Late Night: Women’s Voices on Egypt

Posted: February 8, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Egypt | Tags: , | 14 Comments

Picture circulating on twitter: Wael Ghonim holds the mother of Khaled Said, the man whose brutal murder in June by Egyptian police inspired the "We are all Khaled Said" facebook page by Ghonim, that in turn served as a catalyst for the current-day protests.

Hello all, Wonk here with some reads I’d like to share with the late night crowd. Tonight’s theme is going to put a spotlight on what women have to say about Egypt. Normally I’d start out with a youtube or quote from a protester or an Arab woman, but commenter Pilgrim e-mailed me a fantastic piece by Canadian columnist Linda McQuaig that I thought spoke volumes. It’s called “Arabs love democracy, but do we?“:

The fact that the Arab world is awash with dictators has long been a key piece of evidence used to whip up anti-Muslim sentiment in the West.

Surely all those dictators are proof that Arabs don’t love democracy the way we Westerners do, that they are culturally, religiously and perhaps congenitally attracted to tyrannical strongmen as leaders.

This widely held view will be difficult to sustain here now that wall-to-wall TV coverage of the Egyptian (and Tunisian) uprisings has exposed the truth: Arabs don’t like tyrants any more than we do.

In fact, they love democracy — so much so that hundreds of thousands of them have risked serious harm by taking to the streets to defy a regime that for decades has been a leading practitioner of repression and torture of dissidents.

That’s just the beginning. Check out the rest of McQuaig’s column for more.

Now, let’s turn to my go-to Egyptian source — Mona Eltahawy. On Tuesday afternoon, Mona put out the following tweets. First this:

As excited as I am at media coverage of #Egypt revolution I am disappointed at overwhelmingly male experts they turn to. Where r women?’

..and then this:

We keep hearing “Where are women of #Egypt revolution?” I want to know where are women analysing Egypt revolution? #Jan25

In her follow-up she made it clear that her point wasn’t to ask “where are the women” but to draw out the intellectual and analytical contributions of women:

I know women are taking part in #Egypt revolution. My point is different: where women analysing it, speaking as experts! #Jan25

Mona got quite a few tweets pointing to women’s voices pouring out in response, and I’d like to highlight some of them.

First, an Egyptian woman that Mona Eltahawy highlighted herself — Magda Sharara, who has posted the following entry– “Fearless Egyptians: A message of love and respect” — on almanacmag.com (The Mag of Egypt). An excerpt:

Until January 25th 2011, most Egyptians were their own fiercest critics, seriously or jokingly. They railed against their lack of democracy, between a Sheesha and a coffee, and whined about their repression and the corruption surrounding them. Their glorious past slipping and almost forgotten. Sometimes nostalgia, and other times chaos seemed to guide them.There was anger in the Egyptian streets, frustration, and a feeling of irresolution and drift. No wind of stability was blowing their way, for a very long time.

But today, millions of Egyptians are standing up for their rights, fighting, screaming, chanting with joy and sorrow, and some are bravely dying for an indisputable democratic and free country in the middle of Tahrir square. They have forever changed the way the world perceives them.

They are recharged, and their revitalization is contagious. They are the heroes of a modern revolution, they are the fearless Egyptians that death does not scare.

They deserve to be respected, encouraged, honored, saluted, thanked, loved and remembered.

It is not death that we should fear, but a life not lived in dignity; that is the real tragedy.

Magda’s message really deserves to be read in its entirety.

Next up… Sunita Rappai, a British Indian journalist living in Cairo. She has a wonderfully refreshing take on Egypt, which balances competing perspectives on what’s going on in Egypt. In her blog piece from earlier today, “O Revolution, where art thou?,” Sunita concludes:

From an outside point of view, the ‘revolution’ is in danger of failure – if it hasn’t failed already. Mubarak shows no signs of relinquishing the presidency, the emergency laws are still in place and the constitution remains the same. While the regime has been engaging in (unprecedented) talks with the opposition – including the banned Muslim Brotherhood – its grip on power, and the accompanying state security apparatus, is tighter than ever. Insiders at the talks suggest that the government’s mood is hardline, with few real concessions (I heard from one good source that Suleiman’s contribution at one meeting was to read out a pre-prepared statement – when he was questioned on one point, he read out the statement again).

But inside Egypt, the mood is slightly different, at least for the moment. Many feel that real gains have been made, with Egyptians finally sending a clear message to the government, and the world, that they are ready for democracy and willing to fight for it, if necessary. The idea that they have broken the ‘fear barrier’ and the political apathy that dogged them is a powerful one. They trust that Mubarak will fulfil his promises, which will one day pave the way for real democracy and constitutional reform. It is a process that will take time and they are prepared to wait for it.

