Bothaina Kamel, Egypt's 1st Female Presidential Candidate, Brings Message to Michigan
Bothaina Kamel is to Egypt what Oprah Winfrey is to America.
And now Kamel, known to Egyptians by her first name as a radio and TV broadcaster, is the first woman to run for the presidency of Egypt, a country lurching toward democracy after last year’s grassroots revolt against Hosni Mubarak.
As a woman, Kamel is a maverick — and a long shot — candidate.
“I am running to fight for women getting their full rights. We have a society that is male-dominant,” said Kamel, speaking by phone from Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. “Egyptian women had a great role in the revolution. I was there as a mother, a sister, as a friend. I’m going to keep on fighting.”
Kamel is “a big voice and the main woman’s voice” in Egypt’s pro-democracy movement, says University of Michigan associate professor Nadine Naber, who specializes in women’s studies, Arab-American studies and American culture.
During her career, Kamel has tackled taboo subjects, personal and political. She has addressed issues of poverty, government corruption and brutality. She has participated in grassroots organizing and protests, and was among the thousands who, in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square last year, demonstrated against the 30-year rule of Mubarak, who stepped down Feb. 11, 2011.
It was a galvanizing moment in the so-called Arab Spring, which unleashed pro-democracy movements in Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain and is fueling the bloody upheaval currently being waged in Syria.
“She has broad appeal, and you don’t have to be Egyptian to feel inspired and proud,” says Naber. “This is an important event for the Arab community, to have someone who appeals to Muslims and Christians and women and anyone who’s committed to social justice and democracy.”
Kamel comes to the state for the first time this week to lecture at the University of Michigan. In her speech, to be delivered on Thursday in acknowledgement of International Women’s Day, Kamel will seek to answer the question: “Can the Revolution Liberate Women, too?”
Kamel, who is Muslim, says yes, even as the rise of right-wing Islamist parties in Egyptian parliamentary elections threatens Egypt’s secular society.
“It’s a great honor that U-M is hosting her,” says Zeinab Khalil, 20, of Toledo, who is studying international relations at U-M. “There is a large Arab-American community in the Michigan area. A good size of them maintain connections with their countries of origin, especially since the pro-democracy uprisings began in various countries in the Middle East.”
Atef Said, an Egyptian human rights lawyer and Naber’s husband, also joined the protests in Tahrir Square. He calls Kamel “one of the great unacknowledged heroes of the Egyptian revolution” because she has long challenged government authority and was on the front lines of the protests.
Even though women of all backgrounds were in the forefront of the Egyptian revolution, democracy has in many ways excluded them.
The Egyptian government is now led by military generals, who have yet to schedule a presidential election. There were elections in recent months for Egypt’s parliament, and most of the seats were won by members of the right-wing Muslim Brotherhood and other parties that give little importance to women’s rights. Only five of 508 seats are now held by women, compared to 68 in a quota system before the revolution, according to a recent report by the Los Angeles Times.
Kamel, 49, was born and raised in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, where she still lives. When she was growing up, Egyptian society was predominantly secular, she said, with modern dress prevailing in big cities like Cairo. Her parents weren’t active politically, “but my grandmother was a girl of the Revolution of 1919” when a revolt against British occupation led to Egypt’s independence. Photos from the era show veiled Egyptian women marching for liberation from the British.
“She told me stories about the revolution and Egypt’s martyrs,” said Kamel, who is married to Ashraf El Baroudy, a reformist Egyptian judge whom she met in 2005 as an activist rooting out corruption in the Egyptian judiciary. She has a grown daughter from a previous marriage.
“He is the one who pushes me when I’m down. He is the one who always pushes me forward,” Kamel said, alternating between speaking herself and using a translator.
A younger sister, whom she describes as a religious conservative, wears the traditional Muslim head covering known as hijab and voted for Muslim Brotherhood candidates in recent elections. But that sister also encourages her candidacy, Kamel said, telling her “it’s something you’re doing for Egypt, not for yourself.”
Kamel became a household name in the 1990s with a groundbreaking radio show, a call-in known as “Eterafat al-Leyali” or “Nighttime Confessions.” The show broached topics never openly discussed in Egyptian society, including sexual abuse, marital infidelity and domestic violence.
“When I present my program ‘Nighttime Confessions,’ the people confess to me about everything — their private lives, corrupt relations. It was a shock program,” said Kamel.
Callers also criticized the government.
“It was a big confrontation between me and my government. It was very hard to criticize the government. It was government radio,” she said.
Eventually, after a state committee on religious issues contended that Kamel’s show portrayed Egyptians as depraved and sinful, the government banned it.
Still, Kamel found work on Egyptian television as an anchor for a government-owned station. She said she stopped working for government broadcasting around 2000 — “I took the decision to stop reading their lies.”
She next found work at a private cable network where, from 2001 to 2011, she hosted “Argook Efhamni,” which means “Please Understand Me,” a show that tackled social problems and public corruption in Egyptian society.
Right now, Kamel is campaigning as an advocate for the poor as well as a women’s rights champion.
Khalil, the U-M student, is an Egyptian American who wears the hijab; she said she is excited to hear Kamel and what she represents.
“There is definitely an assumption that I must have certain views or opinions because of my veil, like when it comes to social hot-button issues or even supporting a liberal, secular-leaning candidate,” said Khalil, who is eligible to vote in Egyptian elections but doesn’t yet know who she’ll support for president.
“Even within different Islamist thoughts and parties, there’s a huge difference of opinion,” said Khalil. “Likewise, you can be a proud, practicing Muslim and still support a liberal or secular candidate.”
Kamel now wears a necklace that sports not only the Islamic crescent, but also the Christian cross. It’s to show, she said, that she’s fighting for all Egyptians. She has taken part in protests against attacks and violence against Coptic Christians, who make up more than 10% of Egypt’s population.
“I want to market that Egyptians are the children of God,” said Kamel. “We’re not just Islamic or Christians. I am enforcing the idea that we’re all one.”
Patricia Montemurri
Detroit Free Pres