The site also warns readers:

Unfortunately, we predict that some of our readers will take offensive to some of our material. To them, we apologize, but we would politely ask them lighten up. For in the words of one great philosopher, “If we can’t laugh at ourselves, then we are lost.” (Actually, we just made that quote up, but it’s true!)

Also, if you happen to be a celebrity or a figure of authority that has come under the (at times) biting El Koshary sarcasm, we would kindly ask you to keep lawsuits and death threats to a minimum. For one thing, our mothers would not be happy at all with that.

El Koshary logo.

Koshary is a popular traditional Egyptian national dish, which consists of a base of rice, brown lentils, chickpeas, macaroni, and a topping of garlic and vinegar, and spicy tomato sauce. To top this combination of staple foods off, caramelised onions are added as a garnish.

Shalaby explains:

Inspired by Koshary, the main traditional dish that gains its popularity from it’s economical value, yet strong and engaging taste, the writers aim at springing off what is typically Egyptian and reaching out to the world. It is an approach to analyze and constructively criticize the difference aspects of the culture that gave birth to the revolutionary Koshary.

Per is regarded as one of the most active foreign journalists covering the Egyptian labor strike wave and human rights abuses for a number of Swedish publications as well as activist websites like Electronic Intifada. He also writes in his blog Egypt and Beyound, where he identifies himself as:

A freelance journalist currently based in Cairo. Covering the daily struggles for a another Egypt and another Middle East, that are too often made invisible in the narratives of mainstream media.

As usual, Egyptian Leftist was the first to publish "Free Per" banners on his blog.

Hossam El Hamalawy was one of the first to break the news:

Swedish journalist and blogger Per Bjorklund has been stopped around half an hour ago at the Cairo Airport. An Immigration Police Officer told him his “name [was] on the computer,” according to Per with whom I spoke on the phone few mins ago.

Per is in some room at the airport, where there are other people, and he awaits an explanation from the police.

Another foreign journalist, James Buck commented on his blog Journalism not a crime:

Per is a great journalist who helped me get connected when I was in Egypt. Looks like Cairo has decided to keep dissenting journalists out of the country. This is a big step backward for press freedom.

On a different note, Egyptian journalist and blogger, Scarr, published a touching post tackling the other side of the story.

Per was one of the people involved in the To Gaza march – as was Travis Randall – but other foreigners on that march have been in and out of Egypt since then without problems. No, there’s no great plan. This (“your name is in our computer”) is just yet another instance of what they do best: bullying disguised as bureaucratic procedure, as thought-out policy.

Talking about Per's girlfriend she said:

The last call I got in this whole sorry saga was an hour ago, when A rang me, still at the airport. No-one had bothered to tell her that Per had been deported (or at least told that he was going to be deported. His phone was switched off after Hamalawy spoke to him). She had been waiting there, alone, all that time. She broke down in tears.

First tweets about Per's detention.

Egyptian blogger, Mostafa, questioned if the repetitive incidents was a sign for new measures taken by the government against journalists:

Per is a brave journalist and his writing is almost always highly informative. He is a nice guy. This is both outrageous and depressing. I wonder if this stupid government is trying to reduce the number of foreign journalists in anticipation of the next two politically intense years.

More details can be found in a post by Joseph Mayton at Bikya Masr and Zeinobia at Egyptian Chronicles.

The one-month show explained Japan's experience of progress and reasons behind its success. Al Shugairy tried to portray how Japanese people follow the principles of Islam in their day to day manners even without being Muslims.
Many Arab bloggers, thinkers, writers and other preachers praised the program, and hoped to one day see their countries as developed as Japan.

Labeed, from Saudi Arabia, wrote a blog post under the title “Ahmed Al Shugairy the great visionary“:

Ahmad Al Shugairy is one of the most inspiring people I have ever listened to. He is out there with a strong belief that one day he will make a difference.
[…]
For those who don’t know him! He has a show called “Khawater خواطر” that airs everyday in Ramadan, what he does in a nutshell is sharing his ideas and thoughts to the whole Muslim world and sometimes the Arab world in particular. These thoughts are presented in a documentary style with a short straight forward messages.

Labeed's illustration to thank Al Shugairy for his work.

Saudi blogger Samyah mentions a new project launched by a group of volunteers to translate the five parts of Khawater into English. Khawater's first season can be found translated here.

