In Loving Memory of Vittorio Arrigoni

I met Vittorio at a protest against the proposed Gaza Steel Wall, in Cairo. He was standing quietly holding a banner in Arabic saying: no to the wall of shame. He wasn't trying to grab attention or make a show. We exchanged a few words and I was immediately impressed by his modesty and sense of humour.

A few days later, I was surprised to find that the friendly stranger I met was a famous blogger and author who blogged and reported relentlessly from Gaza to the World, in Italian and English. To him, every Palestinian mattered. To the world, they were just numbers. He spent his time as a human shield with Palestinian fishermen who are randomly shot at by the Israeli navy just for fetching food and a source of living. He danced with the Palestinians, sang with the children, received Israeli fire on their behalf. Throughout Israel's brutal onslaught on Gaza in late 2008-early 2009, Operation Cast Lead, he was one of the few, brave voices who wrote down the madness and delivered it for the world to know.

On every single day, my and 5000 people's Facebook timelines would be filled with a story from Vittorio. He chronicled every single bomb, every death, every smile, every good piece of news that happened in the crowded and impoverished strip. On every single day, he risked being the next Rachel Corrie or Tom Hurndall. To find a Palestinian resisting Zionism is normal and understandable, but to find an Italian national putting his life on the line, leaving behind the relative safety and comfort of family and home, to live in Gaza and support its people in every way possible, is an act of heroism. And Vittorio is a hero.

I have always wanted to write this post, ever since I knew him. For some reason I never did. I did thank him in person for his activism, but he had always rejected any kind of praise. I knew that if I had written this post and showed it to him, he would have never read it. I expected him to die in Gaza, in one of the random missiles perhaps. But he has suffered, he has been singled out and murdered. Maybe this was the only way for him to not be a number, to make him known in more parts of the world, to let his voice, his Palestinian voice, be reached.

Vittorio Arrigoni is killed, but Gaza is not. Palestine is not. Our spirit is not broken. Every brave and just citizen of the world will continue to carry out what Vittorio Arrigoni stood up for; a free Palestine. Vittorio lived, and died, for Gaza to be free. We shall see to that, we promise. We will end the siege and set Vittorio's brothers and sisters free.

The Dark Side of the Simpsons

Utterly brutal and compelling. A video only Banksy can make.

In Support of Victims of Torture, Egypt Stands Strong

It will take a long time to process the public scene in Egypt yesterday. Whereas it is true that protests are no longer novel events in Egypt and that the country has been rife with protests for many reasons ranging from political reform to pay rise or even an unfair manager taking over a public hospital, rarely before have hundreds, perhaps thousands of Egyptians decided to publicly grief for the same reason. And it is no trivial reason such as losing World Cup qualifications; to protest brutal murder of Khaled Said at the hands of the police, and torture victims in general.

The Alexandria protests in which public figures such As ElBaradei, Noor and Sabbahi participated (or actually called for, can't tell) were massive. The location of assembly, Sidi Gaber, had been turned into a closed military area. Thousands of riot police were present and even tanks! Now, the Ministry of Interior knows quite well none of the protestors is armed with a knife, let alone machine guns. So the scene of tanks was quite bizarre as well as funny, and some protestors reportedly responded by taking pictures beside tanks and waving the victory sign. A scene from the occupied Palestinian land.

What I want to focus on, however, are the ensuing silent protests which took place in at least eight different cities. The protests have been announced online, particularly on Facebook. It was not one event planned by a certain movement or person. They were multiple events, in multiple places created by a Facebook page for Khaled Said. No one knows the administrator of the page. He or she just asked participants to silently protest in the downtowns of the cities wearing black. The "rules" also included not chanting or holding banners. And so they did, brilliantly organic they were. The young people particpating wanted to protest, but didn't want to get into scuffles or get detained. Not that all people who are unjustly detained are protestors, but so it goes. These revealing protests come after a long time of believing that no matter what we do, no one will listen, nothing will change. But blimey I can see change with my own two eyes seeing yesterday's protests. The Egyptian regime has generated a stubborn generation who swore to stand up against injustice, clearly realising that you do not have to be a political activist to be tortured. And since they didn't know the person calling for the protest, they don't always need a leader. All they need is to witness injustice. The number of Egyptians who are willing to sacrifice their personal safety is increasing, and one reason for this is, again, realising that you are not safe if you "walk next to the wall" as we say. Their act in this context may I say is an act of self-preservation. The regime has been pushing too hard, impoverishing us and slamming us if we as much as utter a moan of pain. They should have seen this coming.

