No, this is not the aftermath of an earthquake, but an Israeli raid on a Palestinian house in Askar Refugee Camp near Nablus. The Israeli army carries out such raids every single day (many of them in the dead of night) to humiliate and shake up the population; to remind Palestinians that they are not allowed to live normal lives.
A testimony from an ex-Israeli soldier:
"During patrols inside the casbah we’d do many "mappings". Mappings mean going into a house we have no intelligence on. We go in to see what’s inside, who lives there. We didn’t search for weapons or things like that. The mappings were designed to make the Palestinians feel that we are there all the time.
We go in, walk around, look around. The commander takes a piece of paper and … makes a drawing of the house, what it looks like inside, and I had a camera. I was told to bring it. They said: “You take all the people, stand them against the wall and take their picture.” Then [the pictures are] transferred to, I don’t know, the General Security Service, the battalion or brigade intelligence unit, so they have information on what the people look like. What the residents look like. I’m a young soldier, I do as they say. I take their pictures, a horrible experience in itself, because taking people’s pictures at 3am, I … it humiliated them, I just can’t describe it.
And the interesting thing? I had the pictures for around a month. No one came to get them. No commander asked about them, no intelligence officer took them. I realised it was all for nothing. It was just to be there. It was like a game.”
A thought provoking representation of the (Egyptian) police, showing them as mannequins in the hands of the regime. No thoughts, just lining up in wait to be winded up and start hitting.
One of the main issues in Islam today is the family. The patriarchal bargain that envisions a woman as a home-staying mother, modest sister, or bride is in this context extremely emphasized, especially by conservative forces of the society, which, in order to preserve so called cultural authenticity and Arab family values led to controversial legislation in many MENA countries restricting women's rights and their sexuality.
This sarcastic comic shows how meaningless the misogynistic, patriarchal, literal and anachronistic interpretation of Islam can be. It says, from left to right, top to bottom:
In hell (lit. fire) because she is naked.
In hell because she is flaunty.
In hell because she is traveling.
In hell because her eyes are lustful.
In hell because one of her eyes might be lustful (precautionary).
In hell because she's left her house in the first place.
After Sisi wins the election by a landslide, it becomes clear that the Muslim Brotherhood was the real challenger of the military establishment in Egypt. But in the shadow of the war in Syria and the unrest and instability in Libya, seems like Egyptians wanted to avoid continuance of the turbulent period that led to major losses in the already fragile economy.
Even though the official results of the presidential elections in Egypt have not yet been announced, "rumor has it" that Sisi has won more than 23 times more votes than his opponent Hamdin Sabahi, which puts him at around 23 million, almost double the amount of votes won by Morsi couple of years before.
No one had any doubt of who would be the next president of Egypt long before the elections took place, but it still was a bit of a surprise that the number of ballots declared invalid was higher than the number of those cast for Hamdin Sabahi.
Looks like only an Islamist candidate would have been a match for Sisi, but, the Muslim brotherhood has been outlawed while the Noor party never managed to rise above its reactionary and oftentimes plain embarrassing rhetoric to be though of as a serious opposition.
This leaves us with Sisi, who at the moment seems to be the only one seen by Egyptians as someone able to put an end to the unrest, random violence, sectarian conflicts and terrorist attacks, but also as someone who would show serious concern and dedication to eradicate corruption and recognize the value of human rights and human lives, something that for long has been neglected by the ruling elites in the country.
This is what Egyptians are hoping for, but the events that took place since the overthrow of Morsi, such as random arrests, unjust trials, reports of tortures and other violation of human rights and media freedoms, have been telling a story different than the one told by Sisi and his campaign team.
So, what to expect in the new season of Egyptian political odyssey? Its a bumpy ride, so fasten you seat belts for there is too many dangers lying ahead of this one Odysseus: Cyclops, Sirens, Sorcerers and other monsters who will get in his way to prevent him from reaching the goal of his life, his Penelope, whose name, in this case, is Democracy.
كلام واقعى من الناس في الشارع..!!
حسني مبارك وحش بس كان مهتم يالسياحة بصراحة ..
مبارك وحش بس بجد هو طور وبنى جيش يشرف ..
مبارك وحش بس الحقيقة عمل بنية تحتية قوية جداً..
مبارك وحش بس طلع اقمار صناعية ..
... مبارك وحش بس في عهده بصراحة طور الرياضة أوي ..
