intro

Strange, how the world came to a sudden standstill. And now it’s racing again, faster than ever. Stimmen was born in 2020 out of a need to stay in touch with the world while borders were closed due to high infection numbers. We went in search of stories that we were (and are) connected to and that we felt were in danger of being lost in the flood of information about the pandemic. These stories describe political participation, revolutions, protest, attempts to overcome discrimination – “Raise your voice! Let yours be a voice for freedom!

For us, listening became the focal point of our work. This was a challenge and sometimes an excessive demand – “The fractures are complicated, the scars deep, the injuries almost incidental“. At the same time, listening gave us courage and inspired us, and the longer we worked, the more we wanted to tell these stories. This would not have been possible without the many inspiring people who shared their stories with us: Ellen Hellwig, Daria Serenko, Yulia Tsvetkova, Carolin Emcke, Fred Hersch, Sondos Shabayek and many others who wanted to (or had to) remain anonymous – we are very grateful to them. We are just as grateful to the many others involved in this project, in particular Philipp, Jelena, Zuza and Michael. Together with us, they formed, and continue to form, the choir that makes these voices heard.

You keep on asking. what’s beneath snow? what’s underneath? My answer remains – the snow“ – and yet the world keeps on turning. Some stories that can be found in Stimmen were forgotten, then appeared in all the newspapers and are now once again being pushed to the margins by other topics. Many have probably never heard of some of the other stories. We hope that our work can help to inspire attentive listening. We hope that listeners will become affected witnesses – witnesses of a world in which, beyond all the problems and cruelties, people everywhere are fighting to make things better and thus give hope. May this be the vaccination against hopelessness – „When they go low, we go high!“.

intro

 

Strange, how the world came to a sudden standstill. And now it’s racing again, faster than ever. Stimmen was born in 2020 out of a need to stay in touch with the world while borders were closed due to high infection numbers. We went in search of stories that we were (and are) connected to and that we felt were in danger of being lost in the flood of information about the pandemic. These stories describe political participation, revolutions, protest, attempts to overcome discrimination – “Raise your voice! Let yours be a voice for freedom!

For us, listening became the focal point of our work. This was a challenge and sometimes an excessive demand – “The fractures are complicated, the scars deep, the injuries almost incidental“. At the same time, listening gave us courage and inspired us, and the longer we worked, the more we wanted to tell these stories. This would not have been possible without the many inspiring people who shared their stories with us: Ellen Hellwig, Daria Serenko, Yulia Tsvetkova, Carolin Emcke, Fred Hersch, Sondos Shabayek and many others who wanted to (or had to) remain anonymous – we are very grateful to them. We are just as grateful to the many others involved in this project, in particular Philipp, Jelena, Zuza and Michael. Together with us, they formed, and continue to form, the choir that makes these voices heard.

You keep on asking. what’s beneath snow? what’s underneath? My answer remains – the snow“ – and yet the world keeps on turning. Some stories that can be found in Stimmen were forgotten, then appeared in all the newspapers and are now once again being pushed to the margins by other topics. Many have probably never heard of some of the other stories. We hope that our work can help to inspire attentive listening. We hope that listeners will become affected witnesses – witnesses of a world in which, beyond all the problems and cruelties, people everywhere are fighting to make things better and thus give hope. May this be the vaccination against hopelessness – „When they go low, we go high!“.

witnesses 

philip frischkorn with ellen hellwig

equation (Intro)

[…]

It’s all just borrowed, from books, from stories, from history… 

I don’t think we have yet reached the end of the story

The end usually arrives when it is least expected.

[…]

My breath is continued in the breath of another

I follow the traces of the voices

Traces in the cobblestones

Traces of the bodies that have carried voices past here

[…]

I wish the sound constructed a space for grief



over and over and over again

over and over and over again 

over and over and over again 

[…]



metamorphosis

You don’t constantly talk about it, unless someone asks
and then she tells me:
The demonstrators were always walking along the ring road
They were looking out of the window
and they waved and shouted: come along
She wasn’t afraid, maybe
of the mob – but not so much of the police,
the riot police, little boys, that’s how they seemed to her.
They were scared, you could see that
“What were they supposed to do?
shoot at their own friends
the parents at their children?”
On 9 November, Schabowski’s note reads
‘Private trips abroad can be applied for (…) without any prerequisites, permits will be issued at short notice.’

