Kolena Laila : We Are Strong Arab Ladies

This year our dear Kolena Laila went from local borders to regional Arabic borders with posts from around the Arab world in amazing blogging experience. Some people especially from men consider the Kolena Laila as an experience to whine and to curse the man who enslaves woman ..etc well for sure the Arab woman suffers a lot and for sure after all those years , the world especially the west has this perception of the Arab woman as the weak lady who only will be liberated by the help of the west and its values but ..

I just got tired from this image and this perception,again yes part of this image is true the Arab woman as an oriental woman suffers from the male domination which I believe exists all over the world but in different percentage in different ways through out the time. Arabian women are not that weak and they must know that. Through out our great history we had these wonderful bright examples starting of strong powerful ladies from Queens to religious icons to to national heroines to 20th century’s pioneers to simple ladies in their homes serving and protecting their families.

I do not know why the world ignores a woman like Dr. Samira Moussa as a brilliant example of an Arab woman scientist or like Djamila Bouhired as an Arab woman warrior or like Safia El-Sadat who stood in front of a whole society to defend her marriage from a man regarded to be from a lower different class. Even from our old history we had bright wonderful examples of strong confident  ladies like Asama Bint Abi Baker , Lady Fatimah and Lady Zeinab. There are thousands of strong successful Arab women in different positions from scientists to CEO and yet no one shads the light and speaks or celebrates these achievements as if we are only used to dark sad examples.

These examples must be highlighted and remind people with how successful an Arab woman can be despite all the challenges and hardships in the way without the help of anyone.

Technorati Tags: Kolana Laila,Arab,society,History,Arabian Woman,Culture,Opinion,Laila,Mideast,Middle East

Kolana Laila : Sexual Harassment In The Ol’ Good Days

This was an issue from Egyptian “ Monday and the world” Magazine. It was a popular magazine in the old good days. This issue is dated “4th of October 1954” and one of its main reports was the rise of sexual harassment in the Egyptian street then. I was surprised because in the old good days they did not have this sort of sexual harassments we have now and suffering from. It was mainly verbal sexual harassments they were suffering from and the whole society was suffering this phenomenon.

The report was a discussion with Egyptian ladies on how to combat this problem and its reason. When you read it “I recommend that you read in full screen mode” ,you will find most of what those ladies are speaking about is just like what we are speaking about but in old fashioned way ; they were speaking about the lack of laws and police that did not care then , they were speaking about whether ladies were to blame because of what they wore the.

By the way the last page included a wonderful report about Syrian women and elections , Syrian women voted in the 1954 elections

Monday Magazine 54 - 1954

People then , the public used to find a solution for these verbal sexual harassment , if they busted a boy or man stalking a lady or a girl ,he would either be beaten the crap out of him or he would be taken to the barber shop to have all his head shaved ; the perfect punishment ,being a young and bald seems to have a bad meaning then it seems. Of course we can’t apply this shaving method now because baldness is fashion but beating the crap of the real sexual harassments will be a sufficient solution if the state does not want to do anything about it for real. I do not know what happened to the Egyptians now , is being politically passive has made us socially passive too !!?? I know that many factors have differed ,especially the factors that are causing young men to act like this but I am asking about the rest of the people , the older generations who still remember how it was safe to walk in our streets ; what happened to them !!?? What happened to the Egyptians ??

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Culture,Syria,Politics,History,Egyptian Life,Media,Society,Nostalgia,Women,Laila,Kolena Laila,Regional

Blast From The Past : Same Faces , Same Smiles

I want you to check that collection of photos taken in Egypt from year 1952 to 1956 by American Don Church

I see the same faces I see in the street every day but only time is different.

Technorati Tags: Blast from the past,faces,photos,Egyptians,history,photography,1950s,1952,Nostalgia,Mideast,Middle East,1956

A TV Channel Was Closed in Kuwait

WaA TV channel was closed in Kuwait , a news that is not surprising that much in the Middle East or in the Arab world considering the level of freedom in the region but somehow it is strange in Kuwait because the country somehow enjoys a level of freedom and democracy other countries do not have that level.
Of course when you read that a TV channel is closed in any Arab country , you must immediately think of the politics as a reason and it is our case here
The TV Channel that was closed earlier from couple of weeks ago is called El-Soor and the owner of this channel Muhammad Al-Juwaihel was arrested after rumors that he fled the country to Egypt. The crisis started when Al-Juwaihel appeared on a live TV show accusing a number of MPs from tribal backgrounds of having dual citizenship creating a huge controversy  in the country leading to the closure of his channel and his arrest.
Here is the controversial episode , of course I am not expert in the Kuwaiti internal affairs and I can’t judge on him but I think closing a channel and arresting a man for saying his opinion is too much.
Some people will say that this man is threatening the unity of Kuwait as if one man’s opinion will split in two halves , this is ridiculous , I think the unity of Kuwait is much more stronger to be affected with one man’s opinion.
All this debate upon the closure of the channel and that article episode of that TV show clearly indicates  that this dual citizenship thing is clearly a taboo which should be opened and discussed logically sooner better than later.

Technorati Tags: Kuwait,TV,regional,Media,Democracy,Politics,Mideast,Middle East,Muhammed Al-Juwaihel,Freedom of speech

Follow Up : The S.S Surveillance leaked Document

The ministry of interior has fired back on the leaked S.S Surveillance documents online and as expectedly the ministry states that these documents are fake. Of course the ministry has a valid argument which is all official documents should have the ministry’s slogan in the top right of the document. It is a nice argument but no one has seen a State security document publicly so we can judge.

