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Feminists Around the World: Fahima Hashim · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I'll Never tell, your production of iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: And welcome to today's activists around the world. My voice
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  Speaker 2: is back kind of. I think it's not a little gruff. Yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that's not the word, but it's much better than what
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  Speaker 2: it was last week. And for today's activists around the world,
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  Speaker 2: I am going to put a quick content warning. We're
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  Speaker 2: not talking deep into actual situations, but there is mention
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  Speaker 2: of rape and violeness against women, war, famine, all the
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  Speaker 2: bad things that are happening around the world and even
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  Speaker 2: even in the US. So we are actually talking about
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  Speaker 2: the works of Sudanese activists Fahima Hashim. And if you
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  Speaker 2: are listening to all the horrible things that is happening,
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  Speaker 2: you know that there's a lot going on in Sudan
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  Speaker 2: with the atrocities happening there currently, that's been happening there
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  Speaker 2: for a while now. Like I hate to be the
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  Speaker 2: ignorant person here, but I am, because there's so much
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  Speaker 2: that happens and it has happened in happening in Sudan
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  Speaker 2: with the help of a lot of imperilist fascist regimes
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  Speaker 2: that wouldn't consider them themselves regimes hello us that have
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  Speaker 2: helped cause these atrocities that I honestly did not and
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  Speaker 2: still do not completely understand what is happening. But what
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  Speaker 2: I do know is that it is horrific and it
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  Speaker 2: needs to be talked about, and we need to bring
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  Speaker 2: more and more attention to it, and we need to
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  Speaker 2: be talking about it. So that's what we're gonna do
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  Speaker 2: with this specific episode, and talking and celebrating the works
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  Speaker 2: of people like Hashim. So currently the situation is horrifying.
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  Speaker 2: This is from a recent Guardian article as in like
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  Speaker 2: published yesterday. I believe they say the city of Al
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  Speaker 2: Fasher and the for region of Sudan besieged by their
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  Speaker 2: Rapid Support Forces RSF fell to the militia group last
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  Speaker 2: week and what was followed is a catastrophe. Mass killings
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  Speaker 2: are underway. There are reports that in one maternity hospital alone,
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  Speaker 2: almost five hundred people patients and their families were killed.
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  Speaker 2: The few that managed to escape tell of summary executions
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  Speaker 2: of civilians. The RSF has embarked on a killing spree
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  Speaker 2: of civilians so severe that the images of blood saturating
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  Speaker 2: the ground have been picked up by satellite. The speed
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  Speaker 2: and intensity of the killings in the immediate aftermath of
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  Speaker 2: the fall of Alfashaer has already been compared by war
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  Speaker 2: monitors to the first twenty four hours of the Rwandan genocide. Again,
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  Speaker 2: this was written the third of November of twenty twenty five,
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  Speaker 2: and that article continues saying millions have been displaced and
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  Speaker 2: estimated one hundred and fifty thousand have been killed and
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  Speaker 2: more than thirty million people now need urgent humanitarian assistance.
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  Speaker 2: These staggering statistics still not fully tell the story of
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  Speaker 2: Sudan's tragedy, the country's rapid unraveling, the destruction of its infrastructure,
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  Speaker 2: or the particularly merciless way the URSF has conducted its
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  Speaker 2: campaign and DARF. A lot of bad things are happening,
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  Speaker 2: and there's so many tragedies around the world that it's
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  Speaker 2: hard to focus on one. But again we don't want
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  Speaker 2: to use that as an excuse, and we will take
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  Speaker 2: every opportunity that we can to talk about these situations.
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  Speaker 2: And as per history, women have been facing some of
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  Speaker 2: the most violent attacks during this chaos, and people like
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  Speaker 2: Wahima Hashim has been trying to advocate to protect the
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  Speaker 2: women and marginalized people in Sudan with the help of others,
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  Speaker 2: of course. So from a You and Women's article they
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  Speaker 2: write during the last twenty years, Sudanese women have been
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  Speaker 2: trained in negotiations and mediations, not because this was a
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  Speaker 2: favorable subject for them, but because we've had so many
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  Speaker 2: crisis that's Saza Bala al Mahadi, the Sudan country director
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  Speaker 2: for the Center for International Private Enterprise. So I'm trying
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  Speaker 2: to pick up as many articles as we can to
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  Speaker 2: do all these research to have this conversation. Some of
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  Speaker 2: these may be dated because this conflict has been happening
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  Speaker 2: for a while. The RSF has been there for a
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  Speaker 2: long while and it's kind of hit another major crisis,
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  Speaker 2: I guess. So I believe that article was more recent
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  Speaker 2: because the UN do try to help and have this
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  Speaker 2: conversation more often. But yes, so a lot of these
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  Speaker 2: issues not only include the war crimes and atrocities, but
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  Speaker 2: also the humanitarian needs that they've been facing from the jump.
