Manal and Alaa's bit bucket

I have officially joined the movement and placed my order for a few of the ‘We will not be silent‘ t-shirts made famous by Raed’s ordeal. You can order your very own, by emailing: wewillnotbesilent[AT]gmail.com.Basically, Raed was stopped at the airport and asked to change his t-shirt because it read “We will not be silent” [...]

[This is my first post to The Egyptian (hopefully won’t be my last). I posted it in my blog, but then it seemed well fitting to the name of this blog, that I thought of sharing it here. But , I guess I’ll have to write a more appropriate first post sometime soon; something which [...]

It had to happen; our freedom-loving parliament couldn’t let this one go through. Mustafa Bakry, an MP in the Egyptian Parliament, is calling for the censoring of certain scenes in the movie The Yacoubian Building. While I do not agree with all the depictions, especially the explicit ones, in this novel, I do think the [...]

One of my all time favorite novels is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man, mainly due to its raw and philosophical view of racism. The main character, an African American in racist America, feels invisible because people, black and white, fail to see him for the person he is, and only see him through the color [...]

Each one of us is an individual. An independant entity that has God-given rights, freedoms and a complex mind to make decisions. Nearly everyday we make these decisions based on a system that includes, among other things, who will benefit most from such and such decision, the individual, or the group.There are those whose circumstances [...]

Years ago I was standing in a balcony in Alexandria at around 2 a.m., as I often do when I’m on vacation in my favorite city. I stood enjoying the city’s Mediterranean breeze and listening to the sounds of her inhabitants in the distance. The neighborhood was fairly quiet, with only a couple of street [...]

One of the interesting aspects of blogging is that you get a view of how a person thinks about a certain subject. Be it dating, politics, religion, society, food, people, technology, or simple happenings in the person’s daily life. What you have then, is the person’s thoughts and opinions in the form of words they [...]

Earlier today, I was speaking to a good friend about the current political climate in Egypt and where it will all lead. We were discussing the protests, the judges’ stand against the regime, Kifaya, Shayfeencom and other political movements and what it all means in the grand play that is Egyptian politics.I am [...]

There isn’t much more to say about what Alexandria is going through these days. Everything I wanted to say was already said by various Egyptian bloggers. The story line goes something like this:A (supposedly) crazed man (or men) enter three churches within the span of thirty minutes (some say less) armed with knives of some [...]

Today Alexandria, Egypt, experienced some of the worst Muslim-Christian violence in recent history. I’m still reading various news sites and blogs trying to get a more complete picture of the events. And honestly, I am still in disbelief, in denial even, that this is happening in Alexandria.Perhaps it’s because I am far away from Egypt [...]

I’m lean and muscley. I have two long pointed ears, and locks of flowing blue hair. I hunch forwards when I run, and yet, I am a keen stalker, slaying my enemies with fists of blades. I cast spells that fashion the elements to my bidding and I can mould the physical world to my [...]

There are two articles about Egypt in the current issue of the British Socialist Worker paper, both of which discuss the Communist’s role in the 1956 Suez Crisis.The articles claim that the Communists were the bread and butter of the 1956 resistence to the British, French and Israeli invasion of the canal. The problem is, [...]

There is an interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor today about working women in Egypt. It highlights the fact that there are more women entering the work force today than there were in past years. The article mentions the woman doctor, the filmmaker, the weightlifter and the judge, who are all credible examples of [...]

Ever heard the saying ‘less is more’?It’s bullshit, right? Less what? Less money? Less health? Less hair? But has anyone ever considered that maybe less ‘choice’ is actually better for us?It’s one of those things you might be able to think around but never actually grasp until someone tells it to you or your read [...]

The north-south divide extends across more than one line. It isn’t just natural resources: it’s birth rates as well. Duh! Seems pretty obvious. Europe has a problem though: they aren’t making enough babies to maintain a ’stable population.’ Meanwhile, Egyptians (for example) can churn out one baby every 23.4 seconds. Which is around the time [...]

It’s too early for this, but Leilouta’s latest post deserves some commenting.Mocking people for wearing the hijab, and comparing them to cats and barbie dolls is insensitive discrimination.While there may be some celebrity who was paid to cover their hair, I assure you there are thousands to each celebrity that have done it by their [...]

The Washington Post has an interesting article about a recent Egyptian movie and it’s anti-American spin. The movie in question, The Night Baghdad Fell, is a fictional comedy about an American invasion of Cairo that plays on the stereotype of the oppressive American soldier.While I have not seen the movie, I am not surprised at [...]

This has been irking me for quite sometime, and I couldn’t go to bed this evening before venting about it. The lack of self criticism in Egyptian (and Arab) society is annoying. As I struggle to find any hope for today’s Egyptian entertainment, specifically cinema and television, constructive criticism is an essential ingredient that seems [...]

Interesting essay on social psychology at the NYT: Is Freedom Just Another Word for Many Things to Buy?What conception of freedom should Americans pursue? While the upper and middle classes define freedom as choice, working-class Americans emphasize freedom from instability. These perspectives echo the distinction between freedom to and freedom from made by Franklin Roosevelt [...]