Bla la land

Abood El Zomor - Patience vs. Violence

2011-03-16T21:48:00.002+02:00

I watched Abood El Zomor's interview with Mona El Shazly to get a feel and understanding of how the guy thinks and whether we should be worried or not. Agree or disagree with El Zomor's ideology here are my points on his character:

The guy talks with great confidence, he is convinced of what he is saying, he is quite patient and to a certain extent calm in replying to Mona's obvious opposition: all signs that he seems to understand very clearly the set of principles that move him.

It is understanding these principles that were my aim when watching the interview and an important question that present itself in an interview with someone involved in an assassination is: When is it justifiable to use force?

El Zomor is prepared to wait the duration of a corrupt president's 4-year term to end. He is prepared not to use force if there is an alternative judiciary mechanism to ousting a corrupt president. But don't ask him to wait forever without an alternative mechanism because if there is no other way, violence IS an option.

Which begs the question: When do YOU justify the use of force?

For once let's talk in absolute terms. Justifying force in terms of why and how is a slippery slope: we'll end up with relative justifications and every one with his own version of an acceptable reason or an acceptable method.

It is really a simple question of black and white: Are you, or are you not, ready to accept violence as a means?

"Yes" means you shouldn't be surprised at Abood El Zomor's hero reception. Period. PERIOD.

The use of violence is not alien to our minds. Consider these statements:

It's their own fault.

This is what they wanted.

They deserved it.

They're provoking the government.

We should get rid of them all.

Consider similar thoughts that have crossed your mind regarding recent events whether it be against protesters, thugs, leaders or sections of society. And consider how often you've heard these statements from other people and unfortunately there isn't a lack of events recently for stirring up violent feelings.

Of course it's difficult to tame our minds when in a state of anger and that's understandable but it's still not acceptable even though I've harbored violent thoughts myself.

If you stand firmly in the justifiable violence camp, then read no further. Go with peace.

What I think we need, to spread a culture of non-violence, is a kind of going back to simple basic human principles. We need to encourage a more general philosophical approach to our humanity and I hope this is encouraged in the structuring of the new constitution. I also believe that Egyptians already have a disposition to these basic human principles. Their down-to-earth kindness and humility and need for peace. The Jan 25 revolution has imported almost everything from the Jasmine revolution except "Selmeyya Selmeyya".. that was home-grown. And exported to protesters in Bahrain. The "mother of the world", the "cradle of civilization", "Baheyya"... if there's humanity anywhere it's here in Egypt. We just need to re-awaken it.

NO TO VIOLENCE.

ENOUGH BULLSHIT JUSTIFICATIONS.

I WANT A CONSTITUTION THAT LIVES UP TO OUR LEVEL OF HUMANITY.

الإلحاد و اللا أدرية و علاقتهم بالعلمانية

2010-11-28T17:30:00.005+02:00

تعريف الإلحاد او
atheism
هو عدم الإيمان بوجود الله أصلاً...

في كلمة تانية هي
agnostic
هي إحتمال قبول فكرة وجود الله بس كمان الإقتناع بأن لا أحد يدري أي حقائق إلاهية ثابتة... يعني يمكن يكون في الله و يمكن لأ..و ان حتى لو في الله كل الأديان تخاريف و كله بيفتي...

إذا كان السؤال: هل تؤمن بوجود الله؟

الملحد يقول "لا"
و الأجنوستك يقول "لا أدري و لا أظن أن أحد يعرف بحق"

الأجنوستك ترجمتها الحرفية هي "ال لا أدرية" اي انه لا يدري أين تقع الحقيقة..

فيه أشكال من كل نوع.. يعني بعض "الأجنوستك" يعتقدون أن "ربما" تتعرف البشرية علي الله و البعض الأخر يعتقد أننا لن نتعرف أبدا علي الله او انه مستحيل التعرف علي حقائق إلاهية...

لما بقول اتعرف علي الله او علي الحقائق إلاهية لا أقصد بالطبع علي رؤية الله او التعرف عليه شخصياً... بل أقصد التعرف أو الإيمان بعقيدة إلاهية "صحيحة" و مباشرة او غير مباشرة من الله..

الأجنوستك و الإلحاد هما إيديلوجات عقائدية..

العلمانية هي إيديلوجية سياسية وهي ليست لها علاقة بالإيدولوجيات العقائدية... و اساسها فصل العقيدة عن السياسة.. لكي لا يتستر الفساد السياسي وراء الدين..... و شكرا

للنقاش تكملة إن أراد أحد... انا دائماً ارحب باي حوار و شكراً تاني

Back... only better

2010-10-17T10:04:00.004+02:00

A milestone of sorts, after 5 years of inactivity, I am back. I don't know what reminded me of this ancient blog of mine but I have decided to revive it. Reading my older posts is a trip. I was 22 and so enthusiastic :) Now I'm 27 and my I've changed but there will always be an inner political opposition in me. Inspired by recent political notes I've written (on facebook!), I've decided to once again use this blog as my podium for my ideas concerning politics in Egypt.

There will however be a shift in my approach to the subject. For one, growing older has made me less over-excited so I expect a dramatic decrease in the use of exclamation marks :D The posts will function more as analysis, opinion and theory rather than reporting. Reading my older posts, I've also noticed a somewhat contradicting impression regarding the identity of the author and the intended target audience: ordinary cultural matters are described from an outsider point of view while at the same time discussing issues that are a concern of mainly local followers of the political scene. This might be because I hadn't fully developed my cultural identity as I have now. On the same note, I expect more Arabic in future posts. Finally, I will stop referring to girls as chicks :D All in all, from now on, the posts and the ideas they contain should be worthy of being published in local newspapers regardless of the language they were originally written in.

Mehlis Reports

2005-10-25T18:19:00.000+02:00

Detlev Mehlis has handed in his report. The international investigator was assigned by the UN to investigate, Lebanon's ex-prime minister, Rafik Al Hariri's death. Today the UN is convening to discuss the report and its implications. I've read the report and it is one kick-ass investigation that does some serious finger-pointing to high-ranking officials in Lebanon and Syria. All the way up to both presidents. Apparently Bashar El Assad (Syria's version of Gamal Mubarak), was not pleased with having to share Lebanese rule with Hariri! So that's how it works! The SYRIAN president not happy with sharing rule over LEBANON with the LEBANESE prime minister. Sweet.

Here is an excerpt of a phone conversation that was recorded between a Syrian and a Lebaneese official:
The President of the Republic told me this morning that they are two to rule the country the Prime Minister and him. He said that things cannot continue this way.

A witness close to Hariri testified:
"[Hariri] reported President Assad saying to him: I will break Lebanon on your head and Jumblat’s head."

I am interested in the investigation because:

1)I've never really understood how leaders of military regimes think.

2)Syria and Egypt are probably the closest two Arab allies.

3)Politically speaking, Syria and Egypt have SO MUCH in common. They are almost identical twins.

4)The Assad family compels me to look at the Mubaraks and think.

Let's see who gets the last laugh.

A pdf version of Mehlis' full report is found at YaLibnan.com
Or if you want their HTML version.
I also came across an article that reports that an earlier version of the report mentioned specific names of Syrian and Lebanese officials likely to be involved.

Self-righteous pricks

2005-10-24T23:15:00.000+02:00

I had just finished reading Mehlis' report investigating Rafik El Hariri's death. So I think why not write something on the blog about it. But before I do, I read the Sandmonkey just so make sure I'm not saying anything redundant that was already written.

Instead, I find no posts on Hariri.. but apparently I've been so out-of-touch about news in Egypt that there has been something of a religious sedition going on without the motherfuckers telling me. How dare they!

I would usually never write about shit like that. I mean really, what CAN one say?!

My God is better than your God?!
My God told me to fuck the shit out of the other God's people?
Can something be more stupider than a man killing another man because they both pray differently? One eats pig while the other doesn't?
You know what, FUCK THEM BOTH! They don't even KNOW their God. Hell.. they don't even know if their God EXISTS! No one really KNOWS! I wish I knew! How can I believe something that has so many contradictions in itself.. or something that has so many other "beliefs" opposing it. How can ANYONE be SO SURE of ANYTHING! And to be so engulfed in that "belief".. to have their lives focused and oriented solely around that "belief" that they would blindly and willingly do so much evil that blatantly condradicts the very basics of human life and the original purpose of those beliefs. So then what the fuck are these beliefs for if they do not improve our lives but serve as the fuel that kills us. We have taken belief to be fact that we are willing to die and be died for.
I read this quote a while ago and it struck me so true:
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction."
Blaise Pascal
French mathematician, physicist (1623 - 1662)

Can people be more blatantly stupid, ignorant and blind? 5,000 people suddenly go to crash into a church?! The paramount of Kefaya's demonstrations could not gather 5,000! Suddenly the self-righteous have appeared! The soldiers of Allah. Let's make our God proud. Let's break our fast on some Christian blood shall we! Let's stab a nun after Iftar. Oh the hypocrisy. The ugly black hypocrisy. You sicken me.

Back from the dead

2005-10-16T17:21:00.000+02:00

Oh man .. where do I begin.. well I'm Back! :-D
Between the traveling (again) from Egypt, my new job, the freelance work I volunteered to take up, the house-hunting for my friend, my mum's operation, and to top it all off, my sister's car accident, the last thing on my mind was this blog.
Phew.. that was one fucked up month.. So now that things have settled, the fact that I am so out of touch with Egyptian current affairs, makes me wonder whether there is anything I CAN write. Oh well... I guess writing this post is a start.
Oh and Happy Ramadan :-D

Election Day Diary - Undercover @ Refaa' El Tahtawy

2005-09-26T20:35:00.000+03:00

Continued from "Election Day Diary - Afternoon"...

After the Hishem el Hefnawy and Mostapha el Salab circuses... things started to cool down a bit.. The numbers of loaded masses were in continuous arrival but alot of them weren't able to vote because their names weren't registered and they didn't have voting cards. I caught a glimpse of another decent-looking guy .. he seemd in the early 30's.. something like that... He had asked me before what I was doing so he already had an idea of the whole election-monitoring issue.. I went up to him:

"Hi.. Did you get to vote?"

(He didn't seem interested in talking and seemed to be in a hurry)

-"What do you want? You want offenses? There's nothing here to note.. If you want offenses go to Refaa' El Tahtawy... The real offenses are there... They don't check names.. They don't use ink.. it's a real circus there"
(Finally something interesting! But I was slow in understanding that Refaa' El Tahtawy was actually a school and not a person...)
"Really?! Can you explain? What happened exactly? What did you see??"
-"Go and see for yourself!"
"Yeah I will but just give me a heads-up on what to expect? What happened? What did you see?"

The guy TOTALLY ignores me and just hurries off! What the hell?! Fucking bastard! Anyway so I'm still thinking that Refaa' El Tahtawy is some guy who voted in the committee I was monitoring. Must be a hot shot or something because the guy was talking like he was pretty famous! He said he didn't use any ink.. So I run around like a madman looking for someone without an ink mark on their fingers. I decide if he's a famous guy maybe I could ask someone around.. they would probably know him.. I'm not from around here. So I go up to one of the NDP guys (we've become pretty friendly with one another):

"Hey do you know someone called Refaa' El Tahtawy?"
-"Refaa' El Tahtawy? Hmm... That's a school isn't it?"
"No. No. Someone who voted here. Isn't there a famous person called Refaa' El Tahtawy?"
-"Yes Ofcourse! But he's been dead a long long time ago! Maybe you mean the school"
"Hmm No. Anyway thanks."

I go to one of my colleagues and he doesn't know who Refaa' el Tahtawy is either. Oh well.. whatever.

The NDP guys started becoming friendly with me. They told me their names, and basically helped me out with the names of all the officials that were around. They weren't doing that out of support to the monitoring. They were just being friendly and its not like names are confidential or anything. They used to check up with me from time to time on how many people had voted. They seemed to have started counting but gave up in the middle since it was kinda tiresome and they saw that I was doing a fairly honest job of counting myself.. so why duplicate the work? They would throw lines like "Only 300?! Come on man! Lighten up your hands a bit man!" (That's something like saying: don't be so strict.. add a few hundred more.. noone will notice!) I'd tell him "Just that?! How much do you want? 3,000? 3,000,000?" and would just laugh it off. I didn't add a single count ofcourse. And in anycase the counting was just a check to make sure those heading the committee weren't playing around with the uncast ballot cards. It's not like I had the official numbers or anything. It didn't mean that if I increased the number to 3,000 I would have actually increased the official number of voters who voted in the committee. It was just something to compare the official results to. If he really wanted an increase in votes he'd have to tamper with the official results.. not my humble powerless pretty-much-useless count. They'd offer me cigarettes too. Not like a bribe or anything. Just keeping it cool with me. And hell man I think I kinda deserved it. If I ever missed someone who got out of the committee and I hadn't noticed his finger, I would practically run up to him and ask him if he'd voted or not.

"Ok thanks. Just counting the voters thats all"

I think the NDP guys noticed that. I mean I could have just ignored the guy and not put much effort in trying to find out. But I didn't. And I think it helped break the ice a bit. They were more open with me than my other colleagues and respected the effort.

At around 3 or4 pm a few other colleagues showed up. A guy who was a law student, some guy who seemed to some with the law student, a chick and some guy with the chick. The law student told me he heard that some serious offenses had happened in Refaa' El Tahtawy school.

-"I've heard the place there is a mess! They say it's too dangerous for us"
"So it IS a school! Some voter told me to go there and check for some offenses but I didn't understand what he was talking about"

Hmmm.... I started wondering whether that's where I really should be. One of my colleagues then introduces me to the Al Ghad and Al Wafd representatives. The Al Wafd representative looked smart. He was maybe around 22 or something but with this kinda of prestige about him.

-"Al Wafd. Aristocratic" (commented on of my colleagues)

The Al Ghad representative was maybe 24?25? He was a bit chubby and wide. He seemed kinda silly actually. In a goofy way. But he was one of those know-it-all people. Other than that he was ok.

So anyway I talk to the Al Wafd representative and we start talking about the situation in Refaa' El Tahtawy.

-"Yeah I heard about that too! We decided it was too dangerous for our representatives to go there and just left that area"

Damn. Something serious must be going on there. One of my colleagues was talking on the phone to the law student:

-"Ok but take care.. Keep your distance and no need for photos. It's too dangerous"
"He's going to Refaa' El Tahtawy??"
(still on the phone)-"Yeah he is"
"Ok then tell him to hold on! I'm wanna go too"

I hand one of the chicks my stuff and tell her to continue the counting. I meet up the law student at the entrance of the polling station and we take his car. There was another guy with him too.

It took us a while to actually find out in which area the school was in. The area seemed ok. I mean it's in a not too bad part of Nasr City. And the roads are main roads. What could possibly go wrong here? Then when we actually reached the school we found out that the school was situated in a hidden area with bashed up side roads leading to it. The area looked really pathetic with bashed up walls like there was a war that I didn't know about. We circled the school from a distance and noticed a large amount of police officers and police trucks at the entrance. I didn't know whether they were here to contain the trouble or they were the ones causing it. We parked a little way away and started walking to the school. We passed the officers without any problem. Other people were coming in too so no problem there. We entered the school and quickly guessed where the voting was taking place. It was a hall at one side of the school. There was something like 3 or 4 committees in the hall. Each committe simply composed of a few men sitting at a desk at one side of the hall with ballot boxes beside them. It kinda reminded me of the parent-teacher meetings we had at school where some of the non-class-teachers (i.e. religion, arabic, P.E., music etc.) would sit in the school hall to meet the parents. Beside each committee there was a black curtain at a corner somewhere, which looked like a lame attempt to comply with voter privacy rules but it was sufficient.

There was nothing out of the ordinary. Everything seemed calmn enough. Nothing really caught my eye. Maybe we came late? We decided to hang around outside the hall for a while. We could still see what's going on inside through the doors and windows. Voters were coming out with ink on their fingers. Everything seems ok. All three of us would talk in whispers. I felt like an undercover spy. We were freaking out actually but in time we cooled down.

I saw two urban-looking people come from outside. A man and some guy in his 20s. They were talking in whispers too!

-"Everything seems ok don't you think?"
--"Yeah. Everything seems normal"
-"So then what's all that they said was going on?"
--"I don't know. Maybe it was earlier"

Monitors too?! They've also heard things about the place!

I ask the younger guy for a cigarette (Something I HATE to do) when the older guy leaves go check out the inside of the hall. A lame attempt to break the ice and get him to talk.

"I've heard that there were some problems here"
-"Yeah we've heard that too."
"Did you vote yet?"
(in whispers)-"No actually we're here to monitor the area"
"Oh cool"
-"But things seem to be going fine till now"
"Yeah"

So what happened?! I had no idea. I finish off the cigarette and my and my election monitoring buddies decide to leave. Nothing to see here.

As we walk outside we decide to talk the longer route to the car. Just check out the area. We walk past an "ahwa" (traditional coffee place) and there seemed to be an argument with some people gathered around an urban-looking guy wearing a suit. I decide to join the crowd and try to eavesdrop on what they were talking about. The other two colleagues walk along. The argument was between one of the locals and the guy in the suit.

-"Pasha I counted them myself. They were a maximum of 800 no more for sure! That's maximum! He was saying more than a 1,000! That's impossible I'm sure! I'm positive Pasha!"
--"Ok Ok. I'll tell them that. Now you have to do something about this."
(Then some stuff I couldn't hear)

The guy in the suit starts talking on his cellular and leaves. I try to butt in and know what was going on.