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  Speaker 2: So again from the UIT article, women can't find access
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  Speaker 2: to a hospital to give birth, they can't have access
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  Speaker 2: to a refrigerator to store fresh blood for them when
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  Speaker 2: they are facing death. El Mahati said in the Time
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  Speaker 2: of the war. Women are not necessarily killed because of
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  Speaker 2: bullets or bombs. They're killed by having less access to
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  Speaker 2: basic social needs. The two crises, women's lack of political
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  Speaker 2: empowerment to resolve the conflict and the steep humanitarian challenges
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  Speaker 2: they face, can compound one another. Almahati said, these are
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  Speaker 2: practical issues. You cannot talk about women playing a role
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  Speaker 2: in a peace building process or in a political resolution
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  Speaker 2: if they are lacking basic life needs, if they are
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  Speaker 2: at stake of living or dying. She said, there are
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  Speaker 2: no hospitals, no food, no water, no electricity, and then
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  Speaker 2: you ask them to be part of the political conversation
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  Speaker 2: that sometimes not realistic. You need to fulfill the basic
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  Speaker 2: human need. So again, there's so many things happening that
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  Speaker 2: they can't even continue with just trying for peace and
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  Speaker 2: trying for human dignity and not to be shot or
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  Speaker 2: any of these things. They're trying to live by getting food,
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  Speaker 2: by getting hospital care, by getting medical care. And Hashim
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  Speaker 2: again has been a part of this conversation for a
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  Speaker 2: long time. She was able to start the Selma Women's
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  Speaker 2: Center in nineteen ninety seven, and her work has been
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  Speaker 2: credited with helping to bring attention to the needs for
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  Speaker 2: women's rights in Sudan. She's been working with a lot
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  Speaker 2: of international organizations, specifically through that organization, to document and
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  Speaker 2: bring in a lot of resources. So from an interview
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  Speaker 2: with a Nobelwomen's Initiative dot org, she talked about her
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  Speaker 2: work with the Salama Women's Resource Center. They write, at
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  Speaker 2: the Salama Women's Resource Center, we had two main areas
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  Speaker 2: of work. One was the prevention of violence against women
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  Speaker 2: and the other one was peace building. We had to
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  Speaker 2: navigate in context where it was very difficult to work
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  Speaker 2: on these issues. We needed to figure out how we
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  Speaker 2: could work on these issues and not jeopardize the women
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  Speaker 2: we work with as well as our own organization. The
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  Speaker 2: environment was very complicated, the political situation was not conducive
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  Speaker 2: to do any kind of work on issues of violence
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  Speaker 2: against women or issues of peace. The government was not
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  Speaker 2: interested in changing its policies or even bringing these issues
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  Speaker 2: to the surface. And again she talks about all the
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  Speaker 2: things that they did and they I actually were able
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  Speaker 2: to last us a lot longer, I think than people
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  Speaker 2: thought they could. But again the way they ended was
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  Speaker 2: kind of volatile. Mahima Hashim talks about her journey into
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  Speaker 2: feminism and how she kind of realized this is what
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  Speaker 2: she wanted and why this was important to her, so
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  Speaker 2: she talks with voices, inexiles, dot ca. From my cultural context,
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  Speaker 2: family is the most important thing, and it is typically
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  Speaker 2: determined based on blood relations alone. Feminism has brought me
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  Speaker 2: a larger, richer, and more diverse chosen family, an alternative
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  Speaker 2: family based on shared values of love, acceptance, an inclusion
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  Speaker 2: that do not depend on nationality, blood, gender identity, sexual identity, religious,
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  Speaker 2: or political affiliation. I have personally experienced the individual transformative
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  Speaker 2: power of this type of family and the collective power
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  Speaker 2: that it generates for transformative change in our society. For her,
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  Speaker 2: a feminist approach is ultimately always about transformative change, whether
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  Speaker 2: at the political, cultural, familial, or individual level or all
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  Speaker 2: four and learning is at the heart of any transformative journey.