She says:
They were defeated.
Someone had said that.
Was it an American or a West German?
Victory without war.
They didn’t even change a comma in the name of the Federal Republic of Germany The fractures are complicated
The scars are deep

The injuries almost incidental
How were you only able to live in the GDR? locked up like that? asks a neighbour later
And she thinks
– we laughed

In the West they were laughed at
by young people on the street
Because of their appearance, because of their east-german clothing
She wanted to know how they really are and think in the West. What do they feel? But nothing could be done
It was the façade, always the façade, she says
She doesn’t want that, she’d rather be quarrelsome.

There were self-confident women in the East, working class women
West German women sat around
in cafés and were bored

Not you! They were cheeky and
on Women’s Day – there was something going on. There was a party.
You would have been a bit scared as a man Women could be anything in the socialist states, maybe they also had to

And then she tells us
where the GDR government people lived, in Wandlitz
What a ridiculous village that was!
It was ridiculous compared to the villas you see now when you take a boat trip,
here in Venezia Leipzig on the canal…
She still thinks today
It’s fascinating to think that there are no super-rich people, that a person who does a simple job is just as much a person as a clever person who earns a lot of money.

but today she also thinks,
it wasn’t going to happen with the people as they are

Then she says
she has read, heard,
perhaps she also hopes
that a new generation is growing up now that is wiser than the previous generations…

– Ellen Hellwig in an interview with Philip Frischkorn



united resistance

Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. I am not going to resign! Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands will not be shriveled forever. History is ours, and people make history. (…) The calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country. In this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail, go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again and free men will walk through them to construct a better society.

Salvador Allende, 11.09.1973

witnesses – 

philip frischkorn with ellen hellwig 

 

 equation (Intro)

[…]

It’s all just borrowed, from books, from stories, from history… 

I don’t think we have yet reached the end of the story

The end usually arrives when it is least expected.

[…]

My breath is continued in the breath of another

I follow the traces of the voices

Traces in the cobblestones

Traces of the bodies that have carried voices past here

[…]

I wish the sound constructed a space for grief

 

over and over and over again

over and over and over again 

over and over and over again 

[…]

metamorphosis

You don’t constantly talk about it, unless someone asks
and then she tells me:
The demonstrators were always walking along the ring road
They were looking out of the window
and they waved and shouted: come along
She wasn’t afraid, maybe
of the mob – but not so much of the police,
the riot police, little boys, that’s how they seemed to her.
They were scared, you could see that
“What were they supposed to do?
shoot at their own friends
the parents at their children?”
On 9 November, Schabowski’s note reads
‘Private trips abroad can be applied for (…) without any prerequisites, permits will be issued at short notice.’

She says:
They were defeated.
Someone had said that.
Was it an American or a West German?
Victory without war.
They didn’t even change a comma in the name of the Federal Republic of Germany The fractures are complicated
The scars are deep

The injuries almost incidental
How were you only able to live in the GDR? locked up like that? asks a neighbour later
And she thinks
– we laughed

In the West they were laughed at
by young people on the street
Because of their appearance, because of their east-german clothing
She wanted to know how they really are and think in the West. What do they feel? But nothing could be done
It was the façade, always the façade, she says
She doesn’t want that, she’d rather be quarrelsome.

There were self-confident women in the East, working class women
West German women sat around
in cafés and were bored

Not you! They were cheeky and
on Women’s Day – there was something going on. There was a party.
You would have been a bit scared as a man Women could be anything in the socialist states, maybe they also had to

And then she tells us
where the GDR government people lived, in Wandlitz
What a ridiculous village that was!
It was ridiculous compared to the villas you see now when you take a boat trip,
here in Venezia Leipzig on the canal…
She still thinks today
It’s fascinating to think that there are no super-rich people, that a person who does a simple job is just as much a person as a clever person who earns a lot of money.

but today she also thinks,
it wasn’t going to happen with the people as they are

Then she says
she has read, heard,
perhaps she also hopes
that a new generation is growing up now that is wiser than the previous generations…

– Ellen Hellwig in an interview with Philip Frischkorn

united resistance

Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. I am not going to resign! Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands will not be shriveled forever. History is ours, and people make history. (…) The calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country. In this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail, go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again and free men will walk through them to construct a better society.

