#1960s : Egypt in colored footage

This clip is amazing , it is from that promotional material produced in Egypt for tourism in 1960s.

Cairo and Alexandria in 1960s

It is a glimpse from our past in Cairo and Alexandria, please enjoy it with the amazing sound of Dalida.

The Egyptian Chronicles’ women of the year 2011 : Ladies who made their own chronicles

These lists or rather names have no order. All these names in this list already found their lives turning upside and down  in this year 2011. Needless the owner of this blogger herself found that her life has changed upside down in amazing way this way. The Egyptian woman in 2011 just like in 1919 stood and defended the freedom in her country like no other , the Egyptian woman is usual stunning for me just like Egypt.

Historical Mentions :

The blue bra girl whom I will not share her photo despite it has been engraved in the memories of many as one of the worst moments in our revolution respecting her wish. Strangely when I remember this is not the first time something like to happen when security conscript whether from army or police strips a lady from her clothes in the street in a crackdown. It happened before in the 1990s during the terrorism years , when the security forces used to strip the mothers , wives and daughters of terrorist suspects from their clothes whether in the heart of Upper Egypt or the heart of Imbaba.

#NGORaid : And The NGOs are being raided

Today 6 human rights organizations and NGOs have been raided by public prosecutors guarded by police and military police in what officially considered another episode of the the NGO’s foreign funding cases.
The 6 human rights organizations are : The Arab Center for Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) , National Democratic Institute “NDI” , Republican Institute “IRI” , Freedom house and Budgetary and human rights observatory .
The public prosecutor officers took documents and computers from these offices. There is one detained researcher from the Budgetary and human rights observatory in the raid and according to lawyers he may be released tonight insh Allah hopefully.

By Dear Sarah Carr from the NDI

Official MENA reports that 17 headquarters of NGOs were raided today , I believe that they meant offices followings these NGOs and not 17 NGO because so far 6 human rights.
Now for the record for weeks the National Democratic institute “NDI” and Republic Institute have been mentioned in the reports of unofficial foreign funding from the United States , among other NGOs.  “Freedom House” and foreign funded NGOs have got the worst reputation due to the long time accusations of being a front of CIA to the rest of this talk since the days of Mubarak.

#Mubaraktrial :Beware the wrath of 2012 if Mubarak is not back in power !!

And so after two months we are back with a new episode of the long Mubarak and co. trial. Despite some Egyptians have lost hope in this trial and consider it as charade and other Egyptians are just unconcerned with it because they got their own lives , I am from that team of Egyptians who follow it because they are finding it important from historically perspective despite my logic doubts that we may reach to a real just verdict in this case.
I also find it amusing thanks to the unusual theatrical performance of Mubarak’s supporters ,the defendants’ lawyers ,some of the plaintiffs and of course Mubarak , his sons and Habib El Adly.
Starting with Mubarak and his iconic appearance !!

Mubarak , the sick old man !!

Sadly enough Mubarak and the rest of the defendants do not  wear handcuffs unlike the wounded defendants arrested at the last clashes in Tahrir square.

Masrena : Our Egypt

Here is a sincere attempt to move forward and together , Maserna movement or our Egypt is launched to unite Egyptians with their different background.

Among the members of Maserna : Wael Ghonim , Wael Khalil,Mohamed Diab, Ziad Aly, Khaled Mansour ,  Moatez Abdel Fatah and Bara’a Ashraf.

I hope that people especially youth join this movement and I pray they fulfill the mission of Maserna.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Democracy,Politics,Post Revolution,Wael Ghonim,Wael Khalil,Mohamed Diab,Ziad Aly,Moatez Abdel Fatah

#Virgintygate : More than important court rule

Today the administrative court has suspended the practice of the virginity tests officially in Egypt.
This verdict was the first fruit of the lawsuits filed by human rights organizations on behalf Samira Ibrahim. The rest of the fruits is the investigation with that doctor conscript that did that virginity next Sunday. The administrative court will also see if Samira should be compensated or not.
According to the administrative court : The virginity tests are violation to the sacred women’s body as well a clear violation to the constitutional declaration.
Ibrahim underwent the virginity tests after her rest in the clashes of March 9th sit in dispersion along with other girls “about 7 girls” , only Samira had the courage to sue SCAF and the army.

Ramy Essam with Samira Ibrahim "by Mostafa Nagah

#2012 : My 2012 Wishes for Egypt

• I do not want any Egyptian to be killed or injured by the hand of another Egyptian or any Egyptian to be abused or tortured or bullied by another Egyptian
• People would have a real vision , mission, strategy and tactics for the new Egypt and her future.
• Unity
• Justice for everybody not only for the martyrs and the injured but for everybody in this country.
• The transitional period to become a true transitional period and not vindictive period.
• A true independent judiciary
• A new constitution that suits a country like Egypt and preserves my rights as Egyptian representing all Egyptians.
• A new elected interim president for this transitional period who understand its challenges .
• A new parliament whose members do not care for the position or for their party as much as they do care to pass this transition period successfully.
• A new government whose ministers care for the people for true and make to real achievements and positive change in the lives of the Egyptians.
• An army and intelligence that do not interfere in politics that protects our true national security , an army that produces arms and defense systems in its military production factories once again.
• A police that makes me feel safe and confident that my rights will be not lost.
• True TV channels that represent the people do not represent the interests of the owners or the ratings of the TV shows.
• A true understanding among people.
• Our youth to think with their minds and not with their emotions and heart.
• People began to think outside the boundaries of Tahrir square , Cairo and Alexandria
• The attack on our agricultural land to be stopped.
• To restore our money and assets outside and inside Egypt

