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Thursday, 25 May 2006
"Are you going to tomorrow's protest? If so, can you be my bodyguard?"
Text message from Leslie last night
"I didn't go last week, but I went the week before, and they attacked me them. I screamed bloody murder and started talking very loudly in english, and that scared them and they ran away!"
A journalist in the group
"Well, it can't be that bad if at the demonstrations if all of you joke about the beatings that happen or are suppsoe to happen to us!"
"No dude. It is that bad. The joking about horrifying things? That's just an egyptian thing."
"So the Ikhwan (MB) aren't coming?"
"That's the rumor!"
"Betraying and abandoning us at the most important hour. Why am I not surprised?"
"Freedom Where are you? Mubarak stands between us and you!"
A chant in today's protest
"Tell your friends the foriegn journalists that, as they can see, all is well and people are allowed to demonstrate like all people in all civilized countries do. In the civlized countries they all stay in one confined space, and they hold signs, but they don't chant or cause ruckus. Not like the thuggery we have here"
A police Major to me
"I am not worried about the ones with the battons. I am more worried about those ones over there. You see them?"
A friend pointing to the squadrons of plain-clothed thugs standing in formation across the street. There was about 300 of them, just wiating for the order to attack.
"Tell your foriegn friends to get away from here. That it's not safe for them. That within the next 10 minutes I can't gurantee their safety"
A plainclothed state-security agent to me
" They say they are not going anywhere. That they are not scared. They have been to Aghanistan and Iraq. You think that you can scare them after that?"
My reply to him
"Loving this country in this day and age is a crime. They have made loving this country a crime. Curse them"
A random guy on the street
"The MB are defintely not showing up!"
"Well, there is Mohamed Abdul Kuddous over there"
"Yeah, but he doesn't count. He will protest anything!"
Josh from the arabist and me
"How many state secuirty armored vehicles did you count?"
"I lost count after 25. You?"
"38 and counting! Ohh, look, 40!"
Me and another Journalist!
" The Judges are going to do a silent marsh? That blows. I work in Radio. Silent marshes do not work well in Radio."
Journalist for Voice of America!
"So are you Big Pharaoh, or are you the other one with the obscene name that I can not say?"
Same Journalist
"So they won't let them out, but they won't arrest them. Why haven't they attacked already? What are they waiting for? What are they afraid of?"
Me
" I know we have to go with the Judges, but what about the guys trappend in the press syndicate? If all the press leaves with the Judges, what's to stop the Police from opening hell on them?"
Her: No one got arrested. They just let them go after the protest was over.
Me: Hmm, so the one time I actually go and no one gets beaten up or arrested? Just my luck.
Her: Hehehe. Yeah, I know. This almost feels dissapointing.
Me: I am not so sure that it was!
Her: What do you mean? The MB didn't show up. The Total number of protesters was like 200. Where was the achievment today?
Me: Well, no one got arrested!
Her: So?
Me: The Ministery of Interior had said that there will be no more protests allowed, and yet people protested anyway. So they arrested them. More poeple protested the week after, they arrested them as well. More people protested the week after that, so they arrested them as well. And now this is the 4th week, and they have finally given up. They recognized that they can't stop protests. That's what we foght for from the begining, remember? Our right to freedom of speech? They said that there will be no more protests without arrests. And yet, we refused to give in, and now they are the ones who surrenderd. They know now that we can not be silenced any longer. That we will not give up our right to freedom of speech. Isn't that what we wanted all along?
May 25th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Great post, and good for you, all of you. With people like you, people who don’t give up, people who stand up for rights, there is hope for Egypt yet. There is hope for all of us!
May 25th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Congratulations on your success at the protest. Remember, the immortal words of Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
http://www.occupied-territory.blogspot.com
May 25th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
My hat is off for you and your friends. To think in Australia protestors think they are brave because someone might heckle them.
Keep up the great work and try to stay safe.
May 25th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Monkey,
I agree with you on one count: the goal is freedom of speech…so as far as that goes you are right. But do we have that right next Tuesday for instance…or the second Wednesday of next month? I think you get my point. We’ve won a tiny battle. Lets keep this in context
The biggest lesson to be learnt by people like me (and I can only assume SM, knowing his tilt on things) is done by closely examine and scrutinize the MB’s actions–or should I say lack of action. Ba`o bel rekhis zaman, we yebi`o bel rekhis delwaqt. Don’t ever forget that.
Will be at the DC demo, will give you a headcount and a pic or two if you’re interested.
Peace
May 25th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Thanks for the quotes!
