Hi, can you please introduce yourself to us?

Heba Mitkees: I’m 23 years old, turning 24 in July. I’m also a Cancerian. =)
I was born in Montreal, and brought up in the UAE. My mother and I moved back to Egypt in 2002 after my father’s death. I finished my last 2 years of high-school and went to college in Cairo. I studied Broadcasting, specializing in video editing.

What's your story with cancer?

Heba Mitkees: Given that I’m an only child who came after 10 years of marriage, I’ve always held a very special place in my family’s heart. My father was a scientist/inventor. He was an intelligent, kind, loving, and hardworking man, who did everything within and beyond his power to make his family and loved ones happy. My father was diagnosed with lung and bone cancer in 2001. He did 3 chemotherapy sessions and died only 1 month later due to sudden Septicemia.
…
My father had always been a very strong man. Even at the peak of his illness, he never gave up or showed any sign of worry or fear. He laughed it off, made jokes about it and made us really believe that he was ok. He ALWAYS had a smile on his face. However, that day at the airport was different. It was heartbreaking. Chemotherapy had destroyed him. Even though he tried really hard to pretend he was fine, there was too much to hide underneath that beautiful smile.
…
The doctors in Egypt said that he was responding to chemo and that he was making significant progress. If that were true, what went wrong? Back then, I was too shocked to question his death. I was also too young. Deep down, I knew something went terribly wrong but I couldn’t pin point the source of this feeling.
For some reason, I completely blocked out the true cause of his death (Septicemia). I chose to believe that it was cancer that killed him. I believed that Septicemia was only a result of his illness. It was easier.
This went on for several years until I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer on the 13th of March.

How did you discover your illness? And how did your mother receive the news given that you are her only child and your father had died of the same illness?

Heba Mitkees: On the 12th of March, I was speaking to a friend on the phone and I told her about my lump. She insisted that she should take me to an oncologist on the same day and so she did …

Heba Mitkees, the weekend before she was diagnosed

Dr. M asked about my age. When I told him I was 23, he looked at me and said “23? You have nothing to worry about! You start worrying about these things when you’re over 30, but let’s get it checked”.
…
As he was examining the lump, I could tell by the look on his face that there was something wrong … I asked him if there was something suspicious. He couldn’t give me a straight answer, but he asked me to get a breast ultra sound and a mammogram, and return to him no later than the next day.
…
Only 2 nights before my diagnosis, I was out having fun with my friends and now I’m being faced with a life threatening disease. Too many decisions had to be made. Too many people had to be informed. I kept thinking about my mom. I didn’t know what to tell her. I was too worried that she would break down.
…
I saw almost 6 doctors altogether. All in one week. They all said the same thing with different approaches. All the oncologists suggested chemo prior to surgery and the surgeons suggested the other way around. A few days later I told my mom and I thank God that it went much better than I expected. She was shocked just like me, but didn’t break down.

From here, I think it's better to let Heba continue telling her story without interrupting her with questions.

Heba Mitkees: I eventually decided to proceed with treatment with Dr. M. My mom and I went to see him at his clinic and he scheduled my first chemo session for the next day (21st of March).
…
I got dressed when it was time to leave the house. On the way to the hospital with my mom and her friend, I kept thinking about my father. I kept thinking about how weak and helpless he looked during chemo and how painful it was.

Two months later, she decided to go for alternative treatment. She discussed in her blog why she doesn't consider chemotherapy a cure, and believed it kills more than cancer.

Heba Mitkees: Four days before my ‘last’ session, my uncle’s wife from Kuwait called my mom and told her that she knew someone in Egypt who could help. She said he was a Reiki master who’s had experience with similar cases. My mother asked if I was interested and I thought to myself, why not? I have a friend who’s a Reiki practitioner and she’s cured my headaches before.
…
Reiki is meant to stabilize and balance the energy fields in our body. It helps maintain a healthy energy flow, which is believed to promote healing and clear energy blockages in main energy centers in our body called chakras. It’s based on the idea that an unseen ‘life force energy’ flows through our body. If this energy is low, we are more likely to get sick, and if it is high, we are capable of being healthier.

She then went to describe her first meeting with Dr. Fahmy, the Reiki master.

Heba Mitkees: He totally lost me when he very bluntly and in confidence said that if I solely relied on orthodox treatment, I would most likely have a recurrence within a couple of years. He could tell by the look on my face that I didn’t like the sound of what he was saying.
…
I told him that I knew people who have been cured and haven’t had any recurrences so far, but then again, my argument was based on the limited number of people I’ve heard of and at the same time, disregarding the other number whom I know have had recurrences.

She continued.

Heba Mitkees: At that stage, I had no intention to stop chemo; the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. I had no information about all the chemotherapy risks and side effects. I hadn’t done any research about cancer and the different treatment options. I trusted my oncologist, and ignored everyone else.
….
At first, I thought Dr. Fahmy was a Reiki master, but then I realized that the amount and quality of knowledge and information he had about cancer required a person to have some sort of medical background. I was fascinated … He said that Reiki was only a small part of what he does. He explained that over the past 30 years, he has been researching and incorporating different healing methods which promote the curing process of a person … He said that rather than following one treatment technique or protocol, he found it more effective to integrate different techniques, which have been proved to work effectively together … Rather than merely dealing with the physical symptoms of a disease, holistic treatment acknowledges the significant effect of our mental and spiritual state on our body. It’s based on the idea that any physical symptom of a disease is nothing but a sign of imbalance in our system (Mind, body & soul) … It all started making sense. This specifically explains why we have very high recurrence rates in the world of cancer. The way orthodox medicine deals with cancer is by suppressing the tumor through chemo or removing it with surgery (the physical symptom) and disregarding the disease itself.

He then told her a list of do’s and dont’s. She blogged everything as far as she remembered:

• He told me that the only fabrics I was allowed to wear were cotton and linen since other types are chemically treated and the toxins eventually make their way through our body.
• He told me that I should only see positive friends and cut out all the negative people from my life in order to avoid any negative frequencies or vibes which could affect my health.
• Wearing a lot of the color white was highly recommended. Black was a big no.
• He told me that I should stop going to parties and avoid loud music, which is also believed to weaken the body’s energy level and therefore affect my health.
• I wasn’t allowed any sugar, caffeine or protein. I had to become vegetarian.
• I was only allowed to eat alkaline forming foods, which meant that tomatoes and oranges were a big no.
• I wasn’t allowed white wheat or dairy (except for cottage cheese).

Heba Mitkees: The list goes on forever, really. The whole idea behind his way of treatment was to turn my body alkaline in order to fight off the disease. He said that cancer lives in a highly acidic and de-oxygenated environment;
Along with this nutritional system, he told me that I had to see him around 4 or 5 times a week for energy sessions. I didn’t bother ask what these sessions were like or for.

At the time, she was still having orthodox chemotherapy treatment in parallel. But one day her doctor wasn't pleased with the results of the usual blood test she used to have before here chemotherapy session and the White Blood Cell Count (WBC) there. So, he decided to add an extra day of a drug called Neupogen for her. But then when she had another blood test, the results shocked her.

Heba Mitkees: I made a blood test and when it came out, the results were shocking. My WBC count was 27,700 this time. Closer to Leukemia. She immediately called Dr. M to ask him about the major count fluctuation.
…
He told her that it was an effect of Neupogen and that it was normal, but it didn’t make sense to her. Neupogen is meant to boost the WBC count, but what if it sustains it at its highest level? What would happen then?
…
I started researching chemotherapy and what it does to the body. Everything I read was terrifying! Something inside me told me that chemo was going to kill me. I felt so violated after everything I had read. Only then, I understood the true cause of my father’s death.