And I think these wishes are enough , more than enough. The road in front of us is too long and too hard more than you think

Technorati Tags: #Jan25,Citizen journalism,Politics,Egyptian army,Egypt,Revolution,Post Revolution,President elections 2011,National,National security,Democracy,Freedom of expression,Media,human rights

Did the EU commission really issue that statement !?

First of all we all know that some bad , some illegal gases were used against the peaceful protesters at Mohamed Mahmoud street without doubt based on the testimonies of protesters and doctors in those 48 hours then and based on that videos showing the side effects of these gases.
Today Tahrir newspaper published a report spread online as report issued by the European commission to prove that the army committed war crimes against the protesters in Egypt , that report appeared at first in Mujaz.me news website and you can imagine the buzz it caused. The report in Mujaz was first published by journalist Mohamed Abdel Khalek in Rosa Al Youssef Daily newspaper. It was also published in Al Fagr newspaper website. 
First thing we can’t find any reference for this report internationally or in the European commission website. I tried to find it in English but failed so far.
Most of reports speak and spoke that the security forces used CR gas then yet that report boldly claims that the White phosphorus , of course what supported this claim is the two horrible bodies filmed at the morgue then where nobody can find a good explanation on why they looked like that. “In fact we did not hear that they were reclaimed or the families of these two deceased May Allah bless their souls or who were they at all !!? Where did they go !? We need to know what happened to them ”

From a Year ago

On December 25th,2010 I began to blog about that thing taking place in Tunisia and on December 25th ,2011 I am watching an interview with the new president of Tunisia on Egyptian TV channel.

On December 25th, 2010 I wrote “ Sidi Bou Zid revolt : It is a bias world my dear”

I was criticizing how the media , the international and regional media completely ignored this revolt taking place growing in to uprising growing in to a revolution. I can’t express my words on how I feel when I remember these day , when I began to read more about Tunisia and learn the names of its cities by heart like all those cities I knew in Libya , Yemen , Bahrain , Oman and Syria.

Beware the dangerous Revolutionary socialists !!

In the mid of last week on Tuesday  amidst the terrible clashes between security forces and protesters I found people sending me a clip through twitter through out the day as well being shared all over the Facebook.

Sameh Naguib : Bringing down the state clip

This clip was a part of a lecture held by the Revolutionary Socialists from couple of weeks ago after the  clashes of Mohamed Mahmoud street , the speaker is Sameh Naguib and he says that the revolutionary socialists want to bring down the state and the army because this is corrupted state following the Pentagon , Israel and Saudi Arabia adopting greedy capitalistic systems. Naguib added that there will be more sacrifice and that the frustrated young students ,poor workers , women and Christians will join them in their quest.
Of course uncle Hossam El Hamalawy and Kamel Khalil appear in the clip as well.
In a country where its people that are extremely worried about the future and fear violence as well trying to understanding and to know who is that unnamed third party being accused by SCAF and authorities in all the clashes for months , to know who is trying to turn the people against the army regardless of the SCAF policies the Revolutionary socialists were the golden suspect if they were not the accused and guilty of that in the eyes of some many people because of this small clip !!
It is worth to mention there was something in the air when it comes to the Revolutionary socialists as well as the anarchists , Salafists TV shows and clerics began to speak about them days before that clip made its way to the public in a silly way with accusations to the Revolutionary socialists of being funded by the CIA !!!!!!
I do not know how the commies will be funded by CIA !!

#FreeAlaa : Alaa is released !!

This is the good news of the day indeed.
Our dear blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fatah Seif has been released pending investigation by the judge on Sunday.
I hope the people leave Alaa for couple of weeks to enjoy some time with his born son Khaled and his wife Manal before heading to Tahrir square.
Thank God 10000000000 times and hopefully the rest of innocent detainees will be released.
Alaa Abdel Fatah Seif was accused in the Maspero clashes which are being investigated now by civilian judge after month in front of Military judiciary followed by state security court then a civilian judge.
Here is the first photo showing Alaa Abdel Fatah as a free man outside the jail , he has been always a free man.

This is the first photo after release.

Holding baby Khaled by MRS.Azza Shaban 

With Manal , Khaled and Dr. Laila "By Mona Seif"

And as expected Alaa headed to Tahrir square after his release.

Merry Christmas From Egypt

Ok this is the first Merry Christmas from Egyptian Chronicles to all those Christians celebrating it in the world
Merry Christmas to all my friends celebrating it today in Egypt.

The Holy family in Egypt

The Catholics in Egypt decided to not have big celebrations like every year as a respect to our martyrs.
Insh Allah next year we celebrate it all.

