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What is wrong with Al Wafd Newspaper ?

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Last night the leaked first page of the weekly issue Al Wafd newspaper took the Egyptian twitter world by storm with its extreme anti-Field Marshal Tantawy headlines, yet in the morning we found out that the weekly issue of Al Wafd in the newsstand was a bit different than what is leaked online.

Here is the issue of Thursday as it was online
As you can see it was completely different.
And here was a new related to Field Marshal Tantawy on the first page , a positive one.

Oddly enough there is a screen shot of that leaked anti-Field Marshal Tantawy issue at the Wafd.org domain !?  

Interesting enough this issue is different when it comes to that box in the middle of the page , there are no names in that editorial box  in the first page , there are not editor in chief or CEO and this is quite interesting.
 The admin of SCAF official page on FB slammed New Al Wafd party and the newspaper demanding answers for these headlines working to create a drift between the people and the army !! He hinted interestingly to the splits creating taking place in the old liberal party indirectly.


Let The US presidential elections circus start !! Double fun with the Egy Elections circus and US presidential circus !!

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Aside from the politics in Egypt , I can’t ignore these remarks about Turkey by GOP potential presidential candidate Rick Perry who boldly described the AKP government there as Islamist terrorist government !!!!!!!
I think Perry should watch couple of Turkish TV series before he would speak !! I do not think that Perry has been to Turkey lately and there is no doubt that his information is from the right wing media biased to Israel .
Updated : Rick Perry announced yesterday that he withdrew from the race to endorse another racist Newt Gingrich.
I waiting for the GOPs candidates views especially about Egypt in the upcoming debates , it will be fun.
Of course we have our share from right wing presidential candidates on our side of the world like Sheikh Hazem Salah Abu Ismail. Abu Ismail made many eyebrows to raise when he said in some popular conference he held last week in El Marg when announced that the Zionist lobby in the States is waiting to know his fate in the Egyptian presidential elections in order to see who can be the next president of the States !! He also added that if he wins , then Obama will continue in his place !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well sheikh Abu Ismail must know that the Americans have already made their scenarios !!
The scary thing is that Sheikh Hazem Abu Ismail has got a huge popularity especially outside Cairo thanks to his role as a religious man. Already Al Shorouk’s famous cartoonist Amr Salim was under fire from making fun from Abu Ismail statements.
Amr Salim's cartoon
The man tells his wife :
It is fortunately that we have Sheikh Abu Ismail after they stopped the comic TV shows of Dr. Tawfik.
It is harsh but unfortunately a man with the popularity of Abu Ismail competing for the president of Egypt’s position should be careful for what he says. Of course you can imagine the anger of the Salafist front and other movements on how dare the newspaper to criticize his holiness !!
Well unfortunately this is how it is going to be as a politician , he is not a prophet nor a holy man for God sake !! He is a politician now and if he can’t take it he should withdraw. He should be ready for the jokes about him from now !!

#Masrena : Let have the presidential race start after the parliamentary elections

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Referendum says civilian constitution
Masrena movement has issued an important statement last Thursday calling SCAF to open the registration for the presidential elections right after the end of Shura council elections on February 28,2012.
The movement announced in its statement that it surveyed its registered members “over 10 thousands” and more than 70% agreed on that suggestion.
This is suggestion already goes with the constitutional declaration issued in March 2011 after a popular and successful referendum , the constitution declaration which SCAF has totally ignored its results. According to the constitutional declaration we should have the parliamentary elections followed by presidential elections followed by drafting the constitution declaration.
The SCAF roadmap says parliamentary elections followed by drafting the constitution followed by presidential elections in June 2012. Already earlier this month one of the SCAF commanders stated that the registration for the presidential elections will be opened in April 2012.
If the registration for the presidential elections started on February 28,2012 we can have early presidential elections in May 2012.
The first session of the Shura council will be held on February 28,2012 according to the current roadmap adopted.
I support this suggestion and I think this suggestion should get wider support from more people.
On the other hand I can’t ignore the success of Masrena’s “revolution’s chains” as it managed to transfer the revolution from Tahrir square once again to different streets in Cairo and outside it despite the cold weather.
“Revolution’s chains” are simply silent stands along the vital streets where participants hold banners with slogans calling for democracy and the transfer of power to defend the revolution.
Here is Masrena’ FB page with the dates of the “Revolution’s chains” across the country.

Updated :

And the team that wants the people’s assembly to demand power from SCAF did not give up yet !! Here is an invitation in my district calling people to present a petition to our MP Dr. Amr El Shobaky to demand power from SCAF !!
I have one question : The parliament is a legislative authority while presidency is executive authority , if the parliament takes the power of president , won’t this be a contradiction of power !? 

What is the Source of that image ?

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This image showing Gamal Mubarak helping his father minutes allegedly before one of his speech during the 18 days of the revolution.

Father and Son

Those who are sharing it say it is from the American “Times” magazine “!!” , of course there is only one American “Time” Magazine and I can’t find this photo in its website.

I do not think it was published at the Times or NY Times also ,  I think it was leaked from Egypt after all.

If you know the source of the image , please tell us kindly what it is just for history.

