Egypt

Brotherhood, Salafis and Sufis wage electronic war ahead of elections

By Osama el-Mahdy and Hany ElWaziry, via Almasry Alyoum

Facebook has turned into an electronic battlefield for the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafis and Sufis campaigning for seats in the upcoming parliamentary elections, as they increasingly criticize each other and promote their own candidates on the popular social network.

Sufis have quoted fatwas (religious edicts) by Salafis denouncing demonstrations and prohibiting women from being members of parliament, shown video clips about Salafi militant wings and promoted Sufi candidates, whom they call “relatives of the Prophet.”

The Brotherhood, on the other hand, has been posting the slogans it has been using in its parliamentary campaign, including “Islam Is the Solution” and “We Bear Good for Egypt.”

The group has also posted maps of Egypt's electoral districts and used illustrations to educate citizens on how to vote.

The Brotherhood has focused on spreading its party platform, which emphasizes social justice and combating corruption.

Egyptian authorities approve new party founded by Coptic activist

ViaAlMasry Alyoum

Photographed by Mohamed Al Garnousy

Egypt's Political Parties Affairs Committee on Monday officially recognized the Haya Party, a new political party founded by Coptic activist Mikel Mounir.

Mounir, who heads the US Copts Association, had opposed Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church when it rejected Copts' participation in the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.

 

Efforts to establish the new party kicked off in mid-August. Its founders submitted its application to the committee on 16 October.

 

A committee statement issued on Monday said the party can engage in political activities the day after it is approved.

 

Mounir said he rejects branding his party as "Christian," arguing that the description is used by "hardline groups" to weaken it.

 

He instead stressed that Haya is a liberal party that believes in human rights and liberties under a civilian state capable of protecting the rights of its citizens.

 

The party's founders believe that liberal democracy requires the predominance of equality, citizenship and the rule of law, he added.

via www.almasryalyoum.com

Transportation Ministry projects frozen due to security void

Via Almasry Alyoum

Projects Egypt’s Transportation Ministry had planned for 2011 and 2012 have been completely halted since the revolution broke out on 25 January, sources within the ministry told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Monday.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, attributed this stoppage to the political and security situation, which has caused foreign companies to withhold investments intended for Egypt until it’s clear what kind of political system will end up governing the country.

 

One setback, the sources added, was the government decision to revise the contracts of some companies and their legal statuses, after the previous regime had already approved them.

 

River Transport Authority (RTA) Chairman Karim Abouel Khair admitted to Al-Masry Al-Youm that since the revolution, planned investments have stopped and the authority has not received any new offers.

 

“The security void and political uncertainty made all investors avoid initiating any projects,” Abouel Khair explained, adding that the RTA retracted its plans to establish more river ports.

 

The RTA announced June that the volume of river traffic in 2010 more than tripled compared to the year before, saving the government about LE262 million in fuel subsidies and reducing the cost of road maintenance, the number of road accidents, traffic and vehicle maintenance. It also improved environmental conditions.

via www.almasryalyoum.com

Revolution inspires Egyptian digital professionals

Via Al-Masry Al-Youm, by Ahmed Zaki Osman

“It’s the revolution,” answers Heba Honsi, a young activist who has been working for ten years in charity, when asked what motivated her to launch a website to enable people to donate to those in need.

After the revolution, Honsi noticed that people were donating bigger amounts of money to charity.

“I also discovered that some people don’t know where they should give their donations. After the revolution Egyptian expats have been active in giving donations. So I thought about launching a website to be a liaison between those who donate and those who deserve the money,” says the young philanthropist.

Hosni is among the dozens of Egyptians and Arabs who brought their electronic projects to the “ArabNet Cairo 2011” conference last week, which gathered together young entrepreneurs and digital professionals.

These professionals believe that the rising number of internet users in Egypt is an important factor in their projects' success. The total number of internet users in Egypt has increased from 14.9 million at the end of the second quarter of 2009 to 19.7 million at the same juncture in 2010, according to the Egyptian Communications and Information Technology Ministry. That's a growth rate of an astounding 32.3 percent.

