Sunday, May 28, 2006

Do you enter these sites Young Lady ??

Until now I am living the nightmare results of the Al-Jazeera documentary "The Egyptian Bloggers;the new voice of opposition" which was shown last Thursday and re-shown again on Friday and Saturday !!

The documentary that was made during the historical era of the Egyptian blogging glory , when the world spoke about what is those meddling kids are doing in the valley of Nile , as we accomplished something in blogging , most of the bloggers around the world didn't achieve , we became the new loud voice of opposition that is exposing the shameful acts of Mubarak's regime in Egypt, a regime succeeded in a period of 24 years to put or rather send Egypt in to the worst of its darkest age on all levels whether in politically ,economically and socially that i can say that we were much better in the darkest era of Gamal Abd El-Nasser in some aspects , at least the regime didn't pretend to be a democratic , freedom of expression pretender , at least at the that time we were respected among the Arab World and Africa "yes it was a bloody time but truth is truth and you must give credit to everyone , come on Nasser appeared on the Time Cover many times , Mubarak I guess didn't appear even for once , only his son Gimmy appeared on the cover of the bestselling Newsweek edition in Egypt from two years

We gave as the documentary said another view to what's going to Egypt far away from the governmental dominance on the media and also from most the Egyptian parties and independently somehow for some period , for the first time independent coverage for news in all kind of fields whether politically "mostly" or economically or even socially happens in what's was presented by Egyptian blog God father Alaa "May God help him and give him strength in his cell now " The Public Journalism . Our success came when Hussein Haikal , the famous legendary Egyptian last year talked about us as promising phenomena that proves of the changes is taking its way in Egypt

Our true power came in the coverage of both the presidential and Parliament elections ,exposing the regime to the whole as one big fat corrupted fascist liar

The important thing that we , the Egyptian bloggers most of us despite speaking in politics day and night ,don't work in politics in fact most of us don't join in protests and demonstration except a minority , the brave suicidal minority whose quest for freedom will be engraved by gold in the History of this ancient Nation . Most of us , like me at least took the blessing of the anonymity nature in the blog to express her political thoughts and opinions freely , the idea of tracing you down in a country like Egypt is easily if you write in newspaper or magazine and say your opinion publicly , it is so easy and so terrible at the same "already as raised in a journalist house I know what this means , since the monarchy Egyptian Journalists were always had two options either to shut up and write what the rulers want or they will be sent to jail "already my grand dad was going to jail for his coverage to the Ismailia battle on the 25th of January yet he didn't enter because at that time Fouad Sarg El-Din feared from the parliament anger !!". so you see suppressing the freedom f expression is not a product of Egyptian revolution more it is in our heritage but differs proportionally according the ruler , I guess the oldest and greatest operation of suppression was in the time of Ramses II , the pharaoh of Exodus in Ancient Egypt followed by the El-Hakam be Amar Allah in the middle Ages followed by both Mubarak and Nasser in the modern age , I put Mubarak before Nasser , because Nasser said it frankly on 1954 that there would be no democracy in his era and he didn't lie while Mubarak lies on us , the world and before them himself saying we are living the best eras of democracy in Egypt , in fact we never had this freedom before !! Anyway back to me ,blogging and Egyptian bloggers world , yes I am coward , but also I think realistically ,I think in the term of the Quranic versus that says "Don't throw yourself in to doom" and by doom here I mean the claws of the regime

I know many will think that I am coward but I don't want to be humiliated because I am not this type of brave girls , I am more of a cheer leader from her house "as we say in Egypt"

I guess what I am trying to say began to take a shape

My dear readers and friends bloggers I was terrified last Thursday when I saw the documentary despite my happiness and pride of those wonderful familiar faces and names to be seen on TV on of the world's famous news channel , faces like Malak,Alaa, Manal and at last I knew Wael Abbas , Mina and Shainaz Abd El-Sallam, I was terrified because those wonderful boys and girls became so suicidal , so bold that I felt that they didn't think about themselves or their safety and the safety of their families or even about the consequences of this documentary on the Egyptian blogsphere