US presidential elections circus : Teach Iran a lesson to send a message to the Egyptians

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She has to cry

One thing for sure the GOP candidates need good geopolitics lessons before they speak. Here is another GOP Rick in the race who got interesting views about the Islamists , Middle east as well Egypt yet unlike Rick Perry that Rick , Rick Santorum is advancing in the GOP presidential elections race. 

Rick Santorum believes that the US should send to the emerging Islamists in the countries of Arab Spring especially Egypt by giving a good lesson to Iran !! 

Santorum believes that despite Mubarak was a bloody dictator yet the Stateds sacrificed him to deal some radical Islamists , at least the States knew how to deal with Mubarak "Do not give a damn to the people of Egypt and their suffering despite they are more important than Mubarak"

It is worth to mention that Santorum attacked Obama on February 10th,2011 for supporting the Egyptian protesters against Mubarak ,the ousted president got a friend. He also described the Muslim brotherhood as A terrorist group as Al Qaida , the former senator does not know that US Ambassador Peterson has visited te supreme guide of the brotherhood at their fancy HQ in Cairo last week where she admitted that the US did some mistakes in the past !!

 

Syrian Revolution : Idlib Massacre !! “+18 Graphic”

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Idlib witnessed a massacre today with over 90 Syrians have been killed in clashes , explosion and God knows out !!  94 Syrian have been killed in the city of Idlib today !!

Here are extremely graphic footage showing bodies of Syrians killed today in Idlib at the city’s state hospital.

Idlib : The state hospital’s morgue-1
Idlib : The state hospital’s morgue-2

The Free Syrian army is fighting all day the Syrian Arab army in Douma , Reef Dimshaq. There has been rumors that the Free Syrian army has controlled the city but the activists denied it. From what I understood the clashes between the two armies are now all over the Reef Dimshaq governorate in several towns and cities.

Updated :

Now there is a rumor that the Free Syrian army has kicked the Syrian Arab army from the city of Douma in Reef Dimshaq.

There is no secret now that Qatar began to support the Free Syrian army , I will assume that Saudi Arabia is doing the same thing. The Syrian National council is demanding the LAS to refer the file of Syria to the Security council. I hate this game of Nations and powers when it comes to beloved Syria.

According to some newspaper I read from two weeks ago the United States is not pushing Bashar El Assad  to step down before it knows where that emerging revolutionary Arab world or rather Middle East is heading to. The US administration is waiting for the revolution especially in Egypt and Tunisia especially Egypt based on the relation with Israel to be accurate.

This is unfair without doubt and I believe whether this is true or not , it is not up to the States and El Assad but rather the the Syrian people along with God’s will.

Another thing I think I should clarify that LAS Secretary general Nabil El Araby’s only daughter Mai is not the wife of Rami Makhlouf , Mai El Araby is the wife of businessman tycoon of Citadel capital. Nevertheless there are business relations between Ahmed Heikal and his brother Hassan with Makhlouf because in Syria you must pass through him with out doubt. By the way a little tip SODIC and Mansour Amar got projects in Syria as well.

#Egyelections : The results of the people’s assembly elections 2012

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And the HCE has finally announced the final results of the people’s assembly elections , the first part of the parliamentary elections on Saturday , we finally got the final results of the three stages and here they are :

Hopefully I doing it right.

1- Freedom and Justice party got 228 seats in general.

  • Freedom and Justice party got 109 individual seats and 119 list seats.
  • Al Amal party “member of the FJ party alliance” got one seat
  • Al Hadra party “member of the FJ party alliance” got two seats { Mohamed El Sawy got one of these seats }
  • Nasserist El Karma “members of FJ party alliance got 6 seats
  • Al Wafd defected member Dr. Wahid Abdel Magid got one seat.
  • Accordingly FJ party and its alliance have got 45.7% of the seats, they can’t form a majority “50%+1” and they have to form an alliance.

2- Al Nour Salafist party and Al Nour list got 123 seats

  • Al Nour party and its list only have got seats 24.6% of the seats
  • Al Nour party got 25 individual seat only “This is extremely interesting and shows that they do not have an edge on the individual like in the lists”
  • Al Nour party list which includes Al Nour and two other Salafist parties got 113 seat.  Al Nour party got 98 seats while the other two parties got 15 seats only.
  • The Al Nour party got 108 seats accordingly “both individual and list seats”

3- Al Wafd part and lists got 42 seats

  • Al Wafd party and its list only have got 8.4% of the seats
  • Al Wafd lists got 40 list seats “The list seats saved them”
  • Al Wafd party got 2 individual seats only.

4- The Egyptian bloc got 33 seats

  • The Egyptian bloc got 6.6% of the seats
  • The Egyptian bloc got 32 list seats and one individual seat !!
  • The Egyptian Social Democratic party list got 16 list seat
  • The Free Egyptians party got 14 seats in the lists seincluding the individual seat of Downtown Cairo district “Mohamed Abu Hamed”
  • Socialist El Tagammou got 3 seats in the lists seat

5-The Development and reform party and list got 10 seats

  • The Development and reform party got 2% of the seats
  • The Development and reform party got 9 list seats
  • The Development and reform party got one single seat. “ Mohamed Anwar El Sadat seat in Monfia”

6- Al Wasaat party and list got 9 list seats

7-The Revolution continues list got 8 lists seats

8-The ex-NDP parties got 14 seats

  • The Egyptian citizen party and the National Egyptian party got 10 seats while “The freedom party” got 4 parties.