May 25th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
shit… now you’ve got me crying…
(((huggles Sandy)))
May 25th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
First, I wanted to point to this post by Cross Roads Arabia who indicates that your story is being written about in the greater Arabic speak press:
http://xrdarabia.org/blog/archives/2006/05/22/watching-arabic-blogs/
Second, I do find it interesting that no one was arrested or beaten today. In some ways, I think the government was very smart. They convinced the MB to stand down and they didn’t arrest or beat anyone in the face of an organized, projected protest where the press was just waiting to see blood and repression while standing with the “free speech” people. didn’t happen. It is like letting air out of an over tight balloon. This is how Mubarek and his folks have been able to stay in power for so long.
May 25th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
Unfortunately it cannot be considered a true protest unless someone is arrested and it cannot be considered a successfull protest unless someone is beaten up.
From your quotes this one barely qualifies as an open air meeting
Herlock Sholmes
May 25th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
“So are you Big Pharaoh, or are you the other one with the obscene name that I can not say?”
I was telling a woman at work who’s from Egypt about this site, and when I said “sandmonkey.org”, she almost did a spit-take.
May 25th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
I am sad to report the bad news: some protestors were beaten and Kidnapped after the demonstration.
http://www.manalaa.net/detained_again
May 25th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Damn
I’m so impressed with the bravery you guys are showing. I hope that I could be as brave if placed in your circumstances.
May 25th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Suppose in a way its good that the MB didn’t turn up. It shows their true colours. They really don’t care for independence of the judiciary or freedom of speech. They have a thirst for power and will do what it takes to ensure that they staisfy it. They use Islam to try and legitimise their corrupt self-serving, suppodsedly ‘islamic’ ideals when all it is is a desire to be the next in line to rule Egypt.
May 25th, 2006 at 5:59 pm
MB didn’t show up. Hmmm. I guess now we know why Al Jazeera didn’t cover run the demonstration promos.
Well, anyway… good going, SM… sounds like you had an exciting day
May 25th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
SM, congrats on the success but let’s just hope that it isn’t temporary or for reasons other than what we think. However what I can truly respect is seeing the strong desire and the non stop protests. You’re right you keep protesting, and they keep arresting, you keep protesting, and they keep arresting until the jails are full and then you keep protesting, and they can’t keep arresting. That day you would have one and taken a huge step somehow.
I just wish we had more people like you in Sudan. People there have become way too demotivated and lost the spirit for such activities. They handed their hopes to Allah already and are waiting for a miracle. Unfortunately they forget that Allah does not help those who don’t help themselves.
May 25th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
1. I’m extremely glad you didn’t get hurt.
2. You and the others are extremely brave for going to peacefully protest believing you would be hurt for doing so
3. Big victories are often made up of lots of little victories. You guys scored a very big, little victory. Congratulations
4. Crossing my fingers that more little and big victories follow.
May 25th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
[...] Some of them are very touching, and others are very funny. (Especially Josh’s quote about Abdel Kuddous.) Link. “Tell your foreign friends to get away from here. That it’s not safe for them. That within the next 10 minutes I can’t gurantee their safety” A plainclothed state-security agent to me [...]
May 25th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
The problem with your analysis, Drima, is that the Egyptian government has to maintain some semblance of civility, albeit, a minimum one. I suspect that if people protested in Khartoum, they might be met with bullets instead of handcuffs. This is where pressure from outside countries comes into play. As much as the U.S. State Department might want to sweep all of this under the rug, if Mubarak was to have cops or the military open fire on protesters, he would undoubtedly be met with howls of protest from Congress and he might well see his U.S. aid evaporate quite quickly.
Khartoum’s government, by contrast, is an outlaw regime that, to a much larger extent than Egypt’s, doesn’t really give a fuck what the U.S. or anybody else thinks. Peaceful protests cannot happen in the a vacuum; the oppressor still has to have some standards for peaceful protest to work.
For instance, if Gandhi and his followers had lived under a German-occupied India instead of the British crown and he had attempted peaceful protest against Hitler, he and his followers would have been eliminated in a hurry.
May 25th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
“For instance, if Gandhi and his followers had lived under a German-occupied India instead of the British crown and he had attempted peaceful protest against Hitler, he and his followers would have been eliminated in a hurry. ”
that couldn’t be a good exemple for the germans had no tea time ! aber grossen Bier geschmacken !
May 25th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
mohamed el-sharqawi and karim el sha3er, 2 YOUTH FOR CHANGE activists were detained today and brutally tortured and sexually abused by oficers inside qasr el nil police station, before they were referred to state security prosecutor’s office in heliopolis.
May 25th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
hmmmm……… The first time SM is there and the goons back down. Looks like maybe a precarious tipping point has been reached.