Salvador Allende, 11.09.197

 

peaceful warrioresses  

evgeny ring with daria serenko / yulia tsvetkova 

The chapter was written in 2020, before the onset of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. It seems all the more important to us to amplify and support the voices of those who stood then and continue to stand against the Russian regime. 

what’s beneath the snow? 

 

 

the revolution will come to pass – it will have your eyes 

the eyes cast wide open in the darkness
witness the protesters seek out one another by feel
and caress one another after asking the question “may I?” 

how, having recovered, they kiss, tearing their masks off 

 

when they banned us from approaching each other it snowed

when they banned us from standing alone
it kept snowing 

when they banned us from undressing in front of each other 

it snowed in our homes 

 

our bed is all snowed in,
It is standing there, sterile and white

just as they wanted 

 

what is your favorite color? 

the color of blood yet unshed 

the blood I cannot see
and yet imagine 

 

as I do freedom 

 

when we went out to smash the shop displays
it snowed
and it was ice we crushed and not the windows
for ice it was that held the river back so many years 

that now she spilled out onto the streets 

 

we know that ice costs more than blood 

that shattered glass will heal tomorrow 

and the goods will fall right in their place 

safely embedded back in 

while bodies remain mutilated 

swept up and concealed from prying eyes 

 

you keep on asking 

what’s beneath snow? 

what’s underneath? 

My answer remains –

the snow 

 

 

Lyrics: Daria Serenko Translation: Sergei Starkowski 

 

 

 

the fear (prelude) 

 

 

The problems began with the anti-war theatre piece “bless the lord and his ammunition” and “blue and pink” – a play about gender stereotypes.

Plays that I produced together with children and young people. 

 

I was interrogated. They wanted to gather evidence against me. They started talking in all seriousness about the distribution of pornography. At first it was ridiculous. Pornography that they found in my drawings “A woman is not a doll”. They said I was fuelling hatred against men with my feminism. 

 

At 6 a.m. I was arrested at the railway station by three men in plain clothes. They then took me to my flat for a search.
The search is one of the worst experiences
They can ruin a person’s life while drinking tea and eating cake. 

 

The children were also interrogated, at their school.
One girl was threatened that she wouldn’t finish year 9 if she didn’t give up information. The children all refused to testify.
But the children’s world collapsed. They are afraid.
They see the injustice, they don’t understand what to do about it
Some of them blame themselves for what is happening to me.
They want to leave the country and thus the country is losing people. Bright minds, very talented, strong and active. 

 

 

Excerpts from the interviews with Yulia Tsvetkova 

 

 

 

the fear 

 

 

I’m afraid all the time.
People are under the impression
that I’m so super brave.
Because I face the police and the administration without stopping my activities. 

 

But two to six years in Russian prison await me. 

I am under no illusion.
As far as I know, there are almost no acquittals… 

 

My trial has been going on for two years.
Two years of a stolen life.
The system has all the time in the world, it is in no hurry. 

 

The fear is endless. 

 

A hunger strike is a way for me to protest peacefully against injustice. 

But we should stop expecting persecuted people to become heroes. 

We don’t need heroes. 

 

And here is the big question:
Am I ready to die?
I do not know.
But I know for sure that I am not prepared to live my life in cowardice and meanness as I am at the moment. 

 

 

Excerpts from the interviews with Yulia Tsvetkova 

 

 

 

spring

 

 

Oh spring, oh spring, the two-headed girl, the golden she-eagle
come out, clad in your gown of white, a stranger’s boot-print on your belly 

point out the one that hit you
stare into his tear-drenched face
until it bifurcates
scrape the icy crust off of each little wound
and let the warm sprout of blood run through your body
let us dance in the round
not the cordon
let the ice turn
under the foot of the major
let it thaw exactly where
the bodies lay
let faces open outward to beatings and
kisses
let’s get contaminated with the sight
seen as our eyes interlock
let’s forgive no one
and tell everyone 

 

 

Lyrics: Daria Serenko/ Translation: Sergei Starkowski

 

peaceful warrioresses – 

evgeny ring with daria serenko / yulia tsvetkova 

 

The chapter was written in 2020, before the onset of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. It seems all the more important to us to amplify and support the voices of those who stood then and continue to stand against the Russian regime. 