9-The Union party got 2 seats

10-El Adl party , El Salam party , The Egyptian Arabic federation party , El Arabi Nasserite party got one seat

Now by the Islamists parties including FJ Part and Al Nour party have got about 351 out of 498 seats in the people’s assembly “70.4%”.More analysis tomorrow insh Allah.

El Manaway’s book , we should have seen this coming

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And Abdel Latif El Manawy is back once again to the scene celebrating the #Jan25 Revolution in his own way , by publishing a book in London about those 18 days from inside the Mubarak regime’s camp using the magical “Tahrir” word.
The new book of the former head of the infamous news sector in the Egyptian TV is called “Tahrir : the last 18 days of Mubarak” and I do not know if he will dedicate a whole chapter about the amount of lies his news sector aired through out the 18 days.
You know this will sell in the west without doubt !! You can read about the book in Times , unfortunately the Times is not free to browse thanks to Robert Murdoch but thankfully El Manawy published what was written about his new book in his twitter account.  “Here is also a copy from what is published in the Times at the Australian
To be honest I do not believe some of the parts like for instance how Suzanne broke down !!
Bakry's book with its ugly cover
El Manawy’s new twitter account is only made for public appearances in London as far as I could tell , of course I hope that he opens a direct discussion with the tweeps because I think we all have a lot of questions about many things beyond the news sector starting with the Soad Hosni for instance. 
We are in the Tahrir inspired books written by former regime writers , already from earlier we found Mostafa Bakry the former Pro-Mubarak and current Pro-SCAF publishing a book called “The army and the revolution : From Tahrir square to Victory !!” with details that make you wonder if the army or rather field marshal Tantawy were the brain behind the #Jan25 after all !!
I think El Manawy and Bakry should have a lit longer , at least till we forget their past for a while !!
Aside from El Manawy and Mostafa Bakry , we got the legendary Haikel who has just published book called “Mubarak , his time from the Nasr city podium to Tahrir square”.
You can read excerpts of Haikel’s new book here.
Unlike El Manawy and Bakry , there is no doubt that Haikel has been written that book about Mubarak and his era for years waiting for the right the time to publish it. I believe that Haikel did not imagine that Mubarak would stay all those years.
I imagine more books about Tahrir square and the revolution will be featured at the Cairo International book Fair that will be inaugurated today

off the topic :

 Abdel Latif El Manawy has got a blog right now if you are interested in reading his opinions. Also here his wife TV host Rola Kharsa’s twitter account, Kharsa is currently working at Sadaa El Bald TV channel which is widely believed to be owned

What is taking place in Libya ?

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What is really taking place in Libya ? Yes we got a lot to care about in our home but our neighbors got a lot of noise that we should pay attention to at least for the sake of the national security not for the sake of meddling in other countries’ affairs.
The NTC seems to have very , very hard time and ironically Abdel Galil is being accused of lots of charges above them the lack of transparency. NTC Deputy chief Abdel Aziz Ghoga has resigned after the storming of the protesters including the families of the Libyan martyrs to the NTC headquarters last night.
The protesters outside the NTC

The families of the Libyan martyrs storm the NTC
Abdel Galil tried to calm down the protesters,  I wonder if Abdel Galil was the Essam Sharaf of the Libyan revolution.
Abdel Galil trying to calm down the protesters
I found this message on one of the Libyan FB pages and strangely the Libyans began to suffer from the same problems we are complaining from in Egypt ironically. It is like a copycat and what makes it worse is that the Libyans got the money !!
Making fun of NTC sounds familiar to me
What is that Supreme council of Libyan forces ? What is that Libyan SCAF ? What is that ? Already there are many questions regarding the Libyan defense policies now and actually the future of the Libyan army and its weapons. For weeks I am reading complaints from Libyans , the ordinary Libyans from the armed militias behavior on FB pages.  I do not know where is the truth regarding the reports about NATO constant control on the airports.
Needless to say Egypt has become a hot spot for smuggled Libyan army weaponry now !!
Now the Qatari and Emirati businessmen are allowed to invest in Libya without Libyan partner like in the days of Qaddafi. I do not if this is implied on all foreign investors or not. Libyans are worried from these changes and fear from monopoly. It is worth to mention that in the Gulf as I far as I know and I studied you need a local partner and that’s why we got big rich clans working in commerce aside from the oil fortune.
I just hate the fact that we are in the shade now , the only thing I know that Tantawy refused the topic of the foreign military bases in Libya as one thing of sure the people of Egypt and the Egyptian army will not accept any foreign military bases in Libya just like the Libyans.
We know the price of the Libyans have to pay for the international support will not be small. I am praying that they do not have pay more than they have paid for their battle from freedom and democracy.

Happy Yemen : Adieu Ali Abdullah Selah

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And Ali Abdullah Saleh ended his career as the president of Yemen on January ,2012 after ruling this great nation for about 33 years !!

Saleh  left Yemen today to Oman after 33 years of ruling it , Saleh has left the building indeed !! Saleh went to Oman first before heading to the States for treatment.

Saleh did not leave of course except when he got that immunity law from the parliament for him and his some of his aides , you can sense the Mubarak’s trial effect here without doubt.