Whereas this public outcry may not necessarily push towards a fair sentence for Khaled's murderers and a change of this system of torture all in all, especially given last Wednesday's phony autopsy report, it signals again a change of public attitude towards regime crimes. You wouldn't hear of a similar reaction 10 or 15 years back, when all our sources of information was government-controlled. But now torture is difficult to hide, and in this incident in particular Khaled's broken skull is screaming at us to stand strong against it.

The Murder of Khaled Said: Egypt's Waking Nightmare

During the late hours of Sunday the 6th of June, two police informers stormed an internet cafe in the coastal city of Alexandria. The attack left Khaled Said, a 28-year-old man dead.

At that point, the crime could have not made headlines, and could have gone unquestioned like many other police torture crimes in Egypt, but a picture of an innocent-looking, premortem Khaled and another of his body showing a swollen, badly bruised face and mangled jaw, were circulated on the internet, particularly Facebook, like wildfire.

Luckily for systematic torture victims, unluckily for the Egyptian government, the picture sent shockwaves across Egypt, and internationally as well. Amnesty International was quick to urge Egypt to investigate the brutal killing of Khaled. Word was out on AlJazeera too, the Egyptian government's bitter enemy, if you may. On Thursday a group of activists demonstrated in front of the Sidi Gaber police station, the station which sent the informers and where reportedly a police officer oversaw the killing. Puzzling news was spread of an acquittal of the informers and an accusation of protesters of "insulting a government body."

The reasons for the gruesome murder have been questioned, but to date there is no confirmed explanation. The few eye witnesses present first said that the informers asked Khaled roughly for his ID and wanted to search him. When he protested and asked about their search warrant, they tied him up, beat his head against a marble shelf, dragged him out of the cafe and continued beating his head against an adjacent iron door. They then took his lifeless body to the police station for a few minutes, only to return and leave it in the crime scene. Another more popular story was circulated, according to which Khaled had a video dating to late 2009 showing a police officer and a group of informers distributing money and weed after capturing them from a dealer.

The shameless Ministry of Interior issued a phony statement to explain Khaled's death. They said Khaled died of asphyxia after he swallowed a drug joint. Adding insult to injury (in this case brutal murder), they also spread rumours that Khaled, whose name literally translates to "immortal happy", was a drug junkie who escaped mandatory military service. In response, the certificate of the military service was scanned and widely circulated to show that the MOI's side of the story is a badly orchestrated spoof. People on twitter wondered how asphyxia can cause undeniable damage to the skull as shown in the picture. One twitter user, Wael Abd El-Fattah, sarcastically noted that Khaled actually died of Egyptian regime asphyxia. More importantly, even if he is a drug addict, what law or even logic is there which allows beating addicts to death?

The murder became the talk of the country and the virtual community. But activists decided to take it to the streets as well, not in front of the press syndicate, lawyers' syndicate, People's Assembly, Shura Council or Attorney-General's office as has been the norm in the past few years for most protests in Egypt, but in front of the MOI headquarters in Lazoughly. The in-your-face protest of around 200 people was predictably kettled. Downtown Cairo where the MOI is was "occupied by the police" as activists described it. Many activists were verbally harassed, beaten, injured and detained. Mobile phones and cameras were confiscated. They expressed a direct link between the Emergency Law which provides unlimited power to law enforcement authorities and the murder of Khaled. The Ministry has been described as "the ministry of torture", and protesters screamed for the killers to go to trial. Under Emergency Law and the systematic use of torture, any one of us could be Khaled, this was their claim. Apparently, the MOI had expected people to be too horrified by the picture to protest in fear of facing a similar fate, but was surprised by their resilience.

Hopes were hung on a not-very-reliable authority to bring justice to Khaled; the media. Saturday night satellite talk shows showed reports on the murder, but still focused mainly on the MOI statement. On Sunday night, the popular Ashera Masaan showed the video from the police station which allegedly caused Khaled's untimely death. Announcer Mona El-Shazly asserted that the video is authentic, but that it is a celebration of the capture of the dealer, contrary to other views which accused the police of distributing the money and the drugs. Frustratingly enough, El-Shazly did not show the other side of the story and did not report with Khaled's brother. She in other words acquitted the MOI of a corruption case in the eyes of millions of viewers as far as the video is concerned. However, she wondered if informers actually have the authority to arrest people, not to mention beat them up in such a brutal way. Mona's comment poses even more questions on the motives, making it even scarier that Khaled possibly died for no reason at all, not that any reason is acceptable. Instead of dedicating a time slot in her programme to the crime, she interviewed someone about the alleged hacking of AlJazeera world cup satellite transmission.

