Sexual harassment sucks. I know because I have been harassed almost every time I walk outside my apartment for the past three years.
I get harassed because I’m a woman, I get harassed because I’m a “foreigner,” I get harassed because someone thinks my pants are too tight or my shirt too low, I get harassed because some guy hasn’t gotten any in awhile (or ever), I get harassed because people think that God will praise them if they point out my sin of immodesty by exposing my arms or hair, but most of all I and every other woman in Egypt are victims of sexual harassment simply because men get away with it.
This morning, I was walking into the entry area of the building that my gym is in with my husband. I was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt – and I know I looked horrible because it was 6:45 am, I had no make-up on, and hadn’t had a cup of coffee. Trust me, my husband probably didn’t even want to be looking at me at this point.
First, the building has been under renovation for awhile so it is not unusual to see groups of workers there in the morning. So in we walk, and there was a group of youngish greasy guys sitting around chatting and listening to music.
In my head I was saying this: “Okay Catherine, put on your street face, don’t look to see if they’re looking at you, they probably couldn’t even make out the shape of your ass even if they tried, you look horrible right now – no guy would want to be looking at you right now. That’s right deep breaths, you’re almost past them, they’re probably not looking. No the immediate cease of their conversation has nothing to do with you walking past them, stop being so conceited. Don’t start a scene the elevator is just a few feet away. Okay cleared.”
As I’m walking into the elevator, a couple of the guys walk past and I see in the mirror of the elevator that the two guys are quite blatantly staring at my backside as I walk in.
“That guy was just staring at my ass,” I say to my husband in the same tone of voice that I would probably use to say – oh, the sky is blue or the grass is green. Because really, this is how normal it is for this to happen. Actually scratch that, because I think the sky is blue less in Cairo than I get harassed. And there really isn’t much grass lying around Cairo, and if there is it probably isn’t very green.
So my husband gets out of the elevator and confronts the guy because he is far less used to this happening than I am. The guy of course categorically denies he was doing anything. Obviously he missed the part in Islam about lying being a sin, and no I’m not going to comment on him missing the part where it also says you should respect women because the guy probably doesn’t even understand what respect means. He might have even thought the Qur’an was joking when it said that. Women? Respect? Ha!
Anyway. What does this have to do with Egyptian virginity tests of female protestors or a Saudi woman getting behind the wheel of a car?
Well, I believe that part of the reason sexual harassment is such a virus in Egypt is because far too few women will stand up to their aggressors – even to say so much as, what the hell are you doing? Most people in Egypt don’t even seem to think that staring or making cat calls counts as harassment because there are so many far worse forms that women deal with on a daily basis.
The fact that the Egyptian virginity test story was reported is due to the fact that these extremely courageous women actually reported what had happened to them. I could probably write essays on why this is SUCH A BIG DEAL, but let me sum to say that if you live in a society where men don’t even know what they’re doing is wrong and many women would refuse to admit to being harassed, can you imagine how much guts it took for these girls to report what the army did to them?
I would bet that a lot of these girls won’t get any marriage offers anytime soon, let’s just put it that way.
I think the best thing that has come out of this story though is that these women are an example for others to follow. It shows that women can come out and say: we had this horrible thing happen to us and we don’t think its right.
Ditto with the Saudi female who was arrested for driving a car and Saudi Arabia is a far more oppressive society than Egypt. Egypt looks like Woodstock compared to Saudi Arabia.
The woman who got behind the wheel of her car in Saudi probably did more for women’s civil rights in those few minutes than has been done in a decade. The fact that she was audacious and brave enough to post the video of her driving on YouTube – not to mention extremely media savvy in realizing the video would go viral – is a huge statement for other Saudi women to follow.
You know, for women who get harassed this often, there is a pull between saying something to every guy whose eyes you can feel staring at the back of you as you walk away, and just completely tuning the entire world out. For the purposes of keeping sane, most women, me included, tune it out.
But you know what happens when you tune the world out? It tends to grow louder without you realizing.
I hope that these instances take the ear muffs off of Arab women to fight for their rights as human beings – because they are the only ones who can.
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam, women
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Egypt Opens Border with Gaza - A Media Rundown
Article first published as Egypt Opens Border with Gaza on Blogcritics.org
Below is an explanation of what the opening of the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt means - and what it means to who - peppered with reporting from around the region and around the world.
On Saturday, May 28, Egypt permanently opened the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip.
This is not the first time the crossing has opened since the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the strip began in June 2007 following Hamas' takeover. The most notable opening was in January 2008 when Gazans literally broke the border fence separating the strip from Egypt. During the 2009 Israeli invasion of Gaza, Egypt also allowed a larger number of Gazans to pass through the border; mostly wounded civilians who were taken to Cairo hospitals for treatment.
