Category

This past week

I have been gone for this past week, but I wasn't absent in any way. I was running around helping an Australian friend do a report on May 4th. Here are glimpses of the days that passed by and the people that I met during.

Going to the Hesham Mubarak center is a head-trip. In front […]

May 4th coverage

Today is Mubarak's Birthday (Happy Mubarak Day, people!) and the day of the new strike. There are two new organizational developments that differentiate this strike from April 6th: The Mahalla workers said they wouldn't join, and the Muslim Brotherhood decided to join. The scale of it this time, however, seems smaller and unorganized, which is […]

Cause women should be able to walk the streets safely

One Million Signatures Campaign
Support Women's Demands for a New Law Against Sexual Harassment
ECWR’s
One Million Signatures Campaign for a law protecting women from sexual
harassment is part of our broader Campaign Against Sexual Harassment:
Making our Street Safer for Everyone, which began in 2005 in response
to complaints from Egyptian and foreign women exposed to sexual
harassment in Egypt’s streets. […]

It’s not that young egyptians are apathethic…

…we are just plain ole politically ignorant!
How they do it, though, I have noooo idea! 

Sharqawy’s publishing house ransaked by Vice police

It happened an hour ago and the details are still hazy. The Public Morality Police (we actually have one) has just stormed Sharqawy's publishing house, and confiscating all of the available copies of the egyptian graphic novel "Metro" . The police are demanding the presence of Shrqawy and Metro's author Magdy el Shafey and are […]

Breaking: Khairat Al Shater sentenced to jail

The MB number 2 man and main Financier, Khairat Al Shater, just received his sentencing in the MB militray tribunals: 7 Years for financing the MB's activities. Hassan Malek also received the same sentence, Two others received 5 years, 13 received 3 years and 5 who are abroad received 10 years of sentencing. All in […]

And the beat goes on

Previously on Sandmonkey: Mahalla was awash in riots , people were tearing down Mubarak pictures, and arbitrary arrests were everywhere. We last stopped after the news of the arrest of George Ishac.
Now, where were we?  Oh yeah, George Ishac. Hmm..
Well, to be honest, while I was shocked and totally against it, I wasn't too […]

Breaking news: George Ishac arrested from his home

The outspoken Kefaya leader was arrested an hour ago. The backlash has begun!

There is a reason why I love camera phones

 They allow you to take pictures like this one. 
   (h/t Isis )

And people called us liars and exaggerators when we said that the police is the one doing the damage to their equipment to claim that the people are violent and out of control! 
hmmph 

We have come to see the Day…

 (Picture by Nasser Nouri, via Hamalawy )
Ammar, when he saw this picture, had one comment to make : Hopefully one day we will have this too in Syria.
Yeah, I hope so too Ammar.
The Mhalla riots are going into their second strong day. 50,000 people are rioting. The police is shooting tear gas, rubber bullets, you […]

Aftermath

The following happened after I stopped blogging yesterday: Malek was released, we found out where Sharqawy was detained, there was a tiny protest at the Lawyer's syndicate in Cairo , and the city of Mahalla went on fire. Clashes erupted between the people and the police, shots were fired, over 100 detained and at least […]

The Egyptian Opposition’s sense of Irony

Any serious follower of egyptian politics must've laughed his/her ass off when they heard the news of the 6th of April strike, and not just because of the laundry list of ridiculous shit that this strike is supposed to be about. No, they would laugh for a far simpler reason than that: You see, […]

Studies shows that Life was tough for ancient egyptians

Somethings never change I guess….

Someone has to be held accountable

Right now, there are about 25 tabs on each of the 3 firefox windows that I have open, filled with things that I want to blog about for days, but haven't been able to. Not because I am busy, not because I am suffering from some sort of an emotional crisis, but because I couldn't […]

The 6th of April Strike

There is supposed to be some sort of strike on the 6th of April organized by Kifaya, the Karama and Wasat Parties and the workers of various government factories and ministeries. They are calling it the "Egyptian Intifiadah", cause, you know the Palestinian one worked out so well. Here is the text in English:

“All national […]

Makari just got famous

While it is illegal to do so, there are evangelical forces operating in Egypt to convert Muslims to Christianity. The two very famous ones are the Protestant Qasr El Dobara church in downtown Egypt, and the Coptic St. Mark Church in Shobra. Qasr El Dobara does good old evanagelism through usually really good sermons, and […]

It could happen here

I just saw Persepolis, and I am in awe.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, you need to check out either the Graphic Novels by Marjane Starpi by that same name or the 2007 Oscar nominated film (the one I am talking about right now). I read the books before and just […]

Iran is like Egypt

..in reverse..

Iran's hard-liners head into Friday's parliamentary elections burdened by the unpopularity of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
because of an ailing economy. But they have a safety net: Rival
reformists are crippled after the clerical leadership threw out their
best candidates.
[..]
The Guardian Council, a body of hard-line clerics and jurists who check
candidates for their loyalty to the revolution, barred […]

They let 60 in

Those uppity MB activists. They should be grateful:

Egypt's
largest opposition group accused the government of sharply curbing its
chances in upcoming local elections by allowing only 60 of its 10,000
potential candidates to register amid an ongoing crackdown against the
group.
"The Brotherhood were ready to register in all the local councils,"
he told reporters in front of parliament. Nearby, […]

Our functioning Democracy

Since we are on the eve of thenational municipal elections, I would like to report that the MB will not win a single seat anywhere in this country. You know why? Because none of them finished their nomination papers on time. Lazy you might say? Nope. They are all missing their "Feesh and tashbeeh" ( […]