Tag: egypt

Nearly 300 teens arrested on Cairo’s streets for harassment

Completely surreal:

Egyptian police announced Wedneday they had arrested more than 550 teenagers suspected of sexually harassing girls outside schools in several Cairo districts in a single day. The culprits were awaiting interrogation and trial Thursday.

The police launched an extensive clampdown targeting stores and internet cafes near schools. Security forces raided six internet cafes that did not have permits, and another five that played pornographic videos for truants, according to a statement issued by the Cairo Security Department on the day of the crackdown.

After many families complained about girls being targeted outside schools in several neighborhods the head of the Cairo Investigations Bureau, General Farouk Lashin, launched a campaign against sexual harassment, an interior Ministry source told AlArabiya.net.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that most of the harassers were between 16 and 18 years old.

According to the source police launched an earlier campaign that resulted in the arrest of almost 300 people for harassment in Cairo streets.

And I’m sure these arrests have nothing to do with the fact that Egypt has become so synonymous with sexual harassment that it’s become a major topic of discussion in newspapers, the topic of travel warnings in foreign newspapers, and of course that it’s reached the ears of a certain First Lady.

The authorities are serious about making sure that boys behave themselves? Great. But this looks like the random arrest of the first youths that came across zealous officers, probably many of them the usual suspects who get arrested every time there’s a crime in their neighborhood, and this will be a one-off action on the part of authorities that won’t ever be followed through with awareness campaigns and a more consistent to preventing and punishing harassment. I hope to be proved wrong on this, but I won’t be holding my breath.

Let them grope cake

Mama Suzanne says this harassment stuff is all made up:

CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian first lady Suzanne Mubarak has played down allegations of rampant sexual harassment in her country, accusing the media, and implicitly Islamist militants, of exaggerating the reports.

“Egyptian men always respect Egyptian women,” the pro-government Al-Ahram newspaper on Friday quoted the wife of President Hosni Mubarak as saying in remarks aired on Thursday by Al-Arabiya television.

The Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights (ECWR) released a survey earlier this year showing that 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women in Egypt are sexually harassed.

“This gives the impression that the streets in Egypt are not safe. That is not true… The media have exaggerated,” Mubarak said.

“Maybe one, two or even 10 incidents occurred. Egypt is home to 80 million people. We can’t talk of a phenomenon. Maybe a few scatterbrained youths are behind this crime.

“And maybe some people wanted to make it seem as though the streets of Egypt are not safe so girls and women stay at home. This could be their agenda,” she said in a reference to Islamist militants.

Of course, in her own experience, when she goes out on the street in her motorcode surrounded by bodyguards and soldiers, no one EVER gropes her. So it must apply to all other women in Egypt.

Sinai’s bedouins have had enough

Since the 2004 attack on the Taba Hilton and the subsequent massive round-up of Sinai bedouins by Egypt’s security apparatus, the situation of Sinai’s bedouin population has gone from bad to worse. Already a marginalized group that has been even more left by the wayside by the government than Nile Valley Egyptians, Sinai bedouins have had to endure humiliating police abuse, detention without trial, and countless other abuses. Living in a poor area of the country under direct military rule, seeing the development of luxury resorts like Sharm al-Sheikh without reaping much of the profits they generate, some have even turned to remember the days of Israeli occupation of Sinai as a golden age. What worse indictment of the Mubarak era, for a president whose great claim is that he was the man who recovered Sinai, that a year or so ago young bedouins staged a symbolic march to the Israeli border? Now, as Egypt collaborates with Israel and the US to close down the smuggling tunnels to Gaza (one of the main sources of income in Eastern Sinai), they turn against the state. The signs have been coming for a while: is any of this a surprise?

Also see:

Three Bedouins Killed In Police Clashes
Armed Clashes Between Security And Tarabeen Tribe In Sinai Detain 25 Officers And Soldiers For Hours

For background and root causes see the International Crisis Group report Egypt’s Sinai Question.

