Ganzouri means Ex-Prime minister now !! “Updated”

This post was written in early morning , currently Google translator has fixed its problem but I think it should be posted for the sake of effort.
I want to translate online a phrase that includes the word “Ganzouri” from English to Arabic , I will recommend that you search for an online translation service than Google translate.
Yes search for another translation than Google translate because “Ganzouri” is translated in to Arabic as “The ex-prime minister” !!

A screencap for google translate 

Kamel El Ganzouri is our newest appointed prime minister , the third this year.
Here is a screencap for two words I tried in the morning “Tantawy and Ganzouri” and what I found
I found this through a tip from a friend.I think someone recommended better translation
Interesting !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Ganzouri,Egypt,Geek,Politics,In the wind's direciton,Google translation

Must see and hear : Cairokee ft. Aida El-Ayouby's Ya El Medan

This song made many people cry including me , oh you square.

Cairokee ft Aida El Ayouby : Ya El Medan

Cairokee is one of the most promising bands in Egypt and of course the amazing Aida El Ayouby’s voice can’t be described easily.

#Elections : First stage results

The results have not been announced but the Freedom and Justice party is wining unsurprisingly. Nobody expected other than that this result so I do not know why people are freaking out online in social networks ,may be because they discovered now that Egypt at least those 9 governorates are not on twitter and on Facebook , may be because they discovered now that those 9 governorates are on the Tahrir compass.

This is something expected for months based on the fact that the Muslim brotherhood and the Salafists were working for months in the streets and the governorates so please stop whining and freaking out when you did nothing to reach out for the people.

The Egyptian people chose something and we have to respect those choice.

Already this parliament can have a short life.

Now I included below the results so far according to the leaks , this data will be updated accordingly.

#Elections : Counting time is always hard

And so the voting in the first stage of the first parliamentary elections after the fall of the Mubarak regime ended at 7 PM and now it is counting time.
Here are photos from the vote counting commissions

This is from Nasr City constituency in Cairo “By Mustafa Al Naggar”

#Elections 2011 : Egyptians vote “Day 2”

And the popular committees , Muslim brotherhood and Salafists protected the polling stations all night long. According to the FJ Party aka MB party not less than 40,000 volunteers protected the polling stations across the country in 9 governorates last night.

Today voting continues and the military police is so nice with elderly .This photo is by dear friend Nany Atef from Heliopolis

#Elections : Egyptians vote "Day 1"

Google Egypt’s doodle
And the voting process have started in 9 governorates in Egypt.

Google doodles vote in Egypt

Huge turnout in Cairo despite the cold weather , huge and early turnout as people started to stand in long queues even before the polling stations would open its doors and the judges did not reach the stations. The queues are overwhelming in Cairo. Hundreds standing in front of polling stations waiting for their return in what could be the highest turnout for elections in the history of Egypt. “Hopefully insh Allah”
Here are photos from Cairo and outside it.

“By Ahmed Abdullah in Qasr Al Nil@7:52AM

In Zamalek @7:52 AM by Jon Jensen

In Zamalek @ 8AM by Nagla Rezk

Here is a photo from Port Said in the early morning.

By Ahmed El Gawy

It is 9:32 AM now and most complains or violations are the delay of the judges to come to the polling stations , some polling stations have not opened its doors yet and some candidates are still campaigning especially the Freedom and Justice part that is distributing flyers outside the polling stations.

Kodak Agfa in #Tahrir : Nov25 in photos

Ok Kodak Agfa went to Tahrir square on November 25 at night and took couple of photos for the square.

It is the first time I have taken photos in Tahrir in suck late time so I hope the photos are good.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,national,Politics,Post Revolution,Photos,#Nov25,Follow up,Kodak Agfa

#Elections2011 : 24 hours to vote or not to vote

Ok it is less than 24 hours and the parliamentary elections will start on Monday. Some people mainly from activists are calling the people to boycott the elections in order not to give SCAF a legitimacy ,the problem is that even if we boycott the elections , it will claim to have legitimacy in a way or another.
It is too late now to call for boycotting because from what I see around me many regular Egyptians will go and vote. Boycotting elections need a campaign , a long one , not just in one week where people are extremely worried about the future of the country and want to have a peaceful civilian transition for power more than you can think.
As you may voting the polling stations will open the doors to voter starting from 8 AM to 7 PM on Monday and Tuesday in Cairo , Alexandria , Luxor , El Fayoum , Port Said , Damietta , Kafr El Sheikh, Assuit and Red Sea.
Yes voting will be on two days and the Muslim brotherhood will send 3 of its youth to stay all night long in front of the polling stations to protect the ballot boxes with cameras and laptops.  I think we should not leave for MB alone , it is will an exhausting mission.
You can search for your polling station by your National ID number in the elections2011.eg. I  must hint out that campaign of the high elections committee in cooperation with Qabila TV was more than great , these cartoons were an effective way to explain the elections system for the people in a simple way.

