A Kodak Agfa Co-Production : #Oct73War Anniversary in #Tahrir square

This small photo gallery is from Tahrir square last 6 October 2013. It is a co-production between Kodak Agfa and a dear friend of mine.

Of course the day ended in a very sad way despite all the celebrations and so on unfortunately.
Tahrir square is closed in front of protesting until further notice.
Some revolutionary youth are frustrated from its closure. Well Tahrir square was a bless and a curse on the 25 January as it limited the revolution thanks to the media , I still believe that the 25 January revolution and its goals from social justice , freedom and democracy should spread in all over the country from Rashid in the North to Hala’ib , from Rafah to Salloum. One of our bad mistakes is that we limited the revolution to become Tahrir  revolution and Tahrir youth.
Anyhow Symbols are still extremely important and this is why there is a battle over Tahrir between the Muslim brotherhood and the current regime over it. The MB is dying to reach there and the regime is closing in front of protesting.
Call me foolish and dreamy but I believe that the Egyptians will return to Tahrir square again .. just like the first time on 28 January 2011 when they overcome their political differences and ideologies for the real interest of a civilian modern Egypt based on democracy, justice and equality. The revolutionaries will be back when they learn their mistakes.

Tahrir square empty in the morning "Source"

All the respect and all the glory to the martyrs of the 1973 war and their grandchildren , the martyrs of Tahrir square.

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#Oct1973War : The lessons We Failed to learn after 40 years !!

Thousands headed to the streets allegedly to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 6 October War by the orders of the interim president , army , Muslim brotherhood , the Church , parties to the end of that to get the party on or accurately to get on with their own political agendas.

None of them tried to learn from the political lessons Egypt learned in a very expensive in 6 years of war.
I am afraid we are repeating the mistakes we have committed in 1967 and forgot all the reasons on why we made it in 1973.

Let’s start with the media , we got the same Ultra-hypocrite lying propaganda machine of 1967 working effectively in 1973 !! Joseph Goebbels would be impressed by the amount of propaganda this nation has produced whether in 1967 or in 2013 to be honest !!!

When I look to the headlines of the newspapers on October 7 , 1973 and the headlines of the early editions of the newspapers on June 6, 1967 I see that someone had learned a tough lesson. Do you know that people did not believe the Egyptian radio and TV news on October 6,1973 and had to hear the news from Israeli radio Arabic service as well Monte Carlo Arabic radio service !? Do you know that for 6 years Israel seized this to send its poison propaganda in its radio service !?

 Now moving to how people are insisting to involve the army in politics. Of course the army’s commandership denies that it is involving in politics despite they are involved in politics whether you deny or not.
I will not say anything in this point. In fact,I quote will Late Field  Marshal Abdel Ghanay El Gamasy , one of the military men in Egypt that earned the respect of his enemies before his supporters.

The military man has never been good for politics ever. We were defeated in 1967 because the army men were busy with the games of politics, and thus they could not find anything to present in the war field.

I will not say more in this particular point except that the

Making the army a state above the accountability in the state was the reason on why we were defeated in 1967. If there was a true accountability for the army and its commanders in 1956 or after Yemen war , if there was a true accountability and reports to the parliament we would have spared our country and the Arab world a defeat we suffer its complications up till now.

Of course needless to say that in 1967 there was no true democracy or parliamentary accountability but let's remember we had an opportunity to have democracy through the ill fated 1954 constitution. The army is now respecting special status in the constitution to the level that it can not be questioned about any thing.

The pro-army says that the army wanted to protect itself from presidents with bad political agendas but the question here what if we had incompetent army commanders with their own political agenda like for instance Abdel Hakim Amar. For God sake we are speaking about humans !!

Turning the president in to a holy idol that does not make a mistake , that can not be questioned or criticized is another reason on why we had a disaster in 1967. Do I need to talk on  how Nasser was turned in to a false God !? Do I need to speak on how in 2013 the media is turning general Abdel Fatah El Sisi in to another Nasser. No president had that status of an Egyptian idol pharaoh like Nasser and I am afraid El Sisi is doing it again. 

