with a promise of good salaries says more experienced john joey the fighters in the conflict in darfur are also working as mercenaries as are more unrest in eastern democratic republic of congo with the exclusion of three areas from sunday's election three people were killed during a workers' strike in the city of beni on friday and police fired tear gas to disperse opposition supporters in goma one presidential candidate has filed a case of the supreme court seeking to reverse the election commission's decision to delay voting until march britain's home secretary is treating a rise in attempts by migrants to cross the english channel from france as a major incident jarvis remarks come as nearly seventy people were stopped in recent days trying to get to the u.k. by crossing one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and small boats job in seeking an urgent call with french leaders over the weekend. right well those were the headlines the news continues here and i'm just after upfront statement that's what you're. getting to the heart of the matter how can you be

a refugee after you while it borders between five safe countries they see. their pain starts from the very beginning got there by nate's group by providing context housing is not just about four walls and a roof hear their story and talk to al jazeera some say the hash tag me to campaign is too white and too privileged so how there's a movement to call out sexual assault being received outside of the west and upfront special. in two thousand and six the slogan me two started as a movement by us activists to write a book as a way to show solidarity with the victims of sexual assault but that slogan went viral overnight in the wake of hollywood's harvey weinstein scandal last october

which prompted women around the world to break a lot of the silence around sexual assault and harassment and begin sharing their stories with more than twelve million posts on facebook in just twenty four hours since then the hash tag has been shared at least eighty five countries around the world so why does this particular campaign prove to be so powerful and how is it being received outside of the west joining me to discuss this are mona eltahawy a journalist based between cairo in new york and author of headscarves and hymens why the middle east needs a sexual revolution run general kumari women's rights activist and director of the center for social research in new delhi. or a gun and writer and director of communications for the ngo the association for women's rights in development thank you all for joining me on this special edition of outfront i want to start by asking you all how has the hash tag mean to movement been received outside of the u.s. outside of the west rangel you're a long time champion of women's rights in india what's the response to me to be

like over there. the little red and the whole campaign started on social media with hash tag mean to the million women also onto the whole you know the kind of speaking out as talking about themselves and their own twenty five thousand women joined that campaign in india and also a lot of them really wanted to speak about their own experiences but when we restart the kind of expression they did not really come out with i didn't become the person and they did not really talk already happened to them but they just literally said that they also feel stiction had a smile as well please they have also been victim of the kind of relationship that was based with their bosses with the professors and also the whole media became very very active but relieved to campaign what really was very critical wasn't born

you can see the destruction the heart of every woman that they could find a space on social media and could see that this is what's happening to me too not a recently the african union ambassador to the u.s. said during a discussion about how to take me to the quote in africa the conversation is not even begun we are nowhere near where we need to be what's your reaction to that. i very much agree with embassador and my country ghana the conversation has been extremely muted about me too and the sense that people have not been publicly name in those who have violated them those who have assaulted them people have actually been speaking about the need for us to have the conversation but no one is really speaking of that's because the consequences for woman who name people who violate them is really still to hash in about a few years ago in twenty fifteen that prominent. public personality quickly changed the chua was allegedly accused of raping

a young woman there were people who were witnesses to the fact that she had been abused by this man she went to hospital the doctors verified that she had been sexually assaulted the state of ghana took up a case that's this woman was vilified in the press so much she eventually withdrew the case. and this is an example of what happens when women speak up and when we've happened at this can just other women from speaking out because they can see that there's no justice for the victim and even worse than name of the victim as in disrepute mona when you're listening to none of speak about gardner and some of the other african countries does that resonate with what you're hearing and what you've experienced in the middle east living in cairo traveling through the region or has be to be embraced in the arab world. has taught me to has been embracing our world under it arabic equivalent which is and i come in and i've seen several activists share their own experiences and say that this happens to every woman i know this

has happened to me personally but i think the importance of hashtag me to. is not just about women speaking out and not been able to speak out and as the community blame the woman or not i think what this particular moment in history has done it allowed it has allowed women around the world to see each other as all being victims of patriarchy that this is an institutionalized form of discrimination that regardless of where you're from will affect every woman and will affect members of the l g q community we also affect men we've seen gay men who've spoken out about this so i think that as hard as it is to speak out in certain communities it's important to recognize that this doesn't just affect white actors in hollywood and it's not just white men who are supporting them we need to move the conversation outside of of this very very specific white us lens and make it a global one critics say that the voices of women around the world and rajat i want to ask you this question first critics are the voices of women around the world who