"What's the problem?" (How helplessly naive can I be?)
-"No! What problem?! There aren't any problems!" (What can I say? With a question as naively honest, how could I expect a better answer?)
"I don't know you seemed a little bit upset that's all"
-"Hehehe. No I just.. I was just talking and you know he wasn't listening much... I don't like that that's all"

Bummer. Anyway I came all the way to Refaa' El Tahtawy I had to come back with SOMETHING! So the stubborn little me decided to stay a while. I overheard two people who seemed to be part of the earlier argument talking.

-"So what are we going to do now with the count?"
--"I don't know CAN we do?!"
-"We need to get more people!"
--"I can't go get more people. I can't do that"
-"Look. Just give me the truck and I'll go get people. Ok?! You don't do anything just give me the truck that's all"

Ok so I tried to put the pieces together and made up my own story. Its fun to make up stuff. The way I see it is that the guy in the suit seemed to be one of the NDP guys. Apparently the NDP will not pay these local people anything (a more drastic version is to close the unlicensced ahwa) unless these local people get their asses off of their ahwa and bring more voters to counter the (El Ghad?) voters who came in earlier (that's what he was referring to as 800?). Or maybe 800 was money? Maybe they got ripped off of a few hundred pounds? Maybe that's what an earlier fight was because of? Or maybe they were Al Ghad supporters and got into a scuffle with the NDP supporters? And that's why rumours started spreading about Refaa' El Tahtawy not being a safe spot to monitor. Who knows! We're in Egypt. Anything can happen. Ofcourse this whole incident was not noted in my final report since I don't really have any facts or anything.

Anyway I decide it was enough and joing my fellow monitors. We walk to the car and we notice a truck with Mubarak signs on it. I take a quick shot with my phone as we drive. I wasn't ready to get caught doing that on foot.

The red pick-up truck. You can see the green Mubarak posters on top although the writing isn't very clear. The wall at the end belongs to the Refaa' El Tahtawy school. You can also see a guy wearing a blue shirt sitting across the road opposite the pick-up truck. That's the "ahwa" where the argument I overheard took place. One of my colleagues also noticed that the poster on the truck featured a pic of the guy who was wearing the suit (alongside Mubarak's pic ofcourse).

To be continued...

Election Day Diary - Afternoon

2005-09-26T01:20:00.000+03:00

Continued from "Election Day Diary - Noon"...

A while after Hisham el Hefnawy - the business man with the super models - left I saw a voter coming up in the line. He seemed out of place. Somewhat decent-looking. He looked a bit younger than me.. I guessed 19 - 20 max? I was looking for a Nour supporter all day - just out of curiosity so I threw the usual line at him:

"Hello, I am from a neutral organization and I am going to ask you a neutral question. If you prefer not to answer you are ofcourse free to decline and I would understand your decision."

-"Ok" (with a fat grin like I had a cameraman with me from one of those "Answer and Win" tv shows)

"Who are you voting for?"

-"Hosni Mubarak" (bummer)

"Ok thanks.. I am just taking a random poll"

-"What organization are you from?"

We start talking about the organization I volunteered with and the election monitoring and all.. He was cool and he seemed genuinely interested (not asking out of suspicion like the others). Anyway we parted and a I meet him as he came out of the voting committee.

-"They didn't let me vote" (He was saying it like he was reporting a wrongdoing)

We started talking about how he was not registered with that particular voting committee and therefore had to have a voting card. We talked a bit and that was it. A few moments later I see him come back and he says:

-"I want to help you"
"You mean in the monitoring?!"
-"Yeah. I'd like to help you out. I work close by and I came early so I got nothing to do for a while. Is there something I can do for you?" (Ahh, the love of justice at work)
"Yeah sure! Well, first could you find out who told these guys (the NDP guys) to come up all dressed like that?"
-"No probs!"

He dissappears for a while and comes back again.

"They are from the NDP's youth committee. The Secretariets of the NDP youth committee told them to come this way. The Secretariets of the NDP youth committee in Ezzbet El Arab are here too."

Great!

"Could you run a random poll on who these people are voting for? And could you find out of these people are being paid anything to vote?"

-"Sure!"

Dissappears again... Reappears....

-"Almost all the people on this floor are voting for Hosni. Upstairs it's 60% Hosni. Noone is getting paid anything"

We start talking about how it doesn't feel right. How come all these people are voting for Hosni and without getting paid?? What's pushing them? He let's me in on a bit:

-"It's like what goes on from where I come from. I am from Western Tanta. There the Sheikhs of the area tell the heads of families to vote for Hosni. The heads of the family in return tell their family members to vote for that person. You know how it is here in Egypt. The word of a Sheikh or family head is highly respected. The voters won't get much from voting one way or the other so they might as well respect the decisions of the elderly family members and leaders. The same thing is happening here."
"This really happens in Tanta?!"
-"Ofcourse! I know for a fact that it does. My relatives are Sheikhs in Western Tanta."
"Could you give me some names of Sheikhs in Tanta?"
-"No way! That's my uncle! I'm sorry I won't be able to give you his name."
"Yeah sure. I understand."

We talk for a bit and he gives me his name - for the record. He then leaves for work. I felt really good meeting someone like that. A random voter who felt compelled to help out in what little way he could in the monitoring. Despite the fact that almost everyone - me included - feel that nothing minutely drastic is going to change because of a monitoring report.

The time approaches 1:35 pm. Suddenly I hear clapping and cheering and za3'areeet (refer to the next note).

Note: (Za3'areet :- a seemingly impossible sound that is caused by the quick movement of the tongue and has something to do with uvulacoordination. Done by Egyptians -certain talented individuals only, usually women- as a show of joy and celebration. It really sounds like an African tribal shriek. The one they do before sacrificing the kill. We don't have pom poms so we do with what we've got.)

Yes za3'areet. In a voting centre. But then again, we're in Egypt. So what's the deal with the sudden chaos? Mostapha el Salab. Another hot shot millionare businessman in Nasr City. Ceramic tiles businessman, that is. God knows what else he deals in now but that was his main market area. Anyway, Mostapha el Salab is also a member of Parliament. Rumour has it that he won the Parliament seat for the Nasr City region with only 1,000 votes. That's how apathetic we are. So if you have a big family - and a few supporting neighbours - you can win a seat in Parliament... Only thing is that you won't do that because you're apathetic... just like your neighbours. Rumour also has it that he had buses go to some poor areas in Nasr City to collect people to vote for him and then pay them something like 50 L.E. each (8.6 USD!). 50*1,000 = 50,000 L.E. (8,680 USD!) A small price to pay to secure a position in parliament.

Anyway.. here are recordings of a za3'roota from some fine Egyptian kiss-ass woman:

The Recording

Recording: "Weeeerrrreeeeeeeeeerrreeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
In English: (That's what za3'areet sound like)

Then they started cheering like they were in a Premier League match or something. They started shouting "El-Salab told us... Mubarak is in our hearts" which rhymnes in arabic so they must have thought they made-up a really cool motto and they just kept going on and on and on and on.

The Recording

Recording: "El Salab 2allenaaa.. Mubarak fe 2albenaaaa.. El Salab 2allenaaa.. Mubarak fe 2albenaaaa.. El Salab 2allenaaa.. Mubarak fe 2albenaaaa.."
In English: "El Salab told us.. Mubarak is in our hearts.. El Salab told us.. Mubarak is in our hearts.. El Salab told us.. Mubarak is in our hearts.."

Care for a few pics?

People rushing to greet El Salab like he was the pope or something. Hell I doubt if they would be like that if Al Azhar's Sheikh went there to vote. The guy behind him in the "Mubarak 2005" T-shirt and light green shirt is one of the NDP youth committee members who there there. He told us that he was Assistant Secretary of the NDP youth committee in Ezzbet El Arab. He also hinted to us (in a moment of honesty) that he was receiving money to bring in people. Someone close to him told me he got 100 L.E. from the Shiekh of Ezzbet el Arab to do that. That same person told me that businessmen, like El Salab, would pay the Shiekh money (for the Sheikh's personal use) in return for him to bring in people from his area. Also notice the NDP ninja holding the Registered Voter's List in the back. She is the wife of one of the higher-ranking NDP officials that were present and wearin suits.

More people to greet the millionare businessman, NDP member and Nasr City's member of Parilament, Mostapha El Salab. The NDP guy in green just won't stay off of his back. The NDP ninja (clear in the previous pic) is introducing some voter to El Salab. They would do that often telling El Salab "He used to work for you and got let off. We were hoping Sir if maybe you would be so kind as to find a place for him back we would be so thankful. We would really appreciate that Sir. You know we are greedy for your kindness."

To be continued...

Election Day Diary - Noon

2005-09-12T17:25:00.000+03:00

Continued from "Election Day Diary - May the voting begin!"...

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. was the peak time. The loaded masses would just keep on coming. Almost 90% of them coming to vote for Mubarak. Not that they had any particular reason to do so. They seemed too ignorant to think for themselves. They were just told to "mark on the crescent". At some point one of the NDP supporters would gather the poor women around.

"Listen. When you go inside they will give you a paper. Then mark on the crescent on it. The one that looks like this. (While holding up a green "voter's guide" card which had the picture of Mubarak; and pointing to the crescent on it)."

The voters were pretty clueless. One of the voters came out after casting her ballot. She went to the NDP supporter:

"I made a mark on the crescent. Is this correct?" (Pointing to a marked crescent in the "voter's guide" card she had)
-"Not this crescent! The crescent on the ballot card that they gave you!! Did you mark it on the ballot card?!"
"No I thought the crescent on this card." (Smiling in embarrassment)

The incident sends me laughing and pisses off the NDP lady. She immediately goes to crisis control mode. She collects all the poor ladies around her once again and explains in more detail that they should NOT mark the "voter's guide" card. They should, instead, mark the ballot card.
"Forget this crescent! Just look for the crescent on the card that they will give you!"

The ladies nodded in robotic agreement. I doubted if they understood anything. She seemed to doubt it too and told an NDP guy to take away the "voter's guide" card so that they don't get confused between the cards!

Here is a recording of one of the NDP guys telling the voters to mark on the crescent.

The Recording

Recording: "Zay de.. 3alama zay dee....... 3al helaal da.. 3al helaal da.. 3al helaal ha"
In English: "Like this.. A sign like this......... On this crescent.. On this crescent.. On the crescent yeah."

Here is a recording of one of the NDP men complaining to a colleague after the woman complained that one of the voters had marked on the "voter's guide" card instead of the ballot card. He is complaining that the voters are leaving the ballots empty! Hehehe.

The Recording

Recording: "Mohammed! Khod ya Mohammed! Feeh zahera we7sha henna. El naas betkhosh we mebte3rafsh haga. Bettaba2 el wara2 we tetla3 tany!"
In English: "Mohammed! Listen up Mohammed! There is a bad phenomenom here. The people are entering without knowing anything. They just fold the paper [ballot card] and come out again!"

Nonetheless, there were only 6 void casts at the end of the committee's ballot counting. So I guess the majority was able to correctly follow instructions. At noon, there seemed to be no end to the "shipped" voters. They would just keep on coming. Still, I kept on counting the voters in case they tried to give some imaginary number at the end. I also started my stopwatch to calculate the rate of voting. The average was around 1 cast ballot every minute. Some voters would go in the committee and be sent away since they didn't have their names in the voter's list and didn't have the pink voting card either. I didn't count these but I wondered how the number would be if they had successfully voted too. I guess around 30% or 35% of the people got turned away.

A random shot. The guy with the black shirt on the bottom right with his back to me was one of the NDP supporters who were responsible for dealing with the 'shipped' herds of voters (or 'customers', as they would call them). The guy with the grey suit on the left (you can see his ears and he seems to be smiling) holds some position in the NDP youth committee in Ezzbet El Arab. He was one of the 'leaders' amongst the NDP supporters who were around. The guy in the center of the photo (with the sunglasses, and white turban over his head) is the Shiekh of Ezzbet El Arab. I was told that it was he who would get money from the area's businessmen in order to bring in large numbers of voters. I was also told that, in return, he would pay the NDP supporters (the guys from the NDP youth committee) 100L.E. (17.3 USD) each to manage and deal with the constant flow of voters from Ezzbet el Arab. The target was 1,000 vote casts.

At 12:35 p.m. there was a sudden confusion at the entrance of the club. I went to check it out and it turned out to be some big shot business man coming to vote. It was really funny when I saw him. The guy didn't look like he was coming to vote. He looked like he was running a campaign for Mubarak. Little did I know that another business man would soon be coming with a larger campaign. This whole elections thing is really turning into a circus. First NDP ads all around the committee. Then the messed up Voters List. Then the herd of voters shipped in by the NDP. Then some hot shot fucks running campaigns in the committee. What the hell is going on?

Take a look:

The hot shot fuck business man with his entourage. He had to take the call because .... he is a hot shot fuck business man. He came with his own photographers and everything. A note in his favour, however: The little girl was the cutest thing :) I wanted to take a pic of her banner but all the men were leaving. Nonetheless she stood very still for a while so I could take one. She stood there for me with the cutest most innocent smile :) On the other hand, where the fuck did he manage to get the asshole with shades on the left?

Another pic of the hot shot fuck businnessman with his hot supermodels on his side wearing those banners like the Miss Universe contestants. Oh and look who's there right next to him with a towel over his head! It's the guy we all love: The Shiekh of Ezzbet El Arab. Sure he'd wanna pic with the guy with the green.

The sign says: "Yes Mubarak" signed "Hishem El-Hefnawy". Also notice the crescent with a "1" inside it. The crescent is Mubarak's campaign sign (signs are used so that people who cannot read know where to mark on the ballot cards) and "1" indicates that Mubarak is the first candidate listed on the card.

To be continued.....

Election Day Diary - May the Voting Begin!

2005-09-10T19:45:00.000+03:00

continued from "Election Day Diary - Intro"...

The voting started at 8:45 a.m.

They were late because of something about the phosphoric ink and the committee's Registered Voters List not being received on time.

When the voting started, a few of the NDP gang that was there started to go and vote. The rest had a copy of the committee's Registered Voters List and were helping out other voters find their names. Which is kinda odd. How come the NDP gang had the List before the committee??!

Anyway.. This is how the voting worked:

To prevent causing a bottleneck INSIDE the committee, the voters were asked to search for their names in the Voters List that was OUTSIDE. The List didn't seem to me to be in any sort of alphabetical order 'cause I saw a Mohammed something then a Mohsen something then another Mohammed something. Maybe sorted against the first letter only. Anyway. Those who find their names would copy down their number and then go inside. Inside the committee, one of the committee members would scan the list to go directly to that number (I'm assuming it was sorted against the number) and make sure the name paired with the number was the same name on the voter's Personal ID card.

For those who didn't have their names in the Registered Voter's List of that committee:

By law, those who were in a committee in which they were not registered (i.e. their names were not in the Registered Voters List for that committee... or simply were supposed to be registered to that committee but for some reason were not added to it) could vote in it, provided they had their pink voting card. In cases like these, the voter would not need to look up his name in the Voter's List (because it would simply not be in it) and could directly go into the committee, show his pink voting card and the member of the committee would jot down his name and voting number (which was in the voting card) in a list of "outside voters" (i.e. voters not registered with that committee).

Many voters wanted to vote as 'outsiders'. I.e. they didn't find their names in the committee's Voters List but they had their pink voting card. However, I observed that many of these were turned away. When the voter would argue with the committee member that by law since he had a voting card he could vote as an 'outsider', the member would reply:

"We have instructions that we are to treat voters as 'outsiders' only if they live outside the Governate of Cairo"

Now how about that! At first I thought maybe it was to ensure that voters wouldn't vote as 'outsider' in several committees. But then that would mean you could have a guy from Aswan, vote as 'outsider' in several committees in Cairo because, since he lived in Aswan, he would be treated as a 'outsider' in ANY committee in Cairo. And wasn't the irremovable phosphoric ink the REAL guarantee to prevent multi-voting? What logic could possibly lie behing such an "instruction"? I cannot understand.

By 11:30 a.m. the place was starting to look like those lines of Tsunami sufferers at the Red Cross distribution points. There were like 60 men and women all crowded together. About 30 attempted to line themselves up to wait their turn to go in the committee while the rest were either just sitting there waiting for their friends or looking up their names in the Lists.

I'd understand if they were distributing bread along with ballot cards. Only then I'd expect these numbers. Call me a disbeliever: but this just looks too suspicious.

"Where are you coming from?"
-"Ezzbet el Arab"
"Did all of you come together?"
-"Yeah"
"How did you come?"
-"Buses"

I note that down. Masses come together from Ezzbet el Arab by buses. The guy who was supposed to be monioting outside said he got the numbers of several mini-buses that were constantly unloading passengers. He said the same bus would come again in a while. Things seem to have been neatly planned by the NDP.

"I am from a neutral organization.
I will ask you a neutral question.
You are free to refuse to answer if you feel that I am not being neutral."
-"Sure" (with a fat smile. Smartass thinks he knows what I'm going to ask)
"Why are you voting?" (and before I finish the sentence...)
-"For the president of course! Who else will I vote for?! We love the president! We are all here with the president"
"No I don't want to know who I want to know why"
Another guy in the line overhears us...
-"Yes! Hahaha! Yes! We want to know WHY! Why don't you tell us WHY?" (His smile is from ear to ear.. he had a look like he was cornering him and had pleasure seeing him try to wriggle out)
-"Hahaha.. I am here for the president! Because he is a great man. He did so much for us." (He to had a smile from ear to ear)
"Really?!" (I couldn't help laughing)
-"Yes ofcourse! Hahaha!"
"Yeah but you didn't tell me WHY you are here to vote?"
(The other guy... laughing)
-"Yeah why don't you tell him WHY?!"
-"Hahaha! Without Why's!"
"I am from a neutral organization and I won't take your name. If you choose not to answer you are free!"
-"Ok then we'll leave it at that!"

