Global Voices » Tarek Amr

Egypt: How do the Presidential Candidates' Posters Compare?

Tarek Amr — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:03:40 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Elections 2011/12.

About ten days remain before the presidential elections in Egypt. A few days ago we witnessed the first presidential debate in the country's history, but the candidates' posters also play a big role in the final decision of the voters.

In an earlier post we saw how Abou Ismail - he's out of the race now - tried to influence people by the sheer number of his posters, but shouldn't the posters' design, colours and slogans play a role too?

Bloggers Mariam Saleh (@Mariam_Slh) and Mohamed Hussein have tried to analyse the posters of the different candidates.

Abdel-Monem Aboul-Fotoh

Aboul-Fotoh

Mariam Saleh wrote an analysis of Abdel-Monem Aboul-Fotoh'sposter, its colours, font, and so on:

Having the sky and the shining sun in the poster, makes you think that the sky is his limit. Choosing a scene from the revolution to say that he is a revolutionary candidate was not really needed, it's his actions, slogan and program that should say that. Plus, not every person who took part in the revolution will always be a revolutionary. He needs proof other than photos that he is still a revolutionary, that is if he is. The font is a nice and friendly one. Also the fact that his logo has the pyramids gives a feeling of belonging to Egypt as a country and not just to the Islamic Ummah. This is comforts those who want to think that he is different from the rest of the Islamists who don't care about Egypt as much as the Islamic Ummah [nation].

She added:

His father-like look gives a feeling of fondness and comfort. His tiny smile makes me feel his serious but kind to us. Again the fact that he is sitting down and not standing tall is sort of comfortable.

Mohamed Hussein also wrote about the candidates' posters [ar], and this is what he had to say about Aboul-Fotoh's:

اللون المسيطر: البرتقالي، أتذكر اختيار أيمن نور لحزب الغد اللون البرتقالي بعد شهور قليلة من الثورة “البرتقالية” في أوكرانيا، وهو ما اعتبره البعض جرأة منه، لكني أعتقد أن شهرة ثورتنا تجاوزت أوروبا الشرقية كلها، والجرأة هنا هي الخروج عن الألوان المعتادة واختيار لون يبرز في شوارعنا الرمادية الكئيبة.
الصورة الشخصية: بدون زوايا، فقط أبو الفتوح في مواجهتك بابتسامة هادئة، وهو ما يمنحه حميمية، والمصمم استخدم درجة ألوان تلائم شعره الأبيض وترك التجاعيد لحالها.

The dominant colour: orange. I remember Ayman Nour's choice of orange for El Ghad party a few months after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, and people then considered it a bold move from him. But I think the fame of our revolution now is bigger that those of Eastern Europe, so the boldness here comes from choosing a colour people are not used to, which also shines in our grey, dull streets.
His photo: no angles, just a front view of Aboul-Fotouh with a calm smile that gives you a sense of intimacy. The designer used colours that suit his white hair and left the wrinkles untouched.

Mariam commented on Aboul-Fotoh's slogan, “The Powerful Egypt”:

A nice slogan that gives a shot of hope. His explanation of a powerful Egypt is one that is economically, politically, scientifically and militarily powerful. One that will give power and dignity to every Egyptian. The fact that his program makes it sound like an impossible dream is not the slogan's problem. The one problem with the slogan is actually a problem within us; the minute I read it I remember the old regime that only showed its power on its people. Of course he means a strong country and definitely not a government that kills its own people.

Hamdeen Sabahy

Hamdeen Sabahy

As for Hamdeen Sabahy, Mariam wrote:

The fact that the part below is black and the part above is white gives a feeling that he'll take us from the dark ages to a better one. The font used for his name and the Qur'anic verse is also a very nice one that says so much about him being connected to the Arab and Islamic world and heritage. The other font that is used for the rest of the sentences is also a friendly and comforting one, and the three sentences summarize his program very well. Focusing on his smiling face rather than his body and his suit again gives the same kind of comfort.

Mariam then added that Hamdeen is a moderate leftist who believes in a secular government, so the use of a Qur'anic verse in his poster can be interpreted in different ways. She moved to the candidate's slogan, “One of us”:

Although it makes us feel that he's closer to us than any other candidate, it doesn't say much. It does mean that he'd feel our pains because he's one of us though, which of course gives his campaign some sort intimacy. Yet, I keep thinking how a taxi driver is one of us, but would probably not make a good president.

Khaled Ali

Khaled Ali

Mariam commented on one of Khaled Ali'sposters:

Very simple with the flag colors. He has a look of a dreamer, this is a problem. I'd rather he looks straight to us, not down and not up. We want a realistic person, yes someone who can make dreams come true, but not a dreamer who looks to the sky and forgets to look ahead

Mohamed Hussein criticised another of Khaled Ali's posters, where he again doesn't look straight to the camera, and added:

يظهر بقميص عادي ولا يحاول إخفاء كرشه الناشئ، وصورته في البوستر الثاني (تصوير خارجي بالبدلة) أفضل بكثير رغم أنه الأقل انتشارا. بشكل عام تُظهر الصور انفتاحا وصدقا

He is shown with an ordinary shirt, and he doesn't try to hide his belly; his photo in the other poster (taken outside with a suit on) is much better though it hasn't been used as much. Generally, it reflects openness and honesty.

Mariam noted that Khaled Ali's slogans are taken from people's chants during the revolution:

Bread, freedom, social justice and We'll make their dream a reality: Khaled Ali's campaign is very poor unfortunately, so the advertising is not very professional. So I found two slogans both are revolution's chants… Sort of lack of creativity, but this is their way of proving that he's one of the revolutionary candidates. Both are nice and revolutionary and since these chants are the revolution's demands they make sense. But they could've done better with creating a new revolutionary slogan.

There are officially 13 candidates in the Egyptian presidential elections [ar]. Mariam has commented on two other candidates, Mohamed Salim El-Awwa and Mohamed Morsy, and Mohamed Hussein has written about [ar] candidates such as Ahmed Shafiq and Amr Moussa.

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Elections 2011/12.

Egypt: Anger at Arrest of Lawyer in Saudi Arabia

Tarek Amr — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:20:39 +0000

A lot has been going on in Egypt in the past few weeks, such as the preparation for the presidential elections, and the clashes in Abbassiya. On top of that, diplomatic relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been under pressure because of the arrest of the Egyptian lawyer Ahmed El Gizawy in Saudi Arabia.