Mona El-Shazely discussed the matter on her show briefly yesterday and she said that the ministry has opened an inquiry to know who behind these fake documents online where as MP Hamden Sabhi ,who is one of the politicians under the assumed surveillance is demanding an investigation in this matter.

With my all respect it is logic that the ministry will deny this and it is also logic to believe that all the opposition figures in this country are carefully monitored !! This is an ABC since the time of the occupation for God sake !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Democracy,Media,National,National security,Politics,News,Mideast,Middle East,Follow Up,ElBaradei,Ayman Nour,Hamden Sabhi

Mounir’s New Year’s Eve Concert To Be Cancelled !!!?? "updated"

There are news circulating that the ministry of interior has canceled Mohamed Mounir’s annual New Year’s eve !! For several years now Mounir is used to have a concert on the new Year’s Eve attended by thousands of his fans in the Cairo opera house , it became an annual custom in Egypt.
I do not have doubt that this iron wall has a hand in this.

Updated : 

It turned to be a false alert !! It is a rumor , Mounir is going to have to his night as usual insh Allah

Updated : "29/12"

It turned to true, Mounir's concert is canceled !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Media,Music,New Year's Eve,Mohamed Mounir,Palestine,Gaza,Iron Wall,Politics,Mideast,Middle East,Culture

The Greatest Regional Achievement of Mubarak’s Regime

I do not know if Mubarak’s regime intended to do this or not but with their stupid policies towards Gaza , the Palestinian cause has won sympathy and support unlike any time in the past.

Here are videos from yesterday’s protest and also sleep over in front of the French Embassy in Muard Street , it is wonderful and amazing how the Egyptian security let the French and other European activists sleep peacefully with no harassment what so ever compared to what any Egyptian activist suffer from in a small sit in in front of a factory in Upper Egypt !!! ‘A group of Israeli activists have joined the sit in’

Here are couple of photos from the protests

 

The sit in is still on up till according to tweets coming from there “check journalist Ahmed Regab’s coverage”

85 years old Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein has started today a hunger strike protesting against Egypt's refusal to allow a Gaza solidarity march to proceed.This is the first time Epstein does this and she is 85 years old for God sake !!

I've never done this before, I don't know how my body will react, but I'll do whatever it takes

Thank you so much Hedy but I am afraid that she has to eat something because this regime does not care for its own people to care about the Palestinian or 85 Holocaust survivor with a noble cause in her life. ‘please visit her official website’

It is sad that we ,the Egyptians after we all had done and given to the Palestinian cause watch what is happening like this.

FYI tomorrow Mubarak will meet stinky Bibi.

Updated : French activists in Ismailia street,Cairo need reporters to record what is going on there , you can call them on this number 018-5188562 “6:54PM”

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Politics,video,Media,Follow Up,Human rights,National,Gaza,Gaza March,Hedy Epstein,Women,France,Mideast,Middle East,Europe,Giza,Cairo,Mubrak,Palestine,Israel

Let’s Speak “National Security”

The Egyptian regime officials are speaking day and night that this iron wall we are currently building on our borders with Gaza is a matter of ‘National security’ and ‘Egypt has all the right to do whatever she wants in her territories.

I absolutely believe that Egypt has all the right to do whatever it wants in our territories and it is no one’s business what we want to build in our land whether it is a wall or a fort but if we are going to speak about National security then I hope that our officials will be much more serious, responsible and for once in their lives to be honest with us.  

Those who defend the wall says that it will protect Egypt from the plans of both Israel and America to replace the Palestinians in Sinai especially after what happened in January 2008 when 700,000 Gazans crossed our borders. I understand this view and I respect it , in fact I know that this plan does come and go in the American , Israeli and even in the Arabic minds in order to solve the Palestinian cause for once and for all. Sinai is a desert only used in the South for tourism , the Palestinians can take the North and have a country for their own and the Egyptians can take the South. This is well known scenario Egypt has fought for a long time and we must be careful from it, I totally agree on but building this wall will not stop this scenario alone.

If you want to protect Sinai from any possible invasion from anyone then you must have a real long term national security strategy not a very short limited one only to stop smuggling tunnels in Gaza.

First of all if you want to stop the smuggling problem in Sinai with all its kinds starting from cows to weapons to drugs to humans than you must build this wall from the North in Rafah to the Taba in South. What bothers me is not the weapon smuggled in tunnels to Gaza only but also the human and drug trafficking taking place on our borders with Israel. It has become a weekly routine to read that the Egyptian security has killed one or two African illegal immigrants who are thinking that Israel is the real Utopia. Part of the drugs problem which is a matter of national security is our borders with Israel and last week Egypt deported two Israeli drug dealers after being caught in our territories , of course if the opposite has happened in Israel our drug dealers would be now in prison. I do not understand why do not we complete this protective wall to the south.

Second the wall is just a short term plan , it will not even protect Sinai from a military invasion. If you want to protect Sinai , then you must rethink about the demographics of the peninsula. It is a real matter of national security to revive Mohamed Anwar Al Sadat’s plan for Sinai. 

Third , our national security best interest is not in this siege forced on Gaza for years now. We are creating enemies all over the world in this way actually. From more than 50 years ago the regime had allies in Gaza now they can’t stomach us and this is dangerous. Not only in Gaza about around the Arab and Islamic world not to mention the rest of the world. Now there are calls across Europe to boycott the Egyptian products because of Gaza , can you imagine it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???  We have for sure the worst PR crisis but let’s remember we chose a wrong policy from the start. We are losing more and more from our popularity that our leadership in the region is built upon already and I am afraid our enemies want this to happen “ do you remember the day when we were popular !!??”

