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This is how to fight freedom of expression not terrorism actually

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After the horrifying terrorist attack in Sinai which resulted in th murder of not less than 30 army officers and soldiers Egyptian TV channels and newspapers decided to fight terrorism in its own way. First we found on Saturday that popular TV host Mahmoud Saad would no longer appear on Al-Nahar TV channel becaue the channel won't allow to those who spread rumors to spread on its screen according to a statement it issued on that same day. Saad , a pro-Jan25 TV host is considered a moderate critic of the regime right now compared to other TV hosts. Last week Mahmoud Saad criticized El-Sisi directly reminding him how he used to meet the 25 January revolution youth icons when those icons now are either in jail or abroad in self-exile or accused of treason in media.Last week Asmaa Mahfouz, the famous 25 January revolution icon was the latest revolution youth figure to be officially blacklisted after finding herself on the state's travel ban. Today after huge criticism to the channel online , Al-Nahar TV channel claimed that Saad's show had not been suspended but according to my sources it was suspended on Saturday. May be Al-Nahar TV channel got some warning from Mount Olympus, already Saad was the last criticising voice and is needed to create some pseudo-balance in the channel.


It is worth to mention that almost all the Pro-Jan25 TV hosts are longer on TV like Reem Magued and Yosri Fouda as well Bassem Youssef.
Earlier Today on Sunday at the once liberal Al-Wafd Party a group of editors in chief led by none other than Pro-Mubarak/Pro-Military journalist Mustafa Bakry announced that they supported the state in its war against terrorism. They won't the statements of terrorist organizations in their newspapers according to their announcement. Checking the list of names attending that meeting , one can see that they are all the Pro-regime journalists.

Of course I do not expect to find in those newspapers any article or in-depth report or op-ed discussing or heavens forbid criticzing the security and military strategy adopted in Sinai and its impact on the people there or its results.

Today A Cairo court has sentenced a group of 25 activists and protesters 3 years in jail and LE10,000 fine for breaking the protest law. That group of activists and protesters including Sana'a Seif and Yara Sallem was initially protesting against the protest law in last June. This group is the latest group of protesters to be imprisoned because of unconstitutional law the regime refuses to amend.

Thousands of protesters whether Islamists or non-Islamists, whether students or adults are imprisoned now because of that law.Ironically enough during the trial the court showed videos for the protests featuring the police's civilian thugs attacking the protesters and yet it didnot care to even question who these thugs were and what they were doing in the police's side.

There will be an appeal for the case but the activists will be detained till the appeal it is accept. By the way Sana'a Seif is on hunger strike for more than 50 days.

The Egyptian National Radio launched a campaign to support military court for civilians in order to fight terrorism.

Almost all TV talk shows are criticizing and attacking the 25 January revolution activists and supporters holding them responsible for the terrorist attack madly and crazily in the past 3 days in a disgusting way spreading lies, assumptions and accusations wihout any proof. I

look to the TV coverage in Egypt for the terrorist attack and compared it to the Canadian coverage to terrorist attack that happened earlier in Canada while feeling sad and angry at the same time.

Now TV hosts are saying that this is not the time to opposition let alone human rights as we are in war on terrorism. Well the way I see it , it is not a war on terrorism but rather a war on freedom of expression. Of course we are going to defeat terrorists by adopting the same old fashioned fascist nationalist policies that brought the defeat of 1967 because you know it is very successful !!!

 


It is not even the 1960s but WWII propaganda

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Because adopting the 1960s media and propaganda we find today that this was not enough and now the Pro-military supporters are using two or three chapters from WWII propaganda book guide.

This poster with sets of orders to the Egyptian people to follow during the current war on terrorism so the terrorists won't win. This poster is signed by a group calling itself "We, the peope of Egypt".

Here is the English translation of the orders in the poster. It is translated by dear friend Dalia Ezzat.