Country in Crisis : And Tantawy is going to have a presser

@11:15 AM Cairo local time

Field Marshal Tantawy is going to have a press conference soon today after meeting a group of presidential candidates and political figures at 1 PM.
Political revolutionary powers headed by revolution youth coalition have called for a million man protest at Tahrir square at 4 PM today. It is being called “The Revolutionary legitimacy”
The Revolution Youth coalition has published its demanded on their FB page and they are as follows :

• An immediate trial for those involved in killing the protesters regardless of its position
• Forming a national salvation government with complete SCAF’s political and economic powers to rule for the rest of the transitional period
• Rejecting Kamel El Ganzoury’s government
• Starting a complete restructuring for the ministry of interior and disbanding the central security forces

Among the political movements calling for the protest : Revolution Youth coalition , April 6th Youth movement , El Tayar El Masry and the national association of change.

Country in Crisis : ElBaradei and Abu El Fatouh give up presidency if …

The talk about the upcoming cabinet has not finished through out the day in a way that gives you a headache.
Ganzoury met with a group of alleged revolutionary youth from Tahrir whom nobody heard about before. Mustafa El Nagar said that he refused to hold a position in Ganzoury’s cabinet and April 6th youth movement refused to hold talks with him as well.
Several personalities have declined the position of minister of information including Adel Hammouda and Magdy El Gald, I swear if one of them accepted the position , I would start camping in front of the cabinet myself.
The former/new PM announced later he is ready to have an advisory council made of ElBaradei and other potential presidential candidates. Rumors say that Faiza Abu El Naga is still in the cabinet.
A group of Tahrir protesters announced their own government and own council in a surreal way alone. 

#Tahrir : Another young man killed, another martyr “Graphic”

I want to wake up one day without expecting to hear disasters and young people getting killed by security forces in Egypt.
Today a 19 years old young man has been killed when a CSF vehicle has ran over his body. Ahmed Sorror is the latest martyr to die in a bloody week in Egypt , here is the latest in a long time.
Now from what I understood Sorror and other protesters were having a sit in in front of the cabinet HQ. At early morning they found suddenly CSF vehicles coming to the street , they believed the these CSF units came to disperse the sit in. In no time more protesters came from Tahrir square to protect the sit in and sooner there were rocks hurled and allegedly Molotov cocktails.
Then at the same time the CSF officers were surprised and panicked , one of them called the commandership and told them what means in English you have sent us to hell. Some of the vehicles moved and left the street and according to the eye witnesses a CSF vehicle ran over late Sorror.
Here is a graphic video shows late Sorror after the terrible accident , May Allah bless his soul. “Extremely graphic”

Kodak Agfa in #Tahrir : Nov24 in photos

Here is a photo gallery for photos I took from Tahrir square on November 24,2011 afternoon.

You can see the field hospitals. in this photo gallery.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,#Tahrir,#Jan25,#Nov18,Democracy,Kodak Agfa,photos

#Syrian Revolution : Is this hacked account !?

Suddenly we found these two urgent tweets on the alleged official Walid El Mullam , the Syrian FM’s twitter account.

هام : السيد الرئيس بشار الأسد قرر التنحي عن رئاسة الجمهورية العربية السورية لنائبه السيد فاروق الشرع . #syriaFri Nov 25 22:33:56 via Twitter for iPhoneوليد المعلم
Walid_alMuallim

Important : President Bashar El Assad has decided to step down from the Arab Republic of Syria’s president for his vice president MR. Farouk El Sha’ar

سيصدر بيان التنحي خلال الأيام القليلة القادمة لتحديد ملامح المرحلة القادمة . #syriaFri Nov 25 22:39:47 via Twitter for iPhoneوليد المعلم
Walid_alMuallim

The step down’s statement will be issued in the upcoming days to determine how the upcoming period will be.

This was from an hour ago. Nothing in official SANA
Was Walid El Mullam’s account hacked ? I believe so.
Despite our house’s issues do not give a chance to know what is going on in beloved Syria yet it is always in mind.
Today the news of how an Egyptian lady married from a Syrian political dissident and activist was abducted from Cairo by the Syrian intelligence.
I do not know what to say , she is an Egyptian citizen and is abducted by her country , I am praying that the Egyptian intelligence is not involved in such disgusting act and that the Syrian intelligence seized the opportunity of security’s absence to do this cowardly act. That lady is pregnant by the way.
Despite I do not want El Assad to stay any longer in Syria but I hope Egypt gets on the right track before he gets killed by the Syrian people because Egypt , the real Egypt wants to kick his criminal ass along his regime in the Egyptian diplomatic way. 

Technorati Tags: Syria,Politics,Revolution,Twitter

#Tahrir : November 25th

First things first :

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawy appoints Kamel El Ganzoury as the prime minister of Egypt with full powers “whatever these two words mean”. There are rumors that he will appoint Abu El Fatouh and Hamdeen Sabhi as deputy prime ministers. He will begin his negotiations starting from today. Tahrir square is against him

In Cairo there are three protests and three marches.

The biggest one is in Tahrir without doubts , hundreds of thousands have been there since early morning. Omar Makram mosque Sheikh Mazhar Shahin led the Friday prayer. His Friday speech was very strong , some consider it one of the best speeches he said from a long time. He said that today Tahrir square will form a national salvation cabinet. Here is the speech.

