Diary of a Feminist: Bayadir Mohamed-Osman’s Story on Inheriting the Activist Flame
In this edition of Diary of a Feminist, we spoke with Bayadir Mohamed-Osman, a Sudanese activist and poet, whose passion and fight are impossible to ignore.
Bayadir is not new to the activist space; in fact, she said she was born into it. “My family came to America because we were political refugees; my father was a Freedom Fighter.” She didn’t meet her father until many years later, as he was wanted for execution by the government and was consequently forced into hiding.
“Growing up, that’s the father I always had, so I don’t know if I had the choice not to be,” Bayadir recalled standing outside the United Nations headquarters in New York as young as seven. She said, “I have pictures of me as a child standing there with posters alongside my family.” Now, 25 years later, she is still at the United Nations talking about the same situation.
A family heirloom
Arabic names are commonly rooted in a meaning. Bayadir explained the significance of her name, meaning: a vast space/ valley/ land where wheat sprouts.
One of Bayadir’s poems is dedicated to her name and all that it means to her and her story, it’s called Naming.
An extract from the poem reads: “Revolutions don’t grow from comfort and compliance. When asked what I gave Sudan, can I tell you my father? Possibly, he chose my name to represent the thousand miles of bayadir between me and him. The thousand miles of bayadir between the fight and victory.
What to ask an activist
After spending her lifetime in the activism space, Bayadir has done her fair share of public speaking events and is tired of those who focus on the trauma, the numbers, and shock-factor stories.
“I wish people would ask me more about direct solutions and how they can personally support the cause. Rather than me just trauma dump work, continuously report on numbers and devastation.”
There is a certain place and time, she said, for the statistics such as research, “But after a while it's like, okay, now let's talk about the solutions.”
A battle with the algorithm
One of the dangers with social media advocacy work is that you can spend a lot of time creating content that only people who share your opinion or view will see, thanks to the ever-evolving algorithm.
Bayadir uses her creative side to combat this issue: “You have to tap into social media trends to broaden your reach, and get information to new people. Even if it makes you uncomfortable, you have to reach people in the way they want to be reached.”
From a young age, Bayadir began experimenting with poetry and then later on spoken word. “There are certain things academia and that form of writing just isn't going to get across, so there is a need for this kind of expression,” she said.
The love of this art form stems from the moment Bayadir realized she could get that emotion down and educate people through it as a tool; this was the tipping point where “it became even more powerful,” she added.
About the author:
Olivia Hooper is the co-director of Politics4Her, she is a British journalist and editor with a degree in translation. Olivia uses her career in journalism to advocate on gender-based issues surrounding women and girls.