We are the people of Egypt

Egypt is in a state of war, therefore we request the following from everyone :

  1. Sharing any negative statements about your army or your country circulated by agents or the fifth column is prohibited.
  2. Sharing any negative information about military operations or related to the state of soldiers and conscripts is prohibited.
    1. Sharing any negative words that question or insult the military, your leadership or your or authorities is prohibited.
    2. Writing about your psychological breakdown over what is happening in the country is prohibited as you will be serving the interests of agents.
    3. No one , no matter who they are, should be permitted to malign your army and your leadership. Such people should be dealt with with firmness to prevent them from causing further damage and moving on with this information to other people.
    4. Sharing any information about military operations , even if you're confident of this information, is absolutely prohibited. You should wait for an official statement from a military source. Not all information should be shared.

    And finally to the so called activists and Twitter Jihadists

    Please don't comment on or attempt to criticize the military or its operations. If you have better suggestions for what should be done, you can communicate them directly to the military sources concerned or keep quiet and don't attempt to divide us or stop our path.

    Reading this in Arabic makes me feel that whoever wrote it was or is an army officer. I believe he could be an army veteran.

    I know one thing for sure the rights of those who were killed in Sinai in cold blood in the past 3 years won't return in this way.

     

     

    Evacuation and displacement are not the solution

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    And so the Egyptian army started its plan to evacuate areas in Rafah city , North Sinai demolishing houses and displacing the families there as part of its war against terrorism according to the orders of Prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab.
    In this stage we are speaking about 802 houses to be evacuated and 1,156 families to be displaced.
    A copy from the PM's decree to evacuate the area
    A map showing the areas to be evacuated
    I do not know how evacuating the area and displacing hundreds of families will give you an Upper hand to fight terrorism. Already terrorists will leave the area and will go to the next populated place if you think in this way.Not to mention you will create an angry population that can not stomach your existance.

    If it is about tunnels with Gaza , well most tunnels with Gaza have been destroyed in the past two years. Also for more than area the army used to destroy the houses with tunnels so why to destroy the houses without tunnels.

    Needless this decision which is unconstitutional needs a parliament in the first not a president or pm alone. Again we need to revise the security and military strategy in Sinai carefully so we can win this war against terrorism without losing Sinai once again.

    It is worth to mention that Al-Arish or specifically Rafah and Sheikh Zowaid are now like military zones so reporters will find it hard to reach the people there.For the past year Al-Arish was unreachable for media except for what the regime wants to show. Sinai citizen journalists seem to be the only source for the time being covering what is happening.
    Here are photos taken by tweeps there as well wires' photographers from Gaza. They are just sad photos.

    TV shows and public press only feature news and reports like the families of Rafah are so happy with the evacuation order. But it seems that on the ground it is opposite. The major correspondents of newspapers and journalists from the locals there are angry and sad.

    From what I see online from comments, tweets and posts the people in North Sinai specifically in Rafah are angry for the displacement order. I follow a number of tweeps from North Sinai , from El-Sisi supporters to Revolution supporters to Morsi supporters and amazingly they are all united by rejecting the displacement decision especially those in Rafah.


    Sinai leftist activist and member of Constitution committee Massad Abu Fagr who is originally from Rafah is furious describing the displacement order as the last straw in a tweet yesterday.

    Abu-Fagr who was a supporter to El-Sisi is being attacked madly by the president and army's supporters who called him a traitor

    A hashtag called "The displacement is not solution" was launched yesterday and has been active since then with nearly 28,000 tweets.


    According to several tweeps from North Sinai as well the governor of North Sinai Major General Abdel Fattah Harhur on Tuesday the displacced families are going to have LE 300 as a monthly compensation when the least rent for a flat in Al Arish city is said to be LE 1000. According to the PM's decree above replacement houses should be provided , where are these houses now ??

    Now on Wednesday evning we got sources from presidency saying that the compensation will reach up to LE 950,000.

    This means one thing : This decision of evacuation and displacement has not been studied enough and it was taken in a hurry as usual.