Saleh asked the forgiveness of the Yemeni people if he did anything wrong in those 33 years !! wow , forgiveness is a big word indeed but one thing for sure the Yemeni people gave a lesson to the whole world about forgiveness.

Saleh asks forgiveness from the Yemeni people

Despite being one of the most armed societies in the world , things have not turned in a real civil war in Yemen thanks to its great people.

Of course the last thing Saleh has done before leaving to Oman was to promote Major General Mansour Hady to field Marshal !! Hady was the vice president and now officially he became the interim president. Yes Yemen got its own field Marshal now !!!!!!

The revolution in Yemen has got others battles to win after winning this battle against Saleh , the corporal who ruled Yemen for 33 years and dreamt once to leave the rule for his son !!

Anyhow enough of Saleh , he is from the Yemen’s past and now here is a clip made by photographer Abdel Ruhman Rajab to represent the daily life of Yemenis in those tough revolutionary days. The clip is called “Concept”

Yemen : Situation

#EPA : The first session "Updated"

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Ok ladies and gentlemen after few hours from now the first session of the Egyptian people’s assembly , our lower house of the parliament will start. It will be the first session of the people’s assembly aka our parliament “forget about Shura council” after the revolution.
Since 1866 this is from the few people’s assemblies which people actually had a choice in electing its members regardless of what you think and regardless of the violations that took place in the first democratic elections after the revolution and ousting of Mubarak in addition to the fall of the legendary NDP.
Unfortunately the official website of the Egyptian parliament is currently down , I think its administrators have got loads of data to update the website with. The administrators should know that unlike the previous website , this website will receive a lot of hits as people will follow up the new parliament.
I have already read several tweeps demanding electronic voting system in the parliament to know the exact numbers of votes. My relatives and friends are going to watch the sessions and happy to know that the Egyptian TV will make a full 24/7 channel to air the sessions. “Ironically that channel used to be Nile Drama 2”.
Indeed there will be a lot of drama. My relatives and friends are also demanding that the TV or rather the parliament to announce every session the number of members who have attended. Things have changed indeed.
This parliament includes ironically the biggest number of Christian member of parliament. Already aside from the Christian MP elected , Field Marshal Tantawy as head of SCAF “current acting president” appointed  5 Christian MPs out of 10 MPs.
This parliament also unfortunately does not have a high women participation yet I am not sad about this. There is one blind MP in this parliament , I do not know if he is the first in the history of the Egyptian parliament or not but I know he is a member of Al Nour party. There is also the first MP couple in the parliament.
Back to the first session that will be aired insh Allah in less than 24 hours from Cairo. Well here is how it will go :
  • The session will start at 11 AM
  • The first session will be headed by the oldest members of parliament and in that case I am more than proud that he will be Dr. Mahmoud El Sakka “whom I voted for during the elections in 2010”
  • It is expected that Field Marshal Tantawy will be there in the inauguration and that he will announce in a speech in front of the new parliament some thing big like for instance : lifting the emergency status.
  • The first session will witness the election of the people’s assembly’s speaker. The MB or rather FJ party got Saad El Katani as a nominee There is big competition but the MB’s long Islamist rival El Wasat got Essam Sultan as a nominee. I think El Katani has better chance.
  • There is currently big fight on who shall head the committees of the parliament and the FJ party members are everywhere.
  • Strangely there is nothing in the media on who shall head the National security committee , which is the most dangerous committee in the current time considering the facts that it allegedly supervises the army and intelligence.
  • Tomorrow there will be not less 4 marches to the parliament , it will be intense day without doubt.
  • #EPA stands for Egyptian people’s assembly as I can’t find any other proper Hash tag to use it except this.
Photos and videos will be posted it in the morning.

@11:13 AM CLT

It is on TV now , the first session transferred on aired on the channel “Sawt Al Shaab” on Egyptian TV and Nile Sat. You can watch it on Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr online as well.
The session is headed by the oldest member Dr. Mahmoud El Sakka , the undersecretaries are the youngest members in the parliament who are 28 years old Mahmoud Hamdy Ahmed of Al Nour party and 27 years old appointed MP Marian Malek.It is nice tough
El Sakka inaugurated the session with a minute of silence dedicated to the martyrs of the revolution.
Tantawy is not going to attend the first session but rather PM Ganzoury. I see some smiling faces of new elected MPs , I feel there is bad organization I see 4 veiled ladies sitting besides each other , they look like Muslim sisters “The women branch in the Muslim brotherhood”.
The Revolution continues MP are wearing yellow ribbons with “No For military trials” slogans , most of them independent and liberal candidates.
MP Hamazawy wore it
Outside the parliament the supporters of Muslim brotherhood and the Salafists are protecting it. They cheering for the MB and Salafist MP saying Allah Akbar. I fear from any clash between them and the protesters who will head later to the parliament.
The FJ party supporters : The parliament is the square

@11:38 AM CLT

The members now are saying the oath , we got over 400 members. Some of them are not saying as it is and adding what they want. It started with Ultra conservative MP Mamdouh Ismail who said that he will respect the constitution and law as long as it does not violate the Islamic Sharia then we got the pro-revolution MPs Ziad El Alimy and Al Nagar adding a pro-revolutionary parts to the oath.
El Nagar added in his oath

It is unacceptable behavior in my point of view. 