El Gizawy was arrested as soon as he arrived in Saudi Arabia on April 17 for pilgrimage. News reports stated that he was sentenced to 20 lashes for “defaming the Saudi king”, referring to El Gizawy's criticism made on television of Saudi Arabia's imprisonment of a number of Egyptian citizens.

Ahmed El Gizawy. Image taken from Egyptian Chronicles blog.

Egyptians received the news with rage both online and offline. A special hashtag was created for tweets attacking the Saudi king; it can loosely be translated as “Screw You, Royal Highness” [ar]. In addition, protesters gathered in front of the Saudi embassy in Cairo to condemn the arrest of the Egyptian lawyer.

Saudi officials later denied that El Gizawy was arrested for defaming the king, and they claimed instead he was arrested after being found in possession of more than 21,000 pills of the anti-depressant drug, Xanax.

Egyptians don't buy this claim; they wondered how El Gizawy was able to smuggle such a huge number of pills, and why the Saudi authorities did not announce that the arrest was because of drug trafficking from day one. In addition the authorities at Cairo airport said that they did not notice anything illegal in his luggage [ar] when leaving the country.

Writer Alaa Al Aswany said:

Al-Gizawi is a brave revolutionary lawyer who defended many of the rebels before military courts. He then took the cases of Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia who were detained without trial, thus finding himself in litigation with the Saudi king himself. When al-Gizawi and his wife went to perform umrah (pilgrimage to Mecca), he was assured that the Saudi regime would not be able to punish him for his political positions, as under Islamic law, all those who go on a pilgrimage are untouchable. Unfortunately, al-Gizawi was arrested as soon as he landed in Saudi Arabia. Those who asked about him were told that he would be whipped and imprisoned for insulting the king of Saudi Arabia. Two days later, Saudi authorities announced that they found more than 21,000 drug tablets on al-Gizawi. This silly accusation is not worth discussion. Al-Gizawi is a brave fighter who got arrested several times in defense of his principles. What made him suddenly turn into a drug dealer? Is he stupid enough to travel with such a high amount of drugs through the Cairo airport, where baggage X-rays make it impossible to transfer that many drugs? Moreover, the quantity of that many tablets weighs more than 60 kilos, and the baggage weight limit is only 30 kilos. According to the records of the Cairo airport, the weight of al-Gizawi and his wife’s bag did not exceed the limit.

Zeinobia commented:

Young Egyptians on social networks do not buy the Saudi statement as it reminded them of the case of Khaled Said and how the ministry of interior in Egypt fabricated the drug story about him.

Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reported [ar] that El Gizawy had previously filed a lawsuit in Egypt against the Saudi ambassador regarding the detention of torture of a number of Egyptian citizens in Saudi Arabia.

Zeinobia referred to another Egyptian detainee:

Now it is not only the case of Gizawy that we should follow and work on , I think we should work on the case of other Egyptians allegedly arrested and detained for years in the Kingdom for no reason like for instance the case of Abdullah Mamdouh [ar]. Mamdouh was detained from four years ago for no reason according to his wife Israa Kamal [ar] who is campaigning online and offline for him.

The Saudi government closed its embassy in Cairo in response to the protests there, in the worst diplomatic rift in years between the two countries. However the Saudi ambassador returned to Egypt a week later, after a high-level Egyptian delegation went to Riyadh led by Saad El Katatny, Muslim Brotherhood member and the current speaker of Egypt’s parliament.

As'ad Abou-Khalil wrote about the visit in a post entitled, “Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood bows down to House of Saud“:

Such an opportunity to meet with the Saudi king would likely not have arisen in the short to medium term had Gizawy's case not been escalated by Egyptian activists. During the visit, Katatny clearly stated, “We will not interfere in Gizawy's case,” adding that “the Saudi justice system is fair.” Katatny stressed the “historic relations” between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and said that Saudi has “white hands” (Arabic for “a shining track record”) in backing Egypt. Katatny again remarked that Egypt and Saudi Arabia, “the two greatest powers in the region,” could lead the region into a bright future.

Ahmed El Gizawy remains in detention in Saudi Arabia, awaiting trial.

Bahrain: One-Woman Demo!

Tarek Amr — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:09:50 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.

Since the uprisings started around the Arab world, we have become accustomed to seeing the image of thousands of protesters taking to the squares and streets.

Phrases like Million Man March have been added to the dictionary, and scenes like the one below have become symbols of the “Arab Spring”.

Mass rally in Tahrir square, Cairo by Nameer Galal (25/11/2011). Copyright Demotix.

However, it takes extra courage to be part of smaller protests, where there are fewer people to defend each other and less media to report a possible crackdown. So what about a single protester conducting a sit-in on her own, like the one in this image?

Zainab Alkhawaja outside the Financial Harbor in Manama, Bahrain (21/4/2012). Image by Twitter user @Kareemasaeed.

Zainab Alkhawaja is seen in the above image protesting on her own on April 21, outside the Financial Harbor in Manama, the Bahraini capital. Her father, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, is a prominent human rights activist who was arrested on April 9, 2011 and sentenced two months later, along with other opposition leaders, to life imprisonment. He has been on hunger strike since February 8, 2012 to draw attention to his detention and mistreatment, and recently netizens around the world expressed their great concern over his deteriorating state.

Zainab, who tweets as @angryarabiya, has been detained since yesterday. Her sister Maryam AlKhawaja reports that she has refused to go to the public prosecution. It is worth mentioning that this was not Zainab's first arrest, nor the first time she stood her ground alone.

I'm still wondering how she has such courage, but I guess nothing can answer my question better than what she has written as her Twitter bio:

When ur in chains, living with no dignity or rights, bowing to criminal dictators, the first step is to forget ur fear & realize that its ur right.. to be angry

This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.

Egypt: Should the Grand Mufti Have Gone to Jerusalem?

Tarek Amr — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:12:47 +0000

On April 18 Ali Gomaa, the Egyptian Grand Mufti and one of the highest religious authorities in the Islamic world, visited Jerusalem for the first time. The visit was controversial since it was seen by many as a step towards normalised relations with Israel, which captured the western part of the city during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and later on occupied the eastern part of it during the 1967 Six-Day War. According to Ahram Online, Osama Yassin, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, called the visit “a total disaster and a blow to the national fight against normalisation with Israel that has been going on for years”.