 

what’s beneath the snow? 

the revolution will come to pass – it will have your eyes 

the eyes cast wide open in the darkness
witness the protesters seek out one another by feel
and caress one another after asking the question “may I?” 

how, having recovered, they kiss, tearing their masks off 

 

when they banned us from approaching each other it snowed

when they banned us from standing alone
it kept snowing 

when they banned us from undressing in front of each other 

it snowed in our homes 

 

our bed is all snowed in,
It is standing there, sterile and white

just as they wanted 

 

what is your favorite color? 

the color of blood yet unshed 

the blood I cannot see
and yet imagine 

 

as I do freedom 

 

when we went out to smash the shop displays
it snowed
and it was ice we crushed and not the windows
for ice it was that held the river back so many years 

that now she spilled out onto the streets 

 

we know that ice costs more than blood 

that shattered glass will heal tomorrow 

and the goods will fall right in their place 

safely embedded back in 

while bodies remain mutilated 

swept up and concealed from prying eyes 

 

you keep on asking 

what’s beneath snow? 

what’s underneath? 

My answer remains –

the snow 

 

Lyrics: Daria Serenko Translation: Sergei Starkowski 

 

the fear (prelude) 

 

The problems began with the anti-war theatre piece “bless the lord and his ammunition” and “blue and pink” – a play about gender stereotypes.

Plays that I produced together with children and young people. 

 

I was interrogated. They wanted to gather evidence against me. They started talking in all seriousness about the distribution of pornography. At first it was ridiculous. Pornography that they found in my drawings “A woman is not a doll”. They said I was fuelling hatred against men with my feminism. 

 

At 6 a.m. I was arrested at the railway station by three men in plain clothes. They then took me to my flat for a search.
The search is one of the worst experiences
They can ruin a person’s life while drinking tea and eating cake. 

 

The children were also interrogated, at their school.
One girl was threatened that she wouldn’t finish year 9 if she didn’t give up information. The children all refused to testify.
But the children’s world collapsed. They are afraid.
They see the injustice, they don’t understand what to do about it
Some of them blame themselves for what is happening to me.
They want to leave the country and thus the country is losing people. Bright minds, very talented, strong and active. 

 

Excerpts from the interviews with Yulia Tsvetkova 

 

 

the fear 

 

I’m afraid all the time.
People are under the impression
that I’m so super brave.
Because I face the police and the administration without stopping my activities. 

 

But two to six years in Russian prison await me. 

I am under no illusion.
As far as I know, there are almost no acquittals… 

 

My trial has been going on for two years.
Two years of a stolen life.
The system has all the time in the world, it is in no hurry. 

 

The fear is endless. 

 

A hunger strike is a way for me to protest peacefully against injustice. 

But we should stop expecting persecuted people to become heroes. 

We don’t need heroes. 

 

And here is the big question:
Am I ready to die?
I do not know.
But I know for sure that I am not prepared to live my life in cowardice and meanness as I am at the moment. 

 

 

Excerpts from the interviews with Yulia Tsvetkova 

 

 

spring

 

Oh spring, oh spring, the two-headed girl, the golden she-eagle
come out, clad in your gown of white, a stranger’s boot-print on your belly 

point out the one that hit you
stare into his tear-drenched face
until it bifurcates
scrape the icy crust off of each little wound
and let the warm sprout of blood run through your body
let us dance in the round
not the cordon
let the ice turn
under the foot of the major
let it thaw exactly where
the bodies lay
let faces open outward to beatings and
kisses
let’s get contaminated with the sight
seen as our eyes interlock
let’s forgive no one
and tell everyone 

 

Lyrics: Daria Serenko/ Translation: Sergei Starkowski 

 

pass the mic – 

eva klesse with sondos shabayek/ carolin emke / fred hersch and many others

don’t hit on me 

“(I) had always been afraid that straight musicians might not understand and that the music – and my reputation – would suffer as a result.” (…)
“When you’re in a band, you fall in love with other musicians in a way. If you’re a pianist, you may have found the perfect bass player, finally, or the drummer of your dreams. Musicians get musical crushes on one another (…) With this in mind, I thought the musicians I was playing with might misconstrue that with me as a kind of come-on.” 