Opening the border is a huge foreign policy shift for Egypt, and while many in Israel are nervous about the security implications, this move will also weaken Egyptian Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, who have used Egypt's close relationship with Israel to garner support. Israel worries that opening the Rafah crossing will allow more weapons to fall into the hands of Hamas. However, it will also allow Gazans access to many basic necessities and help address the growing humanitarian crises in Gaza.
About 450 people were able to pass through the border crossing, reports Al Masry Al Youm, with many Gazans happy about the prospect of being able to leave the Gaza Strip.
Intrestingly, the Israeli opposition party Kadima blames the Netanyahu government for opening of the Rafah border crossing on Netanyahu's Likud party, saying that Netanyahu had failed to prevent Egypt from breaking the blockade agreement. Of course, this rhetoric is probably no more than domestic political rivalry.
Meanwhile, Palestinians living in Gaza will be able to enter Egypt for medical treatment or other personal reasons, while other commercial traffic will go through the crossings between Gaza and Israel.
Read more: http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/egypt-opens-border-with-gaza/#ixzz1Nr9GtLyz
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam,
israel
Below is an explanation of what the opening of the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt means - and what it means to who - peppered with reporting from around the region and around the world.
On Saturday, May 28, Egypt permanently opened the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip.
This is not the first time the crossing has opened since the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the strip began in June 2007 following Hamas' takeover. The most notable opening was in January 2008 when Gazans literally broke the border fence separating the strip from Egypt. During the 2009 Israeli invasion of Gaza, Egypt also allowed a larger number of Gazans to pass through the border; mostly wounded civilians who were taken to Cairo hospitals for treatment.
Opening the border is a huge foreign policy shift for Egypt, and while many in Israel are nervous about the security implications, this move will also weaken Egyptian Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, who have used Egypt's close relationship with Israel to garner support. Israel worries that opening the Rafah crossing will allow more weapons to fall into the hands of Hamas. However, it will also allow Gazans access to many basic necessities and help address the growing humanitarian crises in Gaza.
About 450 people were able to pass through the border crossing, reports Al Masry Al Youm, with many Gazans happy about the prospect of being able to leave the Gaza Strip.
Intrestingly, the Israeli opposition party Kadima blames the Netanyahu government for opening of the Rafah border crossing on Netanyahu's Likud party, saying that Netanyahu had failed to prevent Egypt from breaking the blockade agreement. Of course, this rhetoric is probably no more than domestic political rivalry.
Meanwhile, Palestinians living in Gaza will be able to enter Egypt for medical treatment or other personal reasons, while other commercial traffic will go through the crossings between Gaza and Israel.
Read more: http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/egypt-opens-border-with-gaza/#ixzz1Nr9GtLyz
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam,
israel
Monday, May 23, 2011
Reactions From Around the World to Obama's Speech at AIPAC
*Photo courtesy of Jordan Times
New York Times:
Obama Presses Israel to Make ‘Hard Choices’
Washington Post:
Obama seeks to reassure Israel on Mideast policy in speech at AIPAC conference
BBC News:
Obama seeks to calm Israel row over 1967 'border'
Al Jazeera (English):
Obama: US support for Israel 'ironclad'
Haaretz (Israeli newspaper):
Likud: Obama's AIPAC speech shows he listened to Netanyahu
(Also worth reading some of their opinion articles on the subject - unlike what much of the American media would have us believe, there is a wide range of opinions about Palestine among the Israeli population).
Al Masry Al Youm (Egyptian daily newspaper - this is from the English version):
After Obama Speech
Jordan Times (Jordanian daily English newspaper):
Obama forcefully defends his Middle East peace call
It's always interesting to see how newspapers interpret the same event and which part of Obama's speech each thought was the most important - evidence of which is in the title of each article...
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam , israel , palestine , obama
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Obama Where Did Thou Pair Go That I Thought You Had Grown?
BBC News - Obama seeks to cool Israel row over 1967 'border'
Okay, I get the need for diplomacy and blah blah blah. No, on second thought I don't. Israel is not a strategic ally for the United States. They have consistently embarrassed our leaders (see Joe Biden visits Israel the day Israel announces more settlement building), been a contributing factor to our inability to become allies with any other regional countries, and, most importantly, refused to honor international law by NOT building settlements in the occupied West Bank all the while keeping another two million Palestinians hostage (Gaza).
The threat of Iran is overblown - and to be quite honest even if they do acquire nuclear weapons there are a lot of other countries that should step up to do something. I don't know if anyone in America has realized this, but American citizens are not in direct harm from them having a nuclear weapons anyway. Why can't we let other countries fight their own battles? If we're going to give Iran a hard time about something, why don't we give them a hard time about their human rights record?
