The horrific incidents went unreported by the local media, except for Al-Masry Al-Youm which published an article about it yesterday based on the bloggers’ testimonies. MP Mustafa Bakri has submitted questions to the government today about the incidents, while the Interior Ministry is claiming nothing happened, as always.
Karam Gabr, the paper’s editor is claiming Wael is fabricating the incidents using his “sick fantasies”, and started the usual overdose of flag-waving with accusations of “defaming Egypt’s image” BS.
Gabr is the same guy who back in the summer was claiming that Mohamed Sharqawi was also fabricating stories about his torture and sexual abuse.
Shame on you Rosa! And as for you Gabr, your seat in President Gamal Mubarak’s Ministry of Truth is surely waiting…
Click on the pic below to watch a slideshow of the clashes…
Above: A criminal thug, armed with knife, brought to campus by pro-government students to participate in the assaults on opposition activists. Photo taken by MB students
And where was the University’s Security, which Minister of Education Dr. Hani Helal described in today’s Al-Masry Al-Youm as “without it, we would have been screwed”? (I’m not joking. That’s the quote.) NO WHERE! The security did not intervene to stop the assaults, and actually aided them. Under their watchful eyes that those herds of Baltaggiya were allowed into campus.
I’ve spoken with Emad Mubarak, the director of the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression, who follows abuses against students closely, and he said this year the government is not taking it lightly at all with the SU elections. “Already the intimidations started before Eid,” he said. “Posters were torn down several times before, but for two days this bloodshed has went out of control. Three students at least have been hospitalized with serious injuries. This exposes what sort of lies the minister of education is spreading in the press about freedoms on campuses.”
UPDATE: Here’s also a report from the Socialist Students’ blog.
UPDATE: Protests at Helwan University after security banned MB candidates from running.
The Center for Socialist Studies will hold a seminar on Discrimination against Copts in Egypt, Friday 3 November.
The First Session, 1pm to 2:30 pm: The Roots of the Problem
The session will try to situate the historical roles of the parties involved, the Egyptian state, Coptic Church, and the Coptic masses, within the socio-economic and political contexts. The session will try to answer questions including: Did the rise of political Islam trigger a sectarian polarization? Is the state a neutral arbitrator or part of the problem? Is the Coptic Church confronting the current status quo, or reinforcing it?
The Second Session, 3pm to 4:30pm, The Stand towards the Coptic Question:
This session will shed light on the class factors and stands of different political tendencies towards the Coptic Question and the alternatives for emancipation. The role of the Diaspora Copts will be discussed, together with questions regarding: Is the Secular State a solution? How do the Muslim Brothers deal with the concept of “citizenship”?
The Third Session, 5pm to 6:30pm, Developing a Leftist View of the Coptic Question
The Seminar will be attended by representatives of different political tendencies. The Center is located 7 Mourad Street, Giza.
(Above: Security agents breaking the leg of a Coptic protestor, during Alexandria’s sectarian rioting last April. Photo by Nasser Nouri)
1-2:30 ظهرا
الجلسة الأولى : جذور المشكلة
تتناول هذه الجلسة بØØ« وتØليل لجذور مشكلة التمييز الديني Ù�ÙŠ مصر مشتملا على الدور الذي لعبته، وما زالت تمارسه الدولة Ù�ÙŠ مقابل دور الكنيسة وجماهير الأقباط وذلك Ù�ÙŠ إطار التطورات الاقتصادية، والاجتماعية والسياسية التي شهدتها الساØØ© المصرية.
ونØاول Ù�ÙŠ هذه الجلسة الإجابة على عدة تساؤلات منها: هل أدى صعود الإسلام السياسي إلى عملية استقطاب على أساس ديني؟ أين الØقوق التي يكÙ�لها الدستور المصري لأقباط من ممارسات الدولة؟ الدور الذب لعبته الكنيسة Ù�ÙŠ تعزيز الوضع القائم أو مواجهته؟
3:00-4:30:مساء
الجلسة الثانية: الموق� من مسألة الأقباط
تØاول هذه الجلسة إلقاء الضوء على المواقÙ� المختلÙ�Ø© من المسألة القبطية والØلول المطروØØ© للتعامل معها. ÙˆÙ�ÙŠ هذا الإطار Ù†Ø·Ø±Ø Ø¹Ø¯Ø¯ من القضايا مثل الدور الأمريكي وعلاقته بأقباط المهجر. وكذلك البعد الطبقي لهذه المسألة. ÙˆØªØ·Ø±Ø Ø§Ù„Ø¬Ù„Ø³Ø© أسئلة ملØØ© منها: هل الدولة العلمانية هي الØل؟ كيÙ� بتعامل الأخوان المسلمين مع Ù…Ù�هوم المواطنة؟
5:00-6:30 مساء
الجلسة الثالثة تطوير رؤية يسارية من المسألة القبطية
تركز هذه الجلسة على إجابة السؤال التالي: هل هناك رؤية يسارية موØدة Øول مسألة التمييز الديني؟
يشارك �ي الجلسات ممثلون من مختل� القوى السياسية، وذلك �ي مقر المركز : 7 شارع مراد- الجيزة
Hassan is still locked up at this moment.
Meanwhile, 25 transportation workers are currently on a sit in inside the Federation’s HQ, protesting the hassels they are facing from the union bureaucracy in issuing their “candidacy certificate” (one of the red tape procedures a union candidate has to go through). And 13 other left-leaning workers from the Helwan steel mills have been eliminated from the candidacy list by State Security.
Workers For Change are calling for a demo, Monday 1 pm in front of the Public Prosecutor office in Ramses St., to protest the violations by the security services.
UPDATE: Mohamed Hassan has been released, after he was kept for three hours in police custody.
The Center is located 7 Mourad Street, Giza.
Hassan was detained by State Security in Arish on 7 September, then transferred to Bourg el-Arab prison in Alexandria, with no access to lawyers or family visits. His two brothers Wael and Mohamed have been taking refuge in the Tagammu’s office in Arish, after State Security officers threatened to kill them.
For more background on the Abdallahs’ case, check the following posting: Sinai Torture Fields.
Mabrouk ya Hassan…
The booklet is in Arabic, and provides a Marxist analysis of Egypt’s largest Islamist opposition group, and outlines the Socialist strategy vis a vis it.
A must read… الإخوان المسلمون: رؤية اشتراكية… تأليÙ� Ø³Ø§Ù…Ø Ù†Ø¬ÙŠØ¨
The feature was co-written back on 13 October, but only went online two days ago.
I have also uploaded to my flickr account some historical photos of el-Banna, that we obtained from the Brotherhood.