Many in Egypt have criticised the Grand Mufti for his visit. Zeinobia commented on the fact that people from different political backgrounds in Egypt have finally agreed on something:

You can imagine the uproar in the Egyptian political scene after few hours of knowing about this visit. The nationalists, leftists and Islamists suddenly found something to agree upon at last.

Zeinobia also quoted presidential candidates such as Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotouh [ar] and Hamdeen Sabahi [ar], as well as MP Essam Sultan [ar] of Al Wasat Party, who all criticised Ali Gomaa.

Grand Mufti in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Photo shared by Twitter user @alhabibali

Some of the criticism focuses on the point that acquiring a visa from Israel is considered a form of normalisation and recognition of the state of Israel. But Gomaa said, “I did not go on an Israeli visa. It was all organized by the Jordanian authorities.”

Zeinobia elaborated:

Sheikh Ali Gomaa was invited to visit the Holy places in East Jerusalem by the Royal Jordanian family which till this day is supervising the Islamic Holy sites in Jerusalem. (A piece of information I had not known before that day.) He was accompanied by Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, King Abdullah’s cousin and his chief religious advisor. They were inaugurating the renovation of the Mughrabi Bridge, which leads into the courtyard of al-Aqsa mosque as well the Ghazli seat.

Khaled El-Baramawy tweeted:

@EgyPress: حتى الان لم استطع ان افهم اسباب زيارة المفتى للقدس.. صحيح لم تكن بتاشيرة اسرائيلية.. بس لازم يكون لها منطق اهداف.. لم اكون راي حتى الان !!

@EgyPress: Until now I cannot understand the reason behind the Mufti's visit to Jerusalem… It's true he didn't take a visa from Israel, but there should still be goals for the visit… I haven't formed a point of view so far!!

Tunisian Twitter user Tounsia Hourra mocked the Mufti's denial that he took an Israeli visa:
‏

@tounsiahourra: وهنا يقولك مفتي مصر زار القدس دون تأشيرة إسرائيلية لكن تحت اشراف السلطات الأردنية . يعني اسرائيل تنحت وسلمت الأمور للأردن ,إنه لفتح عظيم

@tounsiahourra: And there are those who say that the Egyptian Mufti visited Jerusalem without an Israeli visa as the visit was under Jordanian supervision. So Israel kept to one side and handed over authority to Jordan; what a great achievement!

Aboul Maali Faek still regards the visit as recognition of Israel:

فحينما تعترف إحدى مؤسسات الدولة الرسمية بما يسمى بدولة إسرائيل فهذا يعنى أن مؤسسة الإفتاء فى مصر قد أعطت شيكا على بياض للصهاينة بأن دولة إسرائيل لها الحق فى اغتصاب واحتلال دولة فلسطين،هذا الموضوع لا يحب أن يترك دون محاسبة سياسية.

When one of the official state inistitutions recognises the so-called state of Israel, then this means that Egypt's fatwa-issuing body has given a blank cheque to the Zionists, that Israel has the right to occupy Palestine. This is a subject that shouldn't be left without political accountability.

Ahmad Esseily, on the other hand, had a point concerning recognition:

@ahmadesseily: إعتراف إيه! همّ مستنيين إعترافنا؟ ماهم قاعدين في الأرض بقالهم 64 سنة! حيطلعوا يعني لمّا المفتي مايزورش القدس والمسيحيين مايحجّوش؟

@ahmadesseily: What kind of recognition are you talking about! Are they waiting for our recognition? They have already been sitting on that land for 64 years! Are they going to leave if the Mufti didn't visit Jerusalem, and Copts didn't go?

This brings us to the fact that Pope Shenouda III, the Pope and Patriarch of the Church of Alexandria, who passed away a few weeks ago, requested Copts not to visit Jerusalem until peace was established in the region. Aly Elshafei ‏asked people to compare the two stances:

@Ali2awi: علل ما يلي و فيما لا يزيد عن حدود الادب: البابا شنودة رفض يروح القدس، و جه المفتي هو اللي راح

@Ali2awi: One comment, keeping within the limits of good manners: Pope Shenouda refused to go to Jerusalem while the Mufti is the one who went there.

Nawara Negm joked in one of her tweets [ar] that the Mufti was waiting for the Pope to pass away before going there. According to Reem Al-Ashry things have changed for Copts since the Pope's death:

@MeeMMaa: بمناسبة زيارة المفتي للقدس.. أصدقاء مسيحيين لأول مرة سافروا القدس السنة دي بعد وفاة البابا.. وبيقولوا العدد اللي سافر معاهم كبير

@MeeMMaa: Regarding the visit of the Mufti to Jerusalem… Many of my Christian friends visited Jerusalem for the first time this year after the Pope passed away, and they said that a large number travelled with them.

Mahmoud Hussien tweeted [ar] that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists were waiting for something like this, since they want to replace the Mufti with one of their own. Issandr El Amrani also expects they will call for him to be sacked:

He might also have known that the Islamist-dominated parliament would not be happy with this, and indeed there is now a move by Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood MPs to question him and possibly sack him (something that in theory is the prerogative of the president, or for now SCAF).

Emad Arab [ar] and Samar Ali [ar] both called for the Mufti to be sacked. Mourid El-Barghouti, Palestinian poet and author living in Egypt tweeted:

@MouridBarghouti: بهدوء شديد: لو كان المفتي مؤمناً أن زيارة القدس أمر جيد فلماذا امتنع عن زيارتها منذ احتلالها؟ ولو كان جاهلاً بعواقبها فهولا يستحق منصبه

@MouridBarghouti: Let's think about it calmly: if the Mufti believed that his visit to Jerusalem was a good thing, why did he decline to visit it since it was occupied? If he's not aware of the consequences of his visit then he doesn't deserve his position.

Al-Habib Ali Algafry is a Sufi scholar who also visited Jerusalem recently, and he congratulated [ar] the Mufti on his visit and on praying in Al-Aqsa mosque. The Saudi Islamic scholar Abdulrahman Al-Harfi attacked them both:

@aalharfi: زيارة الجفري ثم علي جمعة لإسرائيل هل هو تنسيق جديد بين “الصوفية الامريكية” و “الصهيونية”؟

@aalharfi: The visit of Algafry followed by that of Ali Gomaa to Israel; is it a new coordination between “American Sufism” and “Zionism”?