I just wish Obama could stand up to Bibi. He's really not all that terrifying. And okay, losing the AIPAC contribution wouldn't be great for the re-election coffers, but are you really willing to sell out just for a few bucks?
The US doesn't need Israel as an ally - especially not with hopefully democratic Egypt, and increasingly powerful Turkey. We can be friends (maybe even better friends) with other Middle Eastern countries. You know what they say about opposites attracting. Maybe the best marriage of US foreign policy and security goals lies not with our European-descendent friend Israel, but with its Arab neighbors that have done more to progress democracy in the past year than Israel has done in a decade, if not longer.
So please President Obama, stand up to your policy speech of last week. The Palestinians deserve to have someone in their corner for once, or at least not have a huge opponent across the ring.
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam, israel, obama, usa
Okay, I get the need for diplomacy and blah blah blah. No, on second thought I don't. Israel is not a strategic ally for the United States. They have consistently embarrassed our leaders (see Joe Biden visits Israel the day Israel announces more settlement building), been a contributing factor to our inability to become allies with any other regional countries, and, most importantly, refused to honor international law by NOT building settlements in the occupied West Bank all the while keeping another two million Palestinians hostage (Gaza).
The threat of Iran is overblown - and to be quite honest even if they do acquire nuclear weapons there are a lot of other countries that should step up to do something. I don't know if anyone in America has realized this, but American citizens are not in direct harm from them having a nuclear weapons anyway. Why can't we let other countries fight their own battles? If we're going to give Iran a hard time about something, why don't we give them a hard time about their human rights record?
I just wish Obama could stand up to Bibi. He's really not all that terrifying. And okay, losing the AIPAC contribution wouldn't be great for the re-election coffers, but are you really willing to sell out just for a few bucks?
The US doesn't need Israel as an ally - especially not with hopefully democratic Egypt, and increasingly powerful Turkey. We can be friends (maybe even better friends) with other Middle Eastern countries. You know what they say about opposites attracting. Maybe the best marriage of US foreign policy and security goals lies not with our European-descendent friend Israel, but with its Arab neighbors that have done more to progress democracy in the past year than Israel has done in a decade, if not longer.
So please President Obama, stand up to your policy speech of last week. The Palestinians deserve to have someone in their corner for once, or at least not have a huge opponent across the ring.
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam, israel, obama, usa
Thursday, May 19, 2011
And Finally They Rise
Article first published as And Finally, They Rise on Blogcritics.
Over the weekend, over a dozen Palestinians were killedwhile trying to enter Israel from Lebanon and Syria commemorating the day Israel was created 63 years ago. The media jumped on the idea of a third intifada and the possibility of more violence. But what does this mean for the Palestinians and will their efforts be in vain?
In my senior thesis at university, I wrote about Egyptian-Israeli
relations since Egypt became the first country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. My conclusion: the relationship between the two countries would not progress beyond a diplomatic formality until the Palestinian question was solved.
The facts are that when Israel proclaimed itself to be a country a lot of Palestinians either fled because of the ensuing violence or were forced from their homes in what we today call Israel. These refugees continue to be stateless and homeless and have not become integrated in their host countries for reasons both owning to said host countries desire to exploit the Palestinian causebut also because these Palestinians still desire to one day return to their towns and villages that are located in Israel.
In many of the most recent peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine the “right of return,” as the issue of Palestinian refugees returning to Israel/Palestine is referred, is an oft ignored subject. It’s ignored mainly because Israel refuses to begin any talks if there is any reference to the return of Palestinian refugees. They refuse this because if Palestinian refugees were allowed to return it would tamper with the pleasant majority of Jews living in Israel. And what kind of Jewish state would Israel be if the majority of people living within it’s boundaries were not Jewish?
The protests over the weekend marking the Nakba - or catastrophe in English and the word used to describe the day Israel was created - reignited the question of what will be done with Palestinian refugees if Palestine is declared a state. Will they be allowed to at least return to the state of Palestine? Or will they continue to shoved into refugee camps with little hope of having sovereignty over their lives or futures?
Israel would like to ignore the Palestinian refugee question. They feel that the Arab states that play host to these communities should bear the responsibility for their future - meaning do what Jordan has done and give them nationalities. While Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt should have done this a long time ago if they actually had sympathy for the Palestinians as people rather than as a political tool, these countries are not ultimately responsible for their refugee status. They did not create the situation (Israel’s creation), they did not ask for it to be created, and they certainly did not create the cause (the Holocaust) for many European Jews to feel compelled to create their own state.