Debate about the oath.

Here is Hamzawy reading the oath.

Hamazawy reading the oath

@1:24 PM CLT

For the first time number of MPs left the first session to attend a prayer before returning back.

The FJ members applauded right after Saad El Katani swore in !!!!

Another Islamist MPs added to the oath something related to the Sharia but their microphones were muted. They are more than 3 now.

Two MPs are absent including one that was arrested after attacking police officers in Ahram area.

MOFA celebrates the #Jan25 Revolution

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The ministry of foreign affairs in Cairo is celebrating the #Jan25. “ Photo by Eman Yousry ”

It is worth to mention that before SCAF issued a decree to make #Jan25 a national day ,the Egyptian embassies already received orders to celebrated it as a national revolution day.
Whether you like it or not , we achieved something when it comes to our foreign policies thanks to the #Jan25 revolution :
  • We managed to restore back the name of Egypt in the world thanks to the revolution to its martyrs.
  • We managed to restore back some of the relations with the Nile basin countries , of course they are waiting for presidency elections to know the fate of our water crisis but at least we broke the ice. The public diplomacy was a great thing.
  • We managed to return back again to the Arab world.
  • We managed somehow to return back for awhile our relations with the Iranians , of course Nabil El Araby paid a price for it
  • We managed to be friends again with Turkey “which is extremely important to us on a national security level and please check the latest navy exercises and arms deals”
  • We managed somehow to solve some of the Palestinian issues to the end of the Shalit’s saga , despite the MOFA did not play that big role compared to the Egyptian intelligence yet both GIS and MOFA , in fact when I think about it I will say that Galid Shalit owes it to the Egyptian revolution.
  • The Egyptians abroad now have got a vote.
  • The revolutionary diplomats who issued an important statement supporting the Tahrir supporters during the Mohamed Mahmoud street clashes.
  • Despite what you may think but our young diplomats played an important role in helping our community in Libya during the revolution especially in Tripoli. Nobody mentions them.
Yes we still have got a lot of things to amend our foreign relations, we still have a lot to fix the relations between the Egyptian themselves and the Egyptian embassies but to achieve what I mentioned  in one year ,in unstable conditions without a clear foreign policy , I think we did something great.
All this we would not be achieved except for the revolution and its martyrs whom I thank God for , despite I feel sad for our martyrs and injured “who were killed and injured by other Egyptians” yet my condolence is that they are in a better place.
The last thing I want to say in this point our #Jan25 is like the key to our soft policy technique.
Do not believe those pessimistic people who tell you that we achieve nothing this year , we achieve something and we are going to achieve more and more insh Allah in the upcoming years.

#Jan25Two : It started with Marches on Jan23 !!

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While the new elected people’s assembly had its first session on Monday , there had been 4 marches moving towards the parliament with the several demands.

  • One for the economic demands including the workers demands.
  • One for the freedom of creativity and freedom of arts
  • One for the martyrs and injured rights
  • One for the revolution’s demands.

Of course none of the marches reached to the parliament because simply the security forces blocked the way to the parliament peacefully and even  if they reached there , they would have met the supporters of both the Muslim brotherhood and Salafists who cheered for their MPs and secured the parliament.

Here are photos for the marches by dear Sarah Carr.

Revolutionary parliament march by Sarah Carr

Breaking News : Status of Emergency is over on #Jan25Two

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Field Marshal Tantawy has just announced in speech aired from on TV from short awhile ago that SCAF has lifted the status of emergency except in the cases of thuggery starting on January 25,2012.

More details to come.

#Jan25Two : Tomorrow a big day

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I do not know how tomorrow will be for real in Egypt , this is how things are after the revolution unlike the past 30 years where everyday was just the same. The weather is cold and it has been raining for hours yet may be tomorrow insh Allah it will be better.
Bread, Freedom and Social justice
Now concerning tomorrow insh Allah , well the keyword  is not Tahrir square this time but rather the marches , there will be several marches in Cairo and Giza from different street and squares to Tahrir square. The most important two marches in Giza my will be the one from Mostafa Mahmoud square in Mohendessin as it will include many political figures and the one from Giza square including Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei.
The marches in Cairo and Giza
In Cairo there will be important marches , one from Al Azhar Mosque that will include the students of the late Sheikh Emad Effat at 1 PM , already January 25th, 2012 commemorates the 40th days following his murder at the Cabinet clashes last December 2011. The second one will be from Shubra , the Mina Daniel march as it is being called dedicated to the famous Christian Socialist activist Mina Daniel who was killed during the Maspero clashes.
Dr. Mohamed  ElBaradei visited the families of late Sheikh Emad Effat and Mina Daniel today.
ElBaradei at Mina Daniel's house "Sheikh Emad's poster"
There will be marches in several governorates as well. Of course to follow the news of the marches in the governorates , you can follow the hashtag “#Jan25” or “#Jan25two” as the hashtags with the names of Egypt’s governorates. A group of activists will transfer the protesters live on this US stream channel tomorrow.
The marches will gather at 12 PM/1 PM and then will head to Tahrir square , it is expected that they will reach the square at 4 PM.
Currently there are couple of thousands in Tahrir square thanks to the rain.Those thousands are chanting against Field Marshal Tantawy . On the other hand The Muslim brotherhood and Salafists supporters are there as well and as expected. The MB supporters have set up a stage in the square already chanting “One hand” replying on the anti-SCAF chants of other protesters. The MB supporters are Protecting that stage.
I do not know how things are going to be in Tahrir square , especially that the army and MB said that they will celebrate the revolution while the protesters and many political figures say there is no celebration.
By the way I do not like how Dr. ElBaradei described last year as sad.
There are tensions between some independent protesters and MB supporters as expected. I do not fear from clashes between security forces and protesters as much as the clashes between the MB and Salafists supporters and the Tahrir protesters.
Tahrir square from awhile ago
By the way the Ministry of interior issued a statement on Monday congratulating the Egyptian people for two feasts in its official Facebook page : The revolution Day and the Police Day
April 6th Youth movement and political movements are urging all the protesters tomorrow to avoid protesting in front of any security building whether security directorate or police station in order to avoid any clashes or any claims that we are thugs.
No for protesting in front of police stations
Here is a tweet by former PM Essam Sharaf who supports the peacefulness of the revolution.
Many people are worried from any clashes tomorrow , I will not lie and hide it. Banks downtown have emptied their ATMs like HSBC and NSGB. Speaking about money , the CBE has issued a Revolution memorial coin.
The memorial coin
What else ? Well nothing for now , the weather is cold and I have to get some sleep as tomorrow insh Allah will be a big long day.