Newspapers were divided according to their very own allegiances. The government mouthpiece Al-Gumhuriya published yesterday a joke of an article by the editor-in-chief sarcastically describing Sunday protest as a "protest for a junkie." Interestingly, he "accused" the protesters of "gaining strength" from international "authorities." It is an unintentional, subconscious reference to the fact that Egyptian authorities, namely the Ministry of Justice, are often too weak to punish police criminals. Independent Al-Shorouq newsapaper, on the other hand, published balanced timely updates on the crime and the aftermath, as well as the pictures of both life and death, making it impossible for readers to buy the story of the Ministry.


As if it could get any worse, journalist Ahmad Ragab posted on twitter news on yet another death by torture in a police station. The details are all too familiar. Saber Abd El-Semei, 58, protested when informers tried to remove a kiosk for selling sandwiches. He was kidnapped and taken to Nasr City police station. His family found his body five days later in Heliopolis hospital. His daughter was told by the doctors in the morgue that he was beaten with a BB gun on his head until he died.

Ethical concerns were voiced about the spread of the picture of Khaled's lifeless body. Not only because it was probably published prior to his family's consent, but it is also a horrific, shocking picture, unwillingly seen by Facebook users and newspaper readers. The dramatic twist in the story is that, had the picture not been published, Khaled's murder might have received minimum to zero attention, not to mention legal prosecution. Unless families of victims and supporters speak up, this will be the case with Saber for example.

After five tense days of shock, anger and hurt, the first sigh of relief came when blogger and journalist Hossam El-Hamalawy, who was also injured in the Lazoughly portest, tweeted that family lawyers and prosecutors were then investigating the crime scene one day after the Attorney-General ordered the case to be reopened. Thankfully, the few witnesses were present as well to testify.

As expected there are calls for the stepdown of Minister of Interior Habib Al-Adly. Systematic torture in Egypt (as a republic) has been practiced since the fifties. The only development is that whereas in the past it was exclusive to political opponents such as the Muslim Brotherhood, now innocent people are not immune from it. Not even women and children are. It is a cruel regime that can only be cured by being uprooted. We are crushed under the weight of political oppression and poverty and vent out anger among ourselves. Nonetheless, a change of names is not the only answer. Egyptians need to know their self-worth and legal rights. We need to know that save for instances of war and self-defence, no one deserves to be physically assaulted. We now engage in scuffles over everything from a minor threat of a car accident to theft or burglary. Furthermore, even when victims of torture or their families insist on persecuting the police criminals, the sentences are often disproportionate with the harm done. Take the case of Emad El-Kebir, who was sodomised, beaten and humiliated, and in return his bully/policeman Islam Nabih received a fleeting three years in jail sentence and was not suspended from his job. In any case, it is left for the hands of a slow and frail justice system to lessen the brunt of torture in Egypt.

السبت وقفة احتجاجية على الحصار وضرب أسطول الحرية

نرجو الحضور ونشر الدعوة

السكوت على حصار غزة خطيئة لا تغتفر

أعلنت الحملة العالمية لكسر الحصار على غزة 5 يونيو يوما عالميا للإحتجاج على الحصار وضرب أسطول الحرية

ويأتي هذا في الوقت الذي يتفنن فيه النظام المصري في

وضع العراقيل أمام حركة المساعدات والأفراد في معبر رفح

والحد من المواد المسموح بدخولها عبر المعبر

وهو ما يكشف زيف إدعائه بفتح المعبر

لنقف معا ضد الحصار الذي دمر غزة ويهدف لتركيع مقاومتها

من أجل فك الحصار على غزة ومن أجل فتح معبر رفح بشكل حقيقي

وتضامنا مع شعب فلسطين ومقاومته الباسلة وقوافل فك الحصار الشجاعة

نشارك أحرار العالم بوقفة احتجاجية غدا

السبت 5 يونيو، الساعة 6 مساءا

أمام نقابة الصحافيين

أفتحوا معبر رفح بشكل حقيقي

أفتحوا معبر رفح أمام قوافل المناصرة

تمرير التبرعات لقوات الإحتلال عبر معبر العوجة على أنها فتح للمعبر أكاذيب ساذجة لا تخدع أحدا

حركة كلنا مقاومة

Avatar; blatantly anti-colonialist?