Holocaust denial in the Middle East is something that angers a lot of people in the West, particularly those of course who lost everything during this horrific period in the world’s history. However, it is not surprising in a region where illiteracy rates are high and education quality low to expect people to know their own regional history much less the history of Europe. Or to somehow overcome educational systems run by governments for whom it is advantageous to distract their populations with another enemy - Israel - by taking away the sympathy for the country’s creation.
But for those who do know the facts around the Holocaust, the general feeling is - the Holocaust was a European problem with a Middle Eastern solution.
It would be inaccurate to say that Jews in the Middle East and Africa never faced discrimination - but it would be inaccurate to say that Jews from the Middle East and Africa suffered anywhere near the amount as those living in Europe or Russia. While many Jews were expelled or indirectly forced to leave their native countries following the creation of Israel, this was much more a protest to the creation of Israel than any inherent anti-Semitism.
While we’re on the subject of anti-Semitism, Semite means person of Middle Eastern descent, not just Jews.
So what will happen next? Probably Israel is going to make a bunch of noise about how their security is paramount to any possible Palestinian state (how arrogant is that to consider you’re own security more important than an entire populations right to freedom and sovereignty?), Netenyahu will talk about Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East (it’s not democratic to hold a population hostage like in Gaza or destroy freedom of movement like in the West Bank), America will veto any UN resolution chastising Israel’s actions in killing unarmed protesters, talking heads will babble about a possible third Intifada, the American Jewish lobby will perpetuate the fear of violence and threaten any American politician who dares to go against Israeli interests with withholding campaign donations, and if any Palestinian dares to so much as throw a pebble, Israel will declare that this is irrefutable evidence that Palestinians are little more than terrorists and and that Israel has justification for occupying the West Bank and Gaza.
Hopefully, the wave of revolutions consuming the Middle East will provide more context and sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Hopefully these revolutions will frame the Palestinian cause as a fight for freedom and democracy rather than as mere violent tendancies.
There is a lot of hope riding on the renewed cooperation on Fatah and Hamas and their ability to receive UN recognition of a Palestinian state in September. If that doesn’t happen, well, you can never predict what hopeless people will do.
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam,
israel
Over the weekend, over a dozen Palestinians were killedwhile trying to enter Israel from Lebanon and Syria commemorating the day Israel was created 63 years ago. The media jumped on the idea of a third intifada and the possibility of more violence. But what does this mean for the Palestinians and will their efforts be in vain?
In my senior thesis at university, I wrote about Egyptian-Israeli
relations since Egypt became the first country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. My conclusion: the relationship between the two countries would not progress beyond a diplomatic formality until the Palestinian question was solved.
The facts are that when Israel proclaimed itself to be a country a lot of Palestinians either fled because of the ensuing violence or were forced from their homes in what we today call Israel. These refugees continue to be stateless and homeless and have not become integrated in their host countries for reasons both owning to said host countries desire to exploit the Palestinian causebut also because these Palestinians still desire to one day return to their towns and villages that are located in Israel.
In many of the most recent peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine the “right of return,” as the issue of Palestinian refugees returning to Israel/Palestine is referred, is an oft ignored subject. It’s ignored mainly because Israel refuses to begin any talks if there is any reference to the return of Palestinian refugees. They refuse this because if Palestinian refugees were allowed to return it would tamper with the pleasant majority of Jews living in Israel. And what kind of Jewish state would Israel be if the majority of people living within it’s boundaries were not Jewish?
The protests over the weekend marking the Nakba - or catastrophe in English and the word used to describe the day Israel was created - reignited the question of what will be done with Palestinian refugees if Palestine is declared a state. Will they be allowed to at least return to the state of Palestine? Or will they continue to shoved into refugee camps with little hope of having sovereignty over their lives or futures?
Israel would like to ignore the Palestinian refugee question. They feel that the Arab states that play host to these communities should bear the responsibility for their future - meaning do what Jordan has done and give them nationalities. While Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt should have done this a long time ago if they actually had sympathy for the Palestinians as people rather than as a political tool, these countries are not ultimately responsible for their refugee status. They did not create the situation (Israel’s creation), they did not ask for it to be created, and they certainly did not create the cause (the Holocaust) for many European Jews to feel compelled to create their own state.
Holocaust denial in the Middle East is something that angers a lot of people in the West, particularly those of course who lost everything during this horrific period in the world’s history. However, it is not surprising in a region where illiteracy rates are high and education quality low to expect people to know their own regional history much less the history of Europe. Or to somehow overcome educational systems run by governments for whom it is advantageous to distract their populations with another enemy - Israel - by taking away the sympathy for the country’s creation.
But for those who do know the facts around the Holocaust, the general feeling is - the Holocaust was a European problem with a Middle Eastern solution.
