Live: Al Jazeera coverage of Egypt’s growing revolution

[seemslikeadream]

thanks for being here Alice...it's really important for you to be here

[AlicetheKurious]

Thank you so much for saying, that, slad.

[seemslikeadream]

Egypt: 26 sentenced to death over Suez 'terror plot'
Egyptian soldiers in the capital, Cairo (20 February 2014)
Judges accused the defendants of inciting violence against the army and police

An Egyptian court has sentenced 26 people to death for founding a "terror group" with the aim of attacking ships using the Suez Canal.

Judges said the men were also accused of manufacturing missiles and explosives, local media report.

The defendants were tried in absentia, Reuters news agency says.

The sentencing comes a day after the new Prime Minister designate, Ibrahim Mahlab, vowed he would "crush terrorism in all the corners of the country".

Mr Mahlab has been put in charge of forming a new government following Monday's surprise resignation of interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi and his cabinet.

Mr Beblawi was appointed in July 2013 after the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi in the wake of mass protests.

Since then, more than 1,000 people have been killed and thousands of others detained in a crackdown by the security forces on the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement to which Mr Morsi belongs.

Militants based in the Sinai peninsula have meanwhile stepped up attacks on government, police and the armed forces, killing hundreds.

'Harmed unity'
In Wednesday's verdict, the court said the accused had harmed "national unity", inciting violence against the army, police, and Christians.

The case will now be referred to the mufti, Egypt's top Islamic official, who has to validate the sentence.

The final verdict is expected on 19 March.

No further details were available about the group on trial, AFP reported.

In a separate development, Mr Mahlab has begun reappointing several ministers in his new government.

Supporter waves flag of Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo (16 February 2014)
Army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has been reappointed as defence minister in the new government
They include Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, who will keep his post as defence minister.

Despite his reappointment, the army chief is widely expected to announce soon that he will step down from his two posts and run for president.

According to the new constitution approved in January, an election must take place by mid-April.

Correspondents say Field Marshal Sisi would be likely to win, given his popularity and the lack of any serious rivals.

The departing government is the fifth since the 2011 uprising which led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

Mr Beblawi did not give a clear reason for his cabinet's resignation on Monday.

He had been criticised in local media for his perceived indecisiveness and inability to deal with the country's economic woes.

The new prime minister designate was a senior official in Mr Mubarak's former ruling party, and was appointed to the now-disbanded upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, in 2010.

[AlicetheKurious]

The new prime minister designate was a senior official in Mr Mubarak's former ruling party, and was appointed to the now-disbanded upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, in 2010.

The new prime minister used to be the head of the public sector giant Arab Contractors firm, a position which gave him automatic membership in the NDP, and also membership in the Shura Council. Much more important was his extraordinary performance during his tenure: he took a company that was billions in debt, and transformed it into one of the (very) few highly profitable public sector companies. He expanded its work in Africa and elsewhere in the region. He successfully defended it from the sad fate of so many other public sector firms: dismemberment and privatization. Later, as Housing Minister, he worked tirelessly, face-to-face with the poorest people, and found solutions to some difficult yet urgent problems, which has made him very popular with ordinary citizens. He is humble, very hard-working, and very intelligent. He is an excellent engineer and an excellent team leader. One thing he is not is a politician, which many people consider to be a good thing.

[stefano]

Amr Hamzawy is double-faced sleazebag, a mercenary twit whose bread is buttered abroad, not here (not for lack of trying). He has tried to be everything to everybody, to get himself a piece of every pie, but has failed and now nobody can stand him (except, possibly, his colleagues at Carnegie or other foreign associates). He was a live guest for several hours on an evening talk-show in Cairo just this week, and has traveled a lot recently, so he's not under arrest or anything. If he was "awaiting trial", he would either be in jail or prevented from leaving the country, as far as I know.

As I have it his passport has indeed been confiscated, although he's still allowed to work. Whatever you may think of Hamzawy, "insulting the judiciary" is a nonsense offence.

