Monday, March 21, 2005
KEFAYA on the American campus of Cairo...
I was waiting for Samy to pick me up from infront of AUC (the American Univeristy in Cairo, where I used to study) and then I saw something that was the first since the last time the security guards were stopping a face-veiled girl from getting on campus.
However, this time it was not a girl with a face veil but a guy whom I remember knowing at some point...A biology major with a pony tail (that does say something about him in Egypt)...Mohamed the security guy was not letting him walk through the metal detectors and onto Greek Campus and I was wondering why, coz he was definitely not a fundementalist Muslim or a anti-US demonstrator. Then I find out, that all that was "bad" about him was that he had two yellow circular stickers stuck on his shirt...They were no ordinary stickers but they were ones where the word "KEFAYA" was written in red bold Arabic letters...
Kefaya is the literal translation for "enough" and it is also the name they use to call a movement in Egypt that wants this year to be the last year were President Mubarak is in office (President Mubarak has been "ruling" Egypt for the last 24 years!!)...
First of all, I do not completely agree with the Kefaya movement in that if the people of Egypt decide that they want to re-elect Mubarak then they should have their way...However, as long as the elections are run in a fair and a democratic way with more than one candidate running for the position...Mubarak is not that bad after all, lets compare the Egypt of now to the Egypt of Nasser or even that of Sadat...
Second of all, I think AUC has become just another of the "government's institutions" that oppress people and stop them from expressing their views, opinions and beliefs...The way things are happening at AUC remind me of this incident when a guy in Port Said (I think) cursed the President and then the police decided to arrest him for it, though not justified by any law...and the story ends up with the President asking the police to let the guy go home. But is AUC doing this voluntarily? I think it is coz no one can force the Americans to do anything in Egypt...
AUC is not arresting people but then it is taking away their right to be on campus when they had actually paid loads of money to get access to it and why? not coz the girl with the face veil was a serial killer or coz the guy with the stickers was a thief but coz they were expressing an opinion or a belief in a completely non-violent and civilised way....
If one of the most reputable American institutions in Cairo can't do this right...how are we expecting the governments to get it right??!!
Wanna know more about Kefaya, check www.kefaya.com (Thanx Luly) ¶ 2:31 PM
However, this time it was not a girl with a face veil but a guy whom I remember knowing at some point...A biology major with a pony tail (that does say something about him in Egypt)...Mohamed the security guy was not letting him walk through the metal detectors and onto Greek Campus and I was wondering why, coz he was definitely not a fundementalist Muslim or a anti-US demonstrator. Then I find out, that all that was "bad" about him was that he had two yellow circular stickers stuck on his shirt...They were no ordinary stickers but they were ones where the word "KEFAYA" was written in red bold Arabic letters...
Kefaya is the literal translation for "enough" and it is also the name they use to call a movement in Egypt that wants this year to be the last year were President Mubarak is in office (President Mubarak has been "ruling" Egypt for the last 24 years!!)...
First of all, I do not completely agree with the Kefaya movement in that if the people of Egypt decide that they want to re-elect Mubarak then they should have their way...However, as long as the elections are run in a fair and a democratic way with more than one candidate running for the position...Mubarak is not that bad after all, lets compare the Egypt of now to the Egypt of Nasser or even that of Sadat...
Second of all, I think AUC has become just another of the "government's institutions" that oppress people and stop them from expressing their views, opinions and beliefs...The way things are happening at AUC remind me of this incident when a guy in Port Said (I think) cursed the President and then the police decided to arrest him for it, though not justified by any law...and the story ends up with the President asking the police to let the guy go home. But is AUC doing this voluntarily? I think it is coz no one can force the Americans to do anything in Egypt...
AUC is not arresting people but then it is taking away their right to be on campus when they had actually paid loads of money to get access to it and why? not coz the girl with the face veil was a serial killer or coz the guy with the stickers was a thief but coz they were expressing an opinion or a belief in a completely non-violent and civilised way....
If one of the most reputable American institutions in Cairo can't do this right...how are we expecting the governments to get it right??!!
Wanna know more about Kefaya, check www.kefaya.com (Thanx Luly) ¶ 2:31 PM
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hey tamer, welcome to the blogging scene!
As a proponent of the Kefaya movement, i think kefaya is directed to mubarak as he is the reason why elections are not fair and democratic. It is not just Kefaya mubarak, it's kefaya to all the injustice that is happening.
