Egypt: The Moment of Change

'Combines passion, scholarship and vision - a focused snapshot of this troubled moment in Egypt's history with a competent resume of how we got here. Its passion, clarity of thought and its vision should be an important contribution to the change we Egyptians know we have to make happen.' - Ahdaf Soueif 

'Egypt is often referred to in the Western media as "a moderate Arab state" solely on the grounds of its friendly relations with the United States and Israel. But there is nothing moderate about its poverty, corruption, and political repression, as this book so ably demonstrates. Egypt: The Moment of Change is a valuable contribution to understanding the uncertain predicament of this important country.' - Talal Asad, City University of New York, Graduate Center 

'The Editors produced an excellent and needed work, on that will certainly fill a void in the literature. In highlighting the basic issues in a straightforward manner and bringing these distinguished scholars together under one cover while at the same time, keeping their aims and discourse clear throughout the text, all involved in this project deserve our appreciation. This is one of the most up to date, critical, but academic, and well balanced work on today's Egypt. For anyone and everyone interested in Egyptian or Middle Eastern politics and society, this is the book to read.' - Tareq Ismael, Professor of Political Science, University of Calgary 

A must read for all Egyptians. Nahoul

Spaghetti Sandwich

I went on a touristic tour of old Cairo with my hubby & kids and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Old Cairo is much more beautiful than I ever expected it to be. I’ve seen parts of old Cairo before, but this visit was different. The trip felt like going on a ride in an open air museum, and I enjoyed every moment of it. I wish we had enough time to visit each and every one of the mosques we saw since each one had a distinct character and was beautiful in a very unique way. The mosques we actually visited were El Sultan Hassan aka the Obama mosque, al Hussain, and Amr ibn el 3as mosques. The latter left a lasting impression on me, not because it was the most beautiful, nor because it was the one where I had an exceptional spiritual experience, it actually touched me for a different reason.

While hubby & the two boys were inside praying, I was outside admiring the facade of the mosque, and trying to figure where the Hanging Church, and Ben Azer’s temple - that along with the mosque form the Multi-Religious Compound - were. Ms. Paparazzi (aka Noona) went around the mosque taking pictures of anything and everything. I noticed that next to the mosque was a Zakkah committee, specialized in supporting orphans, and a large number of women, old & young, were waiting in line to get to a window to receive what I assume must be a monthly allowance for the orphans they support. To me, this small building was as beautiful as all the mosques we saw. I was more than glad to see that in spite of my belief that the dominant flavor of Islam in Egypt now-a-days is a superficial one that exaggerates the importance of appearances and minimizes the role of the Muslim in bettering the society, yet a good number of well to do Muslims must be regularly paying their due Zakkah in order to sustain such a project and many like it around the country.

As I was admiring the beauty of Zakkah at work, Nouna returned followed by three young girls. Mai, Heba, & Habiba. She had asked if she could take pictures of them, and they gladly agreed, and then followed her to where I was waiting. We talked and Noona gave them some candy that Habiba said she will eat after she finishes the sandwich she had in her hand. This made me glance at her sandwich and what I saw lifted the thick veil of apathy that covered my eyes. Habiba was eating a spaghetti sandwich. Only then, her shabby and worn out clothes, and her bare feet completed the picture of poverty & deprivation that my mind was programmed to ignore. I know this might sound stupid since there are many more visible & tragic signs of poverty that we see every day, but the vivid image of Habiba eating her all carbs sandwich is still tormenting me. Stuffing my face at Chilli’s and paying over L.E. 500 for one meal for a family of five less than an hour earlier has definitely added to my guilt.

Most probably I will never see Habiba again, which means I will never be able to influence her life in any meaningful way. Yet she generously gave me a gift that I will cherish forever. Hopefully her image will continue to remind me to appreciate what I have, and to remember my duties, and pay my dues towards the less fortunate fellow Egyptians.

Egypt rapists to die, court rules

BBC NEWS

Thursday, 5 March 2009

An Egyptian court has confirmed the death sentence imposed on 10 men convicted of raping a teenager.

They were found guilty of raping the 18-year-old newlywed for several hours.

The men, armed with guns, raided the woman's home in 2006, kidnapped her and took her to a rural area where the attack took place.

Handing the death sentence to 10 defendants at once is unprecedented in Egypt, according to the state-run newspaper al-Ahram.

The gang, two of whom are 18 and the rest in their 20s, were sentenced to death by hanging. Another teenager was jailed for 15 years because of his age.

There is a widespread perception in Egypt that violent crime is on the rise, according to the BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi, and this case could confirm for the public that it is spreading.

The presiding judge is reported to have said that the harsh sentence was needed in order to purge society of the defendants' evil.

Egyptian journalist gets jail for Mubarak reports

By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer

An Egyptian appeals court on Sunday upheld a guilty verdict against a newspaper editor who wrote stories questioning the president's health and sentenced him to two months imprisonment.
Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent daily al-Dustor, was originally convicted in March and sentenced to six months on charges of reporting and publishing false information that questioned the health of 80-year-old President Hosni Mubarak. The judges at the time ruled that a series of articles he published threatened national stability and caused foreign investors to pull their money out of the country.