work in factories are victims of sex trafficking minority women women in rural areas living in poverty are missing from this campaign from this movement is it fair to say that white western women especially white affluent women are still dominating this campaign and if so what do you do about that. as you know very few women are in the. social media space in and yet only about twenty seven percent of women who really are the internet users these are the the men also recruit among these twenty seven percent who have mostly working in people who are in the organized sector or people who are really in some very or the other have been capacity to raise their voices but majority of the women who are from the informal sector of the ground commonly tribal women should all cause women as you said classes victims prostitutes and trusted to remain engage in prostitution are forced into prostitution all those women have not found that space the majority of the

women say about almost like ninety percent women were not a department you can participate economy who are not organized who do not have access to internet is not are they going to use for is this kind of harassment but then orderly use this they are not able to see things in him obama to say they're not able to even walk through these religiously committees that we have formed with these are all internal complaints committee so certainly there is a kind of divide that you can feel you see not a do you worry about how quote unquote white me too is a result of unfair. i mean what i would like to see more of more of a focus on movements of particularly like the most oppressed groups who have actually been workin and violence against women for a long time some of the work that some of my previous administrations have done such as the african women's development fund which is their macon fan which funds particularly small and medium sized women's rights organizations across the

continent you know there are numerous small community based groups that have been working to end violence against women and what i tend to see that they focus on me too is focused more on yes you know more privileged white woman in hollywood more privileged white women in north america without really acknowledge him the kind of community led efforts that have been going on. and balancing why do women why do you think it is that me too has been so successful in a high profile in a way that other previous campaigns against gender based violence haven't been is it because of the hollywood celebrity angle or is it something else. i think absolutely it's because of the hollywood celebrity angle and because it has the media attention and for me that's not a bad thing that's a good then but let's also use this opportunity to focus on community based organizations that have been working for decades to end violence against well and

once and for all about why me to has been so successful i think it is a particular moment where we're seeing white women in hollywood confront white men who have hurt them and i think that that gives it a much more global platform than say all the individual work that we've heard about but i also think it's really important to take it out of this idea that it's only these rich and white powerful men who do that because what i worry about is that ordinary men will just kind of sit back and say you know well you know what i'm not rich i'm not powerful i'm not one of those guys and i think this is a really in valuable moment where we have an opportunity as a global community not just in our individual community spaces to say look this is about patriarchy this is about how it's institutionalised this is about misogyny and this is about discrimination against women so how does that affect every woman and how is every men complicit in this because i hear from a lot of men they say well i don't do any of that so this has nothing to do with me but unless you're doing something to stop that from happening your complicit and

you're benefiting from that system of patriarchy so i think this has to be a daily occurrence when we talk about this with our friends with our siblings and also politically because i think that as fantastic as this hollywood moment has been we're also missing is that the president of the united states has been accused of sexual assault himself and we're not talking about that at least twenty women have accused donald trump of sexually assaulting them and if you if you just stop and think about that the president of the most powerful country in the world and we almost had a senator in the united states roy moore i mean we always had a really right we once had a candidate become a senator in the u.s. has been accused of pedophilia and this is a chance for us now i speak now again. that egyptian muslim woman who cover things issues from my people they say look we have to confront these issues in every community. in every community pick up on that you've written that muslim women are stuck between a rock and a hard place on the one hand you have islamophobia in europe in the united states who whenever

a muslim man is accused of any kind of sex from jump on this and say it's the religion is to blame islam is to blame use it to bash the religion on the other hand you have some in muslim communities who don't want to call out mr jonas because they fear that it will give islam a bad rap and they're giving ammunition to people who already hate them they don't want the community to look bad so how do women in communities like that deal with this dilemma if you can call about the answer to that is exactly what will take us out of me to hashtag me to being a white hollywood social media moment the answer to that would be that each community has to recognize that the less we can talk about sex the less we can talk about these taboos and the less we confront these taboos the most vulnerable people in our communities will be affected and the most vulnerable people are always women children and the eligibility queue so it has to fall on the shoulders of those of us with privilege and to take that even further just also to defang the racism islamophobia when i talk about the middle east and other one of my communities i have to talk about domestic workers i have to talk about migrant laborers because

in the gulf you're talking about women who come from different very very disadvantaged countries in communities who are often sexual assaulted by their employers they have no recourse to justice as a racist of a class. so we have to make hash tag need to recognize race gender class able ism and actual or interesting run general motors talks about this you know the being stuck between a rock and a hard place women of quote unquote elsewhere too it's not just about religion is it for example when women fight for their rights in places like india or pakistan or parts of africa some say oh you're attacking our traditional culture values you're supporting western cultural imperialism you often do hear that kind of backlash argument. well it's always there it's been always there whenever you talked about wilfred somewhere you know. everybody who's not agreeing with you or all these traditionalist forces fundamentalist forces which are really around us

