Radius

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.