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It's Local Edition, I'm Brad Pomerance. Thank you so much for joining us. It's March and we are
celebrating women in Women's History Month and we are celebrating the women of America
but also the women of Egypt and I'm joined by a native Egyptian who is a professor
at UC Riverside, Sherine Hafez. She teaches women's studies at UCR. Thank
you for joining us. [Hafez] It's my pleasure. [Pomerance] I admit I'm biased - congratulations to the Egyptian people.
You must be so excited. [Hafez] Absolutely, this is the most exciting time of my life.
[Pomerance]As the father of two daughters, I'm particularly excited by what I have seen with women being
part of the revolution. Tell me, who would have thunk? [Hafez} I think the media has done an
amazing job of representing the numbers of women who have been out there. We're not exactly
sure what the percentages are, we are sort of assuming that the numbers fluctuate from
day-to-day.
Ranging from 20 to 50 percent of the demonstrators [Pomerance] I would be surprised
if it was two percent or five percent because I had the perception that women were not
allowed to be part of public conversation. [Hafez]Yes, well, unfortunately this
is the perception of women in the Middle East, and the whole region as a matter of fact, here in
the United States and in the west in general. [Pomerance]You are so right, because I think
Americans, they lump in Saudi Arabia, where the women are completely covered,
with the more.... look, there are problems
in Egypt even under Qaddafi (sic), but it's it really is a more secular state even
in the Mubarak era, I should say. Is that the right perception?
I would say that Egypt declares itself as a secular state. However, it does state
in the constitution that the religion
of country is Islam and that is actually one of the demands of the demonstrators to
change that.
[Pomerance}I've got to ask you about that.
If we'd looked at the Middle East,
even the stronger democracies are still
dedicated to Islam. And I think Americans need to recognize that that is the way of
the Middle East.
But there's a difference between
being dedicated to Islam and being Islamist. [Hafez]Mmmm-hmmm. Absolutely. [Pomerance]And so, what do you see in Egypt?
[Hafez]Well let me just start by defining the word "Islamist" because there are many ways
of looking at the practice of Islam.
Islamist means that you are advocating for an Islamic government.
When we say Islamic, we are basically pointing to people who are pious, who are practicing Islam
[Pomerance]It's a beautiful religion. [Hafez]But at the same time they can also be democratic
and be completely liberal and moderate.
And that is something that I actually argue for in my work as well, that we cannot see
these two as a binary.
But when we talk about Islamists, we are talking about groups...
[Pomerance]Muslim Brotherhood?
Or maybe not?
[Hafez] Maybe not because the Muslim Brotherhood does not aim for government. They have been consistently
apolitical for such a long time. However, recently they have actually been invited in many of
the negotiations that have been taking place between the protesters and the government.
[Pomerance]So, if you look towards the future in Egypt, do you believe it will retain its
Islamic / secular status? Is that an oxymoron?
[Hafez]I think that we have to be very careful not to binarize Islam and secularism.
because the two are mutually productive and in historical time.
and when I say they are mutually productive, I say the definition of what Islam is
and the definition of what secularism is is very contextual and differs from
one place to another. In this particular region of the world, secular, modern ideas have
been intertwined with Islamic ideas. So in order to say "Well is the country
going to go this way or that way?" I think is needs to be {unintelligible}...
[Pomerance]In our final moments, I'd like to ask you, why are you still here?
I mean, if I were Egyptian, I'd be back there writing the constitution...
[Hafez] Let me tell you, it has been a challenge. I have spent the last three weeks of my life glued
to four different kinds of media.
Television, internet, Skype, telephone, Blackberry messaging.
My family is staying up at night just to hear the news.
But I feel like, for the time being, I think it would be best for me to remain here.
[Pomerance]Congratulations Sherine Hafez. I'm Brad Pomerance - back to HLN.
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