A book her friend's mother gave her and internet research made her think more about her best treatment options.

Heba Mitkees: ‘Knockout‘, a wonderful book written by Suzanne Somers. In this book, she interviews doctors who are curing cancer. Most of the interviewed doctors do not use any chemotherapy or chemicals. They are curing cancer without chemo! The book also exposes the Food and Drug Association (FDA) and the pharmaceutical industry, which work together to generate billions of dollars a year, especially off ‘the cancer business’.
I also read that, Tamoxifen, one of the drugs used to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer, increases the risk of developing uterine cancer by 30%.

She faced her oncologist with her findings.

Heba Mitkees: I asked Dr. M about this shocking piece of information; he told me that ‘unfortunately’, I had to take it in my next chemo cycle.
No I wasn’t!
He thought it was unfortunate, but why do I HAVE to take it?

She didn't like her Reiki doctor at the beginning, but later on she wrote why she thing she wasn't comfortable. She also described the struggle she at this stage between the two schools of medicine.

Heba Mitkees: Dr. Fahmy opened my eyes to everything I needed to see. Discovering all the scary, negative things about orthodox medicine was very hard to deal with. It was too much for me to comprehend. I blamed him for my own confusion and for my personal struggle.
At some point I was torn between my love and loyalty to Dr. M and the strong belief that chemotherapy was not a cure and that I needed to stop. I didn’t want to upset him.
I was only able to make that decision when I put myself first.
I’ve been off chemo since 18th of April 2011. I can feel my tumors shrinking and I’m still alive! :)
My hair hasn’t started to grow back yet but my eyebrows and eyelashes have!

The last post in her blog was in June, and in it she seemed to be comfortable with her choice.

Heba Mitkees: Even though I have strong faith in my current treatment, I cannot advise people to follow my path. It’s too much of a burden and responsibility on my side to make such a call before I’m 100% cured.
However, this does not mean that I am questioning the effectiveness of alternative medicine. On the contrary, I am positive that I made the right decision and that I will soon make this call.
Such a decision has to be well informed, and this is exactly why I strongly advise people to do their own research and then decide, just like I did.

She didn't publish any more posts into her blog, but she tweeted every now and then, her latest tweet was on the 23rd of November, and she died about a month later.

@MizMitkees: In #Amman… Wish I was in #tahrir right now! #noscaf

Despite the fact that she is not going to post anything on her Twitter account again, after writing this post I decided to follow Heba Mitkees (@MizMitkees) on Twitter.

Battery dead! Bye bye

— Heba Mitkees (@MizMitkees) October 20, 2011

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The year 2011 is coming to an end, and with all the events took place in Egypt, it is important to list the most important or controversial blog posts of the year.

Maikel Nabil: “The Army and The People were never One Hand”

Maikel Nabil

This blog post by Maikel Nabil Sanad [ar] is important on many levels: Sanad was sentenced to jail for what wrote in that blog post, to be the first prisoner of conscience after the start of the Egyptian Revolution. Also, the post came less than a month after Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, when the moment the majority of Egyptians didn't criticize the military either out of fear or because they didn't see that they deserved any criticism.

What Sanad wrote in the post was challenging to the way many people used to see the military at the time. In the post, Sanad listed many examples of arrest and torture during and after the 18 days of the revolution that he saw as proof that the Army was never with the Egyptian revolution, and hence he was accused of “insulting the military institution and publishing false news about it” and “disturbing the public security” - crimes for which he was sentenced to three years in prison, which were then reduced to two years.

Sanad continues a hunger strike, which he started almost 130 days ago, against his sentence. Add to all this, the fact that his arrest is not getting enough support on the street and in the media, because of his controversial opinions in his blog posts. However, it was this blog post that opened the door for breaking the taboo of criticising the military, and since then it became normal to see blogs criticizing and attacking it [ar].

Mohamed Abo El-Ghait: “The Poor Come First Son of B*tches”

A #Jan25 Martyr

When I asked people on Twitter which blog posts they saw as the most important in 2011, this blog post [ar] was the second one to get recommendations after Maikel Nabil's post. It was written in June, a few months after the constitution amendments referendum. At the time, there was a huge debate on whether to have the parliamentary elections first and then let the parliament write the country's post-revolution constitution, or have a committee to write the constitution then have the parliamentary and presidential elections later on. The debate was huge, and reached its peak during the referendum.

Mohammed Abo El-Ghait wrote the post as he saw that the majority of those who participated in the revolution didn't care about such an “elitist” debate as their goal then was related to improving their living standards. In the post, he also did two important things, he first sort of coined that expression, which Alaa Abdel-Fattah used later on in another important blog post called “The Dream Comes First” [ar], as well as many others who played on this expression in their discussions. The second thing he did, is that he challenged that mindset that the Egyptian revolution was a peaceful revolution powered by the middle and upper class.

He started his post with photos of poor people, or what Egyptian call “Sarsageyya,” making fun of them because the way they dress, the background and the visual effects they have in those photos, then he shocked the readers by telling them that those photos are for martyrs who died during the revolution even though the media insists on showing the photos of the middle-class martyrs only.

Alyaa El-Mahdy: “Nude Art”

Alyaa Nude Photo

We can have a similar debate to that that took place among the board of the Society of Independent Artists regarding Marcel Duchamp's urinal whether what Alyaa El_Mahdy published in her blog post [ar] was art or not. However, this post with the nude photographs of herself and some others is possibly one of the most visited blog posts in Egypt during this year. She has had more than 5 million visitors to her blog to date, and you can safely assume that almost all of those visits are to that specific post.

Alyaa has been featured and interviewed later on by many national and international newspapers, and Ahmed Abd El-Fatah also tweeted [ar] that the feature about her in Al-Masry Al-Youm English (one of the leading English-language newspapers in Egypt) got the highest number of visits in the newspaper's history. Her decision to publish nude photos of herself also ignited a heated debate online as well as offline. Personally, I know people who never read a blog post in their lives, yet have visited Alyaa's blog.

More Blog Posts

Three days before the beginning of the Egyptian revolution on January 25, and few days after the Tunisian one, Zeinobia wrote a list of lessons she believes we should learn from the Tunisian revolution. One day after Mubarak stepped down, and while people were celebrating their victory and leaving Tahrir Square back to their homes, Hossam El-Hamalawy wrote a post warning that the revolution is far from over. He also defended the workers' right to strike, which he believes is an integral part the revolution just like demonstrations in the squares.

During the sit-in in Tahrir in July, Sandmonkey wrote a post entitled, “Tahrir: an Exercise in Nation Building“, in it he said that away from the political value of the sit-in as a sort of pressure to achieve the revolution's demands, those taking part in the protest were having a fascinating social experiment as “Tahrir was very quickly becoming a miniature-size Egypt, with all of its problems, but without a centralized government. And the parallels are uncanny”. He went on comparing the parallels, and ended his post saying:

basically if you are interested in figuring out what the problems facing our society and the best way to solve them, Tahrir is where you should be heading to right now.

Sandmonkey's post reminds me of that post of Obliviology, where she to some extent also described Tahrir Square but during the 18 days of the revolution this time. And finally, another interesting post is that of Karim Shafei [ar] - which was featured by Ayesha Saldanha here - where he described Cairo (the capital of Egypt) and in ironic way, compares it to mini-independent-states and not just a single city.