The country is moving again, but no one knows where it’s heading. In some ways, everything has changed. In other ways, nothing has. It all depends on who you ask.

Sunita’s piece is another one that I recommend reading in its entirety, to get the full effect of her social observations on what’s going on in and around Tahrir square. I also enjoyed her latest post — “10 reasons why a foreigner like me loves Egypt…”

The twitter handle “Mahagaber” was also tweeted to Mona as “one of the women in Egypt covering the revolution.” Scanning through Maha’s latest tweets, the one that has caught my eye straight away is this:

@JohnKingCNN: Do you realize if Mubarak leaves it will be the first time in our history that Egypt will have a “FORMER” President #jan25

That says so much in so few words.

Another handle tweeted to Mona, sarahshakour, had this to say on Tuesday evening, in response to a tweet from CNN trying to prop up the White House:

More like flip-flopping to me RT @CNN White House getting ‘specific’ on Egypt tone – http://bit.ly/hPjJeJ (via @RT PoliticalTicker)

Thrillingham left this note to Mona, mentioning the wonderful Dima Khatib and another name:

@monaeltahawy honestly, twitter has much better analysts than anything i’ve seen on tv. you @Dima_Khatib @Rouelshimi and others are great

Got to add Rouelshimi to my twitter feed!

Here’s one from Dima in the afternoon:

PEOPLE’s POWER in action: http://t.co/Mv7OapQ Watch & remember: When a nation walks the streets, it heads towards history #jan25#egypt

“When a nation walks the streets, it heads towards history.” I like that a lot.

…and the latest from Rouelshimi:

@CarlosLatuff The govrmt started a rumor that protesters in Tahrir were getting bribed with free KFC meals to be there. It’s a popular joke.

So funny I forgot to laugh. Mubarak should really quit his day job and become a stand up comedian already.

Another person reports to Mona from Holland and says that there have been “three women (Stienem, van Boon, and Samuel) each discussing Egypt with great knowledge” on a talkshow. A similar comment from Finland, that a woman named Sanna Negus has been doing the Finnish national coverage on Egypt.

Last week Leah McElrath Renna posted an article called “Obama’s Egypt #FAIL?” on Huffington Post. A brief teaser:

President Obama and his Administration appear to have made a familiar deal with the devil in response to the popular pro-democracy uprising in Egypt.

Here’s a tidbit from young college graduate Rana Salem (scroll down under the New Castle section):

Rana Salem, a young graduate of Alexandria University, explained the emergence of the remarkable popular movement in recent weeks. She spoke of both the authoritarianism of Mubrak’s regime and the economic problems – unemployment, insecurity, poverty – driving the revolt. She said of the Egyptian people, “they really are making history – it’s not just a saying”.

Interview with political science professor Mona El-Ghobashy, on the Rachel Maddow Show, Feb 7 (starts around the 1:37 mark):

Slate’s Double X blog already highlighted human rights and democracy activist Ghada Shahbandar and Dakinikat frontpaged that story last week, but a very informative link in reference to Ghada popped up in response to Mona’s query — “Egypt: We Are Watching You, Three Egyptian Women Use the Internet to Promote Democracy“:

Meet the trio: Engi Haddad, a chain-smoking, husky-voiced marketing manager; Bosayna Kamel, a well-known TV news reporter; and Ghada Shahbandar, a university professor. Against the backdrop and momentum of the Kifaya (Enough!) protest movement, these powerful women came together to found Shayfeen.com, a Web site and on-the-ground effort to witness and record the reality of the Egyptian first multi-party election. As journalist Boysana says, their goal was to bring the “real” news to the people, not “their” news.

There are some documentary clips there, too. Give it a look if you have the time.

Over at The Berkeley Blog, anthropology professor Rosemary Joyce has an interesting read up called “Of people and things: Egyptian protest and cultural properties” in response to the idea that we need to protect artifacts in Egypt because they are a “shared global heritage”:

Cairo isn’t Baghdad: the people of Egypt are seeking rights we all cherish, and even as they do, they are trying to protect those things that the rest of the world is too easily elevating over the safety and rights of people.

As an archaeologist, I will regret any losses. But as a human being, I will not agree that we should make the mistake of treating people as less valuable than things.

An interview last week with another anthro professor, Farha Ghannam, called “The rich symbolism of the square in Cairo.” The article opens with the following:

When she first traveled to Cairo for fieldwork in 1993, Farha Ghannam recalled, Tahrir Square was mostly used as a bus depot.