Mubarak has been in office for more than a quarter of a century and has no obvious successor, making any speculation about his health a very sensitive topic.

State Security prosecutors appealed the original sentence, arguing it was too light. But on Sunday, the appellate court instead reduced it to two months.

The verdict has been condemned by local and international rights groups, who describe it as part of an ongoing curtailment of freedom of expression in Egypt.

Eissa said he planned to turn himself in and serve his sentence.

"This sentence opens the gates of hell for the Egyptian press," he said in a telephone interview.

"Jail sentences for journalists have now become normal, a reality," Eissa said. "The verdict is dangerous for political life in Egypt. It says it is prohibited to speak about the president. It says political reform is an illusion."

Eissa has in the past run into legal trouble with the Egyptian government. His newspaper is sharply critical of the regime and often breaks political, social and religious taboos.

The government closed it in 1998 for seven years after it published a statement by an Islamist group threatening Coptic Christian businessmen in Egypt. Eissa was convicted in 2006 for libeling Mubarak but only paid a fine.

From Victoria Advocate.

The 10th of Ramadan

On June 4th, 1967, I received a gift of chicks, real chicks, and not mozzaz (this stupid explanation is exclusively for my two boys) from our long-time domestic helper (I'm uncomfortable with using words like maid or servant, so this is what I came up with) Om Fayza.

I don't remember how many chicks were there in the carton box she carried to our living room, but I remember that some of them were black and some were bright yellow. She put two cups in the box, and filled one with some kind of chicks food (don't remember what) and filled the second one with water.

The next morning, I woke up at dawn and ran to the carton box which was in the balcony. In spite of my lousy memory, I remember clearly what I saw since this cursed box gave me the very first shock of my live. All the chicks were dead!!! I'm not sure exactly what happened, but they were all wet so I assumed that they have drowned!! My feelings that cursed morning were a mix of fear, sadness, direness, grimness, melancholy, ominousness, ...you name it.

(this incident might explain my fear of all animals and my refusal to have any pets at home, even when I told my daughter that she had to choose between a cat & me, and she, without a second of hesitation, chose the cat)

At that moment, I thought that this was the worst day of my life. Looking back, I agree. June 5th, 1967 is still the worst day of my life.

There is no need to go into what happened on that damned day and the days that followed. It is well known and is too painful to remember. And although I was too young to understand what the humiliating defeat meant to the Egyptians, the Palestinians, the Syrians, the Jordanians, the Lebanese, and the Arab world in general, I secretly had a feeling that I was somehow responsible for it, or at least contributed to it, because I caused the death of the chicks!! I caused the bad omen.

This sad intro was important to contrast it to my feelings on October 6th, 1973, which coincided with the 10th of Ramadan. The sadness of the previous six years was replaced with extreme happiness. The guilt I felt for contributing to the shameful defeat was replaced with pride for contributing to the glorious victory. How? Not sure!! But down deep inside, I never gave up on our ability to bounce back. And in that Ramadan, I intensified my prayers. And thankfully, they were answered.

So, on this glorious day, I will restore my old optimism, or at least I'll continue to be hopeful that the people of Egypt will bounce back.

Also on this day, I salute and thank all the heroes of that day. Those who fought and those who planned. And in spite of not agreeing with his later policies, I still salute our late president, Anwar Sadat.

Out In the Open

Our planes crash; our ferries sink; our trains burn and now even our mountains collapse over the heads of the poor while they are sleeping. Could this be some omen from above?

Does this not tell us that our government has failed in everything? This government is a jinx.

It wakes us up every morning to a new disaster. There has been a continuous show of disasters in the air, at sea and on the ground.

We've had enough of the 'stupid' actions of that 'smart' government.

Our country is on the verge of collapse. If there are a few ministers that are good, let's keep them and get rid of the rest. Spare us those who tell us of growth rates higher than China and crap of the sort.

Those who are sleeping in the open after the Mokattam rockslide have my deepest sympathy.

By Hamdi Rizq Almasry Alyoum 8/9/2008

Shame On Egyptian Billionaires!!

I chose this article by Khairy Ramadan (even though I never really agreed with the views he expressed when he co-hosted Al Qahira el Youm) because it is inline with the Ramadan spirit that I strongly beleive in:

Shame On You

I was following up the National Democratic Party (NDP) plan to distribute 500,000 free food bags to the poor on the occasion of Ramadan.

I was disappointed when I found out that the party and its government could provide only bags for LE 20 million, which is as much as is spent by one businessman who refuses to be named.

The NDP includes all businessmen who devour this country piece by piece with the official blessing until they eventually feel sick. Yet they just pay LE 20 million altogether, willingly or as a form of submission to the party.

Let me tell you why I am so disappointed.

Last week, I read a wonderful report by my colleague Noha Hamed in al-Gomhuria newspaper. She said that rich people in the US donate US$ 306 billion per year. Mind you, the US is not like Egypt.

Their rich are not granted millions of acres for free. They are not given loans with no guarantees. They have no monopoly on any basic commodity, and their scandals are not covered up.