#EgyElections : Second stage results “individual seats”

Ok here are the second stage of the parliamentary elections’ results for the individual seats :

• 40 seats for Freedom and Justice party “Muslim brotherhood”
• 13 seats for Nour party “ The Salafists”
• 1 seat for reform and development party “Mohamed Anwar El Sadat JR”
• 4 seats for the independent candidates “Including Amr El Shobaki”
• 2 seats for the former NDP members “Mainly in Upper Egypt”

Now in this round the Islamists “Muslim brotherhood and Salafists as well” got about 88% of the seats in this round.
I do not know exactly the results of the lists but without doubt the Freedom and Justices will be in the lead.

Updated : Ok I found that graph from Al Wasat party showing the results of the lists in second stages.

1. Freedom and Justice list comes in the first place.
2. The Nour list comes in the second place.
3. The Wafd party list comes in the third place
4. The Egyptian bloc list comes in the fourth place
5. The Wasat party list comes in the fifth place.
6. The reform and development party list comes in the sixth place
7. The Misr Nationalist party list comes in the seventh place.
8. The Revolution continues list come in the eighth place.

Of course no one is paying attention to the results of the elections despite this upcoming parliament is from the good future scenario for peaceful transition . “opposing for the bad scenarios”
Many political forces are calling SCAF to hand over the power to the speaker of the parliament after its first session on January 23th 2012. 

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Elections,Muslim brotherhood,National,Freedom and Justice party,Amr El Shobaki,NDP,Parties

Shafik : Let them Eat “Fish and chips” !!

And strangely Shafik appeared suddenly in that terrible week as usually to make people more angry with his provoking statements. Now the former less than one month PM and potential aspiring presidential candidate Shafik spoke at conference held by the Canada Egypt Business council “CEBC” on last Wednesday in Cairo.
During that public meeting Shafik said that if he becomes the president , there will be a lot of changes in Egypt and that :

Egyptians deserve to eat fish and chips instead of beans and falafel  !!

Dear follow Egyptians elect Shafik and you will eat fish and chips instead of fol and ta’amiya !!!!!!!!!

#Tahrir : Egypt’s Free Women Protest

Today is there is a protest in Tahrir as I hinted last night and its final name now is “Egypt’s free women protest”. There is one podium installed in the square at Hardees area.

The numbers are not big as expected but people are expected numbers to be increased with the rallies that should reach Tahrir square from different areas especially from Al Azhar square.

@ 12 :20 PM CLT

The numbers are not that big up till now before the prayer as expected , journalists estimated couple of thousands.

Here is a photo by Adam Makary showing the protesters praying.

Another photo by Heba Fahmy

#Tahrir : Another Friday Protest

Tomorrow there will be angry Friday protest several protesters hope that it would be a million man protest after the brutal attacks on the protesters at Tahrir square by the army forces and CSF.
Now interesting enough those parties are participating in the protest : El Adl party , El Wasat Party , Egyptian Social Democratic party , El Tayar El Masry , April 6 Youth Movement , Revolution Youth coalition , Free Egyptians party Al Ghad party and surprisingly El Nour party at the last moment.
Till afternoon we though that El Nour party , which is the biggest Salafist party in the country announced that it is going to participate in the protest in its official FB page.
Ok I see this move from the biggest El Nour party as more of clearing their image , already the leaders of the Salafist trend including the icon members of the party attacked the protesters defending SCAF so why this big shift !?

#Tahrir : Future scenarios “ The bad ones”

We must predict and plan  for the future , only fools in this age who do not plan and have scenarios for the future especially when we speak about  country in the size and location of Egypt. Our youth are good in mentioning examples and scenarios from abroad specifically 1954 and Romania but forgetting to create scenarios based on our situation in 2011 when it comes to internal and external circumstances.

These are the scenarios if the clashes between the security forces “the army” and the protesters continue and there is no peaceful solution especially we are coming to close to January 25th , 2012 with angry feelings from everybody.

The main scenario on the table if there is no  peaceful solution for the crisis we have : An internal coupe in the Egyptian army

There is no doubt that there are many officers and soldiers who do not approve what happened exactly in the centralized zone of Cairo and some of them will think in that scenario.

#2011 : The year of dictators “Kim Jong il is gone too ya People !! ”

It is a new  world taking shape indeed.

• Ben Ali of Tunisia
• Mubarak of Egypt
• Saleh of Yemen
• Gaddafi of Libya
• Kim Jong Il of North Korea

I do understand why some people have got some conspiracy theories of their own.
The 69 years old Kim Jong il died “allegedly” by heart attack from four days ago as we have been told. May be the man had a sudden heart attack and that’s why they had to keep as a secret in order to organize their matters.

