Wednesday, February 27, 2013

مش هيحكمنا تاني عسكر! دة قرار مش مساومة ولا رأي!

انا بقي محتارة ومقسومة نصين ومش عارفة اقعد يومين ورا بعض اساند طرف معين..لانه سرعان ما يعمل حاجة تخليني  اكرهه واكره كل الاطراف...اذا كانوا بعض من متعصبين الالتراس والمدن الاخري تجاه كل ما هو بورسعيدي...او اذا كان بورسعيدي جاله زهايمر ونسي ان الدم و المأساة والعنصرية اللي بيشوفها علي مدار سنتين كان سببها الاساسي هو مذبحة دبرها العسكر و اشرف عليها الداخلية ونفذها البلطجية في ملحمة عظيمة قتتلت 74 وردة مفتحة!

العصيان المدني في بورسعيد تقريبا اول عصيان مدني ناجح في بلد شايفة ثقافة حتي الاضراب خراب ديار...لاول مرة بنشوف الرأس مالي صاحب المصنع بيتحد و بيقف مع عماله نقس الموقف و يقفل مصنعه بايده و يتظاهرو كلهم سواسية في الشوارع...دة يدل ان طفح الكيل فقلب كل الموازين! ماركس زمانه مستمتع فشخ يا جدع وبيشاور من قبره ويقول اي تولد يو سو يا بهايم..العمال هم الحل...

من الواضح جدا ان الشارع قد ضاق ذرعا من الاخوان...حتي و ان كانوا حتي هذه اللحظة الاكثر تنظيما و قوة علي الساحة الانتخابية اللي كفر بيها الشعب كما كفر بالثورة و الثوار..يعني مش هنختلف اننا مش عايزين الاخوان..ودة لاسباب واضحة وضوح الشمس..حتي اللي انتخبوهم ندموا..مش هاقولك اخواني و مش باحب الاخوان..هاقولك فين وعود النهضة؟ اين خططكم للاصلاح...يا سيدي قدم لي خطة تتحقق في عشر سنين بس قدم لي اي رؤية حتي...بس فنكوش!

مش كل اهل بورسعيد بيطالبوا برجوع العسكر..ومش كل من سكن خارج بورسعيد بيعمم و يظلم ويكره ناسها..لو اهل بورسعيد يتم لومهم علي مجزرة الاستاد..يبقي اهل الدقي يتنفخوا عشان موقعة الجمل..و سكان التحرير تتعملهم ابادة جماعية...اة طبيعي ان غضبهم يظهر دلوقتي اكتر..دي مش انانية..بس من المنطقي ان كل ما زاد الظلم زادت المظاهرات حدة..احنا نفسنا في القاهرة مبننزلش باعداد الا بعد حكم قضائي فاجر او مذبحة عسكرية او اخوانية او او..فاية المشكلة في حراك زايد بعد ظلم؟ من امتي بنخون مبادئنا ونبيع جزء ثائر من بلدنا عشان لنا فيه ذكري اليمة؟ لو بتتقاس كدة مفيش حتة فيكي يا مصر متوجعناش فيها..يالا نهج والله اسهل!

متخونش مبادئك..ولا تخليك مزدوج..اللي بيحصل في بورسعيد من قطع ارزاق الناس بارادة الناس و دم و عنف داخلية وغيره لو كان حصل نصه في اسكندرية ولا المحلة كانت البلد كلها قامت...ازدواجيتكم مش بس غلط...دي كمان خسرت الثورة كتير...فوقوا يرحمكم الله..كفاية انانية.

اما بقي من في بورسعيد يناديى برجوع العسكر لحمايته..احب اقوله...كان نفع نفسه! ولية اساسا بنتكلم علي اساس ان في خلاف بين العسكر والاخوان؟ من امتي؟ من ساعة وثيقة السلمي و غلوشة الاسلاميين في الميدان علي هتافاتنا ضد العسكر واتهامهم لنا في البرلمان اننا بلطجية وطلبهم بتسليح الداخلية ضدنا؟ ولا من ساعة المحاكمات العسكرية؟؟
ولا من ساعة البرلمان و مجلس الوزرا وعماد عفت وعلاء عبد الهادي وكشوفات العذرية وجميع المجازر العسكرية التي تمت الموافقة المتأسلمة عليها؟ اة يانا يا ست البنات! معلش!
ولا من ساعة القلادات و الهروب الامن؟

صدقني الكلمتين دول مش محاولة اقناع مني لك...كلا البتة يا عزيزي..دي مفهاش اقناع..عسكر ميحكمشي دة قرار..مش رأي!

