A haunting, intimate account of the women and men who built a feminist revolution in the middle of the Arab Spring
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.
"A remarkable book which penetrates into the heart of feminist political activism without neglecting its roots in the complex lives of women or the harsh dynamics which can unfold in the midst of emancipatory struggle." - New Statesman
"Radius fearlessly dives into the violent, disastrous omnishambles that transpired in Cairo in 2013 ... an urgent and timely study of what it means to lead, partake in and witness a revolution in the Middle East" - Times Literary Supplement
"Powerful testimony of the Egyptian Revolution destroying itself and the courageous people who hoped to save it." - Kirkus
"The writing is beautiful and clean, carrying readers through harrowing and heartbreaking moments....This account of a brave, generous, and largely unacknowledged enterprise is not only an essential record of modern Egyptian history; it's a testament to what women are capable of, to what can be achieved through passionate collective action." - New York Review of Books
"A powerful book" - Egyptian Streets
"A tapestry of trauma, revolution, healing, catharsis, and pain, replicating the spectrum of emotions unleashed by present-day activism in the Middle East...Calling out the patriarchy in the Arab world without succumbing to imperialist and racist tropes projected onto the Middle East is a fine balancing act, one that El-Rifae accomplishes in Radius." - Baffler