CBC : Mazhar Shahin’s speech

A representative from Al Azhar called Hassan El-Shafey addressed the protesters after the prayers in Tahrir square sending the greetings and support of Ahmed El Tayib to the protesters.

It is getting bigger as usual in Tahrir square.

#Tahrir : The Tahrir Spidermen

It seems that Egypt is now the home of not one Spiderman but rather Spidermen , here are the protesters of Tahrir square trying to save the people who live at the buildings in the doomed Mohamed Mahmoud street that were on fire during the week thanks to the tear gas grenades and Molotov cocktails in the MM battle.

Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

In that week of hell in Egypt , firefighters were attacked by the security forces while they were trying to save the residents of those buildings who were caught in fire of that unequal battle. The protesters , the daring protesters climbed the buildings to save them. 

These are my people in hard times. 

I do not think that the Egyptian media featured this. 

#Tahrir : Mona Al Tahawy assaulted at Mohamed Mahmoud

Beaten arrested in interior ministryThu Nov 24 01:44:39 via Twitter for BlackBerry®Mona Eltahawy
monaeltahawy

This is how I started my day  when I woke up , a tweet from Mona El Tahawy to thousands of her followers that she was detained and beaten by security forces at the ministry of interior. We knew few details as I hinted in my journal about today’s major events that she was detained at the bloody Mohamed Mahmoud.
After few hours we found Mona announcing that she was free and after few minutes we being to know horrific details. Mona was a subjected of terrible sexual assaults by 5-6 CSF conscripts who attacked her terribly and mercilessly

#Tahrir :Most important 72 hours"Updated"

Good morning and God bless you all
The upcoming 72 hours are the most important in this stage of our revolution. I will not claim and say that we know what we are heading to because I feel the uncertainty now is the common factor among all Egyptians including the Tahrir protesters as well as SCAF.
@9:39 AM Cairo local 
In a church at Tahrir square "I think the Anglican Kasr Al Dobra where is a field hospital. :)

Two ladies praying 

There are tears in my eyes.Last night was the first without clashes.From early morning protesters began to form a human shield between Tahrir square and Mohamed ,here is a photo from 6:30 AM

at the entrance of Mohamed Mahmoud 

#Tahrir : Day 5’s massacre

Well if you think that the invisible gas was bad then you have to see today’s massacre.

There was supposedly a truce reached by a group of Al Azhar’s sheikhs between the security forces and the the protesters. The truce started today’s afternoon and the security forces stopped its attack. The protesters walked freely at Mohamed Mahmoud street and even started to clean it !! The public prosecution teams came to investigate and we had some sort of weak hope.

Then suddenly hell opened its doors and unfortunately we all saw it live on TV when the security forces broke the truce and opened its fire on the protesters while some of them were praying according to eye witnesses.

I know that I saw on Al Jazeera Mubshar ambulances coming and going in matter of seconds and terrible sound of gunshots in the air then rains of tear gas grenades began to appear on the screen.

#Tahrir : Tantawty’s first speech

And here’s Tantawy first speech on November 22nd , 2011

ERTV: Tantawy’s speech

And Field Marshal Tantawy spoke at last. In nutshell here is what he says :

• He presents his condolences to the families of the victims of the latest clashes. “He did not mention martyrs or Tahrir , of course I am not a Tahrir cultist but I care more for the martyrs and those who lost their eyes ”

#Tahrir : Day 4 "Live"

@11:39 AM Cairo local time
According to reliable sources SCAF is having talks ElBaradei about the national salvation cabinet.Also according to sources inside the MOI , Eissawy still  rules.
Tweep Steve Nabil says that no one was killed in Asuit.
Reports that helicopters were used to throw tear gas grenades on protesters in Alexandria are unconfirmed so far , nobody saw it more than hearsay. I could not find any photo or video despite the news reports . People are confirming and denying so I can't be sure.
Some revolutionary activists in Sinai published a message to SCAF announcing that they will not accept having  elections in Sinai and their complete rejection to what is taking place in Cairo.

@1:48PM Cairo local time : 
Rumors , rumours , rumors.
No one in Mobinil said anything about communication blockage. No one said that.
There is no CURFEW for God sake !!

#Tahrir : on Third day

On the third day the death toll increased to 33 martyrs while the injured have reached.

Tomorrow there will be a million man at 4 PM Cairo local time protested called by Revolution Youth coalition and other 37 political movement and party.

Here is the demands of tomorrow’s million man protest :

• To dismiss Essam Sharaf’s cabinet.
• Forming a national salvation cabinet with all the political powers of SCAF.
• Presidential elections by April 2012
• Restructuring the ministry of interior
• Disbanding the CSF.
• Prosecuting those who killed Egyptians.

SCAF has issued disfranchisement law in Egypt , the concessions will start especially there is a shift in the tune of Egyptian TV and radio. Of course a Nile News reporting team has been shot at Tahrir square by the police CSF , things are different.

@8:43 PM Cairo local time

The cabinet has resigned , the cabinet has presented its resignation and SCAF has not accepted yet. Now there are news that Mansour El Eissawy , the minister of interior has resigned as well. There is contradicting news about both resignations.

