Welcome back, Transit

TRANSIT is back… yaaaaaaaaaaaay

Thanks to everyone who had a role in this,

and welcome back Transit.

A Lost Voice

For the past – almost – year, I have had the honor of participating in a very enlightening project supported, moderated, and based by Goethe Institute in Cairo which is Transit!

Through Transit, I was able to exchange experiences, thoughts, and even questions and worries with a different – yet rich – group of Arab and German bloggers.

My work was read in both Arabic and German in the time when speaking up was a challenge.

I was given the bless of the voice!

Then suddenly the blog, all the posts, everything was gone!

No one can confirm if this is related to the recent attack against NGO’s and support systems in Egypt for the freedom of speech, especially that foreigners were targeted more than others.

I am here sending a request to everyone who can help spreading the word that there was a window for screaming voices and broken dreams of people fighting injustice, tyranny and corruption … is lost!

And I ask you to do whatever you can to help

Thanks

MMW - I Wear the Hijab… So?

Last month, Egyptian journalist Dalia Rabie had an enlightening experience when she was banned from joining her own birthday party at one of Cairo’s fancy restaurants, L’Aubergine.

Rabie relates that the guy standing on the door who stopped her asked her if the fact that she is – unfortunately – wearing hijab was mentioned prior to the reservation.

I Wear the Hijab… So?

FINALLY .. No More Sony Ericsson

So now even though Sony has bought all of Sony Ericsson all over the globe. the lovely up-to-date at-your-prompt-service admins of the official page on Facebook – which by the way is the only way for you to contact Sony Ericsson – still have no idea it was SOLD

NO MORE SONY ERICSSON!!

As in Bekh!

You can check the internet, and type Sony Ericsson on Google and you’ll get the official website which is now called SONY MOBILE … all the mobiles now on the website have only Sony written on them.

So I just for all the hypnotized admins to realize that all these mobiles now are history and that now we can finally deal with SONY only in case we need a proper cell phone!

Good luck selling your mobiles with the prices you sell with by the way!

The paradox of choice

The Country, Democracy...and Responsibility!

The responsibility of a country is not in the hands of a privileged few. We are strong, and we are free from tyranny as long as each one of us remembers his or her duty as a citizen. Speak out! Ask those questions. Demand that truth. Democracy is not a free ride, man. I'm here to tell you. But, this is where we live. And if we do our job, this is where our children will live.
Sean Penn

Marching with Dignity – “Sisters” or Not

 ere on MMW, I tried to highlight the fact that mainstream media was focusing on Islamists’ statements regarding what women wear, while, in fact, what was even more dangerous was their vision regarding women and child law. I referred in that article to quotations from Dr. Manal Abul-Hassan about allowing female genital mutilation, and to Abul-Hassan’s description of child protection laws as simply an imitation of the West (and therefore bad or unnecessary).

Dr. Manal Abul-Hassan. Image via Asharq Al-Awsat

Turns that Dr. Abul-Hassan, media professor in October 6^th University in Cairo, has even more to say about Egyptian women.

Marching with Dignity – “Sisters” or Not

And Justice Should Be Served!

Police officer who video-shot “hunting” protestors eyes was cleared!

Sayeda Zainab police officers accused of murdering the martyrs were cleared!

Mubarak endless trial!

Whoever follows the news of the legal aspect of this revolution will always be frustrated. Between the cases which were built really weak and the cases that lacked professional legal assistance, a lot of cases were dropped someone between the papers in people’s memory as “Do you even believe in Egyptian Judiciary System? ”

Problem with such cases is not the revolution. It’s that very simple fact that when  human life is intentionally taken away, there has to be consequences and the state – any state – is responsible for proper investigation and making sure someone is blamed and punished – legally of course!

Such justice is not a political demand at all, it’s pure social one.

Does anyone seriously expect a father who lost his son, had to run between morgues, to finally find his body with whatever bullets poking his body, to shut up and forget about it?

Do you think a brother will be able to go on with his life when every time he sleeps he has to see his little brother hot body in some morgue on the floor, and to remember that he had to run between offices to be allowed to bury him?

