Radius - by Yasmin El-Rifae (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A haunting, intimate account of the women and men who built a feminist revolution in the middle of the Arab Spring

During the final months of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, a group of activists came together to intervene in the mob sexual assaults recurring amid the ongoing protests of Tahrir Square. The organization was called Opantish, and Yasmin El-Rifae was one of the organizers. This is her surgical, searching, and harrowing account of frontline battles, back-alley escapes, supply lines, and safe houses, as well as the personal and political reckonings that followed.

In a new preface, El-Rifae reflects on what her extraordinary experiences demonstrate when placed within the long history of imperial violence in the region.

Review Quotes

"A remarkable book which penetrates into the heart of feminist political activism without neglecting its roots in the complex lives of women or the harsh dynamics which can unfold in the midst of emancipatory struggle."
--Jacqueline Rose, New Statesman

"This book is one of the most powerful reports on rescue work done in a revolutionary war zone that I have ever read; and the fact that it is work done by women on behalf of other women who've been sexually harassed (to put it mildly) not by the enemy but by their fellow revolutionaries makes it all the more gripping. I wish Radius a long life, with dazzling reviews and an ever-increasing readership."
--Vivian Gornick, author of Taking a Long Look

"An intimate and revealing account of the post 2011 mosaic of contentious politics in Egypt. Rifae's narrative reveals important intersections between gender politics, collective organizing, and processes of becoming."
--Lina Attalah, founding editor of Mada Masr

"I devoured this book in one sitting. A must read not just for its gripping and complex depiction of feminist resistance during the Egyptian revolution from an organizer who was on the ground, but for those of us who care about feminism and radical movement-building all over the world."
--Katie J.M. Baker, award-winning investigative reporter and national correspondent at The New York Times

"Radius fearlessly dives into the violent, disastrous omnishambles that transpired in Cairo in 2013 ... an urgent and timely study of what it means to lead, partake in and witness a revolution in the Middle East"
--Mariam Elnozahy, Times Literary Supplement

"Readers won't soon forget El-Rifae's captivating book; essential reading for feminists and historians."
--Library Journal

"Powerful testimony of the Egyptian Revolution destroying itself and the courageous people who hoped to save it."
--Kirkus

"The writing is beautiful and clean, carrying readers through harrowing and heartbreaking moments....This account of a brave, generous, and largely unacknowledged enterprise is not only an essential record of modern Egyptian history; it's a testament to what women are capable of, to what can be achieved through passionate collective action."
--Ursula Lindsey, New York Review of Books

"A powerful book"
--Amina Abdel-Halim, Egyptian Streets

"A tapestry of trauma, revolution, healing, catharsis, and pain, replicating the spectrum of emotions unleashed by present-day activism in the Middle East...Calling out the patriarchy in the Arab world without succumbing to imperialist and racist tropes projected onto the Middle East is a fine balancing act, one that El-Rifae accomplishes in Radius."
--Tareq Baconi, Baffler

"A unique account of a feminist revolutionary moment from the inside. Yasmin El-Rafae somehow manages to convey in graphic detail the inspirational struggle to protect women from the sexual violence that erupted at the heart of the Arab Spring, while remaining true to the difficulties and pain that can arise within any such movement, the whole story framed by her own first steps into the no less complex reality of motherhood. Beautifully negotiating the terrain between public and private worlds for women, Radius is a feminist manifesto for our times."
--Jacqueline Rose, author of The Plague

"As a document of Opantish it is invaluable. As a piece of literature it is extraordinary. But it is its granular account of the mechanics of resistance and organization that make Radius one of the most urgent, important and inspiring books of our time"
--Max Porter, author of Shy

About the Author

Yasmin El-Rifae is a writer, editor, and co-producer of the Palestine Festival of Literature. She works with Cairo's independent Mada Masr newspaper, and her writing has also appeared in LitHub, The Nation, and Lux magazine, among other places. This is her first book.