Businessmen in the US did not give their poor fellow Americans or the poor worldwide food bags with just a kilo of cooking oil, some sugar and a few dates.

To read more, click here.

If you are wondering: "How can those Billionaires be so cheap? And even in Ramadan?" , then I too was wondering the same thing, but not wanting to wrongfully accuse anyone especially in this holy month, I was (al Hamd l Allah) able to come up with a number of possible explanations to their actions:

• They (astagfiru Allah) don’t trust the NDP with their money.
• They never heard of my blog, and accordingly, never watched Karen Armstrong’s talk about the true essence of Religion being compassion.
• They decided to over-perform the rituals of prayers, fasting, Umra & Hajj. This way they can amount enough good deeds that would automatically exempt them from having to perform the painful ritual of Zakat or the need to do charity.
• They were advised by their savvy accountants (who also calculate their due taxes) that after thorough calculations, it turns out that the poor owe them $27,436.22. In a demonstration of the spirit of generosity of Ramadan, they decided not to pursue the poor for such a trivial amount.
• They actually wanted to pay their due Zakat, but because of the outstanding performance of the consequent NDP governments, no deserving poor where found in all of Egypt.
• They believe that anyone & everyone could be bought, so they are saving this money to bribe the guards of Hell.

I still want to say much more but "Alahom ma inee sayma". (who said "ba3d eh??")

Saad el DIn Ibrahim: Deja Vu

CAIRO, Egypt — An exiled Egyptian- American academic who is one of the most outspoken critics of President Hosni Mubarak's regime was convicted Saturday of damaging Egypt's reputation and sentenced to two years in prison, his lawyer said.

Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who has been living outside of Egypt for a year, was convicted in absentia after writing several opinion columns in mostly U.S. newspapers that criticized Mubarak and called for the Bush administration to cut aid to Egypt.

In his ruling, Judge Hisham Bashir said Ibrahim made false claims and tarnished Egypt's image through his writings in the "foreign press."

Bashir did not specify a particular newspaper. In an August 2007 column in the Washington Post, Ibrahim accused 80-year-old Mubarak of squeezing all opposition to engineer an unpopular father-son succession.

The allegations against Ibrahim were first made by a former and current ruling party leaders who filed lawsuits against him. Egyptian law allows private citizens to file lawsuits against individuals for allegations that damage society, and the lawsuits can carry criminal convictions.

Ibrahim's lawyer, Shady Talaat, described the court ruling as flawed and vowed to appeal it.

"How come a court gives individuals the right to sue each other in cases related to national security and interests? Issues like these should be handled by intelligence, state security and other institutions," Talaat told The Associated Press.

The case against 69-year-old Ibrahim is among a series of lawsuits filed by members and loyalists of Egypt's ruling party against government critics, aiming at intimidating opposition. Earlier this year, the editor of an independent Egyptian newspaper was sentenced to six months in prison for reporting on Mubarak's alleged health problems.

One of Egypt's best known democracy advocates, Ibrahim was among the first to publicly criticize the grooming of Mubarak's son, Gamal, to succeed him and was charged with tarnishing Egypt's reputation in 2000. He spent years in jail until a three-year odyssey of trials and appeals ultimately resulted in his acquittal.

Ibrahim has also advocated cutting Egypt's $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid to pressure for democratic reforms.

Egypt-U.S. relations were strained after Congress passed a bill late last year that called for withholding $100 million of Egypt's total $2 billion in aid until the country took steps to improve human rights and stop arm smuggling into the Gaza Strip.

Egypt had denounced the aid withholding as unacceptable interference in internal affairs. Ibrahim had believed Egypt held him responsible for the legislation because it was proposed only days after the democracy advocate spoke with President Bush at a summit of dissidents from around the world.

However, in March, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she waived legislation in a nod to one of Washington's top Mideast allies.

Talaat said he did not know where Ibrahim was currently living. The scholar has been traveling between the United States, Qatar and Spain since June 2007 and has repeatedly expressed fear of arrest if he returned to Egypt.

If Ibrahim returns to Egypt, he would be eligible to remain free on bail while a court decides his appeal, but he is likely to remain out of the country until a final court ruling, Talaat said.

From Boston.com

New Facebook Arrests

Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - The arrest of dozens of young Egyptians over their use of the social networking website Facebook dominated local newspapers during this past week.

Government and opposition-controlled publications differed on the issue, with the government-run newspapers arguing that the arrest was an important step in helping to rectify the national image abroad.

"Thirty members of the so-called 6 April Youth Movement -- formed on the popular social networking website Facebook and named after the 6 April strike -- met in the headquarters of the Ghad Party in Alexandria to show solidarity with its jailed leader, Ayman Nour," Egypt's Al Ahram reported.

It added that those arrested could be charged with "attempting to topple the regime."

But the Daily News Egypt – the country's leading English daily – reported that those arrested remain in custody without officially being charged.

"The group of 14, all in their early 20s, were singing patriotic songs and flying the Egyptian flag on the occasion of the anniversary of the July 23 revolution when they were arrested on Sidi Beshr beach in Alexandria," the Daily News reported.