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

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About ten days ago, the Egyptian military forcefully pushed away the protesters demonstrating outside the Egyptian cabinet. More than 15 people were killed and another 300 people were injured. The videos showing men in military uniform savagely beating protesters and beating and undressing a woman brought the Egyptians esteem and hope for the future of their revolution to its lowest point.

However in the past two days, the Egyptian revolution achieved two new victories but this time in the halls of courts of justice and away from Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the Egyptian revolution in downtown Cairo.

Among those victories is the release of Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdelfattah, who had been detained for 56 days. And the importance of Alaa's case comes from the fact that he refused to be interrogated by the Military Prosecutor, in protest against the legitimacy of Military Trials for Civilians. He was later transferred to Civil Court and yesterday Alaa was released but pending investigations as Wael Abbas highlighted in his tweet:

@waelabbas: Egyptian blogger Alaa Seif is free pending investigations

As soon as he was free, Alaa paid Tahrir Square a visit, and Mohamed Abd El-Hamid reported the sentiments in the Square then.

@MohAbdElHamid: #Tahrir is happy that @alaa is back and cars were honking in support. #AlaaIsFree

Alaa hugging the mother of Khaled Said after his release

Photo by @Monasosh

Alaa is not the first blogger to refuse to submit to a military court, he was preceded by blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad who was arrested in March. However the importance of Alaa's case comes due to his both local and international fame and charismatic character.

Adham El-Deeb summarizes in the following tweet the importance of Alaa's release despite the fact that he hasn't been declared innocent of the charges against him, which include inciting violence against the military, stealing a weapon and destroying military equipment during the October 9 Maspero massacre, in which 25 Egyptians, mostly Copts, were killed in clashes between the military poilce and protesters demanding answers for the burning of churches in Sohag and Aswan.

One day later, the revolution scored another victory, this time by Samira Ibrahim. Samira (@SamiraIbrahim4) is one of the 18 girls who were arrested during the March protests in Tahrir Square to have virginity tests administered on them, and has since filed a lawsuit against the Egyptian military for sexual assault. The military initially denied that the virginity tests took place, however the court ruled today that the virginity tests on women in the custody of the military is illegal. The importance of the verdict is that it confirms that the assaults actually took place.

@sallyzohney: Case approved and they admit the #VirginityTests against the girls :) road is long though #NoSCAF #SupportSamira

On the other hand, the court has made any further similar assaults illegal.

@nellyali: Forced virginity testing is now officially ILLEGAL in #Egypt! Thank you, #SamiraIbrahim #SupportSamira

Victorious Samira Ibrahim

Photo by @HebaAfify

Egyptian writer Ibrahim Farghali saluted Samira's courage, especially in a society that makes it hard for a woman to admit being a victim to such assault, let alone file a lawsuit.

@IbrahimFarghali: The Beauty made the Victory over the Beast.. YES WE CAN

Finally, during a TV interview he made few hours after his release. Alaa pointed out that the revolution isn't just the demonstrations in Tahrir Square, but it's also about strikes, elections and legal victories.

Egyptians are reclaiming their rights, one battle at a time. Stay tuned for more coverage from Egypt as the Egyptian revolution continues.

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

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Here is one of their tips:

@HealthyEgypt: A few miniature servings of coffee at intervals works better than one large mug to keep you alert and focused.

They also reply to people's questions, help peer initiatives, and spread sex education as well where culture makes it embarrassing to ask sexual questions.

Who are you and tell us more about your initiative.

We are a group of volunteers, it started as my wife Iman Ismail and myself Kareem Mossad, then we added a doctor friend who is Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim

It's written in your bio that you are sharing 100% credible and verified information. So we have to ask you: Are you doctors? How do you normally get your medical information, confirm it, and answer people's questions?

My wife and I are health activists and enthusiasts. We are not doctors yet we've been in community service for quite a while. We have one code of conduct as that for any medical information we provide to our followers, is that we need to double check it, by checking more than once source for credible well known health websites, or verify with “Ahmed Ibrahim” who is the third person (doctor) helping in this initiative.

Is the account sponsored by any commercial entity or an NGO's? I've noticed for example that you sometimes refer to brand names. Are you affiliated with them somehow?

We're not officially sponsored by any commercial or NGO yet. However, we've received a couple of proposals, but we weren't ready for that step yet.

How long have you been raising awareness online? Do you have plans to have presence outside Twitter, such as Facebook, blogs, etc?

We started in August, around mid-Ramadan, and the followers response was pretty impressive, we bought “www.healthyegypt.org and www.healthyegypt.net“, and we're currently in the programming phase for our website so we can launch soon.

Also we noticed that you almost only tweet in English? Aren't you planning to tweet in Arabic? Don't you think English will limit your audience inside Egypt somehow?

You're absolutely right, we do tweet in Arabic sometimes but not regularly, and it’s definitely on our plans with the website which will be in both languages so we can attract more visitors to it.

We are also getting positive feedback via Twitter from people who are expressing how much such information is helping them and raising awareness about untouched issues.

This is one way Twitter is being used to spread health awareness in society. If you know of any other health-related projects online, please let us know.

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Adherents of the Shiaa sect in Egypt have been prevented from commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein bin Ali, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed, in Cairo's Al Hussein mosque. Many of them were also arrested. In neighbouring Libya, Soufi mosques and shrines have been destroyed by Salafis. Those attacks on freedom of religion in countries which ousted their dictators, have raised questions among netizens.

As a Muslim minority, Egyptian Shiaa, as well as Shiite expatiates living in Egypt were not allowed to to celebrate their events in Egypt during the Mubarak regime. This year, and after the fall of Mubarak, they decided to commemorate the event of Ashura freely for the first time in Egypt [ar].

One of the participants said [ar]:

Not really optimistic about the level of freedom in Egypt now, Tarek Galal commented on the news:

Later on, the same newspaper published [ar] that the mosque and shrine of Al-Hussain, where about 1,000 people gathered to commemorate the event was closed, and some of those commemorating the occasion were arrested. Netizens commented on the news and it's relationship to the level of freedom they are looking forward to have in the country now [ar].

@Psypherize: Egyptian Shiites arrested while celebrating #Ashura in front of Al-Hussein Mosque. And you think you're free? #Egypt #Tahrir

@SalmaIhab: Ok seriously! People didn't allow the Shiite in #egypt to celebrate ashoura. Come on! Thought this was a new era and all..oh boy!

@SarahZaaimi: Feels outraged! They arrested many Shia in #Egypt today trying to commemorate #Ashura in Al Hussein!

Some others were astonished to know there are Egyptians practicing the Shiaa sect of Islam in Egypt.

While others have a different opinion, like @ahlalsunna2, who warned [ar] about what he called a “Shiite cancer in Egypt”, and that of a commenter on the news in Al-Ahram Gate [ar], who said:

The detainees were release after five hours of investigations [ar].

In Libya, a neighbouring country where another revolution took place this year, there have been news of attacks on Sufi Mosques and Shrines in the county [ar]. The National Transitional Council and Libyan officials condemned these acts [ar], which drew mixed reactions on Twitter.

Salah Fadhly notes:

And iAmaal adds:

Is freedom of beliefs going flourish after the revolutions in the Arab World, or will some extremists impose intolerance and sectarianism?

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

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Lavinia in Giza Pyramids

Lavinia Dieac is a Romanian digital marketing professional, currently living in Cairo. She has been living in Egypt for the past two years ago. Lavinia likes to blog and regularly tweets about her experience as an expatriate living in Egypt. She has also had three articles published in the Egyptian English language newspaper Al Masry Al Youm.

Following is my interview with her.

Hi, can you please tell us more about yourself? What do you do? How long have you been living in Egypt? Who do you normally blog about?