I don't know: the article you cite says that they were sentenced to three years but released the next day, and fined LE 500 (less than a hundred dollars), which doesn't make sense. If they were sentenced to three years, why were they released? They couldn't have been charged with "distributing flyers", because that is not a crime under Egyptian law; contrary to what you might think, it's not possible in Egypt to be tried for a crime that doesn't exist in the books. Why doesn't the article cite the actual criminal charges against them?

From other sources (including state-owned Al Ahram - this isn't something a Reuters stringer made up), they were sentenced in absentia; the fine is what they got in January after their initial arrest. The charge seems to have been 'disturbing the peace'.

Aswat Masreya, like Jadaliyya and Mada Masr and a lot of others set up by god knows who, are not at all credible sources, but propaganda outlets specifically targeting foreign readers.

Aswat Masriya was set up by Reuters, I quite like it and I like Reuters in general. Reuters does have a Western-conformist editorial line, so catering to its readership, but it doesn't make shit up and employs some of the last proper journalists around. Aswat Masriya seems to be a sort of incubator for student journalists. I read Mada Masr, even though it smells funny, because it covers labour issues in far greater depth than Al Ahram or Al Masry Al Youm, for instance.

[AlicetheKurious]

Whatever you may think of Hamzawy, "insulting the judiciary" is a nonsense offence.

Actually, the proper translation of the charge is "contempt of court". Just like in your own country, and indeed in most countries, there are proper channels for appealing court rulings; calling the judge names, or insulting him or her, or otherwise casting aspersions on the court, is not one of them. If you consider it to be a "nonsense offence", you would do better to try to get your own laws changed rather than ours. From Wikipedia:

Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt," is the offense of being disobedient to or disrespectful of a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the court.[1][2] It manifests itself in willful disregard of or disrespect for the authority of a court of law, which is often behavior that is illegal because it does not obey or respect the rules of a law court.[3][4]

As explained in the People's Law Dictionary by Gerald and Kathleen Hill, "there are essentially two types of contempt: 1) being rude, disrespectful to the judge or other attorneys or causing a disturbance in the courtroom, particularly after being warned by the judge; 2) willful failure to obey an order of the court."[5]
When a court decides that an action constitutes contempt of court, it can issue a court order that in the context of a court trial or hearing declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority, called "found" or "held in contempt," this is the judge's strongest power to impose sanctions for acts that disrupt the court's normal process.

A finding of being in contempt of court may result from a failure to obey a lawful order of a court, showing disrespect for the judge, disruption of the proceedings through poor behaviour, or publication of material deemed likely to jeopardize a fair trial. A judge may impose sanctions such as a fine or jail for someone found guilty of contempt of court. Judges in common law systems usually have more extensive power to declare someone in contempt than judges in civil law systems. The client or person must be proven to be guilty before he/she will be punished.

From other sources (including state-owned Al Ahram - this isn't something a Reuters stringer made up), they were sentenced in absentia; the fine is what they got in January after their initial arrest. The charge seems to have been 'disturbing the peace'.

I can't figure it out myself, but AhramOnline is a fiefdom of Hossam Hamalawy, and his little gang of American University graduates calling themselves "Revolutionary Socialists" and their propaganda (the prime purpose of which seems to be to provide disinfo with a "made in Egypt" label). Don't ask me why they're allowed to do this, but to provide some context, the Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram itself was, until a very few weeks ago, a staunch member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and indeed was appointed by the Brotherhood members who dominated the Shura Council during Morsi's rule. Not only that, but he was still in place despite having been charged with assault. After Morsi was deposed, one of the Al-Ahram veteran journalists, Sahar Abdel-Rahman, showed up for work. When she saw him, she exclaimed, "Are you still here?!" In response, he struck her so hard on her head that she fell down on the floor, and then proceeded to shout obscenities at her.


Sahar Abdel-Rahman

In any case, I've warned you repeatedly that there are still Muslim Brotherhood members holding important jobs in a number of Egyptian newspapers (most prominently in Al-Shorouk), and throughout the state-owned media. In fact, there was a scandal over at the state-owned television network, which aired a propaganda video several weeks ago extolling "The Achievements of President Morsy". There are hundreds of thousands of people employed in the "news" industry in Egypt, including nearly 50,000 in state-owned television alone. Maybe it's taking so long to clean house because of Egypt's strict labor laws, which make it incredibly difficult to fire anybody, especially from a public-sector job.

