Nawal al-Saadawi speaks to FW: I connect female circumcision to the policies of George W. Bush

In 1981, she was imprisoned under the Sadat regime, for alleged «crimes against the state.» Even prison bars could not deter her from her activism. Saadawi formed the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association (AWSA) – the first legal, independent feminist organization in Egypt - and continued to write in prison, at times scribbling her words on toilet paper as it was the only thing available for her to write on. Upon her release in 1983, those scraps of notes were published in Memoirs from the Women’s Prison.

Saadawi’s battle against political and social oppression continued. AWSA had grown to have some 500 members locally and more than 2,000 internationally until it was banned in 1991 following Saadawi’s criticism of US involvement in the Gulf War, saying the issue should have been solved among the Arabs. “I always say that Bin Laden and George Bush are twins,” says Saadawi. “Colonialism is a big reason for our problems. Who created jihad in Afghanistan? It was the United States.” Saadawi speaks from the heart when addressing politics. In 2004, the then 74-year old activist announced that she would enter Egypt’s historic multi-candidate election, joining other top contenders like Al-Gad party leader Ayman Nour – who is currently serving five years behind bars for alleged campaign fraud – and Al-Wafd leader Noaman Gomaa. At the time of her bid for presidency, Saadawi told AFP, “I am going to stand in the presidential election, not to win but to get the Egyptian people moving in favor of a reform of the constitution and to oppose corruption and American colonialism.” Several months later, Saadawi announced she would boycott the race, along with another prominent candidate, Saad Eddin Ibrahim – both candidates citing the steep requirements for all contenders. The September 2005 election would reveal unsurprising results: Egypt’s president of then-24 years, Hosni Mubarak was announced the winner by a whopping 88.6 percent of the votes – a victory many attributed to intimidation by national security forces and campaign restrictions by his challengers (including a ban against anyone from the popular – but outlawed – Muslim Brotherhood from taking part in the election). “The whole election was a play, an illusion,” insists Saadawi. “The left and right were against me – they were working with the government. Politics has become dirty.” The biggest problem in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, according to Saadawi, is political organization – or the lack thereof. As part of her course at Ohio University this summer, she focused on the inability of “leftist” and right-wing parties throughout the region to find a common ground in their journey to a greater Middle East. “In Egypt, for example, after the 1952 Revolution led by [Gamal Abdel] Nasser, there was promise and hope. Sadat came and ruined the country economically and created a power strife and Mubarak followed the same rule. Egypt lost its power to Africa and the Arab world. It has no power now.” She continues: “The political situation in the Arab region is a disaster. Look what happened in Iraq; the Palestinian people are being killed; and in Egypt, 40 percent are under the poverty line. The elite people in the Arab countries are cowards and they give bad example to the others. We need new political organizations that represent the people – the working class, the students, even the children.” In 1992, Saadawi’s name appeared on a Muslim fundamentalist death list, prompting her to lee Egypt for five years. Her books have largely detailed explosive narratives that often address women’s sexuality and other taboo issues in the Muslim world. She criticizes the Islamic establishments of Egypt, saying that genuine Islamic tradition is not their goal, and rather, they are motivated by the same “dirty” politics that drives ruling parties across the Arab world. “Even Hassan al-Banna used Islam to create the Muslim Brotherhood for political reasons,” she says. “We need someone who really struggled.” The provocative nature of her work continues to enrage Islamic conservatives to this day. So does her struggle for justice. Her latest play, “Resigns in the Summit Meeting,” caused uproar among religious officials in Egypt who accuse her of denouncing Islam. In February of this year, she chose to take on opportunities outside of Egypt because circumstances had left her feeling unsafe at home. Her dilemma would not end there. “On my way from Rotterdam to Brussels, my novel was stolen with my money and my passports and everything - I was robbed!” she recalls, sounding far less distraught than most might be under such circumstances. She is now in the process of rewriting the novel from scratch. Yet the more you speak with this seasoned writer, the more her lack of regret surprises you. After all, how can one who has been through so much carry on the way she does with a chip on her shoulder. It is in her book of personal reflection entitled Memoirs from the Women’s Prison where she wrote «Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies…there is no power in the world that can strip my writings from me.” And so she continues to write, despite the threats to her life; despite the physical assaults she endured as a child; despite having grown older – a reality even this boisterous woman has learned to embrace. “Even despite all of this, I am an optimist,” she says. “In the end, the reality is that hope is power.”