I wish my government (U.S.) would invite Mubarak to a discreet little
party in the woodshed so real reform would be allowed in Egypt.
May 25th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
[...] In Ägypten… “Well, it can’t be that bad if at the demonstrations if all of you joke about the beatings that happen or are suppsoe to happen to us!” “No dude. It is that bad. The joking about horrifying things? That’s just an egyptian thing.” The Sandmonkey [...]
May 26th, 2006 at 12:15 am
As long as folk are willing to stand up and take real risk for what they believe in, the fight will move forward. This works for both sides in any conflict.
When it comes to the big ideals, there is no “middle ground”. It’s either yes or no, never maybe.
Ok, done with the cliches for now.
Now, SM and all y’all… please do keep in mind that any regime that relies on fear inspiring force to remain in power might hold back from use of that fear inspiring force but only temporarily.
Also, the longer that force is held back the more viscious it will be when finally released.
It is a good thing y’all are doing. It is good because what you are trying to achieve is a betterment for your fellows and because if you succeed the necessity of that betterment being created by a foreign military force is negated.
May 26th, 2006 at 12:26 am
I’m glad you weren’t trying to demonstrate today in Iran.
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP117406
They fired on the chanting crowd with live ammo, and called it a riot.
May 26th, 2006 at 1:22 am
Yer funny sandmonkey. You think Mubarek is your problem. Sheesh! Mubarek is all that stands between you and islamist hell. When you get the MB’s work done for them (useful idiot) the very first thing they will do is come and get you and saw your head off your shoulders with a rusty dull knife.
May 26th, 2006 at 1:30 am
“Khartoum’s government, by contrast, is an outlaw regime that, to a much larger extent than Egypt’s, doesn’t really give a fuck what the U.S. or anybody else thinks.”
Tommy that one cracked me up badly…
Yay to my government! Go Sudan Goooo! =p
May 26th, 2006 at 1:57 am
A good day….
…but I wonder what will happen when the foreign journalists go home. Mubarak may have backed down and conceded the principle of the right to protest, but when has he ever felt bound by consistency?
May 26th, 2006 at 2:14 am
I would love for the Egyptian democracy movement to flourish. But let’s be honest, it is a bad sign when the movement’s followers are pleased with a turnout of 200 in a city of 20 million in the country that is ground zero for the movement. That is a terrible turnout. So far the entire grouping of this “movement” are middle to upper-middle class Egyptians who follow the blogosphere, foreign journalists and Western idealists, and the occasional MB or Kifaya or Ghad member. How about getting full force from MB, Ghad, and Kifaya? How about getting the Wafdists, Togammu, and reform-minded NDP on as well? How about some more middle to upper-middle class, young, educated Egyptians who do not follow the blogosphere, which most Egyptians do not. Where are the Copts? How about some average Egyptians for a change. Honestly, this movement, in typical Egyptian fashion, is fairly lazy. People just sit at their computers, make up a random date, tell their friends about it, and show up. No publicity. No canvassing. No drive.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:40 am
That is a terrible turnout.
Given that protesters are facing abuse, arrest and who knows what else, I’d say those are 200 of the bravest people I can point to today. I don’t think that’s terrible, I think that’s a foundation.
The Flood started with a single drop of rain.
200 may be only a drop, but the flood, it is a comin.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:00 am
“For instance, if Gandhi and his followers had lived under a German-occupied India instead of the British crown and he had attempted peaceful protest against Hitler, he and his followers would have been eliminated in a hurry.”
Likewise in an Egypt ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, which will be similar to Iran today.
May 26th, 2006 at 11:27 am
Sand: I don’t want to bother you in the middle of what is indeed a very corageous stand that you are taking, but if you find the time to visit my blog, my last post comments something that you wrote in a comment to a previous post.
Aniway, good luck, man.
May 26th, 2006 at 11:27 am
“anyway”
May 26th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
Tommy
For instance, if Gandhi and his followers had lived under a German-occupied India instead of the British crown and he had attempted peaceful protest against Hitler, he and his followers would have been eliminated in a hurry.
Gandhi would disagree about peaceful protest only working in certain circumstances.
