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Showing posts with label Gulf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gulf. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Regarding The Reuters' Poll about Arab Women : My two cents

Posted on 13:42 by Unknown
I think it is never too late to speak about that Reuters' poll concerning women’s rights in the Arab world and its shocking result that Egypt is the worst place for any woman to live in. Even worse than Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Somalia !!
Yeah Egypt is even worse than Saudi Arabia where women can not take off their black Abayas and can move or do anything without the approval of their male guardian’s approval.
Yes Saudi Women “especially the rich” can have access to better health care and education but only with the approval male guardians. The Saudi women already need male guardian to drive them to hospitals official to get that treatment we do not have in Egypt. Ironically this poll hurts the struggle of Saudi women activists who are fighting for real to gain fundamental rights like driving their own cars for God sake !!
In Sudan women get imprisoned and flogged for wearing trousers while in Yemen girls as young as 9 years old are forced to marry. In war torn Syria , Syrian women are raped , killed , tortured and imprisoned for God sake !! I can go after each Arab country to prove my point that it is equivalent hell for ladies in neighbor countries in a way or another.
I will not speak about the progress of women has achieved in this country or the historical milestone of pioneer ladies in Egypt that fought to gain their rights starting with the education right. I will not lie and say that Egypt is the best place for women now but I will say that it is not entire hell either comparing to our dear sister Arab countries.
Of course the poll caused a lot of controversy and angry among women activists in Egypt and they have to be. Many asked about the methodology and the sample,the questions as well the timing of the poll. 
Also interestingly this poll is based upon CEDAW treaty , yes the Controversial CEDAW that many Muslim and Arabic countries got their objections and reservations about that treaty like for instance Saudi Arabia where it said clearly that it would not implement any term in the treaty that contradicted directly with the Islamic Sharia “according to the Wahabi doctrines”.
I am not fooling myself Egyptian women are facing lots of challenges but again just as it is not paradise nor hell , it is only Egypt.
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Posted in Arab, Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Gulf, Human rights, Iraq, Maghreb, Media, Society, Sudan, Women | No comments

Tuesday, 29 October 2013

#Yemen , US #Drones and Usual Arab Silence "Updated"

Posted on 14:21 by Unknown
Today there was a congressional hearing for US military drones victims from Pakistan in D.C
It is the first time to happen and just as Malala caught the attention, 9 years old Nabila who witnessed her grandma killed in the drone attack spoke to the 5 Congressmen in the hearing about her scary experience with their country killing machine. Nabila and her 13 years old brother Zubair shared the details of the attack live in the Congressional hearing.
Nabila and her family along with her translator and lawyer "Rania Khalek"
No one accused the Congressmen of treason for listening to those victims who are actually incriminating the US army and accusing it of a war crime that is killing innocent people. The person who called for this session is Congressman Alan Grayson , a democrat “Just like Obama” and he was not accused of being traitor.
Now I am happy that the drones attacks in Pakistan are discussed widely and at the same time I am angry as well feel sad on how Yemen is being neglected when it suffers from the US strikes and drones just like the Pakistanis.
I am angry that the League of Arab States is completely ignoring the drones attacks in Yemen and how people suffer there. Is not this an attack on an Arab state sovereignty !?  I am angry that Saudi Arabia that is pretending now to be standing against American Imperialism in the region does not raise this matter.
I feel sad that only Yemeni activists from true revolutionaries are speaking about it when all other Arab activists are ignoring what is happening to the Yemeni people from foreign attack targeting their civilians in the endless bottomless war on terrorism.
Here is a short clip from Human rights Watch about the drones and Yemen.
Human rights watch and US strikes in Yemen
You must also read how the United States is gaining more enemies with its drones attacks in Yemen.Terrorism will not stop using drones and killing innocent civilians in that war. This is a fact.
I wish that Egyptian and Arab tweeps and bloggers speak about Yemen. I wish that Mosireen produces some documentary with help of Yemeni activists about it the drones attack. We are good in making noise then let’s our noise to be useful for our people and their rights.  
Updated : 
It turned out earlier that year Yemeni activists spoke in another Senate hearing about the drones in Yemen where activist Farea Al Muslimi."Thanks to Jim Early"
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Posted in America, Arab, Democracy, Gulf, Human rights, Media, Politics, Terrorism, Video, War, Yemen | No comments