Abbas Adel, a young engineer, is another example of how the revolution has inspired young professionals to launch projects to help communities.

Adel has already achieved success with his online initiative, “Zabatak” (I Caught You). The website is a citizen journalism service dealing with crime in Egypt. It has an interactive map on which seven categories of crimes and offenses are listed, including looting, violence, theft, corruption and illegal construction.

After the revolution and the security vacuum created by the absence of police, Adel says he and his friends figured they could help their community by focusing on this gap. “We’ve reached the conclusion that what worries people most is the deteriorating security situation. So we launched a website to gather all the information about crime in Egypt.”

The website, according to Adel, has two aims; the first is to inform people about areas with high crime and the second is to give government entities, such as the police, more information about crime in the country.

Zabatak helped in finding six stolen cars recently, says Adel. This has urged government authorities, such as the Local Development Ministry, to engage with Adel and thank him for the service. The authorities claim to have obtained “valuable information from people who reported on the website that they paid bribes to government employees,” said Adel.

Hanan Suleiman has thought of a better way to inform the people about what’s going on in Egypt outside core areas of coverage such as Cairo. She tells Al-Masry Al-Youm that she has been inspired by the American experience in localized media and launched an electronic news portal called Mandara Online, which covers events in Upper Egypt. During the 18-day uprising, “People saw how marginalized places could act and support the revolution. Look at Suez and the continuing activism there. I thought that we need to highlight what’s going on in these communities,” says Suleiman.

“The idea is not to cover conventional news. It’s to train and prepare reporters from the area and give them the chance to cover the issues that really affect them,” Suleiman continues.

Among the issues that Mandara is interested in covering are vendetta killings and violence against women.

via www.almasryalyoum.com

Revolution inspires Egyptian digital professionals | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today's News from Egypt

“It’s the revolution,” answers Heba Honsi, a young activist who has been working for ten years in charity, when asked what motivated her to launch a website to enable people to donate to those in need.

After the revolution, Honsi noticed that people were donating bigger amounts of money to charity.

“I also discovered that some people don’t know where they should give their donations. After the revolution Egyptian expats have been active in giving donations. So I thought about launching a website to be a liaison between those who donate and those who deserve the money,” says the young philanthropist.

Hosni is among the dozens of Egyptians and Arabs who brought their electronic projects to the “ArabNet Cairo 2011” conference last week, which gathered together young entrepreneurs and digital professionals.

These professionals believe that the rising number of internet users in Egypt is an important factor in their projects' success. The total number of internet users in Egypt has increased from 14.9 million at the end of the second quarter of 2009 to 19.7 million at the same juncture in 2010, according to the Egyptian Communications and Information Technology Ministry. That's a growth rate of an astounding 32.3 percent.

Abbas Adel, a young engineer, is another example of how the revolution has inspired young professionals to launch projects to help communities.

Adel has already achieved success with his online initiative, “Zabatak” (I Caught You). The website is a citizen journalism service dealing with crime in Egypt. It has an interactive map on which seven categories of crimes and offenses are listed, including looting, violence, theft, corruption and illegal construction.

After the revolution and the security vacuum created by the absence of police, Adel says he and his friends figured they could help their community by focusing on this gap. “We’ve reached the conclusion that what worries people most is the deteriorating security situation. So we launched a website to gather all the information about crime in Egypt.”

The website, according to Adel, has two aims; the first is to inform people about areas with high crime and the second is to give government entities, such as the police, more information about crime in the country.

Zabatak helped in finding six stolen cars recently, says Adel. This has urged government authorities, such as the Local Development Ministry, to engage with Adel and thank him for the service. The authorities claim to have obtained “valuable information from people who reported on the website that they paid bribes to government employees,” said Adel.