    Interestingly here is an old video for El-Sisi in 2012 in a meeting with army officers saying that the military solution alone including the displacement of the locals in Sinai was not preferrable because we may end up lose Sinai in the same way Sudan lost its south. The words are clear. It seems that El-Sisi in 2012 was much more wiser than a president in 2014. Already I wonder what happened in those months that made him change his mind.

    Strangely evacuating Rafah is what Israel wanted from long time ago. I remember that during Morsi's presidency this topic was raised and all the media was speaking about that MB/US/Turkish/Qatari/Israeli plot to empty Sinai from the people so it could be a substitute homeland for the Palestinians.

    Historically there is the fourth major displacement for a certain group of people in Egypt after the first and second Nubian population displacement as well the displacement of Suez Canal cities people in 1967. The Nubians are seeing now a deja vu in front of them.

    Today marks the anniversiary of the Israeli invasion to Sinai in 1956. Now in 2014 I am scared that we may lose not only Sinai again but our people there. I feel sad and truly afraid.





    Yup we will continue to dream till our dreams come true

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    "IF they don't let us dream, we are not going to let them sleep" said Iyad El-Baghdadi at Oslo Freedom Forum last week in his amazing speech summarizing what happened to the "Arab Spring" in the past four years from ups and downs.

    You must watch and hear his speech because El-Baghdadi speaks on behalf a lot of us in the Arab spring countries.



    Iyad El-Baghdadi revealed in Oslo what happened and made him absent online for nearly 6 months.Officially now asylum seeker in Norway, El-Baghdadi was detained by Emirati authorities that deported him from UAE. For months he has been staying in Malaysia. Only in October he was united with his wife and his new born son Ismael whom he did not attend his birth. There is no official explanation for the Emirati decision except Iyad's tweets and writings are dangerous.

    His #ArabTyrantManual seems to be annoying for some as it seems.

    Now after this amazing speech in Oslo, I would like to share with you the speech of leftist activist and human rights lawyer Mahinour El-Masry who received the 19th Ludovic Trarieux Award for human rights. It is worth to mention that Nelson Mandela received this award. "Source"
    Dear Justice servants and human rights defenders,
    Today I am with you in person though that was not going to happen as I was imprisoned in the prisons of field Marshall el sisi like more than 41 thousand political detainees, I was charged along with 8 others, 4 of them are still at prison serving for two Years, I was as well sentenced to 2 years to be reduced at the appeal and to be suspended because of your solidarity and efforts. I was luckier than the other thousands who didn’t receive much attention.
    I was astonished when I knew that I have received your prestigious award, at that time I was in prison deprived from all kind of communication with the outside world, I really don’t feel that I deserve such an honor as all the time I was part of a bigger group, starting from being revolutionary socialist , to being a volunteer lawyer at the Alexandria’s protesters defense front, a member in no to military trials and refugees solidarity movement, but above all I was one of millions of Egyptians who had dreamt of justice, made a revolution that toppled 2 dictators and we are crossing fingers that it will topple the third.
    I call what happened on the 3rd of July 2013 when el Sisi, the head of the counter-revolution made a coup, not because he toppled another dictator but because he manipulated the masses, I think that he should be considered as a war criminal as he was the head of the military intelligence giving pretexts for the virginity tests happened to female protesters in march 2011, he was the defense minister at the time of isolated president Morsi who killed many Egyptians in the city of Portsaid and when he overthrew Morsi he carried one of the biggest massacres in the new century which is Rabaa massacre killing more than 1000 people and now there is a crack down leading to the imprisonment of thousands and now even evacuating people from their houses and demolishing it in Sinai under the slogan war against terrorism, in such situation where a dictator is fostering his powers one of his most important enemies are human rights defenders and especially lawyers.
    Being a lawyer open your eyes to the amount of injustice in the society, and lawyers have to choose whether they want to serve justice or to serve law even if it was against the people interests, as law is an abstract word, for me law is the law of the ruling class and in countries like Egypt where autocracy and tyranny are at their most you will find laws issued to silence the people or to steal their rights. Yet lawyers have a great role to raise awareness, to be shield for the marginalized and voice for the voiceless.
    Finally I want to dedicate the award to Omar, Loay, Islam, Nasser the 4 people who are with me in the case but still in prison, to Sanaa Seif, Yara Sallam and the protesters of Ithadia case, to Mohamed Hissny, Alaa Abdelfattah and Shura protestors in prison now, Mahmoud Nasr, El Jazeera english reporters imprisoned in Egypt, Mohamed sultan and Ibrahim el Yamany who are in days will he entering the day 300 in their hunger strike, to the rest of the 41 thousand detainees, to the Palestinian people who taught us how to resist and have hope in the future, to the people of Kobane fighting extremists, to the Iranian girl Rihana Gebari.. Who had been sentenced to death because she killed her raper to defend herself, to all those brave souls and humans I dedicate such award.
    Thank you so much and I hope that we as lawyers would be helping to build a better and more humane societies.
    I doubt that Egyptian mainstream media will cover this new or publish Mahinour's speech as the young human rights activist lawyer attacks El-Sisi openly with no fear.