(Spoiler Warning)
It is the eternal discourse and the never-ending contrast between the colonists and the natives. The colonists are advanced, the natives are primitive. The colonists are practical, scientific and materialistic, the natives are spiritual. The colonists are also downright cruel, whereas the natives are loyal and brave.
This sharp contrast not only sums up the blockbuster Avatar but also the discourse on colonialism ever since it started hundreds of years ago. No doubt the movie presents a breathtaking make-believe world of what outer space might hold in the next century, vivid and exquisite scenery, powerful images as well as action and thrill. But you cannot turn a blind eye to the very obvious socio-political message of the film. I don't believe in the ars gratia artis philosophy (art for art's sake). Art always tells us who we are, provides alternate realities, or for that matter, alternate dreams.
The film presents both sides of a colonial discourse, which is fair, and attributes certain features to the natives which is unfair. It is a considerable break away from other silly US films produced in the 90s and early 2000s about the all-American hero who has absolute power of machinery and mind to subdue other territories which are not given voice (Independence Day, Armageddon). The muddle the US is facing now in the two countries it occupies (Afghanistan, Iraq...and Haiti?) clearly disillusioned many filmmakers including James Cameron. It is clear that no communities will get attacked and not resort to resistance, also as clear it is that the attack is never justified, successful or ethical, but blatantly materialistic, destructive and even short-sighted. Hopefully, it is now clear that you cannot crush a community with your machinery no matter how developped and advanced and "go home for dinner" as the commander says in the movie. A people's spiritual attachment to their deity, land, environment and continuity is more enduring than man's desire for earthly matters.
Two issues remain controversial though. The first is regarding the features of the Natives. Throughout colonial discourse, indigenous groups have been described, called and treated as the vilest of creations. The white man (US marine) is expected to "civilise the brutes", and it is "his burden". This racism serves both as a pretext for attack, and for the natives to deem themselves unworthy of living, having failed to rise above primitive. The Na'vi of the film have been called "savages" and "blue monkeys" but it's from the head of the mining operation, which comes as no surprise. However, the natives are really a merge between Africans and animals, or so it seemed to me. Their noses are distinctively flat, their facial bones are distinctive of negros, they live in tribes, they hunt down people or animals using arrows and swords, they are scantily clad....They are totally detached from urbanisation as it hasn't worked with them, as the snooty head of the operation remarks. At the same time, they have unmistakable animal features. They have cat-like ears, tails and they hiss like many animals to intimidate possible attackers. If it were a new form of "creatures" the writer has imagined, it would be understandable, but they have been clearly referred to as "people" by Dr. Grace Augustine. Truly though they are courageous and loyal, but why do people have tails, hiss and live like people in the dark ages?
The second point is, only an avatar having human genes has been able to assemble and mastermind the counterattacks on the US army. Only the hybrid Jake and Dr. Augustine take part in empowering the natives and reshaping their "army". In other words, the natives are still mainly dependent on the "civilised" nation for organising themseleves and desgining an attack, a strategy which any human brain can devise. Frustratingly enough, the "pure" natives are only followers. It is true that they used some machinery made by US troops, but they have been lead by Jake the avatar, the US ex-marine. Though of course in the final scene is compromising in that Jake chooses the Na'vi identity.
A new vision on colonialism the film provides and a vivid foresight of what may become of the US army if they continue exterminating people, destroying their land and taking away all they hold dear. However, the image of the colonised people, or the natives, remains distorted. It has progressed yes, in the sense that they at least have human features, but no filmmaker is obliged to "condescend" to make this move.

Gaza Freedom March

I knew about the march around a month ago but got busy in everyday shit until I found the link to the event on FB only to find out in the end that the registeration is closed!
For a couple of days I kept thinking how I can get my parents to agree on this. I won't have to even ask anymore. What a bummer. Not only this, but the Egyptian authorities do not usually let Egyptians or Palestinians in and out easily at all!
So put simply, we are stuck here when we should be showing solidarity with Palestinians in every way we can. Instead of being part of what hopefully will be another pressure on Israel to end the inhuman seige on Gaza, I am supposed to just move on with my life and do everyday stuff.

نقاب التخلف والوحشية

اللي لابس نقاب مش واحدة متغربة وسايبة بيتها ومدينتها عشان عايزة تروح تتعلم، اللي لابس نقاب هو اللي عايز يخبي عن المشكلة الحقيقية، والأخبار المقززة اللي ظهرت في اليومين اللي فاتوا:

توربيني جديد في الشرابية يعترف بانتهاك عرض 30 طفل

اتهام الشرطة المصرية بتعذيب أخو المتحدث باسم حركة حماس في غزة حتى الموت طبعاً

احنا آسفين يا حماس، آسفين يا أطفال مصر، أصل ربنا حيوقف المحجبة على باب الجنة ويسألها على وشها، لكن مش حيسأل عن أعراضكوا وحياتكوا

The Dark Side of Capitalism

A hair-raising account of the state of slaves (formerly known as workers) in Dubai.