Ultra-Nationalism  made the Egyptians blind leading them to their defeat in 1967. With our arrogance the media and the regime made the Egyptians including army soldiers and officers that Egypt would erase Israel and kick the Americans' asses because we were smarter than anyone else. In 1973 the political and army commandership were realistic and dealt with the matter accordingly.

I write this and all what I think about the martyrs of the 1973 and before them the martyrs of 1967 as well feeling sad that after 40 years we have failed to learn our lessons. Our foolish arrogance and ignorance as well do not allow us to read from our past and to learn from our mistake. Our foolish arrogance and ignorance also do no not allow to learn from other countries’ experiences and history because you know we are the greatest and smartest !!

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The big Operetta to crown a New Pharaoh

Yesterday the morale department of the armed forces presented its big operetta to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October war.

The big event was attended by the minister of defense “the big star of the event” , the interim president , the ministers, former first lady Jihan El Sadat and former minister of defense and head of SCAF Hussein Tantawy.

It was not actually an operetta or an event to commemorate the great war and its heroes but it was actually a coronation gala for the new pharaoh of Egypt Abdel Fatah El Sisi.

Let’s start with the operetta. Let’s analysis the scene piece by piece.

Almost the guests, the singers and actors participating in that piece of .. “something definitely not related to Art” are the old faces of Mubarak’s regime hypocrites. Once again we are back to the Northern Korean-Soviet Nationalist 1960s talentless operettas. The lyricist and the singers and the actors are from the old ass kissing Mubarak’s hypocrites. Talentless and tasteless thing they claim to be art and I see it a waste of money when Egypt is in deep economic crisis.

And as we have replaced the Qatari sponsorship with Emirati Sponsorship , we find famous Emirati singer Hussein El Jasmi singing in the operetta with whiney voice urging the general to run for the elections. I just want to say to El Jasmi if he loves the general so much , he can urge him for the elections in his own country !!!

In a side note I can not tolerate anymore the Emirati interfere in Egypt’s affairs in the same way I could not tolerate the Qatari interfere in Egypt.

Of course the operetta could not end without using the wise words and his voice of the general inserted in so called dramatic way.

You got also the words of admiration from actors about the general like for instance Hussein Fahmy who spoke admirably about the general in very cheesy way. Amazingly last time I checked Fahmy is a hardcore royalist who curses the day of 23 July and Nasser showed up in Egypt.

Now moving to the guests scene. It was clearly that the real ruler of Egypt in that gala party was none other than the military commander sitting besides the interim president.

The VIP booth included a very famous guest , former field marshal Tantawy who is actually considered the so-called godfather of El Sisi. Of course if he were so , he would not be attacked crazily and madly in the media two hours later.

Interestingly former chief of Staff Sami Anan was not among the VIP guests. Needless to say that Anan and Tantawy are presented as the villains now in Egypt who sold the country to the Muslim brotherhood.

To the big general’s speech , an emotional speech winning the hearts more than the minds of the audience as usual.

Another side note Jihan El Sadat was the only woman sitting besides interim president and the army commander. No other lady was in the VIP booth neither El Sisi’s wife nor Mansour’s wife. 

As someone who truly and honestly loves the 6 October war anniversary , I feel that that operetta or to be accurate the whole event is an insult to the war and its heroes. I am really sorry for them because in time of Mubarak , it was all about him while in time of Morsi , it was all about his achievements in 100 days and it seems that the upcoming years it will be about General El Sisi who did not fight this war.

“Abdel Fatah El Sisi is the next president” said Abdullah El Sannawy , the famous Nasserite writer and journalist said so the next day. Those NDP Pro-Military led popular El Sisi for presidency campaigns claim that they gathered about 7 million signatures to urge the general to run in the presidential elections. The media is sending one message to the people , there is no one better than El Sisi to rule Egypt and the people are buying this as far as I could tell.

Interestingly those fools do not know that they are proving to the world that what happened in Egypt was a coup and Abdel El Sisi is just another Middle Eastern Augusto Penuche. It would be the same scenario but unlike Chile , Egypt is doomed by the pharaoh/presidential/savior/Just dictator cult that needs a divine miracle to end it.