Here is the announcement , the famous announcement of the leader’s death in the national N.Korean TV. “It is standardized system in the dictatorships”

North Korea : The leader is dead

#Tahrir : What I have noticed …

Ok this seems stupid but when I look to all the previous clashes between security forces and protesters in all those months ended by the disaster we are currently having , I found some interesting :

• Most of these clashes either happened in protests or rallies or sit ins have no real public support and that’s why we got the same old question”Why did they go there in the first place !?” regardless of the goals , the rallies and protests need to be spread and gain support.
• We do not know the results of the investigations following these clashes , not single one at all despite the press leaks always include something like “ a NDP remnant is behind the clashes” and “ rich businessman” …etc.
• There are infiltrators and agent provocateurs in all these protests and sits in as usual and yes protesters can’t control the security of these protests especially these infiltrators come and show more anger against SCAF and security forces. Unlike what you think these are infiltrators are not only thugs but sometimes youth who are so elegant and sophisticated from the middle class.

#Tahrir : Looking for truce

A group of activists and members of parliament went to Tahrir square today in an attempt to calm things down and reach to a truce between the protesters and the army.

This group included : MP Amr Hamzawy , Wael Ghonim , MP Mostafa Al Nagar , potential MP Ziad Eleimy , potential MP Ziad Bahaa El Din ,Dr. Moatez Abdel Fatah, Dr.Mostafa Hegazy , Hamdeen Sabhi , Mohamed Diab , Ziad Aly and Jawad Nabalusi.

Moataz Abdel Fatah made it clear that truce does not mean giving up the rights of the martyrs but rather to think according to his FB status.

They were divided in to groups , one staying at the square while the other group went to negotiate with the protesters , the army and the ministry of interior. Unfortunately Hamzawy was attacked by the protesters who pushed him away from Kasr Al Aini.  Hamzawy and the delegation then went to the other side to speak with the army.

#Tahrir : Hamzawy heading to the army

#Tahrir : Day “3” The nightmare continues

The death toll has reached to 10 civilians and the injured have reached to 505 according to the official numbers of the ministry of health . Interestingly enough Ahram Arabic Portal today’s header featured the martyrs of the clashes in the past two days.
Today was the birthday of late Alaa Abdel Hady , today late Ahmed Mansour was supposed to receive his graduation certificate
Next January 25th will be the 40th day on his martyrdom along other martyrs including Sheikh Emad and activist Ahmed Mansour. The students of the Ain Shams university as well the students of Cairo university had march dedicated to late Abdel Hady. Tomorrow the faculty of economics and political science’s students in Cairo university will hold a strike objecting the violence against the protesters.
Here is a photo gallery from Sheikh Emad Effat’s huge funeral.

#Tahrir : Regarding the Scientific institute

The rooftop of the building which is going to collapse as excepted. I am not concerning about the building because insh Allah it will be re-built again just like the Shura council in no time. You must know that the real protesters plead to ask the security of the cabinet besides the institute to put off the fire but they laughed at the protesters !!

Some say that the fire started from inside , whether inside or outside I believe such important building was not less important the cabinet , if it were not more important than anything in the street aside from the geographical society and the parliament. It was the responsibility of SCAF to protect the building and its content.

The minister of culture Shaker Abdel Hamid has thanked the protesters and the revolution youth for saving the content of the institute.

#Tahrir : Saving the rare books

The protesters busted a group of thugs who tried to set the building again on fire and beat the crap out of them.

#Tahrir : We are fucked !! "Updated"

We thought things would calm down today but I think we were dreaming !! It is another bad nightmare that I want it to finish right now.
The latest number from the ministry of health : 9 dead and 361 injured in the official hospitals. Activists say there are about 200 injured outside the hospitals. I fear that tomorrow more people will be killed especially the number of the head injuries are terrible.
The army “military police units as well paratroopers units” stormed Tahrir square in early morning where it destroyed the field hospitals in the square as well the Kasr El Dobra church’s hospital. Doctors and patients were reportedly arrested. The military also stormed the flats where local and foreign channels rent for broadcast from Tahrir square including a flat rented by Democracy Now channel. The military police confiscated the cameras of the channels.
CBC channel recorded the moment the troops stormed the square but had to cut its on air broadcast later.

#Tahrir : Back to the bloody Fridays “Graphic”

And I thought we would be enjoying a quiet Friday after tiring week of elections , but what you know we are back to the bloody Fridays !!

Starting from last night clashes started between the military police and protesters at the cabinet street resulting in a violent dispersion for the #Occupycabinet sit in after a verbal fight between an Ultras member and a military police officer.According from what I understand from different versions , the MP officer and his conscripts after the verbal fight detained the young member and beat the crap out of him then released him. The boy is fine and he is still alive by the way at the hospital contrary to the rumors. Of course the incident made the protesters at the sit in angrier and many more protesters joined them especially from the Ultras. In the morning hell broke loose as the military police personnel took the rooftops of the buildings and began to throw rocks , ceramic pieces and even pieces of furniture at the angry protesters.On the ground the military police to attacked the protesters in a brutal way with batons and sticks including old ladies.Photos and video clips showing terrible attacks of girls being dragged and beaten by merciless military personnel.

Of course I know in advance SCAF members will come and say that it is a Photoshop !!