She also said:

Mohannad El-Tayeb, from the UAE, quotes Al Shugairy as saying:

“To every young man and woman, you’re not responsible for Arabs being retard today, and nobody has the right to blame you for that!! But young men and women of today are responsible of the future of the Arab countries, you are responsible of what we’ll be after 25 years, means that “WE” decide the situation of the Islamic world in 2030″

Mohannad then commented:

This year Khawater 5 is released. Ahmad Al Shugairy traveled to Japan and made this season there. He shows that Japanese people are still keeping their traditions and customs, while they’re developing quickly. It’s amazing. you’ve got to watch it.

Wafa from Tunisia wrote a post titled “Khawater…in less than 15 min, lots of lessons!!“. In this post, she said:

This year, ‘Khawater 5′ takes us to Japan and back!
Al Shugairy compares issues in Japan and the Arab world, which he’s calling ‘another planet’!
We see how organized, clean, disciplined and punctual the Japanese people are.
We see how they respect each other, respect the elderly, respect boundaries and respect their selves!
Isn’t this exactly how we all should be? No matter what religion we belong to, isn’t this how a good human being should be?
Aren’t these the morals and conditions that make this world a better place?

And N_spirit from Algeria wrote under “I love khawater” saying:

Pour ce Ramadan 1430, et d’après la bande d’annonce Khawater 5, Ahmad Al Shukairy a choisi de voyager vers le Japon, et en retirer des leçons du peuple Japonais qui a pu se relever et s’est reconstruit en un temps record après les bombardements atomiques de Hiroshima et Nagasaki.

Ahmed Amr from Saudi Arabia wrote under the title “Between values and reality” [Ar] a comment to people who criticize the programme and Al Shugairy. Also, Nahar [Ar] from UAE, Jeedo, a Jordanian blogger living in the US, and Egyptian blogger Ahmed Bassiony[Ar] , all wrote about how they are impressed with the programme, and how they wish their countries to be like Japan someday. They also expressed interest in visiting Japan.

Reem from Jordan comments about Khawater on Twitter

Blogger Reem Al Saleh from Saudi Arabia wrote:

On the other hand, Subzero, a Tunisian who lives with his wife Bluerose and is preparing for a Masters in Electronics Engineering in Tokyo wrote about one disappointment of his, despite his utter fascination with the show:

The way Ahmad-san talks about Japan is really great! It is very similar to how I talk to my friends about Japan, and in some cases he used the exact same words! To be honest, even though I like the guy so much, I was disappointed and mad to know he was in Tokyo and yet he did not even try to contact Muslims there. I would really have done anything to talk to him and help him go around Tokyo, in addition to giving some thoughts about the program.

And lastly, Saudi blogger Masha'al criticizes those who talk about their admiration for the programme and yet, do not practice what they preach, and adds:

The story goes back to August 2008, when Marwa filed a defamation case against her killer, Axel, a 28-year unemployed German, after he called her a “terrorist” because she wears the hijab (Islamic veil).

However last Wednesday, Alex stabbed her 18 times to death in a German courtroom after the judges announced she won the case against him, and that he had to pay 2,800 Euros as a fine for his previous insults.

Marwa, 32-year-old Egyptian, was the wife of an Egyptian academic, who was on a scholarship in Germany. Her husband was also hurt in the incident and is now in critical condition in hospital, between life and death.

Zeinobia expressed her anger in a post titled “What If She Were A Lesbian“, and said:

The woman is 32 years Marwa El-Sherbini , she was a pregnant in her second child when she was was stabbed.
[…]
This is for sure a hate crime but unlike other hate crimes like homophobic crimes or anti-Semitic crimes, it did not make the headlines abroad and I do not know why !! This is a racism crime , a woman is shot down stabbed like that so simple in the court room for God sake and it is not important to be covered in the media as it should !! She was a mother who was a pregnant for God sake !!
May Allah bless her soul , she is a martyr of racism and hate.

Ahmed esmat questioned on Twitter

The same thought was echoed by Hisham Maged on his blog, playing the What if game:

Let us play the What IF game, just imagine if the situation was reversed and the victim was a westerner who was stabbed anywhere in the world or -God Heaven- in any Middle Eastern country by Muslim extremists, or even what the media used to call ‘minorities’ in Egypt! You definitely would have heard the world’s buzzing and the internet goes down too!

