Because you are worth it

Today came the news of the release of Giliad Shalit, the Istaeli soldier who was captured by Hamas back in 2006. His release came as part of a deal that involved releasing more than 1000 Palestinian.

As I heared the news, I wondered how he feels, apart from the obvious relief, sence of freedom and the longing to see his family. How do you feel if you know that your life is worth more than a 1000’s others? With a simple calculation, every small bone in Shalit’s body is worth 5 people. Most importantly, how do the other 1000 men feel about their worth and their value?

Where we live, how we live and who we live with give us our self-value whether we are aware of that or not. But it was never like that from the start. God created us equal, men and women, black or white. There was no difference. We were all made in his image. We then started to group ourselves based on our wealth, education, status, resources etc.

One prisoner is worth a 1000? Or 1000 prisoners are worth nothing? Politics decided that today. But on a day to day basis, we judge ourselves all the time in the same way.

How do we see ourselves? Because no matter how our governments, our friends, our families and our neighbours see us, we are still highly valued by the almighty creator. We are all still equal in his eyes, rich or poor, famous or unknown, men or women, able or incompetent.

I believe that I was wonderfully and fearfully made by almighty God that it is why I am worth it,

What about you?

Join us upstairs, down here!

This is a real photo on the London Underground station in East London. I couldn’t resist taking a photo. But thinking about it, so many things take place around us with some very contradicting messages.

Listen to the parent who tells the kids off to ‘encourage’ them, to those who hurt you because they love you. Look at the army that is supposed to protect you but aims at you and kill you for the sake of what is called ‘stability’. See the government that says ‘we are on the side of the poor’ but reduce their jobs, their education and their chance of a better life. Some who declare their hate to others under the umbrella of 'show compassion to those who are different from you'. The group of 'I want to kill you to show you what is the right way to go'.

Who are we deceiving? This photo is honest, if you go ‘downstairs’ you will get the overground trains. In life we need to call things by their own names otherwise we will never change anything. If we are running around looking for ‘excuses’ to certain actions, we will never move forward. That happens in relations, in societies and across the whole world.

The photo is confusing because the words don't follow what you expect. The same in every other situation, If I say I care about you, then I my actions needs to show that. If I want to show you how wonderful my way of life is, I need to show you lovingly and not by force. If I say that I want 'stability' then declaring war is not the right way to go about it. 

So, would you like to join me 'upstairs, down here' to correct the contradictions in our lives? 

No Comment!

The Egyptian revolution, part 2

Another cartoon by Carlos Latuff on the military rule currently in Egypt. The speech bubble has the words, "Do not be afraid, I am your friend, hahahahaha".

The revolution continue with more protests and more uprising.

PEOPLE WANT THE FALL OF THE REGIME.

There goes the Neighborhood

Libya now by Carlos Latuff

Media...what media?

Tonight at 10 pm Cairo time (9 pm GMT), there will be an electronic protest on line against military trails for civilians in Egypt. As I was thinking about this today, I found this website Cartoon Movement by Khalid Albaih. The media is playing a very big role around us everywhere and especially with the Arab Spring in 2011. Here are 2 images from Khalid site on the media role. I am off to catch up with the online protest!

Dear Tomorrow

Dear Tomorrow
I know I can not rush you to come any faster, but please don't let us down. All we are asking is justice in Egypt. Mubarak's trial is tomorrow, will it actually happen? will it take place? will he turn up? will anything really happen? or will it be another frustrating step?

We want to see real change, we want the military trails to civilians to stop, we want to know what happened to the 2000 people who are still missing since the start of the revolution. We want justice to those who lost their lives at the hands of the government's snipers. We want fair society and a real, strong and fair government - not puppets. We want an end to the military rule and fair elections. Too many have died already and many more are still in hospitals across the country nursing their wounds since January 2011. We are tasting freedom but we still want more.
All we can say is, we can't wait.
Yours

A Battered Wife

Imagine the scene … a dim light in small house, a woman sitting down crying with her hands covering her face. In comes a big guy into the room and looks at her and ask her to stop crying. She does not want to listen to him. She tells him it is over between them, as she removes her hands from her face; the light is shinning on the marks on her face of the fight they had.

