Investigating as a form of organization

In the second episode, host Reem Abouzaid speaks to feminist activists and professionals Salma El-naqqash and Farida Kalaaqi about imagining a feminist justice outside the judicial courts and conventional channels bypassing the authoritarian system in Egypt. Salma and Farida talk about events that took place in 2017 with the earlier trickledown effect of the MeToo global movement through what was known as the “Email incident”: when an email circulated within a circle of female employees in the Egyptian civil society warning about two civil society professionals’ acts of sexual misconduct. In reaction to this incident, a committee was formed by civil society members to investigate the allegations. The investigative committee model became a customary practice within civil society in events of sexual violence. In this episode, Salma and Farida talk about their roles in one of these committees, the process of operating such a committee and their understanding of the power dynamics surrounding their work. In so doing, they shed light on an understudied tool of feminist organization.