Already everybody who watches the satellite will tell you that the Al-Jazeera is a supporter of the Egyptian regime like Al-Arabya , in fact the relation is getting worse and worse then ever since the arresting of Hussein Abd El-Ghanay the head of the Al-jazeera office in Egypt in the most humiliating way , and so they don't care much if they exposed the real achievements of the regime from poverty and dictatorship , in fact it was their pleasure since many years that to embarrass the regime in the Nile valley so it wasn't a surprise for me to see such documentary with its Criticise to the regime , they showed us the menace is threating the Egyptian regime , we didn't reach this stage , we are more than an echo of a bullet

The threat is that this can jeopardise the Egyptian blog sphere putting us under the microscope , already the great icons of political blogging in Egypt were arrested as I said , yes they weren't arrested for blogging but insulting the president in a demonstration but most of them if not all of them especially Alaa had crossed all the decency lines with the insults the Egyptian law and Egyptian "respectable " community condemn , I respect Alaa very much and God Knows what I felt when I knew his arrest but I know for sure that this was based more upon the insults he wrote to the president in the celebration of his birthday . I said it and I will say it again despite I do not agree with Alaa and many from the political bloggers on the same principles whether religiously or politically yet I care for them

Our greatest disaster that after Alaa's arrest and the western media concerns about him , the eyes began to move toward the blogs , we are in danger , already if you are participating in ISP in Egypt TE data "following the ministry of Telecommunication " and Link Dot Net "Naguib Saoiras" you will find several active political blogs like Alaa and Manal and sites like Egyptian without borders are blocked , you have to break the proxy if you got a DSL subscription , a scary move and this happened before Malak and Alaa's arrest

Already since Alaa's fall in the hands of the security forces , many bloggers close their blogs and leave the blog world , I know many of them and even there is an increasing opinion in the Blogsphere attacking Alaa and saying that he deserves what happens to him because of his indecent behaviour , forgetting that there are others with him boys and girls

Closing the blogs for fear is the worst thing ever , it is blow for the biggest and most important blogging community in the Arab community , the Egyptian experience became the lead

Already I am scared

Simply the regime can start a witch hunt against the blogging Egypt , starting with blocking Blogspot and it won't the first time in the world !! Yes it won't be the end the world of blogging as it is getting bigger and bigger with great blogging solutions but non of the Egyptians are ready to pay money to be hosted in Type pad or even to work with Word press

In numbers we are still too small to make difference in the society , according to the Telecommunication ministry in Egypt , the users of INTERNET in Egypt are only 5% and this is the greatest percentage compared to the Arab world if we take in consideration the number of the population , the majority of the this percentage still use the INTERNET as the rest of the world , the cyber space to hang out to communicate with each other , the Chat , the downloads and emails are still the major activities they usually do , only a small of this percentage of 5% understand blog world and are divided in to bloggers and readers ,and even this was in stages , I am proud to be from the first generation of bloggers despite that i didn't join the Egyptian blogging ring except last year yet I was in the blog world for 4 years now and I know what is feeling to feel that your voice is heard , to hear your voice , many times i said that i need a forum to hear my voice "this I took from Hussein Haikal from one of his Dream TV days ", since I began to blog , everybody began to see the difference in my personality , last year my aunt told me I feel that you are grown more than your age by 5 years , it is you and the world and you are giving your opinion boldly with no fear about it .

Now historically the Blogging Mania in Egypt began with the political activists who are familiar with the IT world like Alaa and co. then came the historical moment when El-Dostor , the most radical liberal opposition newspaper presented the world of blogging for all thirsty of freedom of Expression boys and girls on a silver plate

Then came the elections as I said and Egyptian bloggers covered it with posts, images and video

Why I am speaking this ? well I watched the documentary and beside me guess who was watching ?

My grand mother , she was happy yet she was scared that I join that crazy kids who are jeopardising their lives


she : "You don't write in those things !?"

Me: "I got a blog but I write in history plus no one knows my identity !!"