This is what should be done if we are speaking about ‘national security’ for real. I am afraid all indicators show that this wall will be in the benefit of Israel more than in Egypt.

Now regarding national dignity matter , well with my all respect we should not be angry from those speaking about us not only because our regime made a stupid decision but also because our national dignity is being insulted from everybody everywhere !!

Egypt has all the right to build whatever she wants in order to protect her national security not her regime’s security.

Technorati Tags: National security,Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Egyptians,Gaza,Sinai,Israel,Politics,Regional,Tabah,Al Arish,Rafah,Iron Wall,Mideast,Middle East

Kolana Laila 2009 : Hear Me Speaking

I Was lucky enough this year to be interviewed with Eman Abdel Rahman in our Kolana Laila 2009. The interview is in Arabic and you can hear it here .

I really thank Eman for this great opportunity and I hope that you enjoy it. I wish that I am not talkative .

It has been a great honor for me more than you can imagine to be featured and interviewed like that.

Thank you Eman for that great opportunity and thank you again for standing behind Kolana Laila since its start in 2006 . Now it has transformed from a local blogging event to a regional blogging event that celebrates the Arabic Laila from the ocean to the Gulf all over the world.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Geek,Blogging,Regional,Laila,Kolana Laila,Podcasts,bloggers,Mideast,middle east

Busy Day in Cairo and Tehran

Today was a real busy day in both Cairo and Tehran. Ashura celebration in the Persian capital was a real revival for the essence of Karballa battle. Nine people have been killed in the clashes including the nephew of Mausavi himself.The photos and videos from all over the internet check both YouTube and tehran24live blog for the time being.
Things were much less tense in the Arabic capital but not less important.protesters from Gaza activitists are protesting the procedures of the Egyptian regime regarding the aid convey and also that stupid wall on our borders.Check twitter for the latest updates.it seems that there is a sleep over party in front of the French embassy !!
Today I have spent all day in bed because of low blood pressure and so I have been away from the outside world

Updated:The French protesters are sleeping in front of their embassy chanting Ahmed Fouad Nagm and Sheikh Emam's songs in Muard street and the secuirty can't touch them
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The First Minister of Information in Egypt Speaks

Abdel Qader Hatem , the former and the first minister of information is being called the father of Egyptian and Arabic TV. He served in both Presidents Nasser and Sadat cabinets despite their different views. The former free officers member has a  lot to say and unfortunately not so many journalists and reporters are welling to listen to his version of the story. The last time I saw this man on TV was with Tarek Habib’s special “1952 revolution files” from several years ago.This man had a big role in the Yom Kippur war which he spoke about, he also spoke about his role in the resistance against the British occupation.

Yousry Fouda interviewed him in his TV show on “On TV” from two weeks ago and I believe you should watch it. Of course you must bear in your mind that Hatem was born in 1918 , he is 92 years old Mash Allah.

I still believe Fouda is much powerful in documentaries as a side remark.

Technorati Tags: Abdel Qader Hatem,Egypt,Egyptians,Nasser,Sadat,Minister of information,Media,TV,1973 war,Israel,Mideast,Middle East,1956,Politics,1952,Yousry Fouda,ON TV,News

Donate For the Egyptian People

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni has called the Egyptian people to donate for the new grand Egyptian museum he wants to build along with Zahi Hawas !! Again he wants the Egyptian people to donate to build a new museum where as there are many Egyptians living in houses made of cartoon and tin !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And they say that ElBaradei has been away from the country and does not know what is going on in it !!!!!!!!!!!!!??

I have suggestion to minister Hosni and Zahi Hawas ,we have got across the country wonderful abandoned palaces threatened by bulldozers and ugly cement buildings ; why can’t we use these palaces and turn them to museums !!??

I do not doubt that the cost of restoring these palaces and preparing them to become museums will be much less than building this huge modern museum which he wants us to donate for.  We will be saving our architectural heritage and celebrating our  historical heritage also.

Anyhow they will not listen to me , they want a project like this grand Egyptian museum in order to waste our money at , yes waste and I am insisting on this word when people can’t find a proper place to live in or clean water or medicine in this country !!

Farouk Hosni says Donate For the grand Egyptian museum and I will say Donate For the great Egyptian people.

Technorati Tags: Egyptians,Egypt,Economy,Culture,Farouk Hosni,Zahi Hawas,Egyptology,Musuem,national,mideast,middle east,Citizen Journalism

Vaccination For All

The prime minister has issued a decree that all students in the country will be vaccinated against H1N1. The vaccination supposedly will start from today after few hours.

I do not know if it is a wise idea or not considering the fact that there is a huge debate about vaccination abroad not to mention there are news circulating in the country that among the side effects of the vaccination the ministry is using paralysis !!!

Is it mandatory vaccination !!?? Or parents have choice !!??

Already most parents do not let their children go to schools , how the ministry will impose this vaccination then !!??

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Egyptians,Life,Health,H1N1,National,society,Mideast,Middle East,Swine Flu Follow Up

Let The Sun Shine In !!

On last the 23rd of December Al Ahram newspaper published a very important Op-ed by Dr. Nader Nour El-Din Mohamed, the teacher at the faculty of agriculture , Cairo university in its first edition. The Op-ed was about the importance of solar energy in Egypt and how it could generate for us billions of dollars annually if we export this very important renewable energy source.

Strangely this pure scientific economic op-ed was removed from the second and third editions of Al Ahram after few hours for no reason at all. Al Ahram has not presented a justification for this move. Thankfully Masrawy published the complete op-ed “It is in Arabic”

Dr. Mohamed calls the government to invest in solar energy and to use our vast western desert to generate this renewable energy source not only to Egypt but to the rest of the world. We can export the surplus of this energy to the whole world for not less than $ 90 billion annually ; selling the sun can be our biggest sources of income.