"We spoke to the assistant prosecutor general Adel El-Said and requested that they follow-up with the prison and Interior Ministry authorities in order to ensure that the remaining members of the group are actually released," said Deya El-Sawy, a member of the April 6 Youth Movement, in comments carried by the Daily News.

The government's next action on the issue is not yet clear, but the arrests will remain contentious among Egyptians in the weeks ahead.

From PanaPress August 3rd, 2008

I'm Too Ashamed to Die!!

I'm not scared of dying, but I'm too ashamed to die. Allow me to explain.

I am not scarred since I have a very strong feeling that I will (in shaa Allah, in shaa Allah) go to Heaven!! Don't ask me where this strong assertion is coming from (since I have no idea), and don't take this opportunity to make fun of me (cause my hubby, my mom, and my kids have done that already, many times).

But I am ashamed to die since I will be too humiliated when I meet many of the people I love and respect but have let down. Some of those are:

• The Pharaohs: Most Egyptians are extremely proud to be descendants of the great Pharaohs. Yet, I don't think the opposite is true. That is, there is no way that Pharaohs are proud of their offsprings. Us. What will I say if I meet the builders of one of the greatest civilizations ever? What do I have to say to explain where and how we are today to the discoverers and inventors of Monotheism, Philosophy, National Government, Architecture, Medicine, paper, pen, ink, 365 Day Calendar and Leap Year, the Pyramids, Hieroglyphics & writing, mummification, the Ox-Drawn Plows, canals, the steam engine, the key & lock, the clock, the loom, fiberglass, contraceptives, air-cooling systems, the fan, oil lamps, the Postal system, Carrier pigeons, Checkers, Rattles, Marbles, Bowling, Darts, Doll making, Mechanical toys, Zoos, novels, poetry, narrative, drama, Bagpipe, Trumpet, Wind Organ ....... OK I'll stop here, not because the list is done, but because this is ridiculous. It's taking for ever!!!
• Copt ancestors: for my complete ignorance of their history, for any injustice they or their decedents have been subjected to, in spite of being instructed as Muslims to treat all our brothers and sisters in humanity as we wish to be treated, that is with love and tolerance.
• Muslim & Arab scholars: Non Arabs are mentioned in the Ibrahim Issa post, while some Arab scholars are: Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Ibn Khaldoon, Ibn Majid, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Bajjah, Al-Idrisi, Ibn Abi Ishaq, Al-Kindi, Al-Muqaddasi, .......
• My African brothers and sisters: for despite of being victims of the racism of the white man, we do not shy from being bigots ourselves.
  
• The Egyptians and even non-Egyptians who were part of the renaissance that started in the late 1800s: How will I explain the collapse of the they have started and which we should have carried on to recreate our old glory? What is there to say to Mohammed Abdo, Kasem Amin, Rifa3a el Hahtawi, Taha Hussein, El 3akad, Mustafa Musharafa, Samira Mousa, Ahmed Lutfi el Sayed, Asia, Naguib Basha Mahfouz (Naguib Mahfouz the novilist has only died recently, so no explanation is necessary), Seyed Darweesh, Louis Awad, Tawfiq el Hakeem, Nageeb el Rehani, Leila Murad, Om Kalthoum, Abdel Wahab, Shawky, Bayrum,.....and many many more.
• And finally, how will I ever be able to apologize enough to the prophet and messenger who was sent to complete the message of the previous prophets, which main purpose was to instill ethics and morals in all humans, but we managed to use religion as an excuse for hatred and quarrel.
  

So until I find some real good excuses, please let me make myself very very clear: "I AM NOT READY TO DIE!!!!"

What a Coincidence!!

On Sunday, July 27, and as I mentioned in a previous post, Yousef Shaheen was pronounced dead after being in a coma for several weeks.

On the same day, the Egyptian Football Super Cup match was scheduled and held between Egypt's two most popular teams AlAhly and Al Zamalak Sporting Clubs (howa el youm kan bayen na7s min awelo).

Also on the same day, an Egyptian court acquitted the owners of the Al-Salam 98 ferry, which sank in the Red Sea more than two years ago, killing more than 1,100 people. Mamdouh Ismail and his son Amr, who fled the country shortly after the February 3, 2006 accident, and accordingly were tried in absentia, were acquitted of charges of negligence and corruption by a court in the Red Sea port city of Hurghada

My question is:

Was it a pure coincidence (or a coinkidink as my kids used to say) that all three events just happen to take place on the same day? Or did someone carefully plan all three events so that the Egyptian artists, intellectuals, leftist, and movie lovers (5% of Egyptians) are busy with Shaheen's funeral (deferring the announcement of the death of a patient in coma is not too hard and not beyond the morals of the people I have in mind), and football lovers (90% of Egyptians) are busy with the Super cup (as far as I remember, this is the first time in the history of Egyptian football that the two teams meet twice in one week), so that the remaining 5% of Egyptians (those who are not into arts or football) and the families of the ferry victims would be easy to control if they do decide to take any action to denounce the verdict.

I am not a fan of conspiracy theories, but if this was not planned, then Mamdouh Ismail must be one of the luckiest men alive that Shaheen's death and the Super Cup just happen to take place on this eventful day.