Chronicles of a Refugee

n37427001486_2990.jpg

Chronicles of a Refugee is a 6-part documentary film series looking at the global Palestinian refugee experience over the last 60 years. Through the voices of Palestinian refugees, the first three episodes recount the experiences of Palestinian refugees since 1947. They are more historical and informative, presenting an almost comprehensive review of 60 years of dispossession. Continue reading Chronicles of a Refugee

At the Townhouse Gallery

_newsletter2_november_lapdogs_big.gif

LAPDOGS OF THE BOURGEOISIE

Featuring the artists
Annika Eriksson
Chris Evans
Dirk Fleischmann / Michele di Menna
San Keller
Hassan Khan
Natascha Sadr Haghighian
Marion von Osten.

Curated by Nav Haq and Tirdad Zolghadr

To what extent does class play a role in the production and dissemination of contemporary art? Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie is a project touring internationally from 2006 to 2009, investigating how and whether the ideology of socioeconomic background still defines your artworld career, and to which point such a career might consolidate the ideologies in question. In short, the notion of class is the thematic touchstone of the project, and yet the idea is not to use contemporary art to explore class structures in society at large. Rather, the project hopes to develop a sense of art world reflexivity, tracing hegemonic patterns within the field itself.

I thought this was funny. I hope it was intended that way. More details here.

New book on Egypt, “Egypt between democracy and Islamism”

Another new book about Egypt in the twilight of the Mubarak era has come out:


"L’Egypte entre démocratie et islamisme : Le système Moubarak à l’heure de la succession" (Jean-Noël Ferrié)

I haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet, but from the blurb it looks at how the “Mubarak system” works and its success in preventing a much-anticipated social explosion. For a look a Ferrié’s approach to Egypt, see this article [PDF], from November 2006.

That French Jimmy interview

For those who missed it, below is a Word file with the transcript of the Gamal Mubarak interview that appeared in the French review Politique Internationale. Nothing amazing but some interesting personal touches.

B. A. et P. D. – Dans quel état d’esprit avez-vous grandi ? 

 
G. M. – Comme beaucoup de mes compatriotes, j’ai su très vite, enfant déjà, ce que signifiait être fils de militaire. Mon père était officier de l’armée égyptienne. J’ai appris le sens de l’honneur et j’en connais plus que jamais la portée aujourd’hui. Je voudrais ajouter que ma génération est composée de milliers d’Égyptiens qui, comme moi, ont été marqués par la guerre : leur père, leur oncle, des membres proches de leur famille ont participé aux différents conflits qui ont jalonné l’histoire de l’Égypte durant les années 1960 et 1970. Cette expérience les aide à apprécier la paix à sa juste valeur…


B. A. et P. D. – Est-il difficile de se faire un prénom quand on a un père aussi éminent que le vôtre ?

 
G. M. – En réalité, ce genre de considération est secondaire. Ce qui compte, pour moi, c’est de travailler et de poursuivre les réformes engagées. C’est aux Égyptiens et aux membres du PND de se prononcer : ai-je réussi parce que je suis le fils du président ou en raison de mes compétences ? Lorsque je suis entré en politique, il y a sept ans, j’ai voulu prouver que j’étais capable de participer au processus de réformes. J’espère y être parvenu.

Drouhaud_GamalMoubarak_PolitiqueInternationale_Sep2008.doc

Update: Now also in PDF:
Drouhaud_GamalMoubarak_PolitiqueInternationale_Sep2008.pdf

Eissa released by Mubarak

Boss Hosni has ordered the release of al-Destour editor Ibrahim Eissa, who was recently jailed for writing this:

The president in Egypt is a god and gods don’t get sick. Thus, President Mubarak, those surrounding him, and the hypocrites hide his illness and leave the country prey to rumors. It is not a serious illness. It’s just old age. But the Egyptian people are entitled to know if the president is down with something as minor as the flu.

But Mubarak is most misericordious and most merciful, is He not?