What if it was me?
To all the people who have been telling me lately to ‘calm down’ with the politics or ‘stay safe at home’. Firstly, I apologize for being a source of worry for you. Secondly, what type of person would I be if I believed in something and didn’t bother to fight for it? That’s right, the worst kind of person: a hypocrite. What confuses me the most is that the ones telling me to stop with my ‘antics’ are the very same people who taught me to fight for what’s right. Let’s agree on some basics: beating children is wrong, beating women is wrong, imprisoning innocent people is wrong, imprisoning children (9-year-olds) in adult prisions is inhumane, letting drug-dealers and thugs go free in order to make room for peaceful protestors in prisons is horrendously wrong. These make up just the tip of the iceberg of things I can personally attest to that the current government does. Are you asking me to stay silent in the face of all this? Still yes? Well then, what if it was me who was beaten, or imprisoned or raped or killed by the security forces? Would you say “poor Fatema, they brainwashed her so thoroughly”? (Really? Me? Brainwashed? As in actually being not just partially, but completely effected by society? Ha! You’d have an easier time teaching an ostrich complex calculus than get me to bend to the whims of those around me.) Or would you blame my parents for not “reeling me in”? (HA! If only you saw the arguments we have every time I go down to a march. Certainly, my parents wouldn’t be the ones to blame.)
Or would you put the blame where the blame should be, on the repressive state apparatus that has far surpassed its limit in violence? Now, with my “death” in mind, try telling me, as someone who has had family and friends beaten, detained and killed to stay silent. To just ‘sit at home and stay safe’. Safe eh? My blood is not more valuable than Sonbol’s, Abulrahman’s, Belal’s and countless others. If they risked it all for freedom and democracy, they why the hell shouldn’t I? I’m not saying that I’m trying to sprint my way to martyrdom, as I don’t believe in this, but surely, I have never been one to cower in the corner and let others take the beating. I have prayed istikhara. Several times. And I find that Allah –swt- only gives me more and more opportunities to fight for what is right. It’s an uphill battle to be sure, but it’s one that I will see to the end. #يسقط_يسقط_حكم_العسكر