Thirty Egyptians, aged 18 to 28, joined hands to produce 10 social advertisements, aimed at social reform.
The project, aptly named Closing The Gap, consisted of three phases held in partnership between The Egyptian Life Center for Creativity and Culture jointly with Freedom House. Its primary phase included an intensive workshop that took place in July 2009. The goal of the workshop was to define the Egyptian context of social marketing, prior social issues that society needs to address through media, along with writing the ideas and storyboards of the ads.

Bikya Masr group blog reported:

The goal of “Closing The Gap” is to train a group of 30 young media activists with interests in new media and its potential role in society. The project served these interests by giving them a chance to represent their views on the usage of new and appropriate media to advocate progressive ideals.

Blogger Mahmoud Saber said:

“The editing phase was finalized by mid-April and the first screening will be hold during April” Mahmoud Saber, Documentary Movie maker and the project technical coordinator said. A third production phase will finish early on May 2010.

On their Facebook page, The Egyptian Life Center for Creativity and Culture explained the uniqueness of this project:

“ The project is a unique experience for us all, it is the first time young people have the chance to express in filming material with total independence from authorities or business interests”, commented Bassam Bahgat, the project’s executive coordinator.

The participants of the project are a group of young Egyptian media activists from diverse backgrounds including media students and professionals. Miral Brinjy, television producer and project facilitator, expressed the purpose of this experience as to learn “how to utilize conventional and new means of communication and media to spread awareness about personal responsibility towards reforming society”

According to Mahmoud Saber's blog:

This project aims to produce 10 social ads and publicize them while networking media activists with other actors through workshops, raising the discussion on media social responsibility through a citizen centered approach. The project shall give way to a new approach to social reform.

He also shared samples of their work

Social Advertising : I'm Egyptian | إعلان إجتماعي : أنا مصري

Two social ads tackle sexual harassment; the first is a comparison between Egypt in the seventies and Egypt today

The second is titled:Social Ad : It's Not Your Right | إعلان إجتماعي : مش من حقك

This social ad is about holding on to hope:

And this one is about Internet Freedom in Egypt:

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (1)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Zeinobia starts her post by summing up how Ehab Salah, a TV presenter, shot his wife:

Newsreader Ehab Salah murdered his wife Magda in their house at nearly 4 AM after a huge fight that was heard by their neighbors. Salah killed his wife with a single shot from a gun that he inherited from his late father, the police general.

There were leaks about the details of the murder:

A big verbal fight, economic troubles, the wife slapped the husband then the husband got the gun and then one bang that ended both his wife's live and his as well. Each website imagined certain spicy details between those details in order to create the usual tabloid attraction that have reached to level of discussing their sexual life!!

Zeinobia said she was:

shocked and saddened by the amount of sexism in the comments on the murder in all websites. It is a strange thing to find most men praising the action of Ehab Salah which is killing his wife because she dared and slapped him after reminding that she was the one who was paying their expenses for the last three months!!

Suddenly Salah has become the symbol of manhood despite what he had done is against all laws, norms, traditions and religions, he has become the man who stood against the woman who worked and rebelled against him, despite the fact he was taking drugs during the time of the murder which was proved by prosecution office “he smoked marijuana before committing the crime” and despite the fact his wife suspected that he was having an affair with another woman which made her lose her mind and patience when he came back that bloody night late.

The comments in these websites show a huge amount of sexism against women in Egypt as they are the daughter of evil instead of Eve, the salves who should go back to their houses because they are rebelled on their masters after going to work!!! Strangely women have been always working with men in Egypt since the days of the Pharaohs in the fields on the banks of the Nile!!

The man has killed his wife because of a fight that can happen anywhere , he could have returned back the slap or just simply divorce her and buy his own dignity and freedom but he has killed her, a murder which he should be executed for according to the Sharia laws for God sake !!??

I just wonder where is the lost dignity of these men when they are being slapped on a daily basis by a regime that steals their freedom, their money and their land !!??

Mohaly saw one of the “For Women Only” taxis on the streets and he could not help but wonder:

Why do all the signs indicate that we are heading into the separation of the society between males and females. Females cars in Metro, female queues, female hours in some services, female only restaurants (like [famous actress] Hanan Turk's one), and lately female only taxi (check). I wonder what else will be female only!