Language of Numbers : 69 political prisoners

PM Kamel El Ganzouri held a press conference on last Tuesday where he stated the following interesting numbers :

• 20,103 political prisoners have been released from February 2011 till this week.
• 68 political prisoners are currently in jail.
• 47 out of these 68 political prisoners are sentenced
• 13 out of these 68 political prisoners are sentenced to death
• 8 out of these 68 political prisoners are being investigated. 

Ok without doubt that most of these political prisoners were Islamists who finished their sentences from years or even decades ago but I do not understand why the courts can’t revise the cases of those 68 political prisoners again.

Anyhow from over 20,000 to 68 ,  I think this is great achievement.

Regarding the military trials, according to the latest official numbers there are about 4600 civilians imprisoned in civilian jails after being prosecuting in front of military trials since last January 2011. 

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,#Jan25,Post revolution,Human rights,political prisoners,Gaznoury,numbers,news,Egypt

Voting girl 2011 edition : Parliamentary elections “People’s assembly”

And the race is on in 9 governorates , our elections’ second stage has kicked off in 9 governorates and we wonder if there will be a high turn out this time like the first time or not. Regardless of the moderate turnout , there is less campaigning outside the polling stations at least in most areas in Giza.

Starting from early morning and there have been mixed reports about the turnout in the 9 governorates yet without doubt it it is not high like the first stage but we should take in consideration that people are not rushing to polling stations for fear of delay and thus are delaying it either to later time later today or tomorrow. 

Of course this time I could not do a live update like the previous one because this time I was your voting girl who stained her finger with a blue ink after casting her vote.

 

At first I headed to the Kommia language school polling station in Agouza to see the turnout , the Kommia polling station can be a good indicator . I found a long queue of ladies waiting for their turn.

 

#Egyelections : Second stage

The second stage of the parliamentary elections will kick off tomorrow Wednesday and Thursday “Nov 14th and Nov15th” insh Allah in 9 governorates.
Here are the 9 governorates of this stage :

• Giza
• Bani Sawif “Upper Egypt
• Monufia  “ Delta”
• Sharkia “Delta”
• Ismailia “Canal city”
• Suez “Canal city”
• Beheira “Delta”
• Sohag “Upper Egypt”
• Aswan “Upper Egypt”

There are 3,387 candidates across the 9 governorates competing for 180 seats in this stage. “2,271 are competing for 60 individual seats while 1,116 are competing over 120 lists seats” 
According to CAPMAS the eligible voters in the 9 governorates in this stage are more than the eligible voters in previous stage by 1.3 million.
The lists seat elections have been adjourned to 21st and 22nd of December in the second constituencies in Beheira and Mounfia governorates as well the first constituency in Sohag governorate due to legal problems. 
The runoffs will be on 21st and 22nd of December 2011.

#FreeAlaa : There is always hope "Updated"

There is always hope.
Yesterday the general prosecutor has decided to refer the Maspero Clashes case from the Supreme state security court “which actually sucks , no appeals but rather presidential pardons” to normal civilian courts.
This is a huge good step.
Now today Alaa and other 27 defendants accused in the Maspero clashes arrived to a civilian court in Heliopolis where the judge has interrogated each defendant alone to reach for decision whether he would renew their detention for 15 days pending investigation or not.
From two hours ago we know through twitter that the judge has finished the interrogation with 18 defendants and that there are still 10 defendants to be interrogated. The judge will supposedly issue his rule by the end of the day !! 

#Tunisia : A great day not only for Tunisia but for the Arab world

Today Tunisia has had a new president , its 4th elected president Moncef Marzouki and first one after the revolution. Marzouki has sworn in today in front of the constitutional council.
Please watch Marzouki while he was addressing the council and the public in a historical amazing speech.

Tunis : Marzouki’s speech after swearing in

Here are highlights of what President Marzouki :

• President Marzouki says that the upcoming constitution will persevere the rights of all Tunisians.
• President Marzouki promised to protect veiled and non veiled ladies in Tunisia.

It is a wonderful world indeed

Good morning people , it is a wonderful big world indeed we live in.

BBC–It is wonderful world

The man who covers “What a wonderful world” in his own way is Sir David Attenborough.

Happy Birthday Kefaya :)

On that date from seven years ago the Egyptian movement for change “Kefaya” did the unthinkable ; it held a public protest against the Mubarak rule and his son’s succession plan at the supreme court in Cairo.

Taken on January 25, 2011

There is no doubt that Kefaya played a critical role in our Egyptian revolution as the movement that managed to break all the taboos , that fear barrier to stand united despite all political differences and background against Mubarak’s dictatorship and his fearful police state.
Kefaya is without doubt the mother movements of all political movements in Egypt after 2005 including April 6th Youth movement. Kefaya was not only inspiring movement in Egypt but also to other movements in Arab countries when I remember including Yemen.
I can’t do anything except sending my greetings and wishing to the Egyptian movement for change and its members like George Isaac , Abdel Halim Kandil , Magdy Hussein ,Karima Hefny, Abdel Galil Mustafa and the amazing late Abdel Wahab El Messiry.
I hope that we learn an important lesson from the Kefaya’s experience : unity.
Happy birthday Kefaya.
Thank you Kefaya.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Politics,Democracy,Kefaya,protests,Mubarak,History