Hello Tarek, it is an honour to get the chance for this interview, hello everyone. I came to Egypt more than two years ago for a three to six month internship that has become a real job since then. I work in digital marketing and I spend a big part of my time looking into the human nature and at the cultural differences between the people in this part of the world and the one I come from.
The blog started out of the will to share these experiences, so I am trying to write about issues that influence my thinking or my world view.

Have you been to different parts of Egypt? Which parts of it do you like most?

I’ve visited Siwa Oasis, White & Black Desert, Abu Simbel, Luxor, Aswan, Dahab, Ras Abu Gallum, Alexandria, North Coast, Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada and of course the Cairo touristic places and I’ve yet to see much more.
They all offer such different things (different types of desert, oasis, temples, historic places, snorkeling and diving, sea side chilling, clubbing, fresh fish dishes, camping in the desert vs. luxurious hotels, Bedouins vs. Russians), all very enjoyable, but the most I liked was the desert and the oasis (Siwa, Black and White Desert). Actually it is hard to not include Ras Abu Gallum too.
I like them the most because they very much represent Egypt and its people now, and they are not super touristic like Sharm El Sheikh. Also, it was charming to camp in the desert over night, sleep in such openness under the clear sky, listen to the Bedouin songs, enjoy their food, tea and stories, do sand boarding, bath in the cold oasis during a super hot day and in a hot spring at night, visit the temple of Oracle of Amun Ra, see the white formations and climb the volcanic mountains, walk for an hour along the shore of the Red Sea in the shadow of the rocks of the Ras Abu Gallum National park and then snorkel to see the amazing corals.

You usually tweet about the cultural differences between your country and here in Egypt. Can you please tell us more about those differences?

This could be a long story with many examples about differences.
For me, this world here is many times upside down compared to what I’ve got to know back home: the way people live, work, sell, walk on the street, celebrate, dress, the way they relate to religion, not to mention the way they drive! And the men-women relationship is really different too!
An embarrassing moment was in my first three months since I was here before leaving to Romania for vacation I wanted to say bye to a close male colleague at work by hugging and kissing, as we do in Romania usually. He pulled himself back and kind of said “no-no”, which shocked me and embarrassed me so much. Right away I remembered a similar story shared by another foreigner and I quickly remembered that some people choose to limit the physical contact with people of the opposite gender, some of them during Ramadan only. I didn’t think it was the case with my colleague. I guess that shocked me the most, you never know who is open to this kind of interaction and who is not. This incident made me decide for a while to not even shake hands with guys any more. The decision didn’t last long though cause it is against my natural behaviour.
The gender segregation here makes everything much different than how it is in Romania. The experience of walking on the streets is greatly different. Besides the lack of side-walks and pedestrian crossings, there are the looks and the harassment. I usually like looking at people’s faces on the streets, smiling at them sometimes, but here I have to put on the bad, tough kind of face and walk straight ahead, fast to avoid looking at anyone because I most of the time find them observing me, starring, ogling or harassing. During my recent vacation in Romania I was looking at people on the streets but couldn’t find anyone looking at me as every one was minding their own business. This is funny, but it felt weird I don’t have any more the ‘attention’ I usually get on the streets here. Jokes aside, it felt well actually.
The public display of religiosity is another key difference. In Romania, religion is somewhere in the background; you don’t hear much about it; you don’t see it around too much. It never attracted my attention to it and to its insights as it did since I have been here, where I could observe it everywhere, in all aspects of life, with most of the people. It is even so embedded in the culture that some religious practices are now just cultural practices.
Then, there is the part about being late. I had meetings for which people were late even one and half hours. Imagine that! It is hard to handle it. But it is part of the Egyptian culture, as they themselves proudly say.
But at the end of the day these differences are the ones making the experience here more interesting, and nurture my self-discovery.

Sometimes you tweet about stuff like not being able to eat in public during Ramadan. And not having the choice to tell a taxi driver to switch the Quran recitation off. Is this also a part of the cultural difference? Do you think the Egyptians are more or less acceptable to other religions? Or do some Islamic traditions became a cultural part of the country, such as saying Inchallah (if God wills), you have no problem with them being used, especially that Copts do use them too?

They are part of the cultural difference, because these things define how life is here. The level of acceptance towards differences and diversity is part of how people are.
I am not sure if you ask me to compare this level between Romania and Egypt. Unfortunately in many parts of the world people’s level of acceptance towards other religions or other types of differences is not very high.
From some studies I read, youth in Romania are quite racist against Jews, Muslims, and gypsies. In Egypt, there isn’t a high level of acceptance either, in my opinion. Just the fact that it is not accepted that girls here wear short skirts or sleeveless tops on the streets says a lot about the acceptance towards diversity.
I could also notice many times double standards and hypocrisy, especially when people here say that foreigners coming to Egypt should respect the traditions and culture, but when they themselves go abroad they don’t respect the traditions and culture of the place they go to, they still keep their own and expect the foreign country to accept them.

Have you been to other countries in the Middle East other than Egypt? How different, and how similar are they to Egypt and Romania?

I have been to Lebanon before. I loved the mix of Arabic and European flavour there, and the variety: both ladies wearing veil and wearing short skirts, both places that sell alcohol or pork and ones that don’t, beautiful.

I know you refused to leave Egypt during the revolution, although some foreigners might have been afraid with all the attack the media made on them then and calling them spies? How were your feelings when Mubarak stepped down?

I did stay in Egypt all the time during revolution but strongly felt like leaving when people were divided between agreeing or not with Mubarak to stay until September and to call the protests off.
I wasn’t going to stay if Mubarak would’ve been let to stay because I didn’t trust it would be safe and also because I was feeling that I won’t be able to work with and accept people around that let go of their main goal “down with the regime”. Happily the protests continued and finally Mubarak stepped down.
I stayed in the house in down-town during all that time, for 18 days, just went out twice: once during the bloody Friday when I quickly noticed things are not alright and hurried up back home to see in 30 minutes on TV the camels and the horses attack on Tahrir (goose bumps). The second time was during a peaceful day in Tahrir.
I was following every detail on Twitter and on Al Jazeera and being very close to Tahrir I could experience the reality from my balcony too: seeing the protesters and the police up and down the surrounding streets, been hit by tear gas and been terrified by the gun shots and gas bombs (A video I shot from the balcony).

My mom would tell me over the phone to leave Egypt, and to take care of my health, to sleep and to eat well. I would assure her that I am fine, and that I am just staying in the house, following the news online and watching TV, so it is not a big deal. I didn’t realize until Mubarak stepped down, when I cried for half an hour, that I was under a big amount of stress and emotional pressure during the 18 days, so mom was right about taking care of my health. The crying was of happiness and relief, of surprise that Mubarak was finally out.

As a Romanian, you witnessed a similar revolution more than 20 years ago. And now you are living the one taking place here in Egypt. Can you please compare the two revolutions?