#Tahrir : And the Camel Battle goes on "Live updated"

The CSF and military police tried to disperse the Tahrir sit in by extreme force from two hours ago and it was aired on TVs . We saw the tents on fire , we saw the conscripts and stealing the tents. We saw it on TV by our own eyes. After an hour or something the CSF and the military police left again the square and the protesters returned again. There are not less 10 thousands now at Tahrir square chanting against SCAF and the MOI. Here is the Tahrir square from short while ago from Shorouk newspaper.

Not less than 5 are reportedly killed , hundreds are reportedly injured. According to the ministry of health not less than 196 have been injured. The field hospitals in Tahrir square are in desperate need for medical supplies. Live ammunition , rubber bullets and gunshots are reportedly used.
Here is a photo for inside the Omar Makram mosque’s field hospital by friend Mahmoud Gamal El Din.
There are four field hospitals now in Tahrir , one at KFC ,one at Champleon street , One at Omar Makram mosque and one at the Dobra Church hospital

RIP Talaat El Sadat

Famous politician Talaat El Sadat “1947-2011” has passed away earlier today. He died after having a heart attack this morning at the National bank of Egypt.

Talaat El Sadat "1947-2011"

The outspoken lawyer against whoever he does not like and the nephew of the former president was a real controversial politician by all measures.
He spoke against Mubarak and got a military trial for accusing him and Abu Ghazla indirectly of killing him then he spoke against the revolution and political youth movements demanding a military ruler for the country. He was the last chairman of the NDP if you remember before its dissolution by the orders of the court.
Nevertheless I will not say anything about him except May Allah bless his soul.
Talaat El Sadat’s wife was running for the parliamentary elections this as far as I know , I do not know if she will continue in the race of not.
Yesterday Talaat El Sadat was speaking on TV and today he passed away today , I think death can get you other way.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Egyptian Faces,Talaat El Sadat,Anwar El Sadat,Mubarak,Politics,Politicans,News,National History,Photos,NDP

#Tahrir : The clashes continue and we do not know to where we are heading “Graphic”

Last night the ministry of health has declared officially that 760 were injured and 2 were killed , one from Cairo and one in Alexandria. Now today the ministry of health has declared the injured have reached to 982. We got injured from Alexandria and Suez aside from the Tahrir square’s on going massacre.50 protesters have been detained as rioters. 
Update : The ministry of health says that the injured has reached to 1144 at 2:22 PM
The sit in is back at Tahrir square with not less than 5,000 protesters. Rallies from Cairo university have reached to Tahrir square. The Ultras groups from Zamalek and Ahly clubs are there already since last night. The field hospital is still in need of medical supplies , the sit in needs food and blankets. You can find what the Tahrir sit in needs on this twitter hashtag : #Tahrirneeds
A group of protesters at Tahrir square has issued a statement saying that they will continue in the sit in till we have a regime from the people themselves. Again this is not an official statement from all the protesters at Tahrir square but rather a group of them.
The clashes are still on at Mohamed Mahmoud street where it leads to the ministry of interior HQ. The CSF is still using tear gas grenades and rubber bullets. The protesters are reporting that the tear gas grenades or the new gas grenades got strange effects that made some suspect that it is some sort of nerves gas. It was proved that the tear gas grenades made in the USA was expired from 5 years ago.

They also found this cover for gunshots package which they dedicate to the MOI that deny using the gun shots against protesters.

Abi Keer company : Anti crime gunshots

Here is a live footage shot from short awhile ago there after the break

#Tahrir : Camel Battle No.2 "Live blogging"

I think you probably have known what is taking or has taken place at Tahrir square better than me as I have been sick all day long and when I woke up ,I found out another camel battle at Tahrir square. In brief CSF tried to dispersed the sit in of yesterday by forces but failed then returned back by full force to disperse the sit in with tear gases grenades , rubber bullets and gunshots.
Now not less than 600 are injured according to the ministry of health. There are field hospitals at Tahrir square especially the old field hospital behind KFC and they need medical supplies.
There are not less tens of thousands at the Tahrir square with the intention of a sit in.
Blogger and activist Malek Mustafa was injured in his right way , he was shot in his right eye and currently is having a surgery. Hopefully insh Allah he will not lose his eye. Malek married blogger and activist Fatma Abed from couple of months ago and that amazing young lady was adopting the revolution’s injured cause. Please pray for them.

#Nov18 : Tahrir is packed

More than 100,000 are estimated  to be in Tahrir square , the scenes of the Tahrir square during the Friday prayers were impressive.  “Tahrir sqaure at 1:30 PM by Sherin Tadrus from Al Jazeera international”

It seems that the #Nov18 is successful so far. Of course we will not know if it continues to be successful or not when 6 PM comes and we will know who will stay and who will leave. Needless to say that there is strong undeniable presence for the Islamists force across all the protests stopped all over the country.

It is unclear if there will be a sit in or not but it seems that members of April 6 Youth movement "Democratic front" are going to have a sit in at Tahrir square.

Potential Presidential candidates Hazem Abu Islam , Salim El Awa and Ayman Nour are participating n the protest. Bothania Kamel is heading to the square in a rally against military trials.

Here is a video shot from short awhile ago from Tahrir square.

Tahrir square : From short while ago

#Damietta Crisis : Someone tell me what these photos mean !!