Anyway, back to Passant Darwish's little piece in AhramOnline. If you'd read the article with a minimally critical eye, you'd have noticed that the reporter quotes only one source, the Strong Egypt Party spokesman, and none other. With their record of constant lying, "former" Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh's Strong Egypt Party are hardly a credible or, in this case, a disinterested source. As I mentioned before, "distributing flyers" is not a legal offense under Egyptian law, yet she describes this as one of the charges. Is that what the Strong Egypt Party spokesman told her? In any case, she doesn't bother to explain her claim that the three were arrested, yet that they were "sentenced in absentia", which doesn't make sense. Were they arrested then released? Why? Where they released or out on bail? If the latter, did they skip bail? Or did they escape from custody? The article simply doesn't hold up, unless the purpose is to get the propaganda message out to eager but undiscriminating readers.

[AlicetheKurious]

It is official. Mr. Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has just announced his candidacy for president. And tonight, whatever challenges tomorrow brings, EGYPT IS HAPPY!!!!.

[AlicetheKurious]

I've translated El-Sisi's speech for you:

In the name of God the Merciful and Compassionate:

Great people of Egypt, today I stand before you in military uniform for the last time, for I have decided to end my service as General Commander of the Armed Forces, Minister of Defense and Military Production. I have spent my entire life as a soldier in order to serve my country and its hopes and aspirations. And I will continue to do so, God willing. This moment is a very important one for me. The first time I put on the military uniform was in 1970. I was a student in the Air Force High School, and I was 15 years old. This was around 45 years ago. It is an honor for me to have worn this uniform and to have defended this country. And today, I take off the uniform also in order to defend my country.

The past few years in the life of this nation have proven that there is nobody who can be the president of this country without the will and support of the people. It is absolutely impossible for anyone to force the Egyptians to elect a president that they do not want. This is finished forever. Thus, with all humility I come before you to offer my candidacy for president of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Only your support can give me this great honor.

I will speak to you from my heart, as I have before. Today, I am answering the call of a large sector of the Egyptian people, who have asked me to come forward to receive this great honor. I consider myself to be, as I have always been, a soldier assigned to serve this country, in whatever capacity the people decide. In this, the first moment, I intend to be honest with you and with my country and with myself, as I have always been. We, the Egyptian people, have a mission that is extremely difficult, and extremely costly. The economic, social, political and security realities in Egypt, whether those before the January 25th revolution or those which have accumulated after it, until the June 30 revolution, have brought us to the point where we have no choice but to face these challenges bravely and honestly now.

Let us be frank with ourselves: our nation, Egypt, is facing enormous challenges and our economy is weak. There are millions of young people suffering from unemployment, and there are no jobs for them in Egypt. This is unacceptable. There are also millions of Egyptians who suffer from illness and have no access to decent medical care. This is also unacceptable. Egypt is wealthy in resources and in people, yet it is dependent on foreign aid and support. This is unacceptable. The Egyptians deserve a better life than this. They deserve to live with dignity, and to live in security, and to be free. They deserve the right to find decent work and medical treatment and education and food and housing. All of this must be accessible for all Egyptians.

All of us Egyptians have this extremely difficult mission. We must rebuild our state institutions, which are weak and unstable and unable to fulfill their duties to the Egyptian people. This is something that we must do. The state must once again become unified and coherent, and to speak with one voice. Also, its productivity must be revived full strength, in order to save our nation from the very real dangers which we face. The state must once again retrieve its stature and respect, so much of which it has lost. Our mission is to restore Egypt and to rebuild our nation.

What we have witnessed in the recent past, whether in politics or the media, internally or externally, have brought this country to the point where it has become dangerously vulnerable. It is time to put an end to this disrespect and hostile foreign interference. This is a sovereign nation, deserving of respect. It must be made clear to all that this is a new phase; that violating Egypt's sovereignty is a reckless and very dangerous endeavor. Those who do so will pay the price. Egypt is not a playground whether for domestic, regional or international players to use. And it will never be. We do not interfere in the internal matters of others. And we will never permit others to interfere in our internal matters. Fulfilling the Road-Map of the Future which was formulated by genuine patriots, has been the most urgent task before us. We have succeeded, with God's help, in drafting the constitution. And now we are taking the second step, by holding presidential elections. These will be followed by parliamentary elections.

