Tahafabri Cators

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg
Showing posts with label Maghreb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maghreb. 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.
Read More
Posted in Arab, Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Gulf, Human rights, Iraq, Maghreb, Media, Society, Sudan, Women | 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.
Read More
Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Economy, Egypt, Gulf, International, Maghreb, Numbers, Politics, Post Revolution, Society | No comments

Tuesday, 19 March 2013

Arresting Qaddaf El Dam , a big noise like his late cousin

Posted on 14:35 by Unknown
Early Tuesday the Egyptian police arrested by the orders of the INTERPOL 3 top wanted Ex-Qaddafi regime’s officials above them Ahmed Qaddaf El Dam , the top Qaddafi’s aide and his cousin in a very big scene in Zamalek area.
The other two arrested along Qaddaf El Dam are former Libyan ambassador in Cairo Ali Maria and Mohamed Ibrahim , the brother Moussa Ibrahim, the former minister of information.
Just like his cousin, Qaddaf El Dam did not give up except with a fight in a big scene. It turned out that his guards opened their fire at the police force that came for his arrest injuring a police officer in the quiet clam upper Class Zamalek neighborhood in early morning. Reporters claim that when the police force stormed his residence he claimed that he believed the police force were actually Libyan rebels searching for him !!
In that time it seems that Qaddaf El Dam spoke with Jihan Mansour on Dream TV in her morning TV show.  He said that he was not a terrorist to be treated like that.
The latest Interview with Qaddaf El Dam on TV through phone
After that he surrendered himself to the Egyptian authorities and went to the International Cooperation Office at the Prosecution office in a big scene waving to the people while in custody like his late cousin !!
Saluting the people after Arrest !! "AP"
The international cooperation office follows the Prosecutor General office and from what I understand is like the link between the INTERPOL and the Prosecutor General office.
Now there is a debate both in Egypt and Libya about whether Egypt should extradite that eccentric guy or not and whether he gave up his Libyan passport or not. Some human rights activists in Egypt like Hafez Abu Saeda believes that as an Egyptian he should not be extradited to Libya .
The chairman of the Egyptian organization for human rights believes that the wanted Libyan ex-officials should not extradited in general except if there is a guarantee for a fair trial with no random killing and tribal vengeance. 

ليس معنى رفض تسليم الليبين ان يفلتوا من العقاب لكن لابد من ضمان محاكمة عادلة ومنصفة ورفض الانتقام القبلى والقتل العشوائى

— hafez abuseada (@hafezabuseada) March 19, 2013
Abu Saeda raised the matter of Qaddaf El Dam’s Egyptian nationality and the Libyans are speaking in their TV channels that the man gave his Libyan passport. Now there is implication also raised by Abu Saeda . According to the extradition agreement between Arab states in 1952 Arab citizens are not extradited and face trials in their own countries. “If I understand correctly”

اتفاقية تسليم المجرمين بين البلاد العربية لعام ١٩٥٢ ووقعت عليها مصر المادة السابعة تنص علي لايجوز التسليم اذا كان من رعايا الدوله وتحاكمه هي