The Damietta crisis is still on , the sit in is not suspended yet the protesters everyday they open more routes to the Damietta port. The people of Sananiya village that located directly besides the MOPCO factory have cut the highway with Ras El Bar after opening it for 4 hours. There is a delegation from Damietta that will come and join the protesters at Tahrir square after couple of hours in Cairo.

Ok the MOPCO PR machine is trying to do its best to amend its image , today they published a big ad asking SCAF not to shut the factory. Each paragraph of the MOPCO ad starts these words in Arabic “Syadi El Mosheer” or “My master field marshal” or “My lord field marshal” in reference to the head of SCAF Hussein Tantawy !!

On Wednesday a group of activists including follow blogger Lilian Wagdy went to Damietta , to the factories’ zone to take samples from the surrounding environment to test it in order to know if there

Lilian took photos from there and they are speaking about something abnormal there. These images are unedited “Click on the images to zoom”

These are lemon trees in some polluted pound in Damietta near the factories

#Nov18 : Will it be a real million man protest or show off or what ?

Tomorrow there will be a big protest at Tahrir square and hopefully other squares across the country insh Allah. It will be big according to the number of the participants but no one knows if it will be a true million man protest or not , if it will be a show off for certain political powers in the country specifically the Islamists.
Now before we go in to boring details , what are the demands of the protesters tomorrow ?
There is one clear demand which I think a lot of us support : To have the presidential elections after the parliamentary elections in the nearest time by April 2012.
We are demanding what was mentioned in the constitutional declaration issued in March and based on the referendum Egyptians voted on. 

#Kuwait : Occupy Parliament “Live”

There is something going in Kuwait and it is something big.
Protesters have stormed the Kuwaiti parliament and currently are having a sit in inside the parliament. In other words : The Kuwaiti protesters have occupied the Kuwaiti Parliament for a while before forced to leave by security forces.

Storming the Kuwait parliament by Mubarak El Hakan

Entering the Kuwaiti parliament by Mubarak El Hakan

The protesters along with activists and supporters from opposition members in the parliament including Islamists are having a sit in at a space called El Erda now. The protesters are demanding the dissolution of the parliament and the resignation of the prime minister. The protesters are demanding the Amir of Kuwait to use his powers to dissolve the parliament because it is corrupted just as the current cabinet if I understand correctly.

I do not know the exact number of protesters as it is unclear as some speaks about dozens while others speaks about tens to hundreds.
There are security forces as well as special forces. The protesters are urged not to attack the forces and keep it peaceful.

Syrian Revolution : LAS to send Observers “Graphic”

From short time ago the Arab league has decided to send observers to Syria in the next 3 days if the Syrian regime approves the Arab initiative and signs an agreement to open its doors to the Arab and international observers. The Arab league wants to send international observers as well.

I do not know if Syria will accept or not but I know that these three days are not enough to hide the Syria regime’s crimes like what is going on in Homs and Hama.

Hopefully the Syrian regime will accept it and allow the observers to come and see what is going on especially in Homs in order to give the people of Homs and Hama some time to rest after the daily massacres taking place there.

These videos showing dead bodies in the street allegedly in Homs , the video clip were reportedly filmed and uploaded on November 14th and 15th “Extremely graphic”

Road to Civil State : Let the political game starts for real

And as I expected SCAF and the government have retired and now they withdrew all the controversial articles regarding the army’s position and issues in the state as well all the articles related to the choice of the provisional assembly.

Ali El Salmi and other ministers mainly with political and partisan history like Mounir Abdel Nour of tourism “Al Wafd like El Salmi” , Amr Helmi of health “Leftist” and Emad Ghazi “Nationalist leftist” had talk with political parties and groups in Egypt on Monday and Tuesday till they reach to the agreement that please all : All the controversial articles will be removed and it is not an obligatory document but more of a guideline document

#Damietta Crisis : There is pollution in Damietta !!

Here is the latest developments in the #Damietta crisis today following yesterday developments :

• The protesters are still having a sit in demanding the immediate closures of MOPCO factory along other pollutant factories in the city especially after the murder of young Islam Abdullah.
• Here is the complete gallery of photos form MB activist Amar Radwan showing dead fish in a lake near the factories , you can contact him easily through Facebook. You must know that he uploaded that set of photos on November 14th.
• Canadian Methanex has shut down its factory in Damietta for security reasons, the Methanex Egypt factory was among the factories the protesters demanded to be closed and it was also among the factories the public scientific committee demanded to comply with environmental standards.
• One of the reasons why the traffic down town Cairo was so terrible today was the fact there were several protests and sit ins in front of the cabinet including a small protest for a group from MOPCO workers protesting the temporary closure of the factory in an attempt to win a sympathy from the public opinion. Of course today everybody was cursing Cairo traffic. 

#Damietta Crisis : More than the eye can see !! “2”

Agrium/ MOPCO factory has caused the murder of one Egyptian at least and this Egyptian is late Islam Abdullah who was shot in the back !!
First of all here before anyone starts to discuss anything in this topic, I would recommend that you see this photo carefully.