FYI the first solar plant was built in Egypt in 1913 in Maadi to be exact at 6th street 101 but thanks to the British economic interests in keeping coal as the main source of energy then the project was subjugated and forgotten. Since 1913 Egypt was considered to have a great gift which is the sun. We can use it and help both our fragile economy and our environment !!

Now back to 2009 I do not understand why Al Ahram would remove this op-ed from its editions despite it is huge importance. Is the government afraid that the people demand it to think in a better way for the future !!?? Since when !!?? Is Dr. Mohamed a member in the MB and they did not know ?? Is he member in the March 9 group !!?? I just can’t understand it !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Environment,Maadi,Solar energy,History,Al Ahram,Mideast,Middle East

Majd Al Assad’s Photos

Since the announcement of Majd Al Assad’s death earlier last week , I kept searching for a picture for him , I am not Syrian and I always mistaken the brothers of Bashar Al Assad as for me they look to each other especially the only family photo available online for them is very old photo from the 1980s.

Anyhow I managed to find a single photo for him , here it is. Some people will think that this is a late post and I will fire back saying that it is never too late especially I searched for this photo for a while , so it will be very sad not to post it.

some websites left all what Syria is suffering on and kept speaking about the psychological and sometimes the genetic neurological disease that killed him !! I know it is a natural thing to find the Syrian opposition websites to speak about this matter but what use it is from talking now !!?? The man is dead and his brothers are still ruling and ruining the country in their way whether they are mentality or neurological ill or not.

Technorati Tags: Arabs,Majd Al Assad,Syria,Politics,Democracy,Follow Up,News,Bashar Al Assad,Mideast,Middle East

Code Pink To Suzanne Mubarak : Please Intervene

Code Pink is asking the people around the world to email Suzanne Mubarak in order to intervene and let the Gaza Freedom March pass the borders “Honestly I do not understand what is going on” . Our first lady saved the day last March when she intervened and let the Code Pink March entered Gaza.

Here is the email :

Dear Mrs. Mubarak,
We are honored to spend our New Year holiday returning to highlight the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Gaza. In March of this year, for International Women's Day, you intervened and facilitated our entry into Gaza. With your help, we were able to deliver 1,000 gift baskets to the women of Gaza. We were -- and continue to be -- very grateful for your support.
At this year's end, we have organized a march of nearly 1,400 international citizens to come together and march with the families of Gaza on the anniversary of the terrible 22-day Israeli invasion. We know you share our painful feelings about the human rights violations in Gaza -- violations which must be all the more painful for their proximity to you. We appeal to your compassion for those women, men and children and the conditions in which they live. The delegates on this march are bringing winter jackets for children, as well as children's medicines and school supplies.
We once again ask you to intervene on our behalf. Please help us travel to Gaza from December 29-January 2 to deliver much-needed aid and to march hand-in-hand for justice and human rights for all.
With deepest thanks and respect,
Jodie Evans, for the CODEPINK Women's Delegation and the Gaza Freedom March

I can’t find a specific email address to send this email to , may be we can send it to the Egyptian red crescent or the National council of women or to where exactly !??

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Human rights,Politics,Women,Palestine,International,Code Pink,Gaza,Gaza Freedom March,Suzanne Mubarak,Mideast,Middle East

Amr Moussa : We Can Not Be Spectators

Al Masry Al Youm published a long interview for Amr Moussa in another episode of the rivalry between it and Al Shorouk Daily. As you know Al Shorouk published a long exclusive interview with Mohamed ElBaradei last week that increased from the public’s admiration and support to him. Firing back at this move Al Masry Al Youm published another longer interview with Amr Moussa, the rival of Mohamed ElBaradei or at least this is how the media portrays to us.
To be honest I did not expect what Moussa had said in his interview , I expected that he is being used by the regime to distract the public attention and support to ElBaradei by giving them their first civilian Choice ; I was mistaken and I owe the man an apology.
The interview was published on two parts ; the first part was about the internal issues of Egypt and the second part was about the Arabic and regional relations
First here is interview :

• “23/12” Amr Moussa : The way to presidency is blocked
• “24/12” Amr Moussa : Those who do not want Pan Arab nationalism, ignore the common interests

Amr Moussa said diplomatically  it clear this time : He will not run for presidency as its road is blocked because of this stupid article no.76 which he attacks. He elaborated saying that to run for presidency you have two hard choices either to join the high committee of a party you did not found or you run as independent candidate which is much hard if it is impossible thanks to article no.76. Of course he gave a vague answer when he was asked if he was going to run if this article was changed.
He respects the hopes of ElBaradei and refused that stupid attack on him especially that he is related to him from his mother’s family. Despite expressing a huge respect to ElBaradei two of his answers can be interrupted as indirect attack on him like when he said that he was a practical not a dreamy man and when he said that he would not announce that he would run for presidency just for publicity and fame. These two answers could be misinterpreted and used by the official media he slammed hugely in the interview in revenge. He also is with both the judicial supervision and the international; he also believes that we need new constitution. He agreed along with ElBaradei that our future is threatened starting with our education. If ElBaradei spoke about the shanty towns , he spoke about the countryside.
Now to the most interesting parts in the interview dealing with Mubarak and son ; a master of diplomacy in his answers. Mubarak ; the father runs for presidency is different case than if anyone else runs for presidency “I think he meant by anyone else Gamal Mubarak” . Gamal Mubarak has the right to have ambitions and the people have the right to choose. Concerning his candidacy , well there are still lots of speculations still we can’t be just spectators !!! I think he is against hereditary.

