“There Were Not Many of Me” - We Belong in Conversation with Sawsan Chebli
For their 30th podcast episode, We Belong met Sawsan Chebli, a Palestinian-German politician who worked in the highest spheres of power in Germany. “I realised there were not many of me – Muslim women, who speak openly about their Muslim identity”, she says.
Sawsan is a role model for many young people with a migration background in Germany. She was born to Palestinian asylum seekers in Germany and grew up with her parents and twelve siblings in Berlin. The family had to overcome the enormous burden of statelessness, which marked Sawsan deeply. Obtaining German citizenship and officially ‘belonging’ was a milestone for her. She invested all her energy into her studies of international affairs but initially did not think she needed to address issues related to integration or racism in her work. This changed gradually, with consequences on how she was to be perceived and treated.
Between 2010 and 2014, Chebli was the first spokesperson for intercultural affairs of Berlin’s State Minister of the Interior and Sport. In 2014, she served as deputy spokesperson of the Federal Foreign Office; she was the first Muslim person to hold that post. From 2016 until 2021, Sawsan served as State Secretary for Federal Affairs in the state government of the Governing Mayor of Berlin.
In conversation with We Belong, Sawsan shared her challenges as a female politician, the hate she faced as an outspoken Muslim woman, and what motivates her to keep going despite threats and criticisms. Sawsan started experiencing hate when she became visible and has engaged in many ways to counter it – from adopting self-defence tactics to demanding better protection from her political party to challenging tech companies about their responsibilities.
“Building alliances and sharing our stories is of paramount importance”, she concludes.
You can listen to the podcast here and via the GTTO podcast pages on Anchor and Spotify.
We Belong is a platform and safe space for people of colour to share their experiences. Launched in 2020, We Belong has grown to include members across Europe, includes virtual and in-person events, and also features We Belong: The Podcast. Subscribing to the theory that change starts when personal stories are shared, the women behind We Belong are helping legitimise immigrant daughters’ stories and spark new conversations about womanhood, the intersectionality of feminism, and challenging the conventional wisdom of what it means to belong.