always blame us for the not the picking up from this is not what in the end is not what our culture is all about and that the silence that has been imposed on women is also because it feel that if they will speak out they will be targeted they will be seen as the people who are responsible for what is happening to victim blaming all the time so so even to muster the courage to speak there already is you know in some sense punished for speaking out and now you know we're all working very hard to change it or certainly that whole thing about you know you are being the red so you are trying to create the kind of alignment in our country where women are now becoming very free they just don't want to follow any tradition and you are responsible so we are certainly very very important but let me tell you one thing in india the situation is very very different now because the far far right to enter the temple we are together as women's organization and supporting each other so that there is something that is helping us to count towards

a flight bag with all the fundamentalists force forces you want to come in earlier . yes i did because i think you know women have have been actually speak an app for ages about the need to end violence and i think as of this moment. i don't want people i don't know moment to feel like they have to put themselves out there we have to name the people who have perpetrated violence especially when the repercussions are so syria i think the focus needs to be and how do we change the societal context in the culture which leads to this harassment which leads to this continuous violence that women face how do we change this rape culture which is really the problem and it's so endemic everywhere so i would love for us to have a bit of a conversation around that give us one of your suggestions and tell us something positive of what can be done because this is a very depressing cover they should give us tell us what community. i mean i feel

like a couple of things that need to be done you know the conversation as well but i really feel like we need men to step up we need men to be speaking to each other i mean we need men to be holding themselves responsible you know i feel like too much of the onus is on women and valance we really need men to step up and take responsibility for their own role in this situation and i want to see some of that happen and some of that change interesting that never talks about government stepping up which is obviously important parts crucial but the backlash against me too in the west and there has been a backlash hasn't just come from men it's even come from some women to french actress catherine deneuve along with nearly a hundred other french women wrote a letter defending men's quote freedom to pastor what's your response to let alone in this climate it was outrageous maybe i couldn't believe it and it was an important moment to remind everyone with a moment to remind everyone of just how powerful internalized misfortune is these

are women who have internalized patriarchy and the power of patriarchy and these are women who are white and privileged and very affluent and very telling to me that they are white privileged affluent women who are basically saying the men who have the right to pester are white and affluent because while catherine deneuve were saying this we're talking about the rise of a horrendous fascist right wing across europe that wants to prevent migration especially on the basis of this so-called right or freedom to pester because the queues the hordes of men and these black hordes of men are basically going to europe to rape white women so it was an outrageous letter to publish not only was it basically a policy they were apologists for this kind of violence that we're fighting against but they were also just talking about the men they are not talking about these are not working class women these are not poor women these are not women of different abilities in. these are not out to be secure women and they are not talking about

men who live in the inner cities in france who live in various communities in europe who are vilified with this whole remodeling miss you haven't but it's also important to recognize that in europe brown and black men are accused of increasing the rates of rape because they want to rape white women so i think this letter was very dangerous and i think that the this kind of position is exactly why hash tag need to have to move out from these affluent white hollywood actresses roger you waited to come in one hour i want to support you that you know this is what the privilege of anyone talking about in our own country is that you know all of this never happened to me i've never faced any kind of discrimination what is easiest of is talking about these feminists are really trying to remove the relationship in family gathering the family i think need to campaign is extremely important in one sense that it has are pleased given the kind of why are you so spain is that it's not just happening to us melissa as event traveling by buses and walking in small

places where people are trying to exploit and trying to have as work also is happening at the at the highest level at the discrimination in terms of age parity discrimination in terms of you know sexual haddest meant all kinds of you know male privileges really own title and that's what is the problem that men are men who are in these positions of power and consider that as their entitlement so that has in question and challenge and that also comes down to the level of a village woman who's working in somebody farms or the field that has to come down to a labor woman who's trying to work in the construction industry a building that old and getting exploited by the contractor so i think this is this is one thing which are at the scene as a strength of this campaign manager with her i very much want to agree with angela because i think what this loehmann's also calls for interest supports the women's movement a woman's rights of the legislations have been calling for you know woman know themselves the solutions to the chad. it is the phase and they are very often able

to work on those solutions but women's rights organizations and women's rights movements. are so underfunded this is part of the work that my organization has been leading. in some research that we did a fabulous twenty eight home should the most women's rights organizations a thirst on twenty thousand u.s. dollars or less a year these are movements and these are going to is ations that actually work and to end violence and small communities from village levels to communities to the regional level and this is really where we need to place the efforts this is really where the change needs to happen and now you've written about the difficulty in defining issues like sexual consent getting agreement on those issues when things are sometimes not clear how does a movement like hash tag me to empower women in particular but to feel more comfortable about setting boundaries about being clear about consent about saying no how can it teach men to respect women's choices and women's communications on