Saturday, 26 October 2013

#Women2Drive is back Again : No Woman , No Drive They say in #KSA

Posted on 13:11 by Unknown
The fantastic ladies of Saudi Arabia are doing it again. The Saudi women decided to take the wheel hitting the road trying to make it a reality in the kingdom : For Women to drive their cars.
Yes today the Saudi ladies are doing it organizing a campaign to drive in the streets of the kingdom posting photos and videos to encourage other ladies and to prove that they did it. 
Here are videos taken for videos behind the wheel in different cities in KSA.
A lady driving her car in Jeddah
A girl in Ha’il driving on October 26 , 2013
Nesreen drove her husband to get breakfast earlier today , I do not know where exactly
A lady driving in Al Hasa
Activist May El Sawayan driving her car to a grocery near her home in Riyadh accompanied with a female journalist
Eman Al Nafjan aka @Saudi woman drives her car in Riyadh
Here is Eman’s twitter account. Here is also October 26 to Drive Campaign on YouTube also on Instagram.
Here are some intagram snapshots for the ladies behind the wheel.

According to Saudi tweeps women drove their cars in Riyadh , Ha’il , Al Hasa , Jeddah. Some are saying that not less than 50 women drove today. I know it is a small number still big changes always have small beginning. 
Some tweeps also say that there are some ladies who drove to their work today. According to security forces more than 13 women “Ages between 22- 44 years old” were stopped by police and secret police. Their cars have been confiscated and their male custodians said to the authorities that they would not do that again !!!Five women were arresting in Riyadh and signed a pledge not to drive again. I hope that they forget that pledge soon and hit the road once again.
I respect so much how some Saudi men are supporting this right in this macho society of KSA now and I respect more how some of them are not shy of declaring this support publicly.
Here is a Saudi young man teaching his beautiful mother "as he said" how to drive earlier today.
Above those Saudi men Alaa Wardi and Hisham Fageeh as well the rest of  Telfaz 11 team for making the headlines in social media worldwide with their own “No woman, no drive”
This is a satire song by Telfaz 11 team is the first of its kind about this important social issue. Of course I know that the whole team now is under the surveillance of the security in KSA now.
No woman, no drive
With my all due respect how come the Kingdom is trying to appear the fighter of the Arab world against radicalism when it does not allow the ladies to drive cars !? I am speaking about that huge campaign sponsored by the KSA in Arab media against radicalism. Is not banning ladies from basic right like driving their own cars radicalism !?
I can not find any logic or religious reason on why the women can not drive when from 1400 years ago in the same land women used to ride camels and horses not to mention fight besides the prophet himself in the battlefield !!
Needless to say I am reading strange comments from those opposing this basic right online that makes so angry and sick.
By the way I would like to thank the fantastic lady Manal El Sherif and other ladies who hit the road from two years ago. A journey of Thousand miles starts with hitting the car pedal for a small trip to the grocery sometimes.

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Posted in Citizen Journalism, Culture, Gulf, Human rights, Media, Society, Video, Women | No comments

Tuesday, 15 October 2013

Pilgrimage in #Mecca Decades ago

Posted on 05:07 by Unknown
Very happy and blissful Eid Adha for all the readers of the Egyptian Chronicles. Now today I share with you this video clip I found online showing the pilgrimage in Mecca many decades ago.
Rare footage for pilgrimage
It is very beautiful and rare footage in Arabic.
The creator the video says that the material he got in the video was hundred years ago and that its source was pilgrims from South East Asia. Well I believe that the material was from an old Egyptian newsreel film based on the accent of the narrator and his style of reading. It is the same as the one used in the old Egyptian newsreel.
By the way,Saudi News Channel announced that it was found out that the oldest photograph for the Holy Kaaba in Mecca was taken by an Egyptian army officer and geographer Mohamed Sadek  in 1880. The army officer who was fond by geography and photography wrote books about Saudi Arabia and the trip of Pilgrimage during then. He took about 18 photos then.
Photo for the Kaaba in 1880 by Mohamed Sade