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  Speaker 2: Feminist change is inherently transformative. It is creative and life
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  Speaker 2: giving because it depends on diversity, deep listening, deep caring, tolerance, creativity,
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  Speaker 2: and the openness and excitement to be surprised by where
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  Speaker 2: you land on how you land to get there. And
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  Speaker 2: I loved her explanation of what feminism was for her,
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  Speaker 2: and I think it's such a beautiful way to see it,
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  Speaker 2: and we need to talk more about how it does
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  Speaker 2: bring this allowance of chosen family and bring this diversity
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  Speaker 2: and creativity and power if you truly get to tap
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  Speaker 2: into what is supposed to be. So during this time,
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  Speaker 2: she was able to use her master's degree for documentary
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  Speaker 2: and Library Sciences which hello, we love to talk about
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  Speaker 2: the issues within the government. She with the help of
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  Speaker 2: different organizations and that organization used media to highlight the
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  Speaker 2: issues happening in that country. She was able to train
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  Speaker 2: and conduct workshops to help women advocate for themselves as well.
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  Speaker 2: And this is from one Billion Rising dot Org, which
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  Speaker 2: is one of the organizations that she has worked with
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  Speaker 2: and she is a part of. Bahema's professional experience includes
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  Speaker 2: over two decades of leading training, workshops, campaigns, and research
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  Speaker 2: focused on the prevention of gender based violence, including violence
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  Speaker 2: against women, and the broader promotion of women's rights. She
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  Speaker 2: has coordinated and facilitated feminist transformative leadership courses, designed curricula,
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  Speaker 2: and mentored more than one hundred young feminists from Sudan, Egypt, Palestine,
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  Speaker 2: Kenya and Liberia, building capacity and fostering collective feminist action
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  Speaker 2: which we love to see. We love it, and her
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  Speaker 2: works brought her quite a bit of attention, including from
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  Speaker 2: the Sudanese government Albashir, who was the leader at the time.
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  Speaker 2: As she and the organization tried to work with the
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  Speaker 2: government by increasing international pressure, the government actually shut down
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  Speaker 2: the organization. So this is from that same article with
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  Speaker 2: voices in exile dot Ca. Alsama's success were recognized internationally.
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  Speaker 2: They worked with partners from across the globe. They were
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  Speaker 2: the lead organizers for cartoon based International Women's Bay si Lebration,
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  Speaker 2: one Billion Rising, gatherings and campaigns related to the sixteen
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  Speaker 2: Days of Action against Gender Violence. The center also played
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  Speaker 2: a leading role in researching, documenting, and disseminating knowledge on
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  Speaker 2: women's rights and human rights in Sudan. However, on Tuesday,
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  Speaker 2: June twenty fourth, twenty fourteen, without warning, due process or explanation,
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  Speaker 2: the Studentinese government shut down SAMAS Center, closing its offices,
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  Speaker 2: confiscating equipment and impounding its vehicles. So they took everything
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  Speaker 2: and there was at that time. I believe that she
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  Speaker 2: relocated and I believe she's currently in Canada, Ottawa area.
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  Speaker 2: Now not for sure, I'm sure she is noted somewhere
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  Speaker 2: and from there she's been working continuously to advocate for
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  Speaker 2: the women and the people of Sudan. She's currently on
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  Speaker 2: the board of the d Doria Feminist Fund DFF, which
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  Speaker 2: is a feminist fund quote that strengthens activists, institutions and
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  Speaker 2: movements through grant making, capacity sharing, convening spaces, mutual solidarity
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  Speaker 2: and support. Ensures that feminist movements have been sufficient and
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  Speaker 2: flexible resources to identify and determine priorities, independently, develop and
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  Speaker 2: sustain their activism, produce knowledge by and for their constituencies,
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  Speaker 2: and advocate for the rights for all women and LGBTQI
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  Speaker 2: plus individuals and groups in their countries. So this was
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  Speaker 2: actually from Dorafeminist Fund dot org, so you can go
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  Speaker 2: check them out, and I believe she's a part of
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  Speaker 2: other organizations as well similar to that. But she has
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  Speaker 2: been going strong and continuing to have this conversation. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: that is a small glimpse of a giant amount of
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  Speaker 2: work that she has done, and we will continue to
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  Speaker 2: talk about Sudanese activists and what is happening there as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, we will definitely keep checking in on this listeners
• 11:45
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• 11:46
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• 11:49
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• 12:04
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• 12:08
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