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Mubarak’s Egypt NO MORE

February 12, 2011 By 272 Comments

Today, the people were more resolved than ever to get rid of Hosny Mubarak, especially after last night's provocative statement. I went to the presidential palaces alongside thousands of Egyptians and we surrounded it completely. Within a couple of hours we received the news: MUBARAK HAD ABDICATED!

Now, mind you, he didn't really abdicate..the army overthrew him. That's why we only had Omar Suleiman letting us know this. But it doesn't matter. We will get all the money they stole and use it to rebuild the country.

Tonight will be the first night where I go to bed and don't have to worry about state security hunting me down, or about government goons sent to kidnap me; or about government sponsored hackers attacking my website. Tonight, for the first time ever, I feel free…and it is awesome! :)

Save any and all disagreements with any of the groups that operate them. We will disagree with each other, and that will be sweet because no more dictatorship. Tomorrow we squabble,and…tonite?

TONIGHT WE CELEBRATE! :)

 FUCK OFF MUBARAK..I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL! :)

Filed Under: Mubarak

Mubarak’s gamble

February 11, 2011 By 120 Comments

Earlier yesterday, I spoke to Wael Ghonim and he told me to expect some very good news around 5 pm that night, but he never elaborated what it is. Around 10 am, we heard that Saudi Arabia, alongside UAE and Kuwait, are creating an aid package to Egypt to possibly replace that of the US. Around 4 pm last night, we recieved the news that the President itends to step down tonight and give all of his responsbilities to the VP, Omar Suleiman. The Army then convened and issued its first statement, in a meeting without Mubarak or his VP around 5 pm. Around 9 pm Egypt time, Obama did a speech congratulating the people of Egypt for their march for democracy, so it seemed like a done deal. Finally, an hour later than originally announced, President Hosny Mubarak , against all expectations and information, refused to step down from his post, and said that he refuses any foreign interference in Egypt.  The White House then announced that it has been double-crossed by the Egyptian regime.

 Now, what does this all mean?

Well, 4 main things:

1) Mubarak is not going to leave Office without bloodshed. Any attempt for a peaceful exit has been discarded by his regime, and they are intending to fight the will of the people until the end.

2) Mubarak has burned the image of Hossam Badrawy and the Wisemen council with his speech. Hossam Badrawy, the secretary general of the NDP, was the face of the NDP that announced Mubarak's intenetion to abdicate power later tonight. Now the man has no credibility. Same goes for the Wiseman Council, since Mubarak's speech was focused on how he has met their demands, which don't include him leaving. If most of them don't quit their posts today, I would be greatly surprised.

3) We are seeing the first possible split in the power structure in Egypt: It seems that the Armed forces are in one camp, and the president, intelligence agencies and the republican guard in another camp. If you add to the equation the Ministery of Interior and the protesters, you have 4 players right now in an intensely unpredictable power struggle. We are now awaiting the second statement from the High council of amred forces to clearify their position once and for all. Whether the Army is with or against the people will determine a lot of today's outcome.

4) Mubarak has now put the US in a corner: He double-crossed the White House, and announced his intentions to fight foriegn intervention. Adding to that the news of the arab aid, he is sending the US a clear message: "I could tell you and your aid to go to hell, and get the money from the arabs instead. Where does this leave your precious Israel? If you don't want us to cause problems on that front,  you better shut up about what we will do and get with the program, or else!"

If you take all of those factors into consideration, the situation starts looking intensely ominous. If the regime and the army has split, we could see major fighting and bloodshed today. If the Army is with the President, then they will all turn their guns on the Protesters, who are determined not to live under Mubarak rule for one extra day. It also means that he put on the line the future of the transitional government with Omar Suleiman in charge, because Suleiman's fate seems intensely intertwined with the President now. This has become a fight for survival: it's either the regime or the people. The bad news is, the regime has all the weapon and organization. The good news is, the people are determined and increasing in numbers and the army might step in and save us all unnecessary bloodshed.

It all depends on the army's statement now.

The wait is killing me. 

Filed Under: Egypt, Mubarak

On Obama’s vsit to Egypt!

May 9, 2009 By 155 Comments

So, the one has chosen the land of the Nile to make his appeal to the muslim world, choosing it over options like Saudi (the birthplace of Islam), Jordan (Hey America, we will do anything for you to like us), Turkey (The Secular Muslim people, and part ally who likes to put its nose in everything) and Indonesia (They housed Obama when he was still an innocent muslim baby, before the evil Cross worshipers got to him..Boo on them).For practical reasons, the choice is brilliant, because in order to appeal to the muslim world, you have to do it from an arab country, otherwise the arab muslims won't respond. It's a chauvinism thing. The first muslims and all. So, yeah, Turkey would've been a bad choice for that reason, if not also due to its safety (yeah go to the muslim country that actually shows sex on TV). Ditto for Indonesia and any southasian countries, who, regrettebly, all of the arab countries regard as subhumansand thus an insulting choice. Saudi would've been too on the nose, especially after "the bow", and Jordan, well, they are too small and too eager to please really. So, yeah, Egypt, as a choice makes sense (biggest arab islamic country, women can drive here, we are secular but not really, and no bowing has occured between Obama and Mubarak…yet). And for Personal reasons, I like it, because it's like the ugly girl getting picked to go to the prom by the school's top hunk. So let me take this moment to be gracious about all of this and say:


Obama is coming to EGYPT. Nyanyanyanyanyaaaa! Fuck you Jordan, Fuck you Indonesia, Fuck you Malaysia, Fuck you Morocco, Fuck you Qatar, Fuck
you Saudi, AND especially Fuck you Turkey! Go suck Dicks!