Yusif Shaheen passes away

The burial ceremony took place on July 29, at the Birmasis Church in Cairo for the late Egyptian legend director Yusif Shahin. Hundreds of celebrities and top figures in Arab cinema were among the over 1,500

Shaheen’s death came after a long battle with several illnesses the last placing him in a coma for several weeks leading to his transportation to Paris and be admitted at the American hospital in Paris to undergo a brain surgery.

Dr. Hani Nimat Allah, the medical attaché at the Egyptian Embassy in Paris, had said the famous director’s condition was very critical and the odds of him recovering were very slim and that Shaheen had experienced bleeding in his head. Producer Jabi Khouri and the nephew of Shaheen, said that the doctors attributed the bleeding to a blow Shaheen received to his head.

Shaheen was born on January 25, 1926, and has been in film making for more than 50 years. After attending the University of Alexandria for one year, he headed off to the United States and studied directing and film making for two years and thus began his career.

His diverse work made him one of the few Egyptian directors to gain an audience abroad, particularly in Europe and France, where he won a lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997.

Shaheen directed a total of 44 films, including three based on his life. In his last years, his films focused on promotion of tolerance and drawing the distinction between Islam and terrorism as in Al Akhar (The Other). He acted in four of his films, 17 of them were script-written by him.

His film list includes Bab Al Hadid, a love tragedy set in Cairo's main rail station in 1958; The Triumphant Salah Al Deen, a 1963 epic film on the Middle Ages Arab warrior Salah Al Deen; and The Land, a film produced in 1968 based on a well-known Egyptian novel tackling feudalists' oppression of peasants.

Some of his well noted movies are Father Ameen, Son of the Nile, 1953: Lady on the Train, Women Without Men, Those People of the Nile, The Sparrow, The Return of the Prodigal Son, Alexandria... Why?, An Egyptian Story, Adieu Bonaparte, The Sixth Day, Alexandria Again and Forever, The Emigrant, Destiny, The Other, Silence...We're Rolling, September 11, Alexandria ... New York, and his last film was Chaos.

mourners who came together at the director’s funeral. Large crowds of people gathered outside the Roman Catholic Church of Resurrection. In addition to political figures, and officials from the ruling National Democratic Party also attended the funeral to bid farewell to Shaheen, who passed away at the age of 82.Shaheen will be buried in his hometown in Alexandria Egypt.

Shaheen received numerous awards and recognitions at different Arab and International festivals for his great achievements. From AlBawaba.

OK, I will not pretend that I am a huge fan of Shaheen's movies (I like his earlier movies, but his later work is beyond my taste and understanding), yet I will still miss him as an icon of Egyptian movies, and I will definitely miss his sharp stinging political and social comments.

God bless you ya Joe.

Shame and Sexual Harassment in Egypt

I received this article from its writer, Mona Eltahawy:

NEW YORK – When I was only 4 years-old, and still living in Cairo, a man exposed himself to me as I stood on a balcony at my family’s home, and gestured for me to come down.

At 15, I was groped as I was performing the rites of the Haj pilgrimage at Mecca, the holiest site for Muslims. Every part of my body was covered except for my face and hands. I’d never been groped before and burst into tears, but I was too ashamed to explain to my family what had happened.

During my 20s, when I had returned to Cairo and wore the hijab, a way of dressing which again covers everything but the face and the hands, I was groped so many times that whenever I passed a group of men I’d place my bag between me and them. Headphones helped block out the disgusting things men -- and even boys barely in their teens -- hissed at me.

I learned to push and punch those whose hands thought my body was fair game, but I never found anything to soothe the burning violation. So imagine how much sharper that violation stung when I tried to complain to the police only to be shooed away -- or when it was their hands which groped me.

Once, a riot policeman fondled my breast while he was pushing back a group of us journalists at the trial of an opposition politician. I yelled at him, and I complained to his supervising officer, who moved him to the back row of riot police and told me “Nevermind.”

So it was no surprise to learn that 98 percent of foreign women visiting Egypt and 83 percent of native Egyptian women who were recently surveyed said that they, too, had been sexually harassed, and they have recounted a catalog of horrors similar to mine. What an awful time to be woman in Egypt.

When the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights reported that 62 percent of Egyptian men admitted to harassing women, I could only shudder at what sexist bullies so many of my countrymen are.

Even worse, when I read that the majority of the more than 2,000 Egyptian men and women that ECWR surveyed blamed women for bringing on the harassment because of the way they dressed, I honestly thought my countrymen and women had lost their minds.

In Egypt today, up to 80 percent of women wear one form of veil or another -- be it a headscarf or a full-body veil that covers the face too -- so you would think it was obvious that sexual harassment had nothing to do with the way a woman dresses.

So what is it that drives such a stubborn wish to fault women?

The answer lies in perhaps the saddest of all the Centre’s findings. Unlike foreign women, most Egyptian women said women should keep their harassment to themselves because they were ashamed or feared it could ruin their reputation. That’s when I was taken back full circle to the time I was groped on the Haj.

Shame.