this issue because it's now broadened out beyond workplace harassment and sexual assault. absolutely and actually i think right now it's also the moments where men really need to take time to learn what consent really means and to know that consent should always be enthusiastic consent should be given them all to pull ways confer consent should be affair several times you know i feel like the way men have been socialized traditionally have especially in my context especially in ghana you know we often speak of men chafes and woman rights like women have to be pursued and men always assume that women are being core or they need to be persuaded no i don't think that should be the case and men need to recognise that women have agency women can speak up and say when they want to take part in a sexual activity or when they do not want to take part in a sexual activity and men and women you know packing this should always get consent

very believe and nonverbally from their pack and you have to confirm that several times in the united states in the wake of the recent controversial allegations around the us act as these i'm sorry and quote unquote sexual misconduct is a phrase used among many others there's been much debate about what belongs in the me to debate you know where does the spectrum of rape assault harassment misconduct begin and end to my question to you is how does a movement like me to move forward when there are already these accusations oh it's going too far and certain things don't belong in it whenever we have this historic moment where we're going through incredible change and where you're hearing voices that you haven't heard before there will always be people who are pulling this back and saying you've gone too far stop stop and we have to ignore those voices because they say that because this is an uncomfortable moment and discomfort is important for social change revolution is uncomfortable and i consider this

a revolutionary moment one of many not the only obvious thing and i think that the spectrum is exactly the best way to describe it this isn't. asked about your boss exposing himself to you or your boss demanding that you have sex with him or her so that you could continue to work this is also about very intimate conversations and relationships and i think in order for that for that spectrum to be fully explored and deconstructed we have to be able to talk about sex comfortably and i think that here in united states too we don't talk about sex comfortably deafen in egypt where i come from and in the middle east and north africa they are very conservative societies and as a muslim i know how difficult it is for muslims to speak about sex inside and outside of marriage and the same and i think what has struck me too is done is it's created this leveling off moment where people even in the united states where they thought they had had a sexual revolution where they thought they were sexually liberated they are now confronted with the reality that they are not that this so-called sexual revolution

of the one nine hundred sixty s. has not dismantled patriarchy and women are still being pursued as nana said and meant still think that they will score so i think what we need to do is we need to have a very very honest conversation about sex my question is how long do you have to make to get those conversations off the ground how long is me to have you call revolutionary moment but a lot of revolutions other peter out or there's a counter revolution the counter revolution has begun you're seeing with the catherine deneuve than the christian summers and so many other people the counter revolution is definitely here but how long do we have we have forever we are dismantling a system called patriarchy that has existed forever i think when nona talks about men and how they have to step up i think men must understand that this is patriarchy hurts them to patriarchy places the burden of what we now call toxic masculinity on men surely there are men around and i believe this because i know them who don't want to score who don't want to pursue women who want to have sex whether it's inside marriage whether it's outside of marriage whether it's with

another man or another woman in a way that both partners or all partners involved are enjoying it and no one takes the next day as grace tech citizens and sorry to tell him that she felt violated and very exposed to let me ask you that question about the revolutionary moment moments of the revolution or do you believe this is a revolution a moment if so how long. i think it's a particular moment but i actually think the revolution has been going on for a long time woman speaking about sexual violence it's not new woman have been pressing for laws against sexual violence for laws against domestic violence for laws against marital rape in many countries around the world for a long time so it's just that me too as a campaign to have hits the global limelight at this particular moment in time but it's part of ongoing work to dismantle the system that oppresses women and it's work that it's going on and will need to continue to go on and needs to be funded and needs to be supported down or run mono we'll have to leave it there thank you

very much for having this is question i know we need many more discussions like this appreciate you taking time out that's our show up front we're back next week. al-jazeera. it's. where every. colleague must much is saying is now being held in pretrial detention for two years what is his crime. why hasn't he been tried yet why hasn't justice been applied in

this case is he detained because he said journalists as journalism become a crime have moles become a tool to silence weiss's of truth we will continue our news coverage with professionalism and impartiality our work will remain credible and accurate but journalism is not a crime incarcerating journalists is not acceptable we demand the immediate release of all colleague mamu to same and all journalist attained in a gyptian jails free mahmoud's and all his colleagues we stand for press freedom. cultural history is inscribed layer upon layer of times you race others rejuvenating and reinvented. through the transformative power of public

unlike the collision of hip hop culture i'm going digital tradition as a community building project led by the godfather of graffiti. on a. this is al jazeera. and live from studio fourteen here at the headquarters in doha. welcome to the news. turkey sends dozens of tanks to its southern border with syria while its top diplomats head to moscow we look at the battle for control of the syrian city of man beach it's still murky picture. also on the great security raids in egypt police there say they've killed forty what they called

terror suspects just hours after friday's bus attack the pyramids. security remains tight at the high.