Bikya Masr, who was closely following the incident, asked if Marwa can be the symbol to bring people together. He demanded an immediate action on the diplomatic and national levels:

Across the Middle East, anger is high. This anger, however, cannot fall into random diatribes against Germans, or Germany. It must maintain some semblance of coherence for any campaign that should be established to succeed. And it will if Sherbini truly is a symbol that can bring people together much like Neda in Iran did.
[…]
Do people believe Sherbini is a symbol? […] Egyptians should be outraged that a woman was verbally abused for wearing the veil and being Egyptian in the first place. The government should be sending a strong signal to Europe that this behavior is unacceptable, but they remain silent. That leaves it to the Egyptian population to take action.
[…]
Let us walk the streets in front of the German Embassy and demand a full investigation and report. Because if Germany cannot do this, then it once more proves that European hate for Muslims and Arabs is stronger than their so-called “freedom.” Yes, Marwa is a symbol, but she should be a symbol to bring people together, not divide them.

Another blogger Sadafat wrote:

Egyptian bloggers commenting or venting out their frustrations on Twitter.

As for myself, I found myself writing these lines on my blog Lasto Adri:

The first optimistic opinion came from Ahmed, who said how happy he is with Obama's gesture of approaching the Islamic world:

Another blogger, Ahmed Shokier, analyzed Obama's speech, then advised his readers that Obama is neither Muslims' grand Imam nor a Muslim himself to have high expectations of him. He also said that the speech wasn't targeted towards Muslims only, but was followed by American voters, Israelis and non-Muslims as well.

Shokeir's other observations included:

In reply to Shokier's post, Desert Cat offered a different opinion:

The same comment by Desert Cat was seconded by another female blogger, Fattractive Egyptian woman, who did not appreciate the preparations taken by the government for the visit:

Like many people, I wasn’t exactly on top of the world when Obama chose Egypt to speak from. Oh, of course, prestige, we’re the best country in the world, blah blah, but what about all the abuses and less-than-democratic procedures we have here?

She then added a comic by Sherif Arafa, an Egyptian writer, about how the whole Cairo cleanness is going to end as soon as Obama takes off his plan:

After Obama’s Visit (Upper left hand corner and clockwise):
1) Return [the palm] tree to the storage area.
2) Of course the exams get postponed for the guests, do you think we’re at Harvard?
3) The governor left?
4) I saw someone practicing politics in the university sir, his name is Obama!
5) We must return everything to it’s place.

Adel, a 23-year-old blogger, took a break from his studies for the final exam to follow the speech. Like many others, including Blue Stone [Ar], Mahmoud25x [Ar], Nawara Negm [Ar], GVO author Marwa Rakha -who thought the magic of the speech lied in Obama's charming smile- and Doaa [Ar], he believed Obama was trying to flirt with and please all parties, and that his talk will not lead to any change. He Quoting remarks:

Fattractive Egyptian woman continued in her excellent post:

Oh, he said all the right things. He quoted verses from the Qur’an. He said al-salamu Alaykum. He said Islam contributed a lot to western civilization. He proudly said he had Muslim roots. […]
The rhetoric was beautiful. So beautiful that many people missed—or chose to ignore—the fact that nothing much has changed. […] US policy has remained the same. America’s interests are still number one, and that is to be expected.

Arabist picture for the Hagg, owner of his local qahwa in Garden City, watching the Obama speech.

On a different note, while Zeinobia compared Obama to the late John F Kennedy, the Arabist compared his visit to Nixon's back in 1975; others - like Egyptian citizen, went a step further and compared his speech to that of the late Egyptian president Anwar El Sadat in the Israeli Knesset in 1977, before the Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. For them, both of the two presidents were calling for peace.

Egyptian Citizen published videos for both speeches, then commented:

Another blogger, Ha'er fi donia Allah, tackled the topic from a different perspective. He was worried about the health condition of Egyptian president Mubarak, because he didn't receive Obama from the airport:

Sandmonkey who attended the event, wrote his observations behind the scenes, then mentioned a small demonstration that took place in front of Cairo University.

Fattractive Egyptian woman, concluded her post with a glimpse of optimism:

So that’s my two cents. The question remains, is Obama really and truly sincere in his words? Or is he, as this editorial puts it, simply another Napoleon, a man who “appropriated Islam in order to advance [his] own material interests at the expense of local populations?”

But even though I’m a cynical person, that doesn’t mean I’m still not hopeful. We’ll have to wait and see, as everyone is saying, if Obama can walk the talk. Intentions matter, but without actions, they don’t mean squat.