This shame is fueled by religious and political messages that bombard Egyptian public life, turning women into sexual objects and giving men free reign to their bodies.

In 2006, It was the well-publicized episode of the mufti of Australia comparing women who didn’t wear the hijab to uncovered meat left out for wild cats. He was educated at al-Azhar, the religious institution in Egypt that trains clerics from all over the Sunni Muslim world. He was suspended, but his reprehensible views are very much at work among many other clerics. Today, as two bloggers in Egypt reported recently, there are email and poster campaigns with a message that uses candy to tell women that if they cover they will be safe from harassment, as covered candy is safe from flies.

When did Egyptian women become candy and when did Egyptian men turn into flies?

There is no law criminalizing sexual harassment in Egypt, and police often refuse to report women’s complaints. And when it is the police themselves who are harassing women, then clearly women’s safety is far from a priority in Egypt.

The State itself taught Egyptians a most spectacular lesson in institutionalized patriarchy when security forces and government-hired thugs sexually assaulted demonstrators, especially women, during an anti-regime protest in 2005, giving a green light to harassers.

So there was little surprise that during a religious festival in 2006, a mob of men went on a rampage in downtown Cairo, sexually assaulting any woman they came across as police watched and did nothing.

It was only when bloggers broke the news that the media reported the assaults. Still, the Egyptian regime has never acknowledged it happened. At a demonstration against sexual harassment that I attended in Cairo a few days later, there were nearly more riot police than protestors.

My sister Nora was 20 at the time, and she, with several of her friends, joined the protest. She had never been to a demonstration before but was incensed when she heard the State was denying something that had happened to her many times. We swapped our sexual harassment stories like veterans comparing war wounds, and we unraveled a taboo which shelters the real criminals of sexual harassment and has kept us hiding in shame.

And that is why I began here with my own stories -- to free myself of the tentacles of that shame.

Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning New York-based journalist and commentator, and an international lecturer on Arab and Muslim issues.

Abdelwahab Elmessiri

The Egyptian thinker, author and scholar Abdelwahab Elmessiri died on Wednesday evening in Cairo. Elmessiri, 70, was undergoing treatment for cancer at the Palestine Hospital, Cairo.
He was an outstanding authority on Zionism and he published many articles and studies on Israel and Zionism, most famous of which was an eight-volume encyclopedia of “Jews, Judaism and Zionism”. It is considered to be one of the most important Arabic encyclopedias of the 20th century.
Through “Jews, Judaism and Zionism” he was able to give a new scientific outlook and an encyclopedic vision on Zionism in particular and the Western modernist experience in general. Elmessiri won a number of prizes, the last of which was in May – the Al-Quds Prize from the General Federation of Arab Writers for his contribution to the Palestinian issue.
He was buried Thursday at his place of birth in Damanhur, Egypt. From Saudi Gazette.

Comments:

• Egyptian activists will miss your leadership, but I know they will make sure that you have an afterlife in the work that they do.
• Punishing him for his outspoken opposition and for leading Kefaya, the Egyptian government refused to pay or contribute to the costly treatment of ElMessiri, who has spent his and his wife's life savings in producing his invaluable Jews, Judaism and Zionism encyclopedia.
  
• Our respectful government is so intolerant to any criticism that it even boycotted his funeral!!
  
• If the Egyptian government has any sense of guilt (which I truly doubt), then the only acceptable atonement would be to take advantage of the treasure left by ElMessiri, his encyclopedia, and make it a required read by all its diplomats and contributers to our foreign policies. Moreover, add the encyclopedia to the history & Political Science college curriculum, and teach a simplified version in high schools.
  
• God bless you Dr. ElMessiri.
  

Did you say EZZ??

Following the Egyptian Evening TV Shows over this past two weeks, two topics kept coming up.

The first is the seasonal misery and heart ache contracted by all families with kids in the Egyptian school system. It is the Thanaweya 3ama exams (Egyptian Diploma).

The second topic is that of Ahmed Ezz. And I am not talking about the Egyptian actor by the same name. (I wish I was. The guy is really cute.)

I am actually talking about Ahmed Ezz, the STEAL, sorry I mean STEEL Tycoon. For those of you who don't know who he is, here is what is written about him in Wikipedia:

"Ezz is an Egyptian politician and business tycoon, he is the Chairman and Managing Director of Al Ezz Industries, a leading company in the manufacturing of steel and ceramic industries in the Middle East and North Africa Region. He is also the Chairman of the Planning and Budget Committee of the People's Assembly of Egypt as a member of the National Democratic Party of Egypt. Opposition parties, other parliamentarians, and groups including the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement is accusing Ezz of monopolizing the steel industry in Egypt by holding more than 60 percent of the market share, describing it as an act that is backed up by the government when the dominant share of monopoly was raised from 35 percent to 65 percent, an act that was described by the active parliamentarian Aboul Ezz Al Hariri as enhancing the proliferation of monopolies rather than fighting them. The groups mentioned are even blaming him of increasing the steel prices of as much as 70 percent. But Ezz does not seem affected by the almost daily drubbings he gets in the press. He dryly told reporters that a competition law would at least provide a legal framework preventing everyone from making accusations."

