'In my house and in your house the black dragons slurp on our blood.'
During this reading group, facilitated by Belgian-Moroccan artist Saddie Choua, we delve into the poetic work of the Moroccan feminist activist and writer Saïda Menebhi. She died due to a lack of care during a hunger strike in a Moroccan prison where she was because of her opposition to the Moroccan state.
More specifically, we read her poems, the letters that she wrote from prison to her family and her friend Aziz Laarich, who she was illegally living with, and an essay on prostitution. In her work, she expressed her struggle on behalf of human rights and spoke of the women she met in prison. We use the work of Menehbi as a kind of documentary material in order to seek an alternative for that reality, by reading, speaking together and writing ourselves.
As Menebhi's work has not been translated into English, the source texts will be in French, Dutch and Moroccan Arabic, while the conversation itself can take place in English.
In collaboration w/ Buurtwinkel Anneessens , Darna - Vlaams Marokkaans Culturenhuis & wmns parliament
As part of TASHWEESH, a 10-day multidisciplinary festival on feminism in the Middle-East, North Africa and Europe. w/ Goethe-Institut Brüssel
