tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003335.post410678563096932633..comments2024-03-23T00:46:27.084+02:00Comments on Egyptian Chronicles: Teaching the GUC students and other University students a lessonZeinobiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12290387395565291310noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003335.post-78753003388215985372015-05-30T21:23:32.555+02:002015-05-30T21:23:32.555+02:00Wow, Zeinobia has an impressive and politically di...Wow, Zeinobia has an impressive and politically diverse readership.<br /><br />Thank you for that explanation, <b>GUC Activists</b>. <br /><br />I take back my comments and I apologize. <br /><br />Here's that Facebook link all lit up:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/activists.guc" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/activists.guc</a> <br /> <br />Best wishes,<br /> <br />JasonJasonhttp://elnaschiewatch.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003335.post-47415886109798132962015-05-30T00:29:38.451+02:002015-05-30T00:29:38.451+02:00And finally, you want these protesters to:
1. Get...And finally, you want these protesters to:<br /><br />1. Get expelled: for peacefully demanding their rights? Yes, it was all peaceful. The one incident in which it went from peaceful to one security guard getting a scratch (quite literally, that's what it says in the medical report) and the university president getting stuck in his car for a few extra minutes after having ordered his driver to run a student over.<br /><br />2. Get prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law: for what? Well, technically, the scratch and holding Mahmoud Hashem in his car are illegal actions. But those were not the actions of Hazem, Karim and Alaa, those were the result of the presence of hundreds of students there together. In fact I don't think Alaa was even present during this incident. I suppose you would want them prosecuted as inciters then? Also what about Mahmoud Hashem having started this entire clash by so idiotically shouting at his driver to 'run him over'?<br /><br />3. Get the smug slapped off their faces: I think they earned that smug smile. They went through loads of shit, I've been with them for a small fraction of it, and they've been threatened and abused in every which way, and the administration has sunk so low that they had to pull strings in the prosecutor's office to get them unlawfully locked up. You know what, if I was them, I'd smile smuggly to myself thinking that all that screaming out must be working if it got me here.<br /><br />All in all, there's a lot of details that the general public don't readily have, so I'm trying to be understanding here, though I may have missed the mark.<br /><br />Anyway, shameless plug: https://www.facebook.com/activists.guc<br /><br />GUC Activistshttps://www.facebook.com/activists.gucnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003335.post-87441890951047383142015-05-30T00:28:47.309+02:002015-05-30T00:28:47.309+02:00There's a long history that leads up to the re...There's a long history that leads up to the recent events, and you seem to be unaware of it, which somewhat justifies this take on the matter.<br /><br />The GUC has a long history of violating student rights, and there have been protests throughout its short existence. Just a few years ago students had to protest heavily to be allowed to even have a student union. After that long fight, and a lot of details that I will skip, we ended up with a fairly powerless SU.<br /><br />Given an administration that actually cares about students and their rights, there would be channels of communication always open with the SU through which the administration can better understand student problems and work on improving student life. But that is absolutely not that the case with the GUC. In fact, as far as they are concerned, the SU is a pain in the ass that needs to be silenced, just like students are mobile bags of money that need to be emptied.<br /><br />Over the years there has been no improvement in a lot of areas that the SU pushed forward, and guess what, that joke of a bus parking lot was one of them. I highly doubt you actually know what it looks like: it's a large open space, with markings for 80+ bus parking spots. Busses roam and come and go through the same area that students are expected to walk through. There is absolutely no preparation for this to be a bus parking area except for those few white lines! Not a pavement or a mirror in sight! Now add at least 5000 students coming and going every day and highly overworked drivers (12+ hours a day for most of them) and you have the perfect recipe for disaster. Unsurprisingly, this is NOT the first accident at the bus parking area, it's just that no one died before so you haven't heard of it.<br /><br />Now how is that not an administration problem? It's not like they are short on cash, or that it has not been brought up before, or that they haven't had enough time to handle it.<br /><br />Another rather important point to realize before accusing the thousands that boycotted exams and marched in demostrations, and the 100+ that were at the sit-in at any point, of essentially being little children throwing a tantrum over 'inappropriate' reasons: the main reason things escalated was that the administration, as usual, completely refused to acknowledge that the students had demands and they were speaking out. They refused to even send an email saying that, hey, the SU is asking for x, y, and z and we will take a look at it. If they had acknowledged us in anyway, things would have most probably not escalated so. It's a long fight, that started long before Yara.<br /><br />If you consider protesting our lack of voice, protesting not being heard, protesting not being acknowledge or listened to in anyway, as 'inappropriate,' then I don't know what is. Yara's death was just a spark that brought this all up again. Not to play it down as 'just an accident' either, because even if you consider it as a mere accident, there has still been outrageous negligence on the management's side.<br /><br />Moreover, if this was *not* an administration problem, if they *cannot* be held accountable to any of this, can you explain why they refused to let police forces into the campus to examine the area of the accident until later that night they, very *literally*, poured gas over Yara's blood and set it on fire until it was completely gone? This is on video and has been witnessed by multiple students who were at the sit-in that night, by the way.GUC Activistshttps://www.facebook.com/activists.gucnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003335.post-27362452525695487772015-05-29T10:59:34.323+02:002015-05-29T10:59:34.323+02:00Just informed the Student Council of Stuttgart Uni...Just informed the Student Council of Stuttgart University. Hopefully they will do something.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003335.post-52215549594071603742015-05-26T05:03:14.498+02:002015-05-26T05:03:14.498+02:00Oh, and your dealings with security guards and sch...Oh, and your dealings with security guards and school administrators, including the head of the university, always should be firm but polite. <i>Under no circumstances should you assault them.</i>Jasonhttp://elnaschiewatch.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003335.post-55861170497635219312015-05-26T04:57:05.789+02:002015-05-26T04:57:05.789+02:00Zeinobia said: "those students are the future...<b>Zeinobia</b> said: "<i>those students are the future of Egypt and the regime believes that they should not be rebellious and stand up for their basic rights.</i>"<br /><br />Z, you are just totally wrong about this, and the GUC administration is totally correct.<br /><br />Those students, and you, apparently believe that any time anything happens that you don't like, you have an obnoxious protest about it, skip all your classes, skip all your midterms, and the school administration has to do what you say.<br /><br />Look at the smug grins on the faces of Karim, Hazem and Alaa. They should get the shit slapped out of them until the smugness is gone.<br /><br />There are appropriate and inappropriate matters to protest about. <br /><br />Some girl not looking where she was going so a bus ran over her is <i>not</i> an appropriate matter. That's her fault, or maybe the bus driver's fault, <i>not</i> the administration's fault. An example of an appropriate matter: Not enough math classes are on offer at the registrar's office. Something that the administration is responsible for and can do something about.<br /><br />I have been part of protests at my alma mater. We took over the president's office and administration buildings, sleeping in them, for over a week. We needed to have, at all times, a quorum of students, otherwise police and security could come kick us out. So if we had to go to a class, or take a test, we were put in touch with another student who would take our place and maintain quorum. <i>Just because there's a protest doesn't mean you get to skip classes and get make-up tests</i>. These protesters are self-important morons, and they should be 1. expelled, 2. prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and 3. get the smug slapped off their faces.Jasonhttp://elnaschiewatch.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com