Hanan Suleiman has thought of a better way to inform the people about what’s going on in Egypt outside core areas of coverage such as Cairo. She tells Al-Masry Al-Youm that she has been inspired by the American experience in localized media and launched an electronic news portal called Mandara Online, which covers events in Upper Egypt. During the 18-day uprising, “People saw how marginalized places could act and support the revolution. Look at Suez and the continuing activism there. I thought that we need to highlight what’s going on in these communities,” says Suleiman.

“The idea is not to cover conventional news. It’s to train and prepare reporters from the area and give them the chance to cover the issues that really affect them,” Suleiman continues.

Among the issues that Mandara is interested in covering are vendetta killings and violence against women.

via www.almasryalyoum.com

Tunisia's clean election leads the way

Via The Guardian, by Jonathan Steele

Supporters of the An-Nahda party, which gained most votes in the Tunisian election. Photograph: Str/EPA

Having launched what became known as the Arab spring, Tunisia has now led the region by holding a clean election with an enthusiastic turnout and highly encouraging results. The three parties that have come out on top in the most democratic of north African states have no links with the capital city's upper middle class or those sections of the business community that benefited from the ousted Ben Ali dictatorship. They both have a tradition of struggling for democratic values.

As in post-Mubarak Egypt, there was reason to fear that the old regime would re-emerge in Tunisia with new faces, but this now seems unlikely. The party that has emerged from the poll most strongly is An-Nahda (Renaissance), which suffered massive repression under Ben Ali and has won great respect for its sacrifices. This party of modern democratic Islam campaigned hard on the two issues that concern most Tunisians: corruption and unemployment, particularly youth unemployment.

While several smaller secular parties tried to manipulate Islamophobia – a relatively easy card to play given the official state-controlled media's demonisation of the Islamists over several decades – their efforts have failed. Voters had their first chance to listen to An-Nahda's candidates and they were not put off by what they heard. An-Nahda made special efforts to show that it wanted an inclusive government of national unity and would respect all points of view. It also reached out to voters in the more impoverished interior, making it clear it would not be just a party of the Mediterranean coast as Ben Ali's regime had been.

The main runners-up, The Congress for the Republic and Ettakatol, the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties, both have a strong and principled record in the struggle against corruption and dictatorship. Ettakatol has a distinguished background in the trade union movement, which, again as in Egypt, was one of the main pillars of the struggle to oust Ben Ali.

While Egypt is inevitably linked with Tunisia in the world's headlines as the only other Arab country to have achieved regime change this year by nonviolent means, Turkey may provide a better paradigm for Tunisia's future political development. Under Kemal Atatürk, Turkey went through forced secularisation and modernisation just as Tunisia did under its first president, Habib Bourguiba. Women were obliged to remove the veil in schools, universities and public jobs, and were also allowed to run for parliament. Abortion was made legal and polygamy banned. Marriage required the bride's consent.

via www.guardian.co.uk

Egyptian activists rage following Alaa's detention by military prosecution

Via Ahram Online

Bahaa Saber leading chants against military trials after being released, his friend Alaa, is detained pending investigations. (photo by: Mona Seif)

Political activists have reacted with fury to the detention of Alaa Abd El-Fattah for 15 days for allegedly inciting the violence that rocked Cairo on the night known as ‘Black Sunday’.  

Abd El-Fattah and Bahaa Saber were both summoned for questioning by the military prosecution on Sunday over the clashes that left at least 26 dead in front of the state TV headquarters (Maspero) on 9 October.

On arrival at the military prosecution headquarters, Abd El-Fattah refused to answer questions on the grounds that the military prosecution had no legitimate right to question civilians.

Fellow activist Bahaa Saber, who faced similar charges, was freed.

"Saber also refused to answer the questions of the military prosecution. As a civilian, he said they did not have the right to question him," his lawyer Ahmed Ragheb told Ahram Online.

"Abd El-Fattah and Saber are facing the same charges but Abdel Fattah is also accused of stealing official weapons."

