<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" version="2.0"><channel><title>ahmediatv's Open Salon Blog</title><description>In the Middle ...</description><link>http://open.salon.com/user.php?uid=53103</link><lastBuildDate>Sat, 18 May 2013 21:05:55 -0400</lastBuildDate><item><title>How do you eat Qaware3 (Cow's legs joints)...</title><description>
&lt;p&gt;&amp;lt;iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a_wV9ICKFDM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/iframe&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description><link>http://open.salon.com/blog/ahmediatv/2012/07/10/how_do_you_eat_qaware3_cows_legs_joints</link><guid>http://open.salon.com/blog/ahmediatv/2012/07/10/how_do_you_eat_qaware3_cows_legs_joints</guid><pubDate>Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:07:39 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>Egypt First Lady... one of many Firsts </title><description>

&lt;p style="line-height: 150%"&gt;&lt;img id="cid_2343373" src="/files/miss_morsi1341636464.jpeg" alt="Miss Morsi" hspace="5px" width="285"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="line-height: 150%"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: #333333; background-color: white"&gt;O&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: #333333; background-color: white"&gt;n June 24, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood Freedom and Justice Party was named the winner of the Egyptian presidential election. He is the first civilian elected president in Egypt's long history.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;Morsi also is the first Islamist to get to the presidential palace, and the first Egyptian president with the name Mohammed as an actual first name (Hosni Mubarak and Anwar Sadat injected the name for Islamic flavor). He is the first Egyptian president to have earned an actual doctoral degree, and the first to win election with less than 90 percent of the vote (he got 51.7 percent).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;He is the first Egyptian president educated at a U.S. university. And in the arena of religion symbolism, Morsi brought the beard for the first time into the presidential palace.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;But the one "first" that will get the West's and especially Americans' attention, is that Morsi's wife, as Egypt's first lady, will wear traditional Islamic dress, abaya -- full-coverage hijab.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;Since she will be with us in that role for at least the next four years, let me introduce you to Najla Mahmoud. She was born in Cairo in 1962. She is Morsi's first cousin (don't panic -- they do it in Texas); they were married in 1979. The couple has four sons and a daughter.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;Egypt's new first lady lived in the United States with her husband while he studied at the University of Southern California. She has been an active member of the Brotherhood for many years, alongside running multiple charity projects, particularly in education, and working as a translator. She is a very different first lady, even by Egyptian standards. She got a fair amount of ridiculous coverage from Egyptian liberal media and so called secular Egyptians. Some even questioned whether she is fit to represent Egypt.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;Her image has become the subject of a rancorous debate on websites and in newspapers. A column in the newspaper El Fagr asked sarcastically: How could she receive world leaders and still adhere to her traditional Islamic standards of modesty? "Don't look at her. Don't shake hands with her," the paper suggested, calling it a "comic scenario."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;Traditionally, the role of the Egyptian first lady is to be invisible. Mubarak's wife lived in the shadow of her projected strong leader, running charity organizations and meeting dignitaries -- until the ex-dictator lost interest and the first lady took over running the country's domestic affairs.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;According to a recent interview in one of the Egyptian papers, the new first lady does not even like the title, saying, "Islam taught us that the next president is the first servant of Egypt; this means that his wife is also the servant of Egypt. Any title that has been forced upon us must be gone with, it should disappear from my political and social dictionary."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;She sees herself first in women's traditional role and foremost as a mother. In an interview with the Egyptian press, she admitted that she preferred to be called "Em Ahmed" (mother of Ahmed) above any other title. The former first lady never would have accepted being called "Em Gamal," while at the same time was she grooming her own son Gamal to take over Egypt after her ailing husband showed deep signs of dictatorial boredom.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 9pt 0in; line-height: 150%; background-color: #e7f1f8; vertical-align: baseline"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial"&gt;She can hold her own and handles paparazzi &amp;nbsp;intrusion , when a photographer asked if he could take a picture of her; &amp;ldquo;on condition that you make me look good and slimmer&amp;rdquo; she jokily said. In an interview with &amp;laquo;Voice of America&amp;raquo; considering Copts in Egypt, she explained &amp;nbsp;&amp;laquo;We live in one nation, because Islam does not differentiate between a Muslim and a Christian, on the contrary, because the Islamic religion us to the equal rights of the Christian with a Muslim in the same country &amp;raquo;, I have a&amp;nbsp; good relations with Christian women in their surroundings. She added.