My candidacy in no way constrains or denies anybody else from exercising the right and indeed the duty to run for president, of anybody who is persuaded that he or she is qualified to bear the responsibility. I will be happy if the successful candidate is the one genuinely chosen by the people, who has won the voters' trust. I call upon my fellow countrymen to remember that we all belong to Egypt, and that we are all in one boat, which we must bring safely to shore. This is no time to settle personal scores or to engage in petty conflicts. We want Egypt to belong to all Egyptians, without discrimination or exclusion. We reach out to everybody, internally and externally and declare that any Egyptian who has not broken any of the laws -- the laws to which all of us are subject equally -- is a full and active partner in building our nation's future.

Despite all the great difficulties faced by our nation, I stand before you without one atom of despair or doubt. On the contrary, I am full of hope in God and in your strong will, that Egypt will be transformed for the better and will take its rightful place among the advanced nations of the world. Your will has already accomplished a great deal; it was neither the politicians nor the armed forces that removed the previous two regimes. It was you, the people, who achieved this. The will of Egyptians is a magnificent thing; we have witnessed it and known its power.

However, all of us need to understand that we will have to work the hardest we can in order to overcome the obstacles that we face. Building the future is a joint enterprise. It is a pledge between the government and the people. The government is responsible for fulfilling its role faithfully, before God and before the people, with all honesty, honor, loyalty and patriotism. But the people also have a duty to work hard and be patient. The government cannot succeed alone, but only in an effective partnership with the people. All Egyptian people know that great victories are achievable, because we have achieved great victories before. But our will and our desire to succeed must be accompanied by hard work. The capabilities and talents of seven thousand years must be combined with concrete actions. Successful and advanced countries are built by those who work hard and faithfully. Hard labor will be required of every Egyptian man and woman. Every Egyptian man and woman will be expected to give of their best. I will be the first to offer my labor and sweat without limit, for the future that Egypt deserves to have. Now is the time to rally for the sake of our country, for the sake of Egypt.

I want to be frank with you: the circumstances, which you can see and know, do not allow me to run a traditional election campaign. Nevertheless, you have the right to know how I envision the future. I will share this with you through my election platform, and a my program for the achievement of a modern, democratic, Egyptian state. The vision and the program for achieving it will become available as soon as the Electoral High Commission allows. But with your permission, this will happen without extravagance, whether in terms of spending or practices, because I see this as inappropriate in our current circumstances. We are menaced by terrorists, who seek to destroy our lives and to destroy our peace and our security. It is true that this is the last day I will wear this uniform. But I will continue to fight every day for an Egypt free of fear, for an Egypt free of terror and panic. But not only Egypt: for the region as a whole, God willing.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: I would rather die than allow anyone to terrorize the Egyptians. Permit me to speak to you of hope: hope is the fruit of honest labor, it is security, it is stability. Hope is the dream that we will lead Egypt to the forefront of nations, that Egypt will once again become strong, capable, influential, and to teach the world as it has done in the past. I cannot perform miracles; all I can offer is hard work, full effort and self-denial without limits. If I am granted the honor of being chosen by you, I promise you that together we are capable of stability and security and fulfilling our hopes, with God's permission. God protect Egypt and her great people. Peace be upon you, and God's mercy and blessings.

[AlicetheKurious]

N.B. The Electoral High Commission has limited campaign spending to LE 20 million (less than US$ 3 million) per candidate. At the same time, the law provides loopholes, like relatively small penalty fees, for those who exceed the limit. El-Sisi has not only indicated that his campaign will spend far less than this, he has also asked his supporters to avoid either extravagant displays or spending.

Also, immediately after Egyptian state tv aired the above speech, they broadcast a documentary promoting the other candidate, Hamdeen Sabbahy, of approximately the same duration as El-Sisi's speech.

