Opinion

If the October 2023 war accomplished one thing, it’s that it exposed the falsity of the entire world, its staggering ability to perpetuate baseless claims. Claims that justice is the basis of life, that humanity brings us together, that there are international values that must be respected. When it comes to Palestine, though, the fact is that all values are completely forgotten, eroded.

This news has been favorably received by parts of the populations of several Muslim countries, including Algeria, which consider the mixing of genders to be a danger to society.

Websites, forums, and online communities that incite gender-based violence by disseminating misogynistic and sexist content have been on the rise.

It is true that a person has died and, according to custom, we should not speak ill of the dead. But I will take an unpopular stance to remind us of the misogynistic and sexist cultural devastation of the "Berlusconi era" which we are still immersed in until today.

In Algeria, hijab ceremonies are occurring more and more frequently in universities. These campaigns promise hell to “wanton women who excite men.”

While the Palestinian media sector may have filled gaps that existed before and created new sources of information, separate from the Israeli occupation’s media environment, it remains beset with huge challenges that Palestinians have yet to overcome.

I’m an Egyptian researcher in my thirties working with “The Sex Talk- بالعربي” (The Sex Talk-in Arabic) initiative. I’m passionate about architecture and feminism, and I practice resistance as an essential part of my daily life. I started thinking about how to define space after a colleague asked me the following question: “What are the spaces even available for feminists to participate in public space?” This made me think, what is intended by “public space” in women’s case?

I never thought that this day would come again—the day that exercising my profession as a journalist would become scary.

Today, as we mark World Press Freedom Day 2023, the director of Radio M is behind bars. I lost my job after the headquarters was sealed, but I am still convinced that even though the body may be imprisoned and the premises sealed, ideas and free speech cannot be imprisoned, no matter how frequent and sharpened the attempts.

Amina, a Syrian woman who used to live in Antakya, was rushing to get out of the house in a panic with her husband. They were running for their lives before the earthquake could claim them as victims. But the ceiling unfortunately collapsed on Amina’s head, and she lost her life on the spot… “It’s my fault, I pushed her back inside to bring her hijab, to cover her hair.”