Rana Abdelhamid: 3 lessons on starting a movement from a self-defense trailblazer
Rana Abdelhamid: 3 leçons pour démarrer un mouvement, par une pionnière de l’autodéfense
Rana Abdelhamid is an internationally acclaimed community organizer, first-degree black belt, public speaker and social entrepreneur focused on mass mobilization, international solidarity and the empowerment of marginalized communities. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
her college sweetheart
son amour de jeunesse
explosaient à l’horizon,
at my mother jokingly and said,
et a dit en plaisantant :
much like a celebration
tellement une célébration
would wander past Queens
flânions au-delà du Queens
and long flowy dresses
et ses longues robes à fleurs
around my small fingers
autour de mes petits doigts
against weathered comments like,
à des commentaires étouffés tels que :
to make us feel unsafe, insecure
nous sentir en danger, pas en sécurité
dans notre peau.
amoureuse de New York.
diverse places in the world,
les plus diversifiés du monde,
holding stories that always start
détenant des histoires commençant toujours
and 15 dollars in a pocket,
in jam-packed, busted apartments.
bondés, en mauvais état.
that we had safe microcommunities --
des microcommunautés sûres --
in our identities.
et aimés dans nos identités.
that my mom faced,
auxquelles ma mère faisait face,
some of the most powerful women
des femmes les plus fortes
for who watched whose kids when,
pour surveiller les enfants,
de danse du ventre,
et pour apprendre l’anglais.
de petits jetons dorés
pour la mosquée locale.
car j’étais musulmane,
of unapologetic North African aunties
tantes d’Afrique du Nord
and stand in front of a mirror,
devant un miroir,
bright silk around my head
d’un magnifique morceau de soie éclatant
and my grandmother did.
et ma grand-mère le faisaient.
the streets of New York City
at a domestic violence organization
contre la violence domestique
my neighborhood had started.
I felt a yank at the back of my head.
qu’on tirait d’un coup sec.
from off of my head.
mon hijab de ma tête.
to a tall, broad-shouldered man,
à un homme grand, large d’épaules,
of that organization and cried and cried.
de cette organisation
envers les musulmans
après le 11 septembre
et la violence envers les musulmans
of Muslim women in our hijabs.
des femmes musulmanes dans leurs hijabs.
and make sure that no one I loved,
que personne que j’aimais,
this insecure in her own skin.
se sentir en sécurité dans sa propre peau.
how the women in my own neighborhood
à comment les femmes de mon quartier
community for themselves,
the very little resources they had
le peu de ressources qu’elles avaient
about what I could potentially offer
potentiellement offrir
et la force chez les femmes.
with you today, some of these lessons.
avec vous aujourd’hui : certaines leçons.
Shotokan karate
I should go out into my neighborhood
aller dans mon quartier
aux jeunes filles.
and knocked on doors,
aux parents, aux jeunes femmes
to parents, to young women,
a free community center basement
un sous-sol d’un centre communautaire
that they should come to my class.
de venir à mon cours.
qui sait faire du karaté.
New York version of Mr. Miyagi
du Queens, de New York
in that community center basement
j’ai enseigné l’autodéfense
over the course of that summer,
the power of our bodies,
la force de notre corps
à partager nos expériences
shocking realizations,
des réalisations choquantes
with this incredible sisterhood,
avec cette incroyable sororité
much safer in my own skin.
plus en sécurité dans ma propre peau.
that we just kept teaching.
nous avons continué à enseigner.
but we just kept teaching.
mais nous avons continué.
et de filles plus tard,
un cours d’autodéfense
grassroots organization
communautaire internationale
for women around the world:
des femmes à travers le monde :
an expert in something
and think you have the magic recipe.
et penser avoir la recette magique.
Kendrick Lamar once said,
philosophe Kendrick Lamar,
to be humble and to sit down.
d’être humble et de s’asseoir.
any business doing work with
avec laquelle je pouvais travailler
in my neighborhood,
I was friends with them.
what it meant to be a child
ce que c’était d’être l’enfant
who were connected to those communities,
ayant des liens avec ces communautés
how they already had
qu’elles avaient déjà
and relationship with their communities.
et de relations dans leurs communautés.
and the women in her neighborhood,
et les femmes de son quartier,
social networks,
des réseaux sociaux très forts
leurs aptitudes
definition of safety.
de la sécurité des autres femmes.
a self-defense instructor,
instructrice d’autodéfense,
dans une communauté
de ma communauté.
as our network expanded,
durant l’expansion de notre réseau,
is not just physical.
n’était pas que physique.
a 60-minute self-defense class,
d’autodéfense de 60 minutes
for just talking and healing.
réservées à la discussion et la guérison.
to the class to begin with
ce qui les avait menées au cours
experiences with violence.
expériences de la violence.
one time in one of those classes,
to talk about the fact
relationship for over 30 years,
conjugale violente durant 30 ans.
being able to articulate that
qu’elle était capable de l’articuler,
that safe space for her.
ce lieu sûr pour elle.
in women's agency to define
à l’action des femmes pour définir
looks like for themselves.
et la force pour elles.
is to start with the joy.
est de commencer avec de la joie.