Translation of Alaa Al-Aswany's article on torture in Egypt

Four videos to entertain Mr. President!

President Hosny Mubarak and Barack Obama met recently in Washington to discuss issues of mutual interest to Egypt and the US. Their discussions were fruitful as they tackled the Iranian nuclear weapons file, the peace process and the situation in Darfur. Both presidents expressed their deep concern about the deterioration of human rights in Iran, the Iranian protestors, forging the elections, torturing innocent Iranian people...and all of the unspeakable crimes committed by the Iranian government. They discussed how the international community and the Egyptian government are doing their best to expose and stop such practices. Finally, Obama felt confident that democratic reform in Egypt is a long and complex process, yet it is ongoing and will not stop, God willing, as Mubarak assured. Obama reiterated his profound appreciation of Mubarak's wisdom, justice and bravery. All of this is anticipated and understood. However, I thought of something else: the journey from Washington to Cairo takes more than ten hours...how is Mubarak going to spend it?
Undoubtedly, Mubarak's airplane is fully equipped. Still. the journey is too long, how is the president going to kill time? Is he going to seize the chance of a comfortable nap, to rest his fatigue-ridden body? Is he going to have a conversation with the editors-in-chief of the local newspapers whom he summons every journey? They will, as usual, compete in praising the president's achievements, momentous decisions and historical leadership. The repeated praises will shure bore him, is he going to enjoy some book on the way? Did he take Mahmoud Samy Al-Baroudy's anthology of poems, since he is his favourite poet? I am not exactly sure what the president prefers to do, so I suggest he watches some good videos. They are not long at all; just short documentaries starring not professional actors, not even amateurs, but ordinary citizens. There is nothing particularly special about them. They are among millions of Egyptians who go through hell just to feed their kids and lead dignified lives. The nominated videos are:

1- The first video...we see a young Egyptian man from Port Said being brutally tortured in a police station. In the first scene, the young man appears to have sustained severe cuts and injuries on his back and torso as a result of beating. He has been hung by the hands. He is pleading the police officer for mercy: "Enough...please...Mr. Mohammad...for the sake of the Prophet...enough...I'm dying...Mr. Mohammad."
In the second scene, he is blindfolded and totally devastated. He is crying and begging for sympathy in half-broken sentences: Mr. Mohammad, please have mercy on me, we are human, not animals.
We do not see officer Mohammad, but we can clearly hear him angrily telling the young man to stop and calling him names. Why does Mr. Mohammad sound angry? It's because the young man is screaming while being tortured...which is of course and offense to Mr. Mohammad. It is inappropriate, so the officer believes, that anyone raises their voice to a police officer, even if he is beating and torturing him.
2- The second video...stars an Egyptian woman in her thrities. She is unveiled and dressed in blue jeans and a black t-shirt. An officer beats her severely everywhere with all his might: on her feet, her arms, her head. She screams until her voice fades. In the following scene, we see her hanging horizontally by her hands and feet on an iron bar. Viewers have stated that this position is used in police stations and state security headquarters and called the 'chicken position'. It causes severe pain and tears the muscles apart. It could also lead to breaking body bones and even snapping the spine. The officer continued beating her using a thick stick until she screams: "Please "Pasha" enough...I'm the one who killed him...I'm the one who killed him..."
We can thus infer that the officer is investigating murder and that using this effective method, he caught the murderer and so justice has been done.
3- The third video...we see a man in his fourties trembling as a police officer is hurling abuse at him, raising his hand and beating the man severely. In the moment the man closes his eyes to brace the slap, the officer stops and gives him the finger. He then breaks into a fit of laughter and roams the room proudly. The officer then gets down to business, approaching the man while smoking a cigarette and using his hands to slap the man repeatedly. When the man reacts by covering his face, the officer calls his mother names, tells him to keep his hands down and continues slapping him.
4- The fourth video...the officer sits behind the camera, so we only see an old thin man over sixty years of age. He appears to be poor and ill-nourished. He is held by a muscular detective and we can hear the officer telling the detective: "Beat him, Abdul Rasoul!"
Abdul Rasoul obeys and starts beating the old man harshly, but the officer, who sounds to be in an elated mood, comments: "Too faint, too faint, Abdul Rasoul! Beat him severely!"
Abdul Rasoul beats the old man with more force, whereas the officer directs him to where he should strike the blows: "Beat the back of his neck, now beat him on the head."
Abdul Rasoul betas the old man to satisfy the officer, still the officer muses: "Too faint, too faint Abdul Rasoul."
Another detective joins in and both detectives start beating the old man savagely, proving to the officer how efficient they are. The old man is extremely weakened that he can no longer raise his hand or scream. He wears an empty look and seems completely lifeless.
Mr. President...
I have selected these videos among many available on Wael Abbas' blog Misr Digital and on many other blogs. All the videos are real, showing horrible acts of torture inflicted upon Egyptians on a daily basis...In many cases te names of the officers and the places where they work are shown in the video. Their faces are also clearly visible and can easily be identified. All of the videos have been recorded via mobile phones and have somehow found their ways to the blogs. They have been recorded by people who happen to witness the massacre. Sometimes the police officer videotapes himself while torturing people, then ciculates the tape among his colleagues, or uses it to humiliate and extort the victim. People usually record videos of happy occasions, such as wedding and graduation ceremonies. But videotaping themselves while torturing people is a bizarre behaviour which psychiatrists might help us understand.
Mr. President...
I am not asking you to intervene to stop the humiliation faced by many Egyptians daily in police stations and state security headquarters...I am not imploring you to investigate in the torture suffered by innocent people at the hands of brutal criminals who represent your regime...no...I am, just like all Egyptians, well-aware of the extent of actions that can be taken in Egypt...I just wanted to suggest some videos to entertain you on your long journey back home...welcome home, Mr. President!