As for your concerns about the AUC, i was completely shocked by it. I did not know that the AUC does not allow Ninjas to enter, or people with an opinion they want to demonstrate. but it kinda makes sense, it's been a while since AUC have demonstrated or done anything i have heard of. It is quite a shame, it kinda made it unique!
As a proponent of the Kefaya movement, i think kefaya is directed to mubarak as he is the reason why elections are not fair and democratic. It is not just Kefaya mubarak, it's kefaya to all the injustice that is happening.
As for your concerns about the AUC, i was completely shocked by it. I did not know that the AUC does not allow Ninjas to enter, or people with an opinion they want to demonstrate. but it kinda makes sense, it's been a while since AUC have demonstrated or done anything i have heard of. It is quite a shame, it kinda made it unique!
AUC has definitely lost all of that...it lost it all when they let the police arrest the guys who were demonstrating against the War against Iraq...
I dont know if I would agree with you on what you said about Mubarak. He is trying to get things better now though it was not his own personal choice... If he did not do well on democracy, then he at leat he did do well on improving the average citizen's standard of living; he helped us have better relationships with all countries of the world (with the exception of Iran, but things are getting better on that) and he did definitely see that neither the army or the religious institutions were too involved in the running of the State...
Ya3ni, im sure there is someone better than him out there...but who is that?
Last comment, i think its not politically correct to call face-veiled women "ninjas"...it offends my non-discriminatory" nature
Thanx Lulz...
I dont know if I would agree with you on what you said about Mubarak. He is trying to get things better now though it was not his own personal choice... If he did not do well on democracy, then he at leat he did do well on improving the average citizen's standard of living; he helped us have better relationships with all countries of the world (with the exception of Iran, but things are getting better on that) and he did definitely see that neither the army or the religious institutions were too involved in the running of the State...
Ya3ni, im sure there is someone better than him out there...but who is that?
Last comment, i think its not politically correct to call face-veiled women "ninjas"...it offends my non-discriminatory" nature
Thanx Lulz...
hey guys,
thats shocking about AUC! It looks like i will need some serious reintegration during my 10 day visit. I thought with the increase in demonstration and slight civil resistance AUC will have increased activity. Besides that, are there many demonstrations on campuses, cuz i haven tbeen hearing about many?
Assem
PS: although this is ppolitically incorrect, according to you, the term ninjas is so funnny!!
thats shocking about AUC! It looks like i will need some serious reintegration during my 10 day visit. I thought with the increase in demonstration and slight civil resistance AUC will have increased activity. Besides that, are there many demonstrations on campuses, cuz i haven tbeen hearing about many?
Assem
PS: although this is ppolitically incorrect, according to you, the term ninjas is so funnny!!
hey babe, the term ninja is not meant to insult anyone, it's a funny term as i cannot find the right english word for nikaab. kick tom's ass, he says it too much that it's stuck! ha ha
about AUC, what happened to this arrest thingie, i never heard of that.
why don't you post about how this has changed, i am very interested.
about AUC, what happened to this arrest thingie, i never heard of that.
why don't you post about how this has changed, i am very interested.
I promise I will be putting up a more comprehensive posting on where AUC has been going...
Assem, there have not been any proper demonstration in like up to 2 years...the really good ones where the ones that happened when you were still here and when the students broke the gates of the Greek Campus open and they were "stupidly" chanting " wahed etnein, el geish el 3araby fein" (translation: 1, 2, where is the Arab Army?)...It was abou laban and the other guy Tamim who got arrested and the latter was deported...
About the using teh term "Ninja"...well, i think face veiled is the best option...dunno I thought it was funny in the beginning too but then my best friend has a face-veiled sister and she is not a "ninja" to me...she belives in it , she chose to do it and I would not be happy having someone calling her a ninja...
Bas eshta :)
Assem, there have not been any proper demonstration in like up to 2 years...the really good ones where the ones that happened when you were still here and when the students broke the gates of the Greek Campus open and they were "stupidly" chanting " wahed etnein, el geish el 3araby fein" (translation: 1, 2, where is the Arab Army?)...It was abou laban and the other guy Tamim who got arrested and the latter was deported...
About the using teh term "Ninja"...well, i think face veiled is the best option...dunno I thought it was funny in the beginning too but then my best friend has a face-veiled sister and she is not a "ninja" to me...she belives in it , she chose to do it and I would not be happy having someone calling her a ninja...
Bas eshta :)
they guy with a pony tail name is ahmed el drouby, a biology major and he graduated and working as a graduate research assistant
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