A photo for Al Masid Nabawi in Medina in 1880
Amazingly the photos of Mohamed Sadek Beh were not found in Cairo in the forgotten Geographic Society but rather in the archives of King Abdel Aziz Al Soud. It turned out that a German explorer and geographer bought the photos from Sadek in 1883 during a trip in Tunisia. The photos since then disappeared then resurfaced again in 1989 in some auction where some collector bought the 18 photos for $ 2,900,000. I guess the collector was a Saudi Royal figure. I respect their efforts to collect this history and heritage.
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Posted in Arts, Culture, Egyptian Faces, Egyptian History, Gulf, History, Islam, Media, nostalgia, photos, Religion, Video | No comments

Tuesday, 1 October 2013

Regarding the NYTimes Map Dividing 5 Arab countries in to 14

Posted on 03:10 by Unknown
NY Times published a op-ed about how 5 countries in the Arab world can be divided in to 14 countries by Robin Wright. The graphic representation of the op-ed as a map became a viral in the Arab social media especially in Egypt.
It spread like fire as if that map was a reality , not the visualization of some analyst’s views that may happen and may not. It spread like a fire as if that that was going to happen for real. As Big Pharaoh said on twitter this map in the New York Times would fuel debate and conspiracy theories in the region especially in Egypt for the upcoming 825 years.
This is not the first map of its kind where American Middle East analyst says something similar, if you remember some American Magazine published another similar map during the invasion of Iraq about possible divisions and unlike Wright’s map Egypt was among those unlucky countries that were going to spilt.
I know that what I am going to say now won’t appeal to many people now as fascism is the fashion nowadays along with waiting for the strong just dictator Messiah to bring order and stability to the country that suffers from foreign plots from here and there. We will not have those maps and those predictions if there are true democracy and equality that does not differentiate between any citizen in those countries.
All those countries mentioned in that map scaring the people in their dream do not and did not enjoy freedom or democracy or justice except may be for short times from long time ago.
“The Divide conquer” policy will not vanish by dictatorships in fact it becomes a true reality through dictatorships that spread hate and fear as well racism through religious nationalism , ideological nationalism and ethnic nationalism.
This map can turn in to a reality if the people in the Arab world do not wake up and admit that they got huge problems when it comes to religious sect and ethnic minorities. Of course I do know how many alarms the Arab world has to hear to wake up since the first spilt of Yemen and the first civil war in Lebanon in 1950s !!
Interestingly at least for me that Sudan is being neglected from Wright’s map when actually both Darfur and Kordofan have their own woes thanks to El Bashir regime considering the fact that like South Sudan they were independent from Khartoum and had their own rulers.
The Pro-Military supporters think that Egypt was saved from that theoretical map and won't be divided thanks to the 30 June and the army , well I have to say that it is more complicated than that.

When it comes to Egypt , unlike other countries in the region including those mentioned in the map I would like to hint out that for 3000 years our borders have not changed and we do not have this extreme mix of ethnic and religious minorities like in Syria or in Iraq “for example Shiite and Kurds” or  violent tribal nature thanks to Qaddafi in Libya as He used to favor tribes over others” or in Yemen where the South feels that is being discriminated by the North.
Still I can not ignore that we will be always live in fear as usual if we do not face our problems as we should. We should stop hiding our problems and claim that Egypt does not suffer from sectarian or ethnic problems that truly threat our national security and our future as a nation.
We got a Nubian problem that can be solved so easily if the Egyptian Nubians restore their land and compensated equally and fairly as well treated like other Egyptians.
We got a problem in Sinai that can be solved so easily if you start to develop this desert and change its demographics in the the right way at the same time , treat its locals the Bedouins as true Egyptian citizens not third class citizens you disrespect coz you know they are untrusted Bedouins !! 
We got a Hala’ib triangle problem that we think we are going to hide by banning all the maps showing it as disputed region in Egypt when the whole world shows it as a disputed region. Hell we do not even try to improve the horrible conditions there to make those people really feel that they are Egyptians.
Of course I do not need to speak about the Christians and how they suffer in Egypt and before anyone tells me that this is over and it was the Islamists problem , I hate to tell you that it is beyond the Islamists.
We should not rely on the intelligence and military intelligence when it comes to deal with the religious and ethnic minorities files. As a society we have even bigger and more important role. We should stop those stupid useless reconciliation media stunts.