مبارك فاسد بس اخر ١٠ سنين بصراحة سعر الجنيه ثابت
مبارك وحش بس الحاجة الحلوة اللي فيه انه جمع ٣٦ مليار دولار احتياطي خلت سعر الجنيه ثابت ..
مبارك وحش بس بصراحة الشهادة لله كان محافظ اوي على الأمن في مصر وخلصها من الإرهاب ..
مبارك فاسد بس بنى مدن جديدة بحالها ..
مبارك وحش بس الحلو فيه ان كل الوزراء مدنيين ما عدا وزير الدفاع والداخلية ..
مبارك وحش بس الحلو فيه انه طور مطاراتنا اوي ..
مبارك وحش ..بص هو طبعا مبارك وحش بس بصراحة جاب مصانع مرسيدس وهيونداي وسامسونج مصر بالذات مش اي دولة عربية تانية ...
مبارك وحش بس كان بيحترم القضاء وأحكمه والقانون والدستور جداً
ياعم بص هو مبارك وحش بس الحلو فيه انه كان محافظ على حدود مصر جدا الخارجية ..
مبارك وحش بس الحقيقة هو ومراته محو شلل الأطفال في مصر
مبارك وحش ولكن بصراحة باردة عمل حاجات ثقافية كتير زي مكتبة الاسكندرية ومتكب مبارك العامة ودار الاوبرا والقراءة للجميع
سمعت 10000 حاجة حلوة على مبارك بس برده وحش ومش مقتنعين خالص ان مفيش حد كامل او معصوم من الخطأ غير الانبياء!!
A new English translation of a debate between two celebrated figures of the medieval Islamic era who diverge on notions of prophecy, miracles and the origins of science helps to dispel the notion of Islam as a rigid, monolithic religion.
A post I ran into on facebook today. Ill roughly translate what it says. If I am mistaken somewhere, please correct me.
"Today at the metro the word martyrs(shohada) standing above the door instead of Mubarak station* drew my attention so I took out the pen, lined through the word martyrs and wrote Mubarak station. Then I started praying to god to help me make it through the scene I imagined (would happen). Everyone saw me, they quarreled with me and cursed me. One of them said: son of a ****! He is not coming out of the jail and breaking the revolution!
I yelled at them: this is what will happen if you vote Shafiq. Your revolution will be broken and there will be no justice for the martyrs because of you. You will not be able to protest the way you just did because it will be your choice. Then I took out the pen again, overwrote the word Mubarak, and put two brackets saying: you have the opportunity now to write your own destiny.
Thanks got for the reaction that followed."
*One of the metro stations in downtown Cairo was named Mubarak after the former president. The name was changed to Shohada (Martyrs) following the revolution. The same happened to Sadat metro station, which was changed to Dam al-Shohada ( the Blood of Martyrs).
original by Mohamed Aly, taken from Akhar Akhbar Midani Tahrir facebook page:
محمد على :
وانا في المترو النهرده لفت انتبهي كلمه الشهداء اللي مكان محط...ه مبارك فوق بوابات المترو
طلعت قلم وشطبت علي الشهداء وكتبت (محطه مبارك) ودعيت ربنا يعدي الموقف اللي في دماغي علي خير
كل الناس شافتني واتخانقت معايا وزعقتلي وواحد قاللي يابتوع مبارك ياولاد ال *##* مش هايطلع من السجن ولا هتضيعوا الثوره
رديت عليهم بزعيق وقولتلهم ده اللي هيحصل لو انتخبتوا شفيق
ثورتكم هتضيع وهيضيع حق كل شهيد ضحي عشانكم
ووقتها مش هاتقدروا تعترضوا زي ما اعترضتم دلوقتي لانه هيبقي باختياركم
وطلعت القلم وشطبت مبارك وحطيت قوسين وقولتلهم انتوا اللي تقدروا تكتبوا مصيركم بإيدكم دلوقتي
والحمد لله علي رد الفعل اللي حصل وقتها
Made by Alexander Brief and Johannes Roskamm Tracks of Cairo is a video road trip through the wide ranging music scene of Egypt's capital in 2011, the year the Arab World's uprisings began.
Listen to the sounds, the hopes and the disappointments of different Cairene musicians, with diverse music styles and backgrounds. Watch and listen to Fathy Salama, Mohamed Mounir, Wust el Balad, Dina El Wedidi, The Choir Project, Nass Makan, Maryam, Egyptronica, Mascara, Bikya and even more.