Sorry, had to get this off of my chest.

Now, this is of course good news to Mubarak and to his regime, and a sign that the current regime is responding to the heavy courting that they have been engaging in for a few months now (The Ghaza offensive position, ending the crisis before the inaguration with one day, freeing Ayman Nour). This makes Mubarak happy, because its a nod to Egypt's once prominent regional weight, and the egyptians happy, because we are chauvinistic fuckers, and we love that shit. Everybody's happy..well… not everybody.

Lots of democracy activists are not happy, especially leftists ones. They are considering the visit as cowering to a dictator and giving him undeserved prominence. This is incredibly funny to me personally, because I always thought their position on America's push for democracy and rights in Egypt as "unwanted imperialistic interference in Egyptian affairs, and anyone who wants it is a tratorous stupid ignorant zionist jew spy dog". At least this was the case the Bush years. How time changes things. The people on the right, well, they are not really outraged, because they always knew that this would happen with Obama's election, and have been preparing themselves for it. Reaching out to countries that are run by dictators involves turning a slightly blind eye to their activities. That's the cold hard realpolitik and I am not sure we can blame him for that. I am sure many of you will do that anyway. Honestly, not my concern at the moment. I am more curious about other things.

For example. where will he hold his speech exactly? My preferred choice would be The Manssah, where Sadat is buried. It would be very symbolic to have the chosen one do his speech in front of the grave of the Hero of war and peace, which would be also a nice nod for peace in the middle-east and a rebuttal to the islamic extremists who killed him. Another good location is AlAzhar itself; talk about reaching to the islamic world. Another question I want to ask is , what will happen if rumors that Obama is really a muslim start running wild in Egypt? Having him as a muslim President who has to hide it because of the Jews that control AMERIKKKA is a very plausible conspiracy theory for the conspiracy-theory-loving egyptians. I wonder if they start calling him President Hussen Obama in the newspaper after that. And finally: do you think that the leftists activists who are very pissy about Obama's visit will actually do something about it? Like, will they start a demonstration maybe? Man, I think I will roll on the floor laughing the moment I see an "Obama is Bush" poster. Oh, and I promise to take pictures!;)

Filed Under: American politics, Mubarak, Only in Egypt

A Psychotic day in Egypt

December 15, 2008 By 6 Comments

Today has been quite a psychotic day in Egypt. First of all, today was the sentencing of the 49 people who got arrested during the Mahalla riots, 22 of which were sentenced to jail time between 3 and 5 years. There was literally no evidence against them, and the decisions can not be appealed. It was an abortion of Justice, and all in order to set an example to other egyptians: You can't tear down Mubarak pictures and stand on them and expect to get away with it.

And there is today's incident in Alex, which was very very Bizzare. In Egypt we have those motorcycles- vehicles that can seat 3 people in the back, and are called the "Toktok", and are used to transport people around. They are a cheap alternative to taxis and they are not allowed to be registered in most govornrates, but are generally tolerated. Well, a police Officer stopped a Toktok today and wanted to confiscate it. When the Driver's pleadings fell to deaf ear, the driver decidded to resport to drastic measure: He got out a bottle of fuel, and doused himself and his motorcycle with it, threatening to set himself and the vehicle on fire if it got confiscated, since it's the one piece of property he has. The Police officer reportedly told him to go ahead and and the man actually did it and set himself on fire, and was then sent to the Hospital for severe burns. Apparently the man's relatives and friends heard about it, but in the version they heard, the driver was actually set on fire by a cigarette the police officer flicked on him in his gasoline soaked state, so they went and attacked the police, throwing them with stones and empty bottles. The riot police was brought in and 15 people were arrested.

 The country is going to hell in a hand basket, it seems!

Filed Under: just plain wrong, Mubarak, Only in Egypt

What’s destroying Downtown Cairo

December 14, 2008 By 20 Comments

AP has a piece on how religion and decrepitude are threathening downtown Cairo Bars. I know a third source of threat: Gamal Mubarak. Our boy wonder has a project for downtown cairo, one he calls- and I wish I was joking- "Mini Dubai. Our boy, using a fake front of a company called "Al-Ismaelia for construction and development", is buying buildings left and right over there clandestinely, with the plan of leveling them and building new High-rises and Towers. You know, give downtown a post-modern face-life. I have two problems with that plan: 1) The architecture of the old downtown buildings in Cairo is second to none in their beauty, but are tarnished by the horrible neon signs of the 7 billion clothes and shoe stores there, and the fact that they desperately need renovation. 2) One of the buildings that our boy intends to own, is the one hosting the historical Cafe Riche, which is why it has been closed for the past year or so. The historical cafe, 100 years old, has been a central figure in Cairo's history and literary mythology. This is the place where they printed leaflets of the 1919 uprising against the brits; it used to hide activists and come with hidden passageways to help them evade the police; it is heavily mentioned and refrenced in Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy and in it was the birth of his AlKarnak masterpiece; and it's the place where Cairo's literary stars, artists and actors have met for decades. It's all of that, and Jimmy wants to tear it all down, so he can have his Dubai High-rise.