With my all due respect not 100 revolutions or military intervention can save a nation from doom if its people do not recognize their problems and try to solve them for once and for all in the correct way.
Again “Divide conquer” does not happen in a healthy society but rather weak society and God knows how many weak societies we have from the ocean to the gulf.
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Posted in Egypt, Gulf, Iraq, Just Opinion, Media, Minorities, National Security, Nubia, Politics, Regional, Syria | No comments

Monday, 9 September 2013

And This is Why #Egypt Needs A Real Revolution

Posted on 13:30 by Unknown
The world economic forum issued its annual Global Competitiveness index for year 2013 –2014 . Read it and you will know how Egypt needs a real revolution in every aspect in order to survive this ongoing world race.
First here is the ranking of the Middle East countries arranged  “as well other countries I found interesting in the report” as they appear in the report.
Country Rank “Out of 148” Score “1-7” Rank among “2012-2013” economies GCI “2012-2013”
Qatar 13 5.24 13 11
UAE 19 5.11 19 24
KSA 20 5.10 20 18
Israel 27 4.94 27 26
Oman 33 4.64 33 32
Kuwait 36 4.56 36 37
Bahrain 43 4.45 43 35
Turkey 44 4.45 44 43
Jordan 68 4.20 68 64
Iran 82 4.07 81 66
Tunisia 83 4.06 n/a n/a
Algeria 100 3.79 98 110
Lebanon 103 3.77 101 91
Libya 108 3.73 106 113
Egypt 118 3.63 115 107
Mauritania 141 3.19 137 134
Yemen 145 2.98 140 140
Chad 148 2.85 143 139
Here is an info graph for the top ten Arab countries in the report. Of course all of them are rich oil gulf states.
Click in to zoom in "World economic forum"
Nevertheless you will find Israel after Qatar, UAE and KSA in the ranking when it has no oil.
Here is also an info graph about top ten Sub Saharan African countries.
Click to zoom in
Shamelessly Egypt comes in the 118th rank. It went down from 115 in 2012-2013 to 118 in 2013-2014. We used to be in the 94th rank in 2011-2012.
Here is what is written about Egypt in the report itself :
Egypt drops by 11 positions to reach 118th place  in this year’s GCI. This assessment is likely influenced by the country’s continued transition since the events of the Arab Spring. The deteriorating security situation and tenacious political instability are undermining the country’s competitiveness and its growth potential going forward. Although resolving political friction needs to remain the priority as this Report goes to print, many of the underlying factors that will be decisive about the sustainability of the country and the cohesion of the society over the medium to longer term are economic in nature. Establishing confidence through a credible and far-reaching reform program will be vital to the country’s future and to realizing the considerable potential of the country’s large market size and proximity to key global markets. According to the GCI, three areas are of particular importance. First, the macroeconomic environment has deteriorated over recent years to reach 140th position mainly because of widening
fiscal deficit, rising public indebtedness, and persisting inflationary pressures. A credible fiscal consolidation plan, accompanied by structural reforms, will be necessary in order to maintain macroeconomic stability in the country. This may prove difficult in times of rising energy prices, as energy subsidies account for a considerable share of public expenditure. However, better targeting of subsidies could allow for fiscal
consolidation while protecting the most vulnerable. Second, measures to intensify domestic competition would result in efficiency gains and contribute to energizing the economy by providing access to new entrants. This, in turn, would make the country’s private sector more dynamic, thereby contributing to job creation. And third, making labor markets flexible (141st) and more efficient (145th) would allow the country to increase employment in the medium term.

There is no doubt that we are paying the price of the political changes in Egypt as the report says “turmoil”. Still if you think about , we did not reach to this low ranking among other developing and poor countries in the world because of the past three years but rather because of the past 33 years especially when it comes to education.
Here are the scores of Egypt in the report, one thing for sure we are a big market.