زي ما شفت غدر الاخوان بينا في الاتحادية بعد اعتصامنا السلمي اللي متكسرش فيه كوباية قبل الاشتباكات! زي ما شفت دم الجوهري وابو الحسن بيحني الارض قدامي لمسافة 20 متر في العباسية بعد مجزرة العسكر...


                                               مش عايزين يحكمنا عساكر...ولا واحد بالدين بيتاجر!
                                              يسقط يسقط حكم العسكر...يسقط يسقط حكم المرشد!

                         اختشوا!!!!



الست ميريديث و حكمة اليوم من جرايز اناتومي...

"Sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore. Until we finally understand for ourselves. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying."

"We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop?"

"We all think we’re going to be great and we feel a little bit robbed when our expectations aren’t met. But sometimes expectations sell us short. Sometimes the expected simply pales in comparison to the unexpected. You got to wonder why we cling to our expectations, because the expected is just what keeps us steady. Standing. Still, the expected's just the beginning, the unexpected is what changes our lives."

"Forgive and forget. That's what they say. It's good advice, but it's not very practical. When someone hurts us, we want to hurt them back. When someone wrongs us, we want to be right. Without forgiveness, old scores are never settled...old wounds never heal. And the most we can hope for, is that one day we'll be lucky enough to forget."

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”

"But the things is, it's hard to let go of that fairy tale entirely, because almost everyone has the smallest bit of faith and hope that one day they would open their eyes and it would all come true. At the end of the day, faith is a funny thing.
It turns up when you don't really expect it. It's like one day you realize that the fairy tale is slightly different than your dream. The castle, well it may not be a castle. And it's not so important that it's happily ever after--just that it's happy right now. See, once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you. And once in a while, people may even take your breath away."

"Suddenly I'm the president of people with crappy lives??"

Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Omar Salah, Marginalized in life, Marginalized in Death.





Stories like Omar's do not only steal whatever humanity you have left, it also deconstructs all

 your long held beliefs. Naive beliefs that Justice will be served and that evil will lose at the 

"end", no matter how long it takes. Welcome to the real world, where injustice always finds the 

easiest ways to win.

Omar Salah. Another name of yet another martyr. But Omar was not even a 21


 years old. Omar was not a middle class political activist. Omar used to fight,

 but not for political reasons. Omar used to fight every single day...to survive


Omar was 12 years old. Yes, twelve. He used to sell sweet potatoes on a 


peddler's cart. Omar had 5 sisters, and a brother. أis father is a sweet potato 

seller too. The 12 years old dropped out of school, but not because he did not 

like it. He dropped out to work and help his father and family survive.

In an old interview, Omar was asked "What do you dream of, Omar?"


He Answered:" I don't have the right to dream, Mr."


Omar used to tell his father to stay home, volunteering to work instead of


 him, because he felt that his father was too tired to wander the streets all

 day for a few pounds. "No, father. You stay and rest. I will go and sell the 

sweet potato and I promise to come back with money". When his older sister

 was hospitalized, Omar came to his father and said: " I know you do not have

 any money." and he went out all day. His father and uncles kept searching for

 him all day. He came back at 2 am. When he came back, his father found out

 that he took 5 pounds from some bystander and bought some tissues 

packets, and sold them to the people on the streets. And he gave the money

 to his father.

On the day Omar was killed, he had only two pounds in his pockets. What did 


he do with them? He went and bought very little food and forced his not so 

hungry father to eat, because he wanted to feed him. "No, father. I insist. I 

just want to see you eating. You are so worn out. I swear I am not leaving 

until you finish eating".

He then went to a bystander and asked him for two pounds. He took them and


 bought a cup of tea for his father.

Omar was killed by two bullets shot directly to his heart in Tahrir. Why was 


Omar in Tahrir? Not for protesting, not for joining our "fight". He was fighting

 a different and harder battle. He was fighting to feed his family. An army 

officer came to buy sweet potatoes from Omar. Omar told him that he would 

sell to him, but after he goes to the bathroom first. The very arrogant officer 

did not like the answer and threatened to shoot him. Omar challenged him, 

because you see, even 12 years old KIDS have dignity too. So the officer 

ended up shooting Omar and killing him.