#Jan25 : Live blogging For an important Day

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Good morning everybody and happy Revolution Day , oh yes it is an official national Day whether some like or not.
All respect to all our martyrs and injured , to whom we owe this day to. May Allah bless their souls :)
There is no state of emergency starting from today in Egypt except in case of thuggery which is a vague word.
It is 10:02 AM CLT , the weather is clear after long rainy night that did not stop thousands of protesters from coming to Tahrir square since last night. It is still cold though.

Tahrir square at 3 AM CLT
Here is a photo for the square from short a while ago.
At 10 AM CLT
The Muslim brotherhood supporters are still there and they have controlled almost all the entrances to Tahrir square except Talaat Harb street’s entrance.
The keyword again today is the marches.
Again you can follow live video for the different activities through out the day.


Now I am going to update this post from time to time insh Allah from Tahrir square after an hour. Follow this post and refresh it from time to time , also follow me on Twitter @zeinobia

@12:32 PM CLT

The numbers are huge and the marches have not arrived yet. The MB has mobilized its supporters and their families indeed with the flags of the brotherhood and the FJ party flags which are being sold now in the square for a price higher than the Egyptian flag "10 LE for Egyptian flag ,15 LE for the MB flag". There are FJ party souvenirs sold as well.

I think there aren't less than hundred thousands in Tahrir square.

At KFC area there are 3 stages set up one of them by the Wafd party Youth , another one by a group of independent protesters.

The Omar Abdel Rahman supporters did a march and I filmed it.

The Egyptian Red crescent doctors are there just in case with first aid backpack.l

The Egyptian museum is closed today ,it is being secured by the youth of the Egyptian museum as well undercover police personnel. Some groups offered to protect the museum but the youth of the Egyptian museum declined their offer. The undercover police told me that nobody offered help to these young volunteers.

A group of Egyptian tourists guide set up a tent beside the museum with the " coalition to support tourism" to protect the museum as well beside supporting the revolution.

The weather is hot

took tons of photos and videos already.

@2:48 PM CLT

Ok some rest.

There are nearly 7 stages now : The MB stage , the Martyrs and injured Stage , the Wafd youth stage , two liberal stages and other two I do not know to whom they belong yet.One of the liberal stages collapsed yet people continued to use it, it is the one in front of Hardee's. That stage announced that they will hold a trial for Hosni Mubarak with judges and so on in  the square then there will be a march to get him from the international health center. That stage also announced that there will be a march from Tora city to Tora prison to get the rest of the Mubarak gang and bring them to the square.

The MB stages airs patriotic songs and even held some marriage ceremony on in. The families of martyrs are extremely angry from that stage describing it as celebratory , one of the martyrs mother told me that they aren't here to celebrate. The injured hanged big banners saluting Heba El Swedi. 

A man from from Port Said made some sort of memorial for the Martyrs as a gift ,it is set up at the circular garden of Tahrir.

I recorded two video clips which actually messages from Ordinary Egyptians to Syrians. I also met a nice Algerian lady activist in Cairo who was hanging along with her friend a poster for Algerian political dissident called Muard Dahiba who was arrested in Paris,she told me that there were protests last year in Algeria but their government does not want the media to know it.

I heard that Safwat Hegazy , Alaa Al Aswany , Ahmed Maher are there , have not seen any of them. I saw the flags of Sharkia and and Suez. I do not know the news of Marches except that the march of Giza is here and big , also that ElBaradei could not continue walking in this march

The street vendors got a golden opportunity today they are even selling liver and crepe !!  There are all sort of people From all classes.

@7:57 PM CLT

At 3 PM CLT I saw the martyrs and injured stages showing the documentaries about the martyrs in a screen installed in the stage.

At 4 PM CLT I met the protesters coming from the Maadi march to Tahrir square.