I am not against women having their privacy for one reason or another, but I am afraid one day - especially with the fake religious and Wahabi waves invading our society- to wake up and find Cairo another Riyadh!

Diptychal narrates how BUSSY - the Egyptian Vagina Monologues - was forced into silence:

According to their own words BuSSy is about empowerment, about raising awareness about women’s rights, and, (in my opinion what is most important), giving a voice to those who are never heard.

I read today on ArabLit that the play’s latest performance has been forced into a combination of audience-enforced and self-enforced censorship. During their first night of performances, this year at the Opera House, audience members walked out. Audience members criticised these women for speaking about sensitive topics including child molestation and taking off the veil.

All of this got me thinking. Why were those audience members there in the first place? Why would someone who is so averse to self expression attend a play that is well known for what it says. Did they go there, all along with the intention of making their own voices heard, expressing their displeasure? And don’t they have the right to make their voices heard just as the women of BuSSy do? I am not so sure.

I could get a lot of flack for the coming sweeping generalisation but it’s how I feel. We, as an Egyptian people, are perfectly happy to bury our heads in the sand and ignore our problems. No one in Egypt has AIDS. Homosexuality doesn’t exist. Everyone here is God fearing. None of them would suddenly open first on a bus full of people “for no apparent reason.” Everything is just fine.

So a play like BuSSy was bound to be criticised because it sheds light on some of the things we would rather keep hidden.

And the sadder part to me, is that they were forced to self-censor. They were forced to think twice about raising their voices above the din. And that defeats the purpose.

And yet that is the status quo in this country.

Finally, “I beg you! Please love your daughter” urged Eman Hashim:

In another post, Eman Hashim hit the aversion nail on the head:

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (2)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

The Economist has published a special report on Egypt and her future after President Mubarak who has now being recognized as the 21st century sick man of the Middle East.

With this shocking paragraph Zeinobia began her post.

Zeinobia starts her commentary saying:

This report is very interesting to the level I believe we will not see the magazine in our newsstand next month thanks to its cover.

She added that two Egyptian newspapers:

Youm7 and Al Shorouk online published a summary for the report without the iconic image of Mubarak. There is an elephant in the room, a big dying elephant to be correct and it seems the fact that the regime does not want confess it makes you wonder if it is an alienation from reality due to arrogance or it is actually fear to confess the bitter reality ; the end is so close and time is not in the side of the son who planned too much for this moment.

Mohaly read the same report and he blogged his confusion:

After 30 years of status quo, is Egypt sinking in sand or rising from it?! Will we live in isolated colonies, or will we work in teams?!

Imagine Egypt being the cover topic of the Economist. It is an article worth reading.

Issandr El Amrani, at The Arabist, weighs in too:

This week's Economist has a special on Egypt well worth checking out. Considering The Economist only does these country surveys about every decade, this might be very well be the third one about Mubarak. I wonder how it compares to previous ones.

The overall tone of the report is a mixture of cautious optimism and a lament of some of the Egypt's failings — its corrupt police state, its education. In light of the woe-is-us mood that dominates in the country and some alarmist accounts of Egypt being on the brink of collapse, it's refreshing to point out the dramatic social and economic changes that the Mubarak era has introduced. Will they turn out to be changes for the better, or not, or were they inevitable changes in a world that influenced Egypt much more than Egypt could influence it?

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid after receiving the IBN RUSHD Prize

Dr. Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, a prominent Egyptian scholar once accused of apostasy for his contemporary interpretation of Islam, has died on July 5, 2010. He was 66. Officials at the Cairo hospital where Abu Zeid had been receiving treatment for the past two weeks said he died Monday from a brain infection.

Calling him her hero, Mona ElTahawy reposted an article she wrote about him and his strife in 1996:

An Egyptian court on Monday threw its weight behind Islamists by upholding a ruling that a happily married university professor must divorce his wife because he was found to have renounced Islam.

A human rights group, saying it feared for the life of Arabic professor Nasr Abu Zeid, urged President Hosni Mubarak to overturn the “unjust” decision by Cairo’s Court of Cassation.

The court rejected Abu Zeid’s appeal against a ruling ordering his separation from fellow academic Ibtihal Younis.

Abu Zeid and Younis moved to the Netherlands earlier this year to take up teaching posts. The Court of Cassation is the last stop for appeals in Egypt and court sources say if the couple ever return to Cairo they will have to separate.

