This article was published for the first time on the symposium on Women orgnised by Darb al intifada
Women and Politics in Sudan
Ustaza Fatima and the Young Khirrijat
By.Nazik Hammad
Ustaza Fatima and the Young Khirrijat
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Dear friends,
A few hours ago I have come to read the article written by Ustaza Fatima Ahmed Ibraheim in Al-Fajar Newspaper entitled "Is there a Purpose Behind the Two Ideas?". Despite lack of time I felt I should briefly mention why I was very much disturbed by that article.
Ustaza Fatima was basically commenting on the recent DA Women Symposium and in particular what she thought of as a call presided upon by Sondra Hale, whom Fatima refers to as Professor Hale, to oust the old women leadership and replace it with new faces. Fatima also mentions a group of young "university graduates" whom she constantly refers to as "Khrrijat". This group was left undefined but we are led to believe that this is a group of educated young women who are in the business of criticizing the old leadership and have every intention of sweeping out "Kans" that leadership away.
I will not dwell on the old versus new leadership debate because Fatima's ideas in this regard, though objectionable to me, were not the source of my distress. I was rather disappointed by the tone of Fatima's discussion and her tactics of putting down her opponents or rather, those whom she perceives as her opponents. I would like to bring this issued to light so that it can be discussed because this is not the first time Ustaza Fatima uses these tactics and this logic, but it seems to me she has carried this to new heights with the article I am referring to.
From the start Ustaza Fatima contradicts herself by acknowledging that dissatisfaction with old leadership is nothing new and is actually a normal process in life. This was immediately followed by a most startling statement that she presented in the form of a question in which she wonders whether or not the source of all this dissatisfaction is actually Sondra Hale who has somehow planted these ideas in the heads of these "graduate" young women!!! I will not try to refute this statement and discuss whether Sondra has or has not actually influenced these young women whom Fatima did not name. However, the most striking thing in this statement is the total dismissal and underestimation of Sudanese women especially the younger generation and their ability to conduct independent and original thinking. Here, Fatima remains true to the most conservative and misogynous traditions of our society by granting Sondra, i.e. the West, all the credit for the "rebellion" of these younger women. This practice of constantly crediting the West with inspiring and actually leading every little move by Sudanese women deemed inappropriate by these traditional forces is one of the most dis-empowering and disrespectful of the ability of Sudanese women. One other thing that strikes me as false is the fact that Fatima traces this astronomical influence of Sondra to several years she spent visiting Sudan in the past. I will mention one thing here. The first time I saw and heard Ustaza Fatima was in 1984. Fresh out of high school, I was of course, very excited and beyond myself with ecstasy because I was listening to the most influential women activist in Sudan. Despite my naivity in many respects at the time, by the end of the talk I retained all the respect I had for Fatima, but I was left with little doubt that Fatima's way of thinking was not at all suitable for our generation who were terrorized in high school by the rising influence of the NIF and religious ideology in general. I found myself in total agreement with an NIFer who stood up at the end of that talk and said to Ustaza Fatima " We see our triumph in your words, for you are defending Islam as vigorously as any of its faithful soldiers". Ustaza Fatima ranted and raved about how she was always true to her Islam and so on and so forth but it did not, of course, change the basic fact that there was little we could gain from such way of thinking!! I have narrated this to say that for the remainder of that period many young women, who were indeed very young, never stopped thinking that a more radical approach to women’s issues was indeed due. We never heard of Sondra Hale or read anything she wrote. Actually, the first time I heard of Sondra was when I stumbled upon an article of hers in 1994 as I was browsing through the University of Toronto’s library collection!! Fatima may be surprised to learn that I, among others, believe that Sondra's account of the NIF in her recent book was rather "soft" and that many Sudanese women would approach the position of the NIF on women from a more critical perspective, but this is not the issue of discussion here. I mention this just to make it clear that Sudanese women are quite capable of analyzing things for themselves instead of being spoon-fed by Westerners. But I must admit that I hate writing this because the issue to me is not the influence or lack thereof of Westerners because the world we live in has simply become too small for people not to influence and be influenced by others, rather the issue is how Sudanese feminists continue to face this daily accusation of lack of authenticity and being "Westernized" even by supposedly other women activists!!!!
Ustaza Fatima then goes on to accuse Sondra Hale and her followers of belittling and dismissing the accomplishments of the old leadership and how that leadership has achieved total equality for women, and how Western feminism has failed to accomplish anything for women. According to Fatima’s account, American women are languishing in the misery of sex, wine, smoking and nudity, with no real equality at all.