So far the owner has been fighting this, and Jimmy's name has avoided being in the papers because so far the owner of the building hasn't recorded the sale yet, and law suits are flying back and forth. There will be an argument amongst some people, stating that such move to upgrade and upscale downtown is inevtiable, hiding behind "the inevtiable march of progress" as their justification. I reckon that if they want to upgrade parts of downtown, I can point them out to a number of areas that are both ugly and hold no historical value what so ever. And maybe they would be served to remember that their battle shouldn't be with aging or historical buildings, but with the lack of symmetry and ugliness that plague our streets (See Mohandeseen, see Nasr City). We are a country full of history, and our problem is that while we are quick to tout it, we do not respect it at all. Preservation is a word that's somehow absent from out vocabulary, and it can be seen in the miserable condition we treat the Pharaonic treasures in that run-down warehouse we call the egyptian museum. So please, either renovate Downtown, or leave it the fuck alone. But don't you dare destory one of the most beautiful parts of cairo, just so you can show foriegn investors how Dubai-like you are. Fuck you, fuck them and fuck Dubai all on the same day and twice on sunday. Have we fallen so far behind, and become so envying of Dubai, that we will do anything to claim that we are like it? Fine, apply their business practices first, or maybe their tax rate, or even their policy towards the protection of women froms exual harrassment first, and then build the highrises. Or, better yet, Dubai was built in a desert, and 90% of Egypt is desert, so why not build there? And Jimmy, why not move there while you are at it, so, you know, you can be next to your precious dubai-like skyline? Trust me, none of us will mind. Better yet, move to Dubai, and you can have all the sky-line that your little heart desires.

Filed Under: Egypt, Mubarak

“The Persians are trying to devour the arab states”

December 12, 2008 By 5 Comments

So said Mubarak, according to the Jerusalem Post. Hmm.. You know, Hosny, I would care more if it wasn't for the fact that they are succeeding in that because you have limited Egypt's regional role in the area for the past, I dunno, 28 years? The way it's going down, the one Sunni country that can counter Iran both population and military wise in the region, is US. So , unless you are planning to stop being a pussy, and play regional politics ball, like Nasser and Sadat used to, just keep your old fuckin mouth shut. The Persians can't even keep Tehran's electricity running 24 hours a day now, and I am pretty sure they don't have the pull, ability, or desire to invade Egypt anytime soon. So, please, think before you speak. You are starting to sound like the senile old uncle that just starts yelling for no reason at family reunions.

Filed Under: Egypt, Iran, Mubarak

Leading by example

June 5, 2008 By 6 Comments

Our fair President pays his taxes like everybody else. See? Now excuse you, I have to go puke now. I am, after all, allergic to bullshit!

(Thanks R) 

Filed Under: Mubarak

From the mouth of an ex state-secuirty general

May 28, 2008 By 16 Comments

"Oh, the way we treated the State Secuirty soldiers was so horrible it bordered on funny. We would keep them crammed inside those cars in the sun for hours, and then when we take them out, we start humiliating them. We would slap them, beat them, spit on them, kick them. We would pick them off randomly and beat them with our belts. And then we would start making them fight each other. We would tell them that this or that soldier insulted them or their governorate or something, so they would fight him and people from his governrate. We would make sure they hated each other, so that they would never unite against us again. We fill them up with hate and rage, and we would work them up until they can't take it anymore, and then we release them on the people at protests. This is why when they beat the people there they really beat them hard. It's the only outlet we provide them for their aggression and hate. Sure, it's sick and demented, but they were orders from up top, from the Minister of Interior himself. And don't kid yourself, they all demand that we become worse than their predecessor. Every one of those guys suddenly finds himself in charge of the security of the state, and the state is huge, so if he can't break their spirits, scare them shitless, anything could happen, and then he could be disgraced and out of job. Same goes for us, and the population we work with doesn't help. You learn quickly that Respect won't work with them, because they have been wronged for so long that if you try to remedy it they will get this sense of entitlement about it and demand even more. And sooner than later, they will get riled up and things will get out of line. No, my boy, fear is good. Fear is what keeps our people in line and saves this country from tearing itself apart. We do terrible things, because the alternative is much much worse. Nothing can change that."

An ex State-Security General friend of my father, yesterday! 

Filed Under: Conversations, Mubarak

Egyptian Emergency law is extended..again

May 27, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Oh Joy!

Filed Under: Egypt, Mubarak

This past week

May 6, 2008 By 13 Comments

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 of its building there is a street market for groceries, there are 4 police soldiers always camping at the entrance, and there is no respectable sign at the door that says that this is the main legal center for the defense of human rights violations in Egypt, only one made out of cardboard and written on it with a sharpie. And the funniest thing about it is that it is managed in the most democratic of ways. Every year they have elections for the position of the Center's manager, and everyone can nominate him/herself and everyone from the previous manager to the officeboy has a vote. Oh, and no manager can run for more than two consecutive terms.

"I find that I have no choice but to support May 4th, even if I disagree with it, because it's something that the youth are demanding and doing on their own and I am all for them trying to do something. Now, despite the fact that they are going at it the wrong way, I can't stop them, nor will they listen to me, because they are sick of hearing people telling them what they can or can't do. So I support them, cause if they succeeded, it's a good thing, and if they failed, they will gain experience."

Malek, Tuesday

On Wendsday we met with Abdel Monem, the Muslim Brotherhood Blogger and Khaled Hamza, the editor if www.Ikhwanweb.com at the house of the Media Coordinator for the Muslim Brotherhood. This is the setting that I walked into: We were greeted by the house owner, who had with him this young and tiny veiled girl named Sondos, who (of course) spoke English fluently and (naturally) was one of the higher-up editors of Ikhwanweb ( "See, not all veiled women are oppressed an at home, we have young ones who know English and are in managerial positions") and who hosted us in a very posh living room and served us Tea and Cake, with members of his family periodically coming out, dressed in western clothes come out and greet us very nicely. Those people know exactly how to handle the western media.