RIP Ahmed Bahgat

Late Ahmed Bahgat "1932-2011"

Egypt , the Arab and Muslim world have lost today one of the best writers and journalists ever , the Arab literature has lost today another giant and that giant’s name was Ahmed Bahgat.
Ahmed Bahgat was born on November 15th,1932 in Cairo. Despite he was graduated from the faculty of law , Cairo university he started his long career in journalism in Akhbar Al Youm newspaper in 1955 before moving to Sabah Al Kheir magazine in 1957 then to Ahram newspaper in 1958 where he worked there till death.
My generation knows Ahmed Bahgat as a novelist and a columnist , as a sarcastic critic and a poetic Sufi
Bahgat had that daily column in the second page of Daily Ahram newspaper which millions read and followed everybody including me that used to be called “Sandok El Donia” or “The Universe’s box” where he spoke about everything as I recall especially religion from a Sufi perspective.

#egyelections : The final results of the first stage

And here are the final results of the first stage from the parliamentary elections in Egypt after the rerun offs that were held last week in 9 governorates , you can check the results of the first results without the runoffs here.

• The Muslim brotherhood’s FJ party got 36 single seats and 44 lists seats.
• The Nour party bloc got 6 single seats and 28 list seats
• The Egyptian bloc got 2 single seats and 16 list seats
• The Revolution continues got 3 single seats and 4 list seats
• El Wafd party got 1 single seat and 11 list seats
• El Wasat got 4 list seats
• El Adl got 1 single seat
• Reform and Development party got 2 list seats
• The Freedom party got 1 single seat and 1 list seat
• Nationalist Misr party got 1 single seat and 1 list seat
• The independent candidates got 2 single seats.

The total single seats in the first stage excluding the Sahal constituency in Cairo are 54 single seats whether professional or labor/farm seats.

Happy Yemen : Important day indeed

And Tawakel Karman has become the first Arab woman to get a Nobel Peace prize

Tawakel Karman today

Yemen : Tawakal Karman gets a Nobel peace prize

Tawakal received along with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee , so not only an Arab lady got but another two amazing African ladies as well.

Gingrich’s invented people : We are just getting started

And Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has called the Palestinians are invented people in an interview with the Jewish channel !! 

The Jewish channel : The Palestinians are invented people !!

Interesting the Palestinians are Arabs and part of the Arab community !!

It does not surprise me because Gingrich is from the most outspoken politicians in the States against Muslims and Arabs.

Syrian Revolution : It is not longer warning , there is a massacre in #Homs “Graphic”

There is on going massacre taking place in the city of Homs , it is not a warning by Syrian opposition anymore and unfortunately this massacre was partially transferred on air in Al Jazeera through the social network living broadcast before the electricity was cut off in the various parts in the city of Homs especially in Bab Amr area.

There has been currently an offensive launched by the Syrian forces to crack down the revolutionaries in the city that defied El Assad regime for months now since last Ramadan. Bab Amr and Khalidiya are being shelled by the security forces according to the news coming from there.

Here are videos allegedly uploaded from the city today showing the offensive earlier in various party of the famous city.

Homs : El Assad soldiers target buildings RPJ

Here is a protest in Hawla town in Homs governorate being dispersed by force today. Hawla witnessed several massacres this year.

Homs : A protest in Hawla

Here is an attempt by the security forces to disperse the protesters in Al Hamra area in Homs from protesting.

Regarding Major General El Mullah statements

General Major El Mullah , the SCAF member had a meeting with foreign media last Wednesday night. He had a press meeting with exactly 4 American journalists including dear Kristin Chick and 1 one British journalist , dear Jack Shenker.

Of course next day the press meeting and what General El Mullah said to the foreign journalists made headlines around the globe , raised concerns and made the Muslim brotherhood represented in the Freedom and Justice party withdrew from that advisory council formed by SCAF from political powers and parties yesterday.

Now here is what Kristin Chick in the Christian Science Monitor and what Jack Shenker wrote in the Guardian about the press meeting and what El Mullah says.

Now here is what I think about what El Mullah : This meeting was a pathetic attempt to calm down the West that the Islamists will not take over Egypt in the most stupidest idiotic way ever !!!! El Mullah wanted to calm down the West as well the freaking out liberal and secular powers and parties in Egypt that the army will not let the Islamists won.

The Final Cabinet byGanZ

And here is Ganz’s cabinet , 27 ministers mash Allah till June 2012 !! We got resurrected ministries as well. Here are the ministers without any arrangement.