N.B. I was not aware of the translation published in The Independent newspaper, so any similarities in style or choice of words are purely coincidental!

مقال علاء الأسواني في جريدة الشروق

أربعة أفلام لتسلية الرئيس!

تحذير: لا تقرأ هذا المقال إذا كنت انهزامياً وستعود لمدونتي لتقول لي كلام من عينة "مفيش فايدة"

اليوم العالمي لمساندة ضحايا التعذيب

في إطار الاحتفال باليوم العالمي لمناهضة التعذيب 26 يونيو

تدعوكم رابطة الهلالي للحريات بنقابة المحامين لحضور احتفالها بهذا اليوم وذلك بالمشاركة في الندوة التي تنظمها الرابطة بالنقابة العامة للمحامين تحت عنوان

"محامون يلاحقون جلادي التعذيب"

وذلك يوم الخميس الموافق 25 / 6 / 2009 الساعة السابعة مساءً

بالنقابة العامة للمحامين بشارع رمسيس القاهرة

Obama contradicting himself

Perhaps the only difference between Obama and Bush is the first's eloquence and intelligence; intelligence, however, but not fairness or justice in any way.

I believe any discussion of a conflict should begin and end when it comes to human life. Obama has been so kind-hearted as to bring to light the torture and genocide that Jews have faced in the Holocaust and, to reduce us to tears, he spoke in numbers: We have been bereaved by losing 6 million innocent Jews who had been persecuted for many years...three thousand American men women and children who did nothing, nothing, were killed in 9/11.

What about our numbers? Has no one told you that your troops in this war you did not choose (!!) killed more than a million and a half Iraqis? No mention of them? No mention of the children killed in the Haditha killings? No mention of forcing running water into people's mouths and then ruling it out as torture? Has no one told Obama of the young boy whose brain has been dashed out under US rockets and dead body shown on the 20th of March 2003 on AlJazeera? No equality for him? So as I get it, the equality he spoke of for much of the speech applies to Muslims and other minorities in the US and for Copts in Egypt, but not to our children.

No one expects him to be the saviour, and the poeple incessantly cheering and clapping during his speech are basically dumb to think that just because his middle name is Hussein, he will be fair and just. He wants Palestinians to recognise Israel, though he also said that Palestinians have long suffered from occupation! So, according him, Palestine is occupied by a most bloody state, but who cares, the bond between the US and Israel is unbreakable, so you have to be squeezed in between.

Never in his speech did he mention anything about Muslims being victims of unholy wars and monstrous submission on the part of the rest of the world. Only Bosnians and Sudanese people have suffered, but Palestinians are muderers who fire rockets at the poor Israeli people. Palestinians who are killed, tortured, imprisoned, denied a home, denied clean water and food if any at all, should abandon violence. So when Israel fires rockets and bombs at the densely populated Gaza, when one out of four victims of this war is a child, Palestinians are simply expected to abandon violence, fill their mouths with dust, their hands with soil from their children's graves and their bellies with White Phosphorous, just be quite and take it like a man!

Pictures of the lastest Gaza holocaust are available here:
www.tahyyes.org
www.justicenownetwork.blogspot.com

Emirati Emir catches torture virus!