I used to say that we have lost any sacredness for human life, after


 witnessing so many people get killed in front of us in cold blood by an

 arrogant and oppressive regime. But this time it is different. This time,

 something just died inside. I now realize that something inside could still 

feel and react to what is happening.


What hurts is not that a 12 years old had been turned into the breadwinner,


 after being denied any right to a healthy childhood. He had been denied the

 right to go to school, buy toys, have friends, spend time playing, not working.



He had been denied basically every right. He had been denied the joy of 


wearing a school uniform, this cute tiny uniform, and feeling what it is like to

 wear it for the first time. He had been denied the right to play in mud, start

 silly fights, eat healthy food, sleep well.

Even the peace of mind we envy children for...this too has been taken away


 from him in all viciousness. But that all does not hurt as much now. We kinda 

got used to it. At least I did.




What hurts the most is that


 Omar’s death was 

discovered by chance.

 Marginalized in life, 

marginalized in death!


A few activists were 


searching for another

 activist who had 

disappeared after the Friday

 protests, and they went to 

Al Monira hospital to look 

for him there. They did not 

find the activist, but a doctor who works in the hospital told them that he saw

 the corpse of a child, and he did not know who he was or what had happened

 to him and he gave them Omar’s picture. The activists kept trying to figure

 out who Omar was, until they found this video of an old interview in which he

 was speaking about his life.


I am at loss for words. Feelings are piling up inside me and I don’t feel like


 commenting…on anything. How many Omars do we have and know of? How

 many Omars do we have, but we do not know of? Does this make any sense 

to any of you? It does not to me.


They killed us, before they kill us. A generation of numb zombies! That is 


what they have turned us into.


Omar’s funeral will be held in tahrir tomorrow after Friday prayers. Please, try


 to be there in honor of a 12 years old's struggle.


I am so sorry, Omar that all I could do is to “tweet about it”. I am sorry I am


 so numb and helpless. I am so very sorry, because I too was responsible for

 this. I am sorry. I am just very sorry.


I am sorry Omar has died this viciously, but I am determined to save the

 many other Omars we still have. Omar has died, but many more Omars 

continue to live and suffer, and this is why we need to keep fighting for them. 

Take a moment, mourn him, and get back on your feet for your and my Omar.

Disillusioned...at last!


I am really sorry, but I just had to type this down. I totally love and appreciate the messages of support I receive from many foreign brothers and sisters, over FB and Twitter, expressing their pride and support for the women who were part of our revolution. But I just started feeling weird, somehow offended, receiving more of those "surprised" messages. Some people, unconsciously, internalize the sexist and discriminatory thoughts on women, specially Arabs and Muslims, and it shows in the: "I am dazzled and surprised. Wow, did not expect them to do this" messages. I mean, why should you be surprised that women in my country go out of their homes and protest? Why should you be astonished that I am as great a citizen as any other man taking part in the revolution? At least I hope you now deconstruct these stereotypical images and stop being so surprised when we do the normal. You have no excuse. You have seen us revolt! :)





Take Samira Ibrahim as an example of a normal, Egyptian woman/revolutionary. She has been subjected to virginity tests.
  
Virginity tests? What is that?  

It is SCAF's way to break the spirits of Egyptian female activists. Samira was arrested and tortured on march, 9th last year. She has been subjected to "virginity tests", which the military conducted claiming they wanted to prove she was not raped (in case she claims so) while being arrested. She spoke out and empowered 3 more ladies, out of 17, to also speak out against it. Samira did not ask for money or any financial compensation/Compensatory Damages, only asked for banning the practice. The result of their fighting was that the practice was banned by Egyptian law some months ago for its "harmful physical and psychological impact" and uselessness. She has managed to save many female activists. Now she is suing the soldiers who did this to her. He has been cleared by military court and now she is resorting to the general prosecutor. she never stops, and we all won't do!

And after the butcher, aka doctor was cleared by the MILITARY court, here is a photo of her crying and here are some of her statements:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2502704025767&set=a.1212873260804.24898.1797984900&type=3 :
Samira Ibrahim: "Nobody violated my honor, it was #Egypt's honor that was stolen, but I will continue to the end to retrieve it."

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2504119261147&set=a.1212873260804.24898.1797984900&type=3
Samira Ibrahim: They won't break me. I come from a conservative community, upper Egypt, and they all are supporting me, standing against SCAF. Military court would never be just or fair. I won when the practice was banned by court, I did not lose. Many girls don't have to worry about virginity tests anymore. But I will keep on fighting until I see this officer punished.