To be fair to them though, they have been extremely nice and hospitable to me, despite knowing my beliefs and stands on them, which is a cause enough to respect them. And despite the fact that I completely disagree with almost everything they stand for, they are getting their human rights violated in this country on daily basis, which any human being will tell you isn't right. And in case I was never clear on this before, I am for them having the right to form their own political party and run in elections. Firstly because it's everybody's right to have political representation and secondly because maybe that will be the jolt that will move the anti-Ikhwan crowd from their apathy and slumber. Maybe.

One thing though I am confused about, so Khaled if you are reading this, can you tell me why in the name of Zeus' Butthole was there a decorated Christmas tree- in May nonetheless- in the corner of the room with ornaments on them? And why did the ornaments have pictures of veiled girls plastered on them? Please, I would like to know.

" You know, the State Security people one day decided to give me a "humanitarian visit" to see my very sick father. So the night before my visit, a squadron of SS soldiers arrived at our building at midnight and occupied the building, and forced themselves on my parents' house and stayed there for 8 hours till I arrived at 8 am, in the name of securing the building, since you know, I am a dangerous visitor and all. When I found out I flipped out on the accompanying officer, asking him why would any decent human being do this, and of course there was no answer. My mother came out, gave me this look and said "Damn you" . That killed me. I think that messed me up more than all the time I've spent in prison."

Abdel Monem, Wendsday

Khaled: I spoke to your friends, Elijah and Issandr, about you. And you know, they both said that you are extreme.

Me: Well, of course they would say that. I am not surprised at all!

Khaled: Why? Is it because they are leftists?

Me: No. It's because they are foreigners here and their work warrants them to have a good relationship with you, and I am not sure that's possible with them publicly endorsing my views. Don't you think?

Thursday was the first of May, the Egyptian worker day. On that Glorious day the new Mubarak directives were released: A 30% increase in the wages of government employees as a solution to the current problem. Because, you know, the rising prices only affect government employees, and a 30% increase on their 30$ a month salary will really help improve their lives, and allow them to buy cars and houses and maybe save some money for Lil Mo's college fund. And the way he said it too, man, talk about classic: "They told me we will raise the workers 10%, I refused and said it has to be higher. They said ok, 20%, I said, NO, it has to be higher. They said we can make it 25%, but we really have no way to cover it under the current budget, I said NO, NOT A PENNY UNDER 30%". And this, ladies and gentlemen, how you know the mark of a great leader. A great leader doesn't care about the budget, the economy or reality, he only cares about the goal he set in his imagination despite what the actual circumstances may allow. All Hail Hosny.

Thursday was also the day we met Bilal, the kid that went up to the PM and demanded –to thunderous applause- that he release the April 6th detainees. He is very young, very skinny, with intelligence just poking out of his eyeballs. I didn't know that he was a member of the Ghad Party, hell, I didn't even know el Ghad party still had members. The interesting thing about him though, is that he is from the Post Ayman Nour generation: i.e. he joined after Nour went to Prison. That's a believer in a party and its ideals, not a leader and his charisma, which is a concept that is lost on the middle-east for some reason.

"Oh, my parents didn't think highly of what I did at all. I went home to find that my parents burned half of my books. However, after my mother talked to the neighbors, who surprised her with their messages of support to what I said and did, she changed her mind. She looked at me and said "Bilal, you know, you and your friends may perish for standing up to what you believe, but don't worry, Egypt will always remain Bilal!". So I looked at her and said "That's all very nice mom, but couldn't you have figured this out before burning my books?""

Bilal, Thursday

A state of uncertainty dominated the media scene on Friday, on whether or not anything was gonna happen on May 4th. You see, it's kind of hard to predict the outcome of a strike that has no clear organizers or participants, with everything operating in a very anarchist manner. In order to combat such uncertainty and confusion, the media invented a new political entity that is behind all of that is happening. What did they call it? "The Facebook Youth movement", I kid you not. So now the Facebook Youth movement is the new political player in town, with newspapers running stories on how they are calling for this or demanding that, which is basically them making a story from any asshole creating a group calling for something on the Egypt network. This reminded me of when they started running stories on the new gods of politics, media and activism: "The Egyptian Blogger Movement". Remember that shit? When they used to run stories on how "The Egyptian bloggers called for this or organized that", like we are some sort of monolithic entity that actually agrees on everything and is organized and has goals and leadership. I kept asking every blogger I know to introduce me to the coordinator, the supreme leader or even the spokesman of "The Egyptian Bloggers", but they would be as stumped as I was.

My suggestion? We create a facebook group called "The leadership office of the Facebook Youth Movement" and I will be their spokesmen, and someone else can be their supreme leader. I am sure the Media will jump on us in 30 seconds, hosting us and asking us of our goals and demands and what we have in store next. Oh boy, I would mess with them for hours!

"Do I like this government? Of course. It's not a bad government at all. From the security side of things, they are great. They have some problems from the economical side of things, but really, who doesn't? Oh no, I find nothing to complain about when it comes to this government. They keep us safe and secure. God Bless them!"

