- A first person account of a young woman activist imprisoned for four
years in the notorious Khiam Women's Prison
- Shattering the notion that Muslim women did not play an active role in
armed resistance and national liberation struggles
- A unique and rare insight into the life of a woman living in extreme
and uncertain conditions
- Recounting the Israeli invasion and occupation of South Lebanon
- Brilliantly translated by Michelle Hartman and Caline Nasrallah from
McGill University in Montreal
An important message about the need to liberate prisoners and the
call for solidarity in the face of injustice
**Shattering the notion that Muslim women did not play an active role in
armed resistance national liberation struggles
**
"In order to carry on with life in prison, you must believe you will be
there forever."
In the haunting and inspiring Memoirs of a Militant: My Years in the
Khiam Women's Prison Nawal Baidoun offers us her first-person account
of the life of a young woman activist imprisoned for four years, as well
as the events leading up to her arrest and detention. Born into a
nationalist family in Bint Jbeil, Lebanon, not far from the location of
the prison itself, Baidoun, like so many others, found herself compelled
to take up arms to resist the Israeli occupation. Her memoir skillfully
weaves together two stories: that of the oppressive conditions facing
ordinary people and families in South Lebanon, and that of the horrors
of daily life and the struggle for survival inside the prison itself.
Arrested for her role in planning the assassination of the well-known
Israeli agent and collaborator, Husayn Abdel Nabi, Baidoun was at one
point detained with Soha Bechara, a fellow militant whose similar
operation is better known. Her activism rooted in her Islamic faith,
Baidoun shatters the notion that Muslim women did not play an active
role in the armed resistance. Much like her sisters in Algeria and
Palestine, Nawal Baidoun belongs to a generation of Muslim women in the
Arab world who played a significant role in their national liberation
struggles. She describes the intense mental and physical torture she
endured, and her refusal to confess despite this. Memoirs of a
Militant offers us rare and unique insight into the strength and
courage of Baidoun in extreme circumstances and conditions. Nawal
Baidoun herself has said that she wrote this book as a sort of history
lesson for the generations who come after her, to show the ways in which
women actively took part in the resistance and struggle against the
occupation. Her strongly abolitionist message about prisons and the need
to liberate all prisoners and detainees resonates strongly today, as
does her call for solidarity in the face of injustice.