The photographer Waleed Nassar, who works near Cairo University, wrote about the preparations taking place in his neighbourhood:

I work next to Cairo University and this area has transformed over night. The bumpy streets leading to the University are now as smooth as silk. Even buildings around the area have been given a fresh layer of paint, but not the whole building, just the side that faces to the street.
[…]
That all sounds great but do you know what that means for the citizens of Cairo? No one is going anywhere on Thursday. I’ve heard that schools are taking the day off and some businesses are closing. Since Obama will be criss-crossing through Cairo in a car, police and presidential guard will be closing down streets and areas where he will be expected to be.

Hossam El Hamalawy tweeting regarding the security precautions that will take place. Al-Shrouk daily newspaper adviced Egyptians to stay home, as the streets will be nearly blocked.

Zeinobia wrote about Obama’s schedule in Egypt. She also added an update that the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak will not attend the speech:

- Mubarak will meet Obama at Koubbah Palace only , he won't attend the speech in Cairo University according to Al-Muslamany's TV show on Dream TV 2 !!!!
- I think his absence from the speech will raise many question marks about his condition after the death of his grandchild.

Egyptian Leftist wrote a letter to Obama (strong language) with an expressive picture saying: "We don't believe you!"

Mahmoud wrote in his blog “Pains and Hopes” a cynical letter [Ar] to Obama, encouraging him to see the “real” Egypt. He explained that what he will see is only preparations for his visit, but if he tried to visit the other universities he’ll find something different; even streets which will not be as beautiful, organized and tidy as what he will see.

Another blogger, Sherif Abdelaziz wrote in his blog “Justice for all” another letter to Obama, and like Egyptian leftist, he expresses his doubt that Obama's visit would bear any fruit:

You know Cairo University you'll be visiting ? Yup…it's my university …I got my degree from there years back ..I also heard that millions of dollars were spent to fix up the place just for you to lay eyes on it for couple of hours …
I have no idea if this visit will do us any good man, I got nothing against it , but I am sick and tired of every thing …I got no faith in no body any more , and am not even so hyped about listening to what you have to say , but I will give it a try ..

On the other hand, Dalia Ziada, a human rights activist who has retained some of her hope towards Obama's visit, concluded her “Young Egyptian Activists and the Obama effect!” post saying:

For the first time, in tens of years, Egyptians can see an American president who is not eager to establish a relationship with the Egyptian regime regardless of its black record of practices against democracy and human rights. This forced the Egyptian regime to show more tolerance and flexibility towards human rights activists and groups.

Yet, the inevitable question, while waiting impatiently for Obama's visit to Cairo within few days, would be: is Obama willing to live up to the high expectations of young Egyptian activists through supporting them in their struggle for domestic reform and making their dream of change, inspired by him, true?

On a different note, Egyptian movement Kifaya called for a sit-in on the eve of the visit, opposing any intended support by the American government to Israel and the Egyptian regime:

In a reply to the sit-in call, Ahmed el Gizawy who like Dalia, also believes Obama is coming to Egypt with good intentions towards the Islamic and Arab world, asked the people to listen first to the speech then decide whether they want to proceed with a sit-in or not.

As a sneak peak to the event, American journalist Robb Montgomery, interviewed some Egyptians about their speculations regarding Obama's visit to Egypt next Thursday.

You can also follow an open discussion on Twitter between bloggers, about the speech and the visit's preparations, using the hashtag #CairoSpeech .

It aims to bring writers and artists from around the world to Palestinian audiences, to initiate and organize cultural festivals with international and local participation. Also, workshops with students in Palestinian academic institutions in co-operation with Palestinian academics are being organized on the sidelines.

According to the event's organizers:

Because of the difficulties Palestinians face under military occupation in traveling around their own country, the Festival will travel to its audiences. It will tour to Ramallah, to Jenin, to al-Khalil/Hebron and to Bethlehem. To celebrate its year as Cultural Capital of the Arab World, the festival will begin and end in Jerusalem. And for those audiences that we can't reach, we're running several ways to connect with the festival: from author blogs to daily videos to twitter updates you can check them all out on our Connect page.

However, the festival opening didn't start as smooth as expected and the first night was shut down by armed Israeli police.

Palfest first tweet about Israel harassment to the festival

Dan-Chyi Chua, from China, who took part in the festival wrote under the title “Reality Check or How to hold a festival under occupation” the detailed story of how the Israeli security forces came with guns and closed the ceremony down. She also adds her personal thoughts on this experience:

It is not a bad idea - to say the very least - to arrive in the West Bank, to set aside the ideals, causes and perceptions that we have packed along with our luggage on this trip, and instead listen to the stories of the people here. The voices of the Palestinian people are already sufficiently subdued, without outsiders coming to further drown it out.