[FourthBase]

I've translated El-Sisi's speech for you:

In the name of God the Merciful and Compassionate:

Great people of Egypt, today I stand before you in military uniform for the last time, for I have decided to end my service as General Commander of the Armed Forces, Minister of Defense and Military Production. I have spent my entire life as a soldier in order to serve my country and its hopes and aspirations. And I will continue to do so, God willing. This moment is a very important one for me. The first time I put on the military uniform was in 1970. I was a student in the Air Force High School, and I was 15 years old. This was around 45 years ago. It is an honor for me to have worn this uniform and to have defended this country. And today, I take off the uniform also in order to defend my country.

The past few years in the life of this nation have proven that there is nobody who can be the president of this country without the will and support of the people. It is absolutely impossible for anyone to force the Egyptians to elect a president that they do not want. This is finished forever. Thus, with all humility I come before you to offer my candidacy for president of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Only your support can give me this great honor.

I will speak to you from my heart, as I have before. Today, I am answering the call of a large sector of the Egyptian people, who have asked me to come forward to receive this great honor. I consider myself to be, as I have always been, a soldier assigned to serve this country, in whatever capacity the people decide. In this, the first moment, I intend to be honest with you and with my country and with myself, as I have always been. We, the Egyptian people, have a mission that is extremely difficult, and extremely costly. The economic, social, political and security realities in Egypt, whether those before the January 25th revolution or those which have accumulated after it, until the June 30 revolution, have brought us to the point where we have no choice but to face these challenges bravely and honestly now.

Let us be frank with ourselves: our nation, Egypt, is facing enormous challenges and our economy is weak. There are millions of young people suffering from unemployment, and there are no jobs for them in Egypt. This is unacceptable. There are also millions of Egyptians who suffer from illness and have no access to decent medical care. This is also unacceptable. Egypt is wealthy in resources and in people, yet it is dependent on foreign aid and support. This is unacceptable. The Egyptians deserve a better life than this. They deserve to live with dignity, and to live in security, and to be free. They deserve the right to find decent work and medical treatment and education and food and housing. All of this must be accessible for all Egyptians.

All of us Egyptians have this extremely difficult mission. We must rebuild our state institutions, which are weak and unstable and unable to fulfill their duties to the Egyptian people. This is something that we must do. The state must once again become unified and coherent, and to speak with one voice. Also, its productivity must be revived full strength, in order to save our nation from the very real dangers which we face. The state must once again retrieve its stature and respect, so much of which it has lost. Our mission is to restore Egypt and to rebuild our nation.

What we have witnessed in the recent past, whether in politics or the media, internally or externally, have brought this country to the point where it has become dangerously vulnerable. It is time to put an end to this disrespect and hostile foreign interference. This is a sovereign nation, deserving of respect. It must be made clear to all that this is a new phase; that violating Egypt's sovereignty is a reckless and very dangerous endeavor. Those who do so will pay the price. Egypt is not a playground whether for domestic, regional or international players to use. And it will never be. We do not interfere in the internal matters of others. And we will never permit others to interfere in our internal matters. Fulfilling the Road-Map of the Future which was formulated by genuine patriots, has been the most urgent task before us. We have succeeded, with God's help, in drafting the constitution. And now we are taking the second step, by holding presidential elections. These will be followed by parliamentary elections.

My candidacy in no way constrains or denies anybody else from exercising the right and indeed the duty to run for president, of anybody who is persuaded that he or she is qualified to bear the responsibility. I will be happy if the successful candidate is the one genuinely chosen by the people, who has won the voters' trust. I call upon my fellow countrymen to remember that we all belong to Egypt, and that we are all in one boat, which we must bring safely to shore. This is no time to settle personal scores or to engage in petty conflicts. We want Egypt to belong to all Egyptians, without discrimination or exclusion. We reach out to everybody, internally and externally and declare that any Egyptian who has not broken any of the laws -- the laws to which all of us are subject equally -- is a full and active partner in building our nation's future.

Despite all the great difficulties faced by our nation, I stand before you without one atom of despair or doubt. On the contrary, I am full of hope in God and in your strong will, that Egypt will be transformed for the better and will take its rightful place among the advanced nations of the world. Your will has already accomplished a great deal; it was neither the politicians nor the armed forces that removed the previous two regimes. It was you, the people, who achieved this. The will of Egyptians is a magnificent thing; we have witnessed it and known its power.

