Ebbaba was born 30 years in the past within the Aaiún camp and in the present day she is a journalist specializing in migratory crises. In this interview, she analyzes Spain’s coverage in Western Sahara and the position of ladies within the Islamic world”We should not champion the veil as an emblem feminist as a result of it’s not, however it’s a must to respect it in order to not be racist”, asserts
Normally, she is the one who asks the questions, though in the present day Ebbaba Hameida modifications roles and turns into information. She is the primary Saharawi girl to acquire a PhD in Journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid and she or he has achieved so with excellent cum laude, her highest recognition, for her analysis work on the position of ladies in Muslim nations.
In actuality, it was her father who wished her to be a health care provider since medical doctors are wanted within the Saharawi refugee camps, however Ebbaba didn’t take lengthy to grasp that “there’s additionally an absence of voices that inform the fact of forgotten conflicts like hers,” she explains. In reality, she has specialised in migration crises and lined tragedies reminiscent of Melilla or the warfare in Ukraine. Her subsequent cease is the famine in Somalia that she’s going to report on rtve.She is her with an expert and feminist outlook that she additionally defends on the Reporters Without Borders board of which she is a member.
All this with 30 or 31 years simply turned. According to his grandmother, he was born in 1991, the 12 months of the ceasefire and the 12 months wherein there have been vital floods, though his ID exhibits the date of delivery as November 15, 1992. What is obvious, he signifies, is that He got here into the world on a Friday, within the adobe home of his mom’s older sister, in Tindouf, a desert area of Algeria the place the Saharawi refugee camps are positioned.
Question How does a woman born within the Aaiún camp handle to be the primary Saharawi girl to obtain a doctorate in Journalism and above all with excellent cum laude?
Answer: Well, I left due to my sickness. I’m celiac and I couldn’t dwell there. My physique doesn’t adapt to the tough situations of the camps, so on the age of 5 they despatched me to Italy. Later, after a troublesome adolescence, with episodes of bullying included, I got here to Spain, to Extremadura, to Don Benito, residing with foster households.
Q. And why did you resolve to check Journalism?
R. My father wished me to be a health care provider since medical doctors are wanted within the camps. He did the Bachelor of Science, however it did not take me lengthy to appreciate and persuade him that, given the shortage of visibility and the humanitarian state of affairs, journalists are maybe extra crucial than well being employees to attain a political answer. In change, my father requested me to do a doctorate to satisfy his dream and have the ability to name myself a health care provider.
Q. You did your doctorate on a subject that’s not overseas to you.
A. Yes, I did analysis on the survival of ladies in Muslim nations. A query that I wanted to check to grasp who I used to be, the place I used to be going and the place I got here from. I wished to grasp my combined identification, the product of two cultures and two opposing worlds that appear to be incompatible as a girl. Studying the fact of ladies in Muslim nations has helped me quite a bit to do a job of introspection and to know my social and non secular context.
Women performed a vital position within the Arab Spring that later they wished to silence
Q. What is your conclusion?
R. That autonomy is essential for ladies, because it helps us to interrupt with the imposed norms and with the intransigence that permeates nearly all of Muslim nations wherein faith is interpreted in a extra radical manner. Once this autonomy is achieved, it’s essential to see the way it develops, in search of new channels wherein to make girls seen. It is just not all the time achieved. For instance, girls performed a vital position within the Arab Spring, which later they wished to silence. The similar is going on within the uprisings in Iran. In the top, the diploma of freedom of ladies displays the state of affairs and the democratic degree of the nation. This is what’s demonstrated in my thesis, particularly since girls make up greater than half of the inhabitants and when you have greater than half of the inhabitants below medieval guidelines, contemplating them second-class residents, it’s not obscure that we’re speaking about absolutist and autocratic monarchies. This might be seen within the case of Tunisia, the place there are legal guidelines that acknowledge the rights of ladies, or in that of Saudi Arabia, the place the laws could be very harsh on girls and on society generally.
Ebbaba Hameida Brais Lorenzo
Q. And how do you see the state of affairs of ladies in Europe?
R. Well, right here it’s not the veil, however it’s trend, it’s glass ceilings, gender violence… There continues to be a protracted method to go and a whole lot of work to do. This is a world struggle and we can not chill out in any respect. It is obvious that now we have to maintain transferring ahead, seeing how girls are projected and analyzing the situations which might be positioned on us. It can also be true that it’s attention-grabbing to see how nations like Spain can function inspiration within the legal guidelines towards gender violence in nations like Tunisia, the one Muslim state that has integrated a rule on this regard.
Feminism has reached a really attention-grabbing level, however it’s true {that a} reactionary present is happening all through the world. In the Arab nations a re-Islamization is happening, faith is gaining weight, additionally within the United States with the problem of abortion. So progress is made, however there’s all the time one thing holding us again and, globally, we nonetheless have quite a bit to do. This struggle for equality is transversal because it impacts all areas of life and the primary to undergo the crises are girls.
Q. What stays of your standing as a girl born within the Sahara?
R. I share with the Saharawi girls a battle that has marked us and continues to take action. The absence of my grandfather, a nomad, meant that my grandmother took care of the whole lot. It was the Saharawi girls who raised life and constructed the refugee camps the place I used to be born, an inhospitable place. I share that in addition to the state of affairs of the brand new generations which have seen how the boys returned from the entrance and claimed their position. There has been a re-Islamization and vital setbacks with respect to the advances achieved by our moms and grandmothers. We are seeing how faith is way more current. As a girl within the diaspora, I even have part of me that could be very marked by Europe and because of having gone via college, my context and my imaginative and prescient of what I wish to be as a girl could be very completely different from that of my cousins or my sisters. .