At  5 PM I stood for about an hour watching the entrance of the biggest march I have seen in my life which is the Giza March , already I call some of my friends who joined me and told me that they did not reach even Kasr Al Nil bridge and they are stuck at Ahly club in Zamalak. It was big and long in a way you can’t imagine it.

The march was so big and it included all classes , it brought with it a cartoon obelisk with the names of the martyrs on it. It was put besides that memorial made by the Port Saidis.

At 6 PM I began to notice that some off the Islamists and MB supporters began to leave , there were buses waiting from them . Now according to some MB sources these members leave and other come !!

Several political movements including April 6 movement “Democratic front” and Revolutionary socialists as well the families of the martyrs and the injured will have a sit in. I do not support the sits in because they always end with disasters , the marches are much better.

The fireworks started in Tahrir square from 6 PM and there was that shift in the mood as it became more celebratory than protesting. The speakers of the MB are extremely louder at night. Their stage did not stop patriotic songs in a silly way.

I met Fardos Abdel Hamid , the famous actor who slammed the MB for their celebratory actions in the square. She is very nice lady by the way.

The Syrians were there in Tahrir square as well with their flag and their tent besides LAS where they will have a sit in for their cause.

I will write a post about it later.

There are hundreds of protesters currently at Maspero building attacking its bias media policies led by Nawara Negm and Samira Ibrahim. Hopefully it will not end tragic also. I am extremely worried about it.

The 3G connection was extremely bad so I do not know exactly what happened in the world outside Tahrir square.

Here clips I recorded on Bambuser today in the square , unfortunately I could not record more because I did not know where I could charge my iPhone battery , 3G will take more power.

Tahrir square : Part of the protests–1
Tahrir square : Part of the protests-2
Tahrir square : The Giza March

#Jan25 : From One year ago

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From one year ago I could not get to Tahrir square yet there was a big hope on January 25,2011
#Jan25 New Hope
And today this is how Tahrir square looked like on January 25,2011.
AFP : Tahrir square
I remember from year ago CSF blocked Al Galaa bridge completely.
The CSF at Galaa Bridge
Here is the Kasr Al Nil bridge today.
Source : Facebook
The big achievement of this revolution is that it brought hope back to the Egyptians and reminded them that they have got a voice the whole world will listen to.
May Allah bless the souls of the martyrs as well the lives of the injured , May Allah bless the Egyptian people even those who think that the revolution was a bad thing.

From Egyptian Chronicles’ memory :

Syrian Revolution : #Homs is under attack “graphic” and “Updated”

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The city of Homs is currently under terrible assault by Syrian Arab army “Pro El Assad army” now and I do not know what we can do know to save our families in Homs , yes they are our families in Syria.
The city is currently being shelled , it seems that there is a huge operation taking place against the people after capturing this group of Iranians in Homs. Here are some videos leaked from Homs short time ago. I can’t confirm these videos but there are sounds of heavy bombardment
Homs : From Bab Hood , you can listen to the live ammunition sounds
Homs : From Al Ansha’at area sound of shelling
Homs : From Baba Amr area , another terrible sound of shelling
The Farouk battalion following the FSA in Syria captured allegedly a unit following the Iranian Revolutionary guards in Homs today.
Homs : The captured Iranians
The Iranian and Syrian governments claim that they are tourists !! Well this is a strange time for tourism in Homs as far as I noticed !!!!!!!!!! From short awhile ago I found out that allegedly the Free Syrian army issued a warning to the Syrian government either they stop that operation immediately or they will kill those Iranians one by one.
The hospitals in Homs are demanding blood donation. The FB pages and twitter accounts are warning people not to fall in trap and go out of their homes in Homs if they listen to calls for “Jihad” from Mosques as the El Assad may want them to leave their house in order to have a massacre. Twitter and Facebook are full of terrible details , I fear that in the morning we will have a new Hama Massacre.
60 Syrians have been killed in Syria on Thursday , half of them in Homs and 10 of them are Children. The children of Karm El Zaiton , Homs are the martyrs of the day. 5 children were killed from Karm El Zaiton along with the rest of their family by the El Assad troops “+18 Graphic”
Homs : The children of Karm El Zaiton-1
Homs : The Children of Karm El Zaiton-2
Homs : The Children of Karm El Zaiton-3
I was planning to write more cheerful post on how Syria was in the heart of Tahrir square last January 25th,2012.
The Syrians in Egypt have set up another tent besides the LAS with a stage that had that replica of the famous Homs’ Horreya square. I heard later that famous Syrian activist Haytham Manna was there in Tahrir square and spoke to the public from the Syrian stage.
Yesterday I met a Syria gentleman at the Syria tent in Tahrir square who told me that Syria and Egypt are not two close countries but rather Egypt is just the extension of Syria and Syria is just the extension of Egypt. He also told me that most of the activists in this stage were from Homs.
Tahrir : Anti- El Assad folkloric songs in front of the LAS