— hafez abuseada (@hafezabuseada) March 19, 2013
Despite millions of Egyptians faced and are facing trials all over the Arab world , it is worth to mention that Hisham Talaat Mostafa was not extradited to  UAE and had a trial in Egypt.
Qaddaf is already half Egyptian half Libyan. Born in 1952 for Egyptian mother and Libyan father in Matrouh and it seems that he got an Egyptian citizenship even before Egyptian mothers’ children are granted the citizenship.
Well personally I believe you will find many sympathizers from the media with Qaddaf El Dam as the man supported several newspapers and journalists.He also owned a TV channel in Egypt. Already the man is believed to have estimated US $ 10 billion investments in Egypt.
Nevertheless of the charges he is facing in Libya , this man is facing charges of possessing illegal arms and resisting police forces. He is detained pending investigation for 30 days in Egypt. He is facing corruption charges in Libya and Egyptian INTERPOL is waiting to study his file from Libya.
Now regarding that sudden change in Egypt’s position towards the Libyan wanted officials. Well there are two theories and both are speaking about pressure and deals.
The first one I hinted to earlier is related to the crisis between Libya and Egypt regarding these wanted ex-officials. The theory says that Egypt is trading those three “and may be more” for the Egyptian detainees in Egypt from illegal workers and Egyptian Christians accused of spreading Christianity.
It is worth to mention that there was a meeting between the Pope of Coptic Church and the Libyan ambassador to discuss the fate of those Egyptian detainees. Already now the Prosecutor General assistant is in Libya to discuss the fate of those detainees.  
The second theory says that MB strongman Khairat El Shater reached to deal with the Libyan government by which Libya would pay $ 3 billion to get those men.
I believe the first theory more than the second or to be honest there could be a deal between Egypt and Libya to hand over these men and keep some of their assets as well to release our detainees.
I think  we will know soon if the Egyptian Libya relations improve in the future and out detainees are released.
Read More
Posted in Arab, Arabic faces, Citizen Journalism, Economy, Egypt, Follow Up, Human rights, Maghreb, Media, News, Politics, Regional, Trials | No comments

Friday, 15 March 2013

#Libya and #Egypt : The Silent Crisis

Posted on 13:50 by Unknown
The famous silent man from Tahrir spoke about it
We are facing hard times when it comes to the Egyptian Libyan relations unlike what we have imagined especially in the past two weeks.
The Egyptians especially the Egyptian Christians are extremely angry from Libyans for the murder of Ezzat Attallah in Libya. Upper Egyptian Attallah was arrested in Libya for the suspicion of spreading Christianity. After couple of days of his detention along with other Egyptian Christians , he died."The image on the right : The famous silent man from Tahrir square received the body of Ezzat in Cairo airport with this message 'Ezzat do not be sad , Mohamed will bring back your rights' "
According to the family of late Attallah , he was tortured till death. His wife claims that she took photos for his body with signs of torture.His family is saying that he was not promoting Christianity and that he was his only relation to those Christians arrested there that the authorities there found his contact number in one of the detainees’ mobile phone if I understand correctly. Attallah used to own mobile repair shop in Libya. 
Egyptian Christians protested angrily for two days in a row at Libyan embassy in Zamalek area in Cairo last week. Some of them burned the Libyan flag in anger. Then Libyans became angry too after knowing that their flag  was burned in Cairo torched an Egyptian Church in Benghazi on Thursday.
There are still Egyptian Christians detained in Libya and those who were released from them and return back home are speaking about horrors they witnessed during custody.
Of course you will wonder where the Egyptian government is from all this , well unfortunately the Presidency is not keen to send the president’s aide for  foreign affairs Essam El Hadad nor the head of the intelligence as it had done with the MB detainees in UAE. The ministry of foreign affairs in Egypt issued couple of very small statements about the incidents claiming that it was following the matter with its Libyan counterpart..etc.
Now you can feel that there is a crisis between Egypt and Libya , people are witnessing its signs and I think the case of Attallah will inflame the crisis more and more.
The original crisis has to do with the fact that Egypt hosts some of the former Qaddafi regime members including Qaddaf El Dam. The new rulers of Libya do not buy that he defected and so on. Now the government of Libya does not want Qaddaf El Dam and other Qaddafi’s regime members and supporters from big families in Egypt alone but rather want to restore back their assets and investments in Egypt.
The Libyan assets and investments in Egypt are big , not small to the level that they can affect the Egyptian economy now especially in our current disastrous status as I have been told by trusted sources.
Another part of the crisis is the fact Libya has been the main source of arms that are flooding the country .
I do not know if the Egyptian intelligence is still holding the Libyan file like in the days of Omar Suleiman or not but I know that the Presidency is not doing its part as it should whether to seek the rights of those citizens allegedly tortured or to solve that dilemma of Qaddafi supporters or even.
I once heard a real strategic analyst saying that the real challenge for Egypt will not come from the East this time but rather from the West.
As usual Morsi’s administration fails to stand up for this challenge as it should and yes it is the responsibility of Morsi whether you like or not.
I know it is ironic as people believed that with the Islamists in charge in both in Egypt and Libya things will be great and our borders will be opened but what you know !!
Read More
Posted in Arab, Citizen Journalism, Economy, Egypt, Human rights, Maghreb, MB, Minorities, National Security, Politics, Post Revolution, Presidency | No comments