In order not to scare off heterosexual acquaintances, we limit what could appear misleading. We revise our movements and our language, we clean up what we imagine, what others might imagine to be inappropriate. Sometimes this happens so intuitively that I no longer even realize how much the image of toxic sexuality is inscribing itself in me, how much the idea that I could have something about me, that I could be something that scares others, has become part of my own life. I then like to tell myself that this is simply polite, a sign of cautious empathy with a heterosexual counterpart – but what kind of idea of homosexuality have I empathized with? 

“At various times, certain Jazz musicians who knew I was gay would say things like, ‘It’s okay that you are gay. Just don’t hit on me.’”

– excerpt from Carolin Emcke „Ja heißt Ja und“ and Fred Hersch „Good things happen slowly“ 

 

8 out of 10 

//trigger warning//
please be aware that the following piece contains a detailed account of what female genital mutilation (fgm) involves, which some readers/listeners may find distressing.// 

لما قطعوا حتھ مني
When they cut a piece of me 

،دای ًما حاسة إن فیا حاجة ناقصة، وإني مش بنت كاملة 

I always feel like there’s something missing. That I’m not a complete girl. 

بقیت أبص لشكل جسمي كتیر في ا لم رایة واودعھ، وانا مش عارفة إیھ الـلـي ھـ یحصل فیھ، وھـ یقطعوا 

،منین 

I would look at my body in the mirror and bid it farewell, I didn’t know what they were going to do to it, or what they were going to cut.
لمادخلتا لأوضةخلعتھدومي،ما ُكـنـتـشعایزةحدییجيجنبي، أنا مش عارفة ده تفسیره إیھ، أنا عمري ما 

When I went into the room I took my clothes off, I didn’t want ،حكیت لحد قبل كده 

anyone to come close to me. I am not sure how to make sense of that. I have never told anyone this story before.
،مش فاكرة حاجة تانیة غیر ألم 

I don’t remember anything else, Except the pain.
.وبعدین شالني راجل، وحطني على السریر جنب البنتین التانیین، حسیت إننا زي الدبایح 

That same man then carried me, And put me down on the bed, Beside the other two girls. We were lying there like slaughtered animals.
.كنت خایفة وبـ عی َّط، فضلت أعیط، د َّخل معایا بابا وماما وست تانیة كده ما أعرفھاش 

إداني 6 حقن بنج، وبعدھا جاب اللیزر -حاجة زي كده-، وبعدین حسیت بدخانة، وقال لبابا وماما: “كده “حلو؟ ولا أقطع تاني؟” قالوا: “لا تمام، تسلم إیدك
كأني حتة لحمة بـ یشف ُّوھا- خلصت ولفوني في ملایة، وابویا من رجلي وعمي من راسي، ودخلوني- .أوضتي والشارع كلھ شافني، وستي كانت فرحانة بس أنا كنت بـ توجع أوي 

Baba and mama came with me, And another woman I didn’t know. He gave me six injections, And then used something like a laser device. I could smell smoke coming out of it. He asked baba and mama, “Is this enough? Or should I cut more?” “That’s enough. Good job,” they told him. It’s as if they were cutting up a piece of meat. When the procedure was done, they wrapped me in a bedsheet. My father and uncle carried me. And they took me to my room. Everyone in the street saw me. My grandmother was happy, But I was in so much pain. 

فاكرةبعدھا لماكنتبـدخ لالحمام،واحاولأد َّورھوإیھالـلـيزاد؟ولاإیھالـلـي ِن ِقص؟ مش قادرة أسامح أب ًدا إنھم .قطعوا حتة مني ورموھا في الزبالة 

I remember going to the bathroom and trying to figure out what I had lost or gained. I could never forgive them for cutting off a piece of me and throwing it in the garbage. 

