Stories about Egypt from April, 2009
Egypt: Plans for Sexual Harassment Film Unveiled
After the success of Egypt's Anti-Harassment Day, Egyptian blogger Asser Yasser invited women to share their personal experiences with this issue. Women and young women will be filmed going about their everyday lives, registering the different forms of harassment they are subjected to. Marwa Rakha has the story.
Egypt: “Egyptians are not Arabs”
Mathilda wrote her thoughts in a scientific research that believes Egyptians are not Arabs; it focused mainly on the Egyptians around Luxor, where old upper Egypt was located.
Egypt's First Independent Union Formed
Egypt's real estate tax collectors have formed their first independent trade union since 1957. In addition to local recognition, the union has won international legitimacy after being accepted in the international body Public Services International. One blogger follows the developments from their start until the moment of triumph - with hundreds of photographs.
Egypt: Stigmatized by AIDS
A group of Egyptian bloggers and independent media personalities are putting their hands together in support of the “Openness” initiative, which aims at anti-stigmatizing AIDS patients, and calls for integrating them in the society instead of alienating them further by educating people on how to deal with them to avoid getting infected, reports Marwa Rakha.
Egypt: Wandering Internet Trolls
Wandering Scarab posted an interesting note on the four types of Internet trolls: “creatures that wander into forums and blogs, with malicious intent to generally interrupt online discussions by flinging their excrement everywhere, and inciting others into responding emotionally.”
Egypt: Interviewing a Baha'i Assailant
Egyptian blogger Ibn Rushd interviewed one of the Baha'i assailants. Marwa Rakha translates the interview, in which the assailant admits to his role in the burning of six homes belonging to Baha'i families in the village of Shoraneya, from Arabic.
Mapping the Arab Blogopshere
Meedan announces that data expert Will Ward is “heading to Copenhagen’s New Islamic Public Sphere programme for a couple of weeks as a Meedan representative. The idea is to share ideas about our attempts to map the Arab blogosphere and get input on our growing Arab Media Index, which will...
Books about Egypt
Blogger Kim wrote a review for a series of pocket guides for Egypt, published by AUC Press, by Alberto Silioti. The books are not in depth, but can give a glimpse into the area it covers for tourists. She also mentioned another book An ABC Escapade through Egypt, a book...
Egypt/Morocco: New Technical blogs in Arabic
Recently the Arab blogsphere witnessed the launch of two unique Arabic blogs – One by Moroccan blogger Mohamed S. Hjiouij, which focuses on professional blogging; and Techno-Media by Egyptian blogger Mohamed El Gohary, who's also a Global Voices Online Arabic lingua contributor, which specializes in explaining Web2.0 technologies and linking...
Egypt: “I heart Egypt”
Despite Jordanian blogger The Observer description of how he believes Egypt has become cruel to its citizens – after he went for a quick visit to Alexandria, Egyptian blogger fattractive wrote her interesting reasons why she loves her Egypt.
Egypt: Bringing authors and bloggers together
“If you would have known that I would be reading your review, would you have written it differently?” Mahmoud Osman, author of Thawret 2053 Elbedaya, asked Egyptian blogger Gjoez after stumbling on her review of his book by chance.
MENA: Reflections on Durban II
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech, and the way European Union representatives reacted to it at the United Nations Conference on Racism in Geneva (Durban II), has stirred debates among bloggers across the Middle East. Eman AbdElRahman sums up reactions in this post.
Egypt: Excuse for Syrian ban of Facebook “Stupid”
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia is not convinced with a Syrian Minister's excuse for the banning of Facebook – that it was banned to protect Syrians. She writes: “I do not know how she invented this stupid answer that shows a complete ignorance with the internet and the facebook not to mention...
Egypt: Filmmaker's struggle finally pays off
Egyptian cinema-goers will finally be able to watch Ibrahim El Batout’s film Ein Shams [Ar] (Eye of the Sun) as an Egyptian movie at the end of this month - after a long drama with censorship. Nermeen Edrees brings us the story.
Egypt: Industrial Tweeting
Industrial Tweeting is coming to Egypt, notes Arabawy, who posts a photograph of textile “Ghazl el-Mahalla labor leader Kamal el-Fayoumi experimenting with Twitter…”
Egypt: Twitterfeed Tutorial
Egyptian blogger IRC President posts a video tutorial on the use of Twitterfeed on YouTube.
Egypt: Cleanliness Day on April 10
We have been paying close attention to the creative ways in which Egyptian bloggers and activists have been using online social networking to rally support for their causes and initiate social and political change. In this post, Marwa Rakha writes about a Facebook campaign by Mostafa Ahmed and more than 4,500 enthusiasts, who joined hands to mark Egypt's first Cleanliness Day on April 10.
Palestine: Allowed No Passage
The saga of journalist and blogger Laila El-Haddad, who writes at Raising Yousuf and Noor: diary of a Palestinian mother, was covered in detail by Global Voices last week. However, as El-Haddad moved into her 36th hour at the airport and her tweeting and blogging ceased, fans, friends, and readers became concerned. Jillian York picks up from where we left off, and bring us up-to-date with El-Haddad's story, in her own words.
Egypt: Should rapists be hanged on TV?
Between examining the profile of a sexual offender in Egypt and rallying against sexual predators, an Egyptian member of Parliament proposed a law that allows broadcasting the hanging of rapists live on television. Should rapists be hanged live on television?
Egypt: April 18 Declared Anti-Harassment Day
A Facebook campaign calling for a silent demonstration on April 18 against the harassment of women and girls in Egypt is slowly gathering momentum. The call for allowing Egyptian women to move around in safety in their country, was sparked after blogger Asser Yasser's harassers were acquitted. Marwa Rakha reports on the campaign in this post.
Palestine: Gaza Mom Back in the US
The saga of Palestinian blogger and mother Laila El-Haddad and her two children has come to a complete circle - she is back in the US, where she started her long trek to Gaza, Palestine, three days earlier, after the Egyptian authorities denied her from reaching home. Her messages on Twitter helped draw attention to her plight as well as the drama many Palestinians face as they cross boundaries.