Abu Zeid has argued he is still a Moslem and has accused mainstream Islamic clerics of quoting the Koran out of context and of making even simple factual errors. Younis has criticised the fundamentalists for treating her like a child by interfering in her private affairs.

Moftah quoted correspondent Hend Adel and wondered:

Voice of Egypt lamented Dr. Abu Zeid's sudden death:

Desert Cat wrote a post titled An enlightened page is torn:

Gaberism wrote:

Dr. Sherif Hafez wrote for Middle East Youth saying:

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

In October 2009, the Niqab (or face cover) stirred a lot of controversy when the late Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi - head of Al Azhar and Egypt's Imam - asked a 13-year-old girl to uncover her face while he was inspecting an Azhar school in Cairo. He told her that the niqab is a tradition that has nothing to do with religion. Currently the lower house of the Spanish Parliament is debating a proposal to prohibit the wearing of body-covering burqas and face-covering niqabs in all public spaces in Spain, and the French parliament approved a ban on face veils.

According to AP:

France has Europe's largest Muslim population, estimated to be about 5 million of the country's 64 million people. While ordinary headscarves are common, only about 1,900 women in France are believed to wear face-covering veils. Champions of the bill say they oppress women.

In her interview with Broadsheet, the women’s issues blog on Salon, Mona ElTahawy explained why she supports the ban on niqab:

I support banning the burqa because I believe it equates piety with the disappearance of women. The closer you are to God, the less I see of you — and I find that idea extremely dangerous. It comes from an ideology that basically wants to hide women away. What really strikes me is that a lot of people say that they support a woman's right to choose to wear a burqa because it's her natural right.

On her blog, Mona ElTahawy linked to her appearance on BBC TV's Newsnight where she engaged in a heated argument with Syrian Professor and author of “The Quest for Meaning” Tariq Ramadan, and Nigel Farrage Member of Parliament representing the UK Independence Party.

Meanwhile, on his blog, Hassan El Helali hails the ban saying:

He elaborated saying:

He concluded his post saying:

Joseph Mayton of Bikya Masr describes the ban as stupid:

There was a debate not too long ago in the southern part of the United States over whether a Muslim woman wearing the full-face covering, or Niqab, would be forced to remove the veil for a police officer. The case went to court and was eventually decided that if a male police officer needed to check the person’s identity they would call in a female officer to do the checking. Makes sense. It is one of the few times that the US has done something “tolerant” when it comes to Islam in the country.

So, when the French government banned the niqab, burka or whatever one wants to call the full-face covering that a tiny fraction of Muslim women across the world adorn themselves in, it is shocking that they would continue to argue it is a security risk. It simply is not. Whether we want to see women cover themselves in what liberal Islamic scholar Gamal al-Banna told me recently is an “archaic representation of a time before Islam” is another question, but when France argues the security card, they should be called out for their stupidity.

In his article, Joseph Mayton quoted Islamic scholar Gamal al-Banna who disagrees with Mona ElTahawy's stance:

Sure, there was a lot of support for the ban, from as strange of places as Muslim feminists, who argued that the ban would give women more freedom in their daily lives. It is almost hypocritical that anyone who professes to support human rights and the right to choose one’s own lifestyle to argue this, but it happened and continues today. Someone who upholds human rights and people’s right to choose, must accept that not everyone will choose “their way.” We must continue to argue against the niqab – as al-Banna says, “it is not an Islamic idea and has been incorporated by those who bastardize the faith” – but without being preachy. This is where the so-called feminists failed.

Mona ElTahawy argued her point further on the Tuesday’s edition of the Dave Ross Show and again on BBC Radio 4’s Moral Maze

According to BBC's Radio 4's introduction:

France is the latest European country to talk of banning the burqa - the full Islamic face veil for women. Belgium has already voted for a ban and there's also been talk of similar laws in Holland and Spain. France has the largest Muslim population in Europe and polls there show overwhelming support for the proposal. It's estimated that around 1900 women in France wear the burqa and most do so because they want to …. For many this is also an issue of protecting women's rights; the burqa they argue, is a symbol of male oppression and as one French law maker is reported to have said, women who wear them must be liberated, even against their will.