– excerpts from interviews with egyptian women led by Sondos Shabayek 

 

you cannot be what you cannot see 

(quote by marian wright edelman) 

„We need our voices to be heard. Find your voice! Raise your voice! Let yours be a voice for freedom!“
„If I might thus speak to girls and women everywhere, I would issue them this simple invitation: my sisters, my daughters, my friends: find your voice!“ 

„I also honor the memory of countless women whose efforts and sacrifice will never be recognized, and who, in their private and silent struggles, helped to shape our world.“
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Nobel Peace Prize Speech, 2011) 

„But while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.“ 

„And so I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women — Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women, who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment tonight.
Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and justice for all, including the Black women, who are often — too often — overlooked, but so often prove they are the backbone of our democracy.“
Kamala Harris (Victory Speech, Wilmington, 2020) 

„As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept it on behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa, and indeed the whole world. I am especially mindful of women and girl child. I hope it will encourage them to raise their voices and take more space for leadership.“
Wangaari Maathai (Nobel Peace Prize Speech, 2004) 

„So here I stand, one girl among many.
I speak not for myself, but for those without voice can be heard.”
„They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And out of that silence came, thousands of voices.“
Malala Yousafzai (United Nations, 2013) 

„I think what happens is that if you do not have women there, then girls do not see that they can be that. So it’s really what you see, that inspires your idea of what’s possible for you in the world.“
Carol Jenkins („Miss Representation“, 2011) 

„Gender matters. Men and women experience the world differently. Gender colors the way we experience the world. But we can change that.“
„The problem with gender is, that it prescribes how we should be – rather than recognizing how we are. 

Now imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations.“ Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie (Ted Talk, 2012) 

„I believe in the gay power. I do believe in us getting our rights, or else I would not be out there fighting for our rights.“
Sylvia Rivera (Gay Pride Rally NYC, 1973) 

„When they go low, we go high!“
Michelle Obama (Convention Speech, 2016)

pass the mic – 

eva klesse with sondos shabayek/ carolin emke / fred hersch and many others

 

don’t hit on me 

“(I) had always been afraid that straight musicians might not understand and that the music – and my reputation – would suffer as a result.” (…)
“When you’re in a band, you fall in love with other musicians in a way. If you’re a pianist, you may have found the perfect bass player, finally, or the drummer of your dreams. Musicians get musical crushes on one another (…) With this in mind, I thought the musicians I was playing with might misconstrue that with me as a kind of come-on.” 

In order not to scare off heterosexual acquaintances, we limit what could appear misleading. We revise our movements and our language, we clean up what we imagine, what others might imagine to be inappropriate. Sometimes this happens so intuitively that I no longer even realize how much the image of toxic sexuality is inscribing itself in me, how much the idea that I could have something about me, that I could be something that scares others, has become part of my own life. I then like to tell myself that this is simply polite, a sign of cautious empathy with a heterosexual counterpart – but what kind of idea of homosexuality have I empathized with? 

“At various times, certain Jazz musicians who knew I was gay would say things like, ‘It’s okay that you are gay. Just don’t hit on me.’”

– excerpt from Carolin Emcke „Ja heißt Ja und“ and Fred Hersch „Good things happen slowly“ 

 

8 out of 10 

//trigger warning//
please be aware that the following piece contains a detailed account of what female genital mutilation (fgm) involves, which some readers/listeners may find distressing.// 

لما قطعوا حتھ مني
When they cut a piece of me 

،دای ًما حاسة إن فیا حاجة ناقصة، وإني مش بنت كاملة 

I always feel like there’s something missing. That I’m not a complete girl. 