I was only five years old when the ’89 revolution happened in Romania, and we didn’t study much about it in school in the upcoming years, at least until 2003 when I graduated from high school. They say that the truth about what and why it happened will be released after 50 years, when no living people could be directly affected by truth any more.
In Romania, there weren’t this communication tools that Egyptians had, the turmoil started in the west of the country with a small incident in a neighbourhood and took a while to spread across the country, only some big cities were greatly involved in protests, and more than 1,000 people were shot (not commonly agreed yet who shot at people back then – the army or foreign forces).
I am no specialist in politics and history, but from my experience I can say that the two revolutions are quite different due to the foreign interests and due to the communism factor (Romania had closed borders, people had money but didn’t know what to spend it on, had to stay for hours in line to get bread, meat, milk and other commodities, sometimes not getting them even because they were finished), but alike due to the dictatorship.
The revolution ended with the Ceausescu couple being executed by the army after having a brief trial and with an immediate transition to civil rule, unlike in Egypt. The ones taking over were ex-communists indeed, and this lasted for many years with high levels of corruption.
After 1989, Romania started transforming greatly with the introduction of privatization and foreign investment. In a few years it became a country under development with lots of economical potential. There have been improvements registered since, less corruption for example, but now Romania is facing other types of problems and democracy has not really been achieved.

As a marketer, how do you view the spread of graffiti in Egyptian streets after the revolution? And don’t you consider it the revolutionaries’ way to market their ideas, and also artists’ way to market their skills? Can the same thing be applied to those musicians who used to sing in Tahrir as well?

I admire people's use of graffiti to express their revolutionary ideas, and I see it as a communication channel competing with state TV. If only we could have more and more graffiti! Besides that, it brought color to streets and improved the look of many walls.
Indeed some graffiti is very artistic, and much appreciated, but I’m not sure if the artists that made them have any consequential benefits out of it.

Board Game making use of the Egyptian Revolution to sell more

Photo by @lisang

On the other hand, we have seen companies and media producers making use of the revolution to market their goods or movies? How do you see this?

There has been an exaggerated point of using the revolution as a marketing theme. It all became unnatural, while the graffiti and other forms of art seem always genuine and natural. Take a look at what may be the most shameless capitalization on the Egyptian Revolution: January 25 Monopoly.

One of the subjects that is being discussed a lot in Egypt is the Palestinian Israeli conflict. I know you have your own opinion about how it occupies a significant part in people’s daily discussions on and off-line. There has been demonstrations in front of the Israeli Embassy lately, add also Dr. Norman Finkelstein came to Egypt right after the revolution to give a lecture in the American University in Cairo about the same issue, which you were not very pleased with. Can you please tell us more about all this.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a very important matter, for all humans, not only for the involved parties, including Egypt, as it has a complex mix of situations that don’t respect human rights which we shouldn’t turn our views away from.
But what bothers me is to notice this naïve, deep hate towards Israel, and a naïve support for Palestine without being aware that the situation is not just black or white, and before being preoccupied with the urgent matters Egypt is going through first. It is like trying to help someone else before helping yourself first.
Egyptians can’t really help Palestinians if Egypt itself is weak. I thought it is very inappropriate to talk about Israel around 16th of May when Egypt’s situation was problematic enough to give all our attention to, instead of giving it to Finkelstein and to his speech at AUC.
It is also interesting how Egyptians choose to unite under the idea “Israel is our enemy”. I think it is a very thin line between supporting the Palestinian cause and being racist towards Israelis. I find many Egyptians that hate Israel, and they are actually racist too.

One final question, can you compare the ongoing parliamentary elections here to the ones you had in Romania right after the fall of your dictatorship? You think elections is the right thing to be done now, or are there any tips or cleansing to be done first to ensure better democracy? Did you suffer for example for the remnants of the former regime entering the the parliament after you got rid of your dictator?

First of all, I’ll repeat that ‘theoretically’ Romania is a democratic country, but on the ground democracy has not been really achieved. Romania unfortunately has been moving really slowly in the past 20 years, hasn’t achieved much and not many significant improvements can be noticed. In return, it seems that few people got really rich and politicians were corrupt while corporations benefited from Romania’s rich resources.
Secondly, of course there will be remnants of the old regime in the new corridors of power. In Romania we had it too.
I am not sure about how the electoral process in Romania went through in ’89-’90, but it is important to move fast. In Egypt there was a dictatorship (Mubarak’s) changed with another one (military); it is good to see Egyptians not settling for it! That says a lot about how they will accept things to be like in the way forward! I wish them the best with getting a civilian government as soon as possible and am keeping an eye on what they do with the country’s potential. Peace!

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Months after former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, and just days after many people were reported to have suffocated and died allegedly because of new types of tear gas used by the Egyptian police, a new tear gas shipment arrived at the Suez Port from the United States (US) a few days ago.

Photo shared by Shadizm on Facebook.

The story broke when it was reported [ar] in Al Ahram Arabic daily that the employees of the custom service in Suez refused to receive a shipment with containers of seven tons of tear gas in each, creating an uproar on social networking sites. Here is part of the conversation from Twitter:

@Psypherize: A new tear gas shipment 7 tonnes heavy just arrived in #Cairo from #Suez and stored by the #MOI. Get ready for another crackdown.

@RashaAbdulla: So apparently, the 7-ton tear gas shipment from the #US to #Egypt is only part 1 of 3. Total is 21 tons!!

@sharifkouddous: Suez rocks. Port workers in Suez refuse 7-ton shipment of tear gas from US to restock Interior Ministry supply

Later on, people knew that the workers will be subject to investigations for their refusal to receive the shipment:

Netizens were also worried about the government's intentions:

@elkammar: I pay my government to get a better tear gas, a better way to kill me and my brothers

And to show their solidarity with the workers, many Twitter users shared the following message:

Others urged employees in other Egyptian ports to do the same:

@AnonyOps: Spread the message to Egyptian port workers. Refuse tear gas at the ports!

The tear gas bombs in this shipment are manufactured in the United States, hence people are wondering how the US claims to support the Arab world revolutions yet continues to support tyrannies across the region.

@freddydeknatel: But what does that say then, when you’ve got tear gas shipments arriving in the Port of Suez with “Made in the USA” on the side of them?

@waleedrashed: To U.S. and European governments:instead of asking how can we promote democracy in the Egypt, just stop exporting the gas used against today

@KhaRouBology: To #USA .. SHUT UP .. Stop sending the f**kin chemical bombs to #Egypt. And then support our Revolution

Finally, it was reported that the shipment was released and headed to the Ministry of Interior:

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

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Malek Mostafa, Ahmed Abd El-Fatah and Ahmed Harara are three Egyptians shot in the eye while protesting in Tahrir square. Harara lost his first eye while demonstrating in the Day of Rage on January 28, 2011, against former President Mubarak, and later lost his second eye after being shot during the second wave of the revolution against the Supreme Council of Armed Forces.

@linawardani: I went to see Ahmed Harara, I said hi and stretched my arm, he didn't answer, he couldn't see me he lost an eye Jan 28, the second nov 18

Neither those members of the country's security forces who killed or wounded hundreds of Egyptians during the first wave of revolution, nor those who did it again in the second wave have been punished yet. However, in the past two days people have started to share a video showing a police officer shooting [ar] and someone congratulating him for targeting one of the protester's eyes successfully.

Popular justice

Since then netizens have been sharing snapshots of the video showing the officer's face and deciding to dig deeper and reveal his identity.

A snapshot from the video showing the officer's face. Photo shared on Twitpic by @Sabrology

Later on, users on Twitter claimed that they were able to identify him [ar]:

As a way of naming and shaming the criminals, people also distributed leaflets [ar] and drew graffiti [ar] in the nearby streets [ar] about the officer with his name and crime written below it, asking people to find him.

Another blog post published more information [ar] about what is believed to be his address, mobile number [ar] and a reward for whoever can arrest him.

There are different opinions about what should be done with the officer once found. Doaa El-Shamy sees that threatening him is the best non-violent option [ar]:

Abdelrahman Ayyash suggests [ar]:

Ahmed Fikry made fun of the situation [ar]:

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights decided to pursue legal action against the officer, whilst Twitter user @MohHKamel [ar] believes that sharing the officer's information is a crime and should be stopped.