A Big Decade ; Big Events : Egypt in noughties

Ok this is a very hard post because this decade was a really busy one in Egypt more , it is full of bad days and good days , it is full of hope and despair at the same time but for sure it ends with one question many people from inside and outside are asking themselves : Egypt to where is heading !!??
Of course this is one person's effort based on her views , I know some people will disagree with me for sure regarding these points. Again I want to see more comments on this one. I started as ten then went up to 50 then I found myself reaching to 100
 Noughties by the way means the years from 2000 to 2009
I will do my best in chronicling the major events of this decade locally in Egypt , again there is no arrangement , this is just as they came in my mind :
1) Constitution amendments and article No.76
2) The presidential elections in 2006
3) Gamal Mubarak
4) Train crashes starting with the Upper Egypt train crash ending with the Al-Aiyat crash
5) The Muslim brotherhood
6) Kafiya
7) Mohamed ElBaradei
8) The rise of protests and strikes all over the country in almost all the fields
9) The new governorates : 6th of October , Helwan and lately Luxor
10) The Fall of Toshka project

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everybody celebrating it tonight

Keep An Eye on ElBaradeis

Wael Abbas has just published an allegedly leaked document from state security in the Egyptian ministry of interior . I do not know how authentic this document is and I do not know how Abbas got it  , Abbas does not comment on it except that he got through his sources which he has all the right to keep  as a secret.
The document or rather report goes to March 2009 and it shows that the State security in brief is following the man and his family and friends in Egypt during his visit “This is fine considering the sensitivity of his position then “ and has prepared a detail extensive surveillance plan in case if he announced any attentions to run for presidency in 2012 !!?? According to this report all ElBaradei family’s phones are wiretapped. The date puzzles me some how because ElBaradei did not speak about presidential elections then directly , in fact I do not think he spoke about leaving the IAEA then !!??
I will not surprised or shocked if this is a true S.S document , it is logic ; for sure same thing happened to Ayman Nour and Noman Gomaa.
N.B I forget to say that this surveillance plan includes his wife’s family too !!

 Update : 

• When I re-read this document today I notice some point I forget to highlight last night ; what are these presidency elections we going to have in 2012 !!!!!!!!!!???
• Thanks to Tafatefo I found another strange mistake : ElBaradei is staying in London according to this report !!??  ElBaradei's offspring are the ones who live in London as far as I know.
• Also thanks to Tafatefo , we got this post from Ahewar forum and website by Mr. Amad Fawaz who claims that the S.S has been following certain people in Egypt since 2008 up till now because they are considered potential presidential candidates including Mohamed El-Fayed "this is a joke , right !!??". Mr. Fawaz also mentions in his post the files with dates and numbers.
• Again as much as I believe that the S.S is following all those related to ElBaradei from near and far regardless of how authentic this document is 
  

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Democracy,National,National Security,Politics,ElBaradei,Ayman Nour

Sicko : Egyptian Version

Have you seen Michael Moore’s Sicko ?? If you do not , then I must recommend that you watch it , it is one of my favorite documentaries of all times. Now to describe  the Egyptian health care I will tell one simple sentence : It is much more worse than the American health care. In fact we do not have one to be accurate , we just have some kind of system , similar to everything falling apart in this country for the last 28 years.” Mubarak had the time to fix very well , we have more sources than Cuba before anyone can speak !!” Of course there is a current debate in the people’s assembly about the new health insurance law which no one understands anything not to mention  I doubt that the NDP government will present
I do not understand how some Americans are scared from the universal health care !!?? If they do not want the Obama’s health insurance system , we will take it ; we are in a desperate need for similar health insurance law for God sake , already we are fighting a vicious war for it in the country in vain unfortunately up till now.I know we follow the American policies in the region but there is no need to follow their national health system too !!! Already the new Obama administration wants a new health care,why could not follow them and France in this wonderful system !!?? I do not ask the government to give more holidays and send us nannies for new mothers , I am asking for proper health care system based on our taxes , we will be willing more and more to pay our taxes if we have a universal care system like in UK or France.
The poor should not be sick in this country.
In Sicko , Labor veteran Tony Benn said that there are two ways to control the people :

What he said regarding Democracy was true and God knows how much we need it.
You will not believe how sick this country has become in the past 28 years and I do not mean sick as sick of but really sick with almost all kind of diseases including huge depression that killing people silently !!
Here is the Tony Binn extra interview from Sicko‘s DVD , it is  a must see clip

The Prince Who Became A Pauper For One Night

Prince William , the 2nd heir to the British throne and the so-called shadow King of UK from now spent a night in the cold London streets to experience how the homeless people feel while sleeping in the street. Some people are calling it a stunt , others are wondering how the British royal forgot his restricted etiquette , Crown while the majority are admiring the future King of UK.

I admire what Prince William did so much ,in fact I wonder when our crown prince will come from his ivory tower and feels even for one night the woes of the shanty towns ; of course I am speaking about Gamal Mubarak.
I know his supporters will come and tell : Ok miss smartypants what about this charity project of "1000 poor village and shanty town" !!?? He goes to the poorest areas in Egypt and pulls them from poverty ...etc
And I will fire back saying that or rather wondering if he watches Amr El-Lathy show to see how people are sleeping in tan houses in the middle of the cold winter with no electricity nor water!!?? Because if he does
, he will not be able to sleep at night peacefully while he knows he can't change a lot with a simple phone call at 11 PM Thursday to make the lives of those people living in Zarzara at Port Said slightly little better.
Gamal Mubarak only comes to shanty towns after they are cleaned and flower pots are put all the way and then when he leaves the streets return as they are and the flower pots are removed!!??
There is a huge difference between Prince William and Gamal Mubarak ; the first did not have to do this because he will become the King naturally insh Allah not to mention he does not rule his country unlike Gamal Mubarak who is ruling the country from now !!
Already I dare Gamal Mubarak to stay one night with a single bodyguard in Zarzara or any other major shanty town in Egypt ! 
The Prince and the pauper by Mark Twain 

Anyone Has Seen Those Lights !!??