But he sits down and try and talk to her, he tells her that he loves her and that she is the one for him, he says that she pushed his buttons and made him so angry that he had to hit her, he tells her that he wants the family to stay together and for the sake of the kids she must stay with him. He tells her that he is not like other guys who beat their wives so badly that they end up in hospital when their men are angry, and it is only few bruises on her face and it will heal very quickly. He tells her that he knows best and she is better leaving all the decisions for him and not to interfere in the future.

Now….this is what is happening in Egypt at the moment, A battered and helpless wife's relation with the one who is in charge, the one the wife used to love. Look at the army arresting and killing innocent civilians, “but we are not like the Syrian or the Libyan armies” you hear them say. “We know best and for the sake of stability of the country we need to rule with an iron fist”. “Some people are protesting so much and stopping normal life and so we had to intervene by force” the “you pushed me to do it” story. So many excuses and while the battered wife used to be able to call for her neighbours for help, at the moment the world is watching and getting more immune to the numbers who are getting killed each day. The majority respond by saying: “but at least it is not like Syria”. True, but how do you feel if I say to the people of Norway after the killings last week, “ah at least it is not like the twin towers in USA” This will be the most inappropriate thing to say.

A life is a life; injustice hurts whether it is against 10 people or 1000 people. The whole police force in the UK was under huge, long and expensive investigation for the unlawful death of a newspaper seller in London during a protest last year. What is happening in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Palestine and many other places is not acceptable on any level. However, brutal force in one place does not excuse extreme force in another.

One thing about battered wives, they may believe the lies first, but they soon learn to stand up and defend themselves. I believe that Egypt will.

If at first you don't succeed...try try try again

The Egyptian revolution received great reviews from everyone as if it was a new movie. It was massive, peaceful and quick..no problem then..the world clapped, Mubark left and the media pulled their cameras and back to their comfortable cool studios.

The truth is that the revolution is till going and going strong, people wanted to give the new government a chance to work and make a difference but after 5 months it was clear that nothing has changed. More civilians been tried under military law, all those accused of killing protesters are still in their jobs and Mubark is still getting a nice tan in Sharm El Shik. So, it seems that the motto of the Egyptians now is: If at first you don't success, try try try again.

It is 42 c temperature in Egypt but the weather did not seem to stop anyone from protesting. The latest protest started a week ago and people are now sitting in in Cairo-Tahrir sq and other squares across the country and they are camping out!

WHY...because they want real change and I believe they will get it.

Freedom will not come easy and will not come quickly, but it WILL come as long as people want it and willing to work hard to get it. Long Live Freedom.

WHO IS NEXT?

Impossible Is Nothing

In the last 2 weeks, Egyptians were back to Tahrir square with their hands up with flags and banners asking for what they have been asking for all along...the fall of the whole regime. Some commentators said that people are board, or those are the unemployed, or people want to make a revolution for every little thing now...but the bottom line was that Mubarak, his sons and some big names from the old regime were still free, under no investigation and people knew that this is not good. People were not happy with the pace in which change was happening. They waited so long and no one can blame them for wanting to see justice in progress.

There were so many voices trying to stop people protesting again. Tahrir square has become a symbol now and not just a place. All over Egypt, in every square in the country, people were out after Friday's prayers protesting and shanting asking for justice for those who died to give us freedom.

Then it was 11/4/11, 60 days to the day when Mubarak stepped down. He left Cairo to be in Sharm El sheikh. People protesting last Friday declared that if he is not brought to justice, they will move the protest to Sharm El Sheikh. A famous busniss man promised to book 1800 tour buses to transport people for free next Friday.

On 12/4/11 the interim government in Egypt declared that an investigation has started with 3 key figures of the old regime, they were later arrested and they are now in custody. This morning the news been flooding in with the arrests of Mubarak sons, Gamal -who was tipped to be the next president- and Alla - who is a business man. Mubarak himself is now under house arrest and been questioned by the police.

