Decrypting Copts’ Perspectives on Communal Relations in Contemporary Egypt through Vernacular Politics (2013–2014)

The study of vernacular allows for an examination of multiple forms of citizen voice, agency and embedded relations that contribute to understandings of securities and insecurities in highly distinct ways. This paper shows how the study of the vernacular contributed to decrypting the seeming paradox of how the Copts, Egypt’s largest non-Muslim minority, experienced high levels of sectarian violence after 2013, yet reported an improvement in social status and social relations in comparison to the year under the reign of President Morsi. It identifies nine different ways in which securities/insecurities were conceptualised among Copts. The paper argues that by examining these vernacular conceptions, it is possible to explain what accounts for the discrepancy between the elitists’ accounts of Copt support for authoritarianism and the differentiated, nuanced perspectives and positions on the ground. While such experiences are local, they shed light on shifting national and global configurations of power and forewarn of the kind of drivers that would serve as tipping points towards Coptic dissent

Mobilizing Against Sexual Harassment in Public Space in Egypt: From Blaming “open cans of tuna” to “the harasser is a criminal”.

In the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution in 2011, young men and women led highly innovative initiatives to counter increased levels of sexual harassment in Egypt’s public spaces. This study examines what has happened to these initiatives four years after their emergence and whether men have continued to be engaged in the struggle against gender based violence against the backdrop of a changed political environment. An appreciative inquiry approach was taken to examine the present initiatives that continue to be active in the struggle against sexual harassment in Egypt. Two initiatives, Harassmap and Imprint (Bassma) were selected in order to examine what accounts for their survival, what difference the involvement of men has made to their sustained activism, and the kind of adaptations they have pursued in order to be effective in countering sexual violence in public spaces. The specific questions broached in this study include (1) Under what conditions have men’s involvement in initiatives on gender based violence been sustained? (2) How have men transformed the nature of the struggle against gender based violence and been transformed by it? (3) What societal change have we witnessed on the ground as a consequence of men’s engagement in gender based violence initiatives

The Faith Factor in Reimagining Development

Many faith?based organisations engaging in development are contesting not only the practical implications of reductionist development policies, but also questioning the very political and ideological assumptions behind them. Human flourishing is one alternative reimagining of development, put forward by some faith?based organisations, which seeks to shed light on the limitations of existing mainstream development paradigms that fail to take into account relational dimensions of wellbeing and its non?material aspects. However, knowledge of faith?inspired reimaginings of development is still marginal, and the dynamics behind this have as much to do with the positionality and standpoint of the actors as with the very substance of the agenda being put forward, whether in terms of alternative visions or critiques to existing ones

The Politics of Mobilising for Gender Justice in Egypt from Mubarak to Morsi and Beyond

This paper examines the nature of the political struggle over the status, role and identity of women in Egypt in between the two revolutions (January 2011 and June 2013). It presents a situational analysis of the various actors, relations and agendas that have both informed the backlash against women’s rights and the mass movements of resistance. It acknowledges that while women’s rights have historically suffered as a consequence of a hostile political will of the ruling authority and parts of political and civil society that are inimical to expanding women’s rights (and sometimes mobilise around revoking what already exists), women’s rights faced new threats after January 2011 because of the political settlement between the Supreme Council for Armed Forces and the Muslim Brotherhood. The threats to women’s rights worsened under President Morsi’s regime and while they were not the prime reason why women mobilised in the largest numbers ever to oust the president in June 2013, encroachments on their freedoms was a catalysing factor. The paper’s principle argument is that while a constellation of factors influence prospects of advancing women’s equality in Egypt, collective action matters both for policy and for building constituencies that grant legitimacy to the cause being championed. The fragmentation and internal rivalry that characterised the myriad civil society organisations and coalitions during Mubarak’s reign left advocates of gender equality unequipped to exploit the (few) opportunities of influencing the political configuration of power after the revolution of 2011. The threats to women’s rights thereafter propelled old and newly formed non-state actors into a mass mobilisation of resistance. This represented a case where collective action in its various forms succeeded in challenging the status quo in critical ways. However, the political polarisation between supporters and opponents of the outcome of the 30 June revolution has led to a de-collectivisation of efforts. If the opportunities for influence are to be seized, and threats to influencing a progressive gender agenda challenged in the next phase, prioritising local pathways of re-building and strengthening collective action is of primary importance

Database of Collective Actors Involving Men Tackling Gender-Based Violence in Public Space in Post-Mubarak Egypt

There is a growing literature on the importance of engaging men and boys in interventions on gender-based violence, and the benefits that this engagement brings. The work on collective action in the face of gender-based violence seeks to understand the extent to which GBV can become a community issue that engages men in challenging and confronting violent and abusive behaviour towards women, and through which notions of masculinity, manhood and identity are broached. This report reviews interventions involving men, collective action and gender-based violence in Egypt. It examines what made interventions successful and notes that each has important elements of partnership, coalition working, or community mobilisation strategies around changing social norms.DFI

Battling with Increased Gender-Based Violence in Egypt’s Transition: Report on the Scoping Workshop held in Cairo, November 2012

This report is about a scoping workshop held by the Institute of Development Studies in collaboration with the Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA). The aims were to bring together activists to identify the most acute forms of GBV in the Egyptian context; map actors influencing GBV; discuss strategies and engage with those using collective action and who work with men.DFI

Politically Motivated Sexual Assault and the Law in Violent Transitions: A Case Study from Egypt

This case study is about the use of sexual violence against women and men in order to deter the opposition from engaging in protests and demonstrations in a context of a country in transition, Egypt. The paper advances a number of arguments. First, politically motivated sexual violence has a number of distinguishing features from the socially motivated sexual harassment that is generally prevalent in society. While they both contribute to discouraging women from assuming an active public role, they have different implications vis-a-vis who to hold accountable. Second, men have also been the targets of sexual assault, though their narratives have rarely been documented or recognised, and the law does not offer possibilities for redress. Third, due to a number of historical and contextual factors associated with Egypt – which has been in the throes of revolutionary activism – there has been a strong call for the perpetrators to be tried and the government to be held accountable for complicity. This has, in turn, reactivated calls for the revision of the criminal code to be more effective as a tool for addressing sexual violence.DFI

Reclaiming the Streets for Women’s Dignity: Effective Initiatives in the Struggle against Gender-Based Violence in between Egypt’s Two Revolutions

This paper is about the struggle to combat gender-based violence in public space in Egypt through the sustained collective action of vigilante groups who organically formed to respond to the increasing encroachment on women in public space from 2011 onwards. The study examines the emergence of a distinct form of collective action (informal youth-led activism aimed at addressing sexual violence in public space) at a very distinct historical juncture in the country’s history: the phase after the ousting of President Mubarak in February 2011 through what became known as the 25th of January Revolution and up to the ousting of President Morsi in what became controversially known as the 30th of June Revolution of 2013.DFI