Dead fish in a lake near the factories in Damietta 

This is photo is from a lake near the pollutant factories in Damietta , you can see the dead fish floating. I do not know the date of the photo but it was taken by activist Amar Radwan.
Now this video shows the reaction of the people of Damietta yesterday after the murder of late Islam Abdullah. It was filmed and edited by Mohamed Mansour from Al Jazeera talks.

Must see : Our World from above

Breathtaking !!

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space | Fly Over | Nasa, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: International,Media,video,In the wind's direction,NASA,Earth,Vimeo,Time Lapse,Space,Outer Space

#Damietta crisis : More than the eye can see

The sit in against Agrium/MOPCO factory in Damietta escalated to violent clashes today between the protesters from civilians and the security forces from another side resulting in the murder of two civilians so far.
The people in Damietta had a sit in for couple of days now closing the Damietta port “One of the main ports in Egypt” as well the highways in the city to protest once again the Agrium/MOPCO factory in the city , the people are demanding this factory to be closed for its environmental bad effects. The army forces were as well the Central security forces “CSF” were there as well.
There were no clashes till today’s early morning when the clashes started with the attack of the security forces “army+police” on the protesters.Many were injured , two at least were killed as live ammunition was used “you will see the photo below of live ammunition” and tens were detained then released under public pressure." The protesters took a small unit from the army as hostages !!" It went from bad to worse to worst
Of course I advise you to search in the archives of April 2008 and May 2008 to know more about the history of our issue here.

Was that Omar Soliman in Hajj ??

This video is being spread as Omar soliman in Hajj , few second showing an old man with a black mustache sitting on a wheel chair.

Omar Soliman in Hajj 2011

Now regarding Omar Soliman’s presidential candidacy , well I do not think that he will run because officially he will face Ahmed Shafik in the same category which means there will be a spilt in the votes they are targeting.

Syrian Revolution : 40 in one day !! "Updated"

It seems to me that for real the world does not want the Syrian people to live free in a democratic country without a fear , otherwise why the international world is giving all the time in the world to El Assad to crack down the Syrian revolution and to kill what is remaining from the Syrian population to secure the throne.
Today the Arab league is having another meeting to discuss the Syrian issue again and again. There is news that the Arab ministerial committee is having a meeting with the Syrian opposition delegation currently in Cairo , despite Saudi Arabia is not member in the committee , it is said that the Saudi FM is attending the meeting.
There are also rumors that suspending Syria’s membership is on the table for real this time.
Al Arabiya News is reporting that Egypt is against the suspension of Syria’s membership in the league. I am quite surprised because according to what is said SCAF is an alley to Saudi Arabia yet it stands against the suspension of Syria’s membership which is nothing considered the close relations between the two countries or rather regimes now.I feel there is a good cop/bad cop being played in the league. Anyhow nothing official and it could be another rumor or test balloon because when I remember it Algeria , Yemen and Sudan are always standing with
Update : Egypt has not issued its official decision yet for the time being , it could be a test balloon.

Another important court rule to ban former NDPians from elections in Mansoura

Yesterday ,Thursday the administrative court in Daqhalia governorate in Nile Delta has issued an extreme important court rule : Banning the former members of suspended ruling party "NDP" from running in the parliamentary elections.
We do not know if the government will respect this court rule or not , we do not know if the court rule will be applied all over the country as a base court rule
According to official statements from the government the disfranchisement law will be issued after the Eid holiday.
Even if the law is applied , it will be applied on the leading class in the
NDP after presenting evidence about their corruption to the court.
Update : 
According to the vice chairman of the administrative courts this court rule can not be appealed and that it can be implemented all over the country. The high commission of elections should respect it.
According to Mohamed Fadel , the CNN correspondent in Egypt the cabinet says that the high commission should respect the court rule and ban the NDP members from elections. 
Some people are scared that this will turn the elections in to bloodbath and I am surprised on what the people really want !!? Are not people already expecting bloodbaths either ways !?
There is important question , does this mean that electoral list will be cancelled ? There are NDPians on the electoral lists of several parties !? 

11.11.11 : Giza Pyramid is closed in front of everybody

And the Supreme council of antiquities has reached to a decision to please all regarding the 11/11/11 craze: The Pyramids are closed from Thursday to Saturday in front of everybody !!
The Pyramids area is closed in front of visitors whether Egyptians or foreigners starting from 4 PM on Thursday to 8 AM on Saturday. All the reservations for events in those days are completely cancelled.
According to people near the Pyramids area say that it is completely sealed by the security forces that do not if there is a party to be held now or not. Of course rumors say that the party is on thanks to the infamous usual mistrust despite according to those who are living besides the pyramids all the lights are off except the famous Sound and light theater which did not cancel its acts tonight. It is worth to mention that the chairman of the Sound and light theater has sworn to God that nobody is having a celebration tonight.

Elections 2011 : Women in elections “1”

Ok I can’t find a good title for this post now but it is just a post about some interesting stops in the the Egyptian parliamentary elections race :

• 

  Instead of photo a rose
  

  Al Nour Salafist party posts the photo of a rose instead of its women candidates in its list !!