Click to zoom in
The original 25 January Revolution erupted from two years ago because of the reasons that lead a country like Egypt to hit rock bottom like that , at least this is my case.
We do not have true political leaders or figures that even have got a vision to see Egypt as true leading power using our capabilities and sources. We are still living in the great slogans that “Egypt is the mother of the world” and “Egypt is the most independent nation in the history of the mankind” not to mention “The world is plotting against us” to the end of those nationalist slogans.
We need a balanced economic policies to ensure social justice and at the same time to improve the economy and encourage investments.
We should not depend only on tourism and Suez canal as main sources of income. I am not an economic expert but I know true economic development will be achieved if we have true political reforms that support transparency and accountability.
Needless to say,I do not know if the people really want democracy , accountability and transparency anymore in Egypt. 
God does not help the fool nor the lazy but we continue to believe that God won’t let us down. Well the problem is that we are the ones who let ourselves down over and over as people with our choices.
Here is the full report in PDF.
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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Economy, Egypt, Gulf, International, Maghreb, Numbers, Politics, Post Revolution, Society | No comments

Saturday, 3 August 2013

Sharon is alive Dear Egyptians , He is alive and in coma

Posted on 12:07 by Unknown
Yesterday a strong rumor took the Egyptian as well Arab social media by storm. The rumor claimed that Ariel Sharon passed away after 6 years in a coma.
Of course Sharon is infamously popular in the Arab world , he is so much hated that everybody was happy spreading this rumor and at the same time making fun of Sharon who he died in the last 10 days of Ramadan and he will be spared from hell. “It is wide belief in the holy month of Ramadan”
Now ironically no one care to deny this rumor or even to say it is a rumor in the media. Instead,this rumor produced other rumors that related currently with the domestic and regional conflict in Egypt and the Arab world over the Muslim brotherhood !!
Oh yes today I found the Anti-Muslim brotherhood websites , Facebook pages and twitter accounts claiming that the only Arab country that sent an official condolence telegram to Tel Aviv was Qatar.
On the other hand I found the Pro-Muslim brotherhood websites, Facebook pages and twitter accounts claiming that the only Arab country that sent an official condolence telegram to Tel Aviv was United Arab Emirates.
OH yes !! It is ironic by all measures.
By the way that photo for Ariel Sharon in come is actually an sculpture for the war criminal that goes back to 2010 and caused controversy in Israel then.
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Posted in Citizen Journalism, Egyptian Rumours, Gulf, Israel, MB, Media, Politics | No comments

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

When Al Akhbar Newspaper Speaks About #Qatar

Posted on 16:01 by Unknown
This is the first edition from Al Akhbar Newspaper issue on Tuesday
Mama Qatar provides Gas to Egypt
 The front page headline in Red is "Mama Qatar provides Gas to Egypt". It is about the decision of Qatar to give Egypt natural gas supply in Summer
The first edition was pulled back from the newsstand in one of the first incident of its own in 2013 when it comes to newspapers and state-owned newspapers in particular in Morsi's first regardless of what you think about the headline. 

 Of course speaking professionally this is a Front page headline that would make Mostafa Amin May Allah bless his soul curse the current editor in chief of Daily Al Akhbar and his journalists. Mostafa Amin got a school of his own when it came to headlines but fine one not a cheap one like that. This is a headline that suites tabloid newspaper not a newspaper with long history like Al Akhbar

Anyhow the second edition was printed and it had a different headline
Below "Qatar gives away gas to Egypt"
 The second edition of the newspaper was "Qatar gives away gas to Egypt" , of course the correct translation of that phrase from Arabic to English would "Qatar gives gas as a present to Egypt".
I believe someone was fired today in Al Akhbar.
I am surprised , truly surprised that Al Akhbar Newspaper published this headline considering the fact that Al Akhbar is state-owned newspaper and currently is headed by Islamist leaning editorial team. There is nothing published on the front page except when it is revised by regime representative.
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Posted in Citizen Journalism, Economy, Egypt, Gulf, Media, photos, Politics | No comments

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Hope to see a similar campaign in #Egypt "Updated"

Posted on 12:17 by Unknown
From a week ago a campaign against domestic violence in Saudi Arabia made headlines worldwide. For the first time a campaign launched in the conservative kingdom tackling this social taboo under the name “No More Abuse”. The campaign is launched and sponsored by King Khaled Foundation.
Something can not be hidden indeed
The tagline of the extreme powerful ad in this campaign in English says “Something can not be hidden”
I think the incident of Lama Al Ghamadi could be one of the triggers in this campaign.
I hope to see a similar campaign in Egypt dealing with this taboo. I once saw a TV ads campaign about domestic violence in ONTV from two years ago and that’s it. It was a campaign sponsored by the government then showing the cycle of violence in the society.
 