Ahmed Zidan of Middle East Youth agrees with Mona ElTahawy and dismisses freedom of choice as grounds for wearing the niqab:

Elder of Zion raises another point when he quotes Ibrahim Hooper - a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations:

He says that the French vote is a thinly-disguised attempt to discriminate against all Muslims, not just those who wear the burqa.

“It's really a new type of law targeting a particular minority faith based on the prejudices of the majority. And my religious rights should not be dependent on a majority vote,” said Hooper.

Then he refutes Hooper's argument saying

Syria has banned the face-covering Islamic veil from the country's universities … Last January, an Egyptian court upheld a ban of the veil during university exams. And last year Al Azhar University's religious head banned the veil at all Al Azhar schools altogether.

It seems that Syria and Egypt are nervous about growing Islamic fundamentalism, as shown by a custom that is not legally sanctioned in Islam. In the words of another Al Azhar scholar, “”We all agree that niqab is not a religious requirement. Taliban forces women to wear the niqab. … The phenomena is spreading and it has to be confronted. The time has come.”

So France does not seem to be exhibiting any Islamophobia. French politicians are merely following in the footsteps of two nations whose very constitutions invoke Islam as the major source for their laws!

UNSETTLING SILENCE ON RENDING THE MUSLIM VEIL, makes ElTahawy acknowledge that

Cultural integration has failed, or not taken place, in many European countries, but women shouldn’t pay the price for it.

Still, she urges Europe's liberals and Muslims to justify their silence:

Europe’s liberals must ask themselves why they have been silent. It is clear that Europe’s political right — other countries have similar bans in the works — does not care about Muslim women or their rights.

But Muslims must ask themselves the same question: Why the silence as some of our women fade into black, either as a form of identity politics or out of acquiescence to Salafism?

Once again, Zidan of Middle East Youth lists eightreasons why the niqab should be banned. They are as follows:

Second:

Third:

Fourth:

Fifth:

Sixth:

Seventh:

Eighth:

Though supporting the ban, ElTahawy shouts foul play:

But what really disturbs me about the European context is that the ban is driven almost solely by xenophobic right wingers who I know very well don't give a toss about women's rights. What they're doing is they're hijacking an issue that they know is very emotive and very easy to sell to Europeans who are scared about immigration, Europeans who are scared about the economy, Europeans who don't understand people who look and sound different than them. They've taken advantage of this and done it very well. I'm very disappointed with the left wing and liberals in Europe for not speaking up and saying, the burqa ban has everything to do with women's rights. We are fighting against an ideology that does not believe in women's rights, and we will not allow the right wing to hijack this issue for their own purposes.

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (5)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Using their blogs, mobile phones, and new media, Egyptian activists have exposed numerous torture incidents by police officers over the past few years. Wael Abbas (Misr Digital), Shahinaz Abdel Salam (Wa7da Masreya), Ramy Raoof (Human Rights Defender), Amr Gharbeia (Gharbeia), Noha Atef (Torture in Egypt), Mohamed Khaled (Mac), Sameh El Aroosy (Eye on the World), Malek Mostafa (Malek X), Hossam El Hamalawy (3arabawy), and many others have advocated human rights and uncovered police violations and corruption.

The most famous incident is that of Emad El Kebir, who was tortured and sodomized by Islam Nabih and Reda Fathi - the police officers who were brought to justice after the torture video went viral. And the most recent of which is the severe torture and brutal murder of Khaled Said - a 28-year-old Egyptian from the coastal city of Alexandria who died for asking for a search warrant.

Amr Gharbeia's most recent post is entitled:

It is about the civil society's most recent anti-torture initiative. Gharbeia writes:

According to Wael Abbas, it seems that the Egyptian Ministry of Interior is seeking revenge from those who exposed internal police force corruption and recurrent torture cases. Wael received a message from Sameh El Aroosy who shared many video clips of torture in police stations saying that he has been arrested in Libya.

The message says:

Wael commented on his message saying:

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (2)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Twenty-six-year-old Tarek Mohammed Nagiub Abdel Gawad has been named Mr Egypt 2010. He was also Egypt's candidate in the Mister World 2010 male pageant, which was held at Incheon, Korea, recently.

According to Universal Queen:

Tarek’s ambition is to have a career in fashion. His hobbies include football, volleyball and painting. “Don’t cry over spilt milk is his personal motto”.

