Checking in on Egypt

Taking a break... finished a draft of my article, need to clear my head before diving back in to the edits.  So what's in my pile of notes from the last few days? 

First off, Baheyya, as always, has the most fascinating commentary on the women's protest and responds effectively I think to Stacey's comments about the dangers of a gendered response. Baheyya points out, correctly, that attacking women is hardly unprecedented for the Mubarak regime, nor is the violence limited to women:

If we want to be honest with ourselves, then we cannot claim that the state-sanctioned targeting of women on “black Wednesday” 2005 was unprecedented. The Mubarak regime has a long record of distinction on that front. How many relatives of Islamist detainees were beaten, raped, impoverished, and otherwise immiserated by security forces since 1992? If conservative estimates put the current number of detainees in prisons without trial at 16,000, I’m sure you can appreciate the magnitude.
...
There is an entire subculture of invisible citizens in this country with first-hand experience of the state’s ferocity. There are dozens of wives, mothers, sisters, and sisters-in-law who were beaten, stripped naked, and raped by police officers, sometimes in front of their detained husbands and/or children. There are dozens of pregnant women who miscarried due to torture. There are dozens of haunted women with scarred souls and violated bodies whose stories we don’t know. There are dozens of haunted men with scarred souls and violated bodies whose stories we don’t know. Would that we remember and honour them too today.
...
When I saw the pictures of assaulted women last week, I thought of the thousands of other abused women whose stories we don’t know, the thousands of broken families, fatherless children, impoverished households, and heartbroken grandparents whose grief we can never console. All of it courtesy of the predatory police forces of Hosni Mubarak’s regime, whose raison d’être has become the literal violation, maiming, and killing of ordinary citizens. As we don black today to condemn the crimes of 25th May, let’s also remember the crimes of Mays past. 

Some observers from Cairo have said that they haven't seen many women actually wearing black today.  Others disagree.  I'm not there myself, sadly, so I couldn't say. Josh has some good pictures he took himself, though.   Al-Jazeera is covering the protests at the journalists association building heavily, with a lot of footage of protestors and lots of women wearing black and pointed coverage of the heavy security presence.  In the background you can see lots and lots of television cameras, not just al-Jazeera's, which raises hopes that the international media hasn't lost interest in the story.  Al-Quds al-Arabi reports that Kifaya protestors are displaying lots of posters with pictures of specific women attacked last week - which would directly target the regime's claim that it was just a few isolated incidents.

This is kind of interesting:  Khadija bin Qanna, one of the few al-Jazeera anchors to wear hijab, is wearing a black one today.  Presumably in solidarity with the "Egypt wears black" protesting the treatment of Egyptian women at the referendum protests last week, though I haven't heard her say anything about it explicitly.

Meanwhile, al-Arabiya is running this intriguing picture:

The signs says "No to Mubarak", and the picture is captured "The tyranny's family."  Al-Taghiya is what they used to call Saddam Hussein.  Egyptian readers:  is this a new thing, to use al-Taghiya to describe Mubarak?  It seems like a rather strong word to me.

Al-Hayat has a surreal story about the creation of a new Egyptian "political movement" called Istimrar "Continue."  Supposedly it's a "spontaneous" movement opposed to Kifaya ("enough"), demanding that Mubarak continue for a fifth term. Al-Hayat drily notes that where Kifaya chose "the streets" as the place for its political struggle, "Continue" chose a press conference at a swanky tourist hotel.

In one of those pesky on-line al-Jazeera polls (all usual disclaimers), 85.5% of respondents do not believe that the change to Article 76 represents a real step towards reform.

Comments

[SP]

I thought Al Jazeera's coverage of the protests today was pretty good. They did tie it to the larger movement for reform, rather than sticking to the gender issue, which was good. It's significant that they had a regime lackey on earlier trying to defend the govt's position and reaffirming its commitment to reform. They also reported some comments from Bush calling on Mubarak to make Egypt democratic etc (I didn't catch all of it thanks to my mediocre arabic). Anyone know the exact content of Bush's response? In any event - looks like the protest served its purpose.

I didn't see that many black-clad people in downtown Cairo, but apparently there were several at the university.

[SP]

Urgh - wish there was a way to edit posts - anyway, I found the Bush statement via AP, here it is:

Bush prods Mubarak to hold 'free and fair' elections
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush personally prodded Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday to provide a model for other Mideast nations to follow by holding genuinely democratic and contested presidential elections.
During a 10-minute phone call between the two leaders, Bush said he told Mubarak to hold "as free and fair elections as possible."

"It will be a great legacy for his country," the president told reporters. "He's publicly stated he's for free and fair elections and now is the time for him to show the world that his great country can set an example for others."

Bush said Mubarak assured him "that's just exactly what he wants to do." Bush also said he was pleased to hear that Mubarak has asked his attorney general to investigate the beating of protesters at one polling place during voting last week.

Voters in that referendum overwhelmingly cleared the way for Egypt's first contested president election later this year.

Bush has promised to make the spread of democracy, particularly in the Middle East, the primary focus of his second-term foreign policy. That pledge meets a key test in places like Egypt, the world's largest Arab country and a key U.S. ally in the war on terror and other areas.

Mubarak, who has served for 24 years through unchallenged yes-no referendums and is widely expected to run again, has touted the upcoming multi-candidate presidential elections as a major democratic reform. But critics say that, with a constitution allowing Mubarak's ruling party a say over which challengers can run, it is only an attempt to satisfy the U.S.-led international calls and will not loosen Mubarak's grip on power.

On Wednesday, Bush reiterated his demands on the Egyptian process: allow people to vote without intimidation; allow the opposition to campaign on television, whether state-owned or not; allow people to carry signs advocating for or against all candidates; and count every vote. The president has also called for international monitors.

"They seem like reasonable standards," Bush said from the Oval Office, after a meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki.

[Nur al-Cubicle]

What does a 10-minute phone call accomplish? Bizarre. Doesn't seem long enough for a serious conversation about both the elections and the Gaza pullout. Bush could have just as well sent an SMS message to Mubarek.

[praktike]

Why didn't they just call it "More, please" or "Not Enough"?

[The Sandmonkey]

it used to be not enough, but when it failed, now the call it the continuation movement!

[Anna in Cairo]

Actually, I saw quite a few wearing black, even at gov. places. Even the bus monitor on my kids' school bus was wearing black . (I assumed it was for that and not because she was going to a funeral...) At my work 3 people were wearing black. I would translate the sign as saying "No to the tyrannical family" which is pretty clear that they don't want Mubarak Fils to be the next pres.

[Anna in Cairo]

Oh, and the bus monitor thing is notable because my kids' school's principal is the WIFE OF THE PRIME MINISTER so you would think they would not be too keen on looking like they side with the opposition.