More than 70 activists gathered outside the C28 military prosecution headquarters to show solidarity with both activists. The protesters started to chant against SCAF as soon as they heard the verdict and were soon joined by Bahaa Saber himself who fought back tears whilst chanting for Alaa.

Bahaa, a father of two children, told Ahram Online that he would have preferred to be put in jail and Alaa released as his wife, Manal Hasan, also a prominent blogger, is expecting their first child within the coming days.

"We know it’s a long battle and we are not the only ones accused in this case. I will join others in the campaign against military trials of civilians for this is the only kind of solidarity Alaa and I need now. These trials have to stop, not only for us, but for all civilians," Saber added.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has been widely criticised for failing to halt military trials for civilians despite promising to do so on several occasions.

SCAF said it would only implement such trials for acts of thuggery but critics say it uses them to target activists, most of whom are angry at the ruling military's handling of the transitional period following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak on 11 February.

Abd El-Fattah remained silent during Sunday's questioning, arguing that the military prosecution was not entitled to investigate the deadly clashes which dominated headlines for all the wrong reasons. He said SCAF was actually his opponent in the case.

Mahmoud El-Dabe, a journalist at Sout El-Omma newspaper, last week declined to show up before the military prosecution for questioning over a story he published about the son of SCAF member Mamdouh Shahine.

Controversial blogger Maikel Nabil, who went on a hunger strike after being arrested back in March, took a similar stance.

SCAF has reportedly tried more than 12,000 civilians in military courts since assuming power.

Well known lawyer and human rights activist Ahmed Seif, who is also Alaa's father, said lawyers will contest the prosecution's verdict.

"We have a legal side of the battle that we have to go through, but it is more a political struggle as Alaa decided to be on the frontline of fighting military trials of civilians," Seif told Ahram Online. "This is not the first time Alaa and Bahaa have faced imprisonment as they were both detained for supporting the independence of the judiciary in 2006. They both stood against Mubarak and were ready to pay a price and now they are doing the same."

Abdel Fattah has been transferred to a prison in Cairo.

via english.ahram.org.eg

For Young Women, A Horrifying Consequence Of Mubarak’s Overthrow

Via The New Republic

Cairo—Ali, a 34-year-old Cairo businessman who asked that his real name not be used, is weighing whether or not to circumcise his 12-year-old daughter. Female circumcision, or female genital mutilation (FGM), as it also known, involves removing part or the entire clitoris. In more severe forms of the procedure, the labia minora is removed and the vaginal opening is stitched up. Ali’s wife has told him about her own experience; describing her story to me, he said, “It is her most terrible memory.” He has heard discussions on television of potential harm the procedure can cause, but he feels a responsibility to protect the chastity of his daughter until she is married. Three thousand years of tradition instruct him that circumcision is the best means to this end. And, in the post-Mubarak Egypt, there are fewer and fewer voices offering an alternative view. The decades-long movement to stop FGM has become a casualty of the power struggle in Egypt.

The campaign to end FGM in Egypt was fighting an uphill battle before the revolution. Although FGM was outlawed in 2007 after a 12-year-old girl died from the procedure, the practice is still widespread. Despite efforts to reduce it, the number of girls aged 15 to 17 who underwent FGM only dropped from 77 percent in 2005 to 74 percent in 2008, according to the 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). EDHS also showed that 91 percent of all women in Egypt between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone FGM. The practice is common not only among Muslims, but also in the Christian community, which constitutes 10 percent of the Egyptian population. A sanitized version of FGM has gained increased prevalence in recent years, presenting additional challenges. In 1995, only 45 percent of all FGM operations were conducted by doctors; by 2008, the percentage had risen to 72 percent. A young woman working as a maid and living in Cairo, who asked to be referred to only as Ayesha, did not even know that FGM is illegal. Her mother had put her through the procedure, and she told me that she would do the same. (Experts have found that the practice is mostly perpetuated by mothers making decisions for their daughters.) “Unless someone can show me what is wrong with it I don’t think there is any reason to change,” she said.