Hehehe... the other guy was having the time of his life!

Don't let the beard fool you. This is a die-hard NDP voter.

I then start to wonder whether ANY of these masses are going to vote for anyone other than Hosni. They were all poor. They seemed to know each other somehow. At least they seemed to know that the NDP guys were waiting for them. I actually heard one of the NDP guys shouting out to a colleague of his "Hey... You take this group" while pointing at a group of newcomers. They all looked the same. The dark skin, the poor 'galabeyya', the big smiles. They had this excited gleam in their eyes. Like they were about to embark on some great new experience for the first time of their lives. They gave me shy silly smiles like they didn't really know what they were doing here. All of them were from Ezzbet El-Arab.

To be continued......

Election Day Diary - Intro

2005-09-10T03:40:00.000+03:00

I finally decided to sit down and write all I saw and heard on Election Day... beginning to end.. and be forewarned... it will be long... but hey.. I got pics and stuff! :-D

The day is 7th September 2005...

I can't tell you what time I woke up because I didn't really get much sleep. Too restless. Thinking what could happen in a few hours.
Anyway I got out of bed.. got dressed.. and drove off to the meeting place in Nasr City. I was supposed to meet a few guys and a hot gal there and from there we were to decide which polling station we were to monitor. They had supposedly scanned the area the night before to locate the polling stations in Nasr City (since they only got the names of the polling stations that day). Meeting time was 7:30 a.m. I wanted to meet up earlier because we were told and amongst the tricks that these people pull to forge, is to open the polling stations earlier than the official start of the elections (8:00 a.m.) so the monitors and party representatives wouldn't get a chance to check whether the ballot boxes were empty or not. "Oh you came late.. we already started.. people already casted votes" and shit like that. You never know really. We're in Egypt. Anything can happen.

I was there at 7:25 a.m. A few minutes later I meet up with one of the guys. A few minutes more and our coordinator shows up. She, her dad, and a couple of other chicks.
Looking good! :-D

We had two options:
1) Go to a polling station that was expected to be crowded. We could easily catch the expected "mass shipping" of people by the NDP to go and vote.
2) Go to a polling station that was NOT expected to be crowded. Here we would require a little more effort to catch any wrongdoing since polling stations such as those would probably mean the wrongdoing was happening INSIDE the secondary committee (where we didn't expect to be allowed in) probably with the consent of the heads of the committee. On the other hand, such wrongdoings were a run for our money.

Just in case you are not following: I am using the term "polling station" to mean the building/school/police station/club that was assigned to have one or more "secondary committees" where a "secondary committee" is the room/lounge/section of the polling station that would have the ballot boxes and members who would be supervising over that committee. So for example in my case I was assigned to monitor one of the three "secondary committees" in the "Nady El-Sekka El-Hadeed" polling station. I don't really care if my terming is correct. I fucking hated translation at school so I can't find a reason to do it out of school.

Anyway. We decided to go for option 1. I wasn't really into that. I wanted the big scandals. But whatever. If the chicks say so.

So we drive to "Nady El-Sekka El-Hadeed" (literally translated to "The Railroad Club").

The club had three committees. Committees 5,6, and 7. "5" was downstairs.. "6" and "7" upstairs. We all went upstairs first. Met the head of one of the two committees. He was the coolest thing. He allowed us to enter the committee and told us he will not let us stay but that we could come in and out from time to time to check on things. That was actually more than what we expected. He was safe. I didn't get a chance to meet the head of the second committee but I heard he was pretty cool too. So fine! Things were going alright!

Then we decided to distribute ourselves. I was to take "Committee 5" downstairs. The triple-chick-power would take the two upstairs. And the other guy would roam around in and out to make sure the whole place was covered.

I went downstairs. A few men and women standing about waiting for the voting to start.
Good thing about "Committee 5" was that the committee's side that was facing me was glass. It was like this ugly conference room. There were, of course, curtains on the inside in case they wanted privacy but the head of the committee, although kinda stern and mean-looking, was cool enough to keep a nice part of it open so I could pretty much see everything that was going on inside.

8:30 and the voting hadn't yet started. I was just standing there and then a guy in a suit came up to me...

-"What's that say?" (looking at my 'Election Monitor' badge)
"The Coalition of Civil Society Organizations For the Monitoring of the Elections"
-"What's that?"
"We are a neutral organization to monitor the elections"
-"What you mean monitor?"
"We make sure that nothing illegal takes place"
-"Ahhaa.. I see.. so you are with the El-Ghad party?"
(Does that mean I have to be with El-Ghad if I want to be fair?!)
"No... we are neutral.. we are not with anybody... we are not taking any sides"
-"Ahaa.. I see"
"So who are you with?"
(He pauses for a moment staring at me like he was challenging me somehow.. He seemed hesitant at first to say.. then he said in a matter-of-factly way..)
-"The National Party" (With a so-what-are-you-gonna-do-about-it look after it)
(Oppss.... I thought he was a party representative or a monitor or something... nop! I stumbled on the very person I should keep my eye on...)

A few seconds later I realized that ALL the people around me were NDP! About 11 of them.... and me :-D There were 2 guys in plain clothes. 1 guy with plain clothes but with "Yes Mubarak" stickers on his sleeves. Around 2 guys with green "Mubarak 2005" T-shirts. 2 with a reddish "Mubarak: Peace and Progress" (or something of the sort). I think 2 in suits. And 2 ladies: 1 veiled and the other totally covered in a burqa. I kept wondering which of them would gang up on me. Or would it be all 11?? Sweet! I felt like a diver swimming amongst sharks.

And so begins the day!

to be continued.................

I WAS THERE

2005-09-09T06:35:00.000+03:00

Waw... Wednesday was, without doubt, the longest day of my life. I've learnt so much. I've learnt so much about the "insides". The people. The country. The me. Who runs the place and how. I think I've actually changed. I feel somwhat Enlightened. Wiser. Happy. Loving. Fullfilled. YES! That's the word! Fullfilled! And I am so into this. This is me man. I felt so in my element. Doing the good. Doing the right. Not eating for 15 hours and a half so I won't miss a minute of monitoring. Not being able to sleep the day before. Being free and making sure the others were just as free. Meeting "them". The "other" 80% of the population. Striking up random friendships out of nowhere with people I will never meet again. Having a high-school boy taking me to the side after watching me monitor and telling me who pays whom and how much to get people to vote. Being told by a random voter: "I want to help you" after knowing that I was monitoring the elections to make sure voting is fair. Being asked by a bunch of labourers for my number "in case they harm us because we were not able to vote". That tore my heart up. Being approached at the end of the day by a member of the committee that I was monitoring requesting to join the organization. I know I must sound crazy. Oh and talking about crazy, my apologies for the "My Version of Animal Farm" post. I read it again and I doubt if anyone understood a word without understanding beforehand what the hell I was trying to talk about. I was pissed and I just let out whatever thoughts were inside. Anyway it was natural and I'll leave it. Back to today's issue.

There is SOOO much to talk about I hardly know where to start. I was monitoring a secondary committee in "Nady El-Sekka El-Hadeed" (literaly translated to "The Railroad Club") in Nasr City in Cairo. The were actually 3 committees in the club. 2 on the 1st floor and 1 on the ground floor. I got the ground floor which was called "Committee 5". All voters registered to vote in "Committee 5" were from a poor area called "Ezzbet El-Arab". I got a chance to talk to them. Why are they here? I got into some hot political debates with one of them. I got some "inside" information from another. Hell I got to see Mostapha el Salab (one of the richest and influential men in the area, a member of parliament, and a member of the NDP) vote. Saw some funny things and heard funnier things. But above all.... I WAS THERE. And it felt so darn good.

This brings me to another issue. Why was I monitoring? Believe me the answer is not quite simple. I know it. It lies somewhere deep within the complexities of me. But I just can't put a finger on it.

Alaa has added a magnificent post saluting the monitors and protestors who have changed inside since this all began on referendum day. I believe that he and others share with me this same hidden magical inner urge. This inner thirst. This addiction. And I have to thank him too. It was, after all, through his help, nomatter how small, that I can proudly say: I WAS THERE.

.I.WAS.THERE.

Today's Roundup Folks

2005-09-06T03:40:00.000+03:00

I am getting really beat with all this effort I am putting but I so love it baby :-)

I slept for 3 hours only last night trying to google where the hell "Mounira" is in Egypt.. and where the hell "El Sheikh Ali Youssef Street" was in "Mounira". Then I got on to Google Earth to find out how to get there (I feel like a whale on the Himalayas when I'm in central Cairo). Not to mention I had to give a girl, who wanted to join, the slip, because she was still at the dentist and we were already running late.

THEN THEY STARTED AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER!! Bummer..

Anyway, overall the meeting was pretty productive.. and I'm too sleepy and tired to discuss anything.. but the main thing is... I am an official election monitor today! Tommorrow I will try to call the El Ghad party and try to get them to license me as a party representative in case the guys running the polling stations do not allow me inside as an election monitor.

Oh and let me get my thoughts organized with this TO DO LIST I had... :

~~1) Get my new Personal ID in place of the one that was lost.~~ MISSION COMPLETED.

2) Get my voting card. MISSION PENDING.

~~3) Call my friend to get him to come with me to get HIS voting card.~~ His year of birth is earlier so turns out he needs to come in November after all. Hehehehe.. MISSION FAILED.

~~4) Call our friend to get her to come with us to get HER voting card.~~ Too Tired?
:-( MISSION ABORTED.

~~5) Post about yesterday's judges' convention. Or~~ ~~Not~~. I decided Not :-D There is only so much I can do without sleep. MISSION ABORTED.

~~6) Call my relative to check whether there is any update regarding my helping out in the election monitoring.~~ ~~Hell I did it myself.~~ MISSION COMPLETED.

~~7) If no update, try to call the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights myself to see if there is any way I can enroll in the election monitoring process.~~ MISSION ABORTED.

~~8) Make sure to get today's verdicts regarding the appeal against the referendum results and the appeal against the PEC chairman's decision to ban election monitoring in the polling stations.~~Let me quickly mention this:

Case Results:
Case 1: N/A
Case 2: Although I mentioned that this was postponed to the 17th. I read that they ruled one of the candidates out of the election. Maybe I mixed up with Case 1 on which was the one to be postponed.
Case 3: Verdict in favour of allowing election monitors and "whoever wishes" to monitor the elections inside and outside the polling stations.
Case 4: Verdict postposed to 29th November. :-/

Small note: The Presidential Elections Committee decided that they will NOT abide by the ruling :-/ I'm just too tired to throw insults. Anyway, MISSION COMPLETED.

9) If no hope in being part of an official election monitoring campaign, talk to my friend's friend who is a young officer to check if it is possible to be allowed permission to individually run an opinion poll inside my police station.MISSION ABORTED.

Calling all monitors

2005-09-05T03:17:00.000+03:00

There is a meeting on Monday (5-September) - today- at 8 p.m. organized by the Human Rights NGO Coalition at the following address:

35 El Sheikh Ali Youssef St.,
3rd Floor,
Apt. 33
Mounira
Behind Rosa-el-Youssef

The meeting is a briefing for people who want to help in monitoring of the elections. Suposedly there is going to be some sort of training for the monitoring volunteers and will be handing out IDs and stuff to try to make it official.

Please Note: There is a court ruling that the civil societyorganizations (Human Rights Organizations and otherNGOs) should be allowed to monitor the elections but the Elections Committee has announced that it will notabide by the ruling.

Be Therefore Forwarned: DUE TO THE ABOVE FACT, THERE IS A PROBABILITY THAT THERE COULD BE SOME FRICTION AND POSSIBLY VIOLENCE IN THE POLLING STATIONS TO TRY TO KEEP THE MONITORS OUT.

But I guess you already knew that, right?

A man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do.

If monitoring will result in violence, so be it baby.

My Version of Animal Farm

2005-09-04T04:27:00.000+03:00

Once upoun a time there was a farm called Bla la land. It was so called because 90% of the animals living on the farm were only just semi-intelligent.. each living in his own La La Land. One day, one of the farm guards decided, "These animals aren't being treated right.. I know how it's done". He then proceeded to call a few of his friends and said "Hey I have the craziest idea.. I bet you we can stir this place up and turn it into like this big huge zoo! Wouldn't that be cool?! We could like have the best animals around man! All the other farms would be so jealeous because they're only farms you now and we are like this humongous zoo and we have the best animals around you know." The other guards thought what a brilliant idea that would be! "Why didn't I think of that?!", cried one of them. It was because he was the result of a horny cow mating with a drunken man. Simply put, his brain wasn't made to think

Weeks later, the guards decided it was high time they put their master plan to action. "Huraaayyy! We have control of Bla la land! Huraaayyy". The animals were surprised at this. They didn't know what to think at first but almost all of them agreed that, "The king was pretty mean you know". "Plus the guards promised us pretty things like rainbows in the mornings and full moons every night!", noted others. "I hear they are going to turn the farm to a zoo! Oh I can't wait! I want to be a zebra!", said the mouse.

Months later.. the state of the animals was slowly deteriorating. Noone did much complain, though. This was due to two things: a hallucinogen called "propaganda" on one side and the rounding-up of "freaks" on the other side. The first was a clever trick by the guards. They would daily mix the animals' food with a hallucinogen called "propaganda". Propaganda would do wonders. It would blind them from what they see in reality and create a whole virtual world in their minds. Since they were only semi-intelligent animals anyway.. and living in their own La La Lands.. it wasn't that difficult.. almost no one was suspicious. Also they were pretty much occupied with Tiny Land nearby. There was news that Tiny Land didn't really like being tiny at all and wanted Bla La Land's eastern barn to accomplish its diabolical scheme to control the neighbourhood.

On the other hand, something unexpected happened. Due to a mix-up of some genes in the mating process of the animals, a few intelligent animals were born... Almost as if not animals... one could even dare say they challenged the guards in their humanity. However these "humans" would not last long and were called "freaks" by the guards. The guards realized that if this animal-turning-into-humans-business became common, then the next step would be them "freak" humans questioning the actions of the holy guards of Bla La Land. "And what would these freaks know anyway?! DESTROOOYYYYYYY!!!"... And so materialized the second method of controlling Bla La Land. Rounding up the "freaks".

A year passed and the state of the animals was deteriorating more rapidly. The head guard, Abdo, passed away and in doing so Bla La Land was handed over to his trusty guard friend, Nounou. The other guards would surely help out too.. It was like a bunch of friends working on a personal business project. It was ohh so touching to watch such co-operation and understanding. Only problem was that the original project to turn Bla La Land to a zoo was scraped, "Everyone is doing zoos these days.. zoos are out man.. ranches are in!". Private ranch, that is. A guards-only ranch! The guards would jump up and down with glee at the thought of having their own personal ranch. "Oh! Oh! Oh! I know! We could have like a shade over here! And a swing over there! Oh! Oh! And we could have a slide over at that area! Oh honey how I love to slide! Oh baby you are the best!!", exclaimed the wife of one of the guards. "Yes dear, you could have all that honey.. you know satisfying you is my sole purpose in life", replied Hos-hos with a knowing wink. Suzy blushes. "Yes I know dear. The moment I laid my eyes on you I knew you were the man for me. You know what else I want baby?". "Name it Suzy.. just name it.. Do you want me to change the sphinx to look like you? A 4th pyramid in your name maybe? A second husband perhaps? 'Cause you know I'm down with that. As long as you are happy". "Oh no no dear. Well, we could see about that last one but actually I was thinking about something more in the lines of a beautiful baby boy to carry on the family name. I want him to be just like you!".
"Well then what are we waiting for?! Let's get to it!".

Another year passes by and Hos-hos is proclaimed head guard. He and Suzy have Jimmy and Ol-ol. In the meanwhile the animals' situation is getting terrible. Roaming aimlessly in Bla la land with no purpose in life. However, they "Thank God for everything", which seems ironic because there is nothing to begin with so what's up with this "everything" while the other guards are happily enjoying the benefits of a private ranch. Hos-hos never forgets Suzy's words.. "I want him to be just like you".. Her wishes are his commands. Hos-hos decides he sees potential in Jimmy and draws up his 'master plan'.

Hos-hos is a guard. So Jimmy must be a guard too. He starts calling himself and his friends.. "The Old Guard". Let's face it.. they are old! That would make Jimmy and his friends... "The New Guard". Brilliant!!!! Just Brilliant!!!!

"I believe that my dear animals need new blood! They need new thought! They need.... NEW GUARDS!!!"

The animals are thrown into a frenzy of excitement!
"How can one argue such divine wisdom?!!!"
"North.South.East.West! Hos-.Hos.Is.Da.Best!"
"Hashtekna we Bashtekna ya rayeesss! Danta ra2ees wel ne3ma kwayes!!"

Now the thing is.. Hos-hos is not any guard! He is *the* head guard. So Jimmy must be the head guard too. Only problem was that a few months earlier.. in a similar nearby ranch called Soor Land.. little guard Jr. had taken over Daddy's ranch after a "slight" bending of the rules to allow him to do so... Amazingly, Bla La Land's animals were scornful... Opps.. "I should have sprayed a few more propaganda hallucinagens at that time... Damnit.. It totally slipped me then... Bad Me! Bad Me!"

What to do.... What to do.....

"I know!! I will MAKE the animals choose Jimmy!!! They will do it on their own free will! Can't do something and then complain can they!?! Excellent! Yes that's it! They will choose my Jimmy! They will! How can they not choose my Jimmy?! Everyone loves Jimmy! Brilliant!!! Just Brilliant!!!"

So started the election circus.....

"I believe that my dear animals should join in the running of the ranch! So I propose there be elections!!!"