Unfortunately this campaign was stopped and nobody remembers it except very few.
Domestic violence is from the unholy taboos in Egypt that nobody dares to come near for real. Myth says that it has to do with education and class but it is a myth.
 Domestic violence has nothing to do with education or class , I have witnessed many cases of domestic violence where women are beaten by their very well educated and wealthy husbands. It also has nothing to do with religion.
Many Muslim and Christian women suffer unbearable violence and yet they have to stick with their husbands till death does apart because of family prestige and the myth that the children need a father regardless of the fact that that father is abusive and the kids will not be raised normally. Christian Orthodox ladies got the divorce dilemma too and in the end we got Muslim and Christian ladies praying God that either their abusive husbands die or turn good miraculously and it will be the last time they physically abuse them.
While writing this I remember my grandma’s late sister who asked for divorce in 1949 from her filthy rich Upper Egyptian husband when she was 18 years old only because he started to abuse her physically. That ex-husband was a spoiled rich young man turned to be an alcoholic.
My late grandma told me that what her sister had done then was considered to be somehow revolutionary act for real , still she got her total family support. Young ladies in their time would not dare to do for fear on their family prestige and that “divorced” reputation. That’s besides the fact that most of the city girls and ladies did not work.
Of course that came with a a price during then. My late grand aunt had to lose her only son’s custody because of the bad family laws and corrupted judges in the family court then. The 1970s and 1980s family and personal affairs laws are really a bless.
Needless to say violence in working classes even get worse because women fear of losing their source of income in case of being unemployed especially when they are uneducated.
I remember that from couple of years ago our former house keeper came late and mom knew from her that her husband had beaten her badly the other night, it was not the first. My mom asked her why she would stay with him when he constantly treated her like that especially she was working and earned her living plus he was her second husband and not the father of her children. She was divorced from first husband because he was violent by the way.
The lady told mom that she loved him so much plus “ a man’s shadow is better than nothing !!”
My mom did not know what to say to her , she gave her painkillers and cream as well the rest of the week off.
Another type of domestic violence Egyptians do not dare to speak is the violence against Children. There is clear line between discipline and domestic violence that many Egyptian families do not see unfortunately.
I hate to say but up till now we do not have the guts in Egypt as civil society , as feminists and as activists to discuss this problem affecting millions of women and children as we should.
Domestic violence is really a big taboo but one day we will have to deal with it , we can not escape it for too long.
I will not be exaggerating that part of the violence we see now in the Egyptian street is partially rooted in the domestic violence. Once a child raised up that violence is the only way for dialogue in his home , he or she will grow up to accept and adopt this type of dialogue forever.
Thanks to Ahmed Awadalla , I found this clip about domestic violence in Egypt with English subtitles. It is short by the way.
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Posted in Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Gulf, photos, Society, Video, Women | No comments