Other Twitter users have said that the address people are sharing [ar] is not in fact correct.

Another example of popular justice occurred when Twitter users such as @WagdyMez [ar] and @waelabbas [ar] reported that a pharmacy had refused to give some people medication when they discovered they were taking them to Tahrir square, the focal point for protests.

However, the exact opposite [ar] was reported [ar] by other users:

The question remains, whether popular justice is the best option when the legal system fails to protect people's rights. The examples in this post are certainly not the first initiatives of their kind; Piggipedia (@Piggipedia) used to profile those of Hosni Mubarak's security officers who were involved in torturing and suppressing dissent, by publishing their photos. Most probably, these will not be the last cases of popular justice in Egypt as well.

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

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Egyptian riot police attacked the tent-camp set up in Tahrir Square for a sit-in that was started by many activists and protesters after yesterday's demonstration. Tear gas, rubber bullets and bird shots were used, injuring scores of people.

Among those who were injured is Malek Mostafa (@malek), who has reported lost an eye.

Lobna tweets [ar]:

@lobna: مالك فقد وظائف عينه اليسرى، هيتعمل له عملية انهارده لانقاذ شكل العين و موضعها

A photo of Malek with his eye bleeding.

Photo shared by @shmpOngO

Netizens describe Malek as a blogger and one of the bravest activists who have been doing much to their country. There was an out pour of reactions after his injury was announced.

The Big Pharaoh tweets [ar]:

@TheBigPharaoh: مالك الجدع الطيب المتواضع اللى ضحى كتير عشان البلد دى عينه راحت

Boody adds [ar]:

@BooDy: مالك ده أخويا، صفوا عين أخويا ولاد الكلب. كفاية سلمية بقى

Malek was imprisoned with Alaa Abdel-Fattah (who is currently detained) in 2006 under Hosni Mubarak's regime. His latest blog posts [ar] were about his hunger strike in solidarity with Alaa and all other civilians detained after being tried in front of military courts. Alaa's wife Manal Hassan tweeted about what happened to Malek, and how it is believed that the current Egyptian regime knew whom they were targeting.

@manal: My dear friend @Malek has lost his eye today in #Tahrir he was in prison with @alaa in 2006. They want to get rid of us all #FuckSCAF

According to reports, it seems that activists and journalists who were trying to report what was happening today were all targeted by the security forces [Ar]. Ahmed Abd El-Fatah, who is a journalist, photographer and blogger was shot in the eye too.

Journalist Nora Younis reports:

@NoraYounis: Both @AhmedFatah and @MaLek now undergoing right eye surgery @ same hospital after getting shot by police #Pigs #NoSCAF

News later emerged that he lost his eye too, however Nora later tweets:

@NoraYounis: Please don't spread unconfirmed info on @AhmedFatah . We r at hospital & doctors didn't confirm his state yet. Be responsible & pray 4 him

Blogger Mahmoud Salem also added about Malek:

@Sandmonkey: Just left the hospital, @malek will be out in another hour & half & needs ur prayers. There might still be hope.

And Dalia Ezzat adds:

@Daloosh: The more eyes we lose, the clearer our vision will become. Time up #SCAF and co. #Tahrir #Pigs

Others have also reported arrests. Sanaa Youssef tweets her own arrest [ar]:

And journalist Abanoub Emad tweets his experience covering the protests [ar]:

Rehab El-Bakry tweeted regarding the Egyptian Press Syndicate report

@Rehab_Elbakry: @acarvin The press syndicate is reporting 2 journalist injured and 6 detained claiming they r targeted. #Egypt #tahrir

Finally, there sure will be debates all over the Egyptian media about the legality and the reasons for the sit-in, but Sarah tweeted that at the end of the day, there are no excuses for attacking the protesters. And the very same tweet was the last one for Malek to retweet before getting wounded.

@shmpOngO: اتفق أو اختلف مع الاعتصام واسبابه انت حر , بس حماية المتظاهرين ابسط قواعد حقوق الانسان

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One of the biggest problems for many voters in India, where a large part of the population is still illiterate, is how to identify their chosen candidates on the ballots. The Election Commission, thus, has the laborious task of allocating separate election symbols for each party and the innumerable independent candidates.

In Egypt, the use of election symbols dates back to the year 1956. At the time, 30 symbols were enough [ar] to cover the number of candidates in each Electoral District. But today, according to “Al-Manzala Now”, about 250 symbols are needed to cover the number of candidates:

No matter what, our minds will tend to make a certain link between each candidate and his symbol, or as Moritz puts it here:

The problem of course is, that specific symbols actually carry certain values and connotations with them and therefore having a specific symbol might be an advantage, such as having the moon [crescent] as symbol in predominantly Muslim countries.

Eman AbdElRahman used irony to comment on the symbols in her district [ar]:

The candidate of the Conservatives Party is using an Army Tank as his symbol. By @ashrafkhalil

With the tense relation the Egyptians are having with the military, and with the incidents of protesters being ran-over by armoured vehicles, Ahmad Gharbeia found some symbols to be really odd and shouldn't have been accepted by the candidates. He tweets [ar]:

The word rocket on the other hand is used in the Egyptian dialect to refer to a hottie, and when used by an actress, people couldn't stop themselves from making fun of it.

On the other hand, some candidates adapted their banners and slogans to suit their symbols:

Bassem Sabry published one of the election banners, where the candidate's symbol is a teddy bear so he decided to adapt his slogan to it: "If you don't like my style already … give me back my teddy" (via @al_sa3idi)

Seeing the photograph above reminds me that no matter how strange it is, it's better than what used to happen in India a while ago, and how the Election Commission there changed the elections mandate in the 1990's accordingly.

The body took a call on animals and birds in 1990 after petitioners complained that parties were using dead parrots and doves on a string during their campaigns.

Another candidate, knowing the power symbols, decided to put the Facebook logo side by side with his official elections symbol. Tarek Shalaby made fun of him [ar]:

With all those strange and funny symbols, Twitter users started to wonder how the symbols are chosen. Blue Tercowas wonders [ar]:

Haidy Aly decided to direct this question to one of the candidates, who proposed to a well-known actress a few months ago in his newspaper column [ar]:

And according to Al-Manzala Now, symbols are assigned to candidates on a first come first serve basis and a candidate can request his symbol to be changed within 3 days after its assignment, given that it's not used by anybody else.

Finally, Farid Salim commented on the use of election symbols:

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Pope Shenouda III celebrated on Monday the 40th anniversary of his ordination as Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt. The 40th anniversary coincided with the end of the 40 day mourning period after the Maspero massacre, where 27 Egyptians, mostly Coptic Christians, were killed.

In the Egyptian tradition, the 40th day after death is normally a mourning day, so many Coptic Egyptians did not expect Pope Shenouda to celebrate his ordination anniversary this year.

Naglaa Atef Beshay (@Nanyatef) wrote comparing the two events [ar]:

Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of Saint Mark Episcopate. Image by Mahmoud Khaled, copyright Demotix (14/09/11).

She then compared the stance of Alaa Abdel-Fattah - an activist who is currently detained [ar] - to that of the Church:

Seeing this Diana and Mina Zekri decided to create a new hashtag on Twitter to celebrate the Pope's 40th ordination anniversary in their own way:

@minazekri: @_TaMaTeM_ or #40fuckinyears

Diana started by criticizing how religious figures in Egypt want people to follow them blindly.