A Taxi Driver, Friday

Saturday was the day we were slated to meet the Supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mahdy Akef. It wasn't what I expected. His personal office is tiny, like literally smaller than my office, and he gives this image of this very kind and sweet old man, a total grandpa type. Since I was only the translator for my friend, I didn't ask any of the questions I wanted to ask. My personal impression of him, personally, is that he is a very smart and astute man, and his brain operates perfectly despite his old age. Oh and very polite. All freaking MB members are very very polite.

"Why are we joining this strike when we didn't join the last time? Well, we are joining because that's what the people asked us to do. There is a national demand for us to join, and we listen to the people, so we have to comply."

Mahdy Akef, Saturday

Later on that day I received an SMS from Sharqawy's fiancé. State Security has been tailing and harassing them for 3 days, and she needed him to hide somewhere until May 4th is over, so she asked me. I've known this kid for more than 2 years now, and I can safely say that I've never seen him in the state he was in. He embodied controlled rage and weariness in a way that is impossible to describe. He told me that they refuse to leave him alone because he managed to identify the State Security Officer that tortured him at the police station, and mentioned that over the phone and now the Officer knows and is scared. So he is harassing him in every way he can, hoping that Sharqawy would have enough and flee the country.

"Those Motherfuckers. You know what they did? They blindfolded me and then took my wallet and looked in it. I could hear them naming the different types of ATM and credit cards I had in there. They then looked into the money pocket where I had about 6 K worth of dollars and Egyptian pounds on me, and then they loudly said ' you have 270 egyptian pounds in this wallet. Take it' and put it in my hand, but didn't return my wallet immediately, but did so later. I didn't figure out why until I came out. The wallet had a piece of paper that had my ATM pin code on it. That Bank account in my business account, and it had over 14 K in it. By the time I was out, the Balance was 0. All the money was withdrawn. And now I am out, I am broke, and owe people money. They are the scum of the earth."

Sharqawy, Sunday @ 2 am.

" Today is the Day Egypt was reborn!"

Al Ahram Newspaper headline on Sunday, marking the President's 80th Birthday! 

Sunday, well, you could read all about it here. So instead let me tell you this unfortunately 100 % true story:

Magdy Hussein- the leader of the Islamic Labor party- called Zakareya Azmy- The President's Chief of Staff and an MP- on the phone one week before the strike and told him that he is organizing a committee to run Egypt after the people's revolution will force Mubarak to abdicate on May 4th and that if he wants a seat on it he is welcome to join them. Not a word was mentioned of Azmy's reply though, although it is widely believed that this was due to Aazmy being too busy rolling on the floor laughing his ass off to reply to Magdy.

Monday, ahh Monday.

Monday was the day the Egyptian press gloated over the failure of the strike, with many of them claiming that the 30% raise aborted it. Monday was also the first day that Mubarak announced that there is no way to finance the 30% raise. The parliament, that same day, passed measure to finance the raise, by raising the prices of car gas by 35 %, solar by 40% and the taxes on cigarettes by 20%. The ripple effect of those increases will fuck us of a lot of money for the entire year, and one has to openly wonder if a 30% raise for a segment of the population that is less than 10% warrants collective punishment for the entire population. Hell, now even the government employees are more screwed. The new prices were enforced starting from 10 pm. Under my house there is a gas station and at 11 pm, the fighting started. And it's just the beginning. The people, as usual, will turn on each other instead of the government, and life will suck for all of us all around.

"The rich will be the ones paying for the workers raise"

The headline in RosealYusef, a government sponsored rag today 

"This guy I work with, while riding the Micobus with me, kept curisng Mubarak today. His government salary has increased by 37 pounds, but now the Microbus' fare has doubled, so now he has to pay extra 2 pounds a work day. If he works for 20 days a months, he is already worse off by 3 pounds. And what kills is that he raised the prices right after he announces the raise. This Mubarak guy, he has no tact!"

The Taxi Driver I rode with to work today. Oh, and by the way, the ride now costs 30 pounds, up from the standard 20. Increased Gas prices, baby!  

I do have to admire this government's cunning though. If people connect between the hikes and the government wage raises, not a single person will dare to support a strike or demand a higher wage again. And what a perfect excuse to implement price increases that you wanted to implement for ages then say it's a way to pay off the huge raise you gave the workers. And here we thought we were going to give him a Birthday he wouldn't forget on Sunday. Ha, he is the one who made the following Monday unforgettable. Thanks Mubarak for doing this to us on your birthday. What a way to make us celebrate it with you. Motherfucker!

Filed Under: Egypt, Mubarak, Only in Egypt

The Game is on

April 6, 2008 By 19 Comments

********************Scroll down for updates********

People who read this blog know that I am not the most enthusiastic supporter of today's protest for both political reasons , and for the fact that I am not quite sure what it would achieve. It's hard to take a protest seriously that gives u the choice between being apathetic or participating by staying at home and doing nothing. However, the government seems to be taking it very seriously, so maybe I should to, especially that they arrested Malek and a number of activists yesterday, forcing a number of other bloggers and activists to spend last night in any other place but their homes. I just took a cab ride to Dowtown and the streets are crawling state security and they are stopping young men who are walking by themselves on the streets and checking their ID's and forcing them to get off the streets as soon as possible. 

On the other hand, the government is going for an entire media blitz to stop the strike: The cover of government mouthpieces AlAhram and Al Akhbar are filled with headlines that both deny the existance of any strike , following the line of "What strike? That's just a bunch of hype started by a number of illegal and shady movements and individuals who want to ruin the country!", and yet detail the amounts of legal punishment and trouble that anyone who participates in a strike would receive "Losing your job, Fines, 3 months to a year in prison, being on the government's shit list forever, etc..etc..". Uber government presswhore RoseAlYusef published a headline asking people to calm down, go to work and not worry because everything is working fine and there is no strike , and life is rosy. In Rosealyusef's world, reality is what you make it, which must work really well for them.

