Transnational feminist solidarity and lessons from the 2011 protests in Tahrir Square

Abstract

Transnational feminist solidarity can be and has been very effective at bringing about social change in local and regional contexts. Transnational feminist activists, however, must be attentive to cultural differences in the means and methods of protest employed to challenge unjust or oppressive social and political conditions. In this article, I offer a discussion of some of the key theoretical elements of a transnational feminist solidarity. I then use the protests in Tahrir Square in 2011 to problematize transnational feminist solidarity. This exercise reveals both the power of transnational alliances and some of the obstacles – cultural, political, and gender based – that must be addressed by feminist transnational solidarity efforts.