Monday, 22 April 2013

#EarthDay : Meet Merna

Posted on 13:34 by Unknown
On the Earth Day I would like you to meet the Arab Youth Climate Movement and its leading member . Merna Ghaly and her friends from 15 Arab countries are fighting another war
Merna Ghaly on MBC Misr
Merna Ghaly
The 18 years old Merna Ghaly was featured in the Newsweek among 25 girls to watch worldwide under the age of 25.Merna fights a battle everybody is ignoring in Egypt whether the government or the civil society. The battle is about Climate Change.Yes tell me who speaks about it now !! 
Here is what said about the GUC student who is completely unknown in Egypt unfortunately
Merna Ghaly and other activists in the Arab Youth Climate Movement demonstrated at the December U.N. climate talks in Doha, Qatar, calling for emissions cuts and a focus on climate change. Ghaly, an Egyptian student, is set on making sure that the Arab uprisings will give birth to a climate spring.
This is what Ghaly said in Qatar.
Merna Ghaly speaks at COP18 in Doha 2012
And
Merna Ghaly
May God bless Merna , she gives me hope. Of course environment and environmentalists are facing hell in Egypt but again Merna and other environmentalists are giving me hope. May be in the end this generation will bring true change.
Now I have been searching the 125 women List of Newsweek to see whether there are Egyptian women featured or not and I was lucky.I found two Egyptian ladies featured . Dina Farid , the founder of “Egyptians girls are red line” movement against sexual harassment was featured. Filmmaker Jehane Noujaim was featured too with her documentaries.
It is amazing to see nice young ladies like those girls honored like this.
We got nice share this year.
By the way there are other Arab, Muslim and African women in the list. I will focus here on the Arab women. Besides Merna Ghaly , we got Saudi Child rights activist and professor Fawziah Al Bakr , Qatari first lady ‘Not so popular in Egypt’ Sheikha Mozah and her daughter Al Mayassa.
We got also late Syrian blogger Fatima Saad who was tortured and killed by Al Assad regime last November 2012. Syrian English teacher turned in to war photographer Noor Kelze is also featured.
Also Ann Peterson is featured in the list as the Arab Spring Ambassador. It is worth to mention there were strong rumors in Cairo that Peterson was not going to continue in her position as the US ambassador to Cairo.
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Posted in Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Egyptian Faces, Environment, Gulf, Human rights, Media, Syria, Women | No comments

Friday, 5 April 2013

And Bassem Youssef says it loud : Bring it on

Posted on 15:33 by Unknown
Tonight I will not be lying to say that millions waited anxiously for Bassem Youssef and his show to see what he was going to say and man he said loud and proud : Bring it on bitches.
In one of the best and explosive Youssef and his team opened fire on Morsi, the prosecutor general , the Muslim brotherhood and Qatar. Yes Qatar and it was like no other criticism ever made to the Small yet powerful and rich ambitious Gulf state. Let’s just say Qatar unfortunately tasted the Egyptian bitter criticism with my all respect to the Qatari people.
Here is the full episode. Unfortunately it is not translated.
Bassem Youssef’s The show “ep20”
I do not have to bet that not less hundred model citizen will report Bassem for insulting Qatar and its people tomorrow. I do not have to bet that all the Qatari media machine including Al Jazeera and its subsidies including Al Jazeera International.
Here is the song alone about Qatar. It is the special “The Show” cover of the 1960s Nasser’s Pan Arabism immortal anthem “My beloved Arab Homeland” by Mohamed Abdel Wahab and a group of icons in music during that time. “My beloved Qatar , whose money and investment getting bigger and bigger” the Show’s writers nailed it for real.
Watch after the break.
Bassem Youssef : My beloved Qatar
Now Bassem ended the episode mentioning all those detainees and those facing both military and civilian trials from activists and artists like Mohamed Sabry , April 6th Youth detainees, Karim Gamal and Ali Quandil. These guys need your support. Bassem contacted Mona Seif himself and requested the names of the detainees.
كلمة حق لازم تتقال. باسم يوسف هو اللي بادر و كلمنا بنفسه و طلب أسماء الشباب المعتقلين و المهددين بالسجن عشان يتكلم عنهم @drbassemyoussef
— Mona Seif (@Monasosh) April 5, 2013
Trivial fact : Hamdeen Sabbhi attended the episode.
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Posted in Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Follow Up, Gulf, MB, Media, Politics, Video | No comments

Tuesday, 22 January 2013

The environmental threat is back : The Egyptian Saudi Bridge

Posted on 03:32 by Unknown
Ok I am angry and frustrated and this news increased my anger and frustration
Ben Laden Group is ready to fund the proposed Egyptian Saudi bridge in the Red Sea according to Yahia Bin Laden during the visit of President Morsi to the Kingdom yesterday. 
I am not tired to say that I am totally against the project for ecologically reasons and I think I have explained this several times before. Here is my first post from a year ago : Save the coral reef
Already this area is suffering enough from pollution and human stupidity and inconsideration against the use of God's greatest gift to Sinai : Its coral reef.
I am afraid as most Egyptians do not have ecological culture and we are living under a regime that loves to lie to using religion , that regime does not really care about environment or nature except
Already I remember last year the MB and Salafist supporters accused environmental NGOs of being related to Mubarak regime as well Israel and the States. Some people think that this bridge will make richer and more closer to God !! How can we reach to those people.
I am double angry and frustrated.

