Thinking about the multitude of drama television series aired during Ramadan, one question comes to mind. Which genius, may God never forgive him, made a correlation between the holy month of Ramadan on one hand and the flood of shoddy series on the other?
I first learned of Dr Albert Schweitzer’s work when I was a medical student in the 1960s. During those years, the story of Schweitzer’s efforts to improve the health of Africans in his hospital in Lambaréné ignited my companions’ and my imagination. It was thus with a sense of privilege that I visited his hospital, where his excellent work continues today. Sadly, the same cannot be said about the continuation of his message of peace.
“What makes you the happiest?” “When my father and mother are not fighting and he doesn’t beat her up,” said Gamal, an 11-year-old vendor selling lupine grain, as he smiled and posed for the picture. Salma Hegab, a fresh graduate of Multimedia Journalism, posted the photo on the Facebook page “Humans of Cairo”.
The first time Ethar Hassan rode a bicycle, a car pulled over and stopped her. She fell over her bicycle. “You fell, cutie?” a man said from the car. “I wish I was the bike.” Hassan tells her story on a new blog dedicated chronicling the women’s experiences with sexual harassment and gender issues in Egypt. The Cairo-based non-profit “BuSSy” raises awareness about the challenges Egyptian women face by transforming real-life experiences into dramatic monologues. It launched the blog to act as a sort of archive for stories collected over eight years of operation.
Not known for their rapid reaction capabilities, it took Arab governments about a week to convene an emergency meeting of the Arab League, which took place yesterday in Cairo, to discuss the rapidly escalating confrontation between Israel and Gaza.
The Egyptian events in the days preceding 3 July 2013 coincided with an African tour by American President Barak Obama. As he said in an afternoon news conference in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam: "We all feel concerned with what's happening in Egypt". He pointed to the importance of ensuring that the voices of all Egyptians were heard and represented by their government.
In principle, every citizen deserves a better life; why should people suffer if their lives can be improved? However, a better life won’t be dished out and served up on a golden plate. To lead better lives, citizens should not only work hard, they must abide by a number of values that are critical to the enhancement of their standard of living. Although Egyptian society is known for its cheerfulness, Egyptians have lately become significantly more unhappy, stressed, depressed and angry. To regain their joyful life, they simply need to deserve it.
As somewhat muted congratulations from world leaders pour into Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s office, one cannot help but wonder how much there really is to celebrate for both Sisi and ordinary Egyptians alike. Many Egyptians celebrated Sisi’s electoral victory in Tahrir Square upon its announcement, and posters, pictures and other Sisi iconography remain prevalent on the streets. Sisi himself, in his post-election speech thanked the Egyptian people and military, insisting, “The future is a clean page. We can fill it with bread, social justice and dignity”.
While revolutions usually take decisive actions to achieve the goals that triggered them, achieving social justice – the main demand of the Egyptian revolution – remains unfulfilled, as the revolution overthrew two regimes but has not ruled.
Subsidy reform was inevitable. That’s what President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and his supporters said this week when fuel prices were raised and taxes on some consumer goods were hiked. And they aren’t wrong.
The fate of Iraq as a united country is at stake, and it is most likely veering rapidly towards actual partition based on sectarian affiliation. This would destroy all historic and geographic bonds exactly along the lines of maps that emerged at the start of the US-British invasion of Iraq, demarking three countries in Iraq each belonging to a different sect, five states in the Arabian Peninsula and two countries in Syria.
Amnesty International said last week that Egypt is witnessing a “catastrophic” decline in human rights. Indeed, human rights conditions in Egypt are currently a disaster, but the “catastrophe” Egyptians are witnessing these days is all-encompassing.
“Laughter is the best therapy to overcome life problems and come to grips with mistakes.” That’s Islam Gawish’s life motto.
The sun beat down with an untethered ferocity on the cuts on her shoulders, and the fact that the shirt was torn was not helping. Her mobile phone barely had enough charge to call her family to pick her up from the empty desert road where she had been dumped. It had only been 10 minutes since she made the phone call home, and she realised that nothing short of miracle had kept her alive during her four week trial of survival as prisoner 41,138- whom we shall refer to as P, for prisoner, for the remainder of this ordeal.
Last week Pope Tawadros issued the latest in a long list of fiery statements, when, in a visit to Norway, he remarked: “We can pray in a nation without a church but we can’t pray in a church without a nation.
When I told friends and colleagues that my new job would be based in Cairo, almost everyone mentioned the awful congestion in the city, and how I would be wasting a tremendous amount of time being stuck in traffic. And how right they were: when it comes to traffic, Cairo is one of the most congested cities in the world. Of course, the city's residents already know congestion is one of the city's biggest problems. What they probably don't know is exactly how much it's costing them.
“Shocking, appalling, preposterously unjust.” These are excerpts of angry global reactions to the harsh prison sentences of three journalists for Al-Jazeera English by an Egyptian court. Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Australian Peter Greste were sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of aiding terrorists and endangering national security, based merely on ludicrous pieces of evidence. While the verdict is shocking, it actually fits in with the general attitude and outlook of the new Egyptian leadership. Sisi’s new Egyptian Republic is shaped on terms and conditions like power, prestige, and authority. An old Nasserite slogan has resurfaced, the “Dignity of the State.” In that context, the new leadership in Cairo views journalists, media, human rights advocates, and even revolutionaries with suspicion. They are all a threat to its authority and therefore there is no room for dissent.
14 June marks National Anti-FGM Day in honour of 12-year-old Bodour Shaker, from Minya, who died on the same date in 2007 as a victim of this inhumane practice. In June 2013, 13-year-old Soheir El Batea from Daqahleya suffered the same fate. As heartbreaking as these two tragedies are, their untimely deaths were not in vain: as a result of public mobilisation, the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) was criminalised by law in 2008 and the first criminal case is currently under prosecution, respectively. FGM is a grave violation of human rights and one of the worst forms of discrimination against girls and women.
Others
An Arabic language teacher from the Qabaa school in the Nozha district flogged a Coptic pupil ten years old named Bibawi Faragallah 40 times with an electric wire last week.
Cairo pupil receives 40 lashes from teacher
