How do you feel right now?
I feel great. I feel as if I’m born. This is the dream of my life, as if this is my day, you know, because I was dreaming of this, as I was oppressed all my life, all my life, as a writer, as a doctor, as a woman, as a human being, all my life, from King Farouk to now, Nasser, Sadat, Mubarak. So, for me, it’s . . . as if I’m 20 years old. I’m not tired. On ordinary days I’m tired, but now I stay there [in Tahrir Square], ten hours every day almost, speaking and shouting and discussing, I come back here, I continue, I never stop talking. Then I sleep four hours, or five, and then I’m up again. I’m never tired.
Nawal El Saadawi is a leading Egyptian feminist, writer, and medical doctor. Lauren E. Bohn is a multi-platform freelance journalist and 2010-2011 Fulbright fellow in Egypt. This video was uploaded onto Vimeo on 27 January 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. See, also, Lauren E. Bohn, “Egypt: Yasmine’s Hope for Tomorrow” (MRZine, 27 January 2011).
| Print