I spent almost all the day away from home and when I came back I could not check anything whether online or offline and I found in twitter people are speaking about strange lights in sky which appeared in Cairo last night !! I even read that Amr Adib was speaking about these strange lights !!??

Well I was in the street last night and I did not see anything strange in the sky ; of course I am not sure if I missed anything as I could not look to the sky because it was damn cold !!

Was it a new Virgin apparition ?? Was it a UFO ?? Or it is just so misunderstood natural phenomenon considering the unstable weather we are having now !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,National,Society,Virgin Mary,Appartion,Sky,Cairo,Giza,UFO

Gamal Abdel Nasser Missed That Day …

Late President Gamal Abdel Nasser had missed that day when there would be a huge crack threatening the unity of the Muslim brotherhood from inside !! It is a strange thing because with all his terrible jails and torture policies not to mention the stories about the mess MB cemetery under Cairo stadium did not break down the group or divide it like now

Egypt’s oldest political group that stood against regimes for more than 55 year is facing a challenge with in. After weeks and months of speculations about the new group’s guide and the governing body , the group held its elections and surprisingly the results came shocking to everybody : The Conservatives have won !!

They won after huge drama you can’t imagine in the media , they won after the speculations that reformists headed by Dr. Mohamed Habib were going to win especially with his popularity but it seems he got popularity outside the group not inside it. Last Sunday things seemed to go from bad to worse in the group when Mohamed Habib did not show at his time to speak in Al Jazeera about the group and then Hussein Abdel Ghanay , Al Jazeera Cairo bureau Chief came on air speaking about pressure from the group itself on Habib that forced him not to come despite his confirmation !!

It was a strange act from Al Jazeera which is considered a pro-MB channel comparing to other other channels in the region not to mention Dr.Habib is not a child so he would spill the beans on things that the public should not know !! What happened does not puzzle me alone but puzzle others !!

The conservatives with my all respect are all what the regime need to complete its witch hunt against the group and to divide the opposition , Habib and his group was open to other opposition groups and parties in Egypt.

Some people will say that the group pass this crisis , well for sure the MB will not be over over this but what is happening now will affect it for sure.

Now I have a question : How far is the regime involved in all what is happening currently in the MB ??

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Democracy,Media,National,Politics,Video,News,MB,Muslim brotherhood,Mideast,Middle East,Mohamed Habib

Amr Moussa , The Secret Weapon of the Regime to Conquer ElBaradei !!!!??

I know the title is more than strange but it is not stranger than what is going on already in Egypt. First of all in a scoop Al Shorouk Newspaper published over 3 days an exclusive long interview with Mohamed ElBaradei from Vienna. The interview is conducted by veteran journalist Gamil Matar who has known ElBaradei since the six days war
In this interview ElBaradei fires back directly on the attack of the official media especially the official press , he also spoke about different issues related to our country and its future from politics to constitution to freedoms to democracy to economy to social justice to where he will have his first press conference if he is elected as a President

It will be from shanty town not from a compound nor from a palace

Here is the interview on 3 parts :
1)ElBaradei : We should not wait for the elections for change
2)ElBaradei : The Egyptian people deserves a better life than the one they are living now
3)ElBaradei : People live in Egypt under the level of human life
Mohamed ElBaradei elaborated more on his liberal views. Going through each part is too long but let's say despite he is speaking about religion from state he is still winning hearts and minds
The interview is indeed powerful specially the man is slamming all those attacks of the official press as I hinted above. Most of the comments at Al Shorouk newspaper websites are positive supporting him.
Now there has not been much reaction regarding his interview in the media in general , of course the regime found golden opportunities in President's Mubarak 's activity, Real Estate tax, the Muslim brotherhood feud and  the virgin apparitions to distract the attention of the public.
Still today Al Masry Al Youm ,the rival of Al Shorouk  has announced that tomorrow it will publish a long interview for Amr Moussa speaking about the Presidential elections, internal issues , the constitution " ElBaradei's first part of the interview dealt with its extensively"and what he thinks about the ElBaradei.Of course I can't judge what Moussa will say tomorrow but I have the feeling that it is more than newspapers rivalry.
I do not know why I have this viscous idea that Moussa is being used by the regime to hit ElBaradei and distract the public attention and admiration using the old policy "Divide Conquer". Who is better to compete ElBaradei than the original public admiration hero who is sent to exile at the League of Arab states because of it !!?? For God sake Shabaan sang for Moussa in a worldwide recognized hit !!?? It is much powerful when it is a Moussa Vs. ElBaradei than ElBaradei Vs. Gamal Mubarak ,
Do not get me wrong I love and respect Moussa and one of the biggest wishes is that this man returns back again to the ministry of foreign affairs yet as the hardcore Nasserite Hamdi Kandeel said

 I Will choose liberal ElBaradei over him because Moussa was and is still part of the Mubarak regime.

I do not think that anyone in Egypt analyzed the difference between ElBaradei and Moussa like Kandeel who is by the way an old friend to Moussa.
Again I do not know what Moussa is going to say tomorrow but I am just expecting.