I don't have much to add to the above, except that Ezz's domination of the Egyptian news and his unprecedented political power, remind me of my favorite comedian Foad Al Mohandis. In one of his 60s movies, every time the name Ezz was mentioned, his wife Shwikar would say: " Did you say Ezz??? Then you must be my dad's murderer!!! Oh dad!!"

In yet another occasion were life imitates art, I am starting to get the feeling that this "Ezz" complex is slowly but surely inflicting all Egyptians.

Mabrouk ya Masreyeen!!!

"President Mubarak is the MOST popular president in the world."

This is the exclusive front page headline that Egyptians woke up to, on the morning of June 18, 2008.

Click on the image to see a larger snapshot of the front page in Arabic.

On this joyful occasion I would like to highlight the following points:

• When I used the term "exclusive" I actually meant it since, in spite of trying very very hard, I was not able to find any mention of this great achievement anywhere other than Al Ahram. Not even on the Newsweek or the World Opinion Organization sites mentioned in the article.
• The headline says "Most trusted leader in the world", but the poll was only conducted in 20 countries.
  
• I used a couple of sharpening filters in Photoshop to try to decipher the other names listed in the chart, but was only able to recognize Assad, Abdullah, & Abbas who came in second, third and forth place respectively. Does that mean the top four trusted leaders in the world are all Arab??
  
• Congratulations are in order to President Assad for coming in second place even though Syrians were not surveyed.
  
• I would like to meet the Egyptians surveyed to congratulate them (of course only if their physical and mental conditions allow it)
• One final note: Eat your heart out Robert Mogabe
  

The customer is always right. NOT!!!

I can think of a plethora (not sure of this is the correct usage of the word, but I just wanted to use it anyways) of stories to prove that most Egyptian workers who deal with customers have never heard of or came across the phrase: "The customer is always right". But here is my favorite one:

My husband, his sister, and his cousin went to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Two of their orders were Chinese noodles and Cashew Chicken. After no less than 3o-minutes, their dinner finally arrived. They were unhappily surprised to see that the the noodles dish was actually spaghetti and the Cashew Chicken was Peanuts Chicken.

My husband, who almost never complains about whatever he is served (except at home of course) because he once watched an American or British program were cooks and waiters confessed that they do undesirable and disgusting things to the orders of who they conceive as arrogant or trouble making costumers.

The cousin, who I am sure never saw the same program, felt compelled to object to this rip-off, especially that she was the one who recommended this restaurant. So she called the waiter, then tried to explain to him that what they were served had nothing to do with the Chinese dishes they ordered .

The know it all waiter, respectfully but surely, explained to her that what was in their plates was Chinese, all Chinese, and nothing but Chinese. This went on for at least 10 minutes. And when she finally saw how hopeless this was, she asked for the manager.

The know it all manager, respectfully but surely, more or less repeated what the waiter had tried to explain all along, that they had no idea what Chinese food was, cause what was in front of them was carefully prepared based on the cook book by chairman Mau Tsi Tong himself!!

10 minutes later, and only because he got worried that other naive and well mannered customers might over hear this dispute, and realize that spaghetti and peanuts are not in any Chinese recipe, he finally gave in and with a wide smile, explained to my husband and his companions that they are the first customers to actually complain about the rip-off. He actually told them that the 50 pound dish would cost the restaurant about 25 pounds to prepare, but with the Egyptian Fahlawa, and some imagination, the modified dishes only costs about 5 pounds, thus doubling the profit.

After 10 more minutes, freshly and properly prepared dishes of noodles and Cashew Chicken arrived at their table. Needless to say, in spite of the appealing presentation & smell, and the sounds of approval and enjoyment coming from his sister and cousin, my hubby did not touch either plates. Later in the car, when he finally confessed the true reason for his refusal to touch the new dishes, he was verbally and physically attacked by the two upset and nauseous ladies.

3amar ya Masr.

I Hate Spring!!!

Spring is a big deal in Egypt. Egypt's oldest and most widely celebrated feast is Sham el Naseem or the Spring Festival. It is celebrated by all Egyptians, Muslims and Christians. The Egyptian families go out to gardens and national parks since the early morning, and eat special food to celebrate this day. As I grew up, I remember that two of Egypt's top singers (AbdelHalim Hafez & Fareed elAtrash) used to have huge Spring concerts. Nowadays, TV & Radio stations play Soad Hosni's elDonia Rabee3 at least 16 times a day to mark the occasion.

In spite of claiming to be Egyptian, very much Egyptian, and nothing but Egyptian, I regret to say that: "I HATE SPRING". And, I believe that I do have a strongly justification for this feeling.

In spring, Egypt is attacked by merciless waves of sand storms. So whenever I think of Spring, I don't envision the flowers in the top image, I only see the sand and dust in the second one. This might not sound like a terrible thing to most people, but for someone who suffers from OCD, seeing reddish sand and dust cover everything from roads and buildings to cars and trees is torture. The last of those storms are never followed by rain, so my torture extends until the following winter. What really kills me, is when we get light sporadic rain that does not sweep away and clean, but rather makes matters even worse by turning the sand and dust into mud. I'm depressed already just talking about all this.