The Egyptian law makes it harder for Christians to build new churches, and that's why some people called for a unified law for building places of worship for all religions. But according to RunGeo, Pope Shenouda had a different opinion.

Mina Zekri added that sectarianism and hatred for other religions and sects in Pope Shenouda's era reached an unprecedented level. He then continued to explain to Rehab Bassam (@hadouta) what he means.

Nany Atef shared the same opinion with Mina about Sunday Schools [ar].

When it comes to the Pope's political role and relation with the regime, Hany George wrote that the Pope was against the Maspero protest. Wael El-Moghany described Pope Shenoda's era as 40 years of deals with the regime and Mina Samir criticized the Pope's preference for the Copts to be protected by the regime's politics and police instead of them being protected by the love of the people around them.

And Mina Zekri reminds us:

Michael Makary added:

@iMakary: #40FuckinYears of not perusing prosecuting anyone who killed Christians in cold blood. #fact

Zekri then noticed that almost all those who are participating in the hashtag are Christians, so he called on Muslims to participate too [Ar]. So Mahmoud Kassem compared the Coptic Church's ideology to that of the Salafists.

Mohamed Fouda added his two cents to the hashtag:

@mohamedfouda: We should learn that no man is above criticism even those who call themselves clergy men, as no man is divine #40FuckinYears #Salafis

Finally, Dalia Ezzat called it “an amazing courage by some Egyptian Copts criticizing their religious leadership”, while Sotsoy - like many other users - found it “distasteful”. Peter Gamil said he is against ordination celebrations now, but he is also against the way people criticized the Pope in the hashtag. He also added that they Pope did not forget the Martyrs of Maspero, however in the Christian traditions they should be happy for the martyrs and celebrate their martyrdom instead of mourning it. Beshoy Naeem called it “social hypocrisy” and Fadi Mckean sees it as a way for some Christians to prove how secular they are.

And Heba Khafagy added:

@HebaKhafagy79: #40FuckinYears I really feel that this hashtag is uncalled for..plz u guyz show some respect..criticize but i must draw a line for cursing

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

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@3awadalla: A feminist #Jan25 revolutionary posted her nude photo on the internet to express her freedom. I'm totally taken back by her bravery!

At the time, he wasn't sure whether revealing her identity was a good or bad move, however he wanted to know people's reactions to the news. He asked:

@3awadalla: Ok, everybody wants to know who the girl is, but what do you really think of what she did? #NudePhotoRevolutionary

And as he expected, different reactions started to pour:

@abraralshammari: @3awadalla I think she really is brave. Nudity is natural and she's sending a message: abandon past notions of nudity being shameful.

@ReemElmeleegy: @3awadalla Bravery that will be misunderstood n taken for other intentions n maybe her cause will be tarnished too.

@ReemAwad: @3awadalla مش شايفاها شجاعة.. دي اسمها قلة حياء :)

@Elna7as_Pasha: @ReemAwad @3awadalla قلة ادب ، جهل في معنى الحريه ، ولو نزلت الشارع كده يبقى تعدت على حريتي بمنظرها كده

@SandraYacoub: @3awadalla I wouldn't do it & I can't help but think there r other ways 2 express freedom. Having said that, its her body..who r we 2 judge?

Awadalla then summed up people's reactions as some saw the posting the photograph as progressive and brave, while others said it was unaccepted and against religion. A third group was afraid that it might effect the revolutionaries image [Ar]. He also added:

“I know many are against what #NudePhotoRevolutionary did, but also so many dying to see the photo! :D”

Later on, the so called “Nude Photo Revolutionary” revealed her own identity.

@aliaaelmahdy: My name is Aliaa Elmahdy. I post under my real name #NudePhotoRevolutionary

According to her Twitter biography, Aliaa identifies herself as “Secular, Liberal, Feminist, Vegetarian and Individualist Egyptian”. She also wrote on her Facebook page that she was “echoing screams against the society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy”. It also emerged that she was the one who started the “Men Should Wear the Veil” event as an opposition to the women's head veil.

Her nude photo was published in her blog along with other nude photos of other people, and a cat! The blog can only be accessed if you agree to view adult content.

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The parliamentary elections in Egypt are just around the corner. Beside it being the first parliament to be elected after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, this parliament will also be responsible for appointing the committee that will draft the country's new constitution which in turn will pave the way to the presidential elections later on.

The Election law

The People Council's (Lower House) elections will start on Monday, November 28, 2011, and will be in three stages - each for a number of the Egyptian governorates, with dates for second rounds of voting in case none of the candidates in a certain district receives the required number of votes.

The three stages and their second rounds will end on January 10, 2012, as shown in the table below and the results are expected to be out on January 13. Meanwhile, the Shura (consultative) Council (Upper House) elections (Upper House) will start on January 29.

Egyptian elections timetable

The distribution of the seats in the parliament are a bit complicated and that's why on the official website of the parliamentary elections they added a special FAQ page, in order to help people understand the complex election system they are about to participate in.

The site notes [ar]:

During the previous decades, dictatorship and the centralization of the government in Egypt prevented the MPs (Members of Parliament) from fulfilling their actual role in the political system and created a huge confusion among many Egyptians who cannot really differentiate between the role of an MP and that of a member of a local council.

Alex News tried to clarify such difference here [ar]:

According to a poll made by the Center for Socialist Studies, some Egyptians do not trust the election results. However, they are still going to vote. Meanwhile, some others are calling for boycotting the elections in disagreement with the way the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) is handling the transitional period in the country.

Egyptians abroad

With an estimate of 8 million Egyptians living abroad, there has been many discussions about their right to vote. The current transnational regime has been claiming that have no problem with the Egyptian diaspora voting. However, they do not have the appropriate facilities and means to achieve this. Recently, an Egyptian court ruled that Egyptians living abroad should be allowed to vote at embassies in upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. Since then, it is not clear whether they will finally be allowed to vote or not.

Election monitoring

Meanwhile, many non-governmental initiatives are being formed in order to monitor the elections. U-shahid, or You Witness, is an Ushahidi-based interactive map for monitoring any violations regarding the electoral process. They have previous experiences in monitoring the previous parliamentary elections in 2010 and the the referendum the took place in March as well.

Another initiative is called Haraket Morakba (Monitoring Movement), who are looking for volunteers to join them:

@FouadZayed: If you are interested in volunteering to monitor the upcoming elections kindly check out this account @moorakpa #Egypt #EgyElections #EgElec

Campaigns

And finally, most of the candidates now have started their campaigns all over the country, and according to the law a campaign can go on for until two days before voting starts. Since then, we have witnessed controversial and funny banners, like the one of El-Nour (The Light) Salafi Party that decided to replace the photographs of women in their banners with a flower.

Sameh Hanafy mocked the banner here.

Also, another banner featured one of the candidates talking to himself.

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

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Over the past few days in Egypt we have witnessed: the detention of the prominent Egyptian blogger, Alaa Abd El Fattah; one more civilian victim of the Military Trials is believed to have been tortured to death in his jail; the murderers of Khaled Said (the case that fueled the Egyptian revolution) were recently punished with only seven years in jail; and until now, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces has refused to bear responsibility for the massacre that took place in the Maspero area, earlier this month.

All these incidents have made Egyptian bloggers wonder whether are we back to square one? Or as Alaa wrote in the message he sent from his detention, which was translated by Sultan AlQassemi:

I did not expect that the very same experience would be repeated after five years, after a revolution in which we have ousted the tyrant, I go back to jail?

Woman with black clothes holding a candle mourning the Maspero violence. Image by Amr Jamil, copyright Demotix (13/10/11).