I had to lie , already only my mother knows about my blogspot space and that sometimes I speak in politics , yet from another way I didn't lie , this blog , this journal , will be considered a history source some time after 50 years in Sh Allah ,

in the morning Grand mother told my aunt who is my best friend


She : Please I don't want you even to enter these site to read it , they can trace and catch you , please they are bastards

Me : I swear I write only in history please they can't know me as I didn't reveal myself like those suicide bloggers "on the same rhythm of suicide bombers"


Already My aunt when I join University gave me the lecture that "don't work in politics , remember El-Karnak movie "

My message to all bloggers from Girls and Boys , stop acting foolishly , keep your identities secret , you won't change the world in a day and night , and don't count on western help

look to the play that happened in Congress and you will know that they don't care so much for you , they never were and they never will only for their benefit and their benefit is not in your hands fools

I guess now what I am trying to reach is clear to you


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8 comments:

  1. Hello,

    I agree with you that the potential audience of the Web compromises a small number relative to the whole population. But this doesn't mean that we have to shut up in fear. If there is a meaning that one can conclude it would be addressing people themselves..normal people.

    Other types of media is tightly contolled by the regime. So, the real challenge becomes reaching people. Blogs will not do for the regular Egyptian. Most other media-related ways didn't either.

    There is only one way through and it is going to people. Everyone of us meat many people daily and it is maybe the last resort to make use of these daily regular conversations.

    How do you think it will be if everyone chooses to keep silent? Will it be any better?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't say to be silent but to keep their identity as secret as they can
    I never say that they must be silent heavens forbid simply because most of us in his/her public life is so
    last year Reporters without Borders published a guide how the bloggers in countries like Egypt protect their identity so they won't be harm
    What I am trying to say behaving like suicidal kamikaze now is not good , as the battle is still in the beginning , I was happy by the increase number of bloggers in Egypt but now many of them left blogging for good
    Blogging helps to cross the line of fear but it takes time to do so
    There is already fear that is going on in the blogging medium and you can feel it
    I don't want one day to go online and find blogger and other blogging services blocked , I don't want a witch hunt for us , I don't want to use proxy or find myself traced
    we are more like a ghost , annoying ghost we should be like this ,it is much annoying not to see your enemy
    this is my opinion
    The Egyptian blogsphere will suffer alot if every now and then someone like Alaa or Malak being caught

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, the identity thing is much more like a personal thing. Some prefer to be anonymous for different reason and some don't. This is not the most important issue.

    You say that the battle is still in the beginning. But let me ask you some question, what battle?!

    Blogging can reach very limited number. It is reachness will not trigger any social movement. The ideal situation would be to transfer what we say in blogs to reality. And by reality I mean regular people.

    This cannot be done through blogging, simply ask most of the Egyptians what the Web is and they just say what! some would say this where we find porn.

    Blogging is not a battle. The regime considers it a potential threat. But bear in mind that any word about the regime is considered so either.

    The battle would be to say what you say loudly.

    The most important aspect of Egyptian blogging is that it showed that there are some people who care about the Egyptian scene not because it is going to make a change itself.

    Reality cannot be changed by intentions. If it could be, then we would see newspapers revolutionise the world. The Egyptian press couldn't although it has much wider reach than what blogging has.

    If someone fears being known, will he/she be able to face the regime?!

    There is nothing for free, there is always a price.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Zeinobia,

    Ahmed Bahgat wrote today the following:

    ـ إن تكون حرا فهذا لا شيء‏,‏ أما أن
    تصبح حرا فهذا كل شيء‏.‏

    ومعني ذلك أن الحرية لا تولد مع المرء‏,‏ وإنما تصنع بالجهد والمعاناة‏,‏ وكل الصعاب التي توضع في طريق الإنسان الذي يسعي نحو الحرية ليست سوي هبات الهواء التي تزيد من اشتعال النار الداخلية