Since the revolution, international support for this fight has significantly waned. Political instability has led to a 75 percent cut in Egypt’s FGM-related donor funds to the United Nations since January, according to Marta Agosti, the head of the anti-FGM program for the U.N.Changeover among government ministers has also slowed official work. The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, the government body charged with addressing the problem, was shuttered after the revolution, and there is concern among activists that the capacity of the Council will shrink in its new home under the Ministry of Health. Instability and a lack of funds have curtailed the day-to-day work of NGOs; less field work and fewer workshops are taking place, according to Agosti.

In addition to the general shrinking of U.N. and NGO funds and efforts, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood as one of the strongest political forces attempting to fill the void left by Mubarak’s departure presents potential obstacles to the campaign to end FGM. While the Muslim Brotherhood does not have an official position on FGM, the group has, in the past,

via www.tnr.com

Egypt today: Are we back to square one?

One incident of torture a day is bad enough, but today we had two—two unnecessary deaths in addition to the aftermath of a dubious sentence.

Essam Ali Atta was sentenced to two years in jail by the military court on February 25 for a common crime. Essam was serving his sentence at the maximum security ward at Torah Prison. The prison officials attempted to punish Atta for apparently smuggling a mobile SIM card into his cell. Today he died because he was brutally tortured.  

In this day and age, such happenings don’t take long to reach the public and create a furious frenzy of dismay amidst ordinary citizens. I don’t know what the ordinary (and just) countries do when someone imprisoned manages to smuggle an item into prison. However, in Egypt, he is brutalized until he dies.

Simultaneously another Egyptian Moaatz Anwar Sulaiman in Al Sheikh Zayed District is shot by two officers—four times. He drops dead. The reason for this dubious action is still unknown.  Folks in the vicinity try to get to the officers. They burn their police car, and the officers flee to the station where other officials protect them.  The story is yet to be verified, so I can’t vouch for its validity. However, twitter is adding this story as yet more evidence against the corrupt system.

These happenings occur on the eve of the ruling in Khalid Saeed’s (Said) murder. The two corporal officers get seven years each, a very lenient sentence some might say; again the public wails “corruption” and hails for justice.

Egyptians are devastated and furious. And to the public, the culprit in all these scenarios is one body: SCAF (the Supreme Council of Armed Forces). People are blaming SCAF for all the wrongdoings; it also blames SCAF for allowing the police force to handle prisoners in such a vicious manner.

Only if SCAF is blind, stupid, and totally incompetent would it resort to such actions. Doesn’t SCAF know that in seconds the news infiltrates the whole Egyptian society let alone the whole world and creates venom of disgust and repugnance? Even the Libyan Council today is promising to bring Gaddafi’s murderers to trial. Doesn’t SCAF know that with another Khalid Saeed, we will have yet a second revolution in Tahrir tomorrow? That we are back to square one?

If SCAF is living in the yesterday days, then SCAF deserves what it is about to get: a harsh slap of fury and abhorrence. The Minister of Interior should resign over the death of Essam Atta. The minister is the head of this official body, and he must accept blame. In all civilized countries this must happen, so that people understand they are not living in a jungle where barbaric rule dominates.

However, if SCAF is in charge, but Egyptians remain Egyptians whether they are in the police force, the army, the street, the court, the factory, the school, and the university, then I feel we are blaming SCAF for actions that are taking place by Egyptians to Egyptians, and amongst Egyptians. Rodney King is a case in point; I don’t think the Americans would have gone way up to the president as the main culprit in this incident.

The public has yet to understand that many of us are still living under the old regime and its ways. It doesn’t mean we are the old regime; it means that it will take time until we shed off our dusty and dirty skin and replace it by the new and pristine one.