    We dream of a better democratic Arab world where people do not kill each other because of power and greed. We will continue to dream and will continue on trying to make these dreams come true. This is the least thing we can do for the sake who paid a huge price for freedom in the Arab world in the past few years. It is the least thing we can do for Ismail Iyad El-Baghdadi and his generation.



    Cairo opera house [Flickr]

    The Cairo Opera House's main hall [Flickr]

    Cairo opera house-a concert in the Arabic Music festival Egyptian percussionist Saeed El-Artist and his ensemble [Flickr]

    A night at the opera Egyptian singer Mohamed Mohsen [Flickr]


    A Day to Remember "5th November 2014"

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    We will remember the 5th of November 2014 very well for sure.

    The day started with a horrifying road accident in Behaira governorate where not less than 16 high school students were killed. The photos from the scene were horrifying.It is more than frustrating when you know that this is the second accident where students get killed on the road. A simliar accident took place in Sohage from 2 days ago.

    It is not a big secret Egypt has the highest rate of road accidents in North Africa and it is not a secret either that the number of people who get killed annually because of car accidents are more than the number of Egypt's official recorded martyrs in all of its wars. We all know that and the government in Egypt knows that too.

    Then we followed the UN Universal periodic review of the Egypt's Human rights record and the UN human rights council's member countries' concerns and recommendations. In nutshell the Egyptian officials spoke about another Egypt than the Egypt we live in denying that there are any violations regarding human rights especially when it comes to detention or torture or protest law..etc.

    They think also they passed the test. Of course the recommendations of the meeting are not binding to Egypt.

    The United States and EU countries slammed Egypt for the NGOs draft law and the Protest law as well detention of journalists as well death sentences...etc. Arab countries including Qatar and Russia are so happy with our human rights records "of course". Israel wants its spy Mr. El-Tarabin back and Armenia wants the Egyptian government to look after the Armenian community. "Honestly speaking one of the most oldest and fantastic commmunities in Egypt"

    Philiphines wants the government to look after the domestic workers aka the servants and the rest of the world wants better women's empowerment. The sexual harassment epidemic was mentioned too. Oh and Yemen says that Egypt succeeded in National reconciliation. I do not know what Reconciliation they meant for real.

    Personally I do not think the world's concerns and recommendations will make any difference in Egypt now and thank God El-Sisi proved that I am right.

    After few hours of the session President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi appointed former Mubarak and SCAF's international cooperation minister/the Iron Lady who brought down the foreign NGOs and ended their evil plots against Egypt in 2012 Faiza Abu El-Naga as his national security advisor.

    Some will say that this is a great achievement for women in Egypt when a woman is appointed by the president as his national security advisor , well one thing I learned in those 4 years : Do not be so happy with symbolic as well superificial changes.

    Now this decision is taken days before NGOs have to register in accordance to the old Mubarak's NGO law despite the government is claiming that the new NGOs law will be submitted to the parliament which will be elected as it seems next year. Also the draft of the new NGOs law is not that promising , more goverment control and more restrictions on the civil society and human rights organizations.