I was reacting to a hate-based attack,
je réagissais à une attaque haineuse,
and anxious and overwhelmed.
je me sentais anxieuse et bouleversée.
because if you take a step back,
si vous prenez du recul,
in this room can probably relate to this,
peuvent s’identifier à ceci,
feeling of insecurity,
de ne pas être en sécurité
hearing footsteps behind you.
entendre des pas derrière vous.
or if you should slow down.
accélérer ou ralentir le pas.
in case you need to use them.
au cas où vous devriez les utiliser.
I want to make sure you are safe."
quand tu es rentrée.
too much or too little in a meeting.
trop ou pas assez dans une réunion.
and trans and queer and Latinx
noire, trans, queer, latinx,
how overwhelming this work can be,
combien ce travail est accablant,
of personal safety.
de la sécurité personnelle.
du recul pour réfléchir
to this work to begin with,
à faire ce travail,
the love that I had
l’amour que j’éprouvais
je les voyais se rassembler,
à faire ce travail
a refugee camp in Jordan
de réfugiés en Jordanie,
dans la Silicon Valley,
de façons magnifiquement magiques,
and supported each other
et se soutenaient
plus de sécurité pour les femmes.
we built together.
que nous avons nouées.
just teach self-defense,
teaching self-defense all of these years
durant toutes ces années :
as cool as the self-defense moves are,
que soient les mouvements d’autodéfense,
these self-defense techniques.
ces techniques d’autodéfense.
de-escalate any violent situation.
à désamorcer une situation violente.
to take place to begin with needs to stop.
d’avoir lieu doivent prendre fin.
we need all hands on deck.
nous avons besoin de tout le monde.
to start with who you know
commencez avec ceux que vous connaissez
Mais commencez.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rana Abdelhamid - Community organizer, entrepreneurRana Abdelhamid is an internationally acclaimed community organizer, first-degree black belt, public speaker and social entrepreneur focused on mass mobilization, international solidarity and the empowerment of marginalized communities.
Why you should listen
Rana Abdelhamid is committed to organizing communities around migrant, gender and racial justice. For ten years, Abdelhamid has served as the Executive Director of Malikah, a global grassroots movement committed to building safety and power for all women through self-defense, healing justice, community organizing and financial literacy. She founded Malikah at the age of 16 after being attacked by a stranger, who tried to remove the hijab from her head. Today, Abdelhamid and her volunteer team of women conduct healing spaces and have trained more than 7,000 women in 18 cities across the globe. For the past three years, Malikah has held the National Muslim Women's Summit at Harvard University, training 50 Muslim American women in leadership and community organizing.
Abdelhamid's organizing work has always been rooted in building solidarity across communities domestically and abroad. During the Arab Spring, Abdelhamid was involved in mobilizing diaspora communities in solidarity with grassroots activists in Egypt. After the "Muslim ban" was passed, she helped organize thousands of people across Boston for the 20,000-person Copley Square protest and spoke alongside Senator Elizabeth Warren, among others. After the murder of Nabra Hassanen, Abdelhamid and her team worked to mobilize tens of thousands of people across ten cities in under 24 hours for prayers and vigils in her remembrance.
In 2013, Abdelhamid started Hijabis of NY, an online platform that highlights the stories of hijabi women. In 2017, she also coedited and published Muslim Women's Stories, a collection of narratives from young Muslim women across the US. She is highly committed to the global human rights movement and is one of youngest serving board members of Amnesty International USA. Abdelhamid has a BA from Middlebury in International Politics and Economics and a master's degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, where her research was focused on policy interventions to mitigate the prevalence of domestic violence in Queens, NY and on refugee integration policy in the US.
In 2017, Abdelhamid was named one of the 17 women who "Rocked the Resistance" in 2017 and is frequently called "the Muslim Black Belt." She has been named a Truman Scholar, a Running Start Rising Political Star and has received both a NYC Council Proclamation and an International Youth Advocate award by the UNAUSA Foundation.
Rana Abdelhamid | Speaker | TED.com