Two comments are pertinent here: first, there is nothing worse than this spirit of rivalry over who accomplished what and who didn't. Women gain nothing out of this because it usually diverts attention from real issues concerning challenging both Western and third world patriarchies. Even if the issue is about the tendency of some Western feminists to "anthorpologize' and patronize third world feminists, Ustaza Fatima can rest assured that it was actually radical feminists from the third world who most vigorously exposed such tendency without stooping to irrational and false characterization of Western women and Western feminism as Ustaza Fatima and Mosque preachers would do. The second point I would like to make here is that I have always been baffled by this "total equality" that Ustaza Fatima always insists that our pioneers in the Sudanese women's movement have achieved. I will never dismiss their achievements and I will always acknowledge the fact that I, being a woman, was able to have the university education that has turned me into this ungrateful graduate "khrrija", is largely because of the struggle mounted by Ustaza Fatima and the other pioneers. However, I must admit that I have never experienced this total equality referred to by Fatima. If anything, for my generation our lives were mostly a fierce internal struggle to hold on to our humanity in the face of the overwhelming forces that worked to put us in our natural place as subordinate third or fourth class citizens with no intellect or brains!! Thus whether or not Western women are faring as bad as the hareem in a Caliph's palace, does not change the fact that total equality in Sudan has never ever been achieved by the pioneers or by any benevolent extraterritorial beings that have opted to remain invisible so far!!
Ustaza Fatima then moves on to make another statement that I find extremely disturbing. After blasting the ungrateful graduates for their conceit and lack of authenticity (being, as they are, puppets of the mighty Professor Hale), Fatima moves on to dismiss these unfortunate young rebels as having never done anything for Sudan or women in Sudan because they spend their time theorizing and criticizing without doing any real work. And that the real job is done by those young women in Sudan and Cairo who are loyal to the Sudanese Women's Union and so on and so forth. This shows blatant and willful disregard for the power of the idea and its ability to change things and influence our cultural and political life. The real problem in the past was that there was never enough theorization by Sudanese women. Sudanese women who wish to speak or write should be able to do so without being told that they are doing nothing, just talking!! It is also about time that more and more women write and speak instead of listening to the same voice over and over again. I am sure that the impact of this speaking and writing will be tremendous even if it takes fifty years to materialize. I firmly believe that effective presence of women in the intellectual life is required now more than ever. Trying to dismiss this and discourage it in the name of its being mere theorization "tanzeer", to use Fatima's word, will achieve nothing more than lending a valuable service to patriarchy in the name of real work.
The other facet of Fatima's argument regarding the real soldiers in Sudan is also pathetic. I am sorry to use this word but I have noticed that Fatima is not alone in this, many have joined her in using this tactic of putting down those whom they disagree with. Whenever someone who lives in the Diaspora is bold enough to offend the sentiment of our established leaders, whether political or intellectual, then she or he will be quickly reminded that s/he has fled the country and as result must censor herself or be censored by others like Fatima. For how could they have the nerve to speak after committing such a cowardly hideous crime. Invariably those who are always ready to volunteer to point out to us our cowardice neglect to mention why they themselves have left the country, but no need to go into that. However, the fact of the matter is that many people have left the country, and this should by no means be used against them because even before the NIF’s coup, being outside the country does not mean anything regarding one’s commitment and true feelings for Sudanese people. The best way to go about our Diasporic reality is to turn our life into a vibrant cultural and intellectual experience that would not only make better people of us but can also spill to those inside who are crushed by the weight of the NIF’s oppression and the daily struggle to eat, drink, transport oneself from place to place and above all to those who are trying to subvert the NIF despite everything like the young women Fatima mentions. Many of the ungrateful graduates whom Fatima mentions can afford to melt into the Western middle class life and get away from the "headache" called Sudan. It is a poor service to the suffering of the heroines inside Sudan to use their name to stifle the engagement and committed intellectual activity of their comrades and allies outside the country. Becoming engaged should not be rewarded with ridicule in the name of the silent soldiers in Sudan. Moreover, who has the right to define what women inside want? Why do we assume that because they do not live in the West they must agree with Fatima’s ultra-conservative line of thinking? If my personal experience is an indicator, many of those who do not agree with Fatima’s ways are still inside the country. What are we to think of them? Who knows, perhaps Sondra has managed to corrupt them from afar by some supernatural power that we are unaware of.