Thursday, 7 February 2013

#Tunisia : Protests , strikes and testimonies

Posted on 08:30 by Unknown
First all I will start with this video from Nawaat. An interview with Nadia Dawood who is the eye witness of Chokri Belaid's assassination. Nadia Dawood , who is a journalist , is the neighbour of Mr. Belaid. She was in her balcony when the tragic murder happened. She lives in the fourth floor and she was the one who took that snap shot showing the ambulance in the crime scene.

Nadia Dawood speaks in both French and Arabic. From what I understood she is accusing both Belaid's driver and the building's guard of having some shady role in his assassination.Interestingly I read news reports claiming that the preliminary autopsy reports say that the gunshot calibers used in his murder are only used by the police force in Tunisia !!!!
 You must know Islamists in Tunisia believe that this testimony enforces the theory that Belaid was killed by his own team , the opposition. Seconds Tunisia is on fire for real. For the second day in rows protests continue in Tunis , the capital and several other cities including Gafsa.


The general Trade Union in Tunisia declared that tomorrow will be a general strike day all over the country. Friday is not a holiday like in Egypt. It is an escalation.
Now as police is police everywhere videos began to emerge from Tunisia showing on how the anti-riots forces in Tunisia disperse protesters and attack them in a brutal way yesterday day.


Of course they have not reached to the level of their Egyptian counterpart. Lucky for the Tunisians I guess.
Tomorrow will be tough day.
Today was the funeral of Belaid. It is hard to see his poor late daughter Fairoz carrying over his coffin.
Belaid's family over his coffin
Fairoz carrying her father's coffin
Trying to calm her down


Read More
Posted in Arab, Citizen Journalism, Maghreb, Media, photos, Politics, Video | No comments

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

#Belaid , the first in #Tunisia , who will be next !!

Posted on 03:32 by Unknown
Earlier this morning the leader of left Democratic patriots movement party in Tunisia , Chokri Belaid has been killed outside his house. The man was shot four times in his head and chest in front of his house , in front of his car. Here is a video filmed by his neighbours from the scene showing the ambulance and his car.

Despite no one has yet claimed responsbility, Tunisian opposition began to accuse radical Islamists especially that from seven months ago a Salafist preacher called for his assassination publicly on video.
 It is also worth to mention that late Belaid himself warned in last summer from political assassinations.
This is dangerous on many levels considering that this is the first assassination Tunisia would witness since the revolution.
Some Salafists in Tunisia already are happy for his assassination and they are not hiding it.


 Here is a video showing the widow of Belaid crying in the hospital.
Here is the poor lady holding her husband bloody shirt in the hospital.
Belaid's shirt "@David Thompson"
People are currently protesting Habib Bourghiba famous street.

Protesters in Tunis "@Luith"
 Here is a video clip for the protest in Tunis by Hossem Aoudi