The interesting thing is, no one knows really which political powers are with or behind this protest. I mean sure, AlWasat, and alKarama parties are in, and so is whomever is representing Kefaya these days, and some factory workers. The Muslim Brotherhood have announced they won't participate, but they are supporting the protest "with their hearts", whatever the fuck that means. The Pro-government other parties like Egypt;s Youth and the conservative party and their many counterparts are all saying that they support freedom of expression, but are against such shady political stunts that achieve nothing and only hurt the country. The Democratic Front, the Nasserite party are in solidarity with the strike, while Al Tagamo3 and the Wafd party are not joining because "they weren't invited to join" (Awwww……). And Al Ghad , on the other hand, enjoys the most unique position of being For and Anti the strike at the same time, thanks to the fact that there are two factions claiming to represent it now: The Musa faction, which is anti joining, and the Ayman Nour faction, which is all about joining, and naturally AlAhram quotes Musa , while Al Masry Al Youm quotes Gamila Ismael, Nour's wife! It's beautiful!

As far as the people go, they have various reactions: Nawarah Negm's maid thinks that the people will destroy the Bread Bakeries, Haisam tells a story about the driver of his friends' father who is striking today, because he believes that the strike is against the Dutch Fitna movie, the Taxi drivers I took eysterday and today assure me that they have heard of the strike and that people are all worried about it, because whomever doesn't show up to work today will go to jail, even if they were sick. He also told me that the local souq (markets) were open till midnight last night, with people buying lots of goods in anticipation for today. Many of the private schools, afraid of…ehh..I don't know..something..have canceled schools today, and thus the streets of Cairo are empty this morning. Al Dustour newspaper is also reporting that Egyptian movie Star Ahmed ElSaqqah is joining the protest by halting production of his new movie for the day. Saqqa the revolutionary. Who knew?

Anyway, the people behind the strike have created a special blog to document it (can be found here ), and are urging the people on the streets to send their pictures, posts and stories to them , using this e-mail 6april08@gmail.com. They even have a hotline: 0118361000 or 0119423496, so don't hesitate to call it. if you witness something, even if you don;t agree with the protest or the ideology behind it. Look at it the way I look at it: It's a way to flip off the government who won't just allow protesting in the streets, but won't allow people to stay home either. It's the least we can do, no?

Update: They have also arrested Mohamed Sharkawy and Kefaya's leader Mohamed Al Ashqar from their homes, and they have arrested Mustapha Khalil at a Fabric shop in Al Mansoura, out of fear that he might purchase fabrics that could be sued to make protest banners. Oh yeah!

Update: ALMahalla strike is canceled. I repeat, Al Mhalla strike is canceled. All Eyes are now on Al Tahrir square! 

Update: Just spoke to Jano at Mahalla. It seems that Mohamed Al Attar and the other strike leaders had reached some kind of compromise over "food allowance" that prompted them to cancel the strike. The other leaders who didn't want to cancel the strike, like Karim Al Bheery, are reportedly sieged into their offices and not allowed to leave or talk to the workers or do anything. 

Update: Mohamed Abdel Kuddous got literally kidnapped in Downtwon while buying a newspaper. And yes, it is Mohamed Al Sharkawy- from Mlameh publishing- who got arrested from his finace's house in Sheikh Zayed. The Fun just keeps on rolling! 

Update: Kafr Al Dawar workers also abandoned the strike plans, proving once again that egyptian political activists excel at nothing but creating hype. Sweet!

Update: We can probably spin this as a success if we want to. It will go something like this:  This call for people to stay at home was so successful no one went to the streets and protested! 

Update: People, don't despair! We are victims of our own success. Our campaign to keep people at home was so successful, that no one showed to the protests. Really, we should be applauding ourselves. Job well done people, Job well done!

Update: A demonstration erupted next to the Lawyers sydnicate. The Police is trying to squash it and isn't allowing anyone access inside the syndicate's building! 