Monmon Salah commented [ar] that paying a visit to a prisoner is always useful to him and not to his jailers. As if she predicted this visit, Palestinian blogger Hanadi wrote a couple of months ago:

أدعو كل العرب والمسلمين الذين يحملون جوازات أميركية وبريطانية وأوروبية وغيرها من الجوازات التي لا تواجه مشاكل في دخول “إسرائيل”، أن يضعوا جوازاتهم في جيوبهم ويحزموا حقائبهم ويزورونا، أدعو المصريين والأردنيين إلى زيارتنا، أرجوكم لا تسموه تطبيعاً، أرجوكم، أنا وأنتم نكره اتفاقيات “السلام”، نعرف كلنا كذبة ووهم اتفاقية وادي عربة واتفاقية كامب ديفيد، لكن يا إخوان .. نحن نشتاق إليكم .. قاطعوا المنتجات الإسرائيلية.. قاطعوا الجامعات الإسرائيلية .. ولكن لا تقاطعونا.. نحن عرب مثلكم

I call on all Arabs and Muslims who hold American, British, European or any other passports that have no problem entering “Israel” to put their passports in their pockets, pack their bags, and pay us a visit. I call on Egyptians and Jordanians to visit us. Please don't call it normalisation. Please! You and I both hate the “peace” treaties, and we know the lies and the illusions of Wadi Araba and the Camp David accords, but brothers and sisters, we miss you. Boycott Israeli products, boycott Israeli universities, but don't boycott us; we are Arabs like you.

Arab World: Technology in the Time of Revolution

Tarek Amr — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:41:30 +0000

The Arab uprisings have created a debate about the role played by social media and mobile technology in bringing change. Whatever conclusion you come to on that subject, activists certainly make use of a wide range of new technologies, and we'll take a look at some of them in this post.

Reporting your arrest

Since the beginning of the Arab uprisings many bloggers and activists have been arrested. In Syria, in the last few months alone, Rima Dali, Safana Baqleh, Ali Mahmoud Othman, Razan Ghazzawi were detained. In Egypt Maikel Nabil Sanad, Alaa Abd El Fattah and Amr Gharbeya were just a few of those arrested. That's without mentioning countries such as Tunisia and Bahrain, as well as the cases where a bloggers or activists were denied entry to Egypt and held for investigation in Cairo airport.

While some of these bloggers and activists were later released, at the time of their arrest many didn't have time to tell their lawyers and family members what was happening. And this is where technology can play a role. A while ago Global Voices Advocacy contributor Ramy Raoof talked about Etmasakt, one such technical solution:

@RamyRaoof: Our friend Mohamed Hussien (@7aloli) developed this application http://bit.ly/Etmasakt to alert people when you get arrested. #Egypt #Android

Etmasakt helps you send short message to multiple numbers (family, lawyer, activists etc.) as well as sending the location where you were arrested.

Etmasakt is an Arabic word that means “I've been arrested”. On his blog Orlando Elkabeer wrote about the application and how it sends an SMS to multiple recipients along with your exact location - grabbed from your phone's GPS - with one click:

التطبيق يمكنك في حالة القبض عليك من ارسال رسالة لعدة أرقام تخبرهم فيها أنه قد تم القبض عليك ويرسل عنوانك بدقة بضغطة زر واحدة

The application lets you send an SMS to multiple recipients telling them you got arrested, and sends your exact location to them with just one click.

Etmasakt is not the only application of its kind. There is also “Byt2ebed 3alia” and “I'm Getting Arrested“; the latter seems to be older with a bigger user base. The existence of these different applications all basically doing the same thing clearly means that there is a need for them.

Live video broadcast

Nothing is worse than recording an important incident with your video camera, then being detained by security forces who destroy your camera, or at least force you to erase your memory card. And this is why Bambuser is very popular tool among activists. The Swedish mobile application lets you shoot videos and upload them instantaneously from your mobile phone; it's like having a video broadcasting station in your pocket.

Before being blocked by the Syrian government, Bambuser was used a lot by Syrians. In February the service reported on its own blog that it had been blocked in Syria:

Over the past weeks the number of Bambuser broadcasts from Syria has increased, with strong footage showing bombings, victims, destruction and terrible conditions at local field hospitals in Syria.

Some live footage like that of the destroyed oil pipeline in Homs was used by major TV channels such as CNN, BBC, AlJazeera and SkyNews:

We believe this footage was the trigger for the Syrian government to block access to bambuser.com and disable the possibility to broadcast live video with mobile phones on Syrian 3G.

In Egypt Tarek Shalaby reported his own arrest via Bambuser, and there were plans for activists to use the service in monitoring the parliamentary elections especially when international observers were not permitted to do so. During the first days of the Egyptian revolution the government decided to block Bambuser, amongst other services, before deciding to turning the whole Internet off two days later.

Other tools

Nancy Messieh of The Next Web has put together basic mobile apps arsenal for activists. Movements.org, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying, connecting, and supporting grassroots digital activists, and advocates for the use of new technologies, has listed dozens of applications that range from Open Source word processing and audio/video editing software to encryption and tunneling software.

There are other less useful applications like this one that tries to document the Egyptian revolution by bringing a gallery of photos taken during the revolution onto your mobile phone.

The downside of automation

Despite the usefulness of the above applications, automation can be a problem. A month ago activist Hossam El Hamalawy received a short message from Mostafa Sheshtawy saying that he got arrested.

@3arabawy: Guys, I received few mins ago a text message from @msheshtawy saying he's getting arrested. I called him, he's not answering.

People were worried about Mostafa Sheshtawy, and only later was it discovered that the message was sent by mistake:

@msheshtawy: Am fine people. Am not arrested or anything. My phone wasnt with me. Am sorry people.

@msheshtawy: Someone clicked on the application while i was asleep. Silly joke and i will screw whoever did this. Am really sorry.

Finally, just like activists and citizens, dictators also use new technology. Authoritarian regimes in the Arab world have had plenty of help from American firms when it comes to censorship and spying on pro-democracy protestors. At the end of the day, technology is a double-edged sword; each side uses it for its own purposes.

Egypt: The Drama of the Presidential Race

Tarek Amr — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:23:26 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Elections 2011/12.

It has been reported that since January 25, 2011 the profits of the Egyptian film industry have dropped, and the main reason must be that the drama in the political arena since that time cannot be beaten by any movies. The suspense has currently reached a peak thanks to the presidential elections race.

