Friday 10 August 2012

Good Morning Egypt!



Excerpts and links that tie into Egypt's anatomy as it breathes in and out today:

'Revolution of the Thirsty' by Karen Piper
"Welcome to the Greener Side of Life" beckoned the billboard on Cairo’s Ring Road, which showed a man in a jaunty hat teeing off on a verdant golf course flowing into the horizon. I was stuck in traffic, breathing that mix of Saharan dust and pollution also known as “air,” so I could see the appeal."
Read more:
 http://places.designobserver.com/feature/egypt-revolution-of-the-thirsty/34318/#.UCAAv6HBeM4.facebook


"... it is requested of President Mohamed Morsi that necessary measures are put in place for the protection of civil writers, thinkers, and human rights activists whose opinions differ from that of the mainstream religious outlook."
Read more:
http://en.eohr.org/2012/08/08/eohr-condemns-the-recent-assault-on-journalists-and-demands-an-immediate-investigation/

"Float like a butterfly~ Sting like a bee"  ~Muhamad Ali~
green butterfly

bee facing left'Egypt: stung into action'

"Decried daily by secularists at home and labouring under heavy clouds of suspicion abroad Mohammed Morsi showed he had teeth"




'Words of Women' 
full interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rasuQSem
Mahienour El-Massry:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/2007/assets/content/freedom/cartoon.jpg
from:- Free Thinking Festival 2007 Freedom
" I think it is the same as labelling the palestinian resistance as terrorism.. A regime that is occupying you and killing you, and you should smile and say Good Morning...We said we want to bring down the regime and now once again we are working to beautify it...  We aren't working towards changing the regime; we are still in the regime".




by Carlos Latuff


by Carlos Latuf


"As activists we made a mistake when we started acting as politicians and not as revolutionaries... We started dividing ourselves into parties... 
What is an Islamist rule?What i personally care about are the social and economic forms, and the liberties. I hold regimes accountable on this basis and not on what they call themselves... If we end up in an Islamist rule by force, you are a human being and can resist. No one will force me to do something i don't want to do. No one in the past repressive regime managed to make me part of the corruption. I can also refuse any impositons against my personal freedoms..... 

by Amr Okasha

from
We Are All Syria| كلُّنا سوريا
Death hurts not the dead, it hurts the living
Only death is certain. When and where doesn't matter... at least i'd die defending something i believe in.. rather than die from grief over the people who died fighting for what we believe in." (translated from Arabic by Elena Cal Atan & Ethel Odriozola MonzÓn)



Links through Nadia Elkouni and SaraH

Saturday 4 August 2012

Flawed


http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2012/1108/ho402.jpg

What is charity when it is denied at home?
This is the question they would have us ask ourselves.
But who is to say it is not a question planted so as to sway opinions by? 
Have we become quite paranoid or legitimately suspicious? 

Are we playing into the hands of the saboteurs of this new era?

Who is really in charge?  

Who stands to gain from a seemingly failing system?
 

 As is customary, disputes occur when charity is in question. The idea that we cannot help anyone because we ourselves need help is defective and yet we are probably all guilty of it at some time or other in our lives. If only we could always be resolute in believing that even the smallest gesture extended always rebounds in one form or another.
So, in present 'dark' and 'dry' times such as Egypt is currently experiencing, were we to suspend disbelief, would we regain some perspective? Are the present energy supply shortages experienced  simply due to a charitable act of empathic solidarity?

Revival Not Reprisal ...
Only one question is agreed upon it seems: Why is Egypt having such a tough time now that a new dawn has been proclaimed?
Perhaps the answer is quite simple: Tangibly felt shortages manage to dim a people's perspective. Distraction is accomplished. Having to 'make do' with whatever is available becomes a primary concern and the focal point of all discussion, anxiety and indeed humour. You could even say it is a most effective way of keeping people in the dark and that no thirst is greater than that for water.
But why are a nation's energy supplies withheld from its own people?  Who is responsible for this malfunction? Are we to believe it is due to help being extended to Ghaza? Or is the good will therein being distorted purposefully?  "Egypt has promised to provide diesel fuel for the Gaza Strip’s sole power plant, which went down this week after running out of fuel, a Gaza official said. UPI/Ismael Mohamad"
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/crisis-in-gaza-photography/

