Rana Abdelhamid: 3 lessons on starting a movement from a self-defense trailblazer
Rana Abdelhamid: Tri lekcije za započinjanje pokreta od promotera samoodbrane
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
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pratila svoju ljubav sa fakulteta
her college sweetheart
iznad horizonta,
at my mother jokingly and said,
pogledao moju majku i rekao:
much like a celebration
would wander past Queens
moja majka i ja krenule da iz Kvinsa
and long flowy dresses
i dugim haljinama
around my small fingers
against weathered comments like,
oštrim komentarima poput:
to make us feel unsafe, insecure
da se osećamo nebezbedno, nesigurno
diverse places in the world,
sa najviše različitosti na svetu,
holding stories that always start
imaju priče koje uvek počinju
and 15 dollars in a pocket,
in jam-packed, busted apartments.
u pretrpanim, oštećenim stanovima.
su toliko naporno radile
that we had safe microcommunities --
bezbedne mikrozajednice -
in our identities.
u svojim identitetima.
that my mom faced,
some of the most powerful women
za to ko će čuvati čiju decu i kada,
for who watched whose kids when,
i učenje engleskog jezika.
za lokalnu džamiju.
jer sam muslimanka,
of unapologetic North African aunties
nepokolebljivih severnoafričkih tetki
probudila, stala pred ogledalo
and stand in front of a mirror,
bright silk around my head
and my grandmother did.
i kao što je to činila moja baka.
the streets of New York City
at a domestic violence organization
u organizaciji protiv nasilja u porodici
my neighborhood had started.
u mom komšiluku.
I felt a yank at the back of my head.
osetila trzaj na potiljku.
from off of my head.
to a tall, broad-shouldered man,
sa širokim ramenima,
of that organization and cried and cried.
te organizacije i plakala.
nakon napada 11. septembra,
usmereno protiv muslimana
of Muslim women in our hijabs.
muslimanki sa našim hidžabima.
and make sure that no one I loved,
i da se pobrinem da niko koga volim,
this insecure in her own skin.
da se oseća ovako nesigurno u svojoj koži.
how the women in my own neighborhood
o tome kako su žene u mom komšiluku
community for themselves,
the very little resources they had
vrlo malo resursa koje su imale
about what I could potentially offer
o tome šta mogu da ponudim
bezbednost i snagu.
with you today, some of these lessons.
sa vama danas, neke od tih lekcija.
Shotokan karate
I should go out into my neighborhood
da krenem po komšiluku
and knocked on doors,
sa roditeljima, sa devojkama,
to parents, to young women,
a free community center basement
besplatan podrum mesne zajednice
that they should come to my class.
da dođu na moj čas.
koja zna karate.
New York version of Mr. Miyagi
njujorška verzija gospodina Mijagija
in that community center basement
u tom podrumu mesne zajednice
over the course of that summer,
the power of our bodies,
shocking realizations,
with this incredible sisterhood,
sa tim neverovatnim sestrinstvom,
much safer in my own skin.
mnogo bezbednije u svojoj koži.
that we just kept teaching.
smo nastavile da podučavamo.
ali nastavile smo da podučavamo.
but we just kept teaching.
grassroots organization
for women around the world:
i snage žena širom sveta:
an expert in something
i mislite da imate čarobni recept.
and think you have the magic recipe.
Kendrick Lamar once said,
Kendrik Lamar jednom rekao,
to be humble and to sit down.
i spustiti se na zemlju.
any business doing work with
sa kojom sam mogla da radim
in my neighborhood,
u mom komšiluku,
I was friends with them.
what it meant to be a child
who were connected to those communities,
povezane sa tim zajednicama,
how they already had
and relationship with their communities.
i odnosa sa svojim zajednicama.
and the women in her neighborhood,
social networks,
definition of safety.
sigurnosti drugih žena.
a self-defense instructor,
as our network expanded,
kako se naša mreža širila,
is not just physical.
a 60-minute self-defense class,
samoodbrane od 60 minuta,
for just talking and healing.
samo za pričanje i isceljivanje.
to the class to begin with
dovelo na časove,
experiences with violence.
one time in one of those classes,
to talk about the fact
relationship for over 30 years,
u kojoj je bilo porodičnog nasilja,
being able to articulate that
kada je to mogla da izgovori
that safe space for her.
in women's agency to define
u sposobnost žena da same definišu
looks like for themselves.
is to start with the joy.
je da počnete sa radošću.
I was reacting to a hate-based attack,
reagovala sam na napad zasnovan na mržnji,
and anxious and overwhelmed.
nervozno i preplavljeno.
because if you take a step back,
ako se vratite korak unazad,
u ovoj prostoriji
in this room can probably relate to this,
feeling of insecurity,
hearing footsteps behind you.
čujete korake iza sebe.
or if you should slow down.
ili da usporite.
in case you need to use them.
za slučaj da morate da ih upotrebite.
I want to make sure you are safe."
kad dođeš kući, da znam da si bezbedna.“
too much or too little in a meeting.
ili premalo na sastanku.
and trans and queer and Latinx
i transrodna i kvir i Latinoamerikanka
i siromašna i imigrantkinja,
how overwhelming this work can be,
kako ovaj posao može da preplavi,
of personal safety.
unazad da razmislim
to this work to begin with,
da se bavim ovim,
the love that I had
da je to zapravo bila moja ljubav
jedna za druge,
da nastavim da ovo radim
a refugee camp in Jordan
u izbegličkom kampu u Jordanu,
u Silicijumskoj dolini,
na predivno čaroban način,
and supported each other
i podržavale jedna drugu
i stvaranju sigurnosti za njih.
we built together.
just teach self-defense,
i okupljanja sa domaćom hranom,
teaching self-defense all of these years
u nastavi samoodbrane svih ovih godina
as cool as the self-defense moves are,
koliko god da su pokreti samoodbrane kul,
these self-defense techniques.
de-escalate any violent situation.
nekakvu nasilnu situaciju.
koji omogućavaju da dođe do nasilja.
to take place to begin with needs to stop.
we need all hands on deck.
treba nam da se udružimo.
to start with who you know
počnete od onih koje znate
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