Update#1:

I read Amr Moussa's interview and I must apologize for what I thought about him , he will not be used to hit anyone
Technorati Tags: Egypt, Politics, News, ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, Press, Democracy, Presidential elections 2011, elections, Mideast, Middle East, News

A Big Decade ; Big Events : Internationally And Regionally

I do not know if we should wait till year 2010 is over and then we can look back to the first 10 years in the 21st century or we just look back to the past 10 years from 2000 to 2009.
I look to those years and I feel or rather fear that the 21st century is not what we were hoping for internationally and regionally. There are too many events and changes , too many good and bad days we have witnessed and this is just a simple attempt to remind you with them : “I could not arrange them respectively”
First on international and regional level :
1) 9/11 Attacks “ The start of war on terrorism or rather the clash of civilizations”
2) The invasion of Afghanistan.
3) The invasion of Iraq and the fall of a great Arab country.
4) The Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000
5) Al Hariri assassination.
6) AKP victory in Turkey
7) Tsunami
8) Hurricane Katrina
9) Darfur
10)  Global warming

Hip Hop Nizar

I do not know if Nizar Qabbani had ever imagined that he would inspire a Hip Hop song in English or mostly in English , well I think he would not refuse.

Omar Offendum sings about Damascus in a wonderful hip hop song which I wish that it will be recorded with oriental Syrian music in the background. I really like this idea of mixing Arabic poetry with Hip Hop , man I love this Syrian love for poetry. Omar blogs by the way.

From my heart a big Salam to Damascus.

Technorati Tags: Omar Offendum,Damascus,Nizar Qabani,Poetry,Music,Hip Hop,Arab,Video,Mideast,Middle East

RIP Ambassador Riyad Sami

Ambassador Riyad Sami "1920-2009", the former secretary of General Mohamed Naguib , the first president of Egypt has passed away last week in silence.

Ambassador Sami did a great job to this nation by publishing all what he had witnessed in his short service with President Naguib in his valuable book “I was witness on President Naguib’s era”

Even after the coup of President Naguib , Ambassador Sami was more than faithful to President Naguib till his death visiting him frequently in his exile.

Even after his death , the man worked very hard to remind us about a man called Naguib.

Thank you Ambassador Riyad Sami , may you rest in Peace and May Allah bless your soul

Mr.President Please Tear Down This Wall

At first I did not want to believe the news despite all the indicators showed it was true : Mubarak’s regime which represents and rules Egypt is building an iron wall in the borders between Egypt and Gaza in order to stop the smuggling in to the sector

Here is the undisputed proof :

A photo from this ugly iron wall under construction.

I do not have to guess from where that steel came from : Ezz Steel.

I am not convinced with all those fake justification about sovereignty , again where is our sovereignty when Egyptians and tourists were kidnapped from our territories !!?? Where is our sovereignty when we are being humiliated by Prince Turk Al Soud and his notorious wife !!?? The word “Sovereignty” provokes me nowadays because simply we do not enjoy it anymore thanks to this regime so please enough of the sovereignty talk , let’s be honest and say that this wall is made for Israel’s security by American and French recommendations.

I know you will wonder ‘French’, what brought the French to our issue here ?? Well From few months the head of the French Military intelligence visited the borders area along with his Egyptian counterpart in a very rare announced occasion if I may say !! Since that news I began to suspect that France has a nasty role on our borders besides the American role of course to protect Israel.

Shall I say that we are losing our position in the Arab world because of these stupid decisions !!??

I think this iron wall matter should be approved by the parliament as in other democratic countries ,as Egyptian people we have the right to say what we think about it , we are not minor or naive. This single man show decisions made us go to hell for the past century and like Livni had said before :

Enough is enough

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Democracy,arab,America,Gaza,Iron Wall,France,National,National security,Palestine,Politics,Mideast,Middle East

Nawal Zeinab Saadawi 2011

Nawal Saadawi’s supporters and fans want her to  run  for Presidency again in 2011 . There is a group in Facebook calling her to run for the post and also calling for People's support. It is strange especially that the woman has not hinted from near or far her intention to run for presidency in this election unlike Dr. ElBaradei for example.

With my all due respect I do not see or imagine Nawal as a President , in fact she knows that very well too but as I said before it is all about the media coverage which will give her an opportunity to express her ideas in public more and more. It is like the last time she announced that she would run for presidency.  I respect her call for a civilian secular society despite I am disagree in certain points wit her , I also respect the loyalty of her fans and supporters but we must be more realistic. Unfortunately Nawal Saadawi is considered a crazy old woman in the eyes of the majority in Egypt , I am talking about average Mohamed not the intellectuals and I do not think that no one will disagree with me in this regardless of what you think about her and I do not think that 2 years or even less if we have early elections will make the majority of Egyptians re-think again.

If you ask me Nawal or Gamal Mubarak , I will abstain , if you ask me Gamal or Nawal or ElBaradei , I will choose ElBaradei.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Egyptians,Women,Nawal Saadawi,2011,Presidential elections,Presidential elections 2011,Nation,Politics,Democracy,Media,Facebook,Mideast,Middle East

Mubarak and COP 15

President Mubarak was supposed to attend COP 15 among the 100 leaders from around the globe, it was mentioned in his official schedule for his trip abroad earlier from two weeks that he would visit France , Turkey and Denmark to attend COP 15 but suddenly Denmark was scrapped off his visit and he visited France and Turkey only then returned back home !!

Why did not he go to COP 15 ?? I think Global warming is very a major issue or rather major threat not to the whole world only but to Egypt too which is a part of this world not to mention global warming is threatening us by losing the whole Nile Delta if we do not start acting from now. Of course I bet that the entourage did not tell him about the last part for sure. 