We are definitely back to square one. Khalid Saeed’s murder instigated the Egyptian Revolution. With the new wave of murders, I don’t doubt we will ignite a second phase. Maybe that’s what we need, so we can create a better tomorrow and overcome yesterday. Maybe it’s time to cut off all the arms of the past.

Today one tweet said, "Tomorrow in #Tahrir we will march towards #USA Embassy calling them to stop crackdown on their people …" and I said, “That’s not fair. You can’t ask Egyptians amidst all these disasters to worry about Oakland.” Nevertheless, after today’s event, I see Egyptians indeed going back to Tahrir tomorrow and creating a new wave of dissent for Moaatz, Essam, and Khalid. I would agree with them wholeheartedly this time round. Yes, going to Tahrir tomorrow because of such events is an absolute right.

We need answers. We need change. We need due process and logical repercussions.

Still, it’s going to be a tough call to start all over again.

Update October 29. According to Twitter, Almasry Alyoum, and the Tahrir doctors who saw the body in the morgue, we may have been hasty in judging this case. Atta, and this is yet to be confirmed, seemed to have died of poisonous elements in his intestines. If this is true, then I must apologize for being misled. I'm devastated by having been taken in. However, this is a very difficult lesson for me, and I will remember it forever.   

 

Occupy first. Demands come later

By Slavoj Zizek, Via The Guardian

Critics say the Occupy cause is nebulous. Protesters will need to address what comes next – but beware a debate on enemy turf

What to do after the occupations of Wall Street and beyond – the protests that started far away, reached the centre and are now, reinforced, rolling back around the world? One of the great dangers the protesters face is that they will fall in love with themselves. In a San Francisco echo of the Wall Street occupation this week, a man addressed the crowd with an invitation to participate as if it was a happening in the hippy style of the 60s: "They are asking us what is our programme. We have no programme. We are here to have a good time."

Carnivals come cheap – the true test of their worth is what remains the day after, how our normal daily life will be changed. The protesters should fall in love with hard and patient work – they are the beginning, not the end. Their basic message is: the taboo is broken; we do not live in the best possible world; we are allowed, obliged even, to think about alternatives.

In a kind of Hegelian triad, the western left has come full circle: after abandoning the so-called "class struggle essentialism" for the plurality of anti-racist, feminist, and other struggles, capitalism is now clearly re-emerging as the name of the problem. So the first lesson to be taken is: do not blame people and their attitudes. The problem is not corruption or greed, the problem is the system that pushes you to be corrupt. The solution is not "Main Street, not Wall Street", but to change the system where Main Street cannot function without Wall Street.

There is a long road ahead, and soon we will have to address the truly difficult questions – not questions of what we do not want, but about what we do want. What social organisation can replace the existing capitalism? What type of new leaders do we need? What organs, including those of control and repression? The 20th-century alternatives obviously did not work.

While it is thrilling to enjoy the pleasures of the "horizontal organisation" of protesting crowds with egalitarian solidarity and open-ended free debates, we should also bear in mind what GK Chesterton wrote: "Merely having an open mind is nothing; the object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." This holds also for politics in times of uncertainty: the open-ended debates will have to coalesce not only in some new master-signifiers, but also in concrete answers to the old Leninist question, "What is to be done?"

The direct conservative attacks are easy to answer. Are the protests un-American? When conservative fundamentalists claim that America is a Christian nation, one should remember what Christianity is: the Holy Spirit, the free egalitarian community of believers united by love. It is the protesters who are the Holy Spirit, while on Wall Street pagans worship false idols.

Are the protesters violent? True, their very language may appear violent (occupation, and so on), but they are violent only in the sense in which Mahatma Gandhi was violent. They are violent because they want to put a stop to the way things are – but what is this violence compared with the violence needed to sustain the smooth functioning of the global capitalist system?

They are called losers – but are the true losers not there on Wall Street, who received massive bailouts? They are called socialists – but in the US, there already is socialism for the rich. They are accused of not respecting private

via www.guardian.co.uk