The animals are thrown into a frenzy of excitement! (Again...)
"How can one argue such divine wisdom?!!!"
"North.South.East.West! Hos-.Hos.Is.Da.Best!"
"Hashtekna we Bashtekna ya rayeesss! Danta ra2ees wel ne3ma kwayes!!"

Problem 1: But what if there are animals who challenge li'l Jimmy?
Hos-hos: "Over my dead body.. Suzy asked for Jimmy so Jimmy it is..."
Solution: Add impossible requirements for potential candidates.. So only Jimmy is left!!

Problem 2: But sir, animals are high on political apathy scale. And some "freaks" are calling for a boycott!
Hos-hos: "Damnit that would make me look like a clown!"
Solution: Forge the fucking ballots man! It's MY ranch man! I can do whatever I want! What did you think I was REALLY gonna share it with some animals??!

Problem 3: But sir, some "freaks" got to know that the results were forged!
Hos-hos: "THIS IS RUBBISH!!! Damn those freaks! Why don't they love Jimmy?! Everyone loves Jimmy!"
Solution: Put pressure to postpone this rubbish.. I will deal with the "freaks" in the meantime... It's me or them on this ranch! We'll see who gets the last laugh!

And so continues life in a farm called Bla La Land................

Verdict Postponed to NOVEMBER!

2005-09-03T19:46:00.000+03:00

The Kefaya movement's appeal against the referendum results was scheduled for a verdict today.

The verdict has been postponed to November :(

Let me quote myself from the post that introuduced this in the first place:

LETS JUST HOPE THEY DON'T FIND SOME WAY TO WRIGGLE OUT OF THIS. I MEAN WHAT THE HELL ENOUGH ALREADY ITS LIKE A LAWLESS FARM OVER HERE.

Although I doubt it, I really hope this passes well and I feel so goddamn proud of those judges. For some reason I have this gut feeling that it won't pass well but I refuse to believe it. Actually I believe it... I just don't want to believe it. I want to believe that there is still something to be saved in this political system. I want to believe that.... Ahhh... Whatever... Anyway...

I guess it goes without saying I got a real wake-up slap in the face.

This is not a country. This is not a nation. This is a fucking farm with all kinds of semi-intelligent animals.

Let me tell you a little story about this farm in another post.

This week's To Do List

2005-09-03T09:10:00.000+03:00

Up early today 'cause I had to drive my uncle somewhere...

Anyway here is today's To Do List before I get back to continue my sleep:

1) Get my new Personal ID in place of the one that was lost.

2) Get my voting card.

3) Call my friend to get him to come with me to get HIS voting card.

4) Call our friend to get her to come with us to get HER voting card.

5) Post about yesterday's judges' convention. Or Not.

6) Call my relative to check whether there is any update regarding my helping out in the election monitoring.

7) If no update, try to call the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights myself to see if there is any way I can enroll in the election monitoring process.

8) Make sure to get today's verdicts regarding the appeal against the referendum results and the appeal against the PEC chairman's decision to ban election monitoring in the polling stations.

9) If no hope in being part of an official election monitoring campaign, talk to my friend's friend who is a young officer to check if it is possible to be allowed permission to individually run an opinion poll inside my police station.

I'm off to sleep now... I have a few notes though..

While I am laughing in my sleep, there is Baheyya's super post regarding yesterday's judges' convention. This woman is amazing I have no idea where she got all that info but it almost seems silly to try to write a post when a perfect, flawless and superior one alreadyexists. And I feel jealous because I look like an amateaur (wrong spelling but you get it) when compared to something like that :( Hell I look like a fetus not an amateaur. Looks like I'll have a new "favourite" blog soon (besides this one ofcourse :-P ).

Also, my hopes aren't high regarding this election monitoring thing. I guess if all doors close in my face I can run a somewhat unscientific opinion poll outside the police station at my own risk. I highly doubt any of my blog's visitors know anyone who can help since I'm getting most of my traffic these days from the US of A (I have no idea who could be interested in this over there) but in any case if you have any means of help in this issue please do not hesitate to post me a comment.

Hmmmm.. I need sleep!

The Judges Have Decided

2005-09-03T02:26:00.000+03:00

Putting aside what happened in today's demonstration, the convention of 2,500 Egyptian judges has come to the following decision regarding the judges' position on the supervision of the elections:

"The Judges Have Decided To Go Ahead With The Supervision Of The Elections"

It has therefore been decided. The judges will NOT boycott the supervision of the elections.
Here is an excerpt from an article in the Middle East Times which is similar to other sources I searched. I'm tooooooo tired, exhausted, dissappointed and ashamed of myself about what happened to give a proper summary of events so, for the time being, here is a part the METimes article:

The judges will "carry out their duty and oversee the vote" but "we will announce at the syndicate's general assembly that we will distance ourselves from the polls' results as long as our demands are not honored", he [refering to Cassation Court, Judge Mahmoud Makki] said. "We will tell the whole world that Egypt's judges will try to prevent vote rigging with all their might but that they won't vouch 100 percent for the election's transparency," he added.

Explain everything tommorrow.

Demonstration #1: Friday 2nd September 2005

2005-09-02T22:46:00.000+03:00

STATUS: MISTIMING >:(

OK let me just tell you what the fuck happened today.......

I wake up at 10 in the morning.. the whole family is surprised to see me awake at that time...

- "You?! Awake?! Now?! What the hell happened?!"

- "Ohh! For sure a girl! That's the only thing that would move him! Going to her house ehh? Parents not at home?" (accompanied by a I-Know-What-You-Are-Doing-This-Summer wink)

I have to swear to them it's not a girl.. and then I have to assure them it's not a guy either.. and I need to point out to my uncle "No not even a rabbit"! :-/

"I just need to do something... can't tell you about it"

Before I go I call up my friend to make sure If he's coming... the fucker won't answer 'cause he knows thats the only reason I would call at this hour... Whatever.. Screw him I'm going to my first real demonstration alone..

I'm out of the house at around 10:40 am.... A bit late I guess.. I'm driving there.. but I think it would be wiser to take a cab... I have no clue where the hell the place is and the parking will most probably be an issue... Then I remember I have to stop by somehwere to get some credit for my phone - you know... just incase shit happens... I step on it and something else is bugging me at the back of my head... "No banners.. No nothing.. Would'nt look good if everyone was like that.. Nevermind.. I'll be better prepared next time"

I drive along and I see this guy selling flags on the other side of the road... For a moment I think about that.. I'm already late and I want to take this seriously.. Buying a flag for the demonstration would seem like I'm doing it for fun - you know.. just for the hell of it.. like that time when I went to the Egypt vs. Senegal match and had my face panted Black White Red when I'm not really into football that much.. It was just for the hell of it.. To get some fun out of it..

"No but this is for real.. and If everyone did what I did the demonstration would look like a blast"... With that I make a U-turn.. stop next to the guy.. "15 LE, 25 LE or 30LE??".. I needed some spare money so 30 LE was out and I couldn't tell the difference in size between the 15 and 25 LE ones.. "15 LE".. I buy the flag.. a U-turn.. and I'm off...

I don't even remotely have a clue where the Syndicate is but out of gut feeling I go down the "M. El Shaheed" ramp from the 6th October Bridge. Riot police trucks and something about "Fraudulent Elections" on one of the hung posters tell me that it must be near! It's around 11:05.. Close enough... And I think these guys are accurate in timing... I'm sure I'll hear them if I'm close... I'm sure *alot* of people are showing up...

I hear nothing... I'm afraid to ask anyone for directions lest they turn out to be police in street clothes.. I ask a taxi driver with a beard "Come after me.. this way! I'll lead you for a while and then you take the...." He gives me directions which I don't really follow because of the noisy street and it's kinda difficult to talk to a nearby car and drive and the same time and all the while looking at the guy's face and can't help thinking how really pleased he looks that I asked this question.. He has a "I-Know-Why-You-Are-Asking-And-I-Admire-It-Young-Man"
Anyway I move along and go where he told me too... I still need to ask someone because he told me to ".... go there and ask for..." I didn't hear the rest but I was assuming he meant the Syndicate. So anyway I still need to ask someone but goddamnit where are the taxi drivers when you need them. I roam around the area. "I'll definitely hear them if I'm close".

All in all it took me 40 minutes, 3 other taxis drivers, a lousy parallel park and a few metres of walking to get to the goddamn street where the Syndicate was. I had left everything in the car except my phone (in case shit happens..), 30 LE (Money goes a long way in Egypt in times of crisis although I doubted how much 30LE will go) and my driver's license (If they don't take me in because of the demonstration then it will be because of not carrying an ID so I though driver's license was safe enough). I kept the flag in the car in case it looks suspicious and they decide to take me in before I actually reach the street. It was my first street demonstration so I really don't know how this stuff works out. I will just "check the pulse" of the situation and if I decide it's safe I will go back for the flag.

11:45. The moment I entered the Syndicate's street on foot I almost peed in my pants. For the whole length of the street, both pavements were lined with soldiers : Traffic Police in white and orange, Central Security soldiers (riot police) in black, Police Officers in white and plainclothed "Mabahes" (police "investigators", although they have a more active role in the Egyptian police.. while riot police usually beat you up and control a crowd, the "Mabahes" guys blend into a crowd, gang up on you, arrest you and take you to their fun wagon, God knows what happens after that... I would rather be beat up by riot police instead) All these not including the dozen or so riot police trucks filled up with soldiers.. God knows how many are in each... Anyway so I'm walking down the street... and the whole rows of men are following me with their eyes.. I don't know if it was their suspicion of me or the red t-shirt.. "So I guess this means no flag".. I try to keep the coolest possible face.. like I'm just an innocent passer by.. If I could whistle easy I would have.. "Where the fuck is that Syndicate... Why can't I hear voices?!".. I look to my right.

"Journalists' Syndicate". I lower my head and I immediately recognize the stairs that I have seen in many of Kefaya's demonstrations. Only thing.. THERE WERE 12 PEOPLE ! >:(
12 PEOPLE AMONGST WHAT COULD BE 12,000 SOLDIERS >:( Are these the ones supporting the judges?! Fuck if some maniac officer decided he didn't want to put up with a demonstration today he could have a few hundred guys pick these kids like trash and stuff them in a truck.
TWELVE?! I counted them myself! :(

I chickened out :(

I kept moving :(

Since then and till a couple of hours ago I couldn't stop thinking whether what I did was smart or just cowardly. 12 guys... ok they are courageous... but is that really effective and smart?? Even if it wouldn't have been an effective demonstration.. would it still be classified as cowardly or as smart??

IT WAS FUCKING STUPID. Had I joined these guys, I would have known that the demonstration starts at 2PM NOT 11AM >:(

Due to a fuck-up in Kefaya's website they mentioned the wrong timing and then fixed the error but I hadn't checked the website since then :-/

I HATE THIS! >:(

Check out the pics below... These are the masses that showed up later :-/

GGRRRRRRRRRRRRR >:(

Election cases frenzy

2005-09-01T03:31:00.000+03:00

Out of boredom I was going through an old issue of Al-Ahram dated 29th August. Page 5 had an article about the currently pending election-related court cases and their dates..

CASE 1: An appeal against the exclusion of certain applicants from election candidacy
RAISED BY: The excluded applicants :-D (like Duuh!)
WHATS THAT ABOUT?: Initially when the applicantion doors were open to those who wanted to run in the election, around 30 people (including the current candidates) applied. At a later stage the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) excluded many of the applicants from running (due to them not meeting candidacy requirements) leaving the currently remaining 10 candidates. It is worth noting that one of the excluded applicants was Talaat Al Sadaat, the nephew of former president Anwar Al Sadaat because one of the requirements to qualify for candidacy is leading a political party, while the leadership of Sadat's party is the subject of a court dispute.
CASE DATE: Verdict reserved for Saturday 3rd of Spetember 2005

CASE 2: An appeal against the allowing of certain party leaders to run in the elections
RAISED BY: I dunno. :-P
WHATS THAT ABOUT?: I have no idea. It seems to be the opposite of CASE 1.
CASE DATE: Looking into the case was postponed by the court to Saturday 17th of September.

CASE 3: An lawsuit against the chairman of the PEC to allow the Human Rights Organizations to monitor the elections
RAISED BY: several Civil Society Organizations (our term for Non-Profit Non-Government Organizations)
WHATS THAT ABOUT?: (If you read a previous post of mine you would know :-P ) Well after the chairman of the Presidential Elections Council was quoted saying "I will not allow the Civil Society Organizations to monitor the elections" the Civil Society Organizations (our term for Non-Profit Non-Government Organizations) got pissed and started a lawsuit against the chairman to allow them to monitor the elctions.
CASE DATE: Verdict reserved for Saturday 3rd September 2005.

Interesting thing is that the article did not mention the appeal against the referendum results. So I will just add it anyway :-P.

CASE 4: An appeal against the May 25 referendum results.
RAISED BY: the "Kefaya" movement (Egyptian Movement for Change)
WHATS THAT ABOUT?: Read the post. After the Judges' Club report indicating widespread fraud in the May 25 referendum, Kefaya (The Egyptian Movement for Change) has appealed against the results. A verdict inditing the results would mean that another referendum would have to be held instead and the elections would have to be postponed.
CASE DATE: Verdict reserved for Saturday 3rd September 2005.

In Your Face

2005-08-30T00:16:00.000+03:00

Just when I thought I could free myself after a long post.... this comes along.... but I love it....

Where shall I start... Where shall I start....

Here or Here or Here ?!

OK... OK...

The meat: The Administrative Justice Court has accepted Kefaya's plea to deem false the election's referendum results based on a report compiled by judges who were heading the primary and secondary committees of the referendum.

The meat (in English): Due to the forging that took place in the May referendum results, and based on a verdict regarding a case against it scheduled to be issued on 3rd September, the whole circus-of-an-election could be a deemed invalid and be the biggest fucking joke in Egypt. I guess with that we would become the only country where April Fools Day comes in September.

The history: Ok lets take this from the beginning.....

The referendum

On 25th May a referendum was held to ask this question to the people:

"Do you agree to amend article 76 of the constitution and add a new amendment entitled article 192 based on the law parliament passed on 10 May 2005?"

with a choice of "Agree" or "Disagree". A majority of "Agree" would mean that the system of electing Egypt's president would change to allow multiple candidates to run against each - a first ever in Egypt's history. However, given (1)political apathy in Egypt and (2)the fact that almost all opposition parties and some members of the ruling party saw that the amendment made it almost impossible for opposition candidates to run and therefore called for a boycott of the referendum; the referendum results were forged.

Forging the referendum

How was it forged? (This is one time I wish I had finished translating the "Confessions of a Judge" post). Well. The way the referendum is run is that there are "primary committees" and "secondary committees" (Committee is a literal translation I'm sure there's a better word for it). The secondary committees are the actual polling stations with the ballot box and where you go and cast your "Agree" or "Disagree" vote. They should be headed by a judge. But almost all of them weren't. Primary committees are simply to preside over several "secondary committees". After the ballots have been cast, the heads of the secondary committees count the ballots and then go to the "primary committee" to report the results and hand in the ballots (I guess they hand in the ballots). Since the heads of the secondary committees were not presided over by judges, instead by humble state employees without any type of immunity, it was easy for the state authorities to threaten the employees by sacking them if a certain ratio of "Agree" to "Disagree" votes were not reported at the end of the ballot counting. In some cases a police officer would go to the polling station 15 minutes before the official end of the casting of ballots and close the committee early and overlook the forging of a few hundred "Agree" ballots and some "Disagree" ballots for show. The somewhat unorganized forging of the ballots and to a certain extent the stupidity of the employees allowed the forging to be easily exposed.

Judge's Honour

Right after the elections and for almost a month ahead, the Judges' Club received comments and complaints from the judges who were enlisted to head the primary committees and also from the very few who were presiding over secondary committees. The complaints and comments were compiled to form a detailed report regarding what happened in the referendum and what forgery had taken place. Some of the reports by the enlisted judges were even accompanied by pictures of "Agree" ballots bundled up in strings.

Kefaya takes the move

After the issueing of the report of the Judges' Club, the Kefaya (Enough) movement filed a lawsuit to the Administrative Justice Court to falsify the results of the referendum and deem them invalid based on the Judges' Club report.

The Case

In the first Court meeting for the case, the lawyers of the State Judicial Department (the government body representing the government in Court cases) argued that the Court should not accept the case on grounds that the case does not lie within the Court's jurisdiction. The Court refused the argument and accepted the case as fulfilling the initially required proceedings and lying withing the jurisdiction of the Court.

On the 22nd of August, the Court requested from the attorney to submit a copy of the original report sealed with the official stamp of the Judges' Club, since the attorney had submitted an unsealed copy.

On the 28th August, the attorney lawyers submitted the following documents:
1)A copy of the Alexandria Judges' Club report sealed with the official stamp of the Club.
2)A copy of the Club's magazine's next issue expected to be distributed on Friday the 2nd of September
3)The original report written in the hand writing of the vice-president of the Court of Cassation, Counsellor Hossam El Gheriany who also supervised the report.. as well as being sealed in the official stamp.
With this, the judge ordered the "reservation" of the case for a verdict on 3rd September.. thereby leaving no more room for pleas in the case and deciding to issue a verdict on 3rd of September.

LETS JUST HOPE THEY DON'T FIND SOME WAY TO WRIGGLE OUT OF THIS. I MEAN WHAT THE HELL ENOUGH ALREADY ITS LIKE A LAWLESS FARM OVER HERE.

Although I doubt it, I really hope this passes well and I feel so goddamn proud of those judges. For some reason I have this gut feeling that it won't pass well but I refuse to believe it. Actually I believe it... I just don't want to believe it. I want to believe that there is still something to be saved in this political system. I want to believe that.... Ahhh... Whatever... Anyway...