An account of the Salt March:
“Receiving the signal, a large group of local police officers suddenly moved towards the advancing protestors and subjected them to a hail of blows to the head delivered from steel-covered Lathis (truncheons). None of the protesters raised so much as an arm to protect themselves against the barrage of blows. They fell to the ground like pins in a bowling alley. From where I was standing I could hear the nauseating sound of truncheons impacting against unprotected skulls [...] Those being subjected to the onslaught fell to the ground quickly writhing unconsciously or with broken shoulders [...] The police attacked repeatedly and the second group were also beaten to the ground. [...] If [the police] were unable to break the skulls of all the protesters, they now set about kicking and aiming their blows at the genitals of the helpless on the ground. “For hour upon hour endless numbers of motionless, bloody bodies were carried away on stretchers…”
Also, do not forget the prelude…the Armritsar Massacre:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amritsar_Massacre
May 26th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
[...] The protesters stayed on the steps of the Journalists’ Syndicate until they had shouted themselves hoarse at around 3:30 p.m. They were allowed to leave peacefully. One friend, a journalist for the LA Times, was pepper-sprayed as he was trying to cross police lines to leave the protest, but I saw him immediately afterward and he was fine. I’ve posted a few photos of the day’s events on Flickr. Contributors to Arabist.net were all over it. Sandmonkey has some very funny quotes from his day in the sun. It seemed the day had passed peacefully, that the government deserved congratulations for having come to its senses and realizing that cracking down on such protests damage it far more than permitting them. And then word came over SMS that Karim Al-Shaer and Mohamed Al-Sharqawi, two recently released activists who had defied warnings not to attend further protests, had been arrested, beaten, and brutally sexually assaulted in police custody at the Qasr al-Nil police station in downtown Cairo. Activists who saw them at the State Security Prosecutor’s office collected their testimony. State Security interrogators imprisoned both for another 15 days. Ahmed Salah, another recently released activist who had defied warnings not to participate in further protests, managed to escape arrest by hiding in the Judges’ Club. [...]
May 26th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Great post. You’ve definitely offered a conduit for readers in to the realities of Egypt.
Please visit my blog! http://egyptianobserver.blogspot.com
May 26th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Looks like you guys had a blast. God I love sitting at home getting drunk.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:08 pm
ArmyArtilleryWife,
You make a good point, Gandhi’s struggle was hardly bloodless. However, I think part of the appeal that these massacres had was on the moral sensibilities of the British people. A certain portion of British public opinion thought the government had went overboard with the Armristar massacre and there were attempts to “spin” the issue by the British government.
I doubt the Nazis or today’s Sudanese government would concern itself too much with these issues.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
Gandhi might have thought otherwise (though I doubt it), but that wouldn’t have stopped the Nazis from sticking his skinny ass in the ovens with everybody else they didn’t like.
Peaceful protest doesn’t work on an amoral government that will not hesitate to kill as many as need die.
How many Kurd and Shiite bodies were dug up in Saddam’s killing fields? They may have tried peaceful protest a time or two — but it sure as heck didn’t do them any good.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
Time has an article with some interesting information here:
http://www.time.com/time/europe/html/060522/story.html
May 26th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
EGYPT: A protester at a rally in support of judges last week. The protest turned violent when riot police cracked down.
The protest turned violent when the riot police….what? rioted?
May 26th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
Interesting SandMonkey….200 protestors from an almost 8 million population….and u want to take Mubarak down and spread peace?! perhaps the same way it happened with the Frensh Revolution?!!
U dont represent the majority man. my cousine i living in Egypt, and is well exposed to the situation and the society….he says that this is all media making a big fuss outta nothing.
May 27th, 2006 at 12:59 am
“Excellence can be attained if you Care more than others think is wise, Risk more than others think is safe, Dream more than others think is practical, and Expect more than others think is possible.”
Be careful though!!
May 27th, 2006 at 4:56 am
SITN, my point exactly, but its worse than you say, the population of greater Cairo is closer to 20 million than 8 million. I’m interested to see hwo the otheri nternational events went. I’m guessing none surpassed 50.
May 27th, 2006 at 7:30 am
Ya monkey, seems you were at the peaceful protest and missed the one with the action:
http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/mideast/egypt25may06na.html
May 27th, 2006 at 8:33 am
Mideastbeast
ur mistaken as well lols i missed a zeroooo!! the Egyptian population is almost 80 million 
May 27th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Righteous is always delicious! Good job SM good job.
May 27th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
It wasn’t just the British public that Gandhi was aiming at–it was the world in general.
I’m not necessarily arguing that peace protest is always effective–just that Gandhi would have disagreed with the original argument. Gandhi was willing to die for his cause, as were his most dedicated followers. They suffered brutality and the presence of journalists did not stop this.
I think that sanctions and boycotts fail in despotic regimes (the rulers just rip off the populace, smuggle to get their own wealth, and then blame the nations that are boycotting to explain the people’s suffering).
Perhaps non-violent protests do as well…but I know Gandhi would disagree with that.
Non-violent protest by the people however works on a different theory–that love will win against hate, and that it is braver.