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Posted in Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Environment, Follow Up, Gulf, Nature, Politics, Red Sea, Sinai | No comments

Monday, 21 January 2013

Why to exclude #Qatar from the land ownership law in #Egypt ? !?

Posted on 03:51 by Unknown
I will start with that news from Qatari Al Arab Newspaper : President Morsi excludes Qatari El Diyar from the ownership law, El Diyar acquires 30 million meter square in Sharm Arab !! According to the news which about the visit of some Egyptian economic delegation to Doha , President Morsi already had excluded the law before it would be ratified and issued.
Now we do not know the exact location of such project or its conditions. Already when I searched online for Sharm Arab and its history.
I found an entry in Google answers copied allegedly from Ahram Newspaper in early January 2011. To be exact on 9 January 2011 former minister of tourism Zohair Garana "currently in jail" announced that the Prince of Qatar was going to found a touristic resort in Sharm Arab in Hurghada on 28 million meters. "It is near Makadi Bay"
Why would Qatari El Diyar be exempted from a law that bans foreign ownership for land in Egypt now !? Is not this favoritism !?
Please do not give this lecture about investments to the end of that talk that we had enough of it in the past 30 years.
Please do not tell me that Qatar is helping Egypt financially so no problem if we sell our land to them in this way. If it were about financial aid , I think than the United States , EU and Kuwait have the right to acquire large pieces of land in the same way.
Of course this is besides the on going debate about the Qatari investments in Sinai and Suez Canal

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Posted in Citizen Journalism, Economy, Egypt, Gulf, National Security, News, Politics, Red Sea, Tourism | No comments

Friday, 18 January 2013

Noam Chomsky Fires Back at Youm 7 : I did not say that !!

Posted on 17:07 by Unknown

Do you remember that news Youm 7 published about that lecture of Noam Chomsky in University of Columbia that did not take place except in the MB media !?

Do you remember how the MB supporters insisted that the famous professor attacked UAE and accused it of plotting against Egypt because Suez Canal will bring Dubai down !?

Well the professor has reacted and sent Youm 7 email , specifically to Khaled Salah , its editor in chief where he made it clear it was untrue that he had lectured at Columbia university recently and spoke about Egypt. He also demanded that the news to be removed.

Youm 7 did remove the report but it did not apologize or explain to its readers that it was untrue , the thing which made Chomsky angry sending another email to Salah.

El Shorouk Newspaper published the email. I copied it here.

Subject:      False Attribution

Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2013 09:26:50 -0500

From:         Noam Chomsky <Chomsky@MIT.EDU>

To:    <khaled@youm7.com>

Dear Mr. Salah,

Many people have brought to my attention an article that was posted on your website on January 2, 3, and 4. The original link to the article, which has not been accessible since January 5, is:

http://www1.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=895206&SecID=12&IssueID=0

The article attributed statements to me which I never made and in a lecture which never occurred. The original title was:

"In an a lecture in Columbia University on the Egyptian Revolution, Prof. Chomsky said: President Morsi's plans for the development of the Suez Canal is the main reason for the hostility of Dubai toward the new Egyptian administration.  UAE represents the counter-revolution against Egypt's and Syria's Revolution and it plans on ruining the recent Cairo-Ankara alliance."

The last time I gave a lecture at Columbia University was on October 17, 2011, nearly 15 months ago, on a topic totally unrelated to Egypt, the UAE, and President Morsi. The article is totally made up out of whole cloth and, unfortunately, continues to be reproduced and circulated by various news outlets, sometimes with a slightly different title. Here is an example:

http://www.arabs.com/showthread.php?20137

Under the circumstances, I would like to request that you publish a correction in your website, acknowledging that the original article was erroneous, referring to statements I never made and to a lecture that never took place.

Sincerely,

Noam Chomsky

It is worth to mention that Ahmed Abu Hashima , the partner of MB’s business tycoon Hassan Malak in Al Masryeen steel has acquired Youm 7.

I wonder what the MB supporters will say when they read this or even when they will wake up from that illusion they are following.

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Posted in Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Follow Up, Gulf, MB, Media, Politics | No comments
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