    With Abu El-Naga's notorious past with the NGOs , some look to the presidential decree and her new position as a declaration of war against the civil society in Egypt.

    El-Sisi also appointed former Morsi's minister of interior Ahmed Gamal El-Din as the president's advisor for security. I believe during Gamal El-Din's era Mohamed Mahmoud 2 clashes took place where April 6 youth member Jika was killed. Jika was the icon of the protests against the Muslim Brotherhood where the media accused Morsi and his interior minister.

    In the evening I read in news websites that there is another road accident in the same location of the tragic accident in the morning in Behaira and yet another 3 people are killed.

    And a bomb explosion at Monuf train station , Mounfia in Delta kills at least one low ranking police officer and injures 11 !!!

    That's it for the 5th of November this year.

     

     

     

    Bassem Youssef speaks about the Naked Emperor

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    In very short but straight to the point words, Bassem Youssef spoke in the Oslo Freedom Forum 2014. You must see it.

    When I think about I believe that Youssef's show was not stopped only because it spoke about the emporer and his clothes , it was stopped also because what Bassem referred in his short word in Oslo as a sorry excuse for media in Egypt was exposed to the world. Bassem exposed the propaganda of the regime in Egypt and that was enough reason to shut him down in all possible ways.

    This year the Oslo Freedom Forum had really interesting set of speakers from the Middle East like Bassem Youssef and Iyad El-Baghdadi.

    God knows how much Bassem Youssef and his team are missed these days.

    Bassem Youssef spoke last month in UC Berkeley and he said that he was not Nelson Mandela.He also added he suspended the show because he cared for his family's safety. Youssef is not Mandela but he is one of those kids that laughed at how the emperor was naked when all the town was afraid and God knows the future insh Allah is for those kids.

    Welcome to the real life 1984

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    Earlier today the ministry of interior distributed a press release on Egyptian newspapers and websites like Al-Masry Al-Youm , Dot Misr , Sada El-Balad and Masrawy. According to that press release a Cairo University student was arrested outside it by security forces carrying a bag and the following seizures were officially documented : A notebook includes paragraphs about the Islamic Caliphate , two mobile phones without batteries, flash drives , hard drives , memory cards and "1984" novelwhich criticizes the military regimes.

    Yes this was what mentioned in the official seizures report and this is how the novel was described along the notebook with paragraphs about the Islamic Caliphate allegedly praising it.

    The news was among the top read today in Egypt thanks to Al-Masry Al-Youm website. It had to because the headline of the news was " A student got arrested because the possession of 1984". Al-Masry Al-Youm changed the headline later.

    Mada Masr's Mai Shams El-Din called the head of Giza security directorate who denied that the student was arrested because he got the novel "which the police general ignores and actually I am not surprised that he did not know it or know George Orwell or the notebook". The police general also added that the student was arrested after filming the security forces at Cairo University "CU". It is worth to mention that the CU witnessed two attacks against security forces in the same location using handmade bombs.

    It is worth to mention that the official seizures report issued by the ministry of interior early Sunday did not include any camera and it stated the two mobiles reportedly found with the student got no batteries.

    Officially I have not seen a statement about the reason behind the arrest aside from that phone call my dear friend Mai made to the Giza security directorate. Also I wish there is attention to the student himself like the attention to Orwell's masterpiece.

    The Pro-Police/Pro-Military attacked Al-Masry Al-Youm accusing it of fabricating the news despite other websites including cheap Pro-Police websites like Sada El-Balad copied the ministry of interior's statement making no change what so ever to it. They also claimed that the police in Egypt would not arrest people for trivial stuff such as carrying books like 1984.