Hazem Salah's Mom
Hazem Salah Abou-Ismail, the Salafi cleric, is one of the candidates with the biggest chance of success, with a large number of supporters and endless posters all over the country. However, news came weeks ago that his mother might have American citizenship, and as the constitutional amendments made last year state that applicants cannot stand for presidential elections if at least one parent or spouse holds foreign nationality, Abou Ismail might be disqualified if this is proved to be the case.

Rally in Tahrir Square on April 13, 2012. Image by Flickr user Mosa'ab Elshamy (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Since then contradictory news has been appearing on a daily basis, and during the past weeks it has been normal to see people asking for updates:

@AmrEzzat: هو إيه آخر أخبار مسلسل السيدة الفاضلة والدة حازم صلاح أبو إسماعيل؟

@AmrEzzat: What is the latest news in the drama about Hazem Salah Abou Ismail's mother?

It's an ironic situation because the Salafis argued for the constitutional amendments:

@Mohamed_Habib_T: ما يثير الضحك والبكاء هو أن السلفيين الذين أيدوا التعديلات الدستورية بقوة هم أول من اصطلى بنارها فى أزمة الجنسية الأمريكية لوالدة حازم صلاح

@Mohamed_Habib_T: What makes one laugh and cry at the same time is that the Salafis who supported the constitutional amendments are the first to be burnt by them in this dilemma about the U.S. citizenship of Hazem Salah's mother

According to Egyptian law, a person should get permission before taking another country's citizenship, and failing to do so means that the local authority will not be aware of the citizen's second nationality. Knowing this, Abou Ismail - who is a lawyer himself - filed a lawsuit calling for the Interior Ministry to prove his mother's U.S. citizenship, which it was unable to do. Doing this changed the question from whether his mother holds U.S. citizenship to whether the Ministry of Interior has the papers to prove it or not, and last Wednesday the court gave Hazem Salah's presidential dream a kiss of life, waiting for the final decision of the Supreme Committee for Elections.

The Chess Game of SCAF and the Muslim Brotherhood
The next two big candidates are Khairat El Shater and Omar Suleiman. The Muslim Brotherhood introduced Khairat El Shater into the presidential race very recently, despite their earlier pledge not to run a candidate for president. They even expelled Abdel-Monem Aboul-Futouh from the Brotherhood for defying that very pledge earlier.

A short while later Omar Suleiman entered the race. Zeinobia wrote about his entry:

Others believe that this is the answer of SCAF to El Shater’s candidacy and that the military is using the fear of the Islamists that is growing among the middle class.

Suleiman was Mubarak's vice president, yet according to Zeinobia he said the following in his announcement:

I decided to run for presidency in order to achieve the goals and aims of the January 25th revolution!

The Muslim Brotherhood compared Khairat El Shater - who was imprisoned many times during the Mubarak era - to Prophet Joseph who came out of jail to rule Egypt. Zeinobia commented:

The Muslim brotherhood boys decided that he was Joseph 2012 who will save the Egyptian economy !! Of course the old Joseph , the real Prophet Joseph did not call for the privatization of water or electricity or allowing the private sector to control the infrastructure of a third world country that already suffered a lot from corruption in the past 30 years!

She then added how Omar Suleiman supporters compared him to King Solomon, and comparing his opponents to ants that should hide or else they'll get crushed:

Interestingly enough El Shater’s nemesis in the presidential elections Omar Soliman is now being described by his supporters as King Solomon !!!
In a press release issued today by Soliman’s campaigner Samual Al Ashay, we find a quote by Mohamed Anatar. […] Anater ended his statement with a warning to the Muslim Brotherhood with a quote from the Qur'an: “O you ants, go into your homes, lest you get crushed by Solomon and his soldiers, without perceiving.”

Both the revolutionaries and the Muslim Brotherhood have been united in rejecting Suleiman. Raafatology wrote how Suleiman's belief that revolutionaries might support him to rescue them from the Muslim Brotherhood are totally wrong:

ظن الرجل أننا سنرحب بمخططه الشيطانى ونهلل له كمنقذ على حصان أبيض حتى يخلصنا من الإخوان و السلفين ومن على شاكلتهم
ظن وظنه الخطأ. فنحن رغم ما عانيناه من الإخوان ومن تلونهم والعمل على مصلحتهم فقط فلن نقبل يوماً بعمر سليمان رئيساً للخلاص من الإخوان وكذبهم ونفاقهم السياسى

This guy thought that we would welcome his devilish plan and cheer him as a saviour on a white horse who would rescue us from the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis. This is what he thinks, but he is totally wrong. Despite what we suffered from the Muslim Brotherhood and how they changed their position, and work in their own interests only, we will never support Omar Suleiman as president to save us from their lies and political hypocrisy.

The parliament with its Islamic majority has been working on passing a law that bars the “remnants” (unreformed loyalists of the former regime) from entering the presidential race:

@alaa: دلوقتي مجلس الشغب اصدر قانون العزل و بصياغة يبدوا انها جيدة، يتبقى ان يصدق عليه المجلس العسكري. نزول الاخوان غدا لضمان التصديق

@alaa: Now the parliament has drafted a political isolation law, and its form seems to be good. Now it's SCAF's turn to approve it, and the Muslim Brotherhood are going to demonstrate tomorrow to ensure such approval.

The recent tension between the Muslim Brotherhood and SCAF, and the moves they have both made in the presidential race, made Mohamed Ibrahim ‏describe the race as a chess game:

@M_I_A_H: نحن مجرد متفرجين على لعبه شطرنج تلعب على اعلى مستوى ما بين القوى السياسه و المجلس العسكرى

@M_I_A_H: We are just spectators of a chess game being played at the highest level between the political forces and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces

The Game Changer
On Saturday April 14 came the news that turned everything upside down, as AhramOnline reported:

The body overseeing Egypt's presidential election disqualified 10 candidates from the race on Saturday, including the Muslim Brotherhood's Khairat al-Shater, former spy chief Omar Suleiman and Salafi sheikh Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail, Ayman Nour, and Mortada Mansour.

The candidates still have 48 hours to appeal against the decision; however, the disqualification of the three candidates mentioned above has been the focus of most discussions on Twitter and blogs.

Bassem Sabry gave detailed reasons as to why each candidate was disqualified.

Ahmad Mahmoud Ali mocked the fact that all the candidates were disqualified at once:

@Ahmadmahmoudali: انباء عن استبعاد جميع مرشحين الرئاسة و إلغاء منصب رئيس الجمهورية

@Ahmadmahmoudali: News that all candidates have been disqualified and the post of the president will be cancelled.