It is clear to many, including Amira Nowaira, that the Supreme Council for Armed Forces (SCAF) is not doing well in managing the transitional period in Egypt:

More than 3 weeks after the deadly clashes that left 27 dead (so far) and hundreds injured on Sunday 9 October in front of the Egyptian State TV building, Maspero, there are still more questions than answers. The only thing that is clear is that the brutal attack against peaceful, mostly Coptic, protesters, marks a dangerous turning point in the ruling military council’s (dis)management of Egypt’s transition and sends a number of worrying messages.

Not only are they said to be mismanaging the transitional period, but they are being accused of standing behind the massacre, as many stated here. And according to Bikya Masr writer, Hayden Pirkle, the Coptic businessman Naguib Sawiris too holds the Egyptian military responsible for Maspero massacre:

Prominent Coptic businessman turned politician, Naguib Sawiris, accused the Egyptian military of being complicit in the massacre at Maspero on October 9. Sawiris rejected that the violence at Maspero was incited by “infiltrators” and stated that it is the responsibility of the military to safeguard security, in an interview on Al Arabiya TV’s “Point of Order”

But how did we reach the point where the masses are to a significant extent neutral to incidents like these ones and the majority even side with the army?

A few months ago clashes took place in Al-Abbasseya district, and activists then wrote how the SCAF incited against their march for days on the state-run channels, and issued a statement the night prior to the clashes also carrying the same tone. Recently the same tactics were used in the Maspero massacre, and according to Amira Nowaira, state TV was more blunt in incitement against the Copts:

This is the first time that State TV has been engaged in an open and shameless incitement against Copts. It did the unthinkable when it alleged that the army was being attacked by Copts and called on “honourable citizens” to come out to help defend the army, not realizing perhaps that it is the army that is supposed to defend citizens and not the other way round. This was tantamount to an invitation to extremists, bigots and racists to assault Copts on the streets.

Elazul summarizes the effect of the state media in the following paragraph:

Evidence only shows that not only were we opposed by Mubarak's group (including the SCAF), but also by a (large) segment of the population that until this day, curses the day we ever revolted, and considers us criminals & traitors.

Meanwhile, The Big Pharaoh added that the SCAF is also trying to deliver a certain message, not only to the Egyptians, but also to the US administration:

I wanted to know whether the Obama administration had gotten the message SCAF wanted to deliver ever since they allowed the Israeli embassy to be stormed. And this message can be summarized as follows: it’s either us or chaos in Egypt, it’s either us or sectarian strife.
…
Judging from the US’ mild statement after the massacre, I believe SCAF’s message was delivered. And it was not just delivered to the international community, but also to the general public as well. Fear and insecurity dominates the country today, and very few would like to collide with the military junta whom they consider to be the last remaining pillar holding the country together.

He then added that the delivery of such a message is like the green light for them that start a crackdown on activists and media:

This takes us to what I believe will happen to activists in Egypt. After ensuring that there won’t be much of a powerful objection from the inside front nor the international community, I believe SCAF will crackdown on activists and media unprecedentedly.

And this is exactly what many say is going on now. However, Abu Tawil mocked how the SCAF despite all this, is celebrating the raising of world’s highest flag in Egypt:

Naturally, in light of these troubled yet busy times and nearly eight months worth of their (mis)management, SCAF needed to take a break from trying activists in front of military trials, blaming invisible foreign hands for all of Egypt’s domestic problems, and decrying all protests and strikes for threatening national unity. Moreover thanks to the flight of foreign investment, dwindling foreign currency reserves, and an eighty percent decrease in the number of tourists, the Egyptian economy can afford to waste funds on useless public projects. As such, SCAF is proud to announce the raising of the world’s highest flag. Measuring 12 by 15 meters and flying at a height of 176 meters (14 meters higher than that of Azerbaijan), the flag has hoisted next to the dirt field where I play ultimate frisbee twice a week while patriotic poetry was recited and the national anthem was sung.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian parties are setting themselves for the parliamentary elections that will be held by the end of this month. And the importance of the coming parliament is that it will appoint the committee that will be writing the Egyptian constitution, however the Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs, Ali Al-Selmy, invited political parties in order to seek their agreement on constitutional principles that are seen to give the military extraordinary power.

On Twitter, the changes triggered much debate:

@abuhatem: The supra-constitutional principles document drafted by the government in Egypt gives military extraordinary power.

@zalali: New draft provides inordinate amount of power to #SCAF 2 intervene in the drafting of new #constitution. Some attendees left meeting. #Egypt

However Khaled is worried that people in the street might not be really critical to the draft as the activists on Twitter are.

@Khaled_A_: أكيد إللى هتسمعه من حد فى الشارع على الوثيقة الفوق دستورية: و ماله ما يكون فوق الدستور ده جيشنا ده هو إللى حمى الثورة ده مضربش عليكم نار

And finally, Mohamed Kamel wonders, if there is still a possibility for people to revolt again.

@MohHKamel: Would it be difficult to get people to revolt again after the last 9 months? No security, sectarian tensions, shaky economy?

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

Written by Tarek Amr · comments (1)
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Resala volunteers teach reading to blind students - photo from Resala

It was the year 1999 and Sherif Abdel-Azim was back in Egypt after finishing a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering in Canada. He taught Engineering Ethics to students at Cairo University, and he also spoke to students about the differences between charity organizations in Egypt and Canada.

Sherif Abdel-Azim

Abdel-Azim and his students decided to set up an informal charity group called Resala (Mission). They began offering services to students of the university as well as to the general public - such as teaching free courses and offering aid to orphanages and hospitals.

One year later, one of his students suggested they should build an orphanage. One of her relatives donated land for them to build it on. From this moment they decided to register as an official charity organization - also called Resala [ar].

Eleven years later, it's one of the biggest charity organizations in Egypt, with more than 50 branches all over the country, tens of thousands of volunteers, and different activities that vary from blood donation and orphanages, to fighting illiteracy. They help blind people with their studies by recording books for them on cassettes, and they refurbish used clothes and give it the poor.

And much more.

Last May, TEDxCairo invited Sherif Abdel-Azim, the founder of Resala, to give a speech about the organization, stories he witnessed there, and about volunteerism in general [ar].

In 2008, Ashraf Al Shafaki, a blogger who volunteered with Resala, wrote a blog post about their annual initiative to collect used clothes for charity and fundraising:

During the month of Ramadan last year (2007), Resala aimed at collecting 100 thousand pieces of used clothes from people in Egypt through its 7 branches in Cairo and 2 branches in Alexandria. At the end of Ramadan last year, Resala exceeded its goal and actually collected 200 thousand pieces of used clothes!

He then wrote how Resala raised the bar in 2008 by announcing they would collect 300,000 items of clothing. Yet again Resala exceeded their goal and actually collected over 1,000,000 items of used clothing in less than 30 days.

Resala volunteers classified, washed and ironed around half a million (500,000) pieces of donated used clothes. The rest of the one million pieces of donated clothes will be sold with very low prices to needy people in poor districts all over Egypt through small 3-day exhibitions held near their homes. Prices for each piece vary around 50 cents and $1 with a maximum of under $3 for the most expensive used clothes pieces. This practice gives the opportunity for poor families to take their time during the exhibition and select and choose what they want in any quantity they need. It gives them the feeling they are buying the clothes with their own money.

The revenue from the used clothes sales are channelled into the various activities of Resala, along with the donations collected for the cycle to go on and on.

A Resala computer training workshop. Photo by Telecenterpictures on Flickr (CC-BY-NC-SA)

Written by Tarek Amr · comments (0)
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