Rana Abdelhamid: 3 lessons on starting a movement from a self-defense trailblazer
Rana Abdelhamid: Savunma uzmanından toplumsal hareket başlatmak üzerine 3 ders
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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her college sweetheart
üniversite aşkının peşinden
at my mother jokingly and said,
much like a celebration
would wander past Queens
and long flowy dresses
uzun elbisesiyle yürürken
around my small fingers
against weathered comments like,
ellerinin arasında sımsıkı tutardı.
to make us feel unsafe, insecure
kendi mahallemizde
hissedemezdik.
diverse places in the world,
olduğu şehirlerden biri Queens.
hikâyesi hep aynı başlar,
holding stories that always start
and 15 dollars in a pocket,
in jam-packed, busted apartments.
barınan aileler...
that we had safe microcommunities --
bu küçük topluluklar içinde
kimliğimizle barışmamız
in our identities.
hissetmemiz için uğraştılar.
sözlere aldırmayan
that my mom faced,
some of the most powerful women
hayatım boyunca tanıştığım
for who watched whose kids when,
çocuğuna bakmak için,
bana zorbalık yapıldığında,
of unapologetic North African aunties
teyzelerden oluşan bir ordu
and stand in front of a mirror,
bright silk around my head
anneannemin yaptığı gibi
and my grandmother did.
the streets of New York City
at a domestic violence organization
yerel şiddet karşıtı dernekteki
my neighborhood had started.
çektiğini hatırlıyorum,
I felt a yank at the back of my head.
from off of my head.
almaya çalışıyordu.
to a tall, broad-shouldered man,
doğru döndüm.
of that organization and cried and cried.
dakikalarca ağladım.
sorular vardı:
Müslümanlara kaşı işlenen
yüzde 1600 arttı
her dört kadından biri
bir türüne maruz kalacak.
of Muslim women in our hijabs.
cinsiyete bağlı şiddetin bir türüdür.
and make sure that no one I loved,
sevdiğim kadınların hiçbirinin
this insecure in her own skin.
hissetmediğinden emin olmak istedim.
how the women in my own neighborhood
kendi yararlarına olan bir topluluğu
community for themselves,
the very little resources they had
neler yapabileceklerini
olmalarını nasıl sağlamak için
about what I could potentially offer
düşünmeye başladım.
with you today, some of these lessons.
bazılarını paylaşmak istiyorum.
Shotokan karate
I should go out into my neighborhood
diye düşündüm.
and knocked on doors,
genç kadınlarla konuştum.
to parents, to young women,
a free community center basement
ücretsiz olarak tutabildim
that they should come to my class.
gelmeye ikna edebildim.
karate biliyor.
New York version of Mr. Miyagi
New York Quenns'in
in that community center basement
13 genç kadına kendini savunma
dersler boyunca
over the course of that summer,
the power of our bodies,
anlamaya başladık.
shocking realizations,
with this incredible sisterhood,
kız kardeşlik bağıyla geçti.
much safer in my own skin.
hissetmeye başlamıştım.
that we just kept teaching.
kadınlar sayesinde oldu.
but we just kept teaching.
ama öğretmeye devam ettik.
grassroots organization
kadınlar için güvenlik ve güç
for women around the world:
bir organizasyon hâline geldi:
konunuzda uzmansanız
an expert in something
and think you have the magic recipe.
inanmak heyecan vericidir.
Kendrick Lamar once said,
Kendrick Lamar'ın da dediği gibi,
to be humble and to sit down.
ve beklemektir.
any business doing work with
in my neighborhood,
14 yaşındaki kızlardı
I was friends with them.
arkadaş olabildik.
what it meant to be a child
göçmenin çocuğu olmak
göçmenin çocuğu olmak
who were connected to those communities,
bazı kadınlar vardı
how they already had
and relationship with their communities.
oldukça olağanüstüydü.
and the women in her neighborhood,
kadınlar gibi kuvvetli bir
social networks,
definition of safety.
ortam yaratmaktı.
a self-defense instructor,
eğitmeni olmama rağmen
as our network expanded,
ağımız genişledikçe,
is not just physical.
fiziksel olmadığını öğrendim.
a 60-minute self-defense class,
savunma dersleri sonrası
for just talking and healing.
iyileşmeye ayırıyoruz.
to the class to begin with
experiences with violence.
şiddet olaylarından bahsediyorlar.
one time in one of those classes,
sınıfımızdaki kadınlardan biri
to talk about the fact
anlatmaya başladı.
relationship for over 30 years,
being able to articulate that
that safe space for her.
güvenli bir ortam sağlamıştık.
in women's agency to define
gücün kendileri için neye benzediğini
looks like for themselves.
temsilciliğine inandığımız zaman olur.
is to start with the joy.
neşe ile başlamaktır.
I was reacting to a hate-based attack,
temelli bir saldırıya tepki gösteriyordum.
and anxious and overwhelmed.
endişeli ve bunalmış hissediyordum.
because if you take a step back,
çünkü geri adım atarsanız,
in this room can probably relate to this,
bununla bağlantı kurabilir -
feeling of insecurity,
hearing footsteps behind you.
ve arkanızda ayak sesleri duyuyorsunuz.
or if you should slow down.
yoksa daha yavaş mı bilmiyorsunuz.
in case you need to use them.
anahtarınızı elinizde tutuyorsunuz.
I want to make sure you are safe."
emin olmak istiyorum." diyorsunuz.
too much or too little in a meeting.
çok az konuşmaktan korkuyoruz.
and trans and queer and Latinx
bir eş cinsel ve bir Latin kökenli,
olduğunuzu hayal ettiğinizde
how overwhelming this work can be,
olabileceğini hayal edebilirsiniz.
of personal safety.
beni neyin getirdiğini
to this work to begin with,
the love that I had
kadınlara duyduğum
teşvik eden şey,
bir şeyler yapma becerilerini
a refugee camp in Jordan
bir şirket ofisinde de olsam,
bir şekilde toplandılar
and supported each other
ve güçlendirmek için
we built together.
just teach self-defense,
savunmayı öğretmiyor,
teaching self-defense all of these years
benim için en önemli şey şuydu:
as cool as the self-defense moves are,
oldukça havalı olsa da,
kullanmalarını istemiyorum.
these self-defense techniques.
de-escalate any violent situation.
kalmasını istemiyorum.
to take place to begin with needs to stop.
durdurulması gerekiyor.
we need all hands on deck.
başında olmasına ihtiyacımız var.
to start with who you know
tanıdığınız kişiyle başlamak
Ama önce başlamak.
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