Your imitation of the Abdel Karim post is very good, beside a few sounds that are anyway difficult to pronounce for non-native speakers. I think that it can have a positive effect for the freedom of expression, because very often the repetition of the same message in a different form will increase its strength and potential. In any case everyone should recognise that your imitations require a hard work from your side because you don’t speak Arabic and this aspect should contribute to draw attention to what is being transmitted.
The activist bloggers consider their blogs as an extension of the street and also the street as an extension of the virtual space of the internet. We use the blogs to organise the demonstrations, invite people to join in and then go and demonstrate, get arrested and report about that on the blogs. The popularity of my blog do have an effect on my own daily live. Sometimes people recognize me on the street and congratulate me for doing this. Most of the activists are bloggers and also friends. Our faces are well known by the state security, that’s why we cannot just meet and demonstrate peacefully. Our goal is to wake up the street to claim for a real freedom of expression. We believe that generally people feel solidary even if they are afraid to join us. The foreigners who come to witness what happens here are useful to us, because they report about these events and give us more visibility outside of Egypt.
Showing posts with label egyptian bloggers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label egyptian bloggers. Show all posts
March 29, 2007
March 21, 2007
Trapped around Talaat Harb
No dadaism in this text plagiated and transformed by Teeth, originally written by blogger Sandmonkey.
25th of March
Whenever someone would stop, they would tell them they couldn't stand where they were standing and that they had to move along.
When we try to cross the street towards them the police wouldn’t let us, and then they do allow us to cross the street but not get on the otherside of the pavement, forcing us to go back and cross the street again.
I hear Salma say: "Fuck this" and start running across the street towards the square with the other girl
Right before they reach the square they are tackled by the police who swarms on them from every direction.
***
All the whole the police officers are pushing us to move forward.
Plainclothed police thugs run after him and hold him and start to pull him towards the Paddywagon.
Picture by Amr Abdallah.
One of his friends is being grabbed as well and thrown in the same car with him, and then the car starts moving taking them to an unknown destination.
The other demonstrators break free and walk towards Talaat Harb square, while chanting slogans.
The police encircles the protesters.
They push the protesters together and beat them.
On top of the sound of the battle, you can hear distinct female screams.
The egyptians walking on the street stand there, some of them take their cellphones out and use their cameraphones to videotape what's going on while joking about it. I really hate them at the moment.
***
As if they were not hearing the same screams we are hearing.
R. yells at the police, while H. grabs her and M. pulls on them both, and Alia is trying to reason with the officers behind us.
When we finally reach the other side we see the big Police Paddywagon leave and move. I look around me and notice that besides the 10 people who have been joining me on the other side, I am surrounded by foreigners. But all the egyptians are gone. The Police selects the egyptians from the big mob and throw them and only them into the paddywagon. Anyone who looks foreign they let go. This mean that Bassem and Hosam, alongside of Malek and Salma, have been all arrested.
Malek getting arrested. Picture by Nasser Nouri.
He seems really disturbed. He urges us to move faster and to get him inside the syndicate as fast as possible, so we hussle and we get him in. Alia notices that he isn't acting like his usual self. To any of our inquiries about what is wrong with him, he keeps silent, sullen.
***
The number of SS soldiers starts to increase.
It isn't a good sign.
Many of the foreign journalists, now satisfied with the story they had, start leaving the area.
It also isn't a good sign.
We notice that the police doesn’t let her egyptian companions through.
It defintely isn't a good sign.
We are being trapped here.
Some of them get into cabs and order the drivers to follow the Paddywagons to bloody God knows where.
25th of March
Whenever someone would stop, they would tell them they couldn't stand where they were standing and that they had to move along.
When we try to cross the street towards them the police wouldn’t let us, and then they do allow us to cross the street but not get on the otherside of the pavement, forcing us to go back and cross the street again.
I hear Salma say: "Fuck this" and start running across the street towards the square with the other girl
Right before they reach the square they are tackled by the police who swarms on them from every direction.
