Nasawiya, a grassroots young feminist collective

After the Feminist Collective fell apart, another feminist group, Nasawiya, was created with a focus on self-empowerment, “identity politics,” and mutual support. The grassroots collective was not linked to any political party or ideology but their stated values identified sexism as “deeply related to other social problems, such as classism, heterosexism, capitalism, racism, sectarianism”.

Nasawiya hosted several initiatives under its umbrella and/or in its space : The Adventures of Salwa, Girl Geek Camp, Sawt al-Niswa, “Delete 522” campaign, The Anti Racism Movement, and others.

The group organised protests and marches, talks, reading groups, and connected with other local, regional, and international feminist groups.

In January 2012 Nasawiya moved out of its Feminist House into a more open space, the Nasawiya Café, a “non-profit, smoke-free, volunteer-run activist space” in Beirut’s Mar Mkhayel area. The group hoped the café would lead to complete economic self-sustainability by the end of 2013.

   

Emerging political differences among the collective’s members eventually led to its disbandment. 

We understand that we have been taught to believe that we do not have much in common, but having been united in marginalization, we can make an effort to unite in seeking a change in ourselves and in our society.

From the group’s 2010 “About Us” page