However, all of us need to understand that we will have to work the hardest we can in order to overcome the obstacles that we face. Building the future is a joint enterprise. It is a pledge between the government and the people. The government is responsible for fulfilling its role faithfully, before God and before the people, with all honesty, honor, loyalty and patriotism. But the people also have a duty to work hard and be patient. The government cannot succeed alone, but only in an effective partnership with the people. All Egyptian people know that great victories are achievable, because we have achieved great victories before. But our will and our desire to succeed must be accompanied by hard work. The capabilities and talents of seven thousand years must be combined with concrete actions. Successful and advanced countries are built by those who work hard and faithfully. Hard labor will be required of every Egyptian man and woman. Every Egyptian man and woman will be expected to give of their best. I will be the first to offer my labor and sweat without limit, for the future that Egypt deserves to have. Now is the time to rally for the sake of our country, for the sake of Egypt.

I want to be frank with you: the circumstances, which you can see and know, do not allow me to run a traditional election campaign. Nevertheless, you have the right to know how I envision the future. I will share this with you through my election platform, and a my program for the achievement of a modern, democratic, Egyptian state. The vision and the program for achieving it will become available as soon as the Electoral High Commission allows. But with your permission, this will happen without extravagance, whether in terms of spending or practices, because I see this as inappropriate in our current circumstances. We are menaced by terrorists, who seek to destroy our lives and to destroy our peace and our security. It is true that this is the last day I will wear this uniform. But I will continue to fight every day for an Egypt free of fear, for an Egypt free of terror and panic. But not only Egypt: for the region as a whole, God willing.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: I would rather die than allow anyone to terrorize the Egyptians. Permit me to speak to you of hope: hope is the fruit of honest labor, it is security, it is stability. Hope is the dream that we will lead Egypt to the forefront of nations, that Egypt will once again become strong, capable, influential, and to teach the world as it has done in the past. I cannot perform miracles; all I can offer is hard work, full effort and self-denial without limits. If I am granted the honor of being chosen by you, I promise you that together we are capable of stability and security and fulfilling our hopes, with God's permission. God protect Egypt and her great people. Peace be upon you, and God's mercy and blessings.

That moved me, and I'm not an Egyptian.
Sounds like you all have a great leader to look forward to.

[AlicetheKurious]

That moved me, and I'm not an Egyptian.
Sounds like you all have a great leader to look forward to.

Yes, we do. God protect him.

[slimmouse]

Let us be frank with ourselves: our nation, Egypt, is facing enormous challenges and our economy is weak. There are millions of young people suffering from unemployment, and there are no jobs for them in Egypt. This is unacceptable. There are also millions of Egyptians who suffer from illness and have no access to decent medical care. This is also unacceptable. Egypt is wealthy in resources and in people, yet it is dependent on foreign aid and support. This is unacceptable. The Egyptians deserve a better life than this. They deserve to live with dignity, and to live in security, and to be free. They deserve the right to find decent work and medical treatment and education and food and housing. All of this must be accessible for all Egyptians.

Ive just borrowed this snippet, but the entire speech should be read to the rest of humanity, because it equally applies globally.

Both Earth and Humanity is being unnecessarily raped en-masse, by a tiny few.

Or A system that is clearly out of control.

The Egyptians are clearly sick of it, at least if Al-Sisis speech speaks for them..

It would appear to me the Egyptian people understand this a lot better than most

[AlicetheKurious]

In response to El-Sisi's speech, the Brotherhood of Satan went on another of their bloody rampages yesterday. Among the victims were two young women: Mayada Ashraf was a journalist on duty covering the riots Ein Shams, a suburb of Cairo. They shot her multiple times in the head and body. Mary Sameh George was a young Christian woman whom they stabbed and hacked to death because she was wearing a cross.


Mary Sameh George


Mayada Ashraf

As usual, nobody cared but us Egyptians.

[FourthBase]

MOTHERFUCKERS!!!

I fucking despise the Muslim Brotherhood, Alice. I care.