Even on a practical level civil disobedience and non-violent protest works differently–after all, there are more of us (the people) than there are of them (the despotic oppressors).
May 27th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
@beastfromthemiddleeast. This is the same exact argument that I just made in one of my posts. Let me know what you think of my most recent post.
http://egyptianobserver.blogspot.com
May 27th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
Hey S.M.
No new posts? where are you? hope you are not arrested……
May 27th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
SM,
Please post. This post isn’t a good post to just drop the ball on. Throw something out there, so we know you are OK.
May 27th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Please respond.
May 27th, 2006 at 8:08 pm
Anyone in the neighborhood - please check on him.
May 27th, 2006 at 8:25 pm
You people are paranoid - the guy is ok, and maybe not in the mood to blog, or maybe he hasn’t paid his Internet bill and so doesn’t have access and can’t be bothered to carry the damn laptop to an Internet cafe, or maybe, seeing as it’s his weekend, he’s chosen to relax and cut himself off from technology.
GIVE THE GUY A BREAK.
May 27th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
There’s the knock on the door late at night. TSGT. USAF(ret.)
May 27th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
As I said - anyone in the neighborhood.
May 27th, 2006 at 8:36 pm
Yo…now I am concerned. Sam, where are you?
May 27th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
A couple of words on the evil of drink.
May 27th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Chuckles - in our countries we’re safe from a knock on the door - the’re not.
May 27th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
Now you got us really worried… where the hell are you????…. this is not funny.
May 28th, 2006 at 1:16 am
It might be like Hal said: maybe he doesn’t want to blog right now, though given his rather prolific regular blogging it seems hard to believe. He could be sick, but he just recovered from being ill a little while ago. It just worries me to see him drop off after a demonstration against the government rather than something more mundane, especially since other bloggers were arrested during the course of the protests and things being so wild in Egypt right now.
May 28th, 2006 at 1:19 am
Completely off-topic but I could use your assistance if any of you has the answer to this question:
The Muslim Council of Britain has a media director named Inayat Bunglawala. I’ve look all over the internet for information on his educational background but I cannot find it. Specifically, I am looking to find out which college or university he attended (and maybe also what he graduated in, say journalism perhaps). Is anybody familiar with this guy? Does anybody know where this guy went to school?
May 28th, 2006 at 2:37 am
Dear Tommy
These people do not “study”… they are basically agents of the “Wahhabi intelligence” (how is that for an oxymoron?!!!!)… They are trained to work on religiously ignoramus to brainwash them and transfer their allegiance from there homelands to the “Kingdom”, this is the plan. They believe they will be ruling the world in only a few generations… Well, I tell you, if the west keeps on being tolerant, and be politically correct (!) about this shit…. they have no idea!
May 28th, 2006 at 2:50 am
Well, I’m not saying I’m a fan of this guy (quite the opposite, this guy is an extremist pretending to be a moderate), but he did grow up in England and presumably must have a degree in something like journalism or political science or something from the local college or university.
May 28th, 2006 at 2:59 am
You better report the S.O.B. to the authorities, before he sends a squadron of “mogahedin” to do the work of “God”!
May 28th, 2006 at 3:03 am
Hopefully he’s just keeping a low profile for the time being.
May 28th, 2006 at 3:38 am
I wouldn’t worry about him Max. I’m an American, anyhow. However, I did run across any article in which he states he graduated from a university (presumably in the UK). I need to find out what university he graduated from. I’ve looked all over the place without any success.
May 28th, 2006 at 4:39 am
Yo - Monkey!
May 28th, 2006 at 5:15 am
SM,
Am getting kind of worried too. It isn’t like you to be so quiet. Please say something.
tommy,
What difference does it make where he graduated from? I hate the guy. I hate the MCB.
May 28th, 2006 at 5:33 am
LouLou,
Read this post: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=20760_A_Death_Threat_from_Reuters_(Bumped)&only
May 28th, 2006 at 5:35 am
LouLou,
It is a long story. I hate the guy also. But for the sake of some “investigating” I’m doing, I would like to know if anybody has the answer.
May 28th, 2006 at 5:43 am
Where are you?
May 28th, 2006 at 8:30 am
You guys know that I am really furious with the MB. The leftists have protested in solidarity with THEM millions of times. But will they ever do it for someone else? I hate them. They are just scummy politicians, and scarier than that they think they can interpret religion for everyone else. They could not take time out of their busy fatwa-mongering schedule to show a bit of solidarity over people who are fighting for their (and everyone else’s) right to representation and judicial review? Screw them. And my God destroy their houses.
November 7th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
this is fucked up. lol i will right more ok!
November 7th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
srry about my lingo but ya…