And after this photo was taken, she went with a group of women to protest in front of the ministry of defense, carrying a sign that reads:"You won't break me."http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=364329870267139&set=a.308313695868757.75890.308169565883170&type=1


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2503193237997&set=a.1212873260804.24898.1797984900&type=3 She might have cried, but she is now standing in front of the ministry of defense delivering a message:" You won't break me. I am fighting till the end."

It is true. We are politically & socially oppressed as women in Egypt. But how did we react? What happened? Conformity? Passiveness? Giving in? Nah, EMPOWERMENT. We empowered each other, and we fought back!



And here are SOME of our women martyrs during the first 18 days of January 25th Revolution:




Ameerah


Hadeer, 13 years old.



Christeen Sila


Sally Zahran




Shaimaa Fouad




Rahma Mohsen


Mariam Makram





 
And many more were injured. Many more continued to live and suffer injury for the rest of their lives, including Dr Maram. This is her 

carrying her own photo after injury. 

She has been shot many times on January, 

28th, 2011, on Qasr El Nile bridge. 

She was standing defying the police officers 

shooting directly at protesters. 

She was trying to speak to them and make 

them stop, but they shot at her. 

She was severely injured, and got part of her 

stomach and other damaged organs removed.





One of the female doctors volunteering to treat the wounded at Tahrir.




The Egyptian women fight began way before the revolution. This photo was 

taken in 2010.






This photo was taken of a protester, fine arts student, during the famous Mohamed Mahmoud clashes where many were killed in 2012, 2013. And many others lost their eyesight when shot by birdshots directly to the eyes. She was collecting stones for the revolutionaries, like herself, to throw them in an act of self-defence at the security forces who were firing tear gas, rubber coated pellet shots at them.

This is Vivian. She is holding the hands of her martyr Fiancee Micheal. They used to work together at the same place. They got engaged and they loved each other dearly. During the Maspero (State TV building) sit in against religious oppression against Christians in Egypt, army trucks and forces attacked the sit in and the march, killing 27 people in cold blood. Micheal was one of them. A tank stepped over his body right in front of Vivian who refused to leave his body afterwards. And after they ran him over, army forces came to beat the corpse, which made her scream "Leave him alone. He is dead. He is dead. What more do you want?"

This is her photo at the morgue. She just could not let go of his hand. And until this very moment, I don't think she will ever come back to be normal again. My heart aches for her, and for every Egyptian woman and mother. Egyptian women have learnt, the hard way, what is it like to live with loss of those loved ones because of giant dictators.




Egyptian women protesters and martyrs come in all shapes, colors, backgrounds, and ages. Glory to the
strength of Egyptian women's sacrifices and resilience.


And it does not just end in the square. Women in my country fight on many fronts, in many different battlefields. Many women volunteered to work to free those detained. Many of them are not lawyers, but they volunteered to do so. They are sacrificing a lot, but most importantly, peace in their lives. They chose to do this. They chose to receive phone calls late at night from the terrified parents who can not find their sons and daughters and call them for help. They spend their times between morgues, police stations, courthouses, hospitals and many other dreadful places.

Take Mona Sief for an example:

Mona is not a lawyer, nor has she ever studied law. But she is becoming a legal expert now. Mona founded the "No Military Trials for Civilians" movement, during the SCAF rule, to put an end to the torture civilian protesters face at the hands of the military junta ruling over the country. She started with a very small group of lawyers, all volunteers, and now she has one of the biggest groups ever, who are working non-stop. Mona, and other women, Fatma Serag, Rasha Azzab, Nazli Hussien, Ghada Shahbander, and others, are sacrificing a lot. But the most important thing they are so powerful enough to do is that they not only never lose hope; they never let us lose hope either, which sounds like mission impossible 9 in a country like Egypt.


Sanaa Youssef.

And this is Sanaa Youssef. Never mind what her religion or ideological background is, because she treats people as they should be treated, disregarding any labels. Sanaa Was one of the people arrested during 2011 clashes. She has been detained, beaten, sexually assaulted, and during the full two days in which she was kept in a police station without a phone, a lawyer, or anyone of her friends or family, she did her best to calm those who had been arrested with her, were younger than her. I call her the Egyptian mother Teresa. As hard as they had assaulted her is as hard as she continued to fight back peacefully. Sanaa dedicates herself to visit the families of the martyrs, injured, and detained IN EVERY SINGLE Egyptian city. She goes to be in solidarity with them, and tries to get them the legal/financial/medical help needed for them to go on with their lives after loss. I am in awe when I see her travelling between 3 different cities, in one day, without getting any sleep or rest, to do something no one has compelled her to do. Empathy!





