# Marieme Helie Lucas

Marieme Helie Lucas is an Algerian sociologist as well as an activist for women's rights and secularism. She occupied leadership positions in human rights groups starting in the 1980s.

## Quotes

In 1988, Algeria experienced a youth revolt that shares many similarities with the Tunisian uprising that occurred two decades later. The movement was spontaneous, disorganized, and lacked a political agenda. While it was not, to our knowledge, sparked by Religious Right organizations, they quickly seized control once it began. There were no Left-wing groups to step in. Similar takeovers of popular uprisings by the religious Far Right have been seen in Tunisia and Egypt in recent years. The silence of the Left in the West regarding the marginalization of progressive forces in the region remains an issue that requires further exposure and research
* Marieme Helie Lucas respond to the question "How was the FIS in Algeria able to hijack the youth revolt and gain so much popularity in their conflict with the authoritarian Algerian government"?
* The Left appears to be hindered by Eurocentrism, focusing more on their own struggles with government policies towards migrant minorities in Europe. They applied their analysis of this situation to events in our countries, neglecting the vital resistance forces against the Muslim Far Right. In prioritizing victims of the state, they created a hierarchy of victims, overlooking those targeted by non-state actors. By failing to address the crimes committed by Muslim fundamentalist non-state groups against women, they also established a hierarchy of rights, where women's rights are placed last, after religious, cultural, and minority rights.
** Marieme Helie Lucas respond to the question "One of your main criticisms of human rights organizations has been aimed at what you see as a hierarchy of rights where minority, religious and cultural rights take precedence over women’s rights. What reforms would you like to see made by human rights organizations to fix this perceived bias"?
* Secularism is the legal and administrative principle that separates the state from organized religions. It was established during the French Revolution and later formalized in the 1905-1906 laws on separation. Article 1 of these laws guarantees individuals the freedom to believe and practice their faith. Article 2 states that the Secular Republic neither recognizes, engages with, nor funds religions, their representatives, or institutions. In a secular Republic, all citizens are equal and have the same rights under the law.
** Marieme Helie Lucas respond to the question "You founded ‘Secularism is a Women’s Issue.’ Of course, the title provides the general idea. What is the more formal argument to derive the connection between secularism and women’s issues"?
* Reactionary forces have always sought to govern in the name of God. Secularism, defined as the separation of religion and state, is the most effective way to prevent them from directly wielding political power. Historically, progressive religious interpreters and liberation theologians have been marginalized and defeated within their own religious traditions.
** Marieme Helie Lucas respond to the question "What are the historical, and ongoing, problems with religious fundamentalism“?
* I realized failing is still better than doing nothing to regain one’s rights and human dignity.
* “You are probably right, but if we try and fail, we can at least tell our daughters we tried but could not change the conditions, now it is your turn to try. But if we do nothing and just watch the rights that our mothers and grandmothers fought to secure for us wash away at the whims of fundamentalist and corrupt politicians, what do we have to tell them?”
* Describes sexual liberation as ‘served on a plate’