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 9pt 0in; line-height: 150%; background-color: #e7f1f8; vertical-align: baseline"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial"&gt;And on&amp;nbsp; her husband the person &amp;laquo; he is balanced and very serious&amp;raquo;, adding that he has the mentality of a political, and continued: &amp;laquo;After the marriage has lasted for more than 30 years, I can not say that someone Comedy, may have a sense of humor, but seriously most of the time and trying to be amusing from time to time &amp;raquo;. &amp;ldquo; he helped in the house choir and Cooks for me&amp;rsquo;&amp;rdquo; &amp;hellip; our fights usually last no more than a few minutes&amp;rdquo; she added. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 150%"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;Former first ladies spent a great deal of money on their appearance and on making Western fashion statements. The new first lady will have none of it; she will have only one fashion statement to make, the hijab. The full-length Islamic dress will be the one representation of postrevolution Egypt. This won't be too hard for most Egyptian women to follow (Muslim ones as well as Christians); most of them already wear some kind of head cover. Dalia Saber, 36, an engineering lecturer, said, "She looks like my mother; she looks like my husband's mother; she probably looks like your mother and everybody else's."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;The West has a fixation on Muslim dress. Its view of hijab -- mostly a colonial one -- is as a symbol of the oppression of women. As if the billions of dollars spent by the fashion industry to tell Western women what to wear is not oppressive. The cause of liberating Muslim women has been used by the West to invade Muslim countries and take down their so-called oppressive leaders. For most Western feminists, and liberal men, the freedom of women turned into freedom to get women.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;This racist attitude toward Muslim women's traditional dress, still prevalent in parts of the West, is often hidden behind the veil of secularism.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;"I wear hijab to be part of a faith, not a part of fashion" explained a young French Muslim woman, responding to the question of why she covered her beautiful hair.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;So just as America's first black first lady brought gardening and fitness to the White House, having a hijabi first lady in Egypt may bring a new attitude toward Muslim women, and a new understanding of Muslim dress.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; line-height: 150%; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial; color: #333333"&gt;Ahmed Tharwat is a public speaker and hosts the Arab-American show "Belahdan" at 10:30 p.m. Saturdays on Twin Cities Public Television. He blogs at&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.ahmediatv.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #0b478d"&gt;www.ahmediatv.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 150%"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 150%"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

</description><link>http://open.salon.com/blog/ahmediatv/2012/07/06/egypt_first_lady_one_of_many_firsts</link><guid>http://open.salon.com/blog/ahmediatv/2012/07/06/egypt_first_lady_one_of_many_firsts</guid><pubDate>Sat, 7 Jul 2012 00:07:56 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>The Virginity Test... of the Egyptian military </title><description>

&lt;h1 style="text-align: left"&gt;
&lt;img id="cid_2138708" src="/files/imag06811337091533.jpg" alt="IMAG0681" hspace="5px" width="285"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img id="cid_2138700" src="/files/images_(6)1337091301.jpeg" alt="images (6)" hspace="5px" width="285"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;h1 style="text-align: left"&gt;&lt;img id="cid_2138697" src="/files/images_(2)1337091247.jpeg" alt="images (2)" hspace="5px" width="285"&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;h1 style="text-align: left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt"&gt;The Virginity War&amp;hellip; Never bowed&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;  &lt;div align="center"&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;It matters not how strait   the gate,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;         &lt;p style="text-align: right" align="right"&gt;&lt;a name="13"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;        &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;How charged   with punishments the scroll,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;         &lt;p style="text-align: right" align="right"&gt;&lt;a name="14"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;        &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;I am the master of my   fate:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;         &lt;p style="text-align: right" align="right"&gt;&lt;a name="15"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;15&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;        &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I am the   captain of my soul.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;div align="center"&gt;        &lt;p style="text-align: center" align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;William Ernest Henley.