One of the Muslim clerics said on the Muslim brotherhood stage that El Assad deserves to be killed.
Aside from the big long wonderful flag of Syria that roamed the square among the big amazing sea of Egyptian flags in a beautiful harmony , I found out that regular average Egyptians are extreme concerned about what is taking place in Syria
This video shows two average ladies , not revolutionary activists who warn El Assad of the ill fate of Qaddafi.
“One of the lady sent a message to SCAF to prove its good intention by purging corruption and Mubarak regime in Egypt”. These two ladies also do not welcome Pro-El Assad actors in Egypt especially Raghada whom they want her to be expelled as soon as possible.
#Jan25 : Two Egyptian ladies message to Syria and El Assad
The other video is a message from an ordinary Egyptian who wants to send a message to the Local coordination committees in Syria asking to follow the Egyptian example of organizing million man marches and protests instead of announcing a death toll everyday.
#Jan25: A message from Tahrir square to Syrian LLC

Of course that citizen does not know how much the LCC suffer in Syria yet his noble feelings towards Syria shows you that how much we care.
Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei is not going to Syria as it was announced in the media , it was just a suggestion.

Updated :

The statement of Farouk Battalion
The Farouk Battalion issued on Thursday a statement which is actually an ultimatum to Iran despite making clear that they respect Ali Khamenei and the battalion has not sectarian motives.  The Battalion has got one clear demand now : All the members following the Iranian Revolutionary guards have to leave Syria by January 28th “Which is tomorrow” in return of releasing the captured Iranians
The Statement says in the end that the Battalion has not declared all what it knew about the Iranian revolutionary guards to avoid embarrassment to the media.
Meanwhile in Cairo Tens of Syrians have already  arrived to Tahrir square at their Syrian stage and started to chant against El Assad.

The battle For #Maspero in #Jan25

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I apologize for my late coverage but between work and uploading tons of photos and videos , I am literally exhausted
By Yahia El Gammal
Hundreds of protesters are having that huge protest in front of Maspero , the iconic building of the Egyptian Radio and Television union “The heart and soul of state owned media” demanding the state media purge as well  the end of the military rule. The protest was big as you could see from the video below.
The numbers were big that some of the protesters managed to hold that “Kazaboon show” on the building in front of Maspero using the protector. “Paprika restaurant building if you are familiar with that area”
Yesterday a group of protesters headed to Maspero but their numbers were not big like tonight.
The traffic was cut for a while but from what I see now on TV it is back.
The protesters managed to post the “Down with military rule” using a projector on the iconic building of Maspero.
People are fed up with their lies and hypocrisy , they are demanding a real media that represent them instead of the regime or whoever rules.

 
By Sandmonkey
Now from what I understood some of the pro-revolution employees in the Nile News and Maspero in general are supporting the protests , in fact they are calling people for a sit in tomorrow at 7 PM. The pro-revolution employees protested tonight and forced the administration of the TV to transfer the protest on air. Now the major channels “Ch.1, Al Masriya and Nile News” transfer from time to time the protest live.

It is not a new movement on the contrary , it has roots since February 11st ,2011. Of course the movement gained a new power last week when the employees of the Nile News protested inside the building demanding the channel to air a documentary they made called “My name is Tahrir” in the anniversary of the revolution  “Despite it did not worth all that fuss”. The protests reached to the minister of information former Lt. General Ahmed Anis. “Who used to head the Morale department in ministry of defense”. It was not only about this documentary to be honest but about freedom of speech and the fact that many people in Maspero can’t tolerate the corruption and that silly position of minister of information.
The statement
Not only the protest made that documentary but now the minister of information has promised the employees of Nile News that the channel will be independent from the ministry’s policies since February 2012. We will see about that.
A group empolyees of ERTVU have raised the bar and issued a statement signed today demanding the cancellation of the ministry fo information and founding the EBC like the BBC in UK among other demands like have regulations for media standards in Egypt and drafting laws for freedom of expression..etc.

Here is a video showing part of the march that headed to Maspero from Tahrir square.
#Maspero : March heading to Maspero to purge media
I will not deny that I am extremely concerned ,extremely worried because I will not deny that Mina Daniel and brothers are in my mind now. I feel that we are walking in a mine field from time to time. Now I fear that someone I know from activists and protesters get killed , I am a human before anything.
Here is a live stream for the protest.
There will be another planned protest tomorrow insh Allah in front of Maspero
Here is a photo slideshow showing party of the protest by Sherif Maged El Din of E-Socialists.

#ElBaradei tweets a new transitional Plan For #Egypt

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Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei tweeted last night on Thursday a new roadmap for the transitional period in Egypt which he proposes and hopes that it will get approval from all political powers
  1. The parliament would elect an interim president.
  2. Forming a provisional assembly immediately after electing an interim president.
  3. Drafting a constitution that ensures the civility of the state and citizenship rights as well freedoms.
  4. Electing a president after drafting a constitution as now the president’s power will be specified.
  5. Electing a new parliament based on the new drafted constitution.
I think this is an attempt of Dr. ElBaradei to bridge between those who want to have a presidential elections first “including myself” , those who want the parliament to take over power and those who want the constitution first. It is a good suggestion but again there are two questions :
  • Who will be that interim president elected by the parliament ? And how we can trust the parliament in the first place and its majority party ?
  • Why would the parliament  accept this scenario when it knows that it is an interim parliament and a new parliament will be elected ?
Nevertheless I think we should discuss this roadmap carefully.
P.S I do not think that there is no country in the world that uses the social media for politics as we do in Egypt !!
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