Farid Salem expected the remaining candidates to be very happy, especially Aboul Fotouh and Amr Moussa:
‏

@farid56: النهاردة سهرة سعيدة لابو الفتوح ، ولعمرو موسي

@farid56: Tonight it will be a happy night for both Aboul Fotouh and Amr Moussa

Ahmad Shokr added: ‏

@ahmadshokr: Omar Suleiman disqualified for failure to collect required signatures from 15 governorates. Deep state may not be so deep after all #egypt

While Tarek Shalaby couldn't care less about the elections:

@tarekshalaby: These elections are totally for entertainment and anthropological purposes - they have nothing to do with our ongoing revolution. #jan25

And finaly, Ahmed Abd Rabo went further, seeing a conspiracy being cooked: ‏

@3bdrabo25: استبعاد 10 مرشحين هل كان لدفع انصارهم للشارع مع ازدياد الازمات هل لفرض صراع بينهم او مع الدولة كمبرر لفرض احكام عرفية.هل هناك انتخابات

@3bdrabo25: Is the disqualification of 10 candidates meant to push their supporters to take to the streets? And with an escalation of the current crises, might it end with fights between them and each other or between them and the state, which would then be used as a justification to introduce martial law? Will there be elections?

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Elections 2011/12.

Egypt: Your ID, Your Rights Targets Women

Tarek Amr — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:11:17 +0000

According to figures coming from the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, as many as 4 million women in the country do not have national identity cards. A woman without a national ID is not able to own land, she cannot buy or sell assets and she cannot even inherit from her deceased family members.

The lack of IDs also prevent women the access to various of public services, including education, healthcare, the right to vote and other basic social rights. And that's why a new campaign has been launched aiming to provide all women with national ID cards.

The campaign is called “Your ID, Your Rights” and their goal is to issue IDs to 2 million Egyptian women for free. It will start with a pilot for three months.

2 Million IDs to 2 Million Women

According to the campaign's Facebook page [ar]:

المرحلة التجريبية سوف تشمل الـ 3 شهور القادمة (ابتداءا من مارس) و سوف تبدأ في محافظة القليوبية و هي تضم 14 مركز و تهدف أكثر من 40 ألف سيدة لا تملك بطاقة رقم قومي. تم أختيار المراكز التالية فى محافظة القليوبية للمرحلة التجريبية: مركز بنها، مركز قليوب، مركز شبين القناطر ومركز القناطر الخيرية

The pilot will be for three months, starting from March, and it will take place in the Qaliobeya governorate, which has 14 districts, and the target of the pilot period are 40,000 women with no ID cards. The following districts have been chosen in the Qaliobeya for the pilot period: Benha, Qalioub, Shebin El Kanater and El-Kanater El-Khayreya districts.

According to UN report in 2006, 41% of the adult females in Egypt are illiterate. Photo courtesy of Ilene Perlman.

This isn't the first campaign of try to achieve the same goal, however this one is supported by various NGOs, including UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women), UNDP (United Nations Development Program), MSAD (Ministry of State for Administrative Development), SFD (Social Fund for Development), MoFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and others.

The campaign organisers are also making use of social media to spread awareness about the project. They have launched accounts on Twitter and Facebook to raise awareness about the campaign as well as gender inequality issues in the country.

On Twitter, they announced:

@Million_ID: تم تصنيف مصررقم 120 من بين 128 دولة علي قياس الفجوة بين الجنسين

@Million_ID: Egypt is ranked number 120 among 128 countries when it comes to gender inequality.

Your ID, Your Rights

Finally, they want people to help them raise awareness about the campaign by sharing and retweeting their posts on Facebook and Twitter.

And here's how they frame their appeal to netizens:

@Million_ID: هدفنا اونلاين مش اننا نوصل للنساء في القري و لكن هدفنا هو نشر الوعي للناس من الطبقة المتوسطة و العليا

@Million_ID: The goal of our presence online is not the reach the women in villages, but to raise awareness about the campaign among middle and upper class.

Egypt: The Abou Ismail Poster Frenzy

Tarek Amr — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:59:40 +0000

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

Preparations are in full swing for the presidential elections in Egypt, set for May 23 and 24, 2012, with candidates' election posters already up on the streets. But when it comes to Hazem Salah Abou-Ismail, he sure beats all the rest in the poster frenzy. His posters are almost seen almost everywhere - from walls to cars to refrigerators to babies and even on the posters of other candidates.

Infinite number of Abou Ismail Posters

Egyptian netizens would not let the opportunity slip without poking fun at the poster bonanza.

Mohamed Hamza jokes [ar]:

@mohamad__hamza: اتوقع ان من اولويات الرئيس القادم الفقر و البطاله و ازاله بوسترات ابو اسماعيل

@mohamad__hamza: I believe the main priorities of Egypt's next president is to fight poverty, create new jobs and remove Abou-Ismail posters off the walls.

Randa Tawil adds [ar]:

@randatawil: دلوقتي لما تحب توصف لحد عنوان قوله إمشي طوالي مع بوسترات أبو إسماعيل بعدين هتلاقي تقاطع سيب أول بوستر و تاني بوستر و لف مع تالت بوستر يمين

@randatawil: Now when you want to describe an address to someone, you better say, keep going in the street with Abou-Ismail posters, then you will find a crossroad, leave the first poster and the second poster and with the third one turn to the left.

Monda Salem continues [ar]:

@Mondasalem: عاجل وحصرى: وكالة ناسا لعلوم الفضاء تعلن عن اكتشاف 5000 بوستر للشيخ ابوسماعيل فوق سطح كوكب المرّيخ.

@Mondasalem: Breaking news: NASA announced that it has discovered 5,000 posters for Hazem Salah Abou-Ismail on Mars

And Attiya Attiya notes [ar]:

@attiya_attiya:للمرة الثالثة خلال يومين .. أحد المواطنين يقسم لي أنه رأى بأم عينيه شارع خالي تماما من بوسترات ابو اسماعيل

@attiya_attiya: For the third time in two days, someone swears that he has seen streets with no posters of Abou-Ismail in them!!