&amp;nbsp;1849&amp;ndash;1903&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;         &amp;nbsp;    &lt;/div&gt;         &lt;p style="text-align: right" align="right"&gt;&lt;a name="16"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria; display: none"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;div align="center"&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 200%; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Cambria"&gt;A glorious 18 days of massive demonstration in Egypt, 18 million people went to street to demand&amp;nbsp; their dignity and freedom, on February 11&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;, 2011Egyptain Ex dictator Housni Mubarak stepped down, marked the end of&amp;nbsp; 30 years of absolute dictatorship,. The chant In Tahrir Square that night, changed from &amp;ldquo;The people want toppling of the regime&amp;rdquo; , to the&amp;nbsp; &amp;ldquo;Military and the people one hand&amp;rdquo; &amp;hellip;&amp;nbsp; a month later, and on March 9&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; .&amp;nbsp; 2011, the Egyptian Military who seized the power has its hand tainted forever, not just arresting, torturing, killing protestors&amp;nbsp; in Tahrir Square&amp;hellip; but and for the time in Egyptian Military history&amp;hellip; forced women activists to go under virginity test. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 200%; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Cambria"&gt;T&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Cambria"&gt;he virginity test allegations first surfaced after a March 9th rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square that turned violent when men in plainclothes attacked protesters and the army intervened forcefully to clear the square. Amnesty International further documented the abuse allegations in a report that found 18 female detainees were threatened with prostitution charges and forced to undergo virginity tests. They were also beaten up and given electric shocks, the report said.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left; line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white"&gt;As was reported in the news, Major General al-Sisi said that 'virginity tests' had been carried out on female detainees in March to "protect" the army against possible allegations of rape, but that such forced tests would not be carried out again. He also added that the army would avoid detaining women in the future. This wasn&amp;rsquo;t the only perverse excuse we heard from the generals.&amp;nbsp; The Amnesty International report continued, &amp;ldquo;The general, speaking on condition of anonymity, justified the abuse by saying that the women &amp;ldquo;were not like your daughter or mine.&amp;nbsp; These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters.&amp;rdquo; Guilty of what, he didn&amp;rsquo;t elaborate. With the help of Karim Reda, a fBook activist friend in Egypt, I was able to get the phone numbers of two of these young women who had lived the &amp;ldquo;forced virginity test&amp;rdquo; ordeal. Rash Abdelrahman, a 28 year old college student and Jihan Mahmoud, a 29 year old social worker. I called Rasha Abdelrahman, introduced myself as Ahmed Tharwat, an Egyptian American, doing a TV story about the Egyptian revolution and the role of women.&amp;nbsp; I continued, &amp;ldquo;I would love to talk to you about the &amp;hellip;&amp;rdquo; (I wasn&amp;rsquo;t sure if I should say virginity test in Arabic in our first conversation) so I asked her, &amp;ldquo;Can I talk to you about the ordeal with the Military. She got my drift. &amp;ldquo;Ohhh, you mean &amp;hellip; &amp;lsquo;Kashf Elozrayah&amp;rsquo;,&amp;rdquo; (virginity test) she causally said. &amp;ldquo;Sure, give me your number and I will call you back.&amp;rdquo; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left; line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white"&gt;I was a little taken aback by her forthcoming attitude considering the cultural taboo and the ordeal. I was the one who held back, but, sure enough, two days late she called and asked if she could bring her friend, another young lady who was also a victim of the &amp;ldquo;Kashf Alozriay&amp;rdquo; ordeal. &amp;ldquo;Of course, I would love to talk to you both.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp; I chose a public place for our first meeting, the famous Groppi Caf&amp;eacute; in downtown Cairo. I took my small FLIP camera and went to the caf&amp;eacute; on a Tuesday afternoon. The time we set to meet was 2 pm, but knowing Egyptian time I freed up the whole afternoon for this meeting. Groppi is an old-fashioned caf&amp;eacute;. Its glory days have passed by; nothing in the interior or exterior has changed since about the sixties, the spacious entrance, the breeze coming in the open doors, the tall windows, the smiling dark waiter, the broken tiles, the leaky faucet, ceiling fans, and, of course, the man with the tissue in the bathroom.&amp;nbsp; Rasha called, &amp;ldquo;I&amp;rsquo;m in the subway now, another half an hour at most,&amp;rdquo; she explained. Of course, the Egyptians use the traffic as a pretext for anything out of their control although, ironically, the subway is the only thing in Egypt now that is working and is actually under control, but once you are in the subway, there is nothing you could do, but wait; it is your fate. An hour later she called again and asked if I could meet them outside the caf&amp;eacute;. I stood up and headed outside. I had never seen them before, and they never seen me.&amp;nbsp; They had never talked to the media or had a presence in YouTube universe.&amp;nbsp; I expected to see broken women in traditional dress. Wandering outside, looked around and saw none of the kind of women I imagined.&amp;nbsp; Finally, I spotted two young ladies talking, smiling and walking back and forth in front of the caf&amp;eacute;. &amp;ldquo;Are you Rasha?&amp;rdquo; I asked them. &amp;ldquo;Are you Mr. Ahmed?&amp;rdquo; she giggled. &amp;ldquo;Yes, Ahlan Wasahlan. Welcome, and thank you for coming.