The key to success in my identification course of is to have achieved this steadiness between my two elements
Q. What is your imaginative and prescient?
R. I wish to be a free, autonomous girl, to be how I wish to be with out anybody telling me how I’ve to be or with out having to offer explanations. It appears apparent, however there are nations the place this obviousness doesn’t exist. The key to success in my identification course of is to have achieved this steadiness between my two elements. As a girl I haven’t got to surrender something that makes me really feel good or fulfilled.
Q. Does it differ quite a bit from your loved ones?
R. At first there have been issues that shocked them, for instance, that she didn’t put on a veil; however my relationship with my household could be very lovely, actually. I’ve a really sturdy reference to them, it pulls me quite a bit, figuring out the place I come from. Women like my mom or my grandmother encourage me and I’m very pleased with my father. It can also be true that now we have needed to struggle for acceptance, for them to simply accept me and for me to grasp them. It has been a relentless work of understanding and switch in order that these two Ebbabas may dwell with their household. They haven’t had to surrender their daughter and I’ve not had to surrender my mother and father. There is a whole lot of love and though they’d love me to put on the hijab, I’ve managed to elucidate and persuade them that I’m proud of the life I lead.
I’m not in favor of the veil, however I might not like my mom to be reprimanded for carrying it
P. The everlasting debate of the veil.
R. I’m not in favor of the veil, I believe it’s a image that differentiates women and men. I’m required to put on it and my brother is just not, so we’re not beginning on equal phrases. What occurs is that the talk is contaminated with what racism is. For instance, I might not like my mom to be scolded for carrying a veil and informed that she has to take it off as a result of should you take off my mom’s veil, you undress her. That should be revered. I all the time say that the veil shouldn’t be championed as a feminist image as a result of it’s not, however it should be revered in order to not be racist. This distinction is essential and never fall into that cultural relativism into which we continuously say that it’s your choice. No, it’s not your choice. This is contained in a sacred e book that claims that now we have to cowl ourselves and that they do not, so it’s clearly an instance of inequality. The debate is way broader and goes past veil, sure or veil, no. The underlying downside is that ladies are thought of second-class residents.
I wish to suppose that a greater future awaits my nieces
Q. How do you see the way forward for the Saharawi folks?
R. Well, the reality is that it’s fairly sophisticated. The political context is troublesome. North Africa is prefer it does not curiosity anybody. In November 2020 the warfare broke out once more. A brand new battle within the area that’s by no means talked about, however there isn’t a different possibility than to endure and survive. I’m not very optimistic, however I do wish to suppose that a greater future awaits my nieces, I can not think about that they are going to proceed residing like this, in such an inhospitable place. It could be very unhappy to see the youth residing in refugee camps. I imagine that change packages have saved my life, as a result of your mother and father cannot all the time offer you what you want. I’m an ideal defender of those packages that assist and resolve many issues. The kids return house after a summer time with medical check-ups and a suitcase full of garments to spend the winter. It is true that nice generosity is required on the a part of host households as a result of they do it for nothing. I keep in mind that I counted the hours to return house with my mother and father.
Spain has not achieved issues properly, if it had achieved as Portugal did with East Timor, we might not be like this
Q. How do you see the Spanish place concerning the Sahara battle?
R. Well, evidently Spain is just not very clear about its place, it’s between two neighboring nations with two antagonistic positions concerning Western Sahara: one (Morocco) that desires to occupy it and one other (Algeria) that desires to obtain its refugees in a part of his territory. Spain has to decide on, however it must also overview a little bit of its personal historical past and never ignore its obligations as a former metropolis. You shouldn’t neglect your province 53 as a result of there’s something that’s plain: the Sahrawis have been Spanish and we have been another province of Spain. You cannot erase that or make it go unnoticed at any price.
Spain has not achieved issues properly, if it had achieved as Portugal did with East Timor, we might not be like this. Spain has to conform along with her authorized obligations, in any other case she may have that debt that can all the time accompany her. There is obvious worldwide legislation that claims that Spain continues to be the administering energy of the Sahara.
Q. As a journalist specializing in migration, you additionally lined the Melilla tragedy, what’s your studying of what occurred?
R. Many issues have been achieved fallacious. Most of the victims have been migrants from Sudan, a rustic at warfare whose residents Spain often accepts as refugees. That day, June 24, as denounced by Amnesty International, quite a few human rights violations have been dedicated. I used to be in a position to converse with survivors of the soar they usually assured us that they have been returned to Morocco with out anybody asking them about their circumstances, even once they have been minors. They weren’t handled medically or obtained assist. Someone ought to clarify, however we’re nonetheless ready for them.
Q. Your want for 2023, an autonomy referendum for Western Sahara?
R. I imagine that Morocco is just not going to offer in. He is just not going to confess a session for the Saharawi folks to find out their future, though I do imagine that they are often pressured. In any case, my want is that the current doesn’t worsen and that I can proceed dedicating myself to journalism, a occupation that permits you to study every single day, that teaches you to empathize with realities which might be very completely different from yours and that has helped me to Stop seeing me as a sufferer.