***
All the whole the police officers are pushing us to move forward.
Plainclothed police thugs run after him and hold him and start to pull him towards the Paddywagon.
Picture by Amr Abdallah.
One of his friends is being grabbed as well and thrown in the same car with him, and then the car starts moving taking them to an unknown destination.
The other demonstrators break free and walk towards Talaat Harb square, while chanting slogans.
The police encircles the protesters.
They push the protesters together and beat them.
On top of the sound of the battle, you can hear distinct female screams.
The egyptians walking on the street stand there, some of them take their cellphones out and use their cameraphones to videotape what's going on while joking about it. I really hate them at the moment.
***
As if they were not hearing the same screams we are hearing.
R. yells at the police, while H. grabs her and M. pulls on them both, and Alia is trying to reason with the officers behind us.
When we finally reach the other side we see the big Police Paddywagon leave and move. I look around me and notice that besides the 10 people who have been joining me on the other side, I am surrounded by foreigners. But all the egyptians are gone. The Police selects the egyptians from the big mob and throw them and only them into the paddywagon. Anyone who looks foreign they let go. This mean that Bassem and Hosam, alongside of Malek and Salma, have been all arrested.
Malek getting arrested. Picture by Nasser Nouri.
He seems really disturbed. He urges us to move faster and to get him inside the syndicate as fast as possible, so we hussle and we get him in. Alia notices that he isn't acting like his usual self. To any of our inquiries about what is wrong with him, he keeps silent, sullen.
***
The number of SS soldiers starts to increase.
It isn't a good sign.
Many of the foreign journalists, now satisfied with the story they had, start leaving the area.
It also isn't a good sign.
We notice that the police doesn’t let her egyptian companions through.
It defintely isn't a good sign.
We are being trapped here.
Some of them get into cabs and order the drivers to follow the Paddywagons to bloody God knows where.
March 10, 2007
An independent Journalist about Kareem, Egyptian blogosphere and freedom of speech
Abdul, 29, working as a journalist for Al Fajr (The Dawn), an independent Arabic weekly newspaper running around 55’000 in the whole country:
Kareem
Kareem Amer is a young man who has questions and he is right to ask these questions. In his blog he attacked the people’s faith. What happened to him would never have happened if he hadn’t lost the sympathy of the public opinion and of his relatives. This was a mistake. One can have some opinions but one should recognize that we are in a very religious society. As a European you have been surprised by the reactions in the Islamic world against the publishing of the Danish caricatures, but for me it was obvious because I know the mentality here, in spite of the fact that I believe in the same conception of freedom of expression like you. I just know that this can be dangerous here. In the case of Kareem, he has been punished because of the action itself of publishing his opinion. The mentality of the people here needs to develop. The people who denounced him to the police where from the Al Hazhar University. Personally I’m against this trial and against his punishment. My opinion is that it’s the El Hazhar University that should be punished because they denounced Kareem’s ideas to the police, rather than discussing them with him. During the trial Kareem said that he believes in God and that he’s not atheist, but that he has a critical opinion about religion, so we should not punish him for that, but rather discuss these ideas. To be an atheist is a very difficult issue here in Egypt.
Bloggers
Most of the people from the activist bloggers scene are friends of mine. They do a lot of good things. There are two examples where they played an important role: the recent scandal about a case of torture in a police station and cases of sexual harassment that happened at the end of last Ramadan in Cairo. They helped to widen the space of freedom. The government arrested Kareem as an example for the rest of the bloggers. This trial will affect them a lot because the government is using Kareem as a way to stain the bloggers reputation in the eyes of the public opinion, accusing them of spreading atheist ideas, which is against the society. So in the future the bloggers will have to face this prejudice even if they write in favour of more human rights.