[American Dream]

http://www.migrant-rights.org/research/ ... y-we-love/

On Egypt; the Racist Country We Love

Mahmoud Omar * (Translation: Saqer Almarri)

After six failed attempts that always resulted in my return to Gaza, I managed at the seventh attempt to enter Egypt. The State Security took away my passport and gave me a yellow paper instead of it, which I kept with my high school diploma and some family pictures in the only bag I had. After exiting from the last gate at the border crossing, I bought a Vodaphone SIM card from a young Sinai man who was angered when I considered him, in good will, that he was an Egyptian. He looked at me with a look that may have not intended to be a deep look and said, “I’m not an Egyptian! I’m a Bedouin!”

After three years, I left Cairo for London, Mubarak was deposed, SCAF’s rule has ended, Muhammad Morsi won the elections, then Sisi kicked him off his seat. We had placed a picture of Sisi on our last apartment’s door in Wust El Balad [Downtown Cairo] for various reasons: for laughs, and to avoid suspicions from the neighbors. We had noticed that our plan to make everyone believe that we were Jordanians, not Palestinians, had begun to fail.

I had a brown mid-sized travel bag when I was leaving. I had placed in it my belongings, mementos, and questions that were far heavier than the twenty kilograms that was measured by the weight scale at the check-in desk of British Airways. In the taxi that took me to the airport with two of my friends, we listened to two songs that described Egypt in all its contradictions. Muhammad Muneer’s Bilad Tayyebah, and Anushka’s Teslam Al Ayadi.

In the airport, the police officer who stood by the boarding gate took my new passport in his hand. I had spent so much effort trying to get the new passport after the revolution that it felt like I was exorcising my soul out of my body, all this was because the passport taken by the State Security was lost. I could not find it in any of the State Security offices in Cairo. The officer asked me where I was going. He expressed astonishment that a Palestinian from Gaza was going to London. He looked at me quite suspiciously, “Is there nothing on you?” I put my hands in pockets and pulled out 10 pounds, which I gave him. The Arabic expression, “Concluded with a perfume” doesn’t apply to Egypt. In the Egypt that I know, the expression has to change to: “Concluded with a bribe”.

I had not spent much time in Egypt before I realized two issues that fought over the part of my heart that was taken by Egypt: I had fallen in love with this country, but I also had fallen into the trap that was constructed by the authorities which prevented it from reciprocating this love, or even offering any respect to me. In one of my errands, going from Zamalek to Wust El Balad, the taxi driver found out, while we chatted a little, that I was a Palestinian. He said, “We have a saying, ‘If one of your fingers is a Palestinian, then cut it off’.” I responded to him in a neutral tone, “Why would you say that?” Within me, I was wishing I could put my diplomacy aside, and poke his eye out.

These desires: to poke a driver’s eye out, or to spit in the face of the landlord who “does not rent to Palestinians” in 6 October, or to think of killing the university professor who accuses Palestinians of all car thefts in the country. They did not remain with me for a long time. As time passed by, and as I began to understand the complexity of the situation in Egypt, along with the serious shittiness in the hearts and minds of a great number of the people, I began to understand that it what was much bigger than all of us. It was the state.

It is possible to find a lot of racist prejudice among many Egyptians towards Palestinians especially, and generally towards all that isn’t Egyptian, Sunni, or male. However, what the Egyptians as a people have, in terms of a space, is nothing but a product that is easily marketable in the light of a broken society, a pitiful economy, and processes of reproducing “authentic” Egyptian myths and nonsense. The producer, the mothership of all this, is not the hearts of Egyptians, nor their minds. It is the machinations of the state’s media, and the strength of the “deep” state that distorts, misinforms, lies, and legalizes oppression and discrimination.

The security handling of the Palestinian, and treating all Palestinians on Egyptian soil as a potential danger to national security is not the policy of today, or yesterday. This policy has been fixed and applied for decades and decades. This policy has acquired its political and national dimensions after the signing of the Peace Treaty with Israel. Of this policy, the Palestinian poet Rashid Hussein spoke when he arrived in the Egyptian capital’s airport in 1972 assuming that the country would welcome him with open arms, instead security agents detained him for hours and hourse until he wrote: “I stand here in complete humiliation,/ in the airport of Cairo./ If only I was a prisoner/ In the prisons of Nazareth”.