All information adapted from MisrAlArabia.com, Horrya Forum (Freedom Forum), AlMesryoon.com, and Kefaya's Forum. God bless the internet.

RELATED DEMONSTRATION AND CALENDAR NEWS: In a related matter, the Kefaya movement will hold a demonstration on Friday the 2nd of September in front of the Journalists' Syndicate at 11 am coinciding with the General Assembly of Egyptian Judges who will be discussing their position in the supervising of the election proceedings. Count me in baby. I will add both the demonstration as well as the Court verdict date to the calendar.

Monitor-Me.. Monitor-Me-Not.. Monitor-Me.. Monitor-Me-Not

2005-08-24T18:35:00.000+03:00

This whole election monitoring flip-flop is getting on my nerves..
If there's anything worse than Hosni's expected win its him winning a sham election..
Hell if I'm the only one hating the guy then so be it.. let his ass take the shape of that chair.. but let there be a little gleam of hope for the future too.. Let it be a fair election... Oh how I hope...
Watching the "history" of this election monitoring issue makes me lose hope.. and just slaps me in the face on how naive I can be sometimes.. fair elections.. :-/

1) MONITORING?

When: 13th May
From: MisrAlArabia.com
Article Link: here
Incident: Gamal Mubarak comments on International Election Monitoring in a press conference after a meeting of the NDP's Supreme Policy Council

Headline:

Gamal Mubarak: International Monitoring of Elections has not been decided yet

Main Quotes:

[...]And he added through the press conference after the meeting of the Supreme Policies Council yesterday, that issue of calling international observers for the presidential elections was not presented in the discussions, pointing that there is a dialogue in the society concerning this subject and in response to a question about whether president Mubarak will call international observers,
the Political Secretary answered: I do not have any information or authority to answer this question[...]

2) MONITOR-ME-NOT (FLIP)

When: 5th June
From: [Al-]Ahram.org.eg
Article Link: here
Incident: Safwat El-Sherif after a "National Dialogue" meeting

Headline:

El Sherif after conclusion of the national dialogue: The parties have confirmed their refusal to international monitoring of the presidential elections ....

Important Quotes:

[...]El Sherif clarified that the participating parties also agreed on the ban against receiving of any moneys from any foreign authorities, and the refusal of any attempt to intervene or comment on the internal affairs of Egypt, including the international supervision of the elections[...]

3) MONITOR-ME (FLOP)

When: 16th June
From: AlMesryoon.com
Article Link: here
Incident: Leaks of the results of Osama el Baz's (Mubarak's Political Advisor) confidential visit to the US in mid July

Heading:

El Baz Promises America to Appease the Judges and Accept Election Monitoring

The Important Quotes:

[...]But despite the secrecy from the Egyptian and American sides concerning the topics and results of the visit some news and reports which have leaked to the media here and there could be summarized as follows :
[...]
Also Egypt will accept international observers for the supervision over the elections[...]
The American media had noted that Egypt wanted to prove to the American administration its sincere intention by declaring its complete acceptance of the demands of the judges as well as declaring the appointment of a civil vice president after the presidential elections. Furthermore by confirming that Gamal Mubarak does not intent to undertake power after his father and also by hinting to accepting the idea of international observers.

4) MONITOR-ME-NOT (FLIP)

When: 29th June
From: [Al-]Ahram.org.eg
Article Link: here
Incident: Ahmed Abul Gheith (Egyptian Foreign Minister) issuing comments to the press

Headline:

Abul Gheith: Egypt will hold presidential elections marked by transparency

Moneyshot:

[Regarding the upcoming elections..] Foreign Minister, Ahmed Abul Gheith, confirmed that Egypt will not accept the imposition of external ideas... [...]

If you have any doubt on what he meant by "external ideas" we can take a look at an earlier article:

When: 20th June
From: AlMesryoon.com
Article Link: here
Incident: AlMesryoon.com runs an online poll who's results contradict Abul Gheith

Headline:

78% of Egyptians support International Monitoring of the Elections

Main Quotes:
[...]This comes at a time when the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheith had announced two days ago that the majority of Egyptians are against the idea of the foreign monitoring of the first presidential elections which are to be held this year. He also added that Egyptians have a special sensativity to this matter. But he also added that this issue concerns the Egyptian society and the Egyptian government will decide its opinion regarding it in suitable time[...]

5) MONITOR-ME (FLOP)

When: 11th August
From: [Al-]Ahram.org.eg
Article Link: here
Incident: Daily Presidential Bullshit

Headline:

Mubarak demands the separation between the Executive Branch and the Party's work throughout the presidential elections
A committee in the Labour Union for the follow-up of the elections ..‏
And the national surveillance includes all of the headquarters

Main Quote:

[...]
Coordination and cooperation efforts for the monitoring of the national elections started yesterday between 4 coalitions of human rights groups, so that the monitoring would include 222 areas that would represent all election constituencies in Egypt.

6) MONITOR-ME-NOT (FLIP)

When: 17th August
From: MisrAlArabia.com
Article Link: here
Incident: Reactions to the PEC chairman's comments

Headline:

A crisis between the Human Rights Organizations and the Election Committee

Important Quotes:

A crisis broke out between the Human Rights Organizations and the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) where the heads of the Human Rights Organizations denounced statements attributed to Counsellor Mamdouh Mare'e the head of the PEC which stressed on the prevention of the leakage of any information related to the election process in the next presidential elections to candidates, delegates or the dealing with the organizations of the civil society who declared the monitoring of the elections. The heads of the organizations confirmed their sticking to the position of monitoring the elections while warning that Marie'e's statements could help to the occurrence of exceeding in the election process the country seeks their hiding.

7) MONITOR-ME-MAYHEM

When: 18 August
From: MisrAlArabia.com
Article Link: here
Incident: Civil Society Organizations in a press conference in response to the PEC chairman's comments the day before

Headline:

Egypt : the civil society organizations are sueing the chairman of the presidential election commission

Main Quote:

The civil society organizations in Egypt decided to bring an urgent lawsuit in front of the administrative justice against the chairman of the Presidential Elections Supreme Committee because of his refusal of allowing them to monitor the elections.

When: 28 August
From: MisrAlArabia.com
Article Link: here
Incident: Civil Society Organizations go ahead with lawsuit procedures

Headline:

The Human Rights Organizations appeal against the prevention from following on the elections

Main Quotes:

Yesterday the Election Monitoring National Campaign started appeal measures against the chairman of the Presidential Election Commission's decision regarding the prevention of civil society institutions from the following of the election process in a lawsuit that the four organizations forming the campaign raised: the Arab organization of criminal reform, the Democratic Development Group, the Society of Democratic Dialogue for Human Rights Center and the Al-Andalus Center for Reconciliation Studies[...]

So (in case you weren't following - and I wouldn't be surprised) first they hint about international monitors.. then they say no international monitors because of "Egyptian sensitivity" which I have no idea what the fuck they're talking about and which was totally contradicted by the poll results (ok nothing even remotely near scientific but I'd want to see the poll from which they determined this "sensitivity" bullshit)... then after a little flip-flopping they finally determine that they will not accept "foreign intervention"... ok fine so you would think that would allow local organizations to do the monitoring.. but then the big-ass chairman of the PEC says that the organizations will not be allowed to follow the election proceedings ... WHY?

WELL 'CAUSE IT'S A FUCKING ELECTION JUST LIKE THE SHAM REFERENDUM THAT STARTED THE ELECTION IN THE FIRST PLACE

When will we ever live in an honest respectable civilized community?

Now the whole issue is with the courts.. I will add the court date to the calendar once I find it out.

Cyberspace Campaign

2005-08-24T15:57:00.000+03:00

A little late (as usual) but here is the campaign websites for :

President Hosni Mubarak (National Democratic Party): www.mubarak2005.com

A note regarding his "new look"... seriously... doesn't he look castrated?

The poster says "Mubarak. The leadership... and the crossing to the future".
Ahhh .. that was touching.
A good not about the campaign site is that it is updated somewhat constantly and they have a nice article in arabic replying to critics of Egypt's debt situation. Nice try but I will still not vote for him.

Ayman Nour (Al Ghad Party): www.vote4nour.com

I just got to know about the website today so I don't know about any updates to the site. Although I don't feel comfortable with the guy I will most definitely vote for him (If I am able to sort out this voting card mess). Why I would vote for Nour? Stay tuned for another post for that.

No'man Goma'a (Al Wafd Party): (Well they didn't have a campaign site so this is the party site) www.alwafd.com

The Al Wafd party is the oldest political party in Egypt (since 1919) and probably the most respected due to its history in being the first party to actively call out to resist the British occupation. Also having famous political reformers such as Sa'ad Zaghlool and Mostafa El-Nahaas Pasha as chairmen has given the party a respected prestige. Why are they now not a force to be reckoned with? Well, thanks to the "free guards" (revolutionary military soldiers) all political parties in Egypt were done away with in 1953 and it was not until 1977 that a new law was issued to allow the creation of political parties in Egypt. Of course by then Egyptians had gaven the term "political apathy" a whole new level and the "Al Wafd" party never regained its former glory. It is interesting to note, however, that before the creation of the "Al Ghad" party (Ayman Nour's party), the "Al Wafd" was the biggest opposition party with... check this out.. 6 out of 454 members in paliament!!! Yes having 6 out of 454 members for an opposition party .. believe it or not... makes you the biggest opposition party. The NDP had 417 members... Yaaayyy for democracy. However the creation of the "Al Ghad" party attracted some independent members and I think members from other parties to become the biggest opposition party and the second biggest party in general after the NDP. None the less, Al Wafd still holds a "traditional" respect among historically and politically aware Egyptians (mostly the older ones) and they put up a bold ad in "Al-Ahram" newspaper (a semi-government daily newspaper - by far the biggest newspaper in Egypt) which was titled "We Suffocated" (shown below)... a title clearly directed against the government (as in we had enough and can't take it any more) and one that would appeal to anyone living in Egypt.

Sweet start!

2005-08-20T12:54:00.000+03:00

X is someone I know working at an SMS solutions company in Egypt.

So X gets an email from A working at one of the two cellular network providers in Egypt referring him to an "important" prospective client, a Mr. Gamal (no not Mubarak Jr.).

X calls A.

X: So who is this Gamal guy?

A: He needs to send *alot* of SMSs. And I mean *ALOT*.

X: Really? Where does this guy work? What's he advertising?

A: Uhh.. I think you better speak to him directly. I did what I had to do and refer you to him. His number is in the email.

X: Yeah I noticed. Alright then I'll get to that. Thanks.

A: Don't mention it.

X calls Mr. Gamal

Gamal: WHO IS THIS?

X: Mr. Gamal?

Gamal: SPEAKING. WHO IS THIS?

X: Hello Sir.. this is X from ... We got information that you needed to send several SMS ads?

Gamal: Ah. You're the message people.

X: (message people? :-/) Yes Sir.

Gamal: I will call you back.

In a few moments X gets "private call" displayed on his cellular. He answers.

Gamal: I need to send 18 million messages...

X: (not believing his ears.. knowing that that's simply impossible, he still imagines the amount of money out of this guy) Sorry Sir how many messages??!

Gamal: I SAID 18 MILLION MESSAGES. I WANT..

X:(cutting him short) Uhh I'm sorry Sir.. That's pretty much impossbile.. We don't have that number of cellular phone numbers in our database...

Gamal: WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!

X: I'm sorry Sir but we only have 800,000 cellular phone numbers in our database...

Gamal: WHAT?! 800,000 ONLY?!?! ONLY?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING?!

X: No Sir.. well if we include the numbers that aren't registered for ads then thats 1.5 million numbers... but those numbers aren't authorized for sms ads.. but I think we can see about that...

Gamal: WHAT? ONLY?! THIS IS RIDICULOUS! I WANT 18 million!!

X: Sir the number of cellular phone users in Egypt is around 8 or 9 milion only..

Gamal: WHAT?! ONLY?!?! WHO AM I SPEAKING TO EXACTLY?? WHAT DO YOU WORK IN THE COMPANY??

X: I am the Sales and Marketing Executive Sir..

Gamal: Give me your personal ID number...

X: May I ask who this is Sir? The company you are associated with?

Gamal: I AM NOT AUTHORIZED TO GIVE YOU THAT INFORMATION. GIVE ME YOUR PERSONAL ID NUMBER!!!

X: (Gives the number and trying to get smart says:) Do you want the address too?

Gamal: DON'T WORRY.. WE WILL GET IT!

(Gamal hangs up in X's face)

(A few moments later another "private call")

Gamal: OK LISTEN.. WE WILL SEND TO ALL THE NUMBERS IN THE DATABASE SEVERAL TIMES EACH..

X: Ok Sir...

Gamal: WE NEED TO SEND SMSs TO USERS IN THE GOVERNATES OF PORT SAID, MONOFEYYA, SUEZ ....

X: (cuts him short) But Sir we don't have numbers in those regions...

Gamal: WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! ARE YOU KIDDING?!

X: No Sir but most of the numbers in our database are from Cairo... the remaining are in Alexandria.. we don't have numbers in the other governates...

Gamal: WHAT?! CAIRO AND ALEXANDRIA ONLY?! THAT IS NOT ENOUGH!! THIS WON'T WORK!! WHAT IS THIS RUBBISH!!

(Gamal hangs up in X's face one last final time)

(Later...)

Me: Phew! So you didn't know where he was from?!

X: Wait .. I'm getting to that... Later my boss gets a call from some guy at the Republic's Presidency.. apparently he was my boss' friend.. he was kidding with my boss saying, "Come on man.. What was that.. Hehehe.. You were going to get alot of money man!! We called you guys up today and some guy called X said you couldn't send 18 million messages! Bad move!"

Me: Republic's Presidency?! Ahaaa... They were going to SMS to campaign for Mubarak! Pheww 18 million! Sure why not... they've got all our money.. But wait.. isn't it illegal for the Republic's Presidency to be involved?? I mean it being a government bureau and all? It should be impartial to any candidate right?

X: Yeah.. That's probably why he didn't want to say where he was calling from..

Me: Ohh.. and the Republic's Presidency expenses aren't covered by the Public Accounts Bureau.. they can fucking spend as much as they want on the campaign and noone would know.. bastards.. sweet start.. I hope it just comes down to campaign expenses..

X: Do you really think so?

Me: Ehhh....

Let the games begin!

2005-08-18T17:29:00.000+03:00

OK so its begun! I don't have the slightest clue why I am excited.
I know the big fuck is gonna win... I know his son will win next time... I know nothing in the system will change much unless some mighty miracle happens (fuck he needs a revolution).. So why am I excited? I have no clue! I can't even vote because I don't have a fucking voting card ("Come November", he says :-/... motherfucker)

But its here.. the campaigning has started... So Ladies and Gentlemen.. Let the Games Begin!

WHY SHOULD ANYONE IN HIS RIGHT MIND VOTE HOSNI?

And how better to get into the campaigning mood than by taking a look at Hosni's "historical speech". And from where better to take the speech than from Egypt's biggest ass-kissing, dick-sucking pro-government newspaper... Al-Gomhuria. The following is an excerpt of the speech taken from the paper (DISCLAIMER: This is not for the faint of heart nor for those with high blood pressure) :

"When I recollect what we acheived together.. I Thank God.. and feel content and peace of mind and concience:
(I will let that pass... campaign bullshit.. the juicy part is next)
*Together we completed the liberation of every inch of our land
(Ok.. Job well done.. and completed.. Next time Israel refuses to return Taba I'll call you.. till then I don't see how this fits)
*Egypt has returned to its position in the Arabic line
(Really? Is that why we sat and watched US fuck Iraq? If anything Egypt has become a big name.. no real power.. no real prestige.. something like Jordan.. a US ass-kissing state pretending to still hold a decision making position in the Arab world... I know we have bigger internal problems.. but you came across an open wound here.. What happened to my country? The country I came to study in because I loved it so much although being so far.. The famouse nickname of Egypt "Mother of the world" has become an old and bitter sarcastic cliche.. and almost everyone I know follows it with the painfully true "Motherfucker.. this world")
*We refused the pressures that tried to get to our sovereignty
(What pressures? Don't tell me you mean having international election monitors! What a sad fuck.. This is so typical.. Bullshit propaganda to reach out to Egyptian US phobia.. Really a sad excuse for a human being this guy)
*Together we went on a battle against terrorism... and we still are.
(I am damn fucking sure the other 9 will do the same.. Don't worry about us.. but thanks for your concern)
*We established distinguished relations with our regional and international surroundings that enabled us to drop half our external debt
(Uhh... Currently our external debt is 34 billion as opposed to 4 billion during Sadat's rule.. So don't try to make your debt handling look like an achievement you sad fuck... "34 billion 3afreet yerkabook ya akhy" NOTE: numbers are from the misrdigital website and I am not sure the "billions" are in LE or USD)
*We preserved the peace without taking risks that gambled with the future of the sons of Egypt and the future of the homeland
(More general bullshit propaganda.. I feel Stalin is reaching out to me in communist Russia..)
*Together we succeeded in the establishment of a new and advanced infrastructure
(Where has this guy been for the past 24 years? Has he seen the roads?! Has he been abroad?! Has he ever compared?! What about the infamous electricity blackout that left Cairo in the dark a few months ago?? And the sewage eruptions?? Hell.. bad infrastructure has been such a norm in Egypt noone bothers to complain any more.. Seriously if I don't vote for him because he is a big fuck then for I won't vote for him because he is telling me that he doesn't know shit about this country)
*Modern networks of roads, transportation and communication
(Its like I was talking to myself - which is not all false. To give the guy some credit, I think we've had 2 media satellites launched and I should give him credit for low -and lowering- costs of high speed internet connectivity... yaaayy vote mubarak.. a bright future ahead)
*We built 22 new urban gatherings
(I don't understand who he means by "WE".. Aren't these people paying for the houses in these gatherings or are they a free gift from him? Or did he go out there and fucking build it himself? What is worng with this guy? Besides.. its a pretty old trick this thing about giving numbers instead of percentages.. 22 or 22 million.. how are normal people supposed to know if these numbers are enough or not... Come on man.. another old trick from communist Russia.. really.. grow up man!!)
*We provided more than 9 million job opportunities to our youth
(DONT FUCKING GIVE ME NUMBERS YOU BITCH... WHAT IS THE PERCENTAGE?! AND 9 MILLION JOBS IN 24 YEARS IN A COUNTRY THAT HAS A NEW BABY CRY "WWAAAAAAA" EVERY FEW SECONDS? motherfucker)
*Our production of electricity has increased around 7 times
(yippeeeeeeeeeee... but why do we still get sudden blackouts for days?!)
*Incoming tourism has increased by 8 times
(yes despite terrorism... tourism has increased... I think that is one of the very few good points which are true although you can never tell about that "8x times" thing but we'll go along with that.. I find a gleam of hope when I hear something I actually feel is true coming from that guy's mouth)
*The agricultural areas have increased by over 1 million fedans
(Interesting because according to misrdigital the agricultural areas have decreased from 6 million fedans during Sadat's rule to 4 million fedans during Hosni's rule)
*We now have 20 million students in the post-graduate and schooling years
(NO NUMBERSSSSS!!!! >:( And another problem with Egypt.. STOP GIVING ME QUANTITY.. WILL WE EVER THINK ABOUT QUALITY YOU SAD ASS YOU BITCH YOU KNOW WHAT THESE GUYS DID IN ONE OF THE SCHOOLS THAT Mrs.BUSH WAS VISITING HERE IN EGYPT THEY GAVE THE KIDS A HOLIDAY AND THEY BROUGHT IN KIDS FROM ANOTHER SCHOOL BECAUSE THE SCHOOL THAT Mrs.BUSH CHOSE TO VISIT WAS SO FUCKING BAD THAT THE STUDENTS DIDN'T KNOW SHIT AND THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN FUCKING EMBARRASSED.... THATS YOUR 20 MILLION FOR YOU... "20 million ba3boos fe teezak ya akhy")
*35,000 schools and more than 500 universities and institutes
(Like i said :-/ and don't get me started on the universities... I can tell you from 1st hand experience... public universities are a big waste of time.. they're just as good as statues)

Blood pressure too high... barking to be continued

Nexy day...

