and men and women you know packing this should always get consent very badly and nonverbally from their pack and you have to confirm that several times in the United States in the wake of the recent controversial allegations around the u. S. Doctor as these im sorry and quote unquote Sexual Misconduct is a phrase used among many others theres been much debate about what belongs in the me to debate you know where does the spectrum of rape assault harassment misconduct begin and end to my question to you is how does a Movement Like me to move forward when there are already these accusations oh its going too far and certain things dont belong in it whenever we have this historic moment where were going through incredible change and where youre hearing voices that you havent heard before there will always be people who are pulling this back and saying youve gone too far stop stop and we have to ignore those voices because they say that because this is an uncomfortable moment and discomfort is important for social change revolution is uncomfortable and i consider this a revolutionary moment one of many not the only obvious thing and i think that this spectrum is exactly the best way to describe it this isnt. Asked about your boss exposing himself to you or your boss demanding that you have sex with him or her so that you could continue to work this is also about very intimate conversations and relationships and i think in order for that for that spectrum to be fully explored and and deconstructed we have to be able to talk about sex comfortably and i think that here in United States too we dont talk about sex comfortably deafen in egypt where i come from and in the middle east and north africa theyre very conservative societies and as a muslim i know how difficult it is for muslims to speak about sex inside and outside of marriage and the same and i think what made me choose done is its created this leveling off moment where people even in the United States where they thought they had had a sexual revolution where they thought they were sexually liberated they are now confronted with the reality that they are not that this socalled sexual revolution of the one nine hundred sixty s. Has not dismantled patriarchy and women are still being pursued as nana said and meant still think that they will score so i think what we need to do is we need to have a very very honest conversation about sex my question is how long do you have to make to get those conversations off the ground how long as me to have you call a revolutionary moment but a lot of revolutions are the peter out or theres a counter revolution the counter revolution has begun youre seeing with the Catherine Deneuve than the christian summers and so many other people the counter revolution is definitely here but how long do we have we have forever we are dismantling a system called patriarchy that has existed forever i think when nona talks about men and how they have to step up i think men must understand that this is patriarchy hurts them to patriarchy places the burden of what we now call toxic masculinity on men surely there are men around and i believe this because i know them who dont want to score who dont want to pursue women who want to have sex with whether its inside marriage whether its outside of marriage whether its with another man or another woman in a way that both partners or all partners involved are enjoying it and no one takes the next day as grace tech citizens and sorry to tell him that she felt violated and very exposed to let me ask you that question about the revolutionary moment moments of the revolution or do you believe this is a revolution a moment if so how long does it have. I think its a particular moment but i actually think the revolution has been going on for a long time woman speak up about Sexual Violence its not new woman have been pressing for laws against Sexual Violence for laws against Domestic Violence for laws against marital rape in many countries around the world for a long time so its just that me too as a campaign to have hits the global limelight at this particular moment in time but its part of ongoing work to dismantle the system that oppresses women and its work that its going on and will need to continue to go on and needs to be funded and needs to be supported down or run mono well have to leave it there thank you very much for having this is gushing i know we need many more discussions like this appreciate you taking time out thats our show up front were back next week. Current tensions between countries along the river nile have their roots in a colonial cost point of view cannot depend on agreement political victory for the new political realities on the ground or increasing the sense of uncertainty over the rhythm out there with the need to do that underneath and how all the countries to which the nato boys kind of been built are the struggle over the nile of this time on aljazeera. The new poll ranks mexico city is the pull worst in the world for Sexual Violence many women are attacked while moving in the crowded spaces of the metro buses and even at the hands of taxi drivers the conversation starts with do you have a boyfriend youre very pretty and young you feel unsafe threatened i think about how to react what do i do if this gets wests no money on the uses a new service its called loyal droid its for women passages only and drawn by women drivers pull for some extra features like a panic button and twenty four sevenths monitoring of drivers news has never been more of a liberal but the message is a simplistic and misinformation is rife listening post provides a critical counterpoint challenging Mainstream Media narrative at this time on aljazeera the nature news as it breaks the us cut the funding has cemented the feeling here that the u. S. Is part of the problem and has picked the israeli side with detailed coverage the Nigerian Government insists negotiations are ongoing to secure the release of the girls and hundreds of others. From around the world three decades on chileans are still thinking about abuses but this time those committed by the church. Really. Forced out of me and mark now right and your girls are falling prey to human traffickers you have an exclusive report from a refugee
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