Along with the security handling, there’s preventing people from entering the country, taking passports away, regular meetings with the State Security and State Intelligence, preventing Palestinians born of Egyptian mothers from gaining citizenship, and a massive amount of media distortions and lies that ebbs and flows, but never stops. I still remember clearly the issue of Al Masry Al Youm that exclusively published a phone conversation between a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and another of Hamas, where the Hamas member said, “We’re behind the Museum and we have slingshots.” When nonsense like this becomes frontpage news in the most important private Egyptian daily, I ask, “Is there enough walls for us to bang our heads against?”

It does not end there. Some well-known Egyptian activists said, (You see here that the pathetic distortions reaches even the “Revolutionary Youth”) “The Palestinians were guarding the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Muqattam.” What is their evidence? That armed individuals among the guards of the headquarters were shooting guns, and hitting people with their bullets! How can an Egyptian shoot a gun and hit a person? If he uses a pistol competently then he is a Palestinian, isn’t that right? Let’s remember also that the Gaza Palestinians have a plan to overtake Sinai, after they had “sold off their land”, and that the Qassam Brigades opened all the prisons during the revolution, and the cutting off of the electricity and gas from Cairo, because “it all went to Gaza”.

I remember very well my discussions with Jordanian friends, before the revolution and after it. They would always complain about the hopelessness of the Egyptian bureaucracy, or the lack of trustworthiness of taxi drivers, or how Egypt is a country that’s “not quite right in the head”. This, of course, is despite that their Jordanian passports protects them from the coldness of Egyptian racism. They had their confidence scratched and had lost their sense of superiority after they had moved from Jordan or a Gulf country, where Egyptians are a minority that are often subject to discrimination, to Egypt; the country that is full of Egyptians!

They concluded the line of complaints that they cannot wait for that moment when they finish their studies and leave this hopeless country, and head to Cairo airport with their passports in hand. Some of them even said they would really unbuckle their belts, take down their underwear so that they piss on Umm El Dunya until they unburden themselves before the aircraft left the Egyptian airspace. They were laughing, and I was too.

But I had no desire to piss on Egypt when I boarded the British Airways flight to London. I felt very sad, because I wasn’t leaving Egypt in a normal way. I was running away from Egypt. I was running away from its corrupt police, its ever-present army, and its twisted laws. I was running away from its traffic, newspapers, sexual harassment, its bridges, its yellow sun, its constant fail at making Salim’s nice cup of coffee.

I was running away from its constant racism for Palestinians in offices of the State Security, government institutions, in its airports and border crossings, in its media and banks, even in a significant number of writers, progressives, leftists, and revolutionary activists. I was also running away from those who still thought of Palestine the way Gamal Abdelnasser or Hassan Al Banna thought of it. These few people used to wear the Kuffiyah all day every day and ask often about the strength of the Popular Front, or the resurgence of the Palestinian Left, or knows the song “Fi Sabilillah Namdi”, and says that their life’s wish is to pray in Al Aqsa Mosque that is corrupted by the “Jews”.

But why, after all this running, that I treat anyone whose dialect is Egyptian as if they’re a lost treasure? Why was I upset when Ghana was won over Egypt’s football team? Why do I continue to test myself constantly on the names of the streets in Zamalek, Muhandiseen, Wust El Balad, and Garden City? Why do I curse London’s calm grayness and wish that I can have a cup of coffee at Al Nadwa Al Thaqafeyya’s Café to smoke half a pack of cigarettes before I head to Al Kehlawi to eat some livers, and end my day with some beer in Al Hurreya?

Perhaps because I love Egypt. But my heart that loved Egypt so much continues to insist, at the same time, to forget Egypt. It’s tongue comes out to me to say, “Do you love her you idiot? She doesn’t love you back! She doesn’t even remember you, and won’t remember you again. Only if you stood at her door for long, she’ll just throw you into her labyrinths again.” It’s as if this cursed heart would smoke a pipe, and cross its legs to tell me if I argued that I lived happily in Umm El Dunya, “Oh how in Egypt there is much to laugh about… But it is laughter in the form of weeping.”

Mahmoud Omar, a Palestinian writer, and blogger of Biography of a Refugee.