SZ: I have something to ask you about. I’m sure, being in the States most of the time, or outside of Egypt, people always tell you,You’re not Egyptian, why do you speak on Egyptian women’s issues? Why do you care? If you are living abroad, having a better life than here, why is it worth it to come back here if people always tell you these things?
SZ: You said something really interesting. I was already a feminist.Because people ask me, How did you become a feminist, and I really don’t understand how to answer that question. How do you say, Okay, now I’m aware that women’s rights is my number one passion. I’m a feminist. How did that happen?
I think if you look at this as part of the big umbrella of what’s happening in Egypt now, everyone is looking around and thinking,What is my role, and how do I fight in that fight of mine? And it’s okay if you have one goal and I have another goal. I think that this is one of the really — for me — educational things that came out after my essay. Because a lot of people have a lot different ways of working for women’s rights. My way was to be very, very provocative and hit where it hurts and say, That’s it! But other people are sitting there going, Look, you’re alienating people and we don’t do alienation. Fine! You know what, go work in that office of yours or wherever you are in the way that you think is right! We’re learning from each other that it’s okay to be different. It’s okay to have different strategies. We can’t all work in the same way. This isn’t Mubarak’s Egypt anymore, you know? But it’s very difficult in Egypt to be an individual because you’re always accused of being selfish. You have to get rid of that individual part of yourself for the sake of the greater good. What if my greater good is different from your greater good? What do we do then?
ME: There’s a lot of emotional blackmail that’s happening. Because people feel that they’re losing control of a centralized idea. I think the centralized idea is freedom and dignity, but how we approach and achieve freedom and dignity is different for each of us. Because I’m a writer, and you’re an activist, and someone else is a football fan who has had a vendetta with the police. Each of us joined the revolution for different reasons. That’s why I say that the generation that’s twenty and younger is really going to reap the benefit of all of this, because they’re growing up at a time that they’re seeing so many people fighting over the right to be an individual. So by the time that they reach our age, this is a done deal. No one is ever going to tell you — the blood of the martyrs!The emotional blackmail will not be there anymore. We’re willing to stick out our necks and say, Okay, abuse me all you want. I don’t care! I’m taking the hit because someone has to take the hit. Fine! You know?