It would be inaccurate to say that Jews in the Middle East and Africa never faced discrimination - but it would be inaccurate to say that Jews from the Middle East and Africa suffered anywhere near the amount as those living in Europe or Russia. While many Jews were expelled or indirectly forced to leave their native countries following the creation of Israel, this was much more a protest to the creation of Israel than any inherent anti-Semitism.
While we’re on the subject of anti-Semitism, Semite means person of Middle Eastern descent, not just Jews.
So what will happen next? Probably Israel is going to make a bunch of noise about how their security is paramount to any possible Palestinian state (how arrogant is that to consider you’re own security more important than an entire populations right to freedom and sovereignty?), Netenyahu will talk about Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East (it’s not democratic to hold a population hostage like in Gaza or destroy freedom of movement like in the West Bank), America will veto any UN resolution chastising Israel’s actions in killing unarmed protesters, talking heads will babble about a possible third Intifada, the American Jewish lobby will perpetuate the fear of violence and threaten any American politician who dares to go against Israeli interests with withholding campaign donations, and if any Palestinian dares to so much as throw a pebble, Israel will declare that this is irrefutable evidence that Palestinians are little more than terrorists and and that Israel has justification for occupying the West Bank and Gaza.
Hopefully, the wave of revolutions consuming the Middle East will provide more context and sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Hopefully these revolutions will frame the Palestinian cause as a fight for freedom and democracy rather than as mere violent tendancies.
There is a lot of hope riding on the renewed cooperation on Fatah and Hamas and their ability to receive UN recognition of a Palestinian state in September. If that doesn’t happen, well, you can never predict what hopeless people will do.
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam,
israel
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Hope Among the Chaos- Gaza and Israel
I'm in draft mode of writing a longer post about the deal with between Fatah and Hamas but I saw this today and felt it was worth doing a short post about.
There are a lot people with strong opinions about any topic related to Israel and Palestine. Both sides (and everyone between) frequently use rhetoric the dehumanizes the other, turning the other into some almost mythical enemy. This creates an environment hostile towards creating sympathy or, God forbid, empathy for the "other."
This story is one about an Israeli conductor who held a classical music concert in the Gaza Strip.
I was inspired to post this because I think it's a reminder that at the end of everything, the population of Gaza are people. Real living, breathing people. They are not Hamas or terrorists first, they are people with families, and children, and dreams of the future. They are people looking for jobs or trying to put a decent meal together. They wake up in the morning and go to sleep in the evening. Their metabolic processes are the same as their Israeli neighbors, as is the amount of calories they need to eat per day and the amount of water they need to drink.
What is better to pull people together than the universal language of music?
After being through the Egyptian revolution and evacuation and being in a position where I had to worry about the safety of friends and loved ones, sometimes life just seems too short for nonsense. Maybe if more people could take a step back and just do something good because it is good we would have slightly less hatred in the world - or at least a little more understanding.
There are a lot people with strong opinions about any topic related to Israel and Palestine. Both sides (and everyone between) frequently use rhetoric the dehumanizes the other, turning the other into some almost mythical enemy. This creates an environment hostile towards creating sympathy or, God forbid, empathy for the "other."
This story is one about an Israeli conductor who held a classical music concert in the Gaza Strip.
I was inspired to post this because I think it's a reminder that at the end of everything, the population of Gaza are people. Real living, breathing people. They are not Hamas or terrorists first, they are people with families, and children, and dreams of the future. They are people looking for jobs or trying to put a decent meal together. They wake up in the morning and go to sleep in the evening. Their metabolic processes are the same as their Israeli neighbors, as is the amount of calories they need to eat per day and the amount of water they need to drink.
What is better to pull people together than the universal language of music?
After being through the Egyptian revolution and evacuation and being in a position where I had to worry about the safety of friends and loved ones, sometimes life just seems too short for nonsense. Maybe if more people could take a step back and just do something good because it is good we would have slightly less hatred in the world - or at least a little more understanding.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Osama is Dead.
I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday even though I was only fourteen when it happened. I remember it was “Bulldog break” – an extended transition time between our first and second periods in high school.
I was walking down the hallway to my locker to get my books for my next class, when one of the class jokesters ran down the hallway yelling “someone flew a plane into the twin towers.” In my Florida high school, not everyone knew what or where the twin towers were, but in those first few minutes we thought it was funny. Many of us turned to each other saying – “What kind of idiot could have flown a plane into a building?” We thought it was an accident.
By the time we got to class and turned on the news – most teachers realizing the enormity of what was happening suspended normal class time. Even though few of us were old enough to understand what terrorism was, we all soon realized something very important was unfolding.