Apparantly, an Emirati Emir found little better in Egypt, and in many of his neighbouring countries (ok. Not 'all') to imitate other than torturing an Afghani trader and crushing him with his car, thankfully or thanklessly, not to his death. Adding insult to injury, the torture rampage was actually caught on tape...doesn't it ring a bell?
I still cannot assimilate torture-I just can't comprehend it. True, I've beaten my little brother when we were young, which in my book could pass as an abuse, but I regretted it so much later and apologised to him. It never made him a better child or a better man, though, all this beating he got from my parents. He turned out reckless and hopeless, he turned out to do stuff that makes you much more tempted to beat him.
I digress; a man can beat up another or get into a fight because of anger, because of seeing red, but really, planned acts of torture are something else. Those people need to be put behind bars or just strangled for the love of God, for the love of justice.
Crime is understandable, not abnormal anymore, but being acquitted or given a light sentence is. We'll see what that Emir will face, and if he is not properly punished, the last grain of respect I have for the UAE government will be squashed.

Another torture victim dies - spread the word!

Because if we remain silent about Hamida's death, one day they will come for us, and no one will speak up.

Ahmadinejad Circus?

We know that in the dirty world of politics, there isn't much to say, weapons always speak louder, so here are simply a few notes on the Ahmadi Nejad furor:

• Israel is a racist state. It specifically targets Arabs whether in Gaza and the West Bank or within Israel. Arab-Israelis are denied proper housing and healthcare. They are denied proper education and are not allowed to study their own history. The Israeli war machine targets Arabs in particular, and has fought six wars against Arabs since it was planted in the Middle East. A recent study showed how Israelis even take up four times the amount of potable water allowed for the Palestinians. Israeli rabbis have repeatedly described Arabs as insects. If this is not racism, I wonder what is.
• Europeans champion freedom of speech. That is why they snubbed Muslim fury at the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, saying we even attack Jesus in our plays and books, so why are Muslims so angry. Now, when the President of Iran, not an amateur cartoonist, states not only his opinion but also a historical fact, the ambassador of Britain in Geneva sees that he has gone too far! So depicting our Prophet as a terrorist, when he wasn't, is freedom of speech, whereas criticising the discriminatory polices of the state of Israel, which is a documented fact, is not?
• All due respect to the victims of the Holocaust. I don't get why Netanyahu linked between the two events; the anniversary of the Holocaust and Nejad's statements. Israel as a Zionist state was the object of his criticism, not Jews per se, and I don't see why any righteous Jew should see his statements a threat!
• It takes courage, nay, it takes absolute power, to speak the truth in this circus of a world. I bow to Ahmadinejad.

خادش حياء آسر...برئ!