Is it even possible?

Is it fair?

Is this stability?

What would happen when each one who lost someone decides to completely lost belief in our judicial system? When everyone finally realizes that if you want something right to be done, he has to do himself?

When I call for fair trials, it is not about the political battle. It is that I am praying to God someone in this country wake up and see that unless murderers in this country get locked, we are looking ahead to a bloody war… and no one will be able to stop it!

Justice is not about revenge, it’s about keeping the outlines of a safe societies where law is what defines everything. And fighting for justice is fighting for peace.

I don’t want to see Egypt 20 or 30 years from and watch the war between sons of police officers – and military for that matter – and sons of the people who were murdered!

Forget your political affiliation for a minutes and think of the ramifications of clearing a police officer whose videos shooting people were all over the internet?

On what wishful high hopes do you think someone will forget that?

Or do you prefer it the other way? His photo with the word “wanted” all over the country and he has to either hide forever or leave for good!

 Even if someone breaks the law, he has rights! Yes, and these rights are not questionable or depending on our modes and how we see things.

He breaks the law, he gets arrested by the law, investigated by the law and tried by the law!

Even if he resists arrest, there is a law for that. You warn for few times then if you absolutely have to do it, you just prevent him by shooting his leg,

…not his eye,

…not his chest,

…not his chin!

If we want to protect this country from a civil bloody war, we all should pray, work and advocate for justice to be served!

Source

Source

2011; The year of love, war, and peace!

I started writing this post like I do every year, but in the middle I found out it could not be summed up in one post.

This one was written while listening to an incredibly beautiful violin played by Marwan Anwer

1-    Before Jan 25^th

I started last year as I ended the year before; exhausted, drained, and frustrated.  Pure survival instinct – of no choice of mine – was the only reason I woke up every day.

First day was so sad, following the news of those who were murdered in the two saints church, and it was not the first time I think like “How would it be if I was one of them?”

Thinking about death consumed a lot of my time. especially that I was on a Christmas vacation at work. I had all the time in the world to be so sure that there is something seriously going on wrong in my life.

Emptiness has started to invade my soul, and the void inside my heart to grow that it was really hard to breath. I used to eat to imagine food swallowed in the void taking any space to free my lungs… it didn’t happen. I felt fat, I felt heavy!

Loss of purpose was getting into me till I decided to leave. Not to a fancy country or to look for a nice job. I applied to be an emergency doctor in literally every war zone on the face of the planet; Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria during the conflicts… etc

The idea of either dying or living saving someone else’s life was so relieving that I spent hours day dreaming about it to survive a day!

I came back to work from the Christmas vacation to figure out that where I work is just one more place in Egypt where everything wring is OK. They deducted from my salary and started to give me their “Egyptian Employers” best!

I knew that day that this was just one more job where I have to suck it up and endure. Problem was I was already maxed out!

Two days before the revolution, I was invited to a friend’s birthday. She’s not the type of friends whom you call every day, or every month for that matter. But she’s one of those with whom you meet every now and then to share few tears and some laughs and go back to your life!

I was the normal me during that birthday; talking with people, playing the role of the organizer being invited to do so, giving my most attention to blow colorful bubbles with a baby, and laughing on jokes.

Didn’t know that day would be one of the most important days of my life!

Next day, I went to work, and was called by the HR to get paid cause the 25^th – when we normally got paid – was going to be a holiday.

I took the money, and left thanking God for one more day of the nothingness!

Play online and fight hunger!!

MMW: What Women Wear: Women’s Clothing, Media, and Egypt’s Revolutionary Elections

Women in the Egyptian revolution have been a great source of international attention and appreciation. It is when women participate that you truly can call it a “people’s” revolution.

When the news started to come out about the elections for the Revolutionary Parliament, everyone looked closely for women’s participation; women candidates, women voters, women section in each party program, and women finally winning seats in the parliament. With the general fear from the dominance of the so-called Islamic parties affecting women rights in Egypt in general, and political participation specifically, and with the minimal success of women in the first stage, worries started to get bigger.

More