In-depth

About 29,000 people have been internally displaced from southern Lebanon and elsewhere in the country since early October as violence and hostilities escalate on the Lebanese border. And just as women and children in Gaza are paying the highest price in the ongoing war on the Strip, this reality also applies to Lebanon in light of the lack of adequate and equipped shelters to host the increasing numbers of displaced people. Added to this are the already-existing difficulties imposed by the dire economic crisis that began in late 2019.

On the steps of the Théâtre municipal in Tunis, one of the oldest historical monuments in the city and one of the most important strongholds for gatherings in support of just causes, Tunisian feminists came together carrying Palestinian flags and candles in symbolic solidarity with the martyred souls who fell in the occupation army’s bombing of Gaza. They gathered to affirm feminists’ and human rights activists’ commitment to fighting colonialism and supporting the resistance.

It is no longer surprising that women associate delivery rooms with feelings of terror and fear, not only in relation to the process of childbirth but the potential for humiliation, offense, and mistreatment. Many women, and Tunisian women in particular, have complained about suffering multiple violations at the hands of medical and paramedical personnel, including midwives. They are also subjected to various types of violence and discrimination on the basis of race, class, and age, not to mention coercive medical procedures.

Even in vulnerability and economic, social, and legal marginalization, women are not equal to men. But this doesn’t include their fighting spirit and their astounding capacity to resist and revive themselves. Because women, in fighting for their survival and that of their children, manage to address injustice head-on.

In the province of Caserta, EVA, a women’s cooperative, has been active since 1999. It runs five anti-violence centers, three shelters, and three businesses to help women who have been victims of violence on their road to autonomy.

In light of the alarming numbers that confirm the rise in violence against women in Tunisia, especially domestic violence, a state of fear and caution has settled over the feminist community concerned about the entrenchment of patriarchal mentalities not only in society but in state institutions too, those not properly implementing Law No. 58 of 2017. This is a serious obstacle to women’s safety and turns their issues into marginal topics.

“Ahyini Liyoum waktolni ghedwa” (Make me live today and kill me tomorrow)—this popular saying is what S.D. sent us as a response to our asking her about retirement…

Marta Luceno Moreno, a feminist and researcher in gender, works on intersectionality and is particularly interested in the issue of migration of sub-Saharan women. An interview.

There needs to be interaction between feminist demands in the country of origin and feminist demands in France, Lalami claims, as this is a necessary step to remove obstacles and inequalities that weigh on immigrant women.

The new Asylum and Immigration bill—the 20th in 40 years—entitled “Controlling Immigration, Improving Integration” has already provoked major controversy against the political class and spurred the mobilization of associations defending the rights of foreigners.