Deborah Moggach reads at the new venue

Egyptian novelist, Ahdaf Soueif, who also participated in the festival, concluding her powerful blog post with this phrase:

Today, my friends, we saw the clearest example of our mission: to confront the culture of power with the power of culture.

English PEN World Atlas, echoing Ahdaf Soueif's Culture vs. Power quote, shared a video from the opening night.

Needless to say that it was not so long before people from all around the globe started tweeting about the event.

Here is a snapshot of some of the reactions from Twitter:

Twitter reactions to palfest

Maryanne, an American expat living in Egypt, wrote a short post with her reaction about the slaughter:

It was announced on international news that the Egyptian government would force farmers to slaughter all their pigs to prevent swine flu. This is almost as intelligent as Paris Hilton telling people that she wasn't worried about it because she doesn't eat pork. The pigs are irrelevant at this stage. The flu is transmitted from human contact and according to some WHO officials isn't nearly the threat that the bird flu is. I suspect the combination of the word “swine”, the cultural taboo on pork, and the almost universal ignorance among bureaucrats of how disease is spread is almost irresistible. There are quite a number of modern, properly run pig farms in Egypt…just as we have quite a few properly run examples of almost anything here…except maybe government officials

Moftasa, an Egyptian doctor who was as provoked as Maryanne, wrote two posts. One of them asks if people really think slaughtering pigs in Egypt will prevent swine flu from entering through the airport:

Swine flu will enter Egypt through its borders and not from pigs. The funds that will go in compensating farmers can be better directed to improve the appalling sanitation of the pig farms and the conditions of their farmers not to the eradication of a local variety of an entire specie.

Then Alaa, replied to Moftasa's twitter that he believes there might be a sectarian zeal behind such decision.

Bent Masrya, a female blogger, wrote her thoughts against the government's decision, despite her hatred towards pigs - as she admitted:

In agreement with Moftasa, Bent Masrya expressed her fear that the flu might hit Egypt though the borders, especially after the discovery of two infected cases in Israel:

AbdelRahman Ayyash, who didn't agree with Bent Masrya's opinion, commented to her post:

@Fustat asking why "Swine flu" has been named to H1N1 just after Egypt decided to kill all "swines" in the country.

Egyptian Watchman, a blogger and human rights activist who started a fierce fight against the government decision of culling 300,000 pigs, highlighted other important precautions people should follow to prevent infection on the individual level.

Similarly, Ghawayesh, in a post entitled save miss piggy, named a few benefits of keeping pigs to the balance of the eco-system, as well as highlighting other important precautions to fight the disease starting from now.

On the other hand, Zeinobia who was with killing the pigs, discussed her concerns towards the dirty conditions Egyptian pigs are brought up in, that might as well be one of the reasons behind spreading of bird flu before. She also criticized the opinions that claimed killing pigs will lead to sectarian division.

Those dirty pigs should be eliminated as soon as possible ,we can’t jeopardize the life of millions for no good reason. Already you can’t imagine how those pigs live or where they live in ,they do not suffer yet from H1N1 but for sure the unhealthy environment they live will make them suffer from other diseases.
[…]
Those pigs are raised eating garbage only with no medical care , only now the ministries of agriculture and health are paying attention to them !!
Please do not tell me this will lead to a sectarian division as this is the most ridiculous talk I have heard because for years now we are speaking about how dangerous those pigs are in Egypt in the time of H5N1 !! I do not know why no one has objected when poultry were eliminated from three years ago !!

She further explained how she thinks the disease might spread, due the lack of medical awareness on the part of the pigs' owners and garbage collectors:

Now if the pigs are infected ,they will infect the farmers and their kids whom by their turn will infect other people in a direct contact including the garbage collectors and the garbage collectors have a direct contact hundreds of citizens !!! We are talking about uncontrolled industry.

On the other hand, Mohamed Hani notified his readers about a new Twitter account to follow global Swine flu updates, and as usual Hossam was in solidarity but with pigs -this time- against the slaughter.

Photo by Per Bjorklund — People's uproar in Ezbet el-Nekhl after the government's decision to slaughter all pigs in Egypt.

You can also check Per Bjorklund's photographs set on flickr from Ezbet el-Nakhl, were pig farmers and garbage collectors were in an uproar over the government's decision to kill all pigs over the “pig flu pandemic”, and his thoughts ; and visit Egyptian Facebook groups with and against the government's decision to cull all pigs: Egypt without pigs, cull all Egyptian pigs, and together to get rid of pigs.