*The health insurance network has extended to cover more than 36.5 million citizens, the social insurance network has extended to cover more than 18 million citizens, besides 9 million families the pensions and social security systems cover
(You know what.. I had no idea we had a social security system.. and when I asked my friend he said he wasn't sure but he said there is no support for the elderly or unemployed... even if there IS social security it's obviously not doing a good job... noone fucking knows about it.. and I'm pretty sure the health insurance network ain't any better with rising costs of medicine.. if it ain't paying for the medicines then what is it insuring exactly? Has he taken a look at the state of public hospitals? And on a less serious note... has he seen the nurses?! Fetish porn would have had a different meaning had this been the true face of nursing)
*We've cut general taxes to half
(One thing I should note is that income tax has been cut -fully or partially, I can't remember- by the last Prime Minister's cabinet (P.M. Ahmed Nazif). As a result friends who were working here for 1,800 L.E. (312 USD) or so a month have been getting up to 2,200 L.E. (381 USD) - or something in that range. But this has only taken place during this last year.. where the fuck was he in 24 years?)
*We have stuck with the protection of low-income citizens.. We have therefore preserved government commodity price support and price support for petroleum and electricity
(I would stick to the United Nations Development Programmme data regarding poverty in Egypt rather than President BigMouth's rubbish:
HPI-1 = Human Poverty Index ranking for 95 developing countries
Egypt ranks no. 47 (out of 95)
which puts Egypt somewhere around the 50 percentile amongst 95 DEVELOPING countries
If we list the 95 countries one after the other according to rank... and then remove all the non-arab leading and trailing countries.. Egypt would be somewhere in the 39 percentile if the list were trimmed to the first and last developing arab countries (the lower the percentile the worse we are)... That really isnt an accurate index for Egypt amongst arab countries but it at least an idea how we are doing amongst other developing arabs
Percentage of population living below 1$ a day (1997-2002) = 3.1%
Percentage of population living below 2$ a day (1997-2002) = 43.9%
Almost 44% have to eat,drink,clothe,live with less than 2 dollars a day (11 L.E. today.. in 2002 2$ was 9 L.E. and in 1997 2$ was 6 L.E) .. 2 dollars a day.. Ladies and gentlemen.. after 24 years... 2 dollars a day... not ONE.. but TWO dollars a day... this I say to President BigMouth:
SHUT THE FUCK UP BITCH!
DON'T TALK ABOUT THE POOR WITH YOUR FILTHY STINKING TONGUE)
*We worked towards the glorification of the Egyptian woman's rights
(Although women's rights has traditionally been an outer cosmetic change done simply for the sake of being able to say that they are working on improving human rights in Egypt in general, still they deserve credit for effort.. AT LEAST in allowing women to divorce shitty husbands.. still lets see the UN data will we:
GDI = Gender-Related Development Index meausres achievements in Human Development but also takes into account gender-related inequalities
Egypt ranks 99 out of 144 countries
That is a percentile of 31 ... That's worse than my arabic
Women seats in parliament: 3.6% [6.7 percentile amongst the 163 countries measured]
Female administrators and managers:9.3% [9.6 percentile amongst the 83 countries measured]
Female professional and technical workers:30.3% [8.3 percentile amongst the 84 countries measured]
Ratio of female earned income to men: 0.39 [18 percentile amongst the 153 countroes measured]
Need I say more?)
*We created family courts
(Really how can one reply to that? Its like saying "We created Ultra-whitening toothpaste" You should seriously vote for this guy.. The guy has been president for 24 years.. Isn't he ashamed of saying something as silly as that for a re-election campaign?!)
*We achieved equality between fathers and mothers in giving Egyptian nationality to their children
(LOL .. that really cracked me up.. really that was the highlight of the "historical" speech.. this guy just gets sillier and sillier.. he's running out of things to say :D.. you can tell he is nearing the end of his speech )
*We expanded the judicial positions of the woman, including the appointment of the first female judge in the Constitutional Court
(Yeah that takes 24 years.. really this guy.. hopeless)
*We succeeded in the achievement of all that and others .. with a population increase of around 30 million in the last two decades
(Amazing how he uses a point against him to his favour... with a population increase of 30 million.. the guy should be ashamed to say something like 9 million new jobs... or a equal rights to Egyptian nationality -nothing against that, quite the opposite- but its hardly an achievement when faced with 30 million increase)
*We established the pillars necessary for the reinforcement of our democratic march
(I think you need to put one of those pillars somewhere else...they would be more usefull there.. If there's something I hate its those big fat hollow propaganda terms)
*Institutional and legal frameworks which supervise the respect of the constitution through the Supreme Constitutional Court; Guarantee judicial independence and the supremacy of the law; Reinforce multiple parties and the political participation; Protect the rights and the civil freedoms; Elevate human rights; And open the way for a free press that enjoys the freedom of expression about all political movements
(Bullshit is an understatement.. Its good that that was the last point.. Blood pressure is boiling)

Summary:

Mubarak: Ancient, blind and hopeless

Come to us 1st of November

2005-08-18T14:15:00.000+03:00

Me: Excuse me, I want to produce my voting card.

Employee at Civil Affairs Section of my Police Station: Did you apply for it before?

Me: No. (Is he serious? Why would I apply for it more than once? And in Egypt?! I don't know anyone who applied for it EVER!)

Employee: First time ever?

Me: The voting card?!

Employee: Yes! Did you apply for it before?

Me: No! First time.

Employee: Ok. Come to us 1st of 11 [November].

Unconciously I give a face that would resemble this msn messenger smiley:

Something feels so fucking wrong.. and its TOO obvious that I take a moment to register what exactly is wrong with this picture..

Me: Uhh... the elections are in 9 [September].

Employee: Yeah I know but what can I do? Application for voting cards begins 1st of 11.

I remember a relative of mine taking a political science major mentioning something like that... "voting cards are issued only at certain periods.. but SUPPOSEDLY they are now issued automatically with birth.. at least for those who have been born in the 1980-something"

Me: Then what's this about voting cards being issued automatically?

The guy realizes it will be less tiring to explain than to try to give me the slip.

Employee: What's your name?

Me: [My Name] (Half expecting him to say ,"Sorry applicants beginning with that letter have to go to another Police Station". What's my name got to do with anything?)

Employee: When were you born? (Ok I realized I can't do much with your name.. maybe you're age is not in the 1980's so you don't have an automatically issued voting card yet and then you can go home and leave me to bum around in peace and flirt with the fat ugly ladies working with me?)

Me: [Year of Birth] (Sorry dude.. 1980's)

Employee: Where were you born? (Maybe you were born away from here so you can go wherever you came from and give THEM a hard time?)

Me: [Foreign Country] (Damn....)

Employee: Oh! You are born in [Foreign Country]... From where were you issued a birth certificate?

Me: (Oh fuck... no more fucked up procedures please.. and these fucked up silly questions) From [Foreign Country] ofcourse. (That's were I was born no?! Duuuh!)

Employee: Then we can't help you.

Me: I have an Egyptian Personal ID card.. Naturally I must have been issued a birth certificate here too!

Employee: When? and from which police station?

Me: (HOW THE FUCK WILL I KNOW?! I probably couldn't walk yet!) I dunno!

Employee: I am sorry but unless you have a birth certificate issued (1) from this police station (2) by 1986 then you will have to apply for a voting card in November.

Me: (losing hope... but I thought I'd ask what was needed anyway if you meet the requirements) Ok assuming that that is what I am... what papers are required?

Employee: Nothing just your Personal ID card and then we'll do a check up.

Me: Check-up? (I am kinda ignorant with government-sector-employee talk.. I thought some kind of physical check-up to make sure you are healthy enough to vote.. my mind goes far)

Employee: Ya.. we check that they are registered with us and all.

Me: Aha.... ("And all".. Whatever man.. I am totally lost.. I totally give up on this guy.. He wins.. Fuck the government)

New Updates..

2005-08-17T05:40:00.000+03:00

Ok first off I feel really bad I haven't been adding to the blog lately.. Bad Me.. I will not even try to excuse it...
So some nice stuff has happened lately...
Before anything let me congratulate myself... The counter right there on the right says I've just passed the 100 visitor mark... Wuuuhuuu...
Ok second off.. I fucking fixed the javascript code for my "political" calendar... Let me get a couple of things straigth first...
(1) No I am not a dummy... I am lazy.. and just the thought of diving into someone else's 700+ lines of code made me put it off for a good while...
(2) No I am not stupid... I am stubborn... just taking the easy way out and opting for one of the zillion other free calendars out there would make me feel I was escaping... and I had to fix this one just to prove that I can do whatever I want if I want...
Ok so that out of the way.... the calendar is working the way *I* want now... It should be added to the blog soon... And I need to get a list of a few "political events" now... one thing for sure would be the elections.. I got a few other things on my mind and naturally it will be updated constantly to keep you on top of all that stuff....

Hmmmmm.. what else.. what else... yeah... I noticed lots of people (at least the ones I know - me included) don't really know how they should register to vote.. And just to make one thing clear.. even if you don't intend to vote... go and get registered... at least you would be protesting in your own silent way because I THINK that the "poll turnout" percentage takes into account only the people who are registered so for what its worth... it might make the NDP fucks look like sore losers... when the actual voters turn out much less than those who registered... Its like saying "I can vote but I won't 'cause you suck and 'cause I know your a bunch of fucked up fraudsters and I won't be a part of your shitty play"... DISCLAIMER: I am not really sure whether the "poll turnout" percentage is taken against the larger set of those who are of legal voting age or against the smaller subset of those who are of legal voting age who actually registered to vote... but knowing how the big fucks like to play with words and how the latter would normally result in a higher percentage, I believe it is the latter..

In any case... go and get registered... what do you have to lose? Be positive for once in your sorry lives... :P :)

Anyway about HOW to register I will hopefully get to that soon enough when I register myself :)

Hmmm what else.. what else... Ah yeah.. new job offer.. just when I thought I got away with it and could return to Egypt... another great offer comes along from abroad... anyway... we'll see...

Hmmmm... what else... Ahhh... yeah.. that translation of "confessions of a judge"... You didn't think I would forget about that did you? Hehe... Well its pretty much useless now... its kinda old news now... but since I am stubborn, I completed it.. but I won't be able to post it before I get back from my travel... which could be up to a few more weeks....

Hmmmm... I guess thats it for now? I know there a lot on my mind right now but leave it till later :)

That's it for now.. Later

Confessions of an Egyptian addict

2005-08-04T00:41:00.000+03:00

Well.. I didn't know how to begin this post... It's not really abouut anything specific or concrete. Not an event that happened. Not an official I wanna bark at... It's about me.. My head. My feelings. I don't really know what to say.. I'm not very good at opening up.. but.. I don't know.. Maybe if I lay this out on the open.. things could somehow someway become clearer.. Well there's nothing really specific I wanted to say just that somethings been on my mind lately. It struck me at 6 a.m. two days ago.

There I was driving to my uncle's house. What really struck me was that while I was driving the one and only thought that was on my mind was Egypt. Specifically Egyptian politics. I know it sounds crazy. Driving at 6 a.m. in a foreign country and all I could think about was Egyptian politics. Democracy in Egypt. Kefaya. Hosni. The NDP. Demonstrations. Central Security. Hehe even the SandMonkey. And quotes from "1984"! Hell, so much has been going on lately and its as if I've been in the middle of it all. I guess what I'm trying to say is ... even I'M surprised. That single-most captiviating thought has become my whole essence. I can't watch TV without having a deep dark secret urge to switch to Al Jazeera just to check on any news remotely related to Egypt. Its like a scratching at the back of my head that I try hard to shrug off. Its become virtually impossible to browse the net any more without typing www.harakamasria.com , Kefaya movement's website. It's become out of my hands. It's a fucking obsession. I can't listen to a conversation regarding Egypt any more without showing a sudden surge of interest. Like someone pressed a button or something. I have become so obsessed with this issue.. its become fucking crazy.

I love Egypt. It's nothing new. But the extent... the depth... I'm fucking daydreaming about it at 6 a.m. Its fucking scary. And you know why I was still up at 6 a.m.? I was returning from my house going to my uncle's house where I was sleeping over. I didn't go earlier cause I was at home fucking debugging some Javascript code for a web-based calendar. A calendar that I was supposed to add to this blog to keep as a scedule of upcoming events. Upcoming political events in Egypt. That's what I was doing up to 6 in the morning. It all traces back again to Egypt.And you know what I did the next morning the moment I woke up? I took to the computer stores to look for a good deal on a laptop. A laptop I will certainly need if I am to stay updated with news about Egypt while travelling in a few days. Again... it traces back to Egypt. Almost everything I do these days just traces back to that one single........ hmmm... whats a good word for it... that one single.... ADDICTION. THAT DRUG. That would be it..... a drug. Its just so strong.. obsessive.. sweet.. abstract. Its a drug. A drug I feel so forcefully for. A drug that has lately been determining my very thougths and moves. A drug I soooo badly want!!! One thats got me hallucinated and obsessed. It feels so weird. YET.... at the same time... feels so correct. I dunno if its part of the hallucination or is this really my calling? It just feels so correct. So meant to be. So filled with purpose. So passionate and just plain simple right. I feel so on target. Is this what I am meant to be? Is this how one feels when he is on the right track to his purpose? His very meaning? Is this what I am meant to do?

I am so far away. But with a drug this strong... no matter HOW far I feel I will always come around at the end. Everything traces back to it. It's a magnet and I just can't control it. It's a fucking homing missle and it is so locked on target. UUUUUFFFFFFFFFFFFF..............

I think I need a slap of reality to snap out of it.

Hehehe just on time... a chick's calling me.. someone wants to fool around so I guess I need to go. Scary to open up like that. I need to place those addict-thougths back into the dark secret cave that is my brain. Someone needs attending to.. so for now...

For what its worth...

2005-07-29T13:13:00.000+03:00

So after the Sharm bombings Egypt seems to be humming with activities, protests and demonstrations... and thanks to Mubarak (the guy who still doesn't know when he's not wanted) Kefaya are organizing a demonstration since he finally decided to run AGAIN...

All this and I'm far away.. just sitting here watching.. so for what its worth.. I'll try to organize a schedule of events.. who's doing what and when and where.. and why.. also I'll try to make and put up posters and banners and stuff you can take to the demonstrations.. and all.. Ofcourse I'm alot of talk and little effort (I know I still didn't finish translating "Confessions of a Judge" and I still didn't get pictures of the beaten up Central Security soldier but believe me I'm working on them) but I'll do my best given I need to finish up with pending issues at work before I leave.. (did I mention I quit? :-D) .... ANYWAY... So this is a declaration of work to be done.. A word I shall not break.. For what little its worth.. its the best I can do right now to support the rest..

Now mourn and wonder

2005-07-23T19:29:00.000+03:00

Now I mourn and wonder.....

mourn... and wonder... :(

I wonder :(

why? WHY?!?! I just don't fucking get it ... WHYYYY?!?!?!?!

WHY YOU BITCH WHYYYY??!?!?!?!?!

WWWHHHHYYYYY?????!!!!!!!!

WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY THINKING ?! WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?! I SWEAR I JUST DON'T FUCKING GET IT!!!!!!

What went wrong?! There is something fucking wrong! I don't get it! Fuck I'm like a madman!

I'll try to slowly gather my thoughts now..

SYMPATHY?
What are they trying to do?? What do they think their actions will result in??Is this thei way to reach to us?? Do they think we will love them?? Is this a sick way to get attention?! Is that what they want?! Affection?! Sympathy?! Is this their way to turn the masses on to their side?! I don't get it.
JOY?
Are they a group of fucked up sadistic sychos? Do they find pleasure in killing 100's after 100's of innocent people?? Do they not have any other means of entertainment?! This.. their perverted version of fireworks?!
REVENGE?
Maybe its revenge?! Maybe! But revenge against who?! For doing what?! Innocent Egyptians?! and because .........?! Because what?! Is there something I'm missing here??

I don't get it.. I honestly fucking don't get it! Who are these people?! Why don't they just fucking leave us alone?! What do they fucking want?! I don't get it!! I don't.fucking.get-it!! I swear it's like walking and then finding yourself at a dead end... walls surrounding you from all three sides.. "And then what?!" and then you turn to go back .. and then that side too has a wall... "And then its just too puzzling" .. I JUST DONT FUCKING GET IT

I.DON'T.GET.IT

I think need to just take a break and think everything through..

Bark @ the bitches

2005-07-23T18:49:00.000+03:00

As everyone knows by now.. Sharm El Sheikh - Egypt's most famous sea resort city - had several explosions early this morning.. 83 dead and counting................
I was kinda confused whether to go for a barking post or a more sympathetic Oh-GodWhy-We post.. I'll go for both.. First let me get the poison out of my system........

TO WHO EVER DID THIS.... FUCK YOU .. YOU FUCKERS.. YOU FUCKERS.. YOU MOTHER FUCKING SONS OF BITCHES MOTHER FUCKING FUCKERS!!!!!

COME DOWN HERE ... OH I WANT YOU TO SO FUCKING COME DOWN HERE.. COME DOWN HERE!! CCCOOOOOMMMMMMMEEE !!!! I WILL SO FUCKING RIP YOUR ASSHOLE APART AND THEN PISS INTO IT.. I WILL NEVER KILL YOU.. OH NOO!! I WILL SO TAKE PLEASURE IN TORTURING YOU SOOOOOOOO SOOOOOOOOOOOOO SLOWLY... I WILL SO TAKE PLEASURE IN LETTING MY MIND GO SICK AND MY THOUGHTS GO WILD WITH THE VIRTUALLY INFINITE WAYS I CAN PAIN, HURT, DESECRATE, TORTURE, PERVERT, ABUSE, HUMILIATE AND RAPE YOU. I WILL STORE EACH OF YOU IN A CELL.. AND SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE DOING NOTHING BUT PERVERTEDLY RAPE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU .. EVERY HOUR .. ON THE HOUR.. DON'T LIKE PIGS?! FUCK I'LL TURN YOU INTO ONE! ALCOHOL ANYONE? HELL ITS GONNA BE ALCOHOL EVERYONE!! WHATS THAT? SAY NO TO OUT-OF-MARRIAGE SEX? HEHEHEHE YOU HAVE NO IDEA.. ILL MAKE A GLASS OF MY CUM MIXED WITH MENSTRUAL BLEEDINGS OF THE DIRTIEST CHEAPEST OLDEST ISRAELI HOOKER IN TEL AVIV FOR YOU HONEYS... AND GUESS WHO'S CUP OF TEA THAT WILL BE (WINK WINK).

YOU HAVE NO IDEA... YOU HAVE NO IDEAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.... YOU ARE FUCKING MESSING WITH THE WRONG PERSON!!!!! YOU ARE FUCKING MESSING WITH THE WRONG PEOPLE!!!! YOU ARE SO SHORTENING YOUR LIFE SPAN... WELL TECHNICALLY YOU WONT BE DEAD.. BUT YOU'LL PRETTY MUCH WANNA PRETEND YOU ARE... YOU WILL SO PRETTY MUCH WANNA PRETEND YOU ARE....JUST COME TO ME BABY... JUST COME TO ME... MAN TO FUCKING BITCH... COME TO ME... COME TO ME YOU FUCKING BASTARDSSS... YOU COWARDSS YOU SONS OF BITCHES.... NOT ONLY YOU!! BRING YOUR MAMA ALONG TOO!! ITS GONNA BE FUN!! BRING YOUR MAMA BITCH! BRING YOUR MAMA THERES ALOT OF SHIT I WANNA DO TO HER AND HAVE YOU WATCH EVERY FUCKING SECOND TILL IM PRETTY MUCH SURE IT IS ETCHED IN YOUR BRAIN....

OHHHHH.... JUST COME YOU FUCKER... SHOW ME YOUR FACE..

SHOW.ME.YOUR.FACE

Save the Soldier!

2005-07-17T20:38:00.000+03:00

I guess this blog is turning more and more towards dedicating itself to Abdeen's soldier.

I was looking everywhere on news regarding the dude.

2 articles from Al Mesryoon:

Central Security soldiers scream "Kefaya!" (Enough) along with the Kefaya demonstrators:

"Despite police violence and the tightened security cordons during the last demonstration in Abdeen's square, the demonstrators were surprised when a soldier from the Central Security (riot police) Forces refused to carry out orders to beat the demonstrators.

What was strange in the matter was the insistence of the soldier on his position inspite of what abuse he took from the officers: cursings, insults and eventually beatings.

After the continuous and successive insults, the soldier did not but scream at the top of his voice "Kefaya!!" (Enough) and kept shouting it along with the shouts of the demonstrators."

Respect. Full Respect.

"The embarrassment appeared clear on the faces of the several ranking officers that were present, and who joined in in directing insults and threats to the soldier who did not give in and stood his stand.

Without delay, the officers immediately ordered a number of soldiers to forcefully carry their colleague to the armored Central Security van and then gathered round him and added to the insults and curses; kicking and beatings with sticks, metallic objects and the ends of whatever weapons they had."

I wish I was there :(

Good News?

Kefaya defends a Central Security soldier attacked by police

"A Central Security soldier suffered a hysterical state after the security forces started attacking the demonstrators in front of the Abdeen Palace. The Central Security soldier challenged the orders of his superiors, started screaming "Kefaya!! Kefaya!!" (Enough!! Enough!!) and threw his stick in support of the demonstrators.

The crowd of demonstrators was surprised by the state of the Central Security soldier and his colleagues who beat him with their sticks, constrained him and dragged him inside the armored cars to terrorize the other colleagues of whom secretly sympathized with the demonstrators.

"Al Mesryoon" found out that a number of Kifaya Movement figures and some lawyers representing Human Rights Organizations will head off to the Attorney General's office to raise a report regarding the aggression that took place on the Central Security while demanding the preservation of his life and his immediate release ."

I hope they really escalate the issue because if anything that guy will be fucked big time. This could work for or against Kefaya. If Kefaya succeeds in defending the soldier, his colleagues will realize that we ARE in facting fighting FOR them, fighting FOR justice, fighting this fucked up regime, their unlawful power, we are standing WITH them, FOR them, for the SIMPLE guy. If Kefaya fails, the soldier will probably have his life destroyed. I dunno how far they will go but torture is a very strong possibility. Probably one of the merciful options. He will then be set up as an example to the rest. To anyone who even secretly sympathizes with Kefaya. It will make them fucking think a zillion times before even going soft with the demonstrators.

za3'raty ya tafeeeeeeeddaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

2005-07-16T19:36:00.000+03:00

Can I get a Za3'rota please?!
(Za3'roota :- the seemingly impossible uvula-tongue control which makes an even more impossible sound. Done by Egyptians -usually women- as a show of joy and celebration. It really sounds like an African tribal shriek. The one they do before sacrificing the kill. We don't have pom poms so we do with what we've got.)

wwwwweeeerrrreeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrreeeeeeeeerrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeee

Why you ask?!

CAUSE THERE'S A MAN IN DA HOUSE YO!

Let me calmn down a second and explain...

According to this.... this happened:

ثم سمعت عن احد جنود الامن المركزي والذي وقف في وجه زملاؤه واعلن انه لن يستمر في الضرب وطالب زملاؤه بالتوقف
فما كان من الضباط الا ان انهالوا عليه ضربا واقتادوه بعيدا

Translation bleez?

"Then I heard of one of the Central Security soldiers who stood in front of his colleagues and declared that he would not continue in the beatings and asked his colleagues to stop. With that, the officers did not but storm him with beatings and took him away"

Come on everybody... clap with me!!

"werrr ya werr ... werr ya werr..

kaman marra! .. hezz ya wezz... hezz ya wezzz"

hehehehe.. now THAT is A MAN! I don't know who that soldier was but hell I'd dedicate a whole site to him. Fuck, I'd give him all my money! (well not all.. but a sweet lot anyway) Seriously, if I was in a demonstration that turned violent and I see one of the riot police getting beaten up because he was trying to defend me.. help me God I'd kick the shit out of the officer beating him. I'm dead serious. I'm spontatneously combustable. And a scene like that would spontaneously combust me. I'd act without thinking and fuck yes I'd beat the fucking shit out of that officer (and then run and run and run - and wet myself).

If ANYONE knows ANYTHING (who the hell am I kidding I haven't had any visitors since I started the blog) anyway.. If ANYONE knows ANYTHING about that soldier kindly leave a little comment below please. Please.

So Where and When did this happen?

Last thursday (14th July) during a Kefaya demonstration in Abdeen Square. Apparently it was one of their bigger demonstrations which later turned violent. The theme of the demonstration was "Enough Unemployment" but naturally noone would miss the chance to bark at Hosni Baba and the 40 (more like 4,000?) thieves. I've looked everywhere for anything about that soldier but till now I've got zilch.

UPDATE: According to this guy..

من أبرز ما شهدته المظاهرة الحاشدة، رفض أحد جنود الأمن المركزي ضرب المتظاهرين بالعصي وصراخه "كفايه".."كفايه" بشكل هيستيري.. حتى أحاط به الضباط وأنهالوا عليه بالضرب وسحبوه إلى أحدي سيارات الأمن المركزي ليكملوا الإعتداء عليه إرهاباً لزملاء له عبروا همساً عن تعاطفهم مع المتظاهرين.

Translation:

"Amongst the more prominent incidents witnessed in the demonstration was the refusal of one of the Central Security (riot police) soldiers to the beatings with sticks against the protestors and his screaming "Enough!! Enough!!" in a hysterical manner. The officers then surrounded him and stormed him with beatings and dragged him to one of the Central Security vans to continue assaulting him. They did so to terrorize his colleagues who secretly expressed their sympathy with the demonstrators."
Adly you fuck. Let me see you do your own dirty work yourself without terrorizing these helpless people. Let me see you come down here man to man you mother fucker. And all those officers. FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUU. GRRRRRR >:( One of these days... one of these days.Also that same guy said that after dispersing the demonstration some of the crowd got together and started another demonstration. He said that 21 riot police vans came up to them and started beating them. He said some of the officers tried to repeat what happened the day of the referedum i.e. abusing the women in the demonstration and that when one reporter from the french "Le Monde" newspaper, caught on camera a Central Security Major attempting the same abuse, the Major attacked the reporter (called Karim el Fawaal) and called on helpers to beat him and break the camers which caught him in the act.GGGGGGGAAAAAAAA33333333333333333............... Come here you.... lil' johnny wanna play wid you round bum... YOU FUCKING FAGGOT! Damn I wanna bark!

Anyway.. here is news regarding the demonstration (Go baby Go!):

*From MisrDigital (الوعي المصري)

Coverage of Abdeen's demonstration on 14th July
Summary: A good bunch of OK photos with little comments.

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*From Manalaa.net

As usual, a good account of the demonstration with a some nice pics

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*From العروبي؟ (I was directed to it from Manalaa.net)

No Comments: Just Fucking interesting pics
(see the one below.. it's not what you think it's out of context.. the soldier was apparently confused .. hehe)

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*From Al Mesryoon

Police violence turns Abdeen's demonstration into a battlefield
(kinda exaggerated don't you think. Manalaa.net usually has more accurate accounts) Summary: Demonstration started off with chants against unemployment and then turned into an anti-Mubarak demonstration. Riot police surrounding the demonstrators in cordons (encirclements). Demonstrators trying to go down into the square. Police turned violent. Beatings started. Several injuried and cases of unconsciousness. It was difficult to control the crowd which forced alot of high profile security officials down to the scene: incl. Cairo's head of security General Major Nabeel el Ezzaby. It was Kefaya's biggest demonstration to date.

Police denies the injured Abdeen demonstrators medical assistance
Summary: Violent clashes cause some cases of injuries and unconsciousness. There were no ambulances although there were thousands of soldiers and demonstrators. Riot police soldiers did not allow the injured and unconscious demonstrators out of the security cordon except after orders from the officers. Even then there were no ambulances and volunteers had to drive them to the nearest hospitals.

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*From Al Jazeera

Kefaya protests against unemployment and demands removal of Mubarak
Summary: Thousands of demonstrators shouting against unemployment and Mubarak.
(I love the pic at Al Jazeera.. taken by French Press)

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*Last but not least..
From the men themselves: Kefaya

Kefaya forum with everyone sharing in what they saw
(Alot of interesting accounts and so many many more links! Its a crazy web!)

Cheers!

SSSsssseeexxxxxxaaaayyyyyhhhhh !!

2005-07-14T07:48:00.000+03:00

So I was actually at home AND out of my room (which doesnt happen very often) when I hear my mum talking to herself...

Mum: What is he...WEARING?!

(I am a curious little fuck so I go over to the TV and see.. well I'm stuck for words..)

Me: Who is that?!

Mum: He's the editor-in-chief of Al-Gomhuria

Me: He's the new guy?! (I burst out laughing and she couldn't help it either)

Mum: Yes! But I get the feeling he's gonna crack a joke and they'll start drumming "pum parraa rumm pumm... pumm... pumm" in the background after it!!

Me: Hehehehe.. we have a digital camera somewhere here don't we?

Mum: Yeah .. what do... (I interrupt)

Me: Great! (I run off to find it)

Mum: Come on .. its alright.. the guy is just wearing soirée.. he's gonna stir up the night (ye7yee el layla)

(LOL!!)
My imagination goes wild... I immediately start imagining him grabbing a mic thrown at him from nowhere and jumping on to the couch and singing while waving his hands in the air (like 'e jus' don't Kare yo):

"YALLA HOPPPAAA 3'AANNOOO MA3AAAYYAAA"
and on the same note as "el bett bayda.. bayda baydaaaa"... he says,

"El LAYLAA LAYLAA ... LAYYLLAAAAA LAYLLAAAA

EL LAYLLLAA LAYYYLAAA.... WANA3MEL EIIIHHHHH

YA WA7AWWEEE YA WA7AAAWEEEEE ......

HOOPPPAAAAAAAAAA.....!" (LOL)

snap back to reality.. I start taking shots of him.. I just feel these small moments everyone should share in..

Here see for yourselves.... The pics didnt come out all that ... so I have to direct you to take special notice of the suit .. YES that's glitter alright! The fucking stripes were all glitter 'n shit!

hehehe.. glitter 'n shit.. the guy was shinning! (Hehehe haga dala3 we na3'na3'a keda)

So this is the new editor-in-chief for Al Gomhuria?! Hehehe.. Good Luck!

Now all you bitches will start quacking about how I shouldn't judge him by his suit and bla bla bullshit like that.. I have to quote Simon Cowell on this one:

(In his bwi'ish accent) "I jus cAUn' ake yaw sewiously.. dwessed like 'at !!". It's fucking glitter man!

Don't you know, pimp it up... you've got to, pimp it up

2005-07-14T07:00:00.000+03:00

First thing's first.. I haven't completed the translation of the "Confessions of a judge - Ahmed Mohammed" (previous post) .. too busy at work. Will get to that soon enough..

But for today's thought..

You know a few years ago I wouldn't have given a fuck about the NDP.. I would have been too young anyway and probably would have vaguely recognized only a handfull of names of their members.. It just wasn't something that I cared much about... Now that they've caught my eye.. well.. I dunno .. I think they'll regret it..

But if there's one member I'll NEVER forget.. It's this guy.. I like to call him "My Republican Pimp" .. "3arsy el Gomhoory".. Yes you've guessed who it is.. It's no other than our loyal NDP puppy-with-whiskers-and-donald-duck-lips.. The pride of our nation.. The official Pimp Daddy of the Nile.. Ze one 'n Ze onlyyyyy.. Safsooooof

This guy is special. They say he was the *DA MAN* whenever the government needed dirt on famous names. I don't think anyone in Egypt is oblivious to his honourable role in the Egyptian Intelligence. But does anyone really know the details of our ol' chap's story?

I decided to check him out myself. And then there was this. Basically it is an Investigation Report dated 1968, taking Safwat el Sherif's testimony, investigating allegations of disgracefulness of the General Intelligence Bureau.

According to the report (and Safwat's testimony) Safwat was involved in managing hired women-"delegates" whose jobs were to lure important men to sleep with them in a pre-equiped room so that he and a few colleagues would be able to take pictures and record videos of them from a neighbouring house. It is important to mention, however, that the orders to do this did not come from him but from somewhere above in the chain of command ( i.e. a Hassan Aleesh and ofcourse the notorious Salah Nasr). This fact made me feel somewhat sorry for our friend because:

1) The guy is a victim of the never-ending conflict between the end and the means. Everyone wants their country safe, but the question is how far are they willing to go to make it safe. People will blame the authorities that they were unable to catch a terrorist group, or were unprepared for an attack, but at the same time they criticize the same authorities for going to lengths to getting essential information. The real problem lies when the authorities simply get out of control. That's what happened in Abu-Ghraib and over 30 years earlier in the Egyptian Intelligence Bureau. Its easy to call him a pimp, ( Yes I guess that makes me a hypocrytical bitch ) but the fact is, Pimp Daddy O was watching over your ass.