Today, it’s the battleground on which the future of Egypt is being fought – a space rich with symbolism and meaning, held and defended by protesters at the cost of some lives.

“There’s this feeling [among demonstrators] that ‘if we lose at Tahrir Square, we’re going to lose the fight,’ ” said Ghannam, an anthropology professor at Swarthmore College who studies the use of public space in Egypt.

A few more meaty and intriguing reads real quickly (see excerpts in the comments):

“The dignity of Egyptian youth” by Azza Karam
“Myths of Mubarak” by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd
“Egypt: Days of Anger in the Age of Terror” by Sarah Ghabrial

Many more names showed up on Mona Eltahawy’s twitter. I tried to gather as many as I could together in one place to give you a sampling of other women’s voices on Egypt you might want to check out:

Blogdiva
MCTSamuel
Dinamotion
Jilliancyork
Techsoc
BBClysedoucet
Amanisol
Naglarzk (economics)
ShahinazAhmed (development)
Maha Azzam via ChathamHouse
Nadiaglory
Adhaf Soueif (reporting from Tahrir square)
Mona Zulficar (legal)
Nahlahayed
NancyMousa
Felmansy (13 year Egyptian girl living in the US and aspiring to be a reporter)
Missroory (16 years old “Masriya in SF” who wants to follow in Mona’s footsteps)
Sarah Carr

Well, that’s it for me right now. What are you late-nighters and early morning people reading?

Women under Carriages, under Street Cars, and under Buses

Posted: June 29, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments

Abigail Adams “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

Important anniversaries are on us. This quote by the second first lady of the United States, Abigail Adams,  is as fresh and pertinent as it was when  she penned this in a letter to her husband in 1776.

From the birth of this country down to present day, women are the forgotten citizens. When they assert their rights, some war, some other movement, a disease, some other man or even the rights of proto-humans are placed before them and many just fall in.  We take care of our gay brothers suffering from aids while the last few states fail to ratify the ERA.  We support the abolition movement to free and give rights to Black Americans and votes to black men while we’re considered property way into the 1970s and cannot achieve the vote until 1920.  We march.  We do all the behind the scene work and organizing.  Then, when we ask for the vote, for our place in governing, for our right to lead, we are told that would be expedient to larger movements.  This is true of black civil rights movements, labor movements, peace movements or antiwar movements, and the founding of our nation and so ad infinitum.

We are not only approaching our annual celebration of Independence Day.  We have come upon the 160th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention.  The women who met during that July suggested this addition to the Declaration of Independence and penned their own tome the Declaration of Sentiments.

It was signed by a number of women leaders  including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The first women’s rights conference in the United States Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York on July 19 and 20, 1848.  Few will be celebrating this historic gathering  or probably even know of it.   One hundred and sixty years after the convention, the equality that Elizabeth Cady Stanton demands still eludes us.Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“The eloquent Frederick Douglass, a former slave and now editor of the Rochester North Star, however, swayed the gathering into agreeing to the resolution. At the closing session, Lucretia Mott won approval of a final resolve “for the overthrowing of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for the securing to woman equal participation with men in the various trades, professions and commerce.”

Source:  http://www.npg.si.edu/col/seneca/senfalls1.htm

This is the same Frederick Douglass who later threw women under the carriage for Black male suffrage.  In 1869, an amendment was proposed to Congress that guarantees “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Douglass told women to wait since it was easier to get the proposed amendment through congress if it guaranteed black males the right to vote, but not women.  This is exactly what happened.  Women had to wait.

For over two centuries, American women had few civil or political rights. Wives had to do what they were told by their husband. Until 1884, a wife was officially listed as one of her husband’s possessions. Women stayed slaves for years after the emancipation proclamation was signed.

When I was at university, I noticed this strange pattern.  Every time women say it is our turn to be recognized for all this work and we  deserve equal pay, equal rights, and equal respect,  men change the subject and put some other movement in between us.  If you look through history,  many women’s rights movements have been cast aside for peace movements or labor movements and later for civil rights movements that basically favored the rights of gay men or black men.

When asked what the role of women was in the Black Panther Movement, the answer was:  “The only role for women in this movement is horizontal.”  This continual divide and conquer strategy has left us waiting at bus stops for buses that we are later thrown under.  Much of the impetus of the women’s movement in the 70s was distilled to civil rights for gays after Stonewall and the Aids crisis.  Gay bashing and Aids struck gay men hard but much of the work and nursing was done by lesbians who abandoned the fight for the ERA and protection of the sanctity of women’s individuality as the religious right’s attempts to water down Roe v. Wade increased the humanity of proto-human life while decreasing that of breathing, living women.

The odd thing is that none of these movements are bad causes.  The development of a democratic nation, peace, abolition, Aids research, or suffrage for black men all have merit.  The fact that these are ALL good causes is not what bothers me.  The larger point to me is that these movements sprung up during active women’s rights movements and suddenly took precedence.

Senator Shirley Chisholm has always been one of my personal heroines and clearly recognized that women’s rights were not a priority for this nation.  She was always quick to note that she had experienced more sexism in her life than racism.   Please read what this great champion of women’s rights said as she fought for passage of the ERA.

“Mr. Speaker, House Joint Resolution 264, before us today, which provides for equality under the law for both men and women, represents one of the most clear-cut opportunities we are likely to have to declare our faith in the principles that shaped our Constitution. It provides a legal basis for attack on the most subtle, most pervasive, and most institutionalized form of prejudice that exists. Discrimination against women, solely on the basis of their sex, is so widespread that is seems to many persons normal, natural and right.

Legal expression of prejudice on the grounds of religious or political belief has become a minor problem in our society. Prejudice on the basis of race is, at least, under systematic attack. There is reason for optimism that it will start to die with the present, older generation. It is time we act to assure full equality of opportunity to those citizens who, although in a majority, suffer the restrictions that are commonly imposed on minorities, to women.

Source: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/shirleychisholmequalrights.htm

Whenever women make progress, men step in with some other distraction and create disunity.  I see this same pattern today in the Democratic Party ONE HUNDRED and SIXTY years after the Seneca Falls Convention and well over TWO HUNDRED years after Abigail Adams.

Women, please stop and think about this before you donate your time to peace movements, misc. civil rights movements, ANY kind of movement.  We are the work horses of all of these movements, yet how many of these movements turn around and provide us ANYTHING  but lip service?  Think of the DNC, what have they done recently to stop the hemorrhage of reproductive rights?  support equal pay laws?  stop SEXIST attacks on women candidates?  Which women in this system (yes, YOU Nancy Pelosi, yes, You Candy Crowely, yes, you Cindy Sheehan, yes, you Donna Brazille, yes YOU, Governor Sibilius, yes YOU Senator Mary Landrieu, yes you Secretary of State Rice,yes, YOU Gloria Borger, …) will willingly sell out their own sex to be acceptable to the boys and get recognition in a movement or a profession not of our own design whose rules are set up so that we ultimately fail.

Just THINK ABOUT IT when you celebrate this Fourth of July.   Look at your daughters, your mothers, your grandmothers, your granddaughters, and the women around you and THINK about it.  What movement did I join that stopped me from asking for basic human and democratic rights for women?  Think about what happened to Hillary Clinton this primary season and ASK yourselves will you compromise YET again?

How much is that compromise worth to you?

The Unity Pony is missing a few legs

Posted: June 11, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: No Obama, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

I’ve always been a fan of NPR.  It’s the best way to spend a morning or afternoon commute to work.  They have not quite joined in the Main Stream Media Lovefest for Obama so I can listen with out feeling like my intelligence is being insulted.  This post concerns something they discussed earlier.  It seems they’ve discovered a keen lack of enthusiasm over Obama by key democratic constituencies.

I know that Donna and Howard and Nancy and Harry don’t think the party needs working class whites or women. We’ve been told that over and over. But NPR and Leon Pannetta suggest something different.

“Leon Panetta, who served as White House chief of staff under former President Bill Clinton, says Obama still faces problems with swing voters in swing states.

“By virtue of having lost some of those big states and some of those very important constituencies that are important — Latino, white, rural, a lot of the blue-collar women’s vote — he can’t afford to not get those votes back in the Democratic Party. … Those fault lines have cost the Democrats, I think, seven of the last 10 presidential races,” he says.

“If they open up and stay unhealed, then there’s no question that he ultimately loses,” Panetta adds.”

source:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91366795

I personally disagree with Panetta in that I think Obama’s got a lot more woman problems than the one’s he has with my blue collar sisters.  Most of the women that I know that can’t  stand Obama are highly educated and professional.  But, it got me thinking are there more folks out there not on the unity pony?  I decided to do some searching around the web for indications of some of the other groups since I’m more than aware of the so-called bitter women and racist hillbilly backlash.

First, I looked into where the Jewish money is going.  Jewish Americans are very politically astute and active. They also will donate to causes they believe in and care about.  When I ran for office in the mid 80s in Nebraska one of my best set of phone bankers were the Jewish women’s groups in Omaha.  They are tireless supporters of abortion rights and campaigns that strongly recognize the nonestablishment clause in the first amendment.   So here’s the first major indication that the Jewish money is going to McCain now that Hillary Clinton has been sidetracked.

Here’s a little bit from The Hill:

“Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is attracting elite Jewish Democratic donors who backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and are concerned about Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) stance toward Israel, say McCain backers who are organizing the effort to court Democrats.

McCain has already had several fundraising events with Jewish Democrats in Washington and Florida, say his supporters.”

Oh, dear, that’s not going too well. I also imagine that all those nice jewish folks in Florida don’t like being considered 1/2 of a person either.  This does not bode well for Obama on many, many levels.

I guess even if you tell stories about Auschwitz and say you really didn’t mean it when you said Iran was not a threat, it just doesn’t cut it. It takes more than lip service and backpedalling to attract major Jewish donors.  I guess Obama’s former camp counsellor just isn’t on the unity pony.

source:  http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/jewish-dem-donor-joins-mccain-team-2008-06-10.html

Next, I went looking for some evidence that Hispanic Americans might being loving them some unity pony. Earlier, it was evident that pandering to Cuban-Americans wasn’t working very well for Obama.  I guess when you announce on every news channel during a debate that you intend to meet with leaders of rogue countries without preconditions that your average Cuban-American think this means the Castro brothers.  Obama again qualified and back pedaled.  It was quietly mentioned in the MSM over Memorial Day weekend that Cuban Americans were pretty safe Republican voters.  It appears they still will be.

However, Hispanic Americans are not some huge monolithic group  so, as the Google godess,  I went searching for the unity pony and any hispanic communities in the saddle.  I found this about the Hispanic votes in Obama’s backyard in Illinois.

“Dozens of Fox Valley Hispanics will get the chance to talk with Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party’s nominee for president, later this month. And they’ll get to do it for free.

McCain will be in Chicago on June 18 for a fundraiser at the Drake Hotel, but he’ll stick around that night to hold a town hall meeting with Illinois Hispanics …

“A lot of Hispanics are just hard-working small-business owners,” Brady said. “They don’t want their taxes going up, they don’t want the government in their business. They want the borders closed, but they want (immigrants here) treated humanely.”

Wyatt is a Mexican immigrant herself, and she said she respects McCain for being among the first to push for comprehensive immigration reform. McCain and Sen. Ted Kennedy jointly proposed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act in 2007, which included a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The bill never reached a vote.”

Guess the unity pony doesn’t understanding Spanish very well.

How about you?  Are you getting on that Unity Pony?

I thought Democratic unity ponies were representative of all kinds of people.  Maybe this year, the unity pony has lost a few its parts.

Today’s ACTION MEMO: Tell the DNC you’re not going to TAKE IT!

Posted: June 9, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Action Memo | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

 

This Grass Roots Action was put together by LAMusing and Shtuey

ALL HANDS ON DECK!

18 million hands – send them to the DNC!

1. Trace your hands on an 8×11 sheet of paper. Make it colorful to grab attention.
2. Write your name and city/state in the center of your hands and the words “I am one of 18 million.”
3. Above the hands, write: “These hands are on the front lines of democracy. I pledge I will not vote for Obama.”
4. Below the hands, write a line or two about your reasons you won’t vote for BO, why you are upset with the DNC, or whatever stirs your soul. We suggest you keep it fairly brief for maximum impact.
5. Put it in an envelope and send it off to the DNC.

Democratic National Committee
430 S. Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC 20003

6. Pass it on!!! Post this call to arms wherever you can! Let’s bombard the DNC with the millions of hands of the voters they dismissed, ignored, disenfranchised and belittled. And remember the old saying – “Many hands make light work.”

Special note if you live in Florida: Make it just half a hand! Let them know you’d like to be a whole person again.

I am one of the 18 million cracks … who speaks for you?

Posted: June 8, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Hillary Clinton: Her Campaign for All of Us | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

 

This thread is a roll call for folks that agree that Obama, the DNC, the MSM, and voices of hate do not speak for ordinary Americans.  Those of us that go to work every day, earn an honest wage for an honest day’s work, send our kids to school to develop their better angels, vote because we love America, pay our taxes because we want America to be a good place to live for every one, and watch the fireworks on the 4th of July knowing we’re glad we’re just simple, ordinary Americans.

Hillary Clinton gave voice to me.  Her accusers are my accusers.  Her detractors are my detractors.  Her critics are my critics.  I am an ordinary American.  I had a woman who spoke for me and she was brought down.

I am one of the 18 million cracks.

Who speaks for you?

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