    Well I hate to remind them that the police in Egypt actually arrest people for trivial stuff like pins, rulers, posters , t-shirts and even teddy bears. The examples are many yet here are some of them to refresh the memory of my fellow Egyptians :

    • Mahmoud Mohamed, a student who has been in detention for nearly 11 months because he was wearing on the last anniversary of the 25 January a t-shirt that says "Against torture"
    • Sarah Khaled , the faculty of dentistry student "Future University" who was arrested , detained , beaten in detention and then released after appealing against 2 years in jail sentence because she was wearing a Raba'a pin in her veil.
    • That young school student who was arrested for having a Raba'a ruler.
    • A group of Non-Islamist Pro-25 January revolution activists who were arrested while sitting at a Cafe in downtown Cairo and according to their official seizures report they had a Che Guevara poster
    • From a week ago a student at Al-Azhar University was arrested for carrying a teddy bear with Raba'a sign.
    Anyhow I really thank the ministry of interior because now " 1984 novel"is most searched words in Egypt today according to the Google trends.

    People are sharing it online whether the English version or the Arabic version or the film.

    Needless to see I look to Egypt now as mix of Animal Farm and 1984. Of course now it is leaning towards 1984 more and more especially when it comes to the media. Facts are being changed in front of us , facts we have all lived.

    Anyhow this is a regime that arrests people for wearing pins , t-shirts and carrying rulers with signs so I won't be surprised that people get arrested later for carrying books like 1984 or Animal farm.

     

    Watch CPJ's Under threat : Egyptian press in peril

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    New York based Committee to Protect Journalists "CPJ" released that short documentary about Press in Egypt now. It is called "Under threat : Egyptian press in peril". I highly recommend watching it.

    The documentary's title is perfect to describe the situation of press and media in general now in Egypt. They are in peril.

    There is something being cooked when it comes to media right now. First we got the meeting of the major newspapers editors in Chief from couple of weeks ago. They announced that they would support the state. Second we got the meeting of the private newspapers' editors in chief who declared that they would form some sort of a chamber. I do not understand the role of that chamber to be honest. I feel that there is something being cooked and its smell is not good.

    Of course some of you have known that Le Monde Diplomatique editor Alain Gresh was detained earlier today in Cairo for couple of hours along Egyptian journalists Sara Khorshid and Reem Khorshid because they were speaking about political affairs in Le Poire Cafe in Garden City near the British Embassy. They were arrested after being reported by some lady sitting in the cafe who heard them talk about politics in Egypt and went mad on how they dare to speak about politics. It is more than alarming. Again hours laters Greshe and the Khorshid sisters were released. The ministry of interior apologizd to the Le Monde Diplomatique editor but damage has been done.

    What happened today to Gresh and the Khorshids is a result of the Pro-regime's incitement media. It is just sad.

    Great days !!!

     

    The good news of the week : Comet landing

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    And as the bad news shower us every day about people getting killed in Egypt whether in road accidents or terrorist attacks or in prison or in protests or they just commit suicide out of despair and depression , the Philea comet landing is like a fresh air or rather hope.

    Okay this will sound strange , after all why the comet landing can be considered something cheerful for some Egyptians realistically speaking when half of the country does not know about this mission in the first place. Well simply because there are 4 Egyptian scientists participating in that world breakthrough.

    Yes those men are participating in that big achievement and we should be proud of them. Those men are Dr. Ahmed Shafei "28 years old", Dr. Essam Heggy "39 years old" , Dr. Essam Marouf "56 years old" and Dr. Ramy El-Maarry "35 years old".

    Among those 4 scientist Dr. Essam Heggy , oh yes Essam Heggy who revealed that fact yesterday after finding out that the media in Egypt has nothing to speak about except the so-called "The Gharbia's Salafist stud" or the latest sex scandal in Egypt. "You can know about that in other websites".

    We all remember how Heggy was being called loser and retard by the Pro-Military media in Egypt for daring to criticize the amazing Kofta device. Well Heggy is having a big laugh now.Below the photos of Heggy,El-Maarry and Marouf.


