Egyptian blogs were abuzz with activity, despite their show of solidarity with a strike by a number of newspapers, which didn't appear in protest against the jailing of Egyptian journalists today. Our review today talks about the strike, the anniversary of the October 6 war with Israel and the detention of an Egyptian Shiite among other topics.

Newspapers on Strike

On October 7, many newspapers, mainly independent ones, decided not to appear in order to show their stand against the detention of the Egyptian journalists who were detained for publishing news about the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak which came out not to be true. Many Egyptian bloggers (perhaps hundreds of them) decided not to post anything on that day as well. Most of them put logos showing their solidarity with the Egyptian journalists, while some blogs such as Kareem El Beheiry of “Egyptian-Workers” decided to write a short paragraph about it.

قررت مدونة عمال مصر اغلاق ابوابها اليوم تضامنا مع كل الصحف المحترمة المحجوبة اليوم الاحد وذلك لان المدونات هى نسيج من الصحافة الحرة
كما تقرر مدونة عمال مصر مقاطعة كل الجرائد القومية ” الحكومية ” لتخاذلها عن نشر قضايا المواطن المصرى ووقفوها بجانب الصحف التى تطالب بحرية الصحافة والتزامها بالتعليمات الحكومية فقط وتدعوكم المدونة لتفعيل المقاطعة بينكم وعلى رأس هذه الصحف الاهرام – الجمهورية

“The Egyptian Workers Blog decided to be closed today in solidarity with the respected newspapers which are not going to appear on news-stands on Sunday, as blogging is considered to be related to Journalism. We are also going to boycott the the National – Governmental – Newspapers because of their failure to publish what really matters the Egyptian citizens, and for not standing with those newspapers asking for freedom of speech, and for their continuous submission to the government. And we ask you to boycott them, and on top of those newspapers comes Al-Ahram and Al-Gumhureya.”
Egyptian Workers Blog.

The October 6 War

Another main event was the anniversary of The Sixth of October War which took place between Egypt, the Arabs and Israel. Zeinobia decided to share with her readers a link for an Arabic Web-Site dedicated to the war.

طبعا انتم جميعا تعلمون ان اليهود نجحوا فى تحويل الانتصار المصرى الى هزيمة عن طريق ماكينة اعلامهم التى لا تمل و ايضا تعلمون ان هناك بعض الاخوة العرب اللى بينظروا لحرب اكتوبر كما لو كانت للنكسة
لذلك لا يزال دورنا كمصريين ان ننشر الحقيق و لا نمل من دورنا كذلك حتى لو العالم لم يسمع لمئة سنة لان هذا دورنا و هذا اقل ما يكمن ان نقدمه لهولاء الرجال العظماء الذين لم يبخلوا اى يعطوا اغلى ما يملكوا لاستعادة كرامة هذا الوطن الجليل

You sure know that the Israelis have succeeded in converting the Egyptian victory in the October war into a defeat using their non-stop propaganda. And you know, many Arabs (we normally use the term Arabs to refer to the rest of the Arab Nations excluding Egypt, and some times we use it to refer to the Gulf Countries in specific) as well share the same view with the Israelis.

So it is our task as Egyptians to publish the truth and not to be bored from doing this even if nobody listens to us for a hundred years. Because this is the least we can do for those great men who didn't hesitate to pay their own lives in order to liberate our land and re-gain our national dignity.
Zeinobia, Waqaee Masreyah

Al Ahly Qualifies to the Final

And here comes one of my favourites, a blog post about El Ahly football team, grrrrr. Beit El Reyadah, wrote about El Ahly qualification to the African Champions League final match.

بالفعل ليس فقط الف مبروك لكل اهلاوي بل اقول الف مبروك لكل المصرين علي تأهل الاهلي للدور النهائي للبطولة الافريقية لمواجة فريق النجم الساحلي التونسي في نهائي البطولة و الذي بأذن الله سوف يفوز النادي الاهلي علية ويأخذ البطولة الافريقية ويحقق انجاز عالمي يضاف الي انجازاتة بأنة سوف يعتبر اول نادي في العالم يصعد لثالث مرة الي بطولة العالم للاندية

“Not only congratulations to El Ahly fans, but also congratulations to all Egyptians, as El Ahly football team qualified to the final match of the African Champions League, and it will meet the Tunisian team Etoile Sahel there. And El Ahly will win by the will of Allah and will become the first team to be qualified for the third time to the FIFA Club World Cup championship.” Beit El Reyadah.

Federalism in Iraq

Another controversial post by Malek – AKA MaLcoLM X – about federalism in Iraq.

عارف ان التدوينة دي حتزعل ناس ياما مني واعتقد ممكن تزعلني انا شخصيا من نفسي,بس مقدرش امنع نفسي اني افكر ,ولما الاقي نفسي محتاس طيب
فيها ايه لو اتقسم العراق فيدراليا؟
وليه عاملين دوشه كبيره على الموضوع ؟
الأهم من دا ان لو بالديمقراطيه العراقيين حيصوتوا بأغلبية واضحه”شيعة واكراد” للكونفيدرالية.
ايه الأزمه عندنا احنا؟

“I know that this post is going to piss many of you off, and it will piss me off as well. But I can't stop myself from thinking.
What is the problem with dividing Iraq into federal states? Why are people everywhere complaining about it? And the most important question, if the majority of Iraqis are with federalism and they are going to vote for it in a democratic process, what is our problem then?” MaLcoLM X.

Shiite Activist Arrested

Finally, an Egyptian Shiite activist was detained by the policy for simply being Shiite. So Rasha – like many other bloggers – decided to write about this in her blog.

يقرأون الفاتحة فى الركعتين الثالثة والرابعة أولا يقرأونها ، يسّبحون فى الركعتين الثالثة والرابعة ، يقرون بالولاية للإمام علي فى الركعة الأولى من كل صلاة ، يذكرون الأئمة الأثنى عشر فى نهاية كل صلاة ، يؤدونها على الشقفة أو التربة الحسينية ، ينادون لها بـ “حى على خير العمل” كما يفعل السنة فى “الصلاة خير من النوم” .. يختمون صلاتهم بالدعاء بدلا من التسليم، فليس هناك خاتمة لها..
لاأعرف كيف استطاع المحقق فى إعتقال محمد الدرينى أن يوجه له تهمة التسبيح فى الصلاة؟
أن يسأله عن صلاته ، عن معتقداته ..ثم يتهمه بإزدراء الأديان!

Reciting “Al Fateha” (a chapter from Quraan) in the third and fourth “Rakaas” (parts) of their prayers or not. “Tasbeeh” (calling the name of God) in the third and fourth “Rakaas” of their prayers or not. Calling Imam Ali an Iman in the first “Rakaa” of their prayer or not. Calling the names of the twelve Imams after their prayers or not. Praying on a carpet or on El Turbah El Husaineyah. Adding the phrase “Hayy Ala Khair El Ammal” in the “Azan” (call for prayer), like Sunnis adding the phrase “Al Salah Khayron Men Al Nawm” in their “Azan”. Reciting “Duaa” after ending their prayers instead of “Tasleem”.

I don't know how was the police detective able to accuse Muhammed El Durainy of saying “Tasbeeh” in his prayers?
He asked him about his prayers and beliefs, and then accused him of “Disrespecting Religions”!

Each time, and in each new case, the regime proves its fascism against those who are different from them.
Rasha, Ay Haga (Anything).