I remember watching as the first tower was being consumed with smoke, the news anchor in shock, and few people understanding what exactly was happening. Perhaps many still thought that it could have been some horrible tragic accident.
Then the second plane hit.
The news anchor completely lost his cool, yelling as from their location they could hear and almost feel the impact of the plane. It was at that moment that everyone realized the United States of America was under attack.
Several minutes later, our high school was placed on lockdown. No one was allowed outside the classrooms. Because as we quickly learned, this was a terrorist attack, and the place the terrorists on those planes had learned to fly was a small local airport directly across the street from our high school.
So we waited in our second period classroom glued to the TV for more information. We were watching when the first tower fell. We watched as a symbol of our country was exterminated before our eyes.
It was around that time – this was before cell phones had become ubiquitous among teenagers – that my father who was the sheriff of our county at the time called the school to make sure that I was okay. A school aide walked to the classroom to deliver the message – everything is okay.
The second tower fell. Just fell. It looked like just a toy on the TV.
What was happening? Or better, why was this happening?
There is another plane on its way to the capitol? A plane flew into the Pentagon? The Pentagon?!?!
It wasn’t until later in the day that we started hearing the story of the heroism aboard the plane that was supposed to be destined for the capitol building itself.
By the time I got home that night, my Mom was frantic calling her friends and former colleagues. One of her first jobs out of college was in the World Trade Center and many of the people she worked with still were there. Her best friend worked in one of the buildings right across the street from the tower.
But all the phone lines were jammed with thousands of other frantic people trying to call friends and family members who worked in the towers.
I didn’t see my Dad for much of the next week. He sent several of the deputies to New York City to help with the clean-up efforts and was in constant contact with them.
Our high school principal’s nephew was among the dead in the World Trade Center. In a town where half the population is originally from the North Eastern United States, almost everyone knew someone who had died or who worked in Manhattan.
My Mom’s best friend we found out a few days later had walked several miles from her office before being able to get a train home. With the cell phone network down, there were few other options.
I’m sure that asking “where were you on 9/11?” will be much like the question “where were you when JFK was shot?”
Less than a year later we visited ground zero. Even then, the site of the World Trade Center looked like a war zone. It was such a scar on the pristine financial district area.
The entire country was affected by 9/11 – even those who didn’t know what the World Trade Center was before that day or who had never been to New York City. 9/11 changed the way many Americans felt about their security, the world, and their country.
Watching older movies set in the New York City and seeing the WTC in the skyline I've still found a bit diconcerting. I'm sure for many people, especially New Yorkers, the changed New York skyline is a constant reminder of the pain of that day. Many have argued over what kind of monument to put to remember those who died on 9/11, but truly the lack of the Twin Towers when you look at Manhattan is reminder enough.
America hadn’t been attacked since Pearl Harbor and the psychological effects of that day still affect American foreign policy. We no longer felt invincible.
So to hear that Osama bin Laden is dead feels like justice for all those who have died because of this horrible person. He didn’t just kill innocent Americans, but persuaded numerous young men to complete horrific deeds by espousing a message of hatred and anger. He is responsible for perverting a beautiful religion of peace and justice into something devious and demonic.
While America is certainly responsible for its mistakes and misdeeds in both Iraq and Afghanistan, bin Laden also shares part of the blame for inspiring terror in America. Of course, America took the bait and did the deeds and therefore played into bin Laden’s hopes of what 9/11 would cause – suffering and tarnish on America’s image.
Commentators and analysts will argue over the possible effects of his death and then most of them will be proved wrong by actual events. Talking heads and pundits will scream over the aftermath and who did what and when.
Hopefully America will use this moment to try and get over much of the anger that has consumed it since that fateful day in 2001 and rid itself of much of the fear that ensued towards Islam as a religion and Muslims as a people.
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam, al+qaeda, 9+11
I was walking down the hallway to my locker to get my books for my next class, when one of the class jokesters ran down the hallway yelling “someone flew a plane into the twin towers.” In my Florida high school, not everyone knew what or where the twin towers were, but in those first few minutes we thought it was funny. Many of us turned to each other saying – “What kind of idiot could have flown a plane into a building?” We thought it was an accident.
By the time we got to class and turned on the news – most teachers realizing the enormity of what was happening suspended normal class time. Even though few of us were old enough to understand what terrorism was, we all soon realized something very important was unfolding.
I remember watching as the first tower was being consumed with smoke, the news anchor in shock, and few people understanding what exactly was happening. Perhaps many still thought that it could have been some horrible tragic accident.
Then the second plane hit.
The news anchor completely lost his cool, yelling as from their location they could hear and almost feel the impact of the plane. It was at that moment that everyone realized the United States of America was under attack.