بقیت أبص لشكل جسمي كتیر في ا لم رایة واودعھ، وانا مش عارفة إیھ الـلـي ھـ یحصل فیھ، وھـ یقطعوا 

،منین 

I would look at my body in the mirror and bid it farewell, I didn’t know what they were going to do to it, or what they were going to cut.
لمادخلتا لأوضةخلعتھدومي،ما ُكـنـتـشعایزةحدییجيجنبي، أنا مش عارفة ده تفسیره إیھ، أنا عمري ما 

When I went into the room I took my clothes off, I didn’t want ،حكیت لحد قبل كده 

anyone to come close to me. I am not sure how to make sense of that. I have never told anyone this story before.
،مش فاكرة حاجة تانیة غیر ألم 

I don’t remember anything else, Except the pain.
.وبعدین شالني راجل، وحطني على السریر جنب البنتین التانیین، حسیت إننا زي الدبایح 

That same man then carried me, And put me down on the bed, Beside the other two girls. We were lying there like slaughtered animals.
.كنت خایفة وبـ عی َّط، فضلت أعیط، د َّخل معایا بابا وماما وست تانیة كده ما أعرفھاش 

إداني 6 حقن بنج، وبعدھا جاب اللیزر -حاجة زي كده-، وبعدین حسیت بدخانة، وقال لبابا وماما: “كده “حلو؟ ولا أقطع تاني؟” قالوا: “لا تمام، تسلم إیدك
كأني حتة لحمة بـ یشف ُّوھا- خلصت ولفوني في ملایة، وابویا من رجلي وعمي من راسي، ودخلوني- .أوضتي والشارع كلھ شافني، وستي كانت فرحانة بس أنا كنت بـ توجع أوي 

Baba and mama came with me, And another woman I didn’t know. He gave me six injections, And then used something like a laser device. I could smell smoke coming out of it. He asked baba and mama, “Is this enough? Or should I cut more?” “That’s enough. Good job,” they told him. It’s as if they were cutting up a piece of meat. When the procedure was done, they wrapped me in a bedsheet. My father and uncle carried me. And they took me to my room. Everyone in the street saw me. My grandmother was happy, But I was in so much pain. 

فاكرةبعدھا لماكنتبـدخ لالحمام،واحاولأد َّورھوإیھالـلـيزاد؟ولاإیھالـلـي ِن ِقص؟ مش قادرة أسامح أب ًدا إنھم .قطعوا حتة مني ورموھا في الزبالة 

I remember going to the bathroom and trying to figure out what I had lost or gained. I could never forgive them for cutting off a piece of me and throwing it in the garbage. 

– excerpts from interviews with egyptian women led by Sondos Shabayek 

 

you cannot be what you cannot see 

(quote by marian wright edelman) 

„We need our voices to be heard. Find your voice! Raise your voice! Let yours be a voice for freedom!“
„If I might thus speak to girls and women everywhere, I would issue them this simple invitation: my sisters, my daughters, my friends: find your voice!“ 

„I also honor the memory of countless women whose efforts and sacrifice will never be recognized, and who, in their private and silent struggles, helped to shape our world.“
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Nobel Peace Prize Speech, 2011) 

„But while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.“ 

„And so I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women — Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women, who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment tonight.
Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and justice for all, including the Black women, who are often — too often — overlooked, but so often prove they are the backbone of our democracy.“
Kamala Harris (Victory Speech, Wilmington, 2020) 

„As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept it on behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa, and indeed the whole world. I am especially mindful of women and girl child. I hope it will encourage them to raise their voices and take more space for leadership.“
Wangaari Maathai (Nobel Peace Prize Speech, 2004) 

„So here I stand, one girl among many.
I speak not for myself, but for those without voice can be heard.”
„They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And out of that silence came, thousands of voices.“
Malala Yousafzai (United Nations, 2013) 

„I think what happens is that if you do not have women there, then girls do not see that they can be that. So it’s really what you see, that inspires your idea of what’s possible for you in the world.“
Carol Jenkins („Miss Representation“, 2011) 

„Gender matters. Men and women experience the world differently. Gender colors the way we experience the world. But we can change that.“
„The problem with gender is, that it prescribes how we should be – rather than recognizing how we are. 

Now imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations.“ Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie (Ted Talk, 2012) 

„I believe in the gay power. I do believe in us getting our rights, or else I would not be out there fighting for our rights.“
Sylvia Rivera (Gay Pride Rally NYC, 1973) 

„When they go low, we go high!“
Michelle Obama (Convention Speech, 2016)