It didn't stop here, as a new meme was started among Egyptian netizens, along with a tumblr account under the name “Abo-Ismail Doing Stuff.” Hundreds of other photographs were also posted both on Twitter and Facebook, where Abo Ismail is depicted to have his very own version of the popular social networking site:

Abou Ismail version of Facebook

Abo Ismail Last Supper

And even the notorious Guy Behind Omar Suleiman re-appeared, this time carrying an Abou Ismail poster:

About Ismail meets The Guy Behind Omar Soliman

Finally, people did not forget to also make fun of Abou Ismail's infamous video, in which he claimed that PEPSI stands for Pay Every Penny to Save Israel:

Post Every Poster to Save Ismail

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

Syria: Campaign to Stop One Year of Bloodshed

Tarek Amr — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:37:56 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.

Zeinab from Egypt joins the campaign

To mark the first anniversary of the violence which accompanied the Syrian revolution, which started on March 15, 2011, a campaign is being launched to mobilise a global action for celebrities, leading Twitter users and NGOs (CIHRS, FIDH, etc.) from around the world to mount a massive call on world leaders to unite and stop the bloodshed there.

People are being encouraged to take photographs holding a sign saying “UNITE FOR SYRIA” or “STOP ONE YEAR OF BLOODSHED” in their own language and upload them on the campaign's Facebook Page. The campaign runs from Brazil to Indonesia to the Arab world and aims to generate as many reactions as possible.

On March 15, a global celebrity video will be launched, alongside the hash tag #UniteForSyria on Twitter.

In support of the global call, 50 world leaders have published an open letter in the Financial Times calling on UN Security Council members to “Unite for Syria and Stop One Year of bloodshed”.

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.

Egypt: Flip Flop Economics to Debate the Presidential Elections

Tarek Amr — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:57:56 +0000

Egyptians go to the polls in May to election their new president, after 32 years of Hosni Mubarak's rule. Preparations for the big event are in full swing as potential candidates are filing their candidacy nominations, meeting voters in different governorates and mapping out their agendas to the media.

Khaled Aly is one of those potential candidates, and despite that fact that he isn't well-known among the majority of the Egyptians, he has the backing of many leftists and it is said that his strength in the elections will be the votes of the workers.

Egyptian blogger and economics expert, Mohamed El-Dahshan (@eldahshan), wrote a post [ar] welcoming Aly to the presidential elections race, but also decided to give him some advice and criticize his campaign so far in the process.

El-Dahshan writes [ar]:

رئيس الجمهورية ليس ناشطاَ عماليا فقط.
بالتالي لا يمكن أن تكون حقوق العمال هي المحور الأساسي لحواراتك الإعلامية، حتى لو كان ذلك هو موضع قوتك و خبرتك. من المهم كذلك على مساعديك و فريقك الإعلامي … أن يؤكد على ذلك مع معدي البرامج التي تستضيفك.

A president is not just a labour activist.
So, the rights of the workers cannot be the main point for all your interviews, even if this is your point of strength and what you have experience in the most. It's also important that your team stresses on this with the producers of the TV programmes that host you.

El-Dahshan added that workers rights should not contradict with those of business owners, and that Aly's focus on those rights should not prevent him from finding ways to encourage the private sector to elect him as well. The post generated a debate on Twitter, where netizens argued for and against some of the points raised by the blogger.

Tamer Mowafy (@kalimakhus) replied to El-Dahshan telling him that there is contradiction between workers rights and business owners rights most of the time [ar]:

@kalimakhus: @eldahshan حقوق العمال لا تتعارض مع حقوق أصحاب العمل؟؟ .. شيل حقوق و حط مصالح تبقى عبارتك أكيد خاطئة تماما

@kalimakhus: @eldahshan Workers rights don't contradict with business owners rights?? Replace rights with interests and your statement won't be valid any more.

Mowafy continues:

@kalimakhus: @eldahshan يعنى بدون أى تفاصيل معقدة كل حق من حقوق العمال هو إضافة لتكاليف الإنتاج يعنى إنخفاض للأرباح و إلا ماكانوش بيدوهالهم ليه يعنى؟

@kalimakhus: @eldahshan Without getting into complicated details, each of the workers rights means extra expenses in production, i.e. lower profits. Or else, why aren't they given their rights in the first place then?

They then debated whether the increase of profit for a business means better salaries for workers, or whether more profit means lower salaries. El-Dahshan argues that if a company makes more money it will be able to pay more for its workers.

While Mowafy replied that higher productivity and profit come only from longer working hours which mean a lower value for the workers working time.

@kalimakhus: @eldahshan زيادة الإنتاج لو لم يكن نتيجة لتطوير الآلات أو تكنولوجيا الإنتاج يبقى نتيجة زيادة ساعات العمل أو تكثيف طاقة العمل

@kalimakhus: @eldahshan Productivity, if not acquired from more developed means of production, then it comes from more working hours and more intensive effort.

Libraliyya intervened saying not everything has to be a zero sum, and if one sides wins the other has to loose.

The three of them debated the meaning of exploitation, and when it's to be called exploitation, and when should we call it supply and demand. So, Mowafy tweeted an example to clarify his point of view.

@kalimakhus: @Libraliyya @eldahshan هو أنا لو بعت لك شبشب بألف جنيه لأن جزمتك إتسرقت من قدام الجامع مش أبقى إستغليتك رغم إنى مش انا اللى سرقتك؟

@kalimakhus: @Libraliyya @eldahshan Take that case if your shoes got stolen from in front of a mosque, and I decided to sell you a flip-flop then for 1000 pounds, won't this be exploitation, even if I am not the one who stole you in the first place?

@Libraliyya: @kalimakhus @eldahshan حلو. خلينا في المثال دا. لو دا الشبشب الوحيد، يبقى مورد نادر و عليه طلب من الكثيرين. صحبه يديه لمين و على اي اساس؟

@Libraliyya: @kalimakhus @eldahshan Good, based on your example, it means that this is the only flip-flop available, i.e. scarce resources with big demand on it, so based on what criterion its owner should chose who to give it to?

They continued to discuss on what criteria scarce resources should be sold to bigger demand without exploiting those who need it. And Mowafy disagreed that the one in need of something the most, is the one ready to pay more.

@kalimakhus: @Libraliyya @eldahshan ياخده الأكثر إحتياجا له وفق أى معيار موضوعى .. لو تساووا فى كل المعاير نعمل قرعة :P

@kalimakhus: @Libraliyya @eldahshan The one who needs it the most according to an objective criterion … if not, we toss a coin :P

@Libraliyya: @kalimakhus @eldahshan (١)ايه هوالمعيارالموضوعي دا؟(٢)ولوكل حاجة بقت قرعةهل دانظام نقدر نبني بيه مجتمع حتى لوقدراتك تسمحلك بالاحسن من الحظ؟

@Libraliyya: @kalimakhus @eldahshan What is that objective criterion then? And is tossing a coin the best we can do, even if we have better ways to decide.