I will skip the part regarding the backwardness of Southern women because I find that really a mind-boggling affair. All I have to say is that we again see the dismissal of Sudanese women’s ability to think independently when a young woman described by Fatima as a graduate and a leader in another Sudanese party happens to agree with Sondra on the inappropriateness of describing Southern women as backward. Fatima attributes this to the influence of Sondra. What a pity, all those who have a disagreement with the old guard have to be influenced by Westerners!!! Never mind that Fatima’s professed ideology "Marxism, Leninism" was not founded by two men from Atbara or Shandi. And if Fatima has a disagreement with this young woman in the leadership of another party, she should address the disputed issue without resort to smearing and NIF-style trickery. Of equal importance, Fatima should refrain from lumping together all young Sudanese women who happen not to live in Cairo or Sudan because this is a diverse group with diverse political and ideological leanings.
And to give a more dramatic finish to her article, we see Fatima describing the devil’s den by informing us of the kind of posters hanging on Hale’s office walls whom she refers to as "the friend Hale". She describes photographs that aim at discouraging homophobia and bigotry (Here, the Ustaza gets very explicit so I will refrain from translating this part). Then she goes on to warn us of not taking the word of those Western experts literally and we should be very selective in what we learn from them. Again I find this very objectionable for whatever Sondra Hale hangs in her office is her own business and should not be the topic of a newspaper article. I also do not see the relevance of this to the recent women’s symposium and what other women wrote. The whole thing is very distasteful and sinister because it goes like this : There are some young women who are dissatisfied with the old leadership that includes Fatima. Those young women are influenced by a Western professor who advocates tolerance to homosexuality. Thus these young women are letting themselves be corrupted by someone like that which means they themselves have become as corrupt as their teacher is. Therefore, these young women should be dismissed as mere Westernized puppets. Again Fatima takes great pain as has become her habit to remind us of the sinful life of the Western women with its freedom to drink wine, smoke and have sex, which in reality has achieved nothing for these women.Thus a mere disagreement with Fatima over her insistence to describe Southern women as backward turns into a war in which those who dare to disagree with Fatima are smeared by being portrayed as Westernized degenerates. Constant diversion of arguments into the arena of sex and immoral conduct is an NIF trademark that is not befitting a distinguished woman activist like Fatima. Unfortunately, she has recently shown marked preference for using this weapon to the extent that it has now become a trademark of hers as well. This has a great censoring effect because women in Sudan are raised to believe that their reputation, which is strictly defined in sexual terms, is a fragile vase. This vase should be diligently guarded by staying miles away from any dust that may smear it, let alone winds that may bring the vase tumbling and break it to pieces. Predictably, the world of ideas is a hurricane that women should stay continents apart from. Thus women venturing into this arena can always be made to feel inadequate and unworthy by turning everything they say or do into a "vase breaker".
Moreover, by describing Sondra as a friend and visiting her office, Fatima allows herself to associate with Westerners. To get out of this impasse she quickly reassures us that others, however, do not posses the great wisdom she is endowed with i.e. wisdom of rejecting the nasty part of Western morality, so those other folks have to be careful. And if they agree with the Westerner on anything, then they must be whole-heartedly agreeing with everything that the Westerner stands for.
Writing this was no fun at all. I have been very reluctant to openly criticize Fatima in public because of my admiration for her charisma and stamina. Most importantly, however, I did not join the attack on her because on closer scrutiny, the majority of her critics are even more conservative and religious-minded than her even though they may be less crude and more apt at using polished words ( I have pointed out numerous example of this before). I also believe that if an alternative feminist thinking is to establish any presence it should do so relying on its merit and its ability to be creative and add new insights to our cultural life without wasting time wining about the domination of the old establishment. However, when a leading woman activist resorts to very damaging and ultra-conservative ways and means of bringing down her foes, one should discuss that openly however painful this might be. I felt that it is high time we discuss the way Sudanese women are always silenced even by other Sudanese women. I did not write this with the intention of defending Sondra Hale because I am sure she can defend herself better than anyone could do that for her. But I must mention that I found the part about Sondra Hale’s office to be very disagreeable and unethical. I think Fatima should not have stooped this low, as this is not what we would expect from a pioneer like her.
Despite everything I was rather amused by the constant referral of Fatima to those who disagree with her as the "university graduates" i.e. "khirrijat". I cannot, however, blame her because recently I noticed a very disappointing new phenomenon in the Sudanese lists. People have suddenly started referring to each other as Dr. so and Dr. so and Dr. this and that, which is indeed very oppressive and irritating because it builds hierarchy rather than egalitarian comradeship. Even old friends suddenly start addressing you with titles that are mainly professional and should have no place in a free medium intended for debate and exchange of ideas. This doctor-mania makes the false impression that the ideas of these doctors are sounder than the ideas of others. Nothing can be farther from the truth, but this is another subject.
I welcome any comments that others may have. Mine are very preliminary reflections on Fatima’s article. I wish I had more time to reflect on all the points that have caught my attention. However, I may revisit these points at a later date or during debate.
Thank you all.
Nazik