    Of course we can not ignore the Egyptian origin of both words "Philea" or "Rosetta"

    By the way the mainstream media does not care that much about the Philea landing and they did not know that there are Egyptians involved in this historical event including the man slammed from several months ago for saying the truth about Kofta device.

    Anyhow there may be troubles facing Philea but it reached the comet.
    Here are photos of the original Philea in Egypt

    You must sing the same song in Oceania

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    This is getting silly but it is expected in that Nazi fascist atmosphere we started it with banning columnists , TV shows , TV hosts as well books so it is natural this craziness reaches to songs.

    Singer Hamza Namira's songs are now banned in the Egyptian radio service officially because he opposes the current regime that fights terrorism now.
    Pro-25 January revolution Namira's songs were non-Mainstream whether before or after the revolution as they usually discuss social matters.
    Of course Namira is accused of being a Muslim Brotherhood member because his records label is the famous Awakening records. Awakening records label is known for its Islamist leaning.
    After July 3 ,2013 and what followed it , Namira produced this song "What shall I say" denouncing polarization , hate and violence.
    Namira's song "Dream with me" became a true hit after the revolution when famous activist Wael Ghonim revealed that he used to sing it to himself while blindfolded in detention at State security HQ in January 2011 following his arrest before 28 January Day of rage



    Anyhow congratulations to Namira , now more people will listen to his songs.

    Of course as we are speaking about that fasicist wave in arts and media , I can not ignore what famous TV host and journalist Wael Al-Abrashi did to the talented orphaned girls who refused to sing the favorite Pro El-Sisi/Military song "Teslam El-Ayadi" {Blessed the hands} on air.
    From couple of days ago Al-Abrashi hosted a group of talented orphaned girls from some choir and he wanted them to sing that Pro-army song but the girls refused. He was totally shocked and stunned wondering if those girls were influenced by the MB especially the girls told him that they know its lyrics but would not sing it.


    The video went viral online where many people praised the bravery of those little girls. Anyhow this was too fast as from two days ago Al-Abrashi hosted one of those girls who sang the song on air in same fake victory for him.

    Already I can not imagine what happened to this girl and other girls after refusing to sing that song on air in the first time.

    "Teslam El-Ayadi" so-called operetta praising the Egyptian armed forces was a hit after 3 July 2013 with its catchy folk tunes.
    Anyone with good musical Arabic and Egyptian folk music memory will know that its composer and singer Mostafa Kamel plagiarised famous 1960s Singer Sherifa Fadel's song about the holy month of Ramadan.

    By the way I forgot to mention that cultural grassroots movement "El-Fan Midan" was suspended because the security forces refused to give it the permits despite the ministry of culture's support to such popular event.
    Anyhow in Oceania you must sing the songs the big brother tells you to sing.



    It is a media war "1"

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    It is pouring video clips and statements from here and there.

    I should have spoken earlier about that distrubing video, yes the video all Egypt was speaking about.: The IS' special video in Sinai.

    From a week ago IS released a 30 minutes video showing its affiliated militant group " Agnad Beit Al-Maqdis" or "ABM" and their operations against the Egyptian army.

    In an extremely graphic video showing several operations against armed forces , the ABM is showing off its capabilities whether in media or in combat. Using Go-Pro cameras installed on rifles and high definition quality video , these guys know how to make a short documentary to shake the morale of their enemy.

    They included several of their operations against the army and police whether in North Sinai or even in North coast , in West of Egypt last summer. Yes the operations we know about and the operations we do not know about in daylight.

    They also included horrifying footage from the deadly attack on an army checkpoint in Sheikh Zowaid last October where over 30 army personnel have been killed.

    It is truly shocking and sad video. Heartbreaking to say the least.

    They also included clips from an infamous video showing unknown army personnel torturing alleged terrorism suspects from the locals in Sinai. Yes they are very wise to use this video in order to win sympathy whether from their supporters mainly or the locals in Sinai who can not stomach them.

    The army said that it was investigating the video and its pro-media claimed that it was filmed by Hamas as usual. The sad reality is that the locals in Sinai identified those suspects who turned to be killed by the army from several weeks ago allegedly in some security against terrorist groups. I fear that we are losing our first and most important defense line in Sinai : The locals who are facing hell because of that war.