Zeinobia says the young man looks “dumb” and does not represent Egypt:

I will not say anything except that this young man looks dumb, really dumb. Of course I can't expect high I.Q from a person who accepts to participate in this pageants.

This video is circulating in the Egyptian Facebook universe, where many people have commented in the usual Egyptian homophobic way.

By the way who is this guy ?? and why we did not hear anything about Mr. Egypt 2010 in the media in general !!?? I know after the controversy of Miss Egypt in 2007 Mr.El-Sibhay has disappeared and so I am just wondering on how he organizes the Mr. Egypt event and attracts contestants like the champ above !!??

On Egypt Search Forum, another video was posted of Tarek singing Get Down.

Comments on the forum ranged from:

Mr Egypt - hmmm - not bad at all.

I hope the best is inside him though!

to

Is that Mr./ Egypt 2010 …shame on us Egyptian men it seems Wasta [favoritism] is everywhere even in that false competition.

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (2)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (1)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Photo by Mourid Barghouti

Demonstrations and rage continued in Egypt following the death of a young Egyptian, allegedly at the hands of police. The anger on the street is evident online, where citizen journalists speak out.

My Name was Khaled and I was not a Terrorist is the name of a new Facebook page condemning police torture and the use of the Emergency Law to terrorize citizens. “The emergency law is a tool in the hands of the executive power to storm many basic rights and freedom guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution,” explains the International Federation for Human Rights. Khaled Said's death enraged many Egyptians, who went out on demonstrations protesting his brutal murder; Amnesty International urged the Egyptian government to investigate the killing of this young man; and the government claimed he was a criminal.

Khaled's murder is summarized again on the Facebook English page:

The story began on 7th June 2010 when Khaled Saeed went to his usual Internet cafe in Sidigaber - Alexandria Egypt.

Then two wild detective cops - Mahmoud Alfallah and Awaad Elmokhber/the detective - ambushed that cafe asking people for their IDs which is totally out of their authority and without legal permission He - Khaled - did reject that way of inhumane treatment and conequently was attacked so viciously, was kicked in his chest and belly severely, and his skull was smashed with the marble bar before all people and witnesses in the cafe while khaled was bleeding. Then savage cops abducted khaled and put him inside the police vehicle to continue torturing him to death in the police station. Finally, they had thrown his corpse in the street to claim that he was attacked by some strangers in order to avoid responsibility.

All of this is a result for the oppression system that Mubarak control Egypt under emergency law which gives the police the upper hands to treat the residents as slaves.

Shadowy added:

Eyewitnesses –cyber café clients and street pedestrians- asserted that the whole beat thing had carried on constantly for 20 minutes, and had been executed in full view of everyone, accompanied by Khaled´s screams, tears, and cries for help.

Another witness, Mahmoud Ali, reported that the two policemen had taken the victim´s body to “Seidy Gaber” police station, and brought it back 15 minutes later to the crime scene, and called an ambulance in order for them to get away with their crime.

Khaled´s brother certified to “Shorouk Newspaper” that Khaled had never been detained that particular night in any police station or elsewhere, and that he was very well-behaved, well-liked, and admired by his neighbors and friends. He also mentioned that he´s from a virtuous family, whose sons aren´t prison birds. “As soon as I had heard the police station´s conviction of my brother, I headed straight for the American Embassy and informed them of the incident, since I´m American citizen; I thought my American passport would safeguard me, in lieu of the Egyptian one, which is the main reason for his holder´s dishonor” He added.

The victim´s attorney, Waleed Saeed, had filed a complaint to the public prosecutor, accusing the two policemen of beating and torturing Khaled to death, and dragging his corpse all the way to the police station.

Who could have ever thought that the price Khaled would pay for asking “why” his basic rights were violated was going to be his life?! Well, as it turns out, this is the case under emergency law; every Egyptian should think twice, before he goes too far and decides stand up for his civil rights, assuming he is Martin Luther King of his age.

Traveller Within highlighted how the police handled the crime scene:

Policemen subsequently returned to the scene in search of any recording devices or phones that could’ve reported the incident. They failed however to prevent the news from being covered and widely shared via Twitter and other social media tools, which detailed accounts of the events, shared photos of the deceased before and after his death, and began to organize for demonstrations and civil actions to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice and to protest the use of Emergency law, in place since 1981 and extended just last month for a further 2 years, with the explicit declaration by the state that it would only be used “in cases of terrorism and drug trafficking”.

