Fatima Daas kicked off the second edition of Tashweesh Festival with a keynote that delves into her lived experiences of being a young, immigrant, muslim, queer writer in France. Before I start, I would like to thank all the people who work hard to make this festival happen.
I am honored to have the great responsibility of opening the festival. This is our kind of festival: it's feminist and engaged.
It is very important to be able to reflect together, to discuss our stories, to understand and share our experiences through writing and speaking. I believe that it is vital, even within "our communities", to open up a dialogue, to start building a collective political analysis, and to renew the desire to fight together. So there you have it, as you can see, I am very happy to be here with you this evening. My name is Fatima Daas. I am an author. It's near Versailles, which should give you more of an idea.
I lived there for six years with my parents and my sisters. During the year I remember it was in the middle of my first year of school , my family moved to Clichy-sous-bois which is in the suburbs, in Seine-Saint-Denis Clichy-sous-bois has one of the youngest and poorest populations in France, and is one of the most marginalized towns of Paris' inner suburbs.
The two teenagers aged 15 and 17 were chased by police to an EDF power station, where, burdened with fear, they were electrocuted. Fear of the police. Fear of being beaten by the police. Fear of humiliation. Fear of death. I've witnessed ten-year-olds being stopped, searched, and insulted in Clichy-sous-bois.
