Posts tagged egypt

#monazarat

#monazarat

After my identity was disclosed, it meant a lot of responsibilities. I kind of feel responsible for whatever I say on the page. I always ask myself, before every post, is that in the best interest of this country or not? I do not want to abuse a tool like this, because at the end of the day, it could lead to people dying, or it could lead to bringing the government, you know, bringing the country in the wrong direction. So it’s a lot of responsibility. I personally became more conservative than before; I calculate my steps before taking them. I truly love my country, and I think the people of Egypt deserve a much better life.
A year after the Egyptian uprising began, Wael Ghomin explains what his 1.8 million Facebook followers mean to him. 

Egyptian Revolution: “The Flood”

Part one of a three part documentary created by Heba Kandil, a former Reuters journalist, and produced by TrustMedia, the media development wing of the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The series captures the events through the eyes of one family.

Egyptian Revolution Part 2: The Clash. 
Egyptian Revolution Part 3: The Fall.

Run Time: 5:22.

Arabic versions of the documentary can be found here (part 1), here (part 2) and here (part 3).

OR Books is releasing Tweets from Tahrir this coming spring. It’s an edited compendium of Twitter posts from last spring’s Egyptian revolution.

Via Brain Pickings:

Tweets from Tahrir, an excellent new addition to alternative publishing powerhouse OR Books‘ stable of progressive social and political commentary, is a compelling time-capsule of the revolution unfolded before the world’s eyes as young people used social platforms to coordinate an historic uprising, documented it with their mobile phones, and spread it across the social web — a revolution not only of political dogma, but also of media dogma as citizen journalists in the streets replaced traditional newsrooms to deliver rich real-time insight into the heart of a historical milestone…

…Fast-paced and relentlessly fascinating, Tweets from Tahrir is unlike any book ever written, much in the way that the Egyptian Revolution was unlike any uprising ever orchestrated. To miss it is to deny yourself unprecedented understanding of the sociocultural forces that shape our political and media reality.

Egyptian Blogger Continues Prison Hunger Strike

Maikel Nabil Sanad was sentenced to three years in prison for criticizing Egypt’s military. Today he enters the 42nd day of a hunger strike.

Via Index on Censorship:

It’s Maikel Nabil Sanad’s 26th birthday but he is in no celebratory mood. When I arrive at El Marg prison north of Cairo during visiting hours on Saturday 1 October, I can barely hide my shock at seeing his bony physique. Maikel is wearing a wrinkled blue track suit and on his head is a baseball cap worn backwards in a sign of rebellion. It is clear that Maikel is in extremely frail health. He attempts to stand up to greet me but almost immediately falls back into his chair in sheer exhaustion. That’s because today, Maikel tells me, is also the 40 day of his hunger strike — one that he had hoped would draw public attention to his plight and force the ruling military council to reconsider what he describes as the military’s “discriminatory “policies.

Sanad’s crime was accusing the military of submitting female protestors to “virginity tests”, a charge a senior military general later admitted was true, according to CNN.

The focus on technology in the international media may also misrepresent the character of liberation movements — hiding, for example, the important role played by women in the Arab Spring…

…While social media undoubtedly shaped the unfolding of liberation struggles in the Middle East and North Africa, to say that these were Facebook or Twitter revolutions is misleading. The focus on technical aspects of the Arab Spring marginalizes and minimizes the role of traditional organizing and downplays the risks and commitments made by ordinary people who put themselves, embodied and in real time, on the line for freedom.

The most troubling aspect of the myopic focus on “Liberation Technology” is the suggestion that if you add internet, you can produce instant revolution.
Virginia Eubanks, author, Digital Dead End: Fighting for Social Justice in the Information Age. No Tech-fix for Justice.
For a second day Egyptian protestors and police clash over the pace of reform. Via the New York Times: The clashes began Tuesday evening when the police refused to allow a crowd of people to enter a central theater for an event commemorating protesters killed during the 18-day revolution in January. Many in the crowd said they were relatives of those who died and fought with the police to gain entry. The police responded by attacking the crowd, until they reached the square. There, thousands of people, outraged at hearing of the harsh police action, joined in the clashes, which lasted into the night. Photo: BBC Day in Pictures.

For a second day Egyptian protestors and police clash over the pace of reform.

Via the New York Times:

The clashes began Tuesday evening when the police refused to allow a crowd of people to enter a central theater for an event commemorating protesters killed during the 18-day revolution in January. Many in the crowd said they were relatives of those who died and fought with the police to gain entry. The police responded by attacking the crowd, until they reached the square. There, thousands of people, outraged at hearing of the harsh police action, joined in the clashes, which lasted into the night.

Photo: BBC Day in Pictures.

Crowdsourcing the Documentary, with Help from our Friends

Via Beet.tv:

Amr Salama, an Egyptian filmmaker and a central figure in creating the alternative media universe during the revolution in Egypt, is finishing a documentary about the historic events. 

Through an appeal on his Twitter account, he received 300 GB of camcorder and camera phone footage, he says in this interview with Beet.TV.  

Via Global Voices:

This first part of a documentary on the Egyptian Revolution tells it from the perspective of blogger and viral video producer Aalam Wassef, focusing on how online video and other media accompanied a process of civilian unrest…

…The video is described as a manual on how a civil resistance was built to win, and follows the history of unrest in Egypt going back several years. Aalam Wassef tells his story of how he started posting videos under a pseudonym back in 2007 criticizing the government, and how they became viral.

But it wasn’t just luck: Wassef, blogging under different assumed names, would also publish blog posts, get advertising spaces on Google’s search engine and in short, ensure that whomever could get his message, would. And then, to go onto the “real” world, press.

Run Time - 14:23.

Egypt's Military Censors Critics

  • Hossam el-Hamalawy: Any institution of the country that takes taxes from us should be open to question
  • Mahmoud Saad: No, no, no. I will not allow you to say those things on this network.
  • FJP: El-Hamalawy is an Egyptian blogger. Saad a television host. The New York Times reports that the Egyptian military "is pressing the Egyptian news media to censor harsh criticism of it and protect its image. The military’s intervention concerns some human rights advocates who say they are worried that such efforts could make it harder for politicians to scrutinize the military and could possibly undermine attempts to bring it under civilian control or investigate charges of corruption.

The New York Times

There was no doubt in my mind that I was in the process of dying. I thought not only am I going to die, but it’s going to be just a torturous death that’s going to go on forever.

Lara Logan, CBS Correspondent, describing the assault she suffered while covering protests in Egypt’s Tahrir Square. The interview will appear this Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes.

Emily Wax, Washington Post. On ‘60 Minutes,’ Logan describes assault in Cairo.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

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This week WNYC’s On the Media host Brook Gladstone traveled to Egypt for a fascinating look at post-revolution media evolution in that country.

Linked here is the first 12 minutes or so of an hour-long segment that explores Egypt’s state-run, independent and emerging social media players.

Andy Carvin Sits in a Bar

  • Bartender: Who were those guys?
  • Andy Carvin: Egyptian revolutionaries.
  • Bartender: Wish I'd known. Would've given them shots of Cuervo on the house.
  • FJP: Andy Carvin, NPR's Senior Strategist, hangs out in a bar. Carvin's been called a one man newswire as he tweets and retweets revolution in North Africa and the Middle East: http://bit.ly/gtM9z1

Egypt Sentences Blogger to 3 Years

Via the New York Times:

An Egyptian blogger was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for criticizing the military in what human rights advocates called one of the more alarming violations of freedom of expression since a popular uprising led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak two months ago

The blogger, Maikel Nabil, 26, had assailed the Egyptian armed forces for what he called its continuation of the corruption and anti-democratic practices of Mr. Mubarak. Mr. Nabil often quoted from reports by established human rights groups.