Several minutes later, our high school was placed on lockdown. No one was allowed outside the classrooms. Because as we quickly learned, this was a terrorist attack, and the place the terrorists on those planes had learned to fly was a small local airport directly across the street from our high school.
So we waited in our second period classroom glued to the TV for more information. We were watching when the first tower fell. We watched as a symbol of our country was exterminated before our eyes.
It was around that time – this was before cell phones had become ubiquitous among teenagers – that my father who was the sheriff of our county at the time called the school to make sure that I was okay. A school aide walked to the classroom to deliver the message – everything is okay.
The second tower fell. Just fell. It looked like just a toy on the TV.
What was happening? Or better, why was this happening?
There is another plane on its way to the capitol? A plane flew into the Pentagon? The Pentagon?!?!
It wasn’t until later in the day that we started hearing the story of the heroism aboard the plane that was supposed to be destined for the capitol building itself.
By the time I got home that night, my Mom was frantic calling her friends and former colleagues. One of her first jobs out of college was in the World Trade Center and many of the people she worked with still were there. Her best friend worked in one of the buildings right across the street from the tower.
But all the phone lines were jammed with thousands of other frantic people trying to call friends and family members who worked in the towers.
I didn’t see my Dad for much of the next week. He sent several of the deputies to New York City to help with the clean-up efforts and was in constant contact with them.
Our high school principal’s nephew was among the dead in the World Trade Center. In a town where half the population is originally from the North Eastern United States, almost everyone knew someone who had died or who worked in Manhattan.
My Mom’s best friend we found out a few days later had walked several miles from her office before being able to get a train home. With the cell phone network down, there were few other options.
I’m sure that asking “where were you on 9/11?” will be much like the question “where were you when JFK was shot?”
Less than a year later we visited ground zero. Even then, the site of the World Trade Center looked like a war zone. It was such a scar on the pristine financial district area.
The entire country was affected by 9/11 – even those who didn’t know what the World Trade Center was before that day or who had never been to New York City. 9/11 changed the way many Americans felt about their security, the world, and their country.
Watching older movies set in the New York City and seeing the WTC in the skyline I've still found a bit diconcerting. I'm sure for many people, especially New Yorkers, the changed New York skyline is a constant reminder of the pain of that day. Many have argued over what kind of monument to put to remember those who died on 9/11, but truly the lack of the Twin Towers when you look at Manhattan is reminder enough.
America hadn’t been attacked since Pearl Harbor and the psychological effects of that day still affect American foreign policy. We no longer felt invincible.
So to hear that Osama bin Laden is dead feels like justice for all those who have died because of this horrible person. He didn’t just kill innocent Americans, but persuaded numerous young men to complete horrific deeds by espousing a message of hatred and anger. He is responsible for perverting a beautiful religion of peace and justice into something devious and demonic.
While America is certainly responsible for its mistakes and misdeeds in both Iraq and Afghanistan, bin Laden also shares part of the blame for inspiring terror in America. Of course, America took the bait and did the deeds and therefore played into bin Laden’s hopes of what 9/11 would cause – suffering and tarnish on America’s image.
Commentators and analysts will argue over the possible effects of his death and then most of them will be proved wrong by actual events. Talking heads and pundits will scream over the aftermath and who did what and when.
Hopefully America will use this moment to try and get over much of the anger that has consumed it since that fateful day in 2001 and rid itself of much of the fear that ensued towards Islam as a religion and Muslims as a people.
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam, al+qaeda, 9+11
Monday, May 2, 2011
Half of Egypt
Article first published as Half of Egypt on Blogcritics.
You see them on the street, you see them in the stores, you see them with their children, and you see them scrubbing floors. There might be one behind you, or driving in the next lane, but when they want their rights, you simply call them insane.
Today, May 1, Egyptian women are once again protesting in Tahrir Square for their rights. The last attempt on March 8th, to commemorate International Women’s Day, ended with fighting, harassment, and general disrespect for the women’s movement.
By the end of the day we will see whether the protest was successful in organizing enough women to gain attention to pressure the interim government to listen. But their protest is not just a protest to obtain a list of specific demands but a display that women do have a legitimate voice in Egyptian society.
Many Western stereotypes about Middle Eastern or Arab women as being meek or timid truly cannot be farther from the truth. Women here of course have a multitude of personalities so it is not to see that there aren’t meek and timid women – but just that overall this stereotype is far from the truth in Egypt.
During the Egyptian revolution, women turned out in droves to Tahrir Square. In any picture taken during the 18 days of protests leading to President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, women are quite obviously visible. Not just in Egypt but also in Yemen, one of the poorest and most conservative countries in the region, women also took to the streets to protest President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule.