&amp;rdquo; Rasha was wearing a stylishly modern hijab, the one that just covers the head, and not the face, and a red dress over her jeans. She had an infectious laugh, and did most of the talking. Jihan was the quite one; she had stylish short hair, a scarf around her neck, and magnetic deep dark eyes. Her dress was of a rebellious nature. &amp;ldquo;Anything to drink?&amp;rdquo; the waiter asked. &amp;nbsp;Everyone ordered lemonade. &amp;ldquo;There is no lemonade.&amp;rdquo; the waiter said. .. &amp;hellip; why? &amp;nbsp;&amp;ldquo;The blender is broken.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp; The dark skinny waiter said with a shy smile. .&amp;nbsp; The Groppi cafe has been known for its excellent fresh lemonade since the sixties, It is a very comfortable homey place, where a waiter can give you excuses like this. We ordered drinks that don&amp;rsquo;t require blender work, which is tea. Jihan never touched her drink; she was very quiet, and she didn&amp;rsquo;t say a word for more than 30 minutes.&amp;nbsp; Rasha took control of the conversation. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left; line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white"&gt;I first asked them to tell me what actually happened that day of March 9&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; 2011. &amp;ldquo;The military wanted to break us, and humiliate us,&amp;rdquo; Rasha explained, &amp;ldquo;and as far as I&amp;rsquo;m concerned, Tantawi is a war criminal,&amp;rdquo; she said with a strong voice. &amp;ldquo;We were there at Tahrir for the general strike; we thought it would be like all other demonstration,&amp;rdquo; Rasha added. &amp;ldquo;We went to Tahrir, as usual,&amp;rdquo; Jihan explained, &amp;ldquo;the day was uneventful.&amp;nbsp; Later at about 4pm, , we found people in plainclothes, started attacking us with rocks, and Molotov cocktails. I had to get a stick to protect myself,&amp;rdquo; Jihan explained. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left; line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white"&gt;Rasha and Jihan talked to me in more detail about the most tragic day of their life, about their abducted friends, who were being taken away to the Egyptian Museum and not returning. They went to find out what was happening. They were surprised to find themselves arrested, beaten, and verbally abused by military security. &amp;ldquo;You are whores, decent girls stay home and don&amp;rsquo;t come to Tahrir,&amp;rdquo; the officer told them.&amp;nbsp; &amp;ldquo;The beating started,&amp;rdquo; Jihan said. &amp;ldquo;I told the officer who I had seen before in another confrontation, no matter what you do to me, nothing will break me tonight.&amp;rdquo; This was a challenge to him and he wanted to break us. &amp;ldquo;You are my game tonight,&amp;rdquo; he told Jihan. They tied them to the Egyptian Museum fence like animals, beating them, and verbally abusing them. Four hours later, they took them away to the military jail in El Hexisteb, a military base in Cairo. &amp;ldquo;Once I saw a big picture of Mubarak hanging on the wall of the office, I told myself, this can&amp;rsquo;t be good,&amp;rdquo; Rasha remembered. &amp;ldquo;Then the general came and asked if we had any health problems. Next, a female jailer,&amp;rdquo; Rasha continued. (A social worker according to Jihan, who is a social worker herself with a degree in psychology.)&amp;nbsp; They took them to room which was missing its door. &amp;nbsp;The female security guard started frisking them, touching them all over. They complained about the overzealous security female guard.&amp;nbsp; &amp;ldquo;This is wrong, sir,&amp;rdquo; Rasha told the male officer. &amp;ldquo;Either this female guard or we get a male one&amp;rdquo; he threatened them. &amp;ldquo;It was very humiliating,&amp;rdquo; Rasha said. The female security asked them to undress, &amp;nbsp;they thought just jackets and scarves . No, everything, take all your cloth, off, &amp;nbsp;even your underpants&amp;rdquo; the security ordered them with a firm voice.. &amp;ldquo;I could see the solders and officers&amp;nbsp; standing outside watching what is going on inside the room&amp;rdquo; Jihan said. &amp;nbsp;&amp;ldquo;All this was done by our military, the one who claimed they protected the revolution,&amp;rdquo; she said incredulously.&amp;nbsp; &amp;ldquo;If it was the security police (known for their brutality and abuse), I would understand it,&amp;rdquo; Jihan interrupted, &amp;ldquo;but this our military.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp; &amp;ldquo;I just got rid of an old corrupt regime, to get this?&amp;rdquo; Jihan wondered aloud. &amp;nbsp;&amp;ldquo;It is late into the night now.&amp;nbsp; They were tired and frustrated, however, holding strong, their morale still high. &amp;ldquo;They really didn&amp;rsquo;t think we would be that strong,&amp;rdquo; Jihan explained. A military physician, Ahmed Adel walked into the room, and without&amp;nbsp; saying a word, have their hymens checked. on March 11, Dr. Adel was declared innocent by a military court. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left; line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white"&gt;They, in all, 18 women, suffering together through a long night of beatings and humiliation.&amp;nbsp; Then the Military Security took them to the military administrative center where they put Molotov&amp;rsquo;s bottles on table on front of them,&amp;nbsp; started taking pictures of them without any permission. &amp;ldquo;You are taking picture of us, so you can distort our images in your media,&amp;rsquo; Jihan told the officer. &amp;ldquo;This officer did something I will never forget," Jihan said in a defiant voice.&amp;nbsp; He kicked me so hard. It was personal, between me and him, not a security issue,&amp;rdquo; Jihan explained.&amp;nbsp; Jihan and Rasha believed that the forced virginity test was all planned; it wasn&amp;rsquo;t just an oversight or mismanagement by a few angry individuals. &amp;ldquo;They have higher orders,&amp;rdquo; Rasha said.