Egypt : women Protestors

NOVANEWS 

Videos of women protestors and other recommended Egypt sources.

 

One of my sources sends the following recommendation for on-the-ground

 reports from Egypt.

Here  are  three  of  the many women  of  the  Egyptian Revolution – that will

counter some of those images of passive Muslim women. Change in the Middle

East is being pushed forward by women like Mona, Asma, Sarah, etc., too, and

they are not few. There  are  many  more  women  who  are actively shaping the

revolution,  who  are  blogging,  twittering,  writing,  vlogging etc. about it here,

and who have been working for years for this change, but here are three for now:

Asma  is  said  to  have  triggered this revolution through her vlog – which is not

that she is the source of  it. Either way, it’s a strong video.

 

Mona has been in Tahrir non-stop, even though they kidnapped/”detained”

her  father  for  days (he is out now). Only on February 5th did she leave the

square for a bit. This  message was recorded on January 31st, it seems. Both

before and after, she kept posting really encouraging, inspiring and inspired

messages.

 

Sarah (half-British) is – and has been for years – one of the very few journalists

and photographers that has covered activism and workers movements in Egypt

from  the  ground.  In  the  past,  she  has  repeatedly been harrassed for her work.

Check out her pictures  and  her Inanities blog  and  her  twitter  feed @sarahcarr.

If you are looking for other good sources, please read: 

arabawy.org 

justimage.org 

tabulagaza.blogspot.com

or check out the following on twitter:

@3arabawy 

@justimage 

@ alaa 

@ajenglish (Al Jazeera English) 

@sandmonkey 

@monasosh 

@perbj

Interview with Hamas spokesman about Egypt revolution

 

By Jesse Bacon

Ashley  Bates  continues  her  excellent  reporting  by  interviewing Hamas spokesman

Ahmed Youssef.  The  story  is  an interesting  variant  of  the “Is it good for Israel?” that

we  have  been  subjected  to  such a barrage of. While obviously I don’t support Hamas’s

views or their actions, I think that too often they are ignored and that leads to US policy

based on ignorance. It is interesting to read them during revolution in Egypt, one where

the  American  reaction  has  been  so  dominated  by  fears  of  the  Muslim  Brotherhood,

which Hamas is in some ways a descendant.  (Though unlike Hamas, the Muslim Brothe-

rhood does not have an armed wing.)

Youssef believes that the Egyptian revolution will help Hamas.

Shut out of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority,

Hamas  has  long  been  viewed  as  too  extreme  to  bargain with. Yet as these

negotiations   crumble,  Yousef   may   have  the  chance  to  capitalize  on  the

uprisings  to  bring  Hamas  back  to  the  table—that is, if the upheaval doesn’t

spark a new

Palestinian civil war. Yousef hopes the popular revolts in Egypt and Tunisia

will inspire long-overdue Palestinian elections, and lead to the formation of a

“unity   government”   that   is   recognized  by  the  west—and  which  includes

Hamas.

Interestingly, he thinks this not because it will enable more violence but the opposite,

that it will lead to inclusion of Hamas in power-sharing and negotiations. Sad that it took

the  utter  failure  of  our  policy  in  Egypt  to  even  make  this  common sense approach a

possibility.  Sadly,  this  support does not extend to the solidarity protests of Palestinians,

which Fatah has suppressed as well.

In recent days, Palestinians have tried to organize protests in support of Egypt’s

anti-government demonstrators, but these attempts have quickly been

squelched by Hamas and Fatah. So as much as Yousef may want to see a

Democratic  revolution  come  to  the  Middle  East,  the  government  he 

represents is also threatened by it.

It’s quite the turnabout, Egyptians have helped Israel to suppress Palestinians,

now Palestinian leaders are stifling support for Egyptians.

On the other hand, Yousef also sees the transformative energy created by

the pro-democracy uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia as a chance to promote

Palestinian   democracy.  “The  Palestinian  tragedy  is  that  we are now two

governments  for  a  people  without a state,” he says. “The only salvation is

to hold an election.”

I would say that slavation is unlikely to come from elections alone, but I appreciate

the sentiment.

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