To be honest I am not surprised because we all know the views of Al Nour Salafist party leaders from ultra conservative scholars about women. I remember in that first Al Nour party’s conference for women where all the speakers were men , one of them said that women’s place is in the house but they need their votes in the elections.
The Salafist Sheikhs also said in different interview that they do not believe that women should run for the elections yet they have women on their electoral lists because the law says so nothing more , nothing. One of them also said that a Salafist woman in the parliament is much better than a secular man !! I assume he said it in the demeaning way.

#Right2Vote : Register at the Egyptian elections website

To all Egyptians living abroad and interested in voting in our elections , please register yourself in the Election2011.eg starting from Thursday 10/11/2011  either with your National ID number or with your new passport that including your national ID number.

This is an important step so please do not be lazy and just spend few minutes if you have a new National ID or new passport and register yourself because you must know if you own anyone of them then you are lucky than many Egyptians abroad with old National ID and old passports who will have to get a new one while they want so much to vote in the elections.

Now the Elections commission revealed that there will be an amendment to article no.39th in the constitution declaration issued in last March 2011 to allow Egyptians abroad. Of course I hope that this is the only amendment to the constitutional declaration. We do not know when this amendment will issued or when SCAF will issue a decree to allow Egyptians abroad to vote especially it is only matter of two weeks before the parliamentary elections. Still we will know after the Eid.

By the way please follow Ambassador Youssef Zada on twitter , our current consul general in New York for more updates.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Elections,Democracy,Politics,Society,Egyptian embassies,Vote,#Right2vote,Egyptians abroad,#Egyabroad,National ID

11.11.11 : And the admin of SCAF page issues statements about it

Now we found out that the admins of the SCAF official page on FB have got their own FB official page where their mission is to open a dialogue with the people , of course it turns to be a dialogue from one side whether from the SCAF’s officers responsible who believe “The military rule is alien word in our Egyptian society” as some of the commentators who think dirty smears will send a powerful message regardless of their stand. “Actually it is a sign on the weakness because it means you do not have a strong argument to support”
This discovery was found when I was searching for that status update from SCAF about the 11.11.11 party which was to be held in the Pyramids. Now what is the story of 11.11.11 party ? Well have a seat and I will tell you all about it in few minutes from your precious time.
At the same time we had debates about supra-constitutional principles document and the imprisonment of Alaa Abdel Fatah Seif , we found that there is a debate of foreigners that are going to celebrate the 11/11/2011 in front of the Great pyramid of Giza. There were news whether online or in printed newspapers that this is party was held by a group of foreigners “some say that they are Freemasons while others say that they are followers of Kabbalah and that this group will install a golden pyramid at the top of our pyramid. What made things worse is that the Supreme council of antiquities has given a permission for this party.

Party of Parties : Which party do you prefer from Egyptian electionnaire

Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and MICT (Media in Cooperation and Transition) have launched together a nice website called Egyptian Electionnaire “Arabic version” where visitors answer 29 questions which will determine which party you should vote to.

Now there should be more variety in questions because honestly everybody I know from Islamists and liberals turned to be leftists because simply everybody wants social justice.

Of course things are not simple yet it is interesting website without doubt where you should spend some time to know about parties in Egypt instead of wasting your valuable time in Farmville.

BY the MICT launched a website called “EgyptVotes.org” where it covers the elections in both Arabic and English. It is among the latest websites launched lately covering the elections in Egypt , I am thinking of doing a post with a list of these websites.

Technorati Tags: Parties,Elections,Politics,Post Revolution,ANHRI,MICT,Electionnaire,Leftist,Liberal,Islamists,Media,Geek,Egyptvotes.org,Citizen journalism,Egypt

Cinema Metro: Mandil El Helo

Ok as we are celebrating the feast , I would like to share with this little treasure I found on YouTube : A complete version of Mandil El Helo.
Mandil El Helo “My sweetheart’s handkerchief” is a musical comedy starring the legendary Tahia Karioka in her golden time and singer Abdel Aziz Mahmoud. The title of the film was its title song which was one of the most famous songs of Mahmoud. The plot of the film is not that serious , it is just simple comedy that many people like.
You can watch the film after the break.

Poll time : Do not Underestimate the Fear Factor

Abu Dhabi Gallup Center published from two weeks or even less a very interesting survey about the crime rate after the revolution and it reached to a surprising result : The crime rate is somehow steady whether before or after the revolution , it is only the fear that leaped to the space.

Source : Abu Dhabi Gallup

Ironically enough according to this poll the crime rate “whether assault or theft” decreased from year 2010 !!
It is true and actually to be fair the crimes pages did not change so rapidly or so badly after the revolution , in fact I do remember that that by the end of the Mubarak’s era we were stunned by those crimes committed in the country because of poverty and the absence of social justice not to mention. There is no difference between the crime page in any Egyptian  pre-revolution or post revolution in my point view and thank goodness Abu Dhabi Gallup center proves this !! 