Photo by Sarah Carr

Will E. went to the June 13th demonstration and gave the following account

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (9)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

The Chronikler wrote:

in recent weeks when a group calling itself (without a hint of irony) Lawyers Without Shackles tried to shackle the reading choices of Egyptians by calling for a ban of a newly released version of the classic One thousand and one nights saga, with its ensemble of popular and ageless characters, including Aladdin, Ali Baba and Sindbad. Their reason? The centuries-old collection is “obscene” and could lead people to “vice and sin”.

Luckily, Egyptian intellectuals have rallied to defend the classic tales, warning against the increasing “Bedouinisation” of Egyptian culture. This is, perhaps, the most ridiculous example of the recent trend towards, what I call, the retroactive condemnation of published works.

Zeinobia thinks that Scheherazade gave life lessons to her husband over 1001 nights especially in Politics and the art of rule , this is why many people wish to see her dead.

Poor Scheherazade , she made it and her life was spared by her tales in the ancient times where as in the modern times some are trying to ban the tales that saved her and the daughters of her nation for 1000 and 1 nights !!

Zeinobia tell us that:

This was not the first time as it happened before in when 1985 some lawyers wanted to ban that edition from the book.

First of all you must know that the edition they are speaking about is the oldest edition printed from the book in modern Egypt during the time of Mohamed Ali pasha at the famous Imbaba printing house and it was printed after the approval and the revision of Al Azhar ; yes approved by the Al Azhar in the 19th century with its bad NSFW words and imagery !!! Already the last edition available from the Imbaba printing house is the 1935 edition which is not even in Cairo or at the Bibliotheque Alexandrie but rather in University of Toronto !! “Do not ask me how or why !!”

Having read the original - supposedly uncensored version - Zeinobia says:

My own judgment is that this book is amazing with its stories inside stories , a complete different world and yes there is a lot of sex but there are even more racism towards other races too that made me uncomfortable. But other than that well it is fantastic , really fantastic and you would be surprise with the poetry, the proverbs and even the historical incidents mentioned in the book.

And on the issue of immorality, she notes:

The nights book is not the only book with explicit imageries yet for some reason it is only remembered. What we see in TV is much more worse for God sake , just tune in to Melody TV and you will know what I mean.

Mechanical Crowds is unhappy with how Egypt is handling freedom of expression:

Controlling ideas is one of the reasons why Egypt is behind. We gotta get out of this shell and break free. Have you ever compared Egyptian music lyrics to foreign songs? Egyptian songs are always so predictable and shallow and 90% of them about love. There is more to life than boy loves girl! Look at songs from other places and you'll find a lot of creativity & imagination.

On June 9th, the court dismissed the case against the book; Banat Zayed says:

Meanwhile, blogger Ahmed Al Sabbagh posted links to download the book.

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Copts in Egypt constitute the largest Christian community in the Middle East, as well as the largest religious minority in the region. Christians represent 20% or less of a population of over 80 million Egyptians or not more than 6%, though estimates vary (see Religion in Egypt). Around 95% of them belong to the native Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The remaining (around 800,000) are divided between the Coptic Catholic and various Coptic Protestant churches.

Coptic marriage, divorce, and remarriage in Egypt is a sensitive issue

The Muslim marriage ceremony is fully legally binding, since a maazoun, a Muslim marriage registrar, is a public servant, but it is generally then also registered as a civil marriage at the justice ministry. But Christians must always register their religious marriage with civil authorities for it to be legal. This has given churches a lot of power: though Christians can get a civil divorce, the church will not remarry them, so the state cannot recognise a new marriage.

This has affected Coptic Orthodox Christians in particular, as their pope, Shenouda III, has taken his flock on a more conservative path since he became the 116th successor to Saint Mark the Evangelist in 1971. A steady trickle of Orthodox Copts has joined the evangelicals, who are seen as less laden with heavy ritual, more generous with welfare and more flexible over marriage and divorce. In the Orthodox church divorce is rarely granted, and then only through a special petition to the pope.

Supporters of the church and promoters of a secular state blogged their opinions. First, the discussion on Facebook.