Filed Under: cause I care, causes, Mubarak, Only in Egypt

Gaza lessons and facts

January 26, 2008 By 118 Comments
  1. Rules of modern Invasion: In order to effectively invade a country (what do you call the blowing up of borders and the forced entry of hundreds of thousands of foreigners if not an invasion), what you need to do is put the women and children in the front. This way, the people on the border you are trying to get over would be forced to shoot at women and children in order to stop you. And if you are Egyptian considering this as some sort of exaggeration of the situation, one has to wonder what your reaction would've been if the people blowing up our borders and storming in were Israelis: would it still be ok in your books? There is a silver-lining to all of this though: it gives us the blueprint to do what we want and get away with murder. I say we should gather up all of Egypt's poor and march them towards the Saudi borders, cause, u know, they are our arab borthers and their living conditions are better than ours. We will send women and children first, and have them swim over, which the media will give some fancy name for, some Red Sea-Moses-let-my-people-go analogy, "crossing the divide" or " Channeling People Power" or some bullshit like that, and then we can effectively take over Saudi, or at least Jeddah. Yeah, that should work. LIBERATE MECCA!
  2. This was all premeditated: Hamas has been cutting the wall for a month now, preparing for it to come down on the eve of the Palestinian factions conference hosted by Hamas in Syria. This was done in order to maximize the media attention to Khaled Mesh3el and his gang of Syrian-Iranian-backed cronies, thus giving them more of the spotlight than they would've ever received. This is a PR stunt, a Hamas PR stunt to be exact, and as always, the Palestinian people are being used as props and tools, but not only them. The Egyptian Left was used as well. The Muslim Brotherhood had arranged far too quickly a demonstration in downtown Cairo, which they of course invited the leftists over, because, you know, Islamists and socialist Marxists are like two peas in the same ideological pod, right? Right. The MB knew about this, and they were very quick to support Hamas, not because the Palestinians are suffering, but because they really want the Hamas project to work out, you know, them being the first Muslim Brotherhood government in the region. Good on you leftists, you are being used, once again, for the advancements of the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood. Were you always such stupid political whores, or is this just the case of really wanting to matter once again? I am curious. Let me know.
  3. The Palestinians are the Gods of the PR game: No one, and I mean no one, have the ability to manipulate the media like the Palestinian authorities. I mean seriously, mucho respect to y'all. I mean, did you see that picture of Haneiyah having a cabinet meeting lit by candle-light? Or the way the women and children looked like, as they crossed the border as the wall fell down? Or the "People Power" branding they gave the entire thing? Yes, cause I am sure the Palestinian government did not store enough fuel for itself in cases of emergency, or that the fact that the words "People Power" showed up in every fuckin
    blog post and news item covering this debacle was merely a telepathic coincidence amongst all the writers the world over. I love it. Gives me the warm fuzzies all over, you know?
  4. The people aren't as hungry or suffering as you all claim: A Palestinian-american friend of mine just came back from visiting his grandparents in Gaza ( just jumped over the fence and back he said, no one is controlling the borders apparently), and he was telling me how the entire "they are hungry people looking for food" headline story is a crock of shit. He laughingly told me that they are buying motorcycles, mattresses and TV's and other such basic survival needs (the media is confirming it if you think I am lying you big morons), and how some of his family members after going to Al Areesh-on the first day of the "people power" event-for vacation mind you, were like "This is Areesh? This sucks! Gaza is better!" and then went back the next day. He also told me that the price of the AK 47 in Gaza has now dropped to a measly 400 JD's. There is apparently too much supply to the demand. Yay for Open Borders!
  5. Israel's plan is now clear: The Israelis want to throw Gaza on Egypt, and Hamas is playing into their hand. The moment Mubarak, in order to save face of not being able to secure the country's borders, said that he is letting people in cause "they are hungry" (wink wink, nudge nudge), the Israelis were like "well, if you are gonna do that, you get to keep them. They are your responsibility now" and then probably danced in glee. Not gonna happen cousins, they are not yours to give or ours to keep. This is your and their's problem, not ours, and they are still your responsibility. Sorry kids, but we are not going back to the days of Pre-1967. You took over those areas, you can't give them back to us 40 years later after its run by Iranian-backed- Muslim Brotherhood Islamists who are armed to the teeth. Pottery Barn rules apply here too Israelis: You broke it, you are just gonna have to buy it.
  6. The world is still filled with useful idiots: Nothing makes my heart warmer than American leftist hippies chanting slogans in 4X4 beat or declaring Support for Hamas. Yes, yes, Viva Viva Intifada, indeed.
  7. Egypt is planning its own disengagement: File this under fantastic unconfirmed rumors my friend. A good source of mine informed me that he was just in a meeting where an agreement for a second Sinai canal was made, one that would separate Sinai from Asia (and thus Gaza) permanently. The proposed Canal will benefit both Egypt, Jordan and Israel financially, and will provide a water replenishing source for the Jordanian Dead Sea, which ahs been losing water for quite some time now. It's initial phase will cost 15 Billion US dollars, and according to the source 12 Billion of which are coming from Qatar. This should give Gaza a second beach and a second port away from the Israeli navy, which should enable them to get all the goods they ever need through ships and not resort to blowing walls. I do propose giving the Palestinians a piece of the action though, cause otherwise they will start shooting at commerce ships passing through until they do get some money out of it. Their apologist then will claim such actions as being done "out of the desperation caused by the humanitarian crisis", so I am sure y'all would understand.
Filed Under: Egypt, Media, Middle East, Mubarak

And the Golden Whip goes to…

November 22, 2007 By 4 Comments

Behold the First Cairo Police Torture Film Festival.

Filed Under: Egypt, Mubarak

Al-Arish Burning

October 14, 2007 By 1 Comment

 The Videos of Al-Arish's incidents are here and here. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Egypt, Mubarak

Egyptian newspapers strike for a day

October 8, 2007 By 7 Comments

Well, Independent ones, anyway. The daily ones didn't appear yesterday and the weekly ones will not publish throughout the week. This is the latest development in the crisis between the Press and the Government.

Egypt's newspapers conducted a silent
protest against the government by withholding their publications from
newsstands on Sunday. Both independent and opposition newspapers joined
forces in the one-day protest against the government's crackdown and
imprisonment of journalists in the country. The move comes as a leading
editor is due to return to court on charges of defamation. The charges
come after his paper, Al Dostour, reported on rumors that President
Hosni Mubarak was ill or possibly dead in August.

"These
newspapers withdrew from the atmosphere of freedom in the victory day
for vague reasons and because of pressures from an unknown power,"
wrote the pro-government Rose El-Youssef newspaper in opposition to the
demonstration.

