FacebookTwitter

Imagine…

By on Jul 6, 2014 in Politics | 2 comments

Imagine that your country was run by a corporation. Now imagine this corporation has managed to take over at least a third of the country’s assets. Imagine if this corporation enacted laws that allowed it to enlist most of the young men in the country as slave labor, getting paid peanuts, and having to work all day, sometimes in productive jobs, and sometimes sending men to do nothing more than smoke cigarettes as they stood in a deserted spot of land. Imagine that this corporation was run by a cabal of businessmen who were above all the laws, and subject to none of them – so that they were not held accountable to the country or to its laws. Imagine further that this corporation could not only ignore the law but could actually change laws to suit itself. Imagine if this corporation was not only exempt from taxes, but was actually partly funded by taxes, and received further...

The Alternatives You Ignored

By on Jun 3, 2014 in Politics | 0 comments

A few points need to be made here. First of all, I find it at least a bit strange when people refer to me as part of a ‘you’ that they call the ‘opposition’ and then tell me that this ‘we’ was supposed to create a coalition, and that since we have ‘offered none’ – I therefore have no right to ‘complain’. I am a video producer, a photographer, a graphic designer, a writer, and a musician. I am not, nor have I ever been, a politician. If I protested, it was not for a political party or a political ideology, when I write, it’s not for a party or an ideology, and the only ‘entity’ with which I’ve had any kind of regular attachment is the No Military Trials for Civilians group, of whose work I am very proud and by whose other members I am constantly humbled. My interest in the revolution from Day 1 has...

The Hamdeen Argument

By on May 3, 2014 in Politics | 4 comments

The summer of 2011 must’ve been an incredible time for Hamdeen Sabbahi. He was one of the darlings of the revolution, known as a left-leaning Nasserist (whatever that means), ignored only by the hardcore revolutionaries who would only rubber-stamp a batter front-liner, but mostly admired, and generally just liked by almost everybody else. He was tight with what you could, with some effort, call the civil leaders of the revolution, although most of them were not so much leading as doing their damnest to keep up with the street, and with Tahrir – but he was in. Remember this? I have no idea who took this picture, but look at it for a few seconds…this was in the summer of 2011, whatever credit Tantawi and SCAF had acquired at the start of the revolution was already starting to wear thin, and Hamdeen was, literally, riding on a wave of revolutionary youth. Whatever you...

Egypt : Injustice & Dissolution

By on Apr 25, 2014 in Politics | 2 comments

There is one thing clearly at the root of Egypt’s current dissolution as a ‘state’, and it is the absolute absence of justice. The police force, at best, is supposedly fighting off the terrorist bombing waves, and the army is supposedly liberating Sinai from the Bedouins. Go figure. The Executive : Cops The police force’s absent-minded presence, when they used to patrol around in their shiny new cars during the Mubarak era, is slimmer, not quite to be seen. They huddle, they close off streets they’re worried about, they continue to use their half-trucks and metal barriers to choke traffic, giving themselves and others perhaps, an illusion of control. Never mind that there might not even be an officer there. Never mind that sometimes, afraid to wear their bulls-eye uniforms they’re dressed like...

Egypt : It’s a Matter of Opinion

By on Apr 16, 2014 in Politics | 0 comments

So, finally – when their lackluster attempts at reason fall apart, they tell you it’s just a difference of opinion, and that it’s okay to disagree. So yeah, it’s just ‘opinion’… Well – It’s my ‘opinion’ that the so-called Supreme Council of the Armed Forces hijacked the revolution with the aid of the Muslim brotherhood, to whom they handed power in order to be able to restore military rule with the blessing of the people. It’s my ‘opinion’ that the military and the police killed thousands and imprisoned tens of thousands and performed so-called ‘virginity tests’, akin to rape, on activists who participated in the revolution that the army claim to have ‘protected’. It’s my ‘opinion’ that the army insists on the power to try civilians in military courts, although...

Page 2 of 1012345...»»