    Committing human rights crimes won't help you in your war against terrorism , it has never been helpful and it won't be. Simply almost all terrorist groups in the Middle East flourish thanks oppression and lack of human rights. They present themselves as the savior for those oppressed. Part of winning the war against them is to fight all those reasons of their existance including oppression and injustice.

    The videos filmed by ABM showed our soliders and officers untrained in a distrubing way forcing us to ask about their training. Needless to say this is a pscyhological warfare video so you expect your enemy to show you like that.


    By the way the video does not show that ABM elements are highly trained either.

    I know that our army , a conventional army is fighting an enemy that depends upon the gurriella warfare. Conventional armies rarely win guriella warfare as long as they do not go unconventional. I think the army people know that better than me .

    Without doubt the video raises many questions about the military and security strategies adopted in Sinai and whether we are on the right track if there are any real strategies at all. If we were a truly democratic country with freely and democratic elected parliament with a true national security committee , we would have public hearings or even secret ones discussing those 30 minutes.

    In any other country all those responisible for the Sinai file in the past decade including the president himself would be standing in hearing sessions to speak about what is happening in Sinai for real. All the ex-military turned in to Strategic analysts are claiming the video was actually a proof that the army is winning the war. The problem is that those are the same strategic analyts who are claiming that the whole universe is plotting against us.

    If we were truly democratic country , our fellow Egyptians' blood would not be so cheap whether citizens from Sinai or security personnel.

    The ABM video was removed from YouTube due its extreme graphic content but you can find it in other places.

    This video comes after the announcement of Beit Al-Maqdis that it pledged alliagance to the notorious group claiming the Caliphate in Levant. ABM has changed its name now to become "Sinai state"

    The video also comes after that mysterious unprecendent attack against the Egyptian navy in the Mediterranean sea. Up till this moment we do not know exactly what hapened on that day. The Egyptian armed forces' morale department has not issued a single official statement about what happened leaving it to rumors and speculations. We already got several theories and versions of what happened. All of them are scary.

    The morale department has not officially issued an official statement about the attack at Sheikh Zowaid checkpoint either.

    Aside from the daily statements at the Official spokesperson about the endless "elements" that are being killed and endless tunnels destroyed , the morale department released a video to fire back at the ABM's video.
    The video is a production of old propaganda school and had mistakes like for instance using aerial footage of some air strike in Western desert instead of air strike in Sinai. The one who spotted that mistake were the social media users who checked the coordinations in the footage and found out it was in the West desert and not in Sinai.

    Sometimes I feel that in this unconventional war , we do not need videos from Morale department to fire back at IS but rather video messages from groups like Mosireen.

    Now Pro-regime "any regime in Egypt" Al-Mahawar TV network produced a pathetic TV ad starting a group of Egyptian celebs from actors , singers and TV hosts saying no to terrorism and to IS.


    Of course in this ad we found out that terrorists killed Police General El-Batran , unleashed the great prison break on 28 January 2011 and killed Shiekh Emad Effat during the cabinet HQ clashes in December 2011. Yeah History is being edited in front of our eyes. Ministry of truth does not waste time in Cairo.

    Anyhow that "No to terrorism" ad turned in to a meme among young Egyptians. It had to turn in to a meme with spoof videos. The video is actually a black comedy.

    Needless to say , we are facing a media war and unfortunately we are losing it as usual. Our regime still thinks that is in 1960s not even in 1990s , we are in the 21st century.

    I fear on Sinai and our people there whether from locals or security. I fear we will have another 1967 setback if we continue to use that 1960s mindset.

    May God bless the souls of our martyrs.


    Ahram arts exhibition [Flickr]

    Ahram arts exhibition [Flickr]

    Ahram arts exhibition [Flickr]

    Ahram arts exhibition [Flickr]

    Ahram arts exhibition [Flickr]

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