I told you the war anniversary is ruined for me. This is not how I imagined Egypt after February 2011.

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From 40 Years ago

This post is dedicated to those men who against all odds astonished the whole world and changed the course of history once more.

I do not know how today will end but regardless of what happens, God bless this country and those heroes. May their sacrifices may not go in to vein.  

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#Oct6 Anniversary : Live Blogging

Today thousands are expected to head to the street starting this afternoon in more of a confrontation mood than celebratory mood. Thousands of Muslim brotherhood supporters are vowing not to return today to their homes except when electoral legitimacy is restored and Morsi is back as a president while on the other hand thousands of army supporters are vowing not to let the Muslim brotherhood supporters spoil the 40th anniversary of 6 October war in the streets too especially in Tahrir square.

Here is  the live blog. 

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How the #Oct73 war Anniversary is ruined for me in #2013 ?

Next Sunday Egypt will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1973 war aka Yom Kippur war , supposedly it should a day of remembrance for the heroic actions and sacrifices of those men who fought this important war.
Unfortunately despite it is a huge event , it is overshadowed by the on going war between the Muslim brotherhood from one side and the military from another side where the people are stuck between the two parties.
The Muslim brotherhood and its allies are heading to the street in order to end the military coup and bring back Morsi as well to restore the army’s dignity along legitimacy to the end of that talk.
The Pro-military supporters and parties as well groups are heading to the street allegedly to celebrate the days but actually they are going to the streets to stand against the Muslim brotherhood supporters who dared and start to enter Tahrir square. 
Bunch of NDPians groups and campaign urging El Sisi to run as a president already announced that they are going to the streets on that day in order to fight the Muslim brotherhood and to convince the general to run for the upcoming presidential elections.
The day is ruined !! I wish everybody stays at his home and uses God’s gift to the humans aka reason for once instead of that group thinking epidemic.
In a nutshell all those going to the street on Sunday care less for the anniversary of the war or the men who died , they do not even comprehend the lessons we should have learned from the war. All those going to the streets on Sunday only care for their the leaders’ political agendas on both sides.
Personally I have always loved the October 1973 anniversary more than any other national day. I always look back how my friends find it strange that I used to celebrate it by reading and watching all the material available about that war and how I used to have this ritual of listening Abdel Halim Hafez’s patriotic songs. Ironically some of those friends now are flying over the moon with the love of General El Sisi and the army now. For me this war was more than something military and geopolitics as well we are speaking about defiance , real defiance of those men who fought despite all the odds and challenges.
Sadly this year I am worried more about what will happen on that day and whether more Egyptians will be killed on the hands of other Egyptians in a useless fight over power.
Amazingly the October 1973 anniversary this year turned in to a gold an opportunity for hypocrites all over the country to do what they are good at and worship Abdel Fatah El Sisi who was only a teenager when the war broke. In fact I am expecting that some of those hypocrites to speak about the heroism actions of El Sisi in the war despite he joined the military academy in 1977.
Do not be surprised last anniversary in 2012 a magazine owned by the ministry of oil an ad congratulated President Morsi for the part he played in the war !!

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#10Ramadan : The Usual Friday in #Egypt

Today is the 10th Ramadan of anniversary aka the the anniversary of the 1973 war. 
Of course this year we are celebrating in very different way. We do not remember the war heroes or learn from the lesson of that war or the six days war or the attrition war. No we are celebrating it in the usual Egyptian standard way of spending Friday in Cairo : Mass protests.
Oh yes today we have two counter protests or mass protests. The Muslim brotherhood is organizing a mass protest against the coup while Tamaroud "Rebellion movement" is organizing mass protest against terrorism. Of course Tamaroud is referring to the terrorism of the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. Both protests are supposedly kicked off after prayer. The Muslim brotherhood will have alone 18 rallies today in Cairo and Giza besides other governroates in Upper Egypt and Delta as well in North Sinia.
We expect to see violence once again in Egypt today.
Here is a storify story for the day which I hope it would end peacefully.

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