#Sohag Sit in : The lessons we should learn

Last Eid’s eve I was actually terrified when I knew that the people in the city of Sohag were angry and decided to have a sit in at the railway station cutting it in vital time as well as in one of the vital squares there and that the military police arrived to the sit in with vehicles. It did not look so good : Stubborn , stupid and cruel Military police with armed vehicles in Upper Egypt vs. Upper Egyptians in a full armed society can unleash the hell.
I was terrified because it was on the eve of the feast , the heart of the wild wild Upper Egypt and the military police did it before in Maspero , still thank God it ended peacefully with great lessons for everybody.
It is unbelievable how the mainstream media has ignored and belittled the fuel crisis in several governorates outside Cairo like  Qalibyia , Damietta , Alexandria,Mansoura in the North and Delta to Upper Egypt in Asuit and in Sohag. Things erupted in Sohag and evolved in to a sit in at one of its major square “El Thaqafa” in parallel with decision to cut the railways passing through out the governorate to send a powerful message to the centralized government in Cairo. “I hate to use the word {Centralized}”

By Ahmed Anwar 

Not less than 1000 taxi drivers, microbus drivers joined with 500 private cars drivers cut the railways with one demand : To find fuel in fuel stations in the governorate.

Kodak Agfa presents : Cairo Sunset Cairo night

These photos were taken last October 29th in Cairo, Egypt.

A Cairo sunset 

I think this is from the best and most favourite shots I have ever taken.

Cairo at night 

Here is the rest of the beautiful set after the break.

Road to civil State : Supra-Constitutional test balloon !!

On last Monday’s night I spoke about that the meeting held at the Cairo opera house today to discuss that supra-constitutional principles document proposed by Dr. Ali El Salmi and blessed by Sami Anan and SCAF.
Strangely what happened on Tuesday and what the political powers found in the document from controversial articles confirms what I said about that SCAF is searching for both a safe exist as well a secure position for the army in the first place in some sort of Turkey scenario pre-AKP.
Of course after the huge backlash SCAF got last week , we found El Salmi saying it is not an obligatory document and the controversial articles like No.9 and 10 can be amended and everything is negotiable.
The Supra-constitutional document excluding the articles related to the army as well as the supplement concerning the drafting of the constitution are no problem as they deal with the identity of the nation , the citizenship rights ..etc. Now what the bloody article no.9 says :

The World is where we live

From the WWF.

The world is where we live from WWF on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: WWF,The world is where we live,Video,Natura,Environment,In the wind's direction

Dear Glamour our girl is more important than J.LO

Essra in Cairo
"Glamour Magazine"

Famous U.S Glamour magazine has chosen Esraa Abdel Fatah among the women of the year in 2011 and our Facebook girl is featured in the magazine’s website as well as its printed issue. I am so happy for her.
Now amazingly when I check the list of the Women of the year in 2011 , I found out that Jennifer Lopez is on the top of the list !? What did J.Lo do for real to deserve becoming the woman of the year 2011 let alone to be featured in the list except being an American Idol judge and separated from Marc Anthony this years. This is so mixed up message you are trying to send. I can’t understand how Laura Bush and her daughters are being honored “The worst photo ever” in the same list with Arianna Huffington not to mention the life achievement award goes this year to none other than famous feminist Gloria Steinem. “You can read about her in Wikipedia.”
It seems that Glamour is trying to please everybody , the liberals and the conservatives in the States at the same time there is nothing wrong to celebrate women’s achievement abroad using the major event of the year : The Arab Spring.
Now there are many ladies in the world not only in Egypt or the Arab world who deserve to be featured in the Women of the year 2011, still in my list for Women in the year 2011 I will choose the following ladies randomly : Laila Marzouk “Khaled Said’s mom” , Mona Seif , Dr. Mona Mina , Reem Magued , Noha El Zeiny. I know there are others but I can’t remember them now.
From the Arab world I will choose these ladies : Tal Malhoui and Suhair Atasi from Syria , the ladies who raped in Libya by Qaddafi’s troops , the women doctors in Bahrain and the women activists in Yemen and for sure special achievement award to the women of Sidi Bou Zid.Ahh and Manal El Sharif from Saudi Arabia, how do I dare to forget what she had done !?
Please share with me your list of Women of the year 2011 where ever you are.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Society,Glamour Magazine,Esraa Abdel Fatah,Jennifer Lopez,Gloria Steinem,Laura Bush,Arianna Huffington,Mona Seif,Mona Mina,Women of the year 2011,Tunisia,Sidi Bou Zid,Syria,Yemen,Bahrain

Happy Eid 2011: The Hajj Live

Happy Eid to all Muslims around the globe on the occasion of the Eid Al-Adha.

YouTube in cooperation with the ministry of culture and information in Saudi Arabia launched a channel with live broadcast for Hajj rituals. The channel airs the broadcast of the Quran Karim channel from Saudi TV. You can watch it here and enjoy the rituals of Hajj.

The Hajj rituals

I think as Egyptian the Hajj rituals can be very special to us because we got the Al Safa and Al Marwa representing what our Egyptian lady Hagar did from thousand of years in the Holy land while she was searching for water for baby Ismail. It is important lesson for those who real understand.

I hope our pilgrims pray for Egypt to complete its revolution successfully , I hope our pilgrims pray for the Arab world especially Syria and Yemen.

Happy Eid to Egyptian chronicles readers , may you spend it happily with your family.

Insh Allah next year we will celebrate it with civil elected parliament and president as well a constitution that suits Egypt.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Eid greetings,Letter from the editor,Media,Video,Islam,religion,Hagar,Hajj season,2011