The heroine Yasmine Al Baramawy  not only paid the price for her participation in the Egyptian

 Revolution by being gang raped in the middle of Tahrir Square, but she challenged the sexual 

terrorism of the regime and exposed society's patriarchy which would easily criminalize a 

woman raped, leaving very little blame for her rapist. Yasmin decided to  publicly speak out 

about what has happened to her on TV in front of the whole world, held her head high. It stops 

happening as soon as you speak out and fight back. 




Now meet my most favourite! Mariam Kirollos :)



As young and cheerful as she might look is as strong and resilient she is. She is the kinda woman who would wear a head scarf one day in solidarity with Hejabi women banned to enter some places in Cairo. Mariam is also part of  Op Anti Sexual Harassment/ Assault, which is a group of volunteers, men and women, who are trying to protect Egyptian female protesters from organized and systematic sexual assaults during protests.




Under Mubarak.


Under Military Rule.





Tahrir Girl, that is how we love to call her...not the "blu bra girl", as western media loves to call her....she is more than just a bra...she is more of a ...tahrir!


This vicious attack happened during the violent dispersion of the #OccupyCabinet sit in. Here is a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of-MG0kgY0U&feature=related

I know her. I see her. She is not broken, SCAF. She is still fighting...hard and strong...last time I saw her was at the MOD sit in...at the field hospital helping the injured!












Azza Helal, the woman who saved Tahrir Girl from getting killed after she was stripped off her clothes, turned out to be the fiancee of martyr Attef el Gohary, killed at #MOD clashes. After Attef was killed, she announced her hunger strike in solidarity with the rest of the detainees.

And here is a video of her saving Tahrir Girl and getting beaten for it. She is the woman in the red coat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7jSweu1oBc&feature=related 

Azza comes from a family of army generals, but this did not stop her from joing the revolution against them and then against the Junta.
Azza suffered tremendous pain after trying to save tahrir girl.





So please, take note, and do not be so much surprised when you see us fighting for our basic 
human rights, and sacrificing. Deconstruct your Orientalist views, even if you mean well, and take a look at us instead of following the media outlets of your countries which would love to keep you in the dark. Do not be surprised, because we are proud, strong, Egyptian and Arab women, and we come in all shades of anger!

This is in solidarity with every woman who fought back. In solidarity with every woman who fought back and won...But mostly, in solidarity with those women who fought and lost, but did not stop fighting!
                                                                                                                                                                            
For more pictures, kindly check: 


http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1590555502624.63688.1797984900 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2126828549115.80027.1797984900&type=3

If Only You Knew!




If you knew how hard it is to stand there watching your friends get hit, shot, gassed, and die...if you knew how hard it feels to see blood for the first time...if you knew how hard it is for us to betray our beliefs and stay silent...if you knew how hard it is having to justify what you do all the time because the media is ruining your image unjustly...if you knew how lame and tiring it became to try to explain and show people the very obvious truth...if you knew we are not after power or money like you are....if you knew that we are not fighting for our own rights as much as we are fighting for the rights of those who are poorer, weaker, and less fortunate....if you knew how guilty we feel when someone is hungry or treated with disrespect...if you knew how vicious it feels to see someone being humiliated by those who are "superior and more powerful"...if you knew how unfair it is to be criminalized for wanting a better future for your country and people...if you knew that you made our basic human rights seem like far-fetched dreams...if you knew how responsible we feel towards the families of those who died and those who continued to live and suffer injury...



if you knew that many of us are afraid to have a normal life, get married and have children fearing your injustice would stand in their ways or kill them...if you knew that a bullet does not only kill one person...it kills a whole family, many friends, many dreams, many plans, and many love stories...if you knew we don't have the guts to tell our parents we are joining the protests but but we have the guts to stand in front of your armored trucks...if you knew that disobeying our parents's wishes and joining the protests against their will is more painful than getting hurt by the hands of your militias...and if your militias knew we are fighting for their rights too...for the dignity you made them lose...if you knew how painful it is to stay silent, and how hard it is to keep fighting...you would have never pointed your weapons at us!