As I write these words, I am still in shock and can't believe that this is all happening. People now know the taste of freedom and will not go back to the dark days of being slaves again. They are asking for a fair trails for all those who corrupted the system for so long. The revolution is still going on and the demands are not changing....Clean the system...the whole system from top to bottom.

LONG LIVE EGYPT

Only In Egypt

Only In Egypt...

- people get disappointed when they call for a demonstration and only 100.000 turn up!

- people really hate you when you tell them to do something for "the stability of the country"!

- the Nile Hilton rooms overlooking Tahrir square are now more expensive than rooms overlooking the river Nile!

- the formally banned politicians are forming political parties and the previous minister of justice in under arrest!

- people succeeded in toppling their government for corruption but the Italian president is the one who shows up in court to defend himself!

- people clean up after they finish demonstrating!

- and only in Egypt, people know that at last the last Pharaoh has been thrown out for good!

What do you think?

The Nation Decides

Today, Egyptians are heading to the ballot box to vote on a referendum about the latest changes made to the constitution. An estimated 40 million people are heading to vote compared to 4 or 5 millions in previous referendums when Mubarak was in power. For the first time in almost 60 years, people don't know the outcome of their vote before hand. The corruption was so bad that everyone knew what will happen in advance. Recently and during the revolution, in one police station people found full ballot boxes from previous elections!

There was a lot of debate on whether to vote "Yes" or "No" to the constitutional changes, but regardless of the outcome, I am so happy to see people waiting to vote and for the first time in a life time, they feel that their vote matter. For the first time they feel they are an important part in shaping the future of the country. The nation is deciding what to do and showing to the world that they ARE ready for democracy. Ques of men and women, young and old, Christians and Muslims, are with one aim....to take part in a step to protect the revolution.

Long Live Egypt.

How Long?

Inside the Egyptian revolution

This is Wael Ghonim, the google executive in the Middle East who created a Facebook page memorializing a victim of the regime's violence. He was detained by the police for 12 days at the start of the revolution and here in this video he shares his views about how Egypt is changing.

Wael Ghonim: Inside the Egyptian revolution Video on TED.com

A step closer to cleansing the system in Egypt

Late last night, there were some reports coming out from Alexandria, Egypt about large trucks moving confidential official papers from security HQ. Protesters quickly surrounded the building and warned the army. During this time, there was a battle between officers inside the HQ building and protesters outside, some protesters were shot using live ammunition. After a long battle, the army secured the building. This morning, the picture started to repeat itself across the country with flames spotted in various buildings across the country. Protesters in cities like Cairo, Mansora, Sohag, Tanat, Assuit and others started to surround the buildings and throughout the day today, they were able to take control - with the help of the army - to secure the buildings. Some of what they found inside were piles of shredded documents (as you can see in the photo), secret passages and cells for torture under ground and burned documents.

It seems that by the appointment of a new prime minster sent shivers down the spin of a system that was known for its corruption, torture and abuse to human rights for years.
This is a huge step in this revolution. Removing the head of state was one thing, but getting into an organisation that most analysts in Egypt describe as a country within the country is another.
This is just the tip of the iceberg and there are endless amount of documents coming out with shilling details that I am sure will keep the new appointed minster of interior and the whole new government busy for some time to persecute all those responsible.

Long Live Freedom.

The shredded documents inside one of the offices of the security HQ in Cairo

People power

Few days ago, I wrote about the growing public anger in Egypt against Mr Ahmad Shafeek, who was appointed as prime minster by Mubabark 4 days after the start of the revolution. In an another victory step for the revolution and after so much public pressure and demonstrations, Mr Shafeek handed in his resignation early yesterday. Mr Essam Sharaf was appointed as the new prime minster. He is a very respected public figure and joined a march with all his colleges from Cairo university staff in support to the revolution few weeks ago. Mr Sharaf address the public in Tahrir square today and told them: "I am here because I get my legitimacy from you". People are very optimistic with this change and protesters have promised to stop their protest for the next 2 weeks to give the new government a chance to prove that they will listen to people's demands.

Egypt is changing and fast. People tasted freedom and they want those in charge to understand that they are serving the public and it is not the other way round.

All the best to the new prime minster and we wait to see the new cabinet. Long Live Freedom.