1. Ambassador Mohamed Kamel Amr as minister of foreign affairs. “From Sharaf’s Cabinet”
2. Ambassador Faiza Abu El Naga as minister of international cooperation and planning “From Mubarak’s era”
3. Dr. Hassan Younes as minister of electricity “From Mubarak’s era”
4. Police General Mohamed Ibrahim as minister of interior “New”
5. Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour as minister of tourism “From Sharaf’s cabinet”
6. Sheikh Mohamed El Quosy as minister of Al Awkaf “From Sharaf’s cabinet”
7. Dr. Nadia Zakhary as minister of scientific research “New”
8. Dr. Mohamed Salem as minister of telecommunication “From Sharaf’s cabinet”
9. Major General Ahmed Anis as minister of information “New” { He was the head of morale department in the army before major general Ismail by the way }
10. Judge Adel Abdel Hamid as minister of justice “New”
11. Momtaz Said as minister of finance “New”
12. Dr. Gouda Abdel Khalek as minister of food supply and internal commerce “From Sharaf’s cabinet” {The ministry of food supply is revived}
13. Engineer Mohamed Abdullah Gharab as minister of petroleum “From Sharaf’s cabinet”
14. Hassan Massoud as minister of civil aviation “New” { He is still from military background yet he worked for years in Egypt Air as far as I know}
15. Major general Ali Ibrahim Sabry as minister of military production “From Sharaf’s cabinet”
16. Dr. Hisham Kandeel as minister of water resources and irrigation “From Sharaf’s cabinet”
17. Dr. Hassan Mustafa Khaled as minister of higher education “New”
18. Dr. Fouad El Naaway as minister of health “New”
19. Dr. Nagwa Hassan Khalil as minister of social affairs and insurance “New”
20. Ashraf El Sharqawy as minister of investment and businesses sector “New”
21. Dr. Mostafa Kamel as minister of environment “New”
22. Dr. Fathi Fakari as minister of labor force “New” { He is the professor of constitutional laws !!}
23. Shaker Abdel Hamid as minister of culture “New”
24. Gamal Al Arabi as minister of education “New”
25. Dr. Saad Ali as minister of antiquities “New”
26. Dr. Mohamed Fathi ElBaradei as minister of housing and new urban communities “From Sharaf’s cabinet”
27. Dr. Mohamed Reda Ismail as minister of agriculture “New”

Meet our new minister of interior !!!

And here is our new minister of interior Police general Mohamed Yousssef Ibrahim.

Ibrahim while swearing in "By Hany Rasmy"

Mohamed Ibrahim is originally from Alexandria , he was born in year 1947. He graduated from police academy in 1968 to start his career in the police force mainly in general security. From 1968 to 1990 he served in the general security sector in Cairo, Sharkia and Giza. From 1993 to 2001 he served in almost all the the governorates in Upper Egypt except Mania. This man worked in Upper Egypt , in Sohag , Aswan , Bani Sawif, Qena and Asuit in the bloody golden years of terrorism and counter terrorism in Egypt. In 2002 he worked as the minister aide for prisons affairs.
From 2003 till 2005 he worked as the head of Giza security directorate. In 2006 he was promoted to become the minister aide for the economic security sector and in 2007 he was retired.
All this according to the official CV published by the official page of the MOI.
Since retirement he began a frequent guest on TV shows.  
Now what was not mentioned in the MOI official CV that the retired police general was promoted or rather left his place as the head of Giza security directorate in 2006 after the infamous massacre of Mustafa Mahmoud in December 2005.

Mohamed Mahmoud street Battle in video

This is the long raw video I have seen for the Mohamed Mahmoud street battle.Nearly 28 minutes showing the fierce battle between the protesters and security forces in that bloody street.

Mohamed Mamoud street battle : Raw video

Now a group of activists believe that this video is another video allegedly incriminating the infamous eyes hunter aka Mohamed El Shennawy  , they believe that El Shennawy appears in the video at 19:50 minute. To  be honest it is unclear if it was El Shennawy in the shot.

It is not clear that it is Shennawy

#FreeAlaa : Baby Pink dragon

Manal Hassan , the wife of Alaa Abdel Fatah has given birth to a very beautiful young baby boy called Khaled from short awhile ago in Cairo.
Manal and Alaa decided to name their first baby boy after Khaled Said. I think baby Khaled looks like his granny Dr. Laila Soueif. Here are beautiful photos of baby Khaled by his beautiful aunt Mona :)

I am waiting to see that bundle of joy blogging , already he got a twitter account now

#egyelections : First stage re-runs live coverage

Today there have been 104 candidates competing on 52 seats in 27 constituencies in 9 governorates : Cairo , Alexandria, Asuit, Luxor, Kafr El Sheikh, Port Said , Red sea , Damietta and Fayoum.

As a reminder there are 30 run offs between Muslim brotherhood and Salafists.

There has been a low turnout in the day compared by last week and this is due to three reasons from what I saw today :

• Some people feared the long queues and decided to go tomorrow , of course they will be shocked to know there are long queues tomorrow.
• Some people were disappointed when their candidates especially the liberal ones have failed and do not vote to the Muslim brother or the Salafists.
• Some companies did not give its employees and workers

The violations are just the same and all parties violated the campaigning rules. SCAF promised to stop the violations in the upcoming stages.

The HEC has cancelled the results of the Cairo’s first constituency in El Sahl area and will hold new elections for this specific constituency on January 10th and 11th 2012 and their re-runs will be held insh Allah on January 17th and 18th.

6 polling stations were closed in Luxor today because of two separate incidents one in the city of Esna where two families had a big fight with big guns as usual and in the city of Luxor where the security forces had a fight with one of the famous gangsters there who went close to the polling station , I do not know if he went to vote or what !! You know even gangsters have a vote !!