A Facebook page has been created to defend the church's sovereignty:

Another Facebook group was created demanding the exact opposite:

Moving on to blogs, Zeinab, Bent Masreya, wrote:

Voice of Egypt is pro a secular state only if it is done the right way:

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Khaled Said before he was tortured

Khaled Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian from the coastal city of Alexandria, was allegedly tortured to death at the hands of two officers who wanted to search him under the emergency law. He asked for a reason or a warrant - they killed him. “The emergency law is a tool in the hands of the executive power to storm many basic rights and freedom guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution” Explains the International Federation for Human Rights.

We are all Khaled Said is a Facebook page that was created upon his murder condemning police brutality. The creator wrote in Arabic and in English:

It's a tragic story about a young man, he was brutally murdered ! why ? because he refused to be treated inhumanly by two savage Cops who had no right to do what they were doing ; to treat people like sheep and consider the citizens inferior.
The story began on 7th June 2010 when Khaled Saeed went to his usual Internet cafe in Sidigaber …
Then two wild detective cops - Mahmoud Alfallah and Awaad Elmokhber/the detective - ambushed that cafe asking people for their IDs which is totally out of their authority and without legal permission He - Khaled - did reject that way of inhumane treatment and consequently was attacked so viciously , was kicked in his chest and belly severely, and his skull was smashed with the marble bar before all people and witnesses in the cafe while Khaled was bleeding. Then savage cops abducted Khaled and put him inside the police vehicle to continue torturing him to death in the police station. Finally, they threw his corpse in the street to claim that he was attacked by some strangers in order to avoid responsibility.

According to what we have known, there's systematic campaign to terrify the witnesses and prevent them from testifying on what they saw in the cafe….

Khaled's is not and won't be the only case, there are lots of people who had the same fate and disappeared and became dead on arrival.

All of this is a result for the oppression system that Mubarak control Egypt under emergency law which gives the police the upper hands to treat the residents as slaves.

Thus we the group of the change in Egypt supporters urge you to interfere and to force the authorities to investigate and explain what happened to the public and to condemn it strongly.

Wael Nawara says that Khaled was the victim of a rotten constitution:

Amr Salama - an avid fighter against the emergency law- wrote:

Abdel Rahman Fares mourned Khaled saying:

On Facebook, Dr Ayman Nour wrote a note condemning the regime for this horrendous crime, narrating its horrific details:

Dr Nour posted pictures of the victim HERE (WARNING: VERY BRUTAL AND MIGHT BE OFFENSIVE FOR SOME VIEWERS). Until the writing of this post, there were around 340 comments on the pictures.

Appy and Kareem Beheiry mourned the victim on their blogs and shared the same pictures.

Princess Sara is scared. She wrote:

Ramez Abbas wrote him an ode:

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (70)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Playing with her name (Fakih means religious jurist in Arabic), Hassan El Helali called her

He comments saying:

Zeinobia wrote a post about Fakih saying

I do not know if this is the result of the Obama effect or Arizona law effect but due to the fact that in 2002 after the 9/11 incident we got Azra Akin as Miss World and Hammasa Kohistani as Miss England after the 7/7. Also we should remember former Miss California and Miss USA Carrie Prejean’scontroversy of last year. I am expecting a lot of controversy and media following Fakih and already TMZ has decided to give her a little bit of their royal treatment and comments in news and blogs are full of racist negative remarks about her origin and religion. “I can’t wait to see the reaction of Fox and Friends !!”

It does not surprise me that an Arab girl or even a Muslim girl participates in a beauty pageant contest , as any community and society we got different views and different faces like any society in this world. Of course I do not put much hope on a girl that depends on her external beauty and fabulous body to change a bloody stereotype about the Arab and Muslim community yet regardless of whether Rima Fakih is a silly shallow girl who dances on a pole and wishes for a world peace or not , this young girl has become another Arab American Muslim icon.

Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs shared pictures of Rima's stripping contest and commented

Here is an icon for the advent of modernizing the Muslim world. She embodies everything sharia and the Islamic world deplore — free women. Burn those burkas, baby, and come on in. The water is just fine.

Given some of the comments and emails I've been getting about this post, it seems necessary to explain that I do not think Miss USA is some kind of role model for American girls or for American culture. What I find positive about Rima Fakih is that she goes against everything Muslims want women to be — and with all the ways that Islam oppresses women, free will, free women, free people. what could be wrong with that?