To live in a society that blatantly favors men, a woman has to be strong just to survive day-to-day life.
For example, it is normal for questions to be addressed to the man, even if the question pertains to the woman – like when ordering food in a restaurant or giving directions in a taxi.
Just the other day, when my husband (who is Egyptian) and I went out with a couple friends and the doorman of the restaurant asked my husband something in Arabic. And then, in English, asked my husband about my nationality.
At that point, I interjected and told the guy, “I’m standing right here if you’d like to ask me a question about my nationality.”
“In Egypt, we always direct the question to the man,” he said.
“Well I’m perfectly capable of answering for myself, and it is actually very rude to talk to my husband about me when I’m standing right here,” I replied.
At this point, the guy awkwardly turned to my husband and made some sort of apology in Arabic (also inaccurately assuming I didn’t understand what he was saying) – although it was pretty obvious that he thought I was just being some silly girl.
I’m not the only woman who dislikes being shoved to the side by men of course. One reaction many women seem to have is being more aggressive in pushing people out of the way in crowded stores or when getting on the metro. It is easy to see why this happens when you live in a place where being a woman can be a liability in being heard.
But back to the protest today in Cairo. Women in Egypt certainly face no small number of obstacles – perceptions of women in the workplace, unemployment, under-education, inequality in the treatment of the law, sexual harassment – but to view Egyptian women in any way as being subservient or without a voice would be completely false.
Women first turned up in Tahrir Square to demand the resignation of Mubarak who oppressed and mistreated the Egyptian people for almost thirty years. Now, they are showing up again to demand that women have equal rights and equal treatment.
While obtaining these rights will be difficult, the biggest challenge facing the women that will protest in Tahrir Square today will be proving that they are half of Egypt and half of Egyptians – and for that reason deserve to be listened to.
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam, women
You see them on the street, you see them in the stores, you see them with their children, and you see them scrubbing floors. There might be one behind you, or driving in the next lane, but when they want their rights, you simply call them insane.
Today, May 1, Egyptian women are once again protesting in Tahrir Square for their rights. The last attempt on March 8th, to commemorate International Women’s Day, ended with fighting, harassment, and general disrespect for the women’s movement.
By the end of the day we will see whether the protest was successful in organizing enough women to gain attention to pressure the interim government to listen. But their protest is not just a protest to obtain a list of specific demands but a display that women do have a legitimate voice in Egyptian society.
Many Western stereotypes about Middle Eastern or Arab women as being meek or timid truly cannot be farther from the truth. Women here of course have a multitude of personalities so it is not to see that there aren’t meek and timid women – but just that overall this stereotype is far from the truth in Egypt.
During the Egyptian revolution, women turned out in droves to Tahrir Square. In any picture taken during the 18 days of protests leading to President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, women are quite obviously visible. Not just in Egypt but also in Yemen, one of the poorest and most conservative countries in the region, women also took to the streets to protest President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule.
To live in a society that blatantly favors men, a woman has to be strong just to survive day-to-day life.
For example, it is normal for questions to be addressed to the man, even if the question pertains to the woman – like when ordering food in a restaurant or giving directions in a taxi.
Just the other day, when my husband (who is Egyptian) and I went out with a couple friends and the doorman of the restaurant asked my husband something in Arabic. And then, in English, asked my husband about my nationality.
At that point, I interjected and told the guy, “I’m standing right here if you’d like to ask me a question about my nationality.”
“In Egypt, we always direct the question to the man,” he said.
“Well I’m perfectly capable of answering for myself, and it is actually very rude to talk to my husband about me when I’m standing right here,” I replied.
At this point, the guy awkwardly turned to my husband and made some sort of apology in Arabic (also inaccurately assuming I didn’t understand what he was saying) – although it was pretty obvious that he thought I was just being some silly girl.
I’m not the only woman who dislikes being shoved to the side by men of course. One reaction many women seem to have is being more aggressive in pushing people out of the way in crowded stores or when getting on the metro. It is easy to see why this happens when you live in a place where being a woman can be a liability in being heard.
But back to the protest today in Cairo. Women in Egypt certainly face no small number of obstacles – perceptions of women in the workplace, unemployment, under-education, inequality in the treatment of the law, sexual harassment – but to view Egyptian women in any way as being subservient or without a voice would be completely false.
Women first turned up in Tahrir Square to demand the resignation of Mubarak who oppressed and mistreated the Egyptian people for almost thirty years. Now, they are showing up again to demand that women have equal rights and equal treatment.
While obtaining these rights will be difficult, the biggest challenge facing the women that will protest in Tahrir Square today will be proving that they are half of Egypt and half of Egyptians – and for that reason deserve to be listened to.
egypt, middle+east, arab+spring, islam, women
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