    End of the quote.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @borning lips, the battle is blogging ,it is about a change and the want to change to a better life , look to the majority of the blogs , they are the mirror of their society , a silent anger is exceeding more and more
    it is a battle when young girls and boys go and jeopardize their lives to cover the elections whether the presidential or the parilament to expose all those cheat operations to the whole world ,isn't this considered a battle against the regime?
    when a blog calls for the boycott of the Telecom Egypt for the telephone bills and many respnd for this call , isn't this consider something!?
    blogs can do something for the regular Egyptians because already it written by regular Egyptians who just happened to find a means to express their opinions
    this is number one
    nmumber two I can't disagree about your point about the price of freedom
    @Egyptian in USA , Ahmed Bahgat is one of the wisest men who ever wrote in the dull Ahram along with Farouk Gouida

    ReplyDelete
  6. I wonder if a battle can take place without enemy?

    Blogging itself cannot be considered a battle. If you consider blogging a battle then I might consider searching the Web for opposing political or societal views a battle too!

    Blogging can change what? It can change the feeling that some people have which is being alone with no similar people around. It is able to trigger some discussions, but again they are bloggers who contribute to the discussions.

    Many bloggers think they are important for some reason. So, I am happy that you said that bloggers are regular people. But let me pause at this word "regular". You think that the regular Egyptians know how to go on-line? They better go for something that may bring food to the family!

    Most of the Egyptians belong to a class which suffers poverty. Poverty that doesn't allow them to know much about a classy invention called "computers". And if some know about it, there knowledge stops where internet connections might take place. And if they go on-line on some occasions they are faced with symbols called the English language.

    You know that most of the cyber-cafes open their doors mostly for those who want to spend some time on games.

    Those regular people are those who save some money in the hope of tasting meat. If they have some spare money they will get something better to eat.

    Let's look at a highr ranking class, the middle class. If they don't want to go abroad then they don't care much about what happens in Egypt. With the DSL bang in Egypt, which still compromises limited number of users, more people have the chance to go on-line. What do you think they browse? Blogs?

    I tell you they go for more interesting sites really. Because they don't care much about that in the first place.

    We can make it another way. Assume that these blogs replaced the press. Then many more people will read it on regular basis? Will there be a change?

    I think not. Why? Because there are other considereations for the regular people. Most Egyptians think that when they go to jail for freedom they won't be out again..simply neither their relatives can get them out nor their money can. Others think that it is not worthy!

    To make a change those regular people must think differently. Blogs cannot make them do so. The only thing that can is social activities and social opposition that can teach them about their rights and duties.

    I personally knew about blogging from a frined who had a blog. I surf the Web daily for many many hours. And it is for serious things mostly. I know many like me but they have no idea about blogging. If this to indicate a thing it indicates that blogging is not so popular.

    Yes there are some people who want a change to happen in Egypt and they work for it. But they are scattered here and there. The remarkable thing is that they don't touch the public. And here is the crisis.

    One thing we can do to help blogging so that it has a stronger effect..We have popularise it. But again the change will not be made by blogging. Bogging is rather an advantage we got so use it and we have to use it and make it strongger. But we have to know that the solution doesn't lurk here in blogging but in the streets.

    Please read this for more details 25th of May; Another Day of Illusion

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can't argue in many things you said
    You are saying a reality that we live in Egypt
    but let me take the romantic dreamy role
    Bloggin is just a way to express yourself by sharing your jounral with the entire earthlings who not only like to read blog but by mistake come to youe blog only coz google search showed the way to
    Journal , according to the American laws Bloggers got the same rights of Journalists
    to make my point more straighter I believe that what many Egyptian bloggers write on a daily and hourly basis against the regime reminds me of the articles that people like Ehasn Abd El-Quods wrote before the revolution
    I don't overestimate but also I don't underestimate , the beginning of the rain is a drop and for many years we were considered as a lazy generation yet blogs show that there is a minority capable of stealing the whole world attention
    I considered a war because it is a war against suppresing the opinions and thoughts and you know this happened for a very long time in this country

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't underestimate blogging benefits, but I just look at the picture and try to see it as it is.

    I hope it helps anyway, but streets are our real solution.

    ReplyDelete

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