اعترض طريق سيدة آمنة وهي بصحبة ابنة أخيها في طريقهما لتقديم واجب عزاء...استعرض مهارات قيادة السيارات "الأمريكاني ليس لغرض إلا لترويعهما...وعندما لفتت نظره إلى أنها في عمر أمه، تفوه بألفاظ جنسية نابية تخدش حيائها، وشارك مع أصدقائه في إخافتهما بالأحزمة...
كل هذا لم يشفع أمام قضائنا المحترم للزج بهذا الصبي في السجن عقاباً له على ترويع الآمنين وإهانتهم إهانة لا يمحوها الزمن ولا يخفف من وطئتها عقاب إلا قليلاً، لم يقتنع القاضي العادل بأن هذا الصبي مكانه خلف القضبان حيث المجرمين والخارجين على القانون، بل تركه يتمتع بحريته وترك آسر تشعر بالرعب من الصبي المجرم الذي دعمه القانون والذي يقطن على بعد أمتار من بيتها، لن تشعر أسر بالأمان ولن تشعر بالعدل ولن تشعر بالطمأنينة طالما سمح القضاة وسمحت الشرطة لهؤلاء الذئاب بالتواجد بيننا وممارسة أفعالهم دون محاسبة أو عقاب.
لعدم كفاية الأدلة، هي الثغرة القانونية التي أفلت بها الجاني من العقاب...في دولة الإمارات يعتبر تقدم أنثى ببلاغ تحرش إدانة ودليل كافيين، ولكن في مصر الأمر ليس كذلك، لم يقتنع القاضي بأقوال آسر ولم يستمع لأقوال ابنة أختها لأنها لم تبلغ السن القانونية...فما يجب على الضحايا فعله؟؟؟كيف يمكن إثبات أن أحدهم تعرض لهن بقول أو فعل كما ينص القانون؟؟؟ لا يوجد حامض نووي أو بصمات أو آثار عنف جسدية على الأقل، فكيف يمكن إثبات مثل هذه الجرائم؟؟؟
أنا مثلاً أتواجد في الشارع والأماكن العامة والمواصلات وحدي 80% من الوقت، فهل من المفترض أن أؤجر أحدهم حتى يكون شاهداً في حال تعرضي لتحرش؟؟؟ أليس التبليغ كافياً؟ وهل هناك فتاة تريد أن تمر بمعاناة دخول قسم الشرطة وتلفيق محضر والحضور إلى المحاكم ذهاباً وإياباً وتوكيل محامي ودفع آلاف الجنيهات فقط من أجل بلاغ كيدي؟؟؟ آسر لا تعلم المعتدي عليها، فأي بلاغ كيدي يتكلم عنه محامو الصبي؟؟؟
ليت التحالف مع المجرمين موقف القاضي فحسب، بل غير الضابط الذي حرر المحضر في قسم الشرطة من أقوال آسر وغير رقم السيارة وميعاد الحادث ليكون الثانية عشر والنصف صباحاً حتى تبدو آسر وكأنها تجوب الشوارع في أوقات "غير لائقة"!!!
لا عزاء للأمن، لا عزاء للأمان، لا عزاء للشرطة، لا عزاء للقضاء المصري العادل النزيه، لا عزاء لحقوق المرأة بل وحقوق الإنسان...
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يعني بالعربي كده
من هنا ورايح بقى المفروض الواحدة تتعود تاخد حقها بإيدها بقى ولا إيه النظام؟؟؟
يعني آسر قبل الحكم ما يطلع كانت بتدعو كل واحدة تتعرض للتحرش إنها تتوجه لقسم الشرطة لكن يا ترى دلوقتي موقفها إيه؟؟؟
وإيه المطلوب من شرطة تقوم نفسها بالتحرش والاغتصاب بل والقتل بصورة منتظمة؟؟؟
آسر ماخسرتش القضية، ومش حاتخسرها، ومش معنى إنه طلع براءة يبقى هي دي النهاية، حتى لو ماعرفتش تستأنف والنيابة ماجابتلهاش حقها، في غيره كتير حيتعمل ضده محضر، لإن البنات اتغيروا وعرفوا إن ليهم حق ولازم يدافعوا عنه حتى لو مارجعلهمش...
لإن البنات عرفوا إنهم حتى لو ماكسبوش...مش حيخسروا.

احنا كمان مش هاننهزم

يعني الفلسطينيين مش لاقيين دوا

ولا أكل

والصواريخ بتتحدف عليهم وهم نايمين

عيالهم اتحرقوا

وطول النهار والليل عمالين ينقلوا جرحى وشهداء لحد ما المستشفيات بقت بتحطهم على الأرض

كل ده وبيقولوا مش هاننهزم

مش هانركع

والمقاومة مستمرة

احنا بقى قاعدين في بيوتنا سالمين غانمين جنب الدفايات

الأكل والشرب والكهربا موجودين واحنا مش مقدرينهم

وعمالين نقول خلاص مصر ماتت...خلاص مفيش فايدة...احنا حاسين بالعجز

وبقينا بنتهم بعض بالخيانة بدل ما نشوف اللى اسرائيل بتعمله فينا

يعنى حققنا كل اللى اسرائيل عايزاه

انقسمنا وقلبنا على بعض

روح التضامن ضعفت

أي تحرك سياسي المفروض الحكام هما اللي يعملوه لكن التحرك الشعبي مسئوليتنا احنا

احنا مسئولين اننا نتبرع للفلسطيين في نقابة الأطباء

الأطباء مسئولين إنهم ينضموا للقوافل اللي بتعالج الجرحى حسب ما يقدروا

اللي يقدر يحتج ينزل مظاهرات عشام ماحدش يستجرى يقول إن المصريين انهزموا

بس الله يخليكوا بلاش اليأس والاستسلام ده

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نقابة الأطباء: دار الحكمة، 42 ش القصر العيني، وسط المدينة، القاهرة

"Never again" doesn't apply to Gaza

Whenever a genocide took place...the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide, Srebrenica, the world said they cannot let this happen again. Now the Palestinians are killed, now, as I am posting this, and the world will just let it pass, then say 'never again'.

Hail Thine Shoes

Why is hurling shoes at Bush 'uncivilized'?

And forming naked, human pyramids not?

Why is throwing shoes at Bush 'unprofessional'?

And killing/causing the death of an estimated 1,033,000 Iraqis a 'cause'?

Why is humiliating Bush a 'misconduct'?

And killing a dying, unarmed Iraqi not?

Is Bush any more human by any means?

This is the very least this well-described 'dog' deserves!