&amp;nbsp; In a such patriarchal society the Military wanted to discredit the young activists and the young revolutionaries movement all together as decadent young troublemakers. . Then Jihan looked at herself and said, &amp;ldquo;My clothes have to stay on my body until I get my day in court, but in the jail, I was forced to take my clothes off, and forced to have my virginity checked.&amp;rdquo; The officers kept humiliating them, telling them angrily it is their entire fault, repeating, &amp;ldquo;Decent women don&amp;rsquo;t do this, they stay home, they don&amp;rsquo;t protest or go to Tahrir.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp; Rasha explained, &amp;ldquo;This officer doesn&amp;rsquo;t read or understand history, Egyptian women played a major role in revolution, starting a long time ago, in the 1919 revolution, and Hoda Sharawi with her women rights movement that started in Egypt in the 30s.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left; line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white"&gt;I asked them if we could meet again at Tahrir Square, ,, there was another Molyonia (one million man march) coming next Friday April 20&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;, &amp;ldquo;save the revolution day&amp;rdquo;. We met there at the famous Kentucky restaurant in Tahrir Sqaure, at about 1030pm, they were charged and energized, everyone was, this was the day where all the political factions came for one thing; &amp;nbsp;to reject the Military mishandling of the country affairs. Rasha and Jihan walked through Square, visited the same places where they were taken away, beaten and abused, this is the first time they come back and talk about it. &amp;ldquo;This is the tree that I was hiding under when they attacked us&amp;rdquo; Rasha said. &amp;ldquo;I have a vey a great affinity to this tree, it saved my life&amp;rdquo;. She said as she stood under the tree in a playful way. We walked to the Egyptian Museum, passing all the Salfay tents and banners spreading allover&amp;nbsp; Tahrir. , &amp;lsquo;Rasha was very talkative that nigh, meeting and greeting everyone there. Then she suddenly stopped by the Egyptian Museum fence, &amp;ldquo;Here is where we were dragged and tied to that fence&amp;rdquo;. &amp;nbsp;as she reenacted the way she was tied to the fence, standing spreading her arms, her back against the fence as if she was crucified. &amp;nbsp;Jihan who was a little quite, &amp;nbsp;pointed at a spot inside the Museum and said &amp;ldquo;there, where the officer screamed at me and said, &amp;ldquo;on your mom soul, you are my toy tonight&amp;rdquo; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div style="text-align: left"&gt; &lt;span style="background-color: white; font-family: Cambria; line-height: 200%"&gt;I finally asked both of them how this virginity test ordeal had affected their lives.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background-color: white; font-family: Cambria; line-height: 200%"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;span style="font-family: Cambria; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left"&gt; &lt;span style="background-color: white; line-height: 200%"&gt;&amp;ldquo;March 9&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup style="line-height: 200%"&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span style="background-color: white; line-height: 200%"&gt;, 2011, this day was a great honor, and to me it was the first day of the Egyptian revolution,&amp;rdquo; Rasha said in a very deep, serious voice. Jihan looked at me with her deep dark eyes, smiled and said nothing; until today her look still haunts me. This was their story, the story where two amazing young Egyptian women, exposed the Egyptian Military, the Egyptian military that lost its virginity on March 9&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup style="line-height: 200%"&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span style="background-color: white; line-height: 200%"&gt;, 2011.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;Ahmed Tharwat, Host of Arab American TV Belahdan TV&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;Freelance writer&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&lt;a href="mailto:ahmediatv@gmail.com"&gt;ahmediatv@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.ahmediatv.com"&gt;www.ahmediatv.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

</description><link>http://open.salon.com/blog/ahmediatv/2012/05/15/the_virginity_test_of_the_egyptian_military</link><guid>http://open.salon.com/blog/ahmediatv/2012/05/15/the_virginity_test_of_the_egyptian_military</guid><pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2012 10:05:59 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>The consumer revolution  </title><description>

&lt;p style="text-align: center; line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 18px"&gt;&lt;img id="cid_1405214" src="/files/images1312997469.jpg" alt="Smashing Revolution" hspace="5px" width="285"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px"&gt;UK riots&amp;hellip;. a consumer revolution&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: #333333; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The British unrest spread to cities including Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Nottingham and Birmingham, with shops being looted and set alight. Images of young men and women in the street smashing business, cars and anything that they can lay their hand on. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;who are those people and why are toppling their beautiful city, I don&amp;rsquo;t know exactly, but I can tell you that those &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;are not the same people who a few month ago went to the same streets to see the royal wedding. Experts and laymen start wondering why are young British are angry and rioting all of the sudden, The British Summer as in the Arab spring &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;was triggered by one incident, a killing of one young man, Mohammed &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial"&gt;Bouazizi&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: #333333; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial"&gt;In Tusnias and Kkaled Said in Egypt , &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;and now the 26 year old Mark Duggan, who died at the scene in Tottenham, north London, on Thursday&lt;/span&gt; after been shot by the police. This single incident in every case sparked a deep major societal structure dormant crisis, in the Arab world police brutality and corrupt rotten undemocratic political regime, &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;in England an economic neglect and disillusioned democratic regime. In both cases however people went to the street to revolt against a government that doesn&amp;rsquo;t represent them. The Arab spring unlike the riots in London, was mostly peaceful where the violence was only committed by government security forces, Arabs protesters chanting &amp;ldquo;Sylmeyah&amp;hellip; Sylmeyah&amp;rdquo; peacefully &amp;hellip; peacefully while facing tanks, and police brutality, the British police was the one chanting &amp;ldquo;Sylmeyah&amp;rdquo;, loiters were everyway you look, smashing shops, buses, and stealing anything they can carry; Anti government demonstrators in Egypt were the ones protecting shops, community and Museums, In England the protesters didn&amp;rsquo;t have any demands, no chanting &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;of &amp;ldquo; El Shaab YaReed Isqat El Nezam&amp;rdquo; the people demand the toppling of the regime&amp;rdquo;, It was a British Intifada, where people were actually smashing the &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;symbol of economic regime that left them turkey; it wasn&amp;rsquo;t a British Spring, it was the Arab Spring in reverse. The youth sparked the Arab spring and the rest of the society had joined them &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;even the Military, whereas the British youth who started the British summer were criminalized and the rest of society turned against them. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The Arab Spring and the British summer may seem different and contradicting, but there are some similarities too &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;between them, &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;the government officials, in both sides focused only on criminality and security, no addressing of the youth grievances , and frustration. "We needed a fightback and a fightback is under way", the shaken British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said after four days of riots.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Major police operations are under way, as I speak, to arrest the criminals who were not picked up last night but who were picked up on closed circuit television cameras," the British prime minister said. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;What about human rights and the privacy of those British minors. Prime minster, declares a Qaddafi Zanga Zanga style search, &amp;ldquo;we have detailed photos and camera videos, we will hunt them down&amp;rdquo; he added. "Picture by picture, these criminals are being identified and arrested, and we will not let any phony concerns about human rights get in the way of the publication of these pictures and the arrest of these individuals." As we all know there are millions of video cameras on every corner of London street. One &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;riot and the Prime minister started sounding like an Arab dictator, but the center London never looked like Tahrir Square in midst of the Egyptian revolution. The &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;British official as their Arab counterparts, underestimated the depth of the problem and kept convincing themselves that this is only the fBook and Blackberry troublemakers, as if the social media caused the problem not just reporting it faster than the authorities who are usually older and slower. &amp;ldquo;we need to study the role and responsibility &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;of the use social media&amp;rdquo; explained a British official on BBC live. If it wasn&amp;rsquo;t the fact that shutting down fBook, brought down Mubarak himself this may have come as an option.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;PM Cameron who had to cut short his Italian vacation to oversee the crisis, the gentle PM who during his visit to Italy went back to a caf&amp;eacute; there to apology to a waitress for not tipping here, no apology here. &amp;ldquo;It is skinning to see people as young as 13 looting stores while they are laughing&amp;rdquo; chummed the prime minster. Those young British seem to him good enough to be sent to kill and die on a foreign soil in Iraq, Afghanistan but not on UK mainland. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;As in the Arab Spring, what happened in the last few days in London, &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;it is not just for an economic justice, &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;it is also a dignity revolution, where people no matter how poor they are, still want dignity and respect, &amp;ldquo;if the police want our respect, they need to respect us first&amp;rdquo; screamed one young woman protester, here we have two youth revolts, one cause mainly of lack of democracy and political corruption in the Arab world and the other cause of disillusion of democracy in England. One asked to topple the oppressive political regime and the other tried to topple the oppressive economic regime. In the Arab world we have people revolution; where people want democracy and freedom, in England what we have is a consumer revolution. Where people want freedom to have flat screen TV and things. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: #333333; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: #333333; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial"&gt;&amp;nbsp;A&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px"&gt;hmed Tharwat/ TV Host/Public Speaker&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: #333333; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial"&gt;Ahmediatv/BelAhdan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: #333333; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial"&gt;Minnetonka, MN &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: #333333; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.ahemdaitv.com/"&gt;www.ahemdaitv.com/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="mailto:ahmediatv@gmail.com/"&gt;ahmediatv@gmail.co&lt;/a&gt;m&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

</description><link>http://open.salon.com/blog/ahmediatv/2011/08/10/the_smashing_revolution_in_england</link><guid>http://open.salon.com/blog/ahmediatv/2011/08/10/the_smashing_revolution_in_england</guid><pubDate>Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:08:52 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>The Baltagiya ... </title><description>

&lt;p style="text-align: center"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 32px"&gt;&lt;img src="http://ahmediatv.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/batel-of-the-gamel.jpg?w=293&amp;amp;h=165" alt=""&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT', sans-serif"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; ... and somtime they come on horsback &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT', sans-serif"&gt;Welcome to post revolution Egypt the wonder land of &amp;ldquo;Baltagiya&amp;rdquo;. The word Baltagiya (thugs/mercenaries) comes from the Turkish Balta (axe) followed by the regional postfix "-jia" or "-gia" , means axe-wielders. And that what they do, they axe and disrupt social activities for higher. They don&amp;rsquo;t have a political views or platform, they are anti views of any sorts, and their platform is always the street. Something like the Tea party here, they are not for anything, but against everything. Baltagiya have long been used by members of Egypt's ruling party since the Turkish ruler in Egypt, but especially during Mubarak 30 years of dictatorship, there were his goon-squads that has been used for years to intimidate Egyptians to stay in line and behave, a trained hired thugs that the Mubarak regime had utilized effectively and efficiently &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;to make sure election goes the Mubarak way. Once the rotten regime was toppled on February 11&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;, and the Mubarak security apparatus vanished from the street, Egyptians were free for the first time and the fear factor was broken, as for the trained Baltagiya, almost one million of them, the last hired job was on 28&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; of January, 3 days after the start of the revolution, they showed up in Tahrir Square in the most bazaar seen of the revolution, at &amp;ldquo;the battle of the Camel&amp;rdquo;, as it was coined by Egyptians, where at the heightening of the revolution, &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;while Mubarak regime &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;was losing ground to the millions of protestors, desperate alone after his regular police appended him, the Army stepped in to fill the vacuum but stayed neutral, so the bankrupt Mubarak regime showed their ingenuous act; sending a few thousands of &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;ldquo;Baltagiya&amp;rdquo; on Camels and horses backs to Tahrir Square to intimidate the protestors, about five millions of them were there that night. It didn&amp;rsquo;t work, protesters determination to topple the corrupt regime was much stronger than the Baltagiya willingness&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;to get paid overtime, after a growling bloody confrontation the Baltagiya finally vanished with the Mubarak regime, the Military refused to get involved and stayed neutral, for that alone people admired their Military the banner of &amp;ldquo;The people and the Army one hand&amp;rdquo;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;was raised in Tahrir, there was a short honeymoon between the pro democracy protesters and the Military, and the Supreme Council of Armed forces (SCAF) as it was called, became the defector governing body. A few month later the Baltagiya are resurfaced again everywhere, as the relationship between the Military who is admired by most Egyptian and the &amp;ldquo;Thouwars&amp;rdquo;, young revolutionaries got complicated, The Military lately has been trying desperately to discredit &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;the &amp;ldquo;Thouwar&amp;rdquo;, &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;those hard core protestors who started the revolution, and still on a general strike in Tahrir Square since the revolution. &amp;ldquo;We are determined to see real change&amp;rdquo; explained one of the organizer, We are not leaving until all our demands are met&amp;rdquo; he declares in their almost daily press conference, most of all a speedy trial of Mubarak and his regime&amp;rdquo;. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;He added. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The Military not known for their democratic and sharing power appetite, they went on a mission to discredit Tahrir protestors and turn them from &amp;ldquo;Thouwar&amp;rdquo; to Baltageyah. Al Mesery El Youm a private daily paper in Egypt that known for its independency reported on April 22&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt;, that &amp;ldquo;Most Egyptians would agree that the 25 January revolution deserves a place in the Egyptian Museum &amp;mdash; the most prominent and well-established museum in the country, and a fixture in Tahrir Square, the center of the protests. But allegations that the ruling armed forces used the museum building to incarcerate, violently interrogate, and abuse pro-democracy protesters has indelibly changed the site's history. Is the legacy of the Egyptian Museum, once the celebrated home of Egypt&amp;rsquo;s most prized ancient artifacts, now a &amp;ldquo;torture chamber&amp;rdquo;. Ali Sobhy, an Egyptian actor and activist who stayed in Tahrir all the 18 days of the revolution, was one of the unlucky victims of torture inside the Egyptian Museum, &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;he explained how the Military was trying to stage the &amp;ldquo;Baltagiay&amp;rdquo; transformation act, &amp;ldquo;They lined us up inside the Museum, start beating us karate style, a special trained officer flied in the air and hit us in the faces with his army boots&amp;rdquo; &amp;hellip;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;ldquo;these guys seem to know what they are doing, as far as filming goes&amp;rdquo; the actor explained on TV interview. They took us away to another room inside the Museum where there were cameras and a stage, they messed up our hair and started photographing our smashed faces&amp;rdquo; You see Baltagiya in Egyptians mind have special look that everyone recognizes, a Baltagi (singular) has three facial characteristics, first a messed up hair, a missing tooth, and a scar in the face is a must. Most Egyptians may have one or two of these characteristics at one time or another of their harsh life, but not the three characteristics at the same time, that is only reserved for Baltagiya .&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The Army took the pictures and publish it through their media apparatus, state TV and their own fBook page catching up with young savvy Egyptians. Then the military called the people of Tahrir the &amp;ldquo;Thouwar&amp;rdquo; &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Baltagiya , this started another war of &amp;ldquo;Baltagiya&amp;rdquo; &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;calling, all you need to do to discredit any other opposition group, simply call them &amp;ldquo;Baltagiya &amp;ldquo;, the Baltagiya call other Baltagiya, Baltagiya, the &amp;ldquo;Thouwar&amp;rdquo;; the hard core pro democracy protesters who never left Tahrir since the revolution,&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;have signs now saying &amp;ldquo;we are Baltagiya and proud&amp;rdquo; to protest the Military attempts to discredit them. The Military always denies that they are using the same Baltagiya of Mubarak to counter the revolution, as the &amp;lsquo;Thouwar&amp;rdquo; accused them now,&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;but in fact&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;the military on their website and fBook page, reassure everyone that they are protecting &amp;ldquo; the noble &amp;ldquo;Thouwar&amp;rdquo; from the real Baltagiya&amp;rdquo; . Lots of Egyptian are tired of those &amp;ldquo;Baltagiya&amp;rdquo; and accusing them of destroying the economy. Every Egyptian now is talking about them sabotaging &amp;ldquo;Aglah El Entag&amp;rdquo;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;the wheal of production, as if Egypt was the most productive country in the world during Mubarak. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Now in Egypt everyone is called &amp;ldquo;Baltagiya&amp;rdquo; &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;by someone else, students who demand change in their schools are called &amp;ldquo;Baltagiya&amp;rdquo; by the deans, Journalist who demand change in the press are called &amp;ldquo;Baltagiya &amp;ldquo; by the minister of culture. Copts (Christians Egyptian) demands freedom of religion, are called &amp;ldquo;Baltagiya &amp;ldquo; by Islamists, &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Salafy groups who want to bring Sharia to constitution, &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;called &amp;ldquo;Baltagiya &amp;ldquo; by the secular groups. Those who protest minimum wages are called Baltagiya, even the old professional trained Baltagiya themselves call the new ones &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;hellip; you guess it &amp;hellip; &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;ldquo;Baltagiya&amp;rdquo; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT', sans-serif"&gt;Have you hugged your Baltagiya today?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT', sans-serif"&gt;Ahmed Tharwat/ TV host, Public Speaker&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT', sans-serif"&gt;WWW.ahemdiaTV.com&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;a href="mailto:ahmediaTV@gmail.com"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT', sans-serif; color: windowtext"&gt;ahmediaTV@gmail.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 32px"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="line-height: 200%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Tw Cen MT', sans-serif"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

</description><link>http://open.salon.com/blog/ahmediatv/2011/08/02/the_baltagiya</link><guid>http://open.salon.com/blog/ahmediatv/2011/08/02/the_baltagiya</guid><pubDate>Tue, 2 Aug 2011 11:08:19 -0400</pubDate></item></channel></rss>



