Feminist Attempts
Posts tagged Arab
Arab Women Techies Meeting
01134 days
Friends, Arab Techies & SMEX have teamed up to host a meeting in Lebanon on May 11 – May 15. The objective is for women techies to meet up, exchange skills & ideas, discuss collaborations, talk about tech from a gender perspective, and network. I met with @jessdheere last week and had previously met @manal two years ago, the two women working on this meeting & proposed that our new Take Back the Tech / Arabia program which we just launched at Nasawiya two weeks ago partner up with the organizers to support young women using technology for social change.
The agenda of the meeting is very flexible. Participants will be proposing different workshops they’d like to give / receive. It’s very open & we can ensure it turns out to be a kickass empowering feminist meeting! So please read more here and email info@arabtechies.net to participate. The organizers are sponsoring 30 female participants from across the Arab world. Join us! Feel free to contact me as well if you need to ask or suggest anything. The main criteria are:
- Woman
- Techie (i.e. works with technology, not only internet technology but also communications, engineering, software, hardware, etc..)
- Arab
- Interested in the intersection of gender and tech
- Able to come to Lebanon May 11 – 1
Yalla hurry up! They’re on a rolling deadline – as soon as the participants are closed, they will close.
Please forward to all of your friends who might be interested!
Tick Me Twice, I’m Arab
81138 days
Panic over Arab travelers in New York City’s JFK airport is getting worse every time I pass through it. As soon as they see an Arab passport, the guard at the beginning of the security line ticks your boarding pass twice so that the guard at the screening machines can “randomly” select you for extra screening. In 2007, I was passing through San Francisco airport and was asked to step into a 1m x 1m glass room that sprays something on you for a second. This time, March 2010, leaving New York to Paris, after the CSW meeting, in JFK, was the most bizarre ever. The guard at the beginning of the line didn’t only tick me twice quietly.
My boarding pass at JFK, ticked twice to indicate I was a level two threat, i.e. Arab.
Instead, he told me I was selected for “random screening,” pulled me out of the line (good thing was I avoided the long queue), and yelled out “Female, level 2 security!” at least three times while pointing to me. A security woman behind the x-ray machines acknowledged his yelling and crossed over to escort me through the security check. I emptied my bags, took off my shoes, put them through x-ray and was then asked to stand in a glass cubicle in the middle of the security lines. It didn’t spray anything, but I stood there for 2-3 of minutes while everybody else passed by. It felt uncomfortable but comical at the same time. I wanted to wave to the passers by and say, “Yes, yes, I’m Arab.. hello.” The other cubicles in the security lines parallel to mine were empty. Was I the only Arab in JFK that day? A security dude had taken my passport away, while the woman guard took my belongings to a search desk and stood there talking to people for a few minutes. Then she came and escorted me out and to the desk and told me she was going to go through my stuff with those weird gloves, which she did. After she was done, she said I could go. I told her I didn’t get my passport back. She said “oh” and told me to wait a minute. She disappeared and came back a few minutes later with my passport. I am not sure where they had taken it. I assume this was all because I have a Lebanese passport, right? Do others get the same treatment? Doesn’t it count as discrimination? I took the above photo of my boarding pass afterward. Tick me twice, I’m Arab.
