This is a moving and thoughtful account of Opantish, which sought to mobilise against gang sexual assault in Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring. El-Rifae has an anthropologists eye here, and a deep interest in how this work impacted the volunteers, and in examining the group dynamics, making it a very engaging read for anyone with experience of organising in mass demonstrations. The stakes are high - both because of the sense of urgency in the movement, and the brutal, systematic and overwhelming nature of the attacks. Committed to making a difference, these activists persist even when the scale of the danger - female activists on the teams in the square frequently are sexually assaulted themselves, and male activists also on occasion - and the sheer impossibility of keeping up is clear. This creates a range of dynamics, all of which El-rifae mines with compassion and respect, to draw out some kind of lesson about how to organise and exist in unjust societies.
This is not an easy read often - I had little idea how bad the assaults were before reading it - but it is a hopeful and invigorating one. One of the most memorable bits for me is when the group start enlisting men on the outskirts (or even inskirts) of the assaults to help, recognising that the line between hero and abuser can be thinner than we often acknowledge and using community accountability in interesting ways. This theme also enables El-rifae to balance her regrets and her pride in ways that enable analysis and also a call to action.