Where are the Children's Books about the Arab Spring?
The General Egyptian Book Organization recently published and lauded the celebratory children’s book “25 Songs of the 25 January Revolution.” In December of 2011, a French publishing house released the bilingual French/Arabic “The Revolutionary’s Pen,” which aims to explain the impetus behind the Tunisian revolution to children.
But while revolutionary novels, comics and diaries for adults have been published in a veritable torrent, new revolution-themed children’'s books have come at a trickle. In Cairo’s big bookstores, children’s-book sections look much as they did before January 2011.
Award-winning Lebanese children’s book author Fatima Sharafeddine has a new book in the works, called “Habbat Rayahon Qawayaton” (A Strong Wind Blew), which is dedicated “to Egypt, to the children of Egypt, to the children of all Arab revolutions.” In Sharafeddine’s book, which will be published by Dar al-Shorouk within the next six months, a strong wind blows and changes “all the world.”
But Sharafeddine’s story, told in rhymed verse, is one of very few. She said that, “in the Arab world, we do not realize that political events mean anything to the children; we do not notice that they are affected by it; they are generally excluded from the political scene and shielded from its terrible consequences.”
As a child, Sharafeddine was herself shielded in many ways from the Lebanese Civil War. But she still found the need to talk about the conflict and has written one of the few Arabic children’s books about war, a sensitive, hopeful story called “Fi Madinatee Harb” (In My City, There’s a War).
Certainly, there are some things from which children, particularly younger ones, should be shielded. Psychologist Dalia Danish, who lectured in Cairo last spring about post-traumatic stress disorder, suggested that children should not watch the news. However, Danish said that parents should answer children’s questions about current events: Children’s books are one positive way to open that conversation.
Nadine Kaadan, an acclaimed Syrian children’s book author, says that “most Syrian authors, and adults for that matter, are being very careful and avoidant in talking with kids about the crisis, because they don’t want to disturb them with stories of brutality and violence.”
But Kaadan feels that these issues, in the end, must be discussed. She has been looking for a way to write about events in Syria for children.
“It’s been on my mind since the uprising started, but I wasn’t clear on how to address it in a children’s book. The project slowly took shape as the events escalated from stage to stage, and I’ve finally decided that the story must center around how kids’ daily lives change during the crisis and how they are affected by all the uncertainty that is going on around them.”
Some Arabic children’s books, like Fatima al-Madol’s “El Wutn” (The Homeland), talk generally about a child’s relationship to his or her country. But few address the more confusing or difficult aspects of current events.
“I think it’s due to our educational culture in general in the Arab world, and our methods in dealing with children,” Kaadan said. “I would describe it more as ‘a need-to-know basis’ type of transmitting knowledge from parent to child, rather than an open and two-way conversation about situations that surround us or questions that the children may have, even if they’re very difficult to answer and are about the Arab Spring.”
Self-censorship also might be part of it, Kaadan said.
“I also feel that Arabic children’s publishers are overly cautious in dealing with issues that are considered taboo,” she said.
As she considers how to make her contribution to the literature of uprising, Kaadan says, she’s been particularly inspired by Iranian author Marjane Satrapi’s coming-of-age comic “Persepolis” (2000) and Egyptian author Walid Taher’s “The Black Dot” (2010), in which a group of children triumphs over a mysterious, oppressive dot.
Kaadan said it will be a challenge to create a book that, like “Persepolis” and “The Black Dot,” is both timeless and timely.
“It’s a challenge to strike a balance between creating a book that is universal, but also one that represents a historic and critical chapter in the Arab world for young readers,” Kaadan said.
Little over a year ago, no political analyst I know would have argued that the leaders of Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Yemen would be deposed in the immediate future. This set of leaders, cumulatively, had been in office for more than 100 years. Nor would anyone have projected that there would be uprisings in Bahrain and Syria. Clearly, 2011 was the Year of Revolution in the Arab World.
However, much more has occurred. Political parties have been legitimized, from Islamist political trends to liberal secular movements. Parliaments have been disbanded. Constitutions are being rewritten. Former officials have been killed, or are being put on trial. Most important, the average Arab feels empowered and is asserting his and her right to be governed democratically. It is self-evident in the streets of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and now Syria, that the old axiom that authority rules is being challenged every day, almost to a fault.