Freedom of speech
Generally I’m free to write anything because there’s no censorship for the licensed newspapers before the publication. Afterwards other newspaper can attack both your company and you as a person, calling you a gay, a junkie or an adulterer, they may bring you down, insult your parents and even sue you. If you criticize someone, in particular a businessman owning a newspaper, he would let it attack you in turn. That’s the same with the security department. It disposes of the possibility to respond violently to you through the press. It’s also the case with some parties, for instance the Muslim Brotherhood. They possess their own newspapers. In front of them you will be like naked. When you’re boxing it’s not allowed to hit under the belt, here you have no belt. Three years ago it happened to me. I wrote something about Muslim Brotherhood. I wasn’t syndicated. Without discussing the issues I was speaking about, they called me an immoral person in their articles and insulted me on the street, saying that I belong to the security department. For a journalist, to be treated as a spy is the worse injury regarding your reputation. So it’s very dangerous to express oneself about religion because you can easily not only loose the sympathy of the public opinion, but also the respect other intellectuals owe you, especially if you question the faith. You can challenge the ideas or attack personally a sheikh or any important person but not the faith, the prophet or the holy things. Neither other prophets like Jesus elsewhere. I would never do it in a direct way because it touches other people’s freedom. Only a long experience would teach you how to deal with the public opinion and to measure the very tiny difference between faith and ideas. Laws, traditions and habits cross themselves, their limits are not clear, but they exist. It’s like a vast sea you can always sink into and then at every moment be accused to insult religion. It’s a highly fuzzy area. Furthermore critical views on main appointees or military topics, all what regards national security issues lead you into jail. But anyway the Egyptian laws are so tight in all matters that even if you’re speaking about the public water distribution services, you could appear in court.
Kareem
Kareem Amer is a young man who has questions and he is right to ask these questions. In his blog he attacked the people’s faith. What happened to him would never have happened if he hadn’t lost the sympathy of the public opinion and of his relatives. This was a mistake. One can have some opinions but one should recognize that we are in a very religious society. As a European you have been surprised by the reactions in the Islamic world against the publishing of the Danish caricatures, but for me it was obvious because I know the mentality here, in spite of the fact that I believe in the same conception of freedom of expression like you. I just know that this can be dangerous here. In the case of Kareem, he has been punished because of the action itself of publishing his opinion. The mentality of the people here needs to develop. The people who denounced him to the police where from the Al Hazhar University. Personally I’m against this trial and against his punishment. My opinion is that it’s the El Hazhar University that should be punished because they denounced Kareem’s ideas to the police, rather than discussing them with him. During the trial Kareem said that he believes in God and that he’s not atheist, but that he has a critical opinion about religion, so we should not punish him for that, but rather discuss these ideas. To be an atheist is a very difficult issue here in Egypt.
Bloggers
Most of the people from the activist bloggers scene are friends of mine. They do a lot of good things. There are two examples where they played an important role: the recent scandal about a case of torture in a police station and cases of sexual harassment that happened at the end of last Ramadan in Cairo. They helped to widen the space of freedom. The government arrested Kareem as an example for the rest of the bloggers. This trial will affect them a lot because the government is using Kareem as a way to stain the bloggers reputation in the eyes of the public opinion, accusing them of spreading atheist ideas, which is against the society. So in the future the bloggers will have to face this prejudice even if they write in favour of more human rights.