Pressue from an unknown power. Right. Yeah, don't count on Al Ahram, or Al Akhbar to join the protest either. There sued to be a time- until very recently- they would've, but not anymore! 

Filed Under: causes, Egypt, Media, Mubarak

Ayman Nour gets a death threat from Mortada Mansour

September 23, 2007 By 3 Comments

Ayman Nour is accusing Mortada Mansour- the jailed trouble making ex-MP from the NDP- of threatening to kill him inside Jail. The Story goes that Nour Found someone screaming his name, and when he looked he saw Mortada standing at the door of the room, stopped by the secret Police Guard, while verbally lashing at Nour, insulting him and threatening to kill him. Nour is also claiming that Mortada alleges that he is doing this in co-ordination with the jail's security forces and known political figures in exchange for special privileges in Jail. I would say that this is probably nothing, but after the murder Suicide of the Witness in Ayman's case, all bets are off. The conventional wisdom is: This man won't get out of Jail alive!

Filed Under: Mubarak, Only in Egypt

Don’t Panic

September 7, 2007 By Leave a Comment

So Sayeth Egypt's PM Ahmed Nazif, when confronted with the rumors of Mubarak's death and the fear of instability that would ensue. Why? Well, because there is apparently "a scenario in place for the transfer of Power, and we are a country that has a constitution, a Parliament and a government. Not to mention, there was never a bloody transfer of power in Egypt before." (Link in arabic)

 You see, nevermind that our constitution is a sham, our parliament is a rubberstamp institution, and our government centralized to the whims to one man. No siree, I shouldn't be worried, because Egypt never had a bloody transfer of power before. Yeah, Ok, how about Egypt was never in such a bad shape before, or how about the second man in power was always known before? Does this count at all? I still shouldn't be panicking? 

The best part of all of this, he didn't address those remarks to the people. He addressed them to the Euromoney conference participants. You know, foreign investors. That's the important segment to cater too and comfort. We wouldn't want them to panic now, would we? 

Filed Under: Egypt, Mubarak

Mubarak is not DEAD

September 6, 2007 By 2 Comments

There has been a lot of hype concerning the rumor of Mubarak's death . Bloggers wrote about it , the government issued a denial after denial , even pressing charges against the editor in chief of a newspaper for publishing it and there was even a facebook group discussing it (You know it's big when they have a facebook group for it). A whole lot of bullshit if you ask me. 

You want to know when you will know that Mubarak is dead? When one of the following 3 things happen:

1) You hear gunshots on the streets.

2) The area surrounding Heliopolis will go under military clampdown with martial law declared and a curfew until the power struggle that will ensue ends.*

3) You will find Gamal Mubarak on the street on his ass, with all of his entourage gone, unable to hail a taxi cab for himself .** 

When any of those 3 things happen, let me know. Otherwise, just wait till the man dies like we are all doing. Don't run around spreading false hope. That's just cruel, man!  

*This is why I moved to Zamalek. This way, if the shit hits the fan and the country descends into Chaos, us zamalekites will blow up the bridges and have all of you fuckers fend for yourselves. Muhahaha..

**That is, of course, in case Mubarak dies before entrenching Gamal in Power, which would be proof that God doesn't enjoy watching us being miserable. But then again, there is reality…

Filed Under: Egypt, Mubarak

Speaking of cheating

March 28, 2007 By 14 Comments

Check this and this out. As you can see, the Referendum was very honest!

Oh yeah, and this and this too! 

Filed Under: Egypt, Mubarak

Announcements

March 26, 2007 By 56 Comments

1) All the detainees were released today, who then decided to go join the Press syndicate protest/sit in, which the police surrounded and refused to let people out since the morning. This basically meant that they left police custody in order to go to a place where the police would stop them from getting out from. Hmmm…. anyway, the police, after houres and houres, finally released them and they are ok. I had 3 american friends who couldn;t get out, and who called the US embassy, which hung up in their faces. It was a canadian girl who managed to get them out by calling the canadian embassy, which sent a car and got them out. I repeat, the Canadian embassy helped them out and the american embassy acted the way the egyptian embassy acts towards egyptians in trouble abroad- just like punk-ass bitches. Fantastic!

2) For a milli-second yesterday, I was so depressed and angry I actually flirted with the idea of joining the NDP and becoming one of its people because egyptians needed to be punished. But then I realized that I was being retarded and snapped out of it. I would like to thank Alia, Inanities, Forsooth and M. for helping me with that. You guys rock! 

3) My Phone got fixed today. YAY!

4) The DC protest has been a success, it seems. Nora's post here, and her pictures here . Thanks for everyone who showed up, especially Solomon, whose post is here!

5) Tomorrow is the start of the civil lawsuit filed against the 21 websites and blogs . It will be at Magles el dawlah @9. If you are a blogger, please show up.

6) It seems that even the press is on to the sham that was this referendum, which is sweet. However, it seems like Pope Shinoda is continuing his role as the regimes whore (no offense intended towards either copts or whores by the way) by full-heartedly supporting the ammendments and demanding the participation of the egyptian coptic population to go and vote yes. Coptic christians of Egypt, I think it's time you told this man to fuck off. That's my opinion, but that's your business, so you figure it out.

7) I am never, ever, ever, going on World Have your Say again. I am sick and tired of its retarded format. So, BBC guys, next time don't call me, or do and I will give you numebrs of people you can call instead. I just won;t be on your show anymore, ok? 

Filed Under: Mubarak, Only in Egypt, personal, WTF?
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