Another positive development is that Arab governments and Arab societies are finally dealing openly with their reality. An Islamist opposition leader heads the newly established Moroccan government. Tunisia has distributed leadership positions in its interim arrangements between the majority and opposition. Islamist political parties gained a wide majority in Egyptian parliamentary elections, and voices of dissension are heard throughout the rest of the Arab world. Open discussion about the role of religion in society and government, as well as the role of the military and the powers of the executive branch versus legislative bodies, is ongoing and vibrant. The active engagement of youth–over 50 percent of the Arab population–in political expression is also of paramount importance, for theirs are the voices of the future. One cannot have a democratic or representative political system that is not reflective of society. It is this sense of empowerment and expression that ultimately provides the kernel of self confidence required to engage in public issues domestically, regionally, and internationally. And it is the inclusiveness of the system that gives it the credibility, which will ensure that it be taken seriously. These are among the strongest reasons for my optimism.
There were also disappointing and tragic events in 2011. The widespread use of force by the former Libyan regime against its people, the loss of Egyptian revolutionary martyrs in protests even after the change in Egyptian government, the killings in Yemen and Syria, and the human rights violations in Bahrain are all testimony to the high price of change. Regrettably, many of these losses could have been avoided had the entrenched regimes moved swiftly to accommodate the legitimate demands of the protesters. Where this did occur, such as in Morocco and Tunisia, less physical violence was witnessed and a political consensus towards the future seems to be emerging, though some real differences still simmer under the surface.
The Egyptian case is exhilarating and frustrating at the same time. As society stood up unified around the goal of “change” from January 25 to February 11, expectations for rapid transformation into a truly democratic Egyptian society were widespread. Together the people’s voices were clearly stronger than an entrenched and deep-rooted security system. Power in the country was being redefined. United, the people quickly succeeded in removing the head of state, reshuffling the government several times, and dissolving the parliament. Then the process lost track.
Egypt attempted to engage in democratic processes, such as competitive party elections, before developing a constitution, which should have provided the basic parameters for how the country would be governed in the future. As such, the united popular forces dispersed to compete for ownership of Egypt’s future without laying down the foundations of the new republic or creating a balanced playing field for the different stakeholders. In essence, they have embarked on picking the fruits of the revolution before actually nurturing it to ensure a bountiful harvest.
The real challenge of the coming period in Egypt will be the development of a constitution that is reflective of the strategic outlook of the nation, rather than the immediate political strengths of existing political trends. Going to parliamentary elections early has made this process all the more difficult and will lead to highly volatile debate in the weeks to come, as well as potentially numerous revisions in the years after a new constitution is agreed upon. As frustrated as some of the youth movements may feel, they are duty bound to rise above their differences and again unite to ensure that the new constitution guarantees the values of equality, democracy and the rule of law that they demanded so proudly a year ago.
For the constitutional process to have any chance of success, the provisions of the constitution must ensure four basic principles:
1. Transparency
Information should be accessible to Egyptians if they are to participate in determining the public interest. And they have the right to know how and why decisions were taken. Lack of clarity breeds corruption, while ambiguity fuels innuendo and false accusations.
2. Inclusiveness
The constitution must remain a foundational document for all Egyptians, irrespective of their beliefs, creed, gender, etc. If they are expected to sacrifice equally in war, or share the benefits of peace and prosperity, they must have equal rights and find pride in their national identity.
3. Accountability
To ensure productivity and integrity, Egyptians in positions of authority must know that they are to be held accountable for their actions. To encourage the respect necessary to participate in policy making, business, or public life, authority figures must recognize that their efforts have consequences.
4. Competitiveness
The constitution must create a system that does not only provide equal opportunity in theory, but in practice as well. Legalizing autocracy was not the objective of the revolution.
These four principles, applied to all of the sensitive issues in Egypt, be it the role of religion in politics, the rights of the individual, the roles of the military and political system, and the balance of power between the presidency, government and parliament, are the best possible assurance for the success of the Egyptian revolution.
These principles provide foundations for the political compromises that will be required to satisfy the different stakeholders and unite varying opinions. They create a framework through which all our most contentious issues may be introduced, torn apart, then finally and equitably resolved in the elegant chaos of the democratic process. Without such a framework the threat of renewed autocracy will never truly recede. With it, we may enjoy the fruits of January 25, and ensure a sustained, if belated, harvest for the years and generations to come.
Nabil Fahmy is the dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo. He served as Egypt’s ambassador to the United States from 1999–2008, and as envoy to Japan between 1997 and 1999.