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Unlike Egypt there is no violent clashes or confrontations in Tunisia on wide scale. I think this can trigger something.Already Salafists there are much more violent than those in Egypt. People have started rallies and protests in several provinces like Sfax.
Now back in Egypt some people fear that the turn will be on our opposition leading figures considering the fact that Egypt is two steps behind Tunisia according to their point of view but others believe we are already two steps forward as the young activists and protesters especially those with anti-MB views like Mohamed El Gundy and Hossainy Abu Deif began to be eliminated in different ways.
Read More
Posted in Arab, Citizen Journalism, Human rights, Maghreb, Media, Politics, Post Revolution, Terrorism, Video | No comments
Older Posts Home
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Happy Egyptian Valentine’s Day
    Today is November 4th , our own local Egyptian Valentine’s day or to be accurate it is the Egyptian Love day. Only Egyptians will relate. Fo...
  • #MB VS. Protesters : After the Mount battle
    The battle has got a name now “The Mount battle” in reference to Mokattam Hill that is regarded by most Egyptians as a mount while it is n...
  • #PortSaid : Day#3 in Civil Disobedience
    And the people of Port Said continue in their civil disobedience for the third day in row. Today thousands of protesters from Port Said'...
  • There is Always Hope : Little Smiles From #Fayoum
    Sometimes you need to see such photos to give hope in the future , yes a simple pure hope from simple little smile can change your mood.  Th...
  • And The Soldiers Are Back and Free
    From four hours ago the official spokesperson of armed forces announced the end of the hostages crisis in Sinai with the following message ...
  • Happy Mawlid Nabawi #2013 : The Mawlid Bride
    Mawlid Bride by Zeinab Ali Today January 24 ,2013/ Rabi' Al Awwal 12,1434 , today we celebrate in the Islamic world the Mawlid El Nabaw...
  • Links and Notes 11/03/2013
    Nubia: 50 years of displacement - Special Files - Folk - Ahram Online A fantastic report about the N...
  • Links and Notes 12/19/2013
    AP News: Egypt's Muslim Sisterhood takes lead in protests And the MB sisterhood is yet again in ...
  • Happy Mother’s Day From #Egypt
    Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing mothers in Egypt and the Arab world. This was the first post stamp issued in Egypt to commemorate the ...
  • The Return of the #NDP Rascals
    No I will not write what happened in Egypt   on Friday, it has become a routine as we have become like Lebanon. The only thing I can say tha...

Categories

  • #Jan25
  • 1001
  • 1948
  • 1952
  • 1967
  • 1973
  • Africa
  • African Faces
  • Alexandria
  • America
  • Arab
  • Arabic faces
  • Arts
  • Asia
  • Aswan
  • Audio
  • Bloggers
  • Books
  • Breaking News
  • Cairo
  • Canal Cities
  • Caucasus
  • Charity
  • Citizen Journalism
  • Culture
  • Daily World Links
  • Democracy
  • Economy
  • Egypt
  • Egyptian Army
  • Egyptian Constitution
  • Egyptian Faces
  • Egyptian History
  • Egyptian Life
  • Egyptian Royalty
  • Egyptian Rumours
  • Egyptian X-files
  • Elections
  • Environment
  • Europe
  • Fayoum
  • Films
  • Follow Up
  • Geek
  • Grand Cairo
  • Gulf
  • Health
  • History
  • Human rights
  • In the wind's direction
  • International
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Islam
  • Israel
  • Just Opinion
  • Laila
  • Latino
  • Laws
  • Lebanon
  • Letter from the editor
  • Live Blogging
  • Maghreb
  • Matrouh
  • MB
  • Media
  • Minorities
  • Music
  • National
  • National Security
  • Nature
  • News
  • Nile Delta
  • nostalgia
  • Nubia
  • Numbers
  • Pakistan
  • Palestine
  • Parliament
  • Party of parties
  • Photo Of The Week
  • photos
  • Politics
  • Polls
  • Post Revolution
  • Presidency
  • Red Sea
  • Regional
  • Religion
  • Sinai
  • Society
  • South America
  • Sports
  • Spy
  • Sudan
  • Suez War
  • Syria
  • Terrorism
  • Tourism
  • Trials
  • Turk
  • Upper Egypt
  • Video
  • War
  • Women
  • Yemen

Blog Archive

  • ▼  2014 (7)
    • ▼  January (7)
      • Merry Christmas Again and Again :)
      • The Return of the #NDP Rascals
      • Links and Notes 01/05/2014
      • So what is your job exactly Mr. Minister !?
      • Links and Notes 01/02/2014
      • The Song of the Year and ..every Year so far in #E...
      • #AblaFahita , the master Spy of #Vodafone or this ...
  • ►  2013 (493)
    • ►  December (51)
    • ►  November (58)
    • ►  October (34)
    • ►  September (23)
    • ►  August (31)
    • ►  July (50)
    • ►  June (46)
    • ►  May (43)
    • ►  April (41)
    • ►  March (50)
    • ►  February (40)
    • ►  January (26)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile