Why does no one care what's behind the dissolved - reinstated - pending parliament?

Ever since Morsi was elected, I have been taking a mental break from Egyptian politics. I was also busy with other things which could potentially serve as an excuse for the silence that reigned on this blog in the last weeks. But let's face it: I simply embraced the relief that Morsi's victory meant for me and many Egyptians and used the occasion to not think politics for a while. In the eyes of an activist friend of mine, this is what most Egyptians have done as well. But from his point of view this is a fundamental mistake, reproducing the people's failure to be active and resilient citizens in the last 30 years. In my friend's eyes, by not paying attention, people give SCAF a free hand in preventing Morsi from actually governing. And my friend himself was already worried because "it's been a week and Morsi has not done anything."

Even though it was clear which struggles where lying ahead of the newly elected president, this couldn't dampen his supporter's joy on the day of celebration. (Unfortunately I have not recorded the woman ululating.)

By now it's been a bit more than a week, and indeed, Morsi has not yet solved the traffic problem in Caro. But obviously it is not the case that nothing has happened since he was officially announced winner of the 2012 presidential race in Egypt. Rather, a lot has been ging on since then, even though the outcome remains unclear: Morsi was sworn in, gave speeches in Tahrir and at Cairo University, and allowed for a lot of speculation about potential ministers in his cabinet. Morsi also met with the heads and ministers of other states, among them the king of Saudi Arabia and Foreign Secretary Clinton, and maybe most importantly he decreed that the parliament be reinstated. Reinstating the parliament was possible (and maybe necessary?) because it had previously been dissolved by SCAF after the Supreme Court had declared parts of the electoral law unconstitutional. SCAF and the Supreme Court on the other hand refuted the legitimacy of Morsi's decree, but up to now the case is still pending as the administrative court also has a word to say in that issue.

The issue of the dissolved - reinstated - pending parliament is illustrative of the overall situation: none of the power struggles has come to closure yet. And: there is a lot of unfinished business, in pretty much any field that you can think of.

While this was to be expected from an ongoing revolution facing a counterrevolution (or at least a resilient military regime), what's shocking me is the lack of sound analysis in both Egyptian and international, commercial and non-commercial media and in the public discourse. Take the parliament issue: Barely any journalist, politician or self-proclaimed commentator (like I am) discusses the question whether SCAF's decision to dissolve parliament was legal or legitimate in the first place. Hardly anyone makes the effort of distinguishing between the judiciary's verdict (= Supreme Court declaring electoral law as unconstitutional) and the executive's action (=SCAF dissolving parliament). I started going through the English version of the court's decision, in an (eventually futile) attempt to figure out what exactly the court had decreed. In face of several pages of legal slang (Arabic legal slang translated to English might even be worse than legal slang per se), I soon threw in the towel and gave up to make up my mind about the legality of Morsi's reinstatement-decree. Thanks God, the absolutely incredible journalist Issandr El Amrani was more persistent and eventually commented on the issue in his post "Moustafa: Don't call the SCC's decision on parliament a dissolution" on his blog The Arabist. Yet, and this is the surprising part: hardly anyone else does.

People dozing away in the summer heat, giving in to exhaustion after 17 months of revolutionary turmoil and worries, helpes SCAF and the judiciary clinging to power and preventing democratically elected politicians from actually ruling. But the mediocre quality of political analysis in media and public discourse might do the bigger share. What we see is the endless swamping of the audience with rumours, conspiracy theories, and dramatic catchphrases. What we need is transparent, well-informed, and analytically sharp writing. 

The above mentioned blog "The Arabist" and the website "Jadaliyya" are proof that this is possible.

Muslim Brother Morsi leading the polls BUT...

As if last night's counting of the votes for the presidential election had not been exciting enough, SCAF issued a new "constitutional declaration" before midnight. If you wanna understand what that means, please go ahead and read

Nathan Brown's "Instant analysis of Egypt's new constitution" on Issandr El Amrani's fabulous blog The Arabist

or have a look at AlAhram's summary of the declaration in English

or (for those how can) at the Arabic original .

"Why the bad news in Egypt is worse than you thought"

A good article by Mohamed El Dahshan, explaining why it's not been a military coup, and pointing to the importance of the more or less clandestine restoration of the "emergency law":

 

Why the bad news in Egypt is worse than you thought | Transitions

“We’d be outraged if we weren’t so exhausted.’’

...Hossam Baghat, head of the well-known NGO Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, tweeted on Thursday, commenting on the most recent turn in Egypt's transition. Washington Post article by Leila Fadel describes the situation in Cairo yesterday, one day after the court ruling to dissolve parliament and one day before the presidential run-off:

"Only a few bedraggled demonstrators turned out to protest the latest turn in Egypt’s turbulent journey — the court-ordered dissolution of parliament. Honking cars inched past symbolic tombs honoring protesters slain by security forces. With presidential balloting to begin Saturday, people on the sweltering streets looked fatigue and numb.

Even Friday’s shuttering of the Islamist-dominated parliament by Egypt’s ruling military generals, who were carrying out the court ruling, did not stir much in the way of condemnation. Many of those who fought hardest for the toppling of Hosni Mubarak now appear resigned to see the old guard come back to power."

"Fatigue and numb" seems an appropriate description to me. And it appears that the revolutionaries where wrong when they claimed, in face of the military coup on February 11, 2011 and throughout the entire transitional period: "now the future is ours and they cannot really take the revolution from us'. And each time we feel this, then again we go to the streets" (from an interview conducted in December 2011, with a 23-old student here in Cairo). The idea that "Tahrir is always there" and any step of the ruling powers could be met by another large protest rested on the wrong assumption that the events of January 2011 were nothing but a spontaneous expression of people's will. In fact however, the large-scale processes had been preceded by a long phase of preparation and mobilization. They did not come out of the blue - and so today a mass protest won't come out of the blue, especially not if people are tired and worn out by last years developments.

So if massive protests are not likely now, is there no way to prevent Ahmed Shafiq from becoming Egypt's next president? (Note: A president with completely unchecked power now that parliament has been dissolved, no constitution is in place, and the judiciary is no longer deemed independent.) Well, there is a simple option to at least prevent a smooth takeover by Shafiq and keep the political game open for another round: more than 50% of those polling vote for Morsi.

To me, that seems a viable option, in particular in face of the daunting alternative. Yet, this might only be so because I am not worried about the geopolitical consequences of an MB-led Egypt, and because I don't find the idea of Islamic standards of behaviour enforced in the public sphere too threatening. Already being in Egypt means that I can not behave the way I am used to, that a high degree of adaptation is enforced on me and that questions of morality are constantly on my mind. And, to be fair, the fact that other than Egypt's religious minorities, staunch liberals and Westernized youth, I can simply leave and settle elsewhere if it pleases me.

For many Egyptians however things look different (quoting again from WP): "'The revolution is dead,' said Omnia Nabil, 24, holding an Egyptian flag among protesters in the square outnumbered by vendors peddling revolutionary paraphernalia. Still, she added: 'I will vote for the devil before I vote for the Muslim Brotherhood.'"

Ok, wait: "I will vote for the devil" rather than for Morsi? Either I completely underestimate the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood, or the old regime's propaganda has been extremely successful. For years, Mubarak and his aides cultivated the storyline: "It's either us or the Islamists." The West and many Egyptians bought in this narrative and supported the regime no matter what, out of fear of ... well, of what exactly? One of Leila Fadel's interview partners has a response, "he will vote for Shafiq, because Islamists cannot be trusted to make good on the demands of the revolution: 'If they win, this will be Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iran'".

If I had the chance to argue with this desperate (former?) revolutionary, I would like to point out that Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran might not be quite the same. For understanding their form of Political Islam and their current situation, the countries' history, as well as past and current influences of (neo)imperialist powers need to be taken into consideration. I would side with those who say "Egypt will never be Iran". Yet, of course, this is arguable. In any case, however, it is remarkable that in Egypt the alternative to a military regime and police state, "the Islamists" has never been "tried". (This was by the way an argument of some for voting for the MB in the parliamentary elections.)

It seems that at the given time, the Egyptian society is too divided to unite behind Morsi in order to prevent Shafiq. Shafiq has already announced that he would crush any further protests after being elected. Other than that, two recent state advertisements might give a taste of what's to be expected from his presidency (first one with subtitles, second one only in Arabic)

Advertisement warning Egyptians to speak to foreigners about "sensitive" issues.

Advertisement warning Egyptians not to spread exaggerated news about the protests 
(in Arabic only)

Don't you ever think it couldn't get worse in Egypt

                 "Opening soon" reads this grafitti, sprayed on the wall of the former NDP headquarters. By Zeft.

So, more than one year down from the "Revolution of January 25th", many people have learned a lesson. Most importantly, revolutionaries have learned that you really shouldn't congratulate yourself on your achievements too early. The "old" regime has probably learned a lesson how to deal with unwanted attempts at democratisation more successfully.

In fact, since yesterday it seems that the regime has provided us with the perfect blueprint of how to abort a revolution: Wear the revolutionary forces down in small fights over time, while at the same time maintaining the promise of a transition of power following democratic principles. Prepare everything for the handover of power, and make sure you keep all the oppositional forces busily involved in that process. Then, few days before the final (democratic) battle supposedly decides who obtains presidential power, make sure you concentrate all powers in your hands again by following 5 simple steps: 1) get the respected judges are on your side, 2) issue a law-like decree that grants you unlimited power to arrest people, 3) make the judges dissolve the democratically elected parliament, so that legislative and constitutional power wanders back into your hands again, 4) finally, install the president of your choice, and 5) enjoy.

This might not be a blueprint working in other countries (coz of course we know how different they are, even if they belong to the Arab, Moslem, African or short non-Western world), but it definitely proved successful in Egypt. The second round for presidency is scheduled for 16th and 17th of June, so that is tomorrow and the day after. The competitors in the run-off are the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi, and a remnant of the old regime (of the "folool"), Ahmed Shafiq. Earlier this week, "Justice Minister Adel Abdel Hamid issued a decree (...) giving military intelligence officers the power to arrest civilians until a new constitution is put in place" (POMED, 13.06.2012). As "obstructing traffic" (which pretty much equals "demonstration") is one of the "crimes" that military personnel can arrest citizens for, the decree's effects resemble those of the infamous "emergency law", which had blurred the border between police, military, and judicial powers for years until it was cancelled after the revolution. 

Other than undermining the rule of law, SCAF also regained legislative power yesterday by a court ruling: the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled 6 month (!) after the parliamentary elections, that they were partially conducted in unconstitutional ways, and thus the entire parliament had to be dissolved. Apparently, this also affects the legitimacy of the 100-men strong constituent assembly, which had been elected by parliament two days ago. The assembly was charged with drafting a constitution, given that the country's constitution was disbanded and substituted by SCAF's constitutional declaration last year. In face of the parliament's dissolution, SCAF announced it would appoint the members of a new constitutional assembly today. 

Effectively all this means that SCAF controls the constitution-giving body and has re-gained legislative power after the dissolution of the legislative body. Above that, the military has the right to arrest people as it pleases. Oh, and last but not least, the upcoming elections are expected to make Shafiq the new President of Egypt. Shafiq used to be Prime Minister under Mubarak. He has repeatedly shown his condescension for revolutionaries and, actually, citizens in general. Shafiq promised to crush further demonstrations after being elected (maybe that is the reason why he made it to the run-off?) and all in all, is as anti-revolutionary as you can get. He is going to be a president, without a parliament, without a constitution and with the military establishment on his side. I wonder whether Mubarak envies him.

The reaction of Egyptian public is not yet clear, the public outcry that I would have expected yesterday did not happen. Indignation was limited to the media and Twitter. All the people I randomly spoke to in the streets approved of what had happened. Either because "Mubarak was a good man", because "The Muslim Brothers want to forbid tourism. They want to forbid drinking - but why do the tourists come here?", because "Parliament didn't do anything", because "I don't like Ikhwan (the MB)."

If you want to learn more about the bleak situation the Egyptian revolution finds itself in, I can recommend the following articles:

Egyptian court rulings seen as reversal of last year’s ‘revolution’
By Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers, Thursday 14 June 2012,

Egypt, a country lost in transition
Progress from autocracy to democracy has been complicated by tensions, divisions and violence at every turn
By Ian Black, The Guardian, Thursday 14 June 2012,

Cairo'sJudicial Coup

By Nathan J. Brown, Foreign Policy, Thursday 14 June 2012,

NewPolitical Showdown in Egypt as Court Invalidates Parliament

By David D Kirkpatrick, New York Times, Thursday 14 June 2012,

What to know on Egypt's new political drama
By SARAH EL DEEB, AP, Thursday 14 June 2012,

Egyptbraces for more protests as activists decry ‘coup’ after courtruling

By AlArabiya, Thursday 14 June 2012,

The latest victim: Ahmed el Sayed Soroor killed this morning

After waking up I checked the newssites AlJazeera and some Egyptian ones, and was reliefed to find that no massacre had happened at night, and that apparently, for a third day in row everything was quiet and calm. Then I signed in to Twitter, looking at the thread for #Tahrir, and learnt that this morning a young man named Ahmed el Sayed Soroor had been killed in front of the cabinet. Some tweets report his dead as a consequence of the police (or: military police? Amn Markazy in Arabic) breaking up the sit-in in front of the Cabinet. Yet, a video allegedly showing the events leading to Ahmed's death, to me does not seem to show the break up of a sit-in. And also the actual chain of events remained rather unclear - yet, what sticks to the mind is the image of the blood on Ahmed's back, flowing from the wound that would kill him little later. 

Another short video shows ho a group of men carries the wounded away and eventually enters a bus, while those remaining outside shout "there is no God but God". If you want to follow latest events you can follow the threads #Tahrir and #OccupyCabinet.


In light of news like these reaching us nearly every day, for me it seems difficult to remain optimistic. But others, like Firas Al-Atraqchi, are still hopeful and see what is happening as the birth of a new Egypt. In an article for Huffington Post he speculates: "It is now that the seeds of a true revolution are being planted. Ten months ago, shortsightedness and political infighting allowed the pillars of the old regime -- the medieval Ministry of Interior and State media -- to survive.Today, however, protesters in Tahrir and other governorates have realized what it is they failed to do.By taking to the streets they are creating a new convention between the military and the people, and redefining the concepts of citizenship in their country."

Should I stay or should I go? ...Thoughts of Tantawi and Ganzouri

In a press conference yesterday, military's representatives stated that the police had shown "self restraint" in dealing with the protesters who were allegedly intending to attack the Ministry of Interior. The SCAF affirmed that police had used nothing bur teargas on the protesters - an assurance slightly at odds with an  earlier statement by the health ministry confirming that 7 deaths had been due to gunshot wounds.

And while 77-years-old new and former prime minister Ganzouri is still pondering whom to appoint as minister, the people holding a sit-in in front of the cabinet buildings have already appointed their own salvation government, according to Al Ahram Online. According to some participants interviewed by Bikyamasr, protestors had moved to this new location for symbolic reasons: "It sends a better message than Tahrir, meaning we can take the parliament(...)We aren’t going to take Tahrir, we are going to take other streets." I am wondering whether it wasn't rather the understanding that they would be unable to hold the Midan because of a lack of people...
While it seems more like a symbolic move so far, the appointment of a civilian transition government would be in line with the latest demands of the US as well. Other than in the last days, the US government seems to now voice its support for the immediate transfer of power to civilian authorities: "Most importantly, we believe that the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place in a just and inclusive manner that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people, as soon as possible". Yet, according to the British The Guardian, the US' move rather intends to empower and back Ganzouri than an entirely new revolutionary government made up of various presidential candidates as proposed by groups of protesters.

Some good articles and impressive pictures

Cairo -based reporter Nate Wright describes what the truce looked like in practice, depicting an incident where the situation nearly escalated but could be reigned in in the last minute: Crowdsourcing the truce

Another awesome piece by Nate Wright pointing out that the violence in Sharia Mohammed Mahmoud was sustained by protesters, and accusing the SCAF for failing to defuse the situation early on: Violence in the new revolution

BBC's Wyre Davies summing up the events and describing the tense and ambiguous situation on Wednesday night: Unrest continues near Cairo's Tahrir Square

Al Ahram posted a video that clearly shows it was police who broke the truce on Wednesday.

 
An article on the nature of police-society relations in Egypt, the role the police and individual officers find themselves in post- January 25: Egypt police struggle to regain pride on still-skimpy salaries

A caricature showing a "November martyr" meeting a "January martyr" (that's what the capture says), one of them telling the other (approximately): "Don't worry, they will get our rights for us." 

A photo showing Midan Tahrir this morning during prayer time.

An article about the arrestment of Mona ElTahawy, a well-known Egyptian-American journalist who was arrested, beaten, severly injured and harassed by security forces: Prominent columnist briefly detained

A non-professional article summing up the events and providing some links to footage and reports by human rights organizations accusing the most recent HR violations

And of course I recommend as usual The Arabist. He is up to date, concise, analytically sharp, and just has a very good grasp of the country and its woes. His chart displaying the current positions of various political actors in regards to the protesters' demands is brilliant.

If you have your own recommendations to add, please comment, or send me an email with the respective links.

A busy week: Egypt is protesting military rule, hurling stones and teargas, treating their wounded, morning their martyrs and preparing for elections

It was a busy week in Cairo. While I was busy preparing my exams and catching up with an old friend, the Egyptian police was busy showering their fellow Egyptians in teargas and gunning them down with rubber bullets, shotguns and reportedly some rounds of life amunition. 

After last Friday's protest, which demanded the military to come out with a clear timeable for the handover of power to civilian rulers and which was the first protest in a long time with mass turnout, a small group of protesters stayed in Midan Tahrir over night. The reportedly around 200 protesters that camped out at the Midan were violently removed from Egyptian police forces early Saturday. The unnecessary and unprovoked brutality of the police enraged many others who heard of the events. So soon, the crowd in Tahrir started to swell again, throughout Saturday and Sunday. 

At the same time violent clashes broke out and continued for days in some streets bordering Tahrir, namely Sharia Mohammed Mahmoud (where the ministry of the interior is located), Sharia Sheikh Rehan and Midan Falaki. Police fired insane amounts of two different types of teargas, and apparently also used some kind of nerve gas on protestors in Tahrir on Tuesday night. Police shot with rubber bullets and at parts also life ammunition, reportedly aiming in specific at protesters' eyes an necks. While both teargas and rubber bullets are traditional tools of riot control, they can obviously also be used in order to kill. The amount of teargas fired from short distances, the firing of rubber bullets at sensitive areas from short distance and the documented brutal beating of protesters by police indicates that no effort whatsoever was undertaken to avoid injuries, the opposite seems to be the case.

At the same time, protesters themselves seemed determined to sustain the violence in Sharia Mohammed Mahmoud. Their throwing of rocks and pushing forward towards the distant end of the street was not appreciated by all of the protesters present in Tahrir.  According to an article by Nate Wright, it was this fraction of protestors who prevented fellow protestors from braking the truce that had come into being early Thursday morning. More than one attempt to negotiate a truce had failed before, and an earlier truce agreed upon had been broken by police on Wednesday after few hours.

The fighting and the dramatic pictures produced thereof (on some nights, another injured person was delivered to the field clinics on the Midan every 20 seconds! all this could be watched live on TV) drew more people, on Tuesday it was called for another million men march. And even though the number of 1 Mio might not have been reached, it was clearly the largest demonstrations Egypt had seen in a long time. I have heard many people say that until now the sacrifices of the Egyptian people, the death of so many "martyrs" had been in vain. 

Many (me included) sense that Egyptians are currently trying to bring to an end the revolution they had started in January - and abandoned inbetween in the (naive?) belief that the army would help implement the changes asked for. Now that it has become clear that the army is at most malicious and at least incapable, people are loudly voicing their demands for change again, shouting "The people want to bring down the military regime" or "The people want to bring down Tantawi" (the head of the SCAF, Supreme Council of Armed Forces). 

During the past days, the officials responded with various moves, yet none of them could satisfy the protesters demands. The government under prime minister Essam Sharaf resigned, Tantawi delivered his first speech ever (which was as boring as expected), the SCAF excused for the deaths on its facebook page (sic!) and Kamal Ganzouri was appointed new prime minister and expected to form a cabinet over the weekend. Yet, given that he had already been prime minister for several years under Mubarak it was hardly surprising his appointment was not appraised by the protesters in Midan Tahrir. 

The demands of various protesting factions vary if it comes to the institutional details (composition, competencies, timing of national salvation government and/or presidential council), but have in common that they ask for a handover of power to civilian institutions/individuals. Also, the demand for some form of transitional justice, the cleansing of the interior ministry and the reform of the police is central to the protestors' agenda. 

It is contested, whether elections can (and should) begin on Monday as planned. The Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis and the US State Department are pushing for elections to take place as scheduled. Also, various reports and opinion pieces state that the protesters and their demands are not backed by a majority of Egyptians, who supposedly simply want the elections to take place so calm can return to the squares and streets of their country. (Obviously I think this goal is illusive. Or to be more precise: the assumption real societal and political peace could be produced by holding elections on Monday is illusive.)

In any case, it is no understatement to say that today is a crucial day for Egypt. The turnout at the protests and the military's and police's reaction will be decisive for the days and weeks to come.

(For articles on all the above mentioned issues, see the separate post "Some good articles and impressive pictures".)

Slavery in the 21st century: domestic workers in Lebanon

So, as if the cruelty of Egypt's daily news wasn't enough, I somehow got hooked up on the topic of abuse in general. In recent days I found myself discussing the issues of female genital mutilation, sexual abuse in prisons, sexual abuse as a weapon of war, domestic violence, organ trade and human trafficking with various friends and acquaintances. I do not want to spare you with all of this, and thus share some aspects of abuse of domestic labourers with you. 

Apparently Lebanon, has acquired some fame in this field. If we believe an article by the British newspaper TheGuardian, published in 2010, Lebanon is not only sticking out from other Arab countries by its liberal attitudes and its likening for plastic surgery, but also by its maltreatment of a large number of domestic workers. The article portrays the fate of Asian and African women who - by the help of false promises - were lured into becoming domestic workers in Lebanon. Other than they had expected many of these women do not earn enough money to provide a better life for their children back home in Madagaskar or Indonesia, but upon their arrival in Lebanon are forced into slave-like working conditions: their passports and visa papers are taken away by either an agency or their new employers, the new "masters" confine the maids to the house, limit their opportunities to social (virtual and real) contact, make them work up to 18 hours per day, deny them privacy and adequate payment. In many cases the domestic workers are even subject to physical and psychological abuse by their employers. Held in such a state of absolute dependency combined with acute suffering, many domestic workers see their only option in killing themselves. Of those, who chose to escape, many risk their live in attempts to climb down from balconies or windows. Together with the suicides, these dangerous flights kill more than one person per week in Lebanon, according to a HRW report issued in 2008. There seem to be few organisations in Lebanon addressing the issue. The UK basedKalayaan being one of them. Given that the shocking HRW report was published as early as 2008 one wonders how little has seemingly changed to the date when BBC picked up on the topic. Under the capture "Madagascar maids: Misery in the Middle East", BBC's Hannah McNeish pictures the story of Mrs Baholiarisoa, who in 2011 finally could return to her home country Madagascar after being enslaved in Lebanon for 15 years.

While the increase of servants and slaves in Lebanon seems to be tied to increasing wealth and aspirations of a more luxurious life, it is poverty and economic distress that drives Asians and Africans to leave their countries in the first place. At the same time, political and economic instability in the Northern African countries, allows for the deterrioriation of the security situation in the Sahel zone, and thus for (expected) easier crossing from Southern parts of Africa...

Sandmonkey's getting serious!

After using the synonym "Sandmonkey" for a good while, the Egyptian blogger and Twitter-er Mahmoud Saleh had already revealed his identitity in the wake of the Egyptian protests in February 2011. Now he's taking it a step further and runs for presidency ... parliament, I mean. I just became aware of his intention to run for office, when I visited his blog in order to see whether he has already commented on the death of Essam Atta. Yet, his blog has disappeared, and instead a website - otherwise still being under construction - anounces "Mahmoud Salem for Parliament 2011". The interesting online newssite Global Post confirms that Mahmoud is currently drafting his campaign to compete for a seat in parliament in the inshallah upcoming elections. He intends to run in the election district Heliopolis, competing with the reknown scholar, talksshowguest and revolution-sympathizer Amr Hamzawy and a former NDP figure Magdy Mahrous.

Cruel abuse of Essam Atta leading to the prisoner's death

Essam Atta, a 24-year old Egyptian is the latest victim of ongoing police violence in Egypt. Essam had been arrested on February 25 during the clashes in the Coptic Quarter of Cairo. He was later sentenced to two years in prison. It was his attempt to smuggle a SIM card for a mobile phone into prison that eventually cost him his life. The guards at Tora prison "punished" him with repeated, severe abuse (for the graphic details please read AlJazeera's article on the matter), and Essam Atta died shortly after being delivered to Qasr al Ayni hospital. It was the El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, a well-known Egyptian NGO, that broke the news about Atta's abuse and consequent death on Thursday. Pictures of Atta's corpse soon went viral on Twitter and Facebook. Within no time a facebook page named "We are all Essam Atta" was created, reminding of the page "We are all Khaled Said", which had provided one of many organising platforms for the January 25 protests. Khaled Said was beaten to death by police officers in the streets of Alexandria in June 2010. Official reports stated he had died by swallowing a package of drugs - but photos of his heavily distorted face, smuggled out of the morgue by his brother, told a different story and soon went viral on the internet. Earlier this week, the trial of the police officers that had killed Said was concluded, sentencing them to 7 years in jail. This comparatively mild punishment already provoked a outcry - however, the outrage could not prove strong enough to re-ignite the revolutionary fire. Once the news of Atta's death spread, the parallels to Said were instantly seen, and indeed the Friday protests in Tahrir attrackted more followers than in the previous weeks, and make wonder whether Atta's cruel death could provide the rallying cause for the reviving of a revolution that many already believed to be dead...

Al Jazeera has a very good article on the issue, also highlighting the parallels to the case of Khaled Said.

If you want to learn more about Khaled Said, and how his death at the hands of Egyptian police became a rallying cause for protests on January 25, have a look at the Wikipedia article. Also the highly reccomendable blog The Arabist provides plenty of background information, colllected in June 2010.

Also the popular blogger Zeinobia comments on the events in her Egypian Chronicles. As did most other Egyptian news magazines as Bikya Masr, Al Ahram Online, the Egyptian Daily News and Al Masry Al Youm.

Essam Atta - Tod in Polizei"gewahrsam"

Seit einigen Stunden verbreiten sich in Kairo die Neuigkeiten, dass der 24-jährige Ägypter Essam Atta, verhaftet am 25 Januar 2011, verurteilt zu zwei Jahren Gefängnis, gestern nach Misshandlungen gestorben ist. Der junge Ägypter leistete seine Haftstrafe im Tora Gefängnis ab. Um ihn für den Versuch, eine Handy SIM Karte ins Gefängnis zu schmuggeln, zu bestrafen, wurde er laut den Aussagen anderer Insassen, von Gefängniswärtern derart misshandelt, dass er Donnerstag ins Krankenhaus Qasr al Ayni eingeliefert werden musste, wo er wenig später verstarb. Berichte zu seinem Gesundheitszustand und äußeren Verletzungen/Spuren der Misshandlung zum Zeitpunkt der Einlieferung sind widersprüchlich. Ägyptische Medien berichten, dass die Familie zusammen mit ca 800 Protestern vor der Leichenhalle im Viertel Sayyeda Zeinab auf den Abschluss der Obduktion wartet, um dann den Trauerzug zu starten. Dieser soll auf dem Tahrir Platz, dem Herz der Umsturzversuche, enden, wo nach Aussagen ägyptischer Medien dem Wunsch der Familie entsrechend die Trauerfeier abgehalten werden soll.Es gitb bereits die entsprechende Facebook Gruppe "We areall Essam Atta", die an die Facebook Gruppe "We are allKhaled Saeed" erinnert. Auch Kommentatoren stellen die offensichtiche Verbindung her: Der brutale Tod Khaled Saeeds durch Polizeigewalt im Juni 2010 in Alexandria war ein wichtiger "rallying cause" für die Proteste am 25 Januar 2012, die den Beginn der Ereignisse darstellten, welche man heute gemeinhin als "Ägyptische Revolution" bezeichnet.

MIlitary's response to allegations

In a statement broadcasted Monday night, the military has again denied the use of live amunition, the practice of torture, and the allegations of having put Maikel Nabil on trial without any lawyers at his defense. Also the army emphasized that the participation of officers' in Friday's protests (which sparked of the confrontation Saturday morning) was not indicative fo a split in the army. They were also eager to claim that there had been no pressure of Saudi Arabia to influence the treatment of Mubarak.

Above that the army representatives justified the clearing of Midan Tahrir Saturday morning as well as the general practice of trying protestors in front of military courts rather than civilian courts. In their understanding Maikel Nabil was a case for a military court because he had harmed the army: “Freedom of expression is guaranteed as long as it is respectful and doesn’t doubt the armed forces,” says Etman, a member of the MIlitary Council.

AlMasr AlYoum has an extensive article elaborating on the army's speech.

Mubarak gone!

Apparently all the trouble that his audio-recorded speech caused was a bit too much ... Mubarak reportedly hospitalized in Sharm el-Sheikh. Unfortunately the article by AlJazeera leaves open whether MUbarak had already been question by the prosecutor as planned for today after the prosecutor announced Sunday Mubarak would be summoned.

Must-see footage of protesting officers' statement and army attack on Tahrir

AlMasr AlYoum has published very interesting footage of the night that the army stormed Midan Tahrir, also including statements by some of those officers who had joined the protesters on that day. All with English subtitles and definitely worth watching!

As usual it is hard to interpret and draw conclusions from what we see. What sems pretty clear: a massacre or even only an army that is decisive to quell a revolt with force looks different (Lybia, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria can give hints here...). Yet, reports from the night have stated already before that the army was more brutal when chasing protesters through the streets of downtown, which allegedly also was when and where the (numbered now as one to tree) deaths occured.

Mubarak is back! ...

...at least to the news: On Sunday, Mubarak for the first time since his ouster addressed the (his?) nation. In an audio recording broadcasted on AlArabiya Mubarak denied having illegally amassed wealth and moved it outside of Egypt, and threatened to sue those who damaged his reputation.The prosecutor general Abdel Meguid ‎Mahmoud responded within an hour saying Mubarak was summoned as part of investigations into the killing of protesters and embezzlement of public funds. Mubarak's speech and denial would not affect the investigations. Yet, Mubarak's highly emotional speech was definitely tailored to change people's mind on him. Egypt Daily News quotes from the speech "I feel deep sorrow and pain for the allegations against me and my family aiming to defame my integrity my political and military honor that I used for serving Egypt at times of peace and war".

Another attempt by the former president-father-pharao-ruler to work people's emotions

Yet, might there really still be a threat that playing on people's emotions works after all that has happened? I start to understand why a honoured friend of mine keeps disyplaing the huge scars on his legs resulting from him being shot on January 28. To quote himself „this is to show the people what this regime is like! What Mubarak is capable of doing!“ He was eager to counter the narrations and ideas of people who still thought Mubarak was a hounorable men who deserved the treatment of an older gentleman whose only fault it was to miss the right point for voluntary retirement.

The Alliance of Egyptian Revolutionaries reacted furiously to the former president's speech. Considering that not only the prosecutor but also several other political actors such as the April 6 movement responded negatively to Mubarak's speech, AlAhram judges that Mubarak didnt do himself any good as him speaking up only fueled the fire and led to the speeding up of the prosecutior.

Maikel Nabil tried in absence, NDP figures getting civilian trials

Regarding the case of Maikel Nabil, I would like to add that he was tried by a military court (while the Military Council emphasizes the right of former NDP figures to be tried by a civilian court!) in the absence of his or his lawyers. The blog Democracy Review now published a letter supposedly from Maikel Nabil appeared.

Minor clashes in Tahrir were reported, reflecting the rising tension on the Midan in general but also between two groups of protestors in particular. Also on AUC campus protests to oust two regime related figures took place. Students demanded the dismissal of the security chief, Ashraf Kamal, who used to work for State Security and of the head of student development services, Mohammed Dabbour who is an NDP member.Both are accused of previously having monitored and censored student activity on campus.

The day's news from Egypt

Several Egyptian human rights groups have investigated Saturday morning's events and based on a comparison of eyewhitnesses' accounts came to the conclusion that in opposition to its offical denial afterwards the army had used live amunition to shoot at protesters. The Daily New's article also shows the various stages in which the battle between army and protesters unfolded. 

Since that night demonstrators have pretty much withut any interruption occupied Midan Tahrir. While I sympathise with Egyptians claiming Midan Tahrir back and enforcing their right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression, the protestors' behaviour does not strike me as particularly clever: blocking off any traffic crossing Midan Tahrir and throwing stones at passing cars, as reported by the Daily News does not win them new friends. Rather it turns ordinary people against the revolutionaries, and thus eventually maybe even against the revolution itself. 

Today, the military intervened to halt Sectarian clashes which were taking place in a village West of Cairo. Apparently several sectarian clashes had also been reported yesterday. 

In another unsettling development the Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil was sentenced to three years of prison by a military court. Mikael Nabil was arrested and tried for an article hat he had posted in response to the army torturingand abusing those arrested on the 9^th of March. 

The Egyptian blogger Zeinobia points out how even though Mikael was highly contested due to his stance towards the Egyptian army and Israel, him being arrested and sentenced for insulting the army and saying the un-truth in his article points to a dark future for Egypt's bloggers.

Army blaming clashes on thugs - but isn't every protestor a troublemaker?

There is some discord as to what actually happened on early Saturday morning on Midan Tahrir. As shown in the post from Saturday morning, AlJazeera reported Tahrir was cleared by military police with force, the aim mainly being to get out the some ten soldiers who had joined the protests and where protected by the protestors. Al Jazeera has become some kind of authority if it comes to reporting on the Middle East protests, as it continuously provided the fastest and most comprehensive coverage of the revolts in Egypt, Syria, and some other Arab countries. And in many cases one can say it was the „only one being there“. While other channels shifted their attaention to Japan, Lybia, and wherever else events appeared to be most dramatic, alJazeera maintained at least a minor presence in countries like Egypt to follow-up on the post-revolt devlopments.

Twitter and AlJazeera account unanimously stating: army crackdown

Yet, I might indeed have given to much credit to AlJazeera or at least have not been critical enough in the sense that I tended to adopt the stance: if AlJazeera interprets the events as „army cracking down on protestors“ then this will in the end gonna be the dominant reading. (If you think about it: this might say more about AlJazeera's hegemonic position in interpreting Middle Eastern events than about the interpretation's fit with reality...) And still - it was not only AlJazeera, but also Twitter seemed to draw a clear picture yesterday morning: the army has turned on the reamining protestors, probably because of the soldiers who had joined the demonstrations and remained on Tahrir.

During the day more accounts, by media and individuals (as if reporters where not individuals?) surfaced: Facebook user Omar Kamel who had been at Midan Tahrir all night posted a detailed account of the events. The photographer David Degner published photos of the clashes and the Midan in its aftermath. Also videos were uploaded to prove that the army was continuously firing in the air and at protestors for a prolongued period and that they were using live amunition opposite to their own claims and statements. The first of the videos also shows how army is storming the square and tearing the tents in the middle of the Midan where allegedly the protestors had put the defecting soldiers to protect them.

Still the situation seemed far from clear: rumours spread that it had been thugs on Midan Tahrir attacking the army, who then responded by clearing the square. Others said it was thugs in army uniform that were actually joining the protestors. According to AlMAsr AlYoum, the military council for its part stated that „police and soldiers had 'confronted acts of rioting and implemented a curfew' without causing any loss of life and blamed disturbances on 'elements outside the law in Tahrir'“

The well-respected scholar Dr. Heba Raouf who lives in Downtwon close to Midan Tahrir was cited by facebook user Mohamed Sharaf elDin as saying that „600 people are in the square.. half of them are thugs and the other half are people are troublemakers“ (Thanks to my friend Kazem for translation).

Every protest interrupting order qualifies as thuggery!

Contradictious reports you think? I was quite confused for a short moment and then I realized, that the explanations lies within the concept of „thugs“ respectively „troublemakers“. Of course, for the army and apparently also some other people (mainly those who think demonstrations should stop now) everyone who breaks the curfew (setting in at 2 am ending at 5 am) is placing himself „outside the law“. Thanks to the law on thuggery passed on the 23d of March, any „strikes, protests, demonstrations and sit-ins that interrupt private or state owned businesses or affect the economy in any way“ are now illegal and an act of thuggery. So technically speaking the weekly protests on Fridays are an act of thuggery. And when people then also break the curfew...hell yeah, of course they are THUGS and TROUBLEMAKERS. Egyptians have a very weird relation to laws and authority, even though they brake many laws and rules on a daily basis at some poin they rever authority and the law, respectively orders from above. One Egyptian twitter user even stated that being democratic meant obeying the curfew.

Resisting injust laws and unlawful authority

But maybe it is also me who has a particular relationship to law and authority? Maybe I have full-heartedly adopted the idea which is laid out in the German Grundgesetz (constitution): if your government, respectively regime, respectively its laws and orders are undemocratic and in contradiction to the costitution you are allowed and even obliged to resist. (I have never been much into studying law, so if my knowledgable German friends can correct me here or add to my interpretation an official one, please go ahead!)

Meanwhile, the political and media battle go on: protests on Tahrir have been going on, several political figures have called for restraint, the MB issued a statement emphasizing the link between the people and the army, the Supreme Council of the Armed itself has issued further statements and counting and announcing of the injured proceeds...

Twitter continuously alarming

Right now tweeds (=Twitter messages) are saying: „Something is happening in #Tahrir. People are banging out warnings.“ A good example how difficult it might be for an outsider to understand what's happening. The banging out warning refers to a practice that protestors use since the early days of the revolt when they first clashed with police. All Midan Tahrir is surrounded by metal fences separating the pavements from the roads. In order to warn other protestors of approaching danger people would hit the fences metal poles in order while running along. At the same time one needs to understand, that those who are in Midan Tahrir have been exposed to violence and fear for weeks now, they saw their friends dying, have themselves been arrested and abused by military and police, and have been on alert for weeks. No wonder their interpetations and tweeds sometimes seem to be quitee alarmist, always expecting the worst....yet, on Friday night those expecting the worst, proved to be right once more....

BREAKING: army attacking protesters

I have been silent for the last weeks because I had been busy with my research and a workshop, both of which I'll tell you more about later. I do not have time to give you a proper overview of events in Egypt now, but wanted to draw your attention to last nights developments for the simple reasons that besides Aljazeera and the Washington Post most media oultets are ignoring the events. And if international media coverage and attention does not step up quickly, those who are still protesting for a real democracy and real change in Egypt might have to pay an even much higher price than they have done already...

Yesterday large protests, supported by various Youth Coalitions and the Muslim Brotherhood were staged under the name "Friday of Purging/Clearance", some ten army officers joined the protests. According to twitter (try #Tahrir), AlJazeera and the Washington Post at night around 3 am the army cracked down violently on the protestors in order to detain the defiant officers.

Inbetween state media and army statements (on facebook) claim that it was thugs and former NDP members staying at Tahrir and attacking the army...

For an overview of events in the reason check out the AlJazeera Liveblog - also the blogger Sandmonkey keeps tracking/tweeting on events on Midan Tahrir.