Like most of the debates between people of different ideologies on Twitter, they ended the debate after a while with a promise to have more debates in the future.

@Libraliyya: @kalimakhus @eldahshan عموما حوار رائع و مفيد بالرغم من الاعتماد على الشبشب. كفاية بقى لحسن الفولورز بتوعنا يدونا بالشبشب. :)

@Libraliyya: @kalimakhus @eldahshan Anyway, it was a great discussion, despite the fact it was based on a flip-flop. Let's stop it here or followers will kick us with the flip-flop.

Libraliyya created a Storify for their debate here.

MENA: Which Salafist Movie Would You Watch?

Tarek Amr — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:37:23 +0000

“All art is a product of the time it's created in, and reflects that time whether it wants to or not, even if it attempts to escape it by hiding in fantasy,” wrote Stephen Whitty. And movies aren't any different here, and their names summarize all this in a few words, in an catching and funny way, just like a tweet.

Karl Sharro - a Lebanese/Iraqi architect and writer based in London - decided to start a new hashtag where people tweet movie names after putting a Salafist flavour into them.

His suggestion read:

@KarlreMarks: shall we do #SalafistMovies? I have a good one: Salafist of Fury

He then tweeted more suggestions to get the ball rolling:

@KarlreMarks: Come on people, help us get #SalafistMovies rolling: ‘12 Million Angry Men'

Soon, like with most of the humourous hashtags, this one got spread in no time, and Twitter users in different Arab countries - as well as some non Arabs - started using it.

Here is a sample of their movie selections:

@LamiaMoussa: How to grow a beard in 10 days. #SalafistMovies

@malekmakni: Shave me if you can #salafistmovies

@gihanbabiker: Shaving Private Ryan #SalafistMovies

@SheikhKhalifaPM: No blade runner #SalafistMovies #beard

@aymanfarhat: The Beauty And the Beard #SalafistMovies

@SalahZulfikar : #SalafistMovies eat pray pray again

@HanzadaElShihy: #SalafistMovies I know what you did last Ramadan

@Molka_Chaari: Women in Black #SalafistMovies

@JustAmira: V for Virgin #SalafistMovies

@EmnaBA: Alice au pays des exciseurs #salafistMovies

@EmnaBA: Alice in the circumcisers-land. #salafistMovies

@evildrako: Blanche neige et ses sept burquas #Salafistmovies

@evildrako: Snow While and her seven Burquas. #Salafistmovies

@_MohamedTarek_: My best friend's fourth wedding #SalafistMovies

@beleidy: My big fat segregated wedding #SalafistMovies

@CandaceHetchler: Haram and the City #SalafistMovies

@LocoRibelle: The BLast Samurai … #SalafistMovies

@Kemety: #SalafistMovies : Liberals at the gates

@sheeriif3amr : My top #SalafistMovies: The Longest Beard. Fasting and Furious. Hairy Potter. How I met your mother(s). Dude, where's the qiblah. Hahahhahah

But, on the other hand, some didn't like the hashtag.

@Omnia_ElMashad: Dear Egyptians, you're not supposed to support Salafist Movies, that's sad. Sincerely, shame on you.

@shafzibit: For an insight in to how Muslim humour is just as stagnant as Muslim science, economic development etc, follow #SalafistMovies

@Nada_Ismail: Is it my dull mood or is the Salafist Movies hashtag actually not funny?

Finally, are those tweets funny, true or stereotypical? What Lily Gataullina wrote here on Mass Media can be applied to Movies and Social Media too.

Mass media became on of the main sources of popular culture in modern capitalist society. Media, however, not only entertains and offers news to people, but also transfers the stereotypes, beliefs and values of the society to reproduce the existing order of social life.

She then added that the most important thing is not eliminating stereotypes but being able to identify them.

I am not quite sure how to combat the usage of stereotypes in media. Once we get rid of one stereotype another will take its place. I think, however, it is very important that people are able to recognize the stereotypes.

Egypt: Diaries of a Cancer Patient

Tarek Amr — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:25:27 +0000

“Cancer is a big business and I refuse to be a client! Please see my blog for more info on natural ways to prevent and cure cancer,” wrote Heba Mitkees in her Twitter biography. Heba blogged about her life as a cancer patient, and when I decided to interview her about her experience, I was shocked to find out that it was too late for an interview. The least we could do now is to ask the questions and let her blog answer them on her behalf.

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

Egypt: 2011 in Blog Posts

Tarek Amr — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:17:42 +0000

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

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.

Thanks to @Sarahngb, @7okaha, @BentAboEs3oud, @IbrahimNegm, @YMetry, @Sankafollah, @Biiishi, @HusseinElGammal, @NermeenEdrees, @SlipknotMody and all those who helped in suggesting blog posts for me to include here.

Egypt: Reaping Legal Victories as the Revolution Continues

Tarek Amr — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:26:40 +0000

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

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.

@Adham_Eldeeb: حريــة علاء - من وجهه نظري - إنتصار لإرادة الثــورة

@Adham_Eldeeb: Alaa's freedom - in my opinion - is a victory for the will of the revolution.

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.

@MeeMMaa: علاء: في مسارات كتير نمشي فيها، الانتخابات، المحاكم، الاضراب العام، الميدان، مطلوب مانتمسكش بمسار واحد فقط عشان مانخوفش الناس

@MeeMMaa: Alaa: There are different paths to go in such as elections, courts, general strikes and the protests in the square. And we shouldn't only focus on one path in order not to repel people away and loose them.

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.

Egypt: Using Twitter for a Healthier Life

Tarek Amr — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:27:42 +0000

Can Twitter be used to save people's lives or improve their health? During the clashes that took place in Tahrir Square in Egypt last month, a Twitter account (@TahrirSupplies) was created to arrange the delivery of medical supplies to the field hospitals set up by volunteers in and around the square, as well as food and other items needed there. Healthy Egypt Tips, on the other hand, was a different initiative by a group of volunteers who started a Twitter account (@HealthyEgypt) in August in order to spread health awareness tips in Egypt.

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.