I am really puzzled on why he did not go !!?? I do not think that it has to do with the infamous Danish cartoon crisis but I wish it has nothing to do with his health either but thing it will be very bad for us just like for him.

Seriously why did not he go ?? Is it because he has nothing to say , well I bet many countries participating the summit have nothing to say and just follow other countries , if it is a poor country , it will join the poor countries club or if it is a rich country , it will join the rich countries club and so on !!??

Is it because he is America’s alley and also a friend to china and he does not want to make them angry !!?? I can’t believe it seriously !!??????????????????

Anyhow if there is any relief , it is that most countries of the Arab world do not care about COP 15 despite the threats and challenges facing us

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,COP15,Mubarak,Denmark,Global warming,Europe,Ameria,China,Health,Politics,Environment,Nile delta,Mideast,Middle east

RIP Hassan El-Toha’amy

It is strange thing that this man most people do not know his role in Egypt’s political except very few despite he was a loud person or rather an eccentric person. Hassan El-Toha’amy’s role in Egypt started with the revolution or coup of 1952 till camp David. He was close to the United States and Miles Copland because he could not stomach the infidel communists in the USSR. He was the man that brought those millions of dollars to construct the Cairo tower. He was the man that met Moshe Dayan in Morocco secretly , the special envoy to negotiate with the Israelis when we had no negotiations secretly. The man was an X-File himself for sure.

May be his strange eccentric personality is behind this neglect , if you read his story well , if you hear it from him or from those who worked with him you will be puzzled and wondered how a strange man like him reached to this position , confident position in those critical times of our national history. Some people will even wonder how Nasser and Sadat would appoint a crazy man like him , well he was not crazy at all and what he had done in his life for his country shows this very well. He was eccentric who was playing the crazy man sometimes to protect himself from Nasser I believe.

El-Toha’amy at the very left

He was just strange man ,fiction is full of these characters , of course this is the real life and that’s why many people of those who read his life story wonder about his sanity.

Dr. Yasser Thabet wrote informative posts about him for those who do not know  the man and his life.

Mr. El-Toha’amy has passed last week in Silence , I read his obituary in Al Ahram and I believed that he left without knowing his true version of the story properly , journalists would go there and interview him in his ranch mocking him as far as I could tell from his few interviews I have read.

RIP Hassan El-Toha’amy and May Allah bless your soul for what you had done in this country.

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The Ugly Egyptian

The latest crisis between Egypt and Algeria showed how many people whether in the Arab world or the rest of the world think about us and it is not positive :

We are liars , poor,pathetic, rude, loud , arrogant, pimps, whores ,dirty , ignorant ,thieves , illiterate who never had new kind of achievement in their miserable life and probably the world will be better place without us.  We are a dictatorship with a media control , we are a country with high rate of sexual harassment , unemployment , poverty and illiteracy “despite the fact that it has declined to  26%” . We are the friends of America and Israel who did not win a single war ; we do not have a specific independence day now like other countries despite the fact our official independence is on the 22nd of February 1922 even if it were not complete independence but at least it was recorded in history that our 1919 revolution had inspired other countries to follow our path including the Indian independence movement in the 20th century. We are chauvinists and racists who make fun even from other Egyptians from Upper Egypt “ You only have to hear our jokes about Upper Egypt and its people to see how we could be so mean with our own country people”. We are the exporters of terrorists , pimps, crooks and hookers to the Arab world , we are also the country of Shaaban Abdel Rahim and Zaina after being the country of Abdel Halim Hafiz and Fatan Hamma.These are just from the few things I have read directly or indirectly online about  us in the past four weeks.

There is not a week where you do not find a negative report about us in the international media tickling either our political dictatorship or our economic injustice or our falling part society. We have become a media sensation for sure for Western media , may be because we are open society than other societies in the region which usually more closed than us.

The above negative characteristics can be replaced with a whole blog not a whole post full of how great and noble we were , we are and will be. Yes we have some of these bad cons like being loud and sometimes rude but those who called the rest of these names should think again about themselves more and more. I will not say that Egyptians had done this and that for you because I believe it is our duty if we want to lead this region and I want my country to complete leading it , in fact according to those who really understand the region and forces of change in it the really change comes from the valley of the Nile not from any where else. Yes in the 20th century politically the Arab countries copied our totalitarian regimes through out the century but if you think about it you can’t put all the blame on us or you can ; look to all those lovely things said about us above and you will know that this is the least we can be accused of.

It is beyond a game , the game was just the tip of the ice berg , the falling domino piece that showed how fragile our Arab-Arab relations have become now. Anyhow back to my Egyptian identity analysis this is how bad we are in the eyes of those who can’t stomach us and also some of our friends and allies. “ if we have any for real now” .

We have become ugly in the eyes of the world because of this current rotten regime that did not give shit to our image in the outside world nor inside and it is not about this game ; it is about everything ;it is about the ugly economic policies that forced the Egyptians to sell them, it is about our ugly traffic , it is about our ugly trash everywhere , it is about the ugly treatment of humans before animals ..it is about ugly regime with ugly policies and ugly future plans. The regime does not care about us nor our image inside the country , it is a regular thing expected from a suppressive regime that only cares for its control. The regime made us cheap , made us feel cheap in our home and so we are cheap in the eyes of the world ; do not give a damn for them they are cheap people whom you can insult as you want ; they do not understand nor comprehend they will just scream till their voice gone.

We are also very patient , too damn patient to the level of building a pyramid in 20 years but as the Old Arabs said : Beware the patient’s anger and I will say beware the ugly Egyptian’s real anger !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Democracy,Arab,Media,Africa,International,National,Politics,Sports,Algeria,Mideast,Middle East