The HEC has published the results of the lists seat in the first stage. 

The question if there is that low turnout which everybody recognizes , how we are going to count the votes and announce the winner if the winner needs 50%+1 of the vote !?

Hopefully people will show up tomorrow.

#egyelections : The questions everybody is afraid to ask !!

I am tired of asking the Islamists whether Muslim brotherhood and Salafists “especially Salafists” about their views regarding the Bikini and liquor.

The bikini while we are enchained to many problems

I am tired of asking the Islamists whether Muslim brotherhood and Salafists about their views regarding arts like cinema, opera, ballet and music.
I am tired of asking the Islamists whether Muslim brotherhood and Salafists about their views about women and Christians.
I am tired because we got the same answers every time and yet this did not affect the polls in the first degree. 
I hope our journalists and TV hosts ask new questions like for instance :

• What is their view about Agrium factory complex in Damietta and its effects on the environment ? How will they solve the environmental problems in Egypt without harming the foreign investments in Egypt ?
• What is their view about privatized companies in Egypt ?
• How are they going to fix the deadly economic mistakes of the former regime ?

Interesting Video at interesting time

As we are busy in the elections race and with GanZ’s upcoming government we suddenly find this video surfacing online.

The moment the news sector broadcasted the step down speech of Omar Soliman on February 11,2011

This video was filmed in the Egyptian TV and Radio union building aka Maspero on February 11,2011 shortly before 6 PM where Major General Ismail Etman ,member of SCAF and head of the morale and public relations department in the armed forces came and presented by hand the video tape of Omar Soliman’s historical announcement that Mubarak was going to step down to the control room in the news sector.

Omar Soliman recorded the announcement of Mubarak’s stepping down at the SCAF HQ.

#Syrian Revolution : Blogger #Razan Ghazzawi is arrested

Razan Ghazzawi

Syrian blogger and activist Razan Ghazzawi has been arrested today at the Syrian Jordanian borders while she was on on her way to attend a conference in Amman after Freedoms in the Arab world.
Razan has been from the active Syrian activists and advocate for freedoms for long time.Razan has been active and outspoken when it comes to injustice , she stood with Hezbollah during the 2006 war. She stood with Syrian Islamist bloggers despite all the complete ideological difference between them and her.
She is from the few Syrian bloggers that used to blog with her real name. She is a U.S born yet she is an Arab leftist nationalist 
According Global Voice advocacy the Facebook account of Razan has been disabled yet her email account and twitter account are still safe.
Razan Ghazzawi is from the early generation of bloggers in Syria ,I pray to God that she will be fine insh Allah.
There is currently a hashtag for Razan “#FreeRazan”. Here is Razan’s twitter account.
And here another a Facebook page dedicated to her : Freedom to blogger Razan Ghazzawi
I think Razan Ghazzawi is the second female Syrian blogger to be arrested after Tal Malhoi.
I remember once Razan once tweeted during the the revolution in Egypt describing how she and her family were glued in front of the TV every afternoon till late night watching Tahrir square in those 18 days and how she cried when Mubarak was ousted.
Razan is another Syrian , among thousands of Syrians detained for no reason except they want freedom and democracy.

Now here is a video of Hashtag show on 25TV in June 2008 ago where Razan Ghazzawi commented about the Gay girl in Damascus hoax starting from 5:45 minutes, I think this is from the few times Razan spoke to Egyptian media.

Thanks to dear friend Miral 

Hashtag : Gay girl in Damascus

Update :
According to dear Jillian York Razan told her on Wednesday that she was afraid that she would be arrested.
It turned out that Razan told her friends to close her social network accounts because she was afraid on her friends' contacts and details to be revealed through her accounts. The FB account of Razan was closed by her own request.
Here is the photo of Razan by Jillian in Beirut from couple of years ago.

Razan by Jillian York

Technorati Tags: Syria,Syrian Revolution,Blogger,#FreeRazan,Politics,Revolution,Arab Spring,Blogging,Humann rights,News,Razan Ghazzawi

#Polls : Winning back the revolution

Dear Dalia Mogahed of Abu Dhabi Gallup has published a survey in Foreign Policy about our own Egyptian revolution and winning it back. It is very interesting poll and promising one.

That survey or rather surveys conducted over 8 months from March to September.

The top concerns are still the economic concerns in the country. Of course the lack of tangible improvements or achievements especially in the past months and what followed it had a negative on some expectations. 

Still the survey was wrong and its sample was not that representative it comes to Muslim brotherhood !! 

The Egyptians are the most likely population in the world to unconditionally reject individual as well military attacks on civilians.

Egyptians support peaceful means of change in 2011 than 2010 

Yes the majority Egyptian people ,the honorable members of the Kanaba party aka the couch party aka the silent majority are with the revolution and support it , they want to end the 60 years of military but in a peaceful way.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalsim,Politics,Post Revolution,Polls,Party of parties,Muslim brotherhood,Surveys,Gallup Center,Egyptian revolution