Freedom of speech
Generally I’m free to write anything because there’s no censorship for the licensed newspapers before the publication. Afterwards other newspaper can attack both your company and you as a person, calling you a gay, a junkie or an adulterer, they may bring you down, insult your parents and even sue you. If you criticize someone, in particular a businessman owning a newspaper, he would let it attack you in turn. That’s the same with the security department. It disposes of the possibility to respond violently to you through the press. It’s also the case with some parties, for instance the Muslim Brotherhood. They possess their own newspapers. In front of them you will be like naked. When you’re boxing it’s not allowed to hit under the belt, here you have no belt. Three years ago it happened to me. I wrote something about Muslim Brotherhood. I wasn’t syndicated. Without discussing the issues I was speaking about, they called me an immoral person in their articles and insulted me on the street, saying that I belong to the security department. For a journalist, to be treated as a spy is the worse injury regarding your reputation. So it’s very dangerous to express oneself about religion because you can easily not only loose the sympathy of the public opinion, but also the respect other intellectuals owe you, especially if you question the faith. You can challenge the ideas or attack personally a sheikh or any important person but not the faith, the prophet or the holy things. Neither other prophets like Jesus elsewhere. I would never do it in a direct way because it touches other people’s freedom. Only a long experience would teach you how to deal with the public opinion and to measure the very tiny difference between faith and ideas. Laws, traditions and habits cross themselves, their limits are not clear, but they exist. It’s like a vast sea you can always sink into and then at every moment be accused to insult religion. It’s a highly fuzzy area. Furthermore critical views on main appointees or military topics, all what regards national security issues lead you into jail. But anyway the Egyptian laws are so tight in all matters that even if you’re speaking about the public water distribution services, you could appear in court.
Egyptian blogosphere + Kareem + TH
The Cairo Talking Heads Project has been inspired by the Egyptian blogosphere from its very beginning. Many of the activist bloggers are reporting about the corrupt political system and sometimes get arrested and beaten during demonstrations.
Karim Amar is an Egyptian blogger who has been arrested and sentenced to four years of jail because of his critical writings and position.
This is a scandalous case of repression here in Egypt, among 1000.
Everybody should sign the petition.
To be aware of the complexity of the affair and learn more about the Egyptian activists' blogosphere, check the following links:
www.freekareem.org
www.sandmonkey.org
www.omraneya.net
www.manalaa.net
http://arabist.net
Accordingly to the Talking Head principle here is our contribution.This a sample of the post that Kareem published on the 23th October 2005 and that led him into jail. (see the english translation of karim's whole post HERE)
Karim Amar is an Egyptian blogger who has been arrested and sentenced to four years of jail because of his critical writings and position.
This is a scandalous case of repression here in Egypt, among 1000.
Everybody should sign the petition.
To be aware of the complexity of the affair and learn more about the Egyptian activists' blogosphere, check the following links:
www.freekareem.org
www.sandmonkey.org
www.omraneya.net
www.manalaa.net
http://arabist.net
Accordingly to the Talking Head principle here is our contribution.This a sample of the post that Kareem published on the 23th October 2005 and that led him into jail. (see the english translation of karim's whole post HERE)
March 09, 2007
Ash about CTH & freedom of speech
I’m quite sure that Teeth & Tongue won’t have any problem by repeating activists’ statements. But to build the conditions through which one could spread out insults against religion, religious people or against the government may be dangerous. If they want to be asking for trouble with you, they will do. Generally the amount of reasons to sue you is so wide and at the same time so intransparent that you never know. Moreover the Egyptian society is not used to surf on the web but for searching for pornography, chats or contacts with girls. The few web users interested in political issues are the activists. Regarding the blogosphere the government wanted to make a case of Kareem, because in its perspective an increasing number of activists were going too far on the web. Well-educated, bourgeois are leading this growing but still little scene that could be able with the help of the capital to change the political order. The point with Kareem is that he has been assuming his words at the court. It would have been very easy to avoid the condemnation, because one hardly establish the responsibility of a web-based statement. If Teeth & Tongue now ask me if with their audioblog they add a web-based tool in favour of freedom of speech, I would say no. It’s a kind of joke. They make abstraction out of serious things, perhaps in order to show the beauty of the language, but this trick remains an ironical one. Of course it’s a way to say things indirectly and people love it. It reminds me of a show we have here with this guy who can perfectly imitate Sadat’s voice while saying bad things about Israel. People laugh about it but however it still transmits a clear political message. One may consider it as a hint to the work of the bloggers, if not as a contribution. But now if they want me to read a Kareem’s text in order to repeat it afterwards, I’ll accept. No problem. I hope I would then become a refugee in their country.
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