From hijabs to hackers

It was a controversial breakfast and lunch session for those who fought the Sunday slumber and made their way to attend the last day of the Tata Literature Live! Kicking off proceedings was the ‘beef’ debate chaired by Avirook Sen, where panellists Arshia Sattar, Akshaya Mukul and C.P. Surendran attempted to establish why India has become ‘more intolerant.’ The session was followed by a near full house when Egyptian journalist and author Mona Eltahawy sat down to chat with fellow journalist Barkha Dutt on the position of women in the Muslim Diaspora. Nick Davies held fort with his straight talk ‘Hack Attack’ soon after where the Guardian journalist spoke about how the newspaper exposed media mogul, Rupert Murdoch. Nick followed that up with a rousing discussion on whistleblowers, the politics of power and whether or not the press needs to stay out of people’s bedrooms.

The bedroom played a crucial part in Mona’s session too where she spoke about why she feels a sexual revolution is more important than a political one. The author of Headscarves and Hymens said, “Sexual revolution is far more important for women, because we are fighting the Mubaraks in the palace, on the streets and in the bedroom. All of them together oppress women. We’ll be forever caught in this political game of musical chairs unless we have a social and a sexual revolution. The bedroom is the most important because the Mubaraks in the palace and the streets will go home, but what does that leave you with We are told to stay at home, where we are safe, but the home is not actually safe.”

Mona, who wore a hijab from when she was 16 till she turned 25, said it’s easier to start wearing it than to take it off. “Why should women’s bodies be made to bear the burden, whether it is to show off Islamic pride or whatever else ” Mona revealed that the first time she was groped was in Haj when she was 16 and was donning a hijab for the first time. She further spoke of the sexual assault against women in the Tahrir Square and described her own experience of being assaulted in front of her friend by the security forces that even threatened her with gang rape.

When Barkha Dutt raised the question of women wanting to exercise their choice, however regressive their expressions may be (citing the example of Karva Chauth), Mona had an interesting take on the issue. “Choices are given to women like a cookie. Who designs the choice in terms of culture and religion It’s the men! When it’s expected only of women, and the husband fasts just out of love, that’s not feminism. When it’s expected of men, then we can talk of feminism.”

When the topic of marital rape came up, Mona stressed on social protection over legal protection. She said, “I want it to become unacceptable so that the oppressor becomes a pariah. That’s much more needed than the law. The law is needed for protection.”

After the topic of sexual revolution, the lit fest saw another relevant issue being addressed in Nick Davies’ straight talk on the power of hackers, where he spoke about playing with people’s private lives in the light of the Rupert Murdoch scandal. After explaining in detail how the Guardian went about the expose, Nick said, “Ordinary people in the UK are not frightened of Murdoch at all. It’s the people in power.” When the conversation veered towards whistleblowers, Nick stated that ‘Edward Snowden’ was inevitable. “I’ve dealt with a lot of whistleblowers, some of them are driven by high principles, but sometimes they also have personal interests. Snowden, as far as I know, is only driven by high principles. Most whistleblowers come from left of centre, who want to rebel. Snowden actually comes from the far right of American politics. He has handled himself incredibly well with tactical cleverness and real control. I worry about him being in Russia. Putin is protecting him now because that suits Putin’s politics. If hypothetically there came a moment for him to trade and send Snowden back to get some advantage from Washington, I’m afraid he’d do it. So it would be much better if someone else gave Snowden asylum,” he concluded.