2) He was only doing his job. I don't see anything to suggest that he was personally enjoying this nor to suggest that, had he the power, he wouldn't have put a stop to the operations that got out of hand. Also, the concept of pimp in Egypt is somewhat different than in the US for example. While somehow the pimps in the U.S. seem to be proud of their title (click here (thanks) or even better, check out this), being a pimp in Egypt is synonymous to being a filthy low-life faggot with no sense of masculinity as opposed to the macho Eastern woman-protecting male that one is expected to be. In other words, "pimp" in Egyptian vocabulary is VERY degrading as a predicate noun. That cleared, I felt from his testimony that it was almost out of pure conviction for the country's safety and full belief that some dirty work was necessary to protect the country, that he emraced this degrading role. Maybe I'm too naive. But in any case the guy was doing his job. And I can almost safely say loyally. P.S. I'm not being sarcastic, I really think he did it believing that the end fully justified the means.

Anyway that is long gone and we can argue about it forever. What interested me, however, was that the issue was no longer him being a pimp.. as I had previously thought.. He wasn't just ordering his women around.. The guy was supervising the fucking recording.. which if you think about it.. makes him more involved.. something more in the lines of a porn producer not a pimp! (Don't get me wrong I'm still not accusing him of anything really, orders are orders) But what I want to underline here is that.. this guy is our Shura-fucking-Council chairman!! Is it ME or does that sound scary?!

I don't know about you man, but when my Senate is headed by an ex-intelligence officer who was heading the porn-production department, something is FUCK-A-LOGICALLY wrong. Again I'm not blaming him.. if anything this guy showed some die-hard loyalty. But even so! Dirt is dirt, and while it may sometimes be necessary, while he may have stooped low in good faith for the security of the country (assuming thats what it was), it does not by any means guarantee that he will not stoop even lower years later when he is at a higher position. The higher you are, the lower and more insignificant morals and values look when compared to the general "common good". Help me God I cannot find any justification to assigning an ex-porn-producer, the leadership of a governmental body that was established to protect, amongst other things, ".. the main factors of society, its higher values (should I laugh or cry?), the general rights and freedoms..[etc..]".

Is this the message they want to send out? Kill, rape, torture and pervert for the security of the country to prove yourself worthy of working with us in running it. So are these the people running the country? I guess now you know what to do if it ever crosses your mind to run for a high post.

Hehe, isn't it also ironic that he, amongst all the others, should be the Minister of I.n.f.o.r.m.a.t.i.o.n a few years back??

Wait a sec.. If the pimp is the head of the Shura Council.. what does that make of its members?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... sweeeeeet!!

This is the one

2005-07-14T06:35:00.000+03:00

I wasn't planning on another post today but this one struck me bad.

I'll translate it tommorrow if I have time. Must remember to spam all newspapers with it.

A judge who was part of the committee overlooking the proceedings of the referendum wrote this. God with him. :-

إعترافات قاضي - أحمد محمد

لقد أحزنني جدا و هالني ما تم من تزوير فاضح للاستفتاء ، بل و قتلني كمدا و غيظا ما رأيته من تهليل إعلامي غير عادي لما حدث و تصويره – و بكل بجاحة - على أنه إرادة الشعب المصري و ذلك على غير الحقيقة التي رأيتها بعيني و هو ما دفعني لكتابة هذه السطور

أولا أعرفكم بنفسي ، أنا قاضي مصري ، انتدبت للإشراف على الاستفتاء في أحدى اللجان و سأوضح في كلمتين ما هي الانتخابات في مصر حتى تستطيع فهم كلامي الذي سيليهتقسم اللجان الى نوعين :

1- لجان فرعية و هي اللجان التي يوجد بكل منها صندوق انتخاب و المفترض أن يكون رئيسها قاضي يأخذ الأصوات بحيدة دون تحيز و يطمئن على وضعها في الصندوق و إغلاقه في نهاية العملية الانتخابية الساعة السابعة مساءا ثم فرزه بمعرفته شخصيا و تسليم النتيجة إلى اللجنة العامة

2- اللجان العامة فهي تكون لجنة مكونة من قضاة أيضا تشرف على حوالي مائه أو مائتين لجنة فرعية ، تأخذ منهم النتائج و تجمعها و تعلن النتيجة على مستوى هذه اللجنة ، ثم بعد ذلك تجمع كل النتائج بمعرفة الجهة التي تدير الانتخابات و تعلن النتيجة على مستوى الجمهورية .أما ما حدث في هذا الاستفتاء الظالم ، أنه قد تم بالفعل ندب 11 ألف قاضي و وكيل نيابة و عضو هيئات قضائية مثل مجلس الدولة و النيابة الادارية و قضايا الدولة ، و لكن هل تم توزيعهم على اللجان الفرعية ؟

لا ، لم يحدث هذا بل أن الذي حدث أن تم توزيعهم على اللجان العامة و على نسبة لا تتعدى 3% من اللجان الفرعية ، ثلاثة بالمائة فقط ، أم باقى كل هؤلاء القضاة فقد تم وضعهم احتياطي لبعض ، فمثلا رئيس اللجنة العامة له أربعة رؤساء محاكم احتياطي له لا عمل لهم – الا المساهمة في زيادة عدد القضاة حتى يبدوا الأمر كما لو كانت الانتخابات تحت الاشراف القضائي الفعلي .

هذا عن رقم 11 ألف قاضي ، أما الكم الأكبر من صناديق الانتخاب أي اللجان الفرعية التى تأخذ أصوات الناس بالفعل ( حوالى 97% من هذه اللجان ) فقد وضعت تحت رئاسة موظفين غلابة من الدولة ، لا حصانة تحميهم و لا يجرؤن على عدم تنفيذ أي أمر ، و صدرت لهم أوامر صارمة من جهة عملهم و من مأموري أقسام الشرطة بتزوير الانتخابات ، فكيف حدث هذا ؟

كيف تم التزوير ؟

ما حدث في كافة اللجان ( باستثناء الكام لجنة اللى فيهم قضاة ) أن الموظف رئيس اللجنة ينتظر حتى قبل موعد الاغلاق ( مثلا حتى الساعة سبعة الا ربع ) و تكون اللجنة التى تتكون مثلا من سبعمائة اسم ( الأسامي المدونة في الكشف للمقيمين في هذه المنطقة الذين لهم حق الانتخاب في هذه اللجنة ) تكون هذه اللجنة ، كل من حضر من هذه الأسماء حوالى عشرة مواطنين فقط ، هذه هي النسبة الحقيقية للحضور ، فيقوم رئيس اللجنة قبل الاغلاق بملء خمسمائة قسيمة انتخاب أو ستمائة مثلا كلهم بعلامة "موافق" مع مراعاة مثلا أربعة أو خمسة بعلامة " غير موافق" .... حتى تكون محبوكة يعني ، و وضع هذه البطاقات الانتخابية في الصندوق ، ثم التأشير عشوائيا على ستمائة اسم في الكشف و تقفيل اللجنة بهذه الحالة .... فيكون حال هذه اللجنة التى لم يحضر بها سوى سبعة أو عشرة أشخاص أن نسبة الحضور بها ستمائة مواطن و عشرة مثلا ، قال منهم 8 أو 10 غير موافق ، و قال منهم 600 موافق ... كل هذا بعيدا تماما عن رقابة القضاء الذي يجلس في اللجان العامة و يفاجئ بالصناديق تأتية على هذه الصورة .

كيف عرفنا هذا ؟

من جلس منا – نحن القضاة – في اللجان العامة فوجئ بأن اللجنة الفرعية التى يرأسها قاضي يصل اليه صندوقها مع هذا القاضي و نسبة الحضور حوالى أربعة أو سبعة أو على الأكثر عشرين مواطن ، ثم يصل اليه الموظف الذي يرأس اللجنة الفرعية المجاورة للجنة القاضي و الحضور الثابت عنده ستمائة أو سبعمائة فكشفت الحقيقة الفاجرة التى يعرفها الجميع و لا يجرؤ أحد على اثباتها

و ماذا عن معلوماتي أنا شخصيا ؟

كنت عضوا في إحدى هذه اللجان العامة و فوجئت بأن (الكام لجنة ) القضائية (أي التي يرأسها قاضي) يأتون و صناديقهم بها عشرة أصوات أو سبعة و يقصون علينا كيف كانت نسبة الإقبال معدومة و لم يحضر أحد تقريبا طوال اليوم ، و أحيانا لم يحضر أحد نهائي

ثم تأتي أفواج اللجان التي يرأسها الموظفين الغلابة و الحضور عندهم 600 و أكثر ، بل و بعض هذه اللجان في نفس المكان الذي به اللجان القضائية ، ( مثلا لجنتين في بلد واحدة ) ، فكان الأمر مضحكا باكيا ، و صرنا جميعا قضاة و موظفين بل و ضباط شرطة موجودين نتندر على ما يحدث من تزوير مفضوح إلى هذا الحدأ

ما النكتة الحقيقية فهي أن الموظفين كانوا لا يتقنون التزوير ، فيكتب أحدهم أن الأصوات الصحيحة عددها مثلا 650 قال منهم نعم 650 و قال لا 20 ، فيغيظني غبائه و أقول له و أنا أراجع الأوراق قبل استلامها كيف وصلت لهذه النتيجة المستحيلة فيأخذ أوراقه و يذهب بعيدا لينقحها و يعدلها حتى تكون منطقية ثم يعود لتقديمها ، و من فرط غيظي و من وضوح هذا الموقف الفضيحة سألت بعض الموظفين رؤساء اللجان الفرعية الواقفين أمامي لأراجع و أستلم منهم النتائج ، قلت لهم " تعالوا نتكلم بصراحة ... الحكاية واضحة ، بيني و بينكم إيه اللي حصل " فقالوا كلهم تقريبا في نفس واحد " يا باشا حنعمل إيه ، كل الجهات و الشرطة و المباحث أعطوا الأوامر بكده ، قالوا قفلوا اللجان ، و النسبة مش أقل من ثمانين في المائة " ثم شرحوا لي طريقة التقفيل التي أوضحتها .

و قد عدت من هذا القرف الذي و بصفتي قاضي لم أعتاد عليه و لم أعتاد على هذه الوساخة المفضوحة ، و لم أشاهد التلفزيون في نفس اليوم ، إلا أن ما أصابني هو حالة عصبية بل حالة انهيار في اليوم التالي – و انا أحكي هنا بالتفصيل حتى يشعر من يقرأ بما شعرت به تماما – أقول في اليوم التالي وقع بصري ( عالصبح ) على جريدة الأهرام ، و هالني ما رأيت من صفحات من الكذب الصريح و المباشر و وصف "التفاعل الشعبي" و "الإقبال الجماهيري" و "الشعب الذي تحرك ليقول نعم و رفض السلبية" و "الإشراف القضائي الكامل"

آة يا كدابين ، آة يا كدابين يا ظلمة، ده حرام ، محصلش ، ظللت أصيح و أقفز كالمجنون ، لقد كنت هناك ، لقد كنت هناك ، كم مرة سمعت عن كلام الجرايد ، و عن الحقائق الخفية وراء ما يقال ، و لكن هذه أول مرة أشوف بعيني بهذه الطريقة و بهذا الافتراء و الفجور

يا سادة ، ماحدش حضر ، محدش راح الاستفتاء ، و الله ما حد راح الا عدد لا يكاد يذكر كلهم تقريبا من عتاة كلاب الحزب الوطني ( أمين الحزب هنا و هناك ، بتاع المحليات ، عمدة تحت السيطرة ) أما الشعب ، فلم يحضر أحد ، يا سادة محدش راح، و لا حد وافق ، و لا كان فيه إشراف قضائي كامل و لا حاجة

كمال الشاذلي يقول في التلفزيون نحن البلد الوحيد في العالم الذي تجرى فيه الانتخابات تحت إشراف قضائي كامل ( و هو يعلم الحقيق بل و أمر بها )

حسني مبارك هو الذي أمر بكل هذا و يجرى بمعرفته و أوامره

حبيب العادلي يطل علينا في الجرائد لامعا و مبتسما بثقة و هو الذي أمر بكل هذه القذارة

وزير العدل – مع الأسف – هو الذي أمر بندب كل هؤلاء القضاة مع توزيعهم بهذه الطريقة حتى يظهرون أنهم كثرة تشرف على الانتخابات و هم لا يشرفون و لا حاجة

أيها السادة ، هل هذه العصابة هي التي تريدون منها أن تستمر في حكم مصر ؟ الإجابة لكم ...

أما الشيء المهم ، بل و المهم جدا جدا جدا ، هو كيف تعرف أن كلامي هذا صحيح و أن هذا هو ما حدث فعلا ، كيف تتأكد من صحة هذا الكلام و أنه ليس أكاذيب مدسوسة؟

الإجابة بسيطة و يمكن لكل شخص أن يتأكد بسهولة ؛ ألا تعرف وكيل نيابة ، أو قاضي أو عضو نيابة إدارية أو مجلس الدولة أو هيئة قضايا الدولة ، أكيد تعرف حد من دول أو لك قريب أو جار أو صديق أو صاحب قريبك أو أي حد ، فقط اسأله بصورة شخصية بينك و بينه عن هذا الكلام أو أطلعه على هذه الرسالة ، و سيقول لك ما أقوله بالحرف ، فكلنا ( القضاة ) ( عددنا حوالي عشرة الآف ) نعرف الحقيقة و لكن لا أحد يستطيع قولها بصورة رسمية و إلا يضيع ، فقط اسأله بصورة شخصية و سيؤكد لك كل كلمة قلتها ، و إن لم يفعل فأنا كذاب ، و لكنه سيفعل و سيعرف كل إنسان ما حدث.

أتمنى أن تصل هذه الرسالة إلى كل إنسان في هذا البلد الذي تحكمه عصابة من المجرمين ، فيرتاح ضميري الذي عرف العذاب لأول مرة في ذلك اليوم ، و أكون قد كفرت عن هذه الجريمة التي شاركت فيها مضطرا و أتمنى أن يسامحني الله عليها

ختاما : مساعدتك ... و دورك أيضا ، أن ترسل هذه الرسالة لكل من تعرفه ، و من لا تعرفه أيضا ، حتى تظهر الحقيقة و يعرفها الجميع

I guess deep down no one is really surprised. But when it comes out so clear and slaps you in your face... from someone so reputable... someone who's SEEN it.. someone who was PART of it... someone on the other side of the wall... it just slaps you in the face man, it slaps you bad. Unconciously you WANT to believe the newspapers... their bullshit... their rosey numbers, their "he did this" and "she did that"... you wish deep inside maybe you were wrong.. maybe we ARE getting better... fuck it... these mother fuckers need some ass spanking.

Symptom 1: Hallucinations & Optical Illusions

2005-07-12T21:48:00.000+03:00

So this article I was reading on The New Republic (TNR) was talking about how screwed the Egyptian Media is. It basically classified Egyptian media into two areas: the larger pro-government ones with the usual "NDP bullshit" and the much smaller anti-government ones with a little more genuine bullshit and some hypocritical toppings to go with it.

What was interesting was that the article compared how the two "interpreted", if you will, Condoleezza's visit and Bush administration's stand point regarding democratic change in Egypt.

Just to straighten things out, I've read all of Condoleezza's speeches/addresses/interviews in Egypt and they did NOT in any way endorse Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship regime. In fact, striking was this line which was repeated throughout: "The United States for 60 years did not look at the Middle East as it looked at the rest of world. We thought we were trading stability for democracy. And, of course, we have neither."

So in any way the NDP mfs hallucinated themselves into believing that the U.S. was somehow on "their" side.. I was browsing some pages and damn, take a look at this headline.
Talk about brainwashing. "2 + 2 = 5 if the party says its so". I guess there's a point in time when you get so used to lying it becomes a reality. More about that in another post.

As for the anti-government media, the article said, they attacked Condoleezza arguing that we did not need American or forgein intervention to deal with the "dictatorship" regime. What was really funny (and nicely pointed out by the article) is that if it wasn't for such effforts they would never have gotten away with the word "dictatorship". Seriously what the f are all these people on? I guess this is what George Orwell calls "doublethink": "To hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them."

But above all, this is the surprise: the Arabic article which had directed me to the TNR article in the first place, had this headline:

The New Republic: America has agreed to 6 more years of tyranny

Ufff whatever.

My first post.. not :P

2005-07-12T19:32:00.000+03:00

This isn't my first blog.. but I decided to trash the previous one (ndpmyass.blogspot.com) and go for a more sophisticated blog name..

Bla la land!

Why "bla la" you say? Well there are several complex reasons for that which I will not go into..
and mainly because "la la land" was already taken.. Please feel free to spam her with rubbish so she knows better than to mess with me again..

Ok so why "la la land"? (if I ever get my hands on it)

'Cause that's where my deluded fellow countrymen live.. in "la la land" (aka bla la land aka Egypt) where the "la la officals" (aka bla la officials aka NDP fucks aka the government) babble babble babble all day and the "la la people" (aka bla la people aka brainwashed Egyptians aka 90% of Egypt) quack and quack and quack all day and where finally I (aka barkingboy for my personal safety) have to bark and bark and bark (and swear and curse and fight and swear some more) at their rubbish.

So I decided.. instead of swearing to their faces and risk being fed to something that really barks.. that I would do it the cowardly way and bark in the safety of my room pretending that my virtual "bla la land" was in fact the real bla la land.