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    Shaimaa Al-Sabbagh Biography & Poetry

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    mandzd90
    Shaimaa al-Sabbagh was a 31-year-old Egyptian poet and political activist who was shot and killed by police while laying flowers in Tahrir Square in Cairo to honor protestors killed there in 2011, leaving behind a young son. As a member of the Socialist People's Alliance Party, her political poetry subtly revealed her views on daily life in Egypt and some works seemed to foreshadow her death. Her murder was caught on video but the officer was later exonerated.

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    Shaimaa Al-Sabbagh Biography & Poetry

    Uploaded by

    mandzd90
    26 views2 pages
    Shaimaa al-Sabbagh was a 31-year-old Egyptian poet and political activist who was shot and killed by police while laying flowers in Tahrir Square in Cairo to honor protestors killed there in 2011, leaving behind a young son. As a member of the Socialist People's Alliance Party, her political poetry subtly revealed her views on daily life in Egypt and some works seemed to foreshadow her death. Her murder was caught on video but the officer was later exonerated.

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    Shaimaa al-Sabbagh Biography & Poetry

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    Shaimaa al-Sabbagh was a 31-year-old Egyptian poet and political activist who was shot and killed by police while laying flowers in Tahrir Square in Cairo to honor protestors killed there in 2011, leaving behind a young son. As a member of the Socialist People's Alliance Party, her political poetry subtly revealed her views on daily life in Egypt and some works seemed to foreshadow her death. Her murder was caught on video but the officer was later exonerated.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    26 views2 pages

    Shaimaa Al-Sabbagh Biography & Poetry

    Uploaded by

    mandzd90
    Shaimaa al-Sabbagh was a 31-year-old Egyptian poet and political activist who was shot and killed by police while laying flowers in Tahrir Square in Cairo to honor protestors killed there in 2011, leaving behind a young son. As a member of the Socialist People's Alliance Party, her political poetry subtly revealed her views on daily life in Egypt and some works seemed to foreshadow her death. Her murder was caught on video but the officer was later exonerated.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Shaimaa al-Sabbagh: Biography & Poetry

    Political Beliefs
    What do your political beliefs say about you? Shaimaa al-Sabbagh was a 31-
    year-old poet, mother, and activist as a member of the Socialist People's
    Alliance Party (SPAP). Much of her work relates to Egypt's political landscape
    in the early 2000s. Let's find out more about Sabbagh's life and work.

    Tahrir Square
    Many political factions opposed military rule since the overthrow of Egypt's
    autocratic President and attempted to peacefully protest in 2011 in Tahrir
    Square in Cairo despite government rules that enabled authorities to use force
    to disperse protestors. As a result, nearly 900 protestors were killed during
    rallies that year, most of which were members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
    Four years later, members of SPAP gathered at Tahrir Square to lay flowers as
    a show of respect for those who died, even though the party supported the
    military overthrow of autocratic leaders. It was a small gathering and while
    Sabbagh expressed some concern that they might be mistaken for the
    outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, her companions did not expect any trouble.
    When a police officer opened fire, Sabbagh was shot and killed on film.
    Originally, the officer was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for
    Sabbagh's death, but the appeals court overturned the ruling and the officer
    was set free.

    Tahrir Square in January 2011

    Family and Background


    Sabbagh's childhood was marked by her rebellion against her conservative
    Muslim upbringing. During her teenage years, Sabbagh began frequenting
    cafes in Alexandria where she met other Egyptian poets. She not only
    developed her unorthodox poetic style, but learned political activism through
    her new friends. Sabbagh married the artist, Osama el-Sehely, and had a 5-
    year-old son, Bilal. She obtained a master's degree from the Academy of Arts
    in Cairo and traveled extensively to learn more about Egyptian customs and
    traditions.

    Significant Works
    Although Sabbagh's work is political in nature, her style subtly reveals her
    views as she wrote about daily life. The following are her more notable works:

     ''A Letter to My Purse'' is a poem in which the author personifies her


    lost purse and the intimate relationship she has with this inanimate
    object in order to divulge the poet's fear and annoyance ''by the new
    streets.''
     ''I am the Girl Banned from Christian Religious Classes'' is a poem that
    seemingly foreshadows Sabbagh's murder as she vividly describes ''the
    blood was racing the cars on the asphalt'' and depicts herself as ''the
    girl banned from love in the squares.'' However, it is important to
    remember that Sabbagh is one of many who have been killed during
    peaceful gatherings in Cairo. Her death has had symbolic significance
    because the murder was well-documented and Sabbaugh was a
    published poet and well-known activist.

    Lesson Summary
    Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, an activist with the Socialist People's Alliance Party
    (SPAP), was best known for publishing the poems ''A Letter to My Purse'' and
    ''I am the Girl Banned from Christian Religious Classes'' before she was
    gunned down by police at 31 years of age, leaving behind her 5-year-old son,
    her artist husband, and her conservative Muslim parents. Sabbagh was placing
    flowers at Tahrir Square in Cairo to honor the hundreds of protestors who
    were killed there in 2011 by the military-led government. Sabbagh did not
    oppose the new government, but may have been mistaken for a member of the
    outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Although her murder was videotaped, the
    appeals court exonerated the officer and Sabbagh became a symbol of the
    revolution. The poem ''I am the Girl Banned from Christian Religious Classes''
    seemed to foreshadow her death with mentions of people dying in the street
    and feeling unable to show love for them.

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