Facebook flurries:
Emad Hajjaj

Daily interrupted services are harrowing enough however more
alarming is an accompanying crushing  browbeaten feeling which creeps in.
Shereen Abdel Fattah:
"6 days without water !!! Wallahi ma la2ya 7aga a2olha ghier 7asbona Allah w ne3ma al wakil f kol mas2ol fil balad di " 
"6 days without water!!! By Allah i find nothing more to say other than Allah is my advocate in all that concerns every person responsible in this land of ours" 
Shereen Abdel Fattah لا يا لومي لحد التالت في مياه بس ضعيفة فالموتور مش بيطلعها للخزان ، و شركة المياه قالت اغرب حجة في التاريخ : اصل ده موسم زراعة الرز فالفلاحين فاتحين المياه عشان الري ، لما الموسم يعدي المياه هترجع !!!!! اللهم اني صايمة 
"It's the third day and the water pressure is so weak that the generator is unable to raise it to the tank and the water company has stated the most bizarre excuse in history: 'It is the season for rice and so the farmers keep the water flowing onto the paddy fields so wait for the season to end and water will get back to you.' ~I am fasting"
Rodaina AbdelSalam: انا مامي في كفر عبده نفس المشكلة و هي في الثالث، 
البواب بس عنده سرسوب، بس الرد مختلف قالولهم حصتكم من المياه خلصت
"My mother is in KafrAbdou and has the same problem, she lives on the third floor and the doorman receives but a trickle however their response to them was different. They told them their ration had been used up."
Lamia Salem مافيش حل الا تجيبي موتور 100 حصان وتحطيه ف بوكس عشان المواتير بتتسرق :(
"There is no solution other than a 100 horse power motor which you must place in a lock-up as the motors are all being stolen"
Shereen Abdel Fattah "... el doctor el sabak said el ,otor hayet7ere2 3ashan el maya da3ifa awi :("
"The Plumber doc has said the motor will get burnt out since the water is far too weak"

Dina Magdy: ya3ni ya minoz za3lana leh? 3amlenlek romantic mood aho tul el esbu3...3ashan mayeb2ash fe nefsek 7aga.:P 
electricity bill payment is due
".. and so Minoz, why are you upset? They have created a romantic mood for you for the whole week... so that you may not wish for anything more ever again"


Don't worry about switching of the lights, they take care of themselves
السيد فهيم
تخاريف صيام :
يبدو أن طائر النهضة تم ذبحه ، ونتف ريشه ، و شويه وأُكِلَ علي مائدة إفطار جماعي في ليلة رمضانية زادت بركتها بقطع المية 
والكهربا ...


 Fanciful fasting words:"It appears that the bird of reform has been slaughtered, its feathers plucked and is soon to be laid on a communal breakfast table on a Ramadan evening further blessed with power cuts of electricity and water  supplies"


                                                                       

 Sh.elS writes:
Ecossistemas - Gardens Centers
"Multiply these structures to infinity this is my view of the horizon. 'Caved in' no longer can see the skyline nor the sea coast as I used to. I feel am in a valley surrounded by very tall and and very 'thin' cement buildings - the top floors of which are lit up in high electricity voltage bulbs the power of which is probably stolen from public cables. It seems that these buildings are the cause of all evil: the power and water shortages that Alexandria has been experiencing."
In empathy with Sh.elS and Cement City:
Gardens are a waste of space since money doesn't grow on trees.. & the swish and rustle of banknotes far outweighs the sound of the sea. As for the sky.. it's just an empty space waiting to fall down unless propped up ..... :(

But is it not early days? Are we expecting miracles?
We can only surmise that the situation as it is in Egypt today cannot be one President Morsy would personally wish to endorse since he cannot hope to gain anything from it. Quite the opposite is clear with popularity ratings severely at risk.

 Moreover, if as so many claim, the president is but a puppet~ then who are the puppeteers?
If we abide by this thought, we are left with a very bitter conclusion: Whether President Morsy's principles are being compromised or not, impeded progress is palpably felt and one big question mark prevails: Who stands to gain?
Each of the 'usual suspects' have their own fanbase causing an effectively rife disseverance among the people. Ruptures of division appear everywhere.


In good faith, we can only hope that President Morsy remembers his bow to the Egyptian people upon entering office but in order for him to manage to counteract the forces that dictate he do otherwise, it would appear that Egyptian solidarity may well be of essence. 

"Today, we have a new president. He is seen by many not as the best option. Indeed. But, nothing will ever be like it used to be. Things will constantly keep changing thanks to us, the Egyptian people. We made CHANGE possible in Egypt. Nobody can take credit for it but us."
Read more: http://www.egyptianabroad.com/2012/06/samira-el-adawy-egypt-om-el-donia.html




 



 Holding our breath, quite literally,
while the rubbish and traffic continue to pile up.




Egyptians queue with their cars at a petrol station, Cairo, January 16, 2012 amid fears of an oil shortage.
photographed by AFP
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/ministry-blames-road-blockages-fuel-shortage