So until those d... sand storms stop attacking me in the Spring, or at least until heavy showers after each sand storm become mandatory, I will continue to hate spring.

p.s. At the risk of sounding too demanding, it would be nice if Fesseekh was banned and coloring eggs is only permitted for new genetically modified boiled eggs that don't turn blue on the inside. That's it (for now).

Quiz

What is more frustrating?

1. Being ruled by a government that prohibits freedom of speech ?
2. Being ruled by a government that boasts 24/7 about the unprecedented margin of freedom it has allowed, but you notice that this freedom actually amounts to absolutely nothing since all what is published, or said is simply ignored?
3. Being ruled by a government that boasts 24/7 about the unprecedented margin of freedom it has allowed, but if you are naive enough to believe this claim you end up behind bars?

SMS you answer to 19XXX. Prizes:

• 1st Place: 6 months imprisonment & 6 months disappearance
• 2nd Place: 3 months imprisonment & 12 months disappearance
• 3rd Place: 1 month imprisonment & indefinite disappearance

p.s. Mabrouk, Israa Abdul Fatah has been finally released on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Too Poor to Wed

CAIRO (Reuters) - For a prime spot on Qasr el-Nil bridge, spanning the River Nile near the heart of central Cairo, it's best to arrive well before sunset.

On warm spring nights, the bridge is the place to be for courting couples in the capital of the most populous Arab country, where poverty, crowds and a conservative culture leave few other meeting places.

"We know how to be in love in a place like this," says Ibrahim, 19, a student and part-time DJ in Cairo. "We come for the breeze, the view, and to be far from the pollution," he said, resting on the bridge's iron railing with his fiancee, Marwa, an 18-year-old technology student.

The high cost of getting married -- from gold jewellery for the bride to the ceremony itself and a place to live -- and the poverty of many residents of Cairo, means engagements can last years.

On Thursday nights on the eve of the Muslim weekend, couples line the bridge, each pair a few meters apart. They face outward to enjoy the view and avoid being seen by relatives.

Yachts and motorboats ply the Nile below -- a one-hour ride can cost as little as 5 Egyptian pounds ($0.95), and vendors offer flowers for a pound apiece.

A giant fountain sprays a plume of water high in the air where two branches of the Nile meet at the end of an island lined with palm trees.

"We have so many memories from being together here," said Eman, 19, who comes once or twice a week to meet her fiancee Bahr, 21, also a student.

The two met at Eman's house two years ago under the kind of close family supervision that often surrounds engagement in Egypt, said Eman, her bright yellow headscarf fluttering in the warm breeze.

CONTROLLED MEETINGS

Almost all Egyptians live with their families until marriage, and the country's traditions make it difficult for couples to meet in seclusion.

Meetings on the Nile bridges are a chance to be together away from parental oversight. Social codes that frown on public displays of affection, such as holding hands, are often overlooked on the bridges.

"We can't go to any place where the family can see us," says Mohammed, 26, an engineering student at Cairo University. "You can take your sweetheart to a bridge, look at her, and forget about the street behind."

Many young people also have difficulty paying for coffee in a cafe or going to the cinema. Inflation, at a three-year high of 14.4 percent in the year to March, hits the poor hardest.

Despite Egypt's rapid economic growth, helped by flows of petrodollars from nearby Gulf Arab countries, the proportion of people living in poverty has risen. About a fifth of Egypt's roughly 75 million people live on less than $1 per day, the United Nations said in October.

MARRIAGE PROBLEMS

Many men have to wait until well into their 30s to save the money they need to buy a place to live and get married.

"Marriage is costly and with the economic conditions such as unemployment and low salaries, it gets delayed," said Madiha el-Safty, a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo. "Social problems result. There is a lot of frustration among the young when they cannot get married."

Unmarried and without a home of their own, many of them come to Qasr el-Nil bridge.

"No one can get married in this country," says Ragab, 24, who has been engaged for a year. "The families of the women are so demanding. They want an apartment, furniture and gold."

Ragab estimates he would need to save at least 25,000 Egyptian pounds ($4,500) to pay for a wedding and for the traditional "shabka" jewellery gift the groom must present to the bride.

The cost of the shabka can range from $600, for a wedding band and two bangles, to $8,000 or more for an entire set of gold jewellery and a diamond ring. Financial hardship and the high price of gold have forced poor bridegrooms to rent the gold jewellery for the wedding.

"We come here to unwind and smell a bit of the wind," Ragab said of Qasr el-Nil, which means "Palace of the Nile" in Arabic.

Ahmed Amin, 28, says he makes 1,000 pounds ($180) in a good month doing odd jobs around Cairo, which makes saving for the shabka nearly impossible.

"We've been engaged for three years and it's come to nothing," said Amin, from the south Egyptian city of Aswan.

He was walking arm-in-arm down the bridge's sidewalk with a young woman in a red headscarf, whose name he would not give.

"The Nile is the soul of Egypt," he said. "Whoever loves his sweetheart has to bring her here."

From Reuters.