Yusra of Muslimah Media Watch wrote: Haters Gonna Hate: the Backlash Against Miss USA

She beat out four blondes and set off a whirlwind of media coverage stemming from her “stripper” past to her Shi’a background.

On the positive side, one idealist commenter compared her to Barack Obama. Another went so far as to say her win shows the “real face of Arab Americans, not the stereotypes you hear about.” Ah, yes, not the burqa–the bikini! Trading one stereotype for another is not progressive, but whatever.

Many in Arab-American community, as well as many American Muslims, supported Fakih’s win. While some Muslims voiced their concern over the message it sends, ironically, it’s the American Christian right who’s angriest.

Conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel calls her Miss Hezbollah and says terrorists financed Fakih’s win. She spun this incredible story while calling Donald Trump a “dhimmi,” whining that Miss Oklahoma was unfairly set up by liberals who don’t know what’s right for America.

Ahmed Rehab, the Executive Director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations in Chicago, asks a better question: why must a Muslim person’s faith come up the moment that person breaks through the mainstream in any conceivable way, regardless of relevance or context? Comedian Dean Obeidallah offers a sober explanation over at The Huffington Post: some on the far right love to hate us more than they love the ideals of this country.

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (1)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Sami Ben Gharbia was among the first to cover Egypt's Facebook activism.

Banners from Egyptian Facebook groups calling for Strikes.

After little less than a month following the April 6 strike in support of the textile workers in Mahalla City, during which a number of prominent Egyptian bloggers and internet activists were arrested, preparations for the next round of a planned general strike to mark the 80th birthday of President Hosni Mubarak, on May 4, 2008, are currently spreading all over the blogosphere and the Internet. And like the preparation for the April 6 strike, the internet has a vital role to play in mobilizing for the upcoming protest. SMS, email, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter: almost all of these outlets are used by Egyptian Internet activists in their campaign the May 4 event. We've even seen a Facebookist Movement to Overthrow Mubarak being created. Another group entitled “We don't want Muslim Brothers” is calling for the strike but without participation of the Muslim Brotherhood, who recently decided to join May 4 protest.

Eman AbdElRahman highlighted Three Key Moments of Egyptian Citizen Media:

1- Circulating videos showing group sexual harassment downtown [Ar], November 2006, which although strongly denied via officials, yet the continuous talks about the incident online was able to attract attention to the phenomena, and hence proved the incident creditability. It also resulted in the emergence of many campaigns against harassment in Egyptian streets.
2- Publishing another video showing the brutality practiced in police offices, for a microbus driver Emad El-Kebir being sodomized with a stick by Captain Islam Nabih, who was later convicted of torture and sexual abuse in November 2007 and was sentenced to three years in prison.
3- in 2008, the calls for the first civil disobedience started on a Facebook group, which later on resulted in extreme riots in ElMahala governate, and other strikes in 6th of April each year, and a new youth movement titled “6th of April” as well.

Ramy Raouf blogged about how Online Media & Digital Devices are used to Release Detainees:

Earlier this month, the April 6 Youth Movement staged a protest in front of the Egyptian Peoples Assembly calling for more political freedoms and an end to Egypt's restrictive “emergency law”, which might be renewed this year, and might be enforced as well by a new “Counter-Terrorism law” which is expected to be extremely repressive. The Egyptian security forces responded to the protesting citizens with a brutal violence, making a score of arrests and convictions.

A few days before the protest, more than 30 human rights and legal NGOs in Egypt announced The Front to Defend Egypt Protestors (FDEP) which aims to provide legal and informative support to the participants in peaceful demonstrations.

On April 6th 2010, EmanAbdElRahman wrote about the crackdown on Peaceful Pro-democracy Protests:

On the second anniversary of the first call for civil disobedience in the history of modern Egypt, new protests broke out through out the country. Egyptian police violently beat and randomly detained people to disperse protests calling for constitutional reform - especially downtown in front of thePeople's Assembly and the Shura Council.

But blogger Ahmed Naje does not see citizen journalism the way those activists see it; he shared his experience when he was trying to write an op-ed about the May 2 strike for Wasla:

He goes on to say:

As for the strike itself:

One question is left unanswered:

Written by Marwa Rakha · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper