ONCE UPON A REVOLUTION...

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Issue no.37 24 January 2013

LE5

2 News Briefs

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24 January 2013

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

Mervat al-Talawy

Safwat Abdel Ghany Nader Bakkar

Islamists vs. Islamists

Jama’a al-Islamiya criticized the Muslim Brotherhood and the regime of President Mohamed Morsy Tuesday, saying the ad-ministration was not working in the country’s favor. “The regime does not work seriously for the interests of the homeland,” said leading member Safwat Abdel Ghany, stressing that so far the Brotherhood’s Renaissance Proj-ect has had no economic effect. Abdel Ghany said that without a minimum wage, the conditions for many people were getting more difficult. He warned the Brotherhood about people’s anger. “We have not seen projects or investment on the ground,” Abdel Ghany said.■

Salafis for tourism

The Nour Party is launching a tourism promotion campaign, according to party spokesperson Nader Bakkar. In a press confer-ence aired on Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr Tuesday, Bakkar said the Salafi party was calling on Egyp-tians to promote local tourism by visiting archaeological and other tourist sites. Bakkar added that the initiative would require support from different ministries, particu-larly the Civil Aviation Ministry, saying internal flight tickets would need to be reduced. During the press conference, Bakkar also said that all were welcome to take part in the initiative, regardless of political divisions.■

To marry a SyrianCalls for Egyptian men to marry Syrian refugee women are “a crime committed in the name of reli-gion,” the National Council for Women said during a meeting Monday. Mervat al-Talawy, president of the council, said the group would call on the president, the prime minister and all concerned authorities to stop the “farce,” which she said was harming the reputation of Egypt. Since the start of the Syrian uprising, some Syrian women have fled to Egypt and have been married to Egyptian men who already have Egyptian wives. Talawy said calls for polygamy were inappropriate.■

Harassment on campusStudents from Ain Shams University formally charged three professors with sexual harassment Monday. Leila Abul Magd, head of the Faculty of Arts Hebrew Department, accompanied the 25 students to file the complaint with the prosecutor general. The students allege that the professors forced them to take private lessons, manipulated their exam results and sexually harassed them. Seven human rights organizations have issued statements expressing solidar-ity with the students. The plaintiffs had first reported the problem to several media outlets last Thursday after the university refused to investigate the matter.■

Mubarak’s pocketsZakariya Azmy, former chief of staff under deposed President Hosni Mubarak, was sent back to Tora prison Monday after testifying against Mubarak in trial. The former president faces profiteering charges. Azmy testified that Mubarak habitually seized donations granted to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and saved them in his personal account at Ahly Bank. The donations largely came from foreign businesspeople and Mubarak was the only one with access to the money, Azmy said.■

State on deadlineSinai tribes will give the government until 30 January to cancel the defense minister’s decree banning land ownership in the eastern border area — otherwise, they will revolt, tribal sources said Monday. The tribes threaten to block the international road to Rafah and roads leading to the industrial area in central Sinai un-til their demands are met, the sources added. The de-cision came during a tribal conference to discuss the matter the same day. In December, Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi banned private ownership, rental and use of nearly all land in the five-kilometer stretch of property along the eastern border with Gaza and Israel, with the exception of Rafah.■

Back to the stateThe Supreme Administrative Court Monday withheld its scheduled ruling on the nationalization of the Misr Shebin El Kom Spinning and Weaving Company. The court had previously ruled in September 2011 that the state would take back ownership of that company, as well as that of Omar Effendi, Tanta Flax and Oil, the Al-Nasr Steam Boilers Company and the Al-Nil for Cotton Ginning Company. The court ruled that the companies had been sold illegally and below their actual value under the Hosni Mubarak regime. It also decreed that the purchasers of these companies would pay fines and any outstanding debts. The state, various hold-ing companies and each purchaser had appealed this ruling, but the court has so far rejected all appeals.■

Wardrobe malfunctionsA number of Central Security Forces personnel in Alexandria were seen Sunday stumbling and falling to the ground dur-ing clashes with protesters, apparently as a result of their new uniforms. The heavy weight of the uniforms and their stiffness seemed to impede the movement of some, as evidenced by video showing CSF personnel charging toward clashes, but then sud-denly sprawling onto the pavement. At the end of last year, the Interior Ministry decided to change the outfits worn by Central Security Forces personnel to ones that better covered and pro-tected their bodies against stones, glass, sharp weapons, birdshot and Molotov cocktails.■

Morsy on recordInvestigators have considered 24 cases against reporters and authors for defaming President Mohamed Morsy since his election in June, a human rights organization said Sunday, compared with 14 cases over the previous 115 years. A report by the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, “The Crime of Insulting the President: A Crime of an Authoritarian Re-gime,” compared Morsy’s 200 days in office to the reigns of Egypt’s rulers since the end of the 19th century until former President Hosni Mubarak, suggesting that Morsy has reached a record not achieved by any president or mon-arch in Egyptian history.■ M

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3News24 January 2013

By Sarah Carr and Mohamad Adam

hrough the dusty windows of the Bulaq al-Dakrur train station control tower, Karam Faheem, an inspector, pointed to a never-ending stream of people

crossing the railway tracks below — through a railway repairs workshop.

“It’s impossible to stop them. When we try to close the workshop, they force their way in,” Fa-heem said.

As a train pulled into the station, Faheem’s col-league left the tower to hand the driver a piece of paper, handwritten permission for the train to proceed. Tower workers were being forced to use this method, Mohamed Badry said, because of signaling failure between Boulaq and Imbaba since October of last year.

The short train ride from the Bulaq al-Dakrur station toward Cairo’s central Ramses Station — whose central ticket hall recently underwent a pharaonic-themed, LE170 million refurbish-ment — continues to tell of the malaises facing the railway system.

Train driver Gamal al-Sayed ran an obstacle course through ambulant dangers: people and animals crossing the tracks, and vehicles linger-ing at level crossings as the train bore down on them.

As he drove, Sayed pointed out railway land that has been appropriated by local residents, disused train tracks still vaguely visible under-neath parked cars, horses and makeshift build-ings.

The train passed the Ard al-Lewa crossing, the site of last week’s deadly accident, when an impa-tient taxi driver ignored the warning bell and col-lided with a train, killing himself and three pas-sengers. Nothing has changed; traffic waited for the train to pass held back by a thin metal chain.

At the Negeely crossing, roughly five minutes down the line, crossing guard Mohamed al-Mo-salemy did his best to control traffic as a ringing bell declared an oncoming train, armed only with a whistle.

Railway platforms often melt seamlessly into their surroundings in Egypt, the legacy of de-cades of informal construction alongside railway tracks, failure to erect and maintain barriers pre-venting usurpation of railway land, and danger-ous trespassing on the tracks.

The resulting chaos on the railways has proven deadly, and, according to a World Bank paper, on average six fatalities are recorded for every 10 million trips — a rate that is at least six times above international best practices.

The accident tally makes for terrifying read-ing. In February 2002, a fire on a train packed to double capacity killed 373 people. The year 2006 witnessed two serious accidents. In August, two trains collided in Qalyub, killing 57 people. Eight days later, a passenger train collided with a freight train north of Cairo and five people died.

Last year, there were four serious accidents, including the Manfalout crossing collision in As-siut between a train and a school bus that took the lives of 48 children, the bus driver and their teacher.

This year began with a derailing that killed 19 Central Security Forces recruits on their way to Cairo for training.

A losing behemothThe Egyptian National Railways (ENR) is a staggering behemoth that employs almost 70,000 people and transports some 1 million passengers on 1,300 daily services, making spec-tacular losses in the process. According to a 2005 Finance Ministry policy note produced as part of a public expenditure review, ENR’s operating loss in 2004 was LE1,404 million.

The World Bank says that in the period be-tween 2000 and 2007, ENR generated an accu-mulated deficit of LE6.53 billion, almost equiva-lent to its cumulated gross revenue of LE7.24 billion. Investment loans from Egypt’s National Investment Bank, Central Bank and foreign banks totaled about LE12 billion.

The Finance Ministry estimates that govern-ment transfers to cover operating deficits be-tween 2000 and 2005 represented 0.10–0.50 percent of total public spending during that pe-riod.

“The financial deficit of ENR has a significant impact on the situation of public finances in Egypt. Under the present financial rules of the game, the railways sector is formally not subsi-dized by the government. But this situation is fictitious. ENR cannot finance its operational deficit and cannot pay off its investment loans,” the policy note says.

Meanwhile, the bulk of ENR’s losses are insti-tutional in nature and mean that ENR simply doesn’t make enough money to cover its operat-ing costs. Passenger traffic constitutes more than 90 percent of its traffic volume — compared with 68 percent in Britain — and is divided into four types of service: intercity, express, local and suburban.

The air-conditioned intercity service generates about 50 percent of passenger traffic revenue and is profit-generating. The other three services provide an important service for low-income groups, but all make a loss and face tough com-petition from private minibus services that are more expensive but quicker and sometimes more comfortable.

Subsidized fares to students and the military alongside low-traffic services to rural areas cost ENR more than LE1 billion annually, the World Bank says.

A World Bank project appraisal paper states

that freight traffic, meanwhile, constituted only 6 percent of ENR’s total traffic volume, but pro-vided 18 percent of its revenues in 2007.

Restructuring attemptsThe government began a restructuring plan in 2006 based on World Bank policy recommenda-tions. A 2006 amendment to the law that created ENR in 1980 allowed it to grant public utilities contracts to investors.

Gamal Eilesh, a jocular railways union man, described the outsourcing as a “great idea in theory,” but said that in practice it fell victim to the endemic corruption and cronyism in Egypt.

“Instead of money leaking out of one hole, it now leaks out of 20,” Eilesh said.

Individuals with no knowledge of the railways were brought in to head these autonomous companies, Eilesh alleged, describing a famil-iar scene of retired generals in chauffeur-driven cars presiding over “worn-down railway workers on three-piaster salaries whose situation didn’t change one bit.”

The restructuring created 1,444 new positions. Former ENR Vice President for Infrastructure Nabil Youssef said the absence of individu-als qualified for these positions meant that the wrong people took them.

Eight subsidiary companies were formed as part of these reforms dealing with wagon and locomotive maintenance, cleaning, real estate management and information technology, among other functions. There have been allega-tions of corruption against some of these com-panies.

In 2010, for example, the Public Funds Pros-ecution ordered an investigation by the Illicit Gains Authority into a spare parts deal by the Egyptian Railways Maintenance and Services Company that was LE121 million higher than similar deals made in previous years.

Meanwhile, in 2009, the World Bank agreed on a LE270 million loan to the government for an ENR restructuring project, later bumped up with an additional LE330 million.

The project includes modernization of signal-ing, centralized control systems, track renewal, and modernization of management and operat-ing practices.

In its project paper, the World Bank said the additional financing “will support ENR efforts to improve railway safety which remains a major challenge.”

“Poor signaling and infrastructure systems and

outdated operational practices which heavily rely on human judgment and interference con-tinue to hinder the safety of railways operations. Human error remains the most common cause of accidents,” the paper reads.

ENR will need to invest about LE19.7 billion in infrastructure, rolling stock and maintenance workshops over the next 10 years, the World Bank said, suggesting the development of freight services, fare restructuring and development of ERJET, the ENR subsidiary company respon-sible for managing real estate assets as possible sources of revenue.

Olivier Le Ber, lead transport specialist in the World Bank Middle East and North Africa Sus-tainable Development Department, told Egypt Independent that an Italian company, Salcef, is carrying out the work that began in October, with supervision from German firm DB Inter-national. Salcef has also constructed a factory in Egypt to produce concrete railway sleepers. A French company, Siestra, will supervise the sig-naling work, which has not yet begun.

But modernizing crossings isn’t a component of the railways restructuring plan. When asked about this, Le Ber said an automated barrier is “not a panacea,” and that education of train con-ductors is crucial. He added, however, that the World Bank will raise the issue with the govern-ment during the next meeting.

Boulos Salama, a Cairo University professor of transport planning and railways who has inves-tigated the causes of railway accidents in Egypt since 1974, said modernizing a crossing costs LE2 million to LE3 million, making it a costly venture.

There are barely enough funds to cover the acquisition of spare parts, Salama said. Indeed, the situation is so dire that, Eilesh said, Egyptian Railways Maintenance and Services Company technicians replace broken spare parts on loco-motives by taking them from other locomotives. Both Eilesh and Badry warn that locomotive brake parts have been lacking for months.

Waiting for modernizationAt the control tower next to the Negeely cross-ing, tower employee Ahmed al-Sayed proudly showed Egypt Independent the neatly wallpa-pered control room. He explained that he and his colleagues had paid out of their own pockets to decorate the workspace. “Why? Because I spend more time here than I do at home,” he said.

Control tower workers expressed frustration at the official response to accidents which, more often than not, ends at criminal prosecution of a junior ENR employee — such as a control tower worker — and grand promises of investment and reform by a senior official that rarely see the light of day.

Badry said safer conditions are more impor-tant for ENR staff than they are for the public, because when accidents happen, they are “scape-goats.”

“I’m happy to work for the railways. I love my job and I love the railways, but I go to work to feed my children, not to go to prison,” Badry said.■

Control tower workers expressed frustration at the official response to accidents which, more often than not, ends at criminal prosecution of a junior employee and grand promises of investment and reform by a senior official

Moh

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Off trackThe railway sector struggles between financial woes and promises of modernization

T

4 News24 January 2013

The fetish of organization

By Mohamad Adam

ith rising opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood in light of the leadership of President Mohamed

Morsy, who hails from the group, op-ponents consistently voice one criti-cism: that young Brothers are mind-less followers of the orders of their leaders and of the supreme guide, the highest authority within the group.

Brotherhood youth fend off this criticism by saying their support of the leaders is a measure of organiza-tion that people outside the group don’t understand, but that is key to its success and continuity.

“The organization is above ideas and above people ... that’s the secret of its success,” Hamdy al-Lahamy, a member of the Cairo University divi-sion who joined the Muslim Brother-hood in 2006, says.

“There have been plenty of good ideas throughout history, but the Brotherhood’s philosophy has existed for 80 years. That’s because there is an organization behind this philosophy,” he adds.

For him and others, allegiance is only normal in a group in which inter-nal democracy, as manifested by elec-tions, is persistently exercised.

Mohamed Saad, a Muslim Brother-hood member from the Malika divi-sion in the Giza suburb of Faisal who joined the organization in 2006, says elections to choose division members and heads take place regularly via a secret ballot supervised by division administrative staff.

In the Brotherhood’s organizational hierarchy, the “division” is made up of “families.” A family is composed of neighbors who meet on a weekly basis for religion lessons or to discuss everyday problems.

Division members elect a leader from among themselves, as well as an advisory council. A group of divisions make up what is known as a “district,” which elects a head and advisory council from among division heads.

Districts come together to form a “section,” which also has an elected head and advisory board. Section heads elect a governorate advisory council and administrative office head responsible for the whole gov-ernorate.

Saad believes this democratic pro-cess is sufficient to justify compliance with the decisions of its upper eche-lons, adding that the decision-making process differs according to the grav-ity of the matter under consideration; divisions are permitted to make deci-sions they see as appropriate when something happens within its scope and inform its superiors of the subse-quent action.

Mohamed Ezzat, a Muslim Broth-erhood member from Imbaba, agrees with Saad.

“It’s a point of strength, not weak-ness, and proof of successful admin-istration that each decision is made according to the situation and time and possible consequences of the de-cision. That there is centralization at some times but not at others gives the process flexibility,” Ezzat says.

Meanwhile, each governorate has a quota for membership of the Broth-erhood’s central advisory council, the 70-member body responsible for electing the supreme guide and mem-

bers of the group’s Guidance Bureau.However, the Guidance Bureau’s

power surpasses that of free elections, according to critics. Abdel Rahman Mansour, who was previously in the group and defected, calls its democ-racy only cosmetic. He explains that at elections time, the Brothers are tac-itly encouraged to vote for particular leaders through Dawah classes, where figures who are not liked by the Guid-ance Bureau are shunned, especially those who have leadership tenden-cies.

Similarly, the bureau marginalizes leaders it doesn’t like from Dawah work in the governorates to bar their chances of gaining popularity, which is what happened with Brotherhood defector and former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abouel Fot-touh.

But Abdallah al-Keriouny, a mem-ber since 2001, disagrees. “Guid-ance Council members were the first ones oppressed and imprisoned. If we started to have doubts about the leadership, the whole group would unravel. The leadership has repeat-edly proven that it is well-intentioned, even if they make mistakes,” Abdallah al-Keriouny, a member since 2001, says.

Keriouny adds that adherence to advisory council decisions has a “reli-gious dimension.”

The passion with which young Brothers speak about the group’s or-ganization and how it reflects their

The Muslim Brotherhood’s tight hierarchical structure and high level of organization are key to its success.

Brotherhood youth hold press conference in Cairo.

choices through electoral mecha-nisms came into question again after recent clashes between mostly young Brotherhood supporters and their opponents near the presidential pal-ace in December. Then, more voices repeated the concern that the Broth-ers have specialized armed groups who take orders straight from the Guidance Bureau, which essentially controls the whole structure.

Ezzat strongly denies this and again refers to the group’s high level of or-ganization to explain the order exhib-ited during protests and clashes. He says the secret of the group’s organi-zational skills lies in its hierarchical structure; it is easy for the most senior member present during clashes, for example, to assign various members of the divisions different tasks.

Meanwhile, the clashes confirmed how an allegiance-based meritoc-racy is at play. For example, Lahamy explains that despite the fact that he was not convinced by the Brother-hood’s decision to take on the role of the state and protect the presidential palace, he is prepared to defend it and forget about his personal opinion.

“I am under a duty to respect group decisions in order to preserve its unity and because I am convinced that lead-ers were well-intentioned,” he says.

A Brotherhood “upbringing” is an important factor in commitment to the group, Keriouny says. “Members progress through various upbringing levels, and at each level, they are eval-

uated according to a set of standards,” he adds.

The “follower” and “supporter” Brothers are the two levels that all aspiring Brotherhood members pass through. The next level is the “mem-ber” Brother, followed by the “orga-nized” and “worker” Brother levels.

Promotion to these levels takes place once the individual has fulfilled all the duties required by his mem-bership and pledges allegiance to the Brotherhood.

Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna described 10 characteristics that must mark a Muslim Brother’s personality. He should be “of sound belief” and “worship correctly,” and be “morally solid, cultured, strong physically, able to win, a fighter for himself, careful with his time, orga-nized and useful for others.”

The Brotherhood has not always been successful in concealing its in-ternal squabbles, further showcas-ing how full and unquestioning al-legiance is required of all members. After Mubarak stepped down, the youth of the Brotherhood held a news conference on 26 March 2011 in which they extended an invitation to the Guidance Bureau, following the rift that began when some of the group’s youth decided to join the 25 January protests, despite the bureau’s reservation.

Bureau members didn’t attend, and organizers were expelled from the group. “The revolution exposed a pre-

existing division within the Brother-hood between two groups — one that believed in a revolutionary solu-tion and the other in gradual reform. However, some arbitrary expulsion decisions and refusal of dialogue with young members has made things tense,” says Keriouny.

This has stopped, Keriouny adds, now that the Brotherhood leadership is obliged to contain its young mem-bers and involve them in decision-making processes, because it needs them to fill positions in syndicates, local councils and Parliament.

Despite being the most important Islamist group in Egypt, the Brother-hood does not place importance on teaching Islamic jurisprudence to its members, nor does it hold it as cri-teria for climbing the echelons of its hierarchy.

“Knowledge of Sharia might be a factor in promotion from level to level within the group, but it is not a prerequisite,” Keriouny explains. La-hamy says it is this that separates the Brotherhood from the more radical Salafi Islamists.

“This is a crucial point. We don’t stress knowledge of Sharia or memo-rization of Hadiths or even the Quran itself. People are free to do this on an individual basis, but we take Hadiths and understand them in the context of real-life situations,” he says, verify-ing what scholars tend to describe as a predominantly social project, as op-posed to an exclusively religious one.

“To learn patience, a family mem-ber doesn’t recite all the Hadiths relat-ed to patience and explain its virtues. We went on a trip to the mountains, and while we were dying of thirst, the trip organizer poured water on the group in front of us,” Lahamy says.

He says there are three fundamental elements in the Brotherhood, which he calls the “triangle of power” — trust, fraternity and obedience. “Obe-dience is based on trust and because we elected our leaders,” he explains.

He goes on to say that a Brother-hood member’s relationship with the group is extremely emotional, with members playing football together, going on trips and spending the night at each other’s houses — “they know all your problems.”

“If your father has a problem, he confides in a senior member,” La-hamy says. “Before the revolution, Brotherhood members only married within the Brotherhood in order to ensure that the wife understood the Brotherhood way of life, because of repression by security bodies.

“When a member leaves the group, he leaves really upset, because there are emotional and familial bonds. It is difficult for him to leave all that,” La-hamy explains.

For Ezzat, organization is what can mediate these profound relations be-tween the group’s members. “Orga-nization runs in Brotherhood mem-bers’ blood,” Ezzat says.

Lahamy echoes this. “We were all raised in the group and so organiza-tion comes easily. It’s not like people think. We don’t act in an organized manner because of restrictions im-posed on us. We were brought up in the group and so it’s natural that you move with it,” Lahamy says.■

This article was translated from Arabic by Sarah Carr.

Muslim Brotherhood youth say tight structure is the key to its success

There have been plenty of good ideas throughout history, but the Brotherhood’s philosophy has existed for 80 years. The reason why is that there is an organization behind this philosophy

Haz

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5News24 January 2013

A new current in politics

dent Mohamed Morsy enacted what was deemed an unpopular power grab through a series of decrees.

In the past months, the group was at the forefront of the organization of anti-Broth-erhood and Morsy protests at the presiden-tial palace and in Tahrir Square.

But now that the street politics test is done, the Popular Current’s electoral abil-ity is to undergo another serious test in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The group has joined the National Sal-vation Front (NSF), a uniting body for all revolutionary and liberal parties and move-ments, and will run for the parliamentary elections on the NSF’s list.

Abu Taleb says the votes Sabbahi re-ceived in the presidential elections will not necessarily translate into votes for the Popular Current during the parliamentary elections, because the votes in the presi-dential election were mostly for his person-al merits, not the ideals he has brought to the group, in addition to the changes that have occurred in the electoral map.

Meanwhile, Popular Current members say they are reaching out. Heba Yassin, spokesperson for the movement, says they have committees in villages around the country that offer support to people and communicate their problems and needs to leaders.

But she says their outreach transcends the function of electoral goals. “You have to reach out to people in order to know their problems and convince them of your ideas. And then you can create a political arm for them,” she says.

“Our goal is not political. We have social goals that dictate our political agenda,” adds Riyad Haddad, member of the Popu-lar Current media committee, in what is read by some as a deliberate counter to the social agenda of Islamist parties, which they say is primarily aimed at grooming electoral support, rather than welfare.

Yet, like many nascent groups, struggles with internal organization, goals and iden-tity have circumvented full-fledged out-reach. Haddad says the group has been un-able to realize its aspirations, as it has been

moving from one crisis to another in the past months.

But key Popular Current members con-tend that the choice of staying a movement and not formalizing the group through the platform of a party was deliberately de-signed to avoid ideological rifts.

Yassin says the group decided to take the form of a movement rather than a party to have a wider appeal as a body beyond ide-ologies that unites revolutionary groups.

“We could have started a party, but we didn’t want to be identified with one cer-tain ideology. We wanted to be able to con-tain all ideologies and ideas,” says Yassin.

Akram Ismail, a leftist activist who voted for Sabbahi in the first round of the presi-dential elections, sees a potential role to be played by the group, but opportunities lost because of the decision to not found a par-ty. “Sabbahi is the center left but he doesn’t want that, he wants to be the popular leader of the revolution transcending parties and that’s not possible,” he says.

He points out that opposition leader Mo-hamed ElBaradei formed his party Al-Dos-tour after failing to be effective as a popular leader outside the political order, he says. “The idea is to get over the political polar-ization between the right and left and to say that you are the revolution, there is compe-tition for this space,” says Ismail.

Abu Taleb concedes that the group, de-spite its Nasserist leanings, has the abil-ity to appeal to people across the political spectrum. “The main idea is social justice, and not Nasserism in its 1950s meaning. The idea of social justice is something that people, whether moderate Islamist, leftist or Nasserist, can believe in,” he says.

Ismail sees the very Nasserist background of Sabbahi as a reason for the group to pro-liferate. He says that while all the other left-ist parties only appeal to the middle class, Sabbahi has the ability, with his Nasserist background, to compete with Islamists for votes in the Delta where people idolize the former president as the defender of the poor. “In the mentality of people in villages there’s only Islam and Gamal Abdel Nass-er,” he says.■

The Popular Current makes its mark, despite structural problems

Historically, some movements start around a person, and then it becomes about the ideas that he adopts. Then it becomes institutionalized — those who believe in this have to promote the ideas, not the person

By Heba Afify

As he sits in the office of the Pop-ular Current in Cairo, waiting to fill out the application to join the movement, retired banker Mo-

hamed Korayem says that, after return-ing to Egypt following the revolution, it was the only political organization that he thought could represent him.

“It cares about the country and its peo-ple, the poor and the rich,” he says.

Korayem, who hails from a Nasserist fam-ily, doesn’t hide the fact that his personal respect for Hamdeen Sabbahi is the main reason for his belief in the organization.

“He is clean, his hands are clean and he speaks for the average Egyptian citizen and mirrors his suffering. Also, his political ex-perience ever since he was a student to this day gives him an advantage over the other figures on the scene,” he says.

Sabbahi was the dark horse of last year’s presidential election, winning 4.7 million votes in the first phase of the election, only 2 percent away from making it to the runoff. His popularity was recognized as a force to be reckoned with on the political scene.

Capitalizing on his newly discovered electoral power, he founded the Popular Current last September, a movement with the stated goal of uniting revolutionary groups and furthering the goals of the revo-lution.

The organization aims to become a civil powerhouse on the political scene, ad-vancing on the street politics front while attempting to gain political power through elections and experimenting with social outreach. Whether it is capable of getting there is questionable, but what’s uncon-tested, many say, is that it’s managed to make itself present in today’s contentious national political scene, beyond the scope of many traditional parties.

Hassan Abu Taleb, an expert at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, agrees with many analysts who believe the Popular Current’s appeal lies mostly in its symbol, Sabbahi, rather than its ideas.

As his presidential elections slogan, “One of us,” suggests, Sabbahi’s simple back-ground and demeanor make him more relatable than most politicians to the aver-age Egyptian. His long history of political activism under former presidents Hosni Mubarak and Anwar Sadat also earned him the trust of his supporters.

With Nasserist beliefs, Sabbahi’s political career started as a student leader during his college years. He later became one of the main leaders of the Nasserist movement and one of the most recognizable opposi-tion figures.

Sabbahi was president of the Nasserist Karama Party and a co-founder of the Kefa-ya movement, which spearheaded protests against Mubarak’s rule in the mid-2000s.

However, his electoral pulling power re-mained undetermined until the 2012 presi-dential election.

Abu Taleb says the success of the Popular Current depends on whether it succeeds in turning the personal support for its leader into support for the ideas it stands for, which would be a break from Sabbahi’s Nasserist legacy.

“Historically, some movements start around a person, and then it becomes about the ideas that he adopts. Then it be-comes institutionalized — those who be-lieve in this have to promote the ideas, not the person,” he says.

Beyond Sabbahi and his presidential campaign, the group also played politics on the street at the height of opposition to Brotherhood rule, especially after Presi-

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So far, the Popular Current is highly centered around the figure of Hamdeen Sabbahi.

6 World Briefs24 January 2013

Too many chiefs

Keep rightLess buzz, more boots

Nothing to see here

Leaders of the Syrian opposition in exile failed to form a transitional government to administer rebel-held areas of the country after a meet-ing in Istanbul, Reuters reported Monday. The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said that meetings broke down and no interim prime minister was agreed upon. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood sees the formation of a government as a threat. This is the SNC’s second attempt to form a gov-ernment in the 70-member coalition, dominated by Islamists and their allies. One leader who wished not to be named said half the coalition opposed the idea of a transitional government. AFP reported Sunday that a proposal to nominate President Bashar al-Assad’s defected prime min-ister, Riad Hijab, was not well-received. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday that the group would meet again on 28 January.■

After a poll with a surprisingly high turnout Tuesday, Israelis were expected to bring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from the Likud Party, to a third term as Egypt Independent went to press, in keeping with recent polls. The Israeli elections commission said turnout was 55.5 percent, the highest since Netanyahu was de-feated by the Labor Party, then led

by Ehud Barak, Netanyahu’s de-fense minister. Yisraeli Beitenu, an ultranationalist party, is expected to be the second-largest party. If expectations hold, Netanyahu will have to cobble together a govern-ment, probably composed of right-wing parties opposed to halting settlement construction, including the Jewish Home party, led by former settler Naftali Bennett.■

The use of American drones against Islamist militants should be replaced by ground operations, a Yemeni minister said Tuesday, ac-cording to Reuters. Human Rights Minister Hooria Mashhour told the news agency in the United Arab Emirates that the death of inno-cents is “a major breach.” American drones are often used to target militants suspected of being tied to

Al-Qaeda, without comment by the US. Mashhour was a leader in the mass uprising against Ali Abdullah Saleh, who agreed to a covert drone war in the southern Arabian nation. “All we are calling for is justice and reliance on international regula-tions with regard to human rights and to be true to our commitment to our citizens that they all deserve a fair trial,” Mashhour said.■

Eritrean soldiers who briefly took over their country’s information ministry in a mutiny Monday to demand the release of political prisoners were gone Tuesday, according to Reuters, which cited an Eritrean envoy and a Western diplomat. The pariah state’s envoy to South Africa, Salih Omar Abdu, called the takeover a “small incident,” and said the situation

in Asmara, the capital, was “no different from any other day.” The president, Isaias Afewerki, led Eritrea to independence from Ethiopia after a 30-year war. An Er-itrean opposition website based in the US said the leader of the takeover was Saleh Osman, a military figure from a border war with Ethiopia that took place from 1998 to 2000.■

Hostages killed in Algeria

The Algerian prime minister, Abdel Malek Sellal, said Monday that 37 foreign workers died in a hostage crisis at a natural gas facility in the des-ert south, according to a Reuters report. Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Islamist fighter, claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of Al-Qaeda. Sellal said a Canadian was coordinating the attack on the facility in Anemas, close to the Libyan border. An Algerian security source had told Reuters that two militants were found with documents that identified them as Canadians. Among the dead were American, British, Filipino, French, Japanese, Norwegian and Romanian workers. Sellal said the fighters had planned the attack two months ago in Mali, where a French military force is engaged in a campaign to oust Islamists that had seized the north of the country.■

An Al-Qaeda-linked hostage crisis leaves 37 foreign workers dead.

AFP

AFP

Bombings in BaghdadThree explosions, one of which was a suicide bomb, killed at least 17 in Baghdad Tuesday, Reuters reported. The sui-cide bombing took place in Taji, 20 kilometers north of Baghdad, near an army base, and killed at least seven and wounded 24. Another bombing in Shula, in northwest-ern Baghdad, killed at least five, and the third bombing, in Mahmudiya, 30 kilometers south of Baghdad, killed two soldiers. Massive protests by Sunnis erupted a month ago against Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who also faces an oil dispute with the autonomous government in Kurdistan.■

Nouri al-Maliki

Exiled Syrian opposition leaders fail to form a transitional government.

L’Intervention Malienne

French and Malian troops entered a central Malian town Monday, Reuters reported, after Islamist rebels, who had seized a Texas-sized area of the desert north of the country, retreated to avoid airstrikes. Diabaly lies 250 kilometers north of Bamako, the capital. Residents there said some rebels had dressed similar to residents to blend in, rather than wear their traditional flowing robes. The French commander in the region said there was a risk that mines and other booby traps would be left behind by the rebels. France has deployed 2,000 troops on the ground, in addition to airpower used to strike rebel targets. A resident of Timbuktu told Reuters that dozens of pickup trucks had been arriving since Saturday, carrying Islamist fighters that had apparently been withdrawn from towns further south.■

France sends troops into Mali to oust Islamist rebels who have seiezed parts of the country.

AFP

7World24 January 2013

History on display

By Jenna Krajeski

emzi, a 26-year-old Kurd from southeast Turkey, has a pretty typi-cal life story for someone like him. A child during the brutal 1990s,

when paranoia and military violence ravaged Turkey, Remzi and his family were forced to leave their village for urban shantytowns. Their village was later burned to the ground.

Unable to afford to raise their children in the city, Remzi’s parents shipped him and his siblings to the nearest state-run board-ing school, a cluster of drab buildings sur-rounded by barbed wire and military guards, where Remzi would live until his high school graduation. The harsh discipline and daily violence inside the school, coupled with the shadowy decade that catapulted him into its walls, form the core of Remzi’s identity as a young Kurd in Turkey.

“We are born among the stones,” Remzi says. “Our toys are stones, trees, sticks.”

Remzi is one of dozens of youth in Turkey interviewed for “Between Imaginaries and Encounters: Young People from Diyarbakir and Mugla Speak,” a project collecting two years worth of oral histories from both Turk-ish and Kurdish youth. The results, which were displayed in Istanbul’s Matzo Factory gallery and will soon be published in a book, are a teetering, sky-high stack of Russian dolls, each encounter revealing another and another inside that.

The story of the youth of Turkey is also the story of a young nation. Turkey, after all, is not even 100 years old and while these young people struggle to define their identities and hopes and fears, the country they live in like-wise copes with its own small and massive metamorphoses, its own schizophrenia and its responsibilities, and its own adolescence.

On the forefront — more important than Syria, the European Union and the Arab Spring — there is Turkey’s relationship with its Kurdish minority, an oppression that has grown into a seemingly endless civil war, and whose collateral damage Remzi and millions like him so poignantly embody.

In the Matzo Factory, their words — com-piled on large posters and small sheets that patrons could tear off the wall and take with them, as well as looping video interviews — gave testimony to the everyday lives of Kurds and Turks living in the changing nation. The display was also an education; a small room served as a library, offering companion books and articles to the interviews. For this particular academic project, a gallery was an apt home. The lives are art.

“The stories are like set pieces,” Leyla Neyzi, a professor at Istanbul’s Sabanci Uni-versity who oversaw the project, says. “The Kurdish young people have performances, they all have the same story. It starts, ‘My first day at boarding school, I didn’t speak Turk-ish. They beat me for not speaking Turkish.’ It is a very violent story.”

In Turkey, there are two realities. The first touts a strong Turkish army determined to fight the terrorist Kurdish Workers’ Party, or PKK, who threaten Turks from their remote headquarters in Iraq’s Qandil mountains. The second attributes terrorism not to the PKK but to the Turkish state, whose war-planes fly daily over Kurdish villages on their way to Qandil; in this narrative, the PKK leads a Kurdish revolution.

In the first narrative, the Turkish youth want what Egyptian youth want when they occupy Tahrir Square: economic prosperity free from fear. In the second, it’s the Kurdish youth who want what Egyptian youth want: freedom from tyranny. Both populations dis-like the current government, but, as the proj-ect shows, a solidarity capable of challenging that government is a long way off.

Neyzi, a trained anthropologist, began

the project as a way to explore the recessed memories of the 1990s, a decade following a military coup in which the country was vio-lently reshuffled and its opposition silenced by a strong-armed and paranoid military. It’s an era which Turks — whose attachment to an infallible and pure Turkish identity is fun-damental to a functional country — would prefer to forget, and which Kurds feel they cannot afford to let go of.

“How do we remember the history of our republic? What does it mean to be a Turk? What does it mean to be an ‘other’?” are the questions Neyzi hoped to chip away at by moving herself and her crew of social sci-ence students to Diyarbakir in the Kurdish southeast and Mugla in the Turkish west, be-friending the local youth and the conducting hours-long interviews she likens to psycho-analysis.

Like a good analyst, Neyzi unearthed his-tory. Sometimes memories, like Remzi’s, were bubbling on the surface, evidence of a long-simmering pot. Other times, they were vague and buried sensations pieced together by interviewees the way a blind-folded taster can identify each ingredient in a stew and, only at the end, recognize it as food.

“One young woman I interviewed burst into tears before anything could happen,” Neyzi says. “She told me a story from her childhood which she hadn’t told anyone else and couldn’t share with her family. She was 4 or 5 years old, and she remembers sounds mostly, the sound of fighting at night, very, very loud noises, followed by the wailing of women toward morning. When she asked her parents about this, they said the army went around with taped noises to frighten the population. Or they said she was exag-gerating. To this day she wasn’t sure whether it happened or whether she invented it.”

“Sense memory,” Neyzi continues, “are the things we don’t understand but that stay with us. The woman told me her parents don’t know who she is. Whenever the violence is brought up, they are silent. Then she said, ‘I don’t know why I’m telling you this.’”

What separates Neyzi’s interviewees from their parents is crucial to understanding

Kurdish youth in Turkey today; it’s the dif-ference between those old enough to have withstood and rejected grand violence, and those who are obsessed with a violence they narrowly avoided.

The Kurdish youth Neyzi’s team inter-viewed are activists. They are politicized, alienated, and as deeply concerned with their identity as Kurds as they are resentful of their parents for assimilating. They rebel against those submissions, but also, Neyzi says, against the traditions of those only marginally older than them — aunts, uncles, older siblings — whose radical politics of-ten led them to join the ranks of the PKK in the mountains and die. Instead, the Kurdish youth want to bring their fight to the halls of universities and the floor of parliament.

Further west, in the other Turkey, the youth of Mugla struggle with different issues, primarily economic ones.

“In Mugla, being young means something very different,” Neyzi says. “You have a completely different relationship with time. Kurdish young people aren’t young, they are very old. They have the burden of collective memory. Their stories are like they have lived several lives. In Mugla, they fit much more our conception of youth culture. They’re not sure why they are interesting. They’re more focused on their every day lives and their

plans for the future.” Diyarbakir is a city dominated by the po-

litical lives of the Kurds who live there. Mug-la, on the other hand, is molded by tourism and the jobs and migration inspired by that industry.

The youth in Mugla were also preoccupied by the Kurdish issue, but their discussion of it was condemning, bitter and exactly like their parent’s generation. Their racism, Neyzi says, was overt and unapologetic.

“That’s what’s really terrifying,” she says. “They’re not ashamed of what they’re say-ing.”

Neyzi was disturbed by the responses, but not shocked. The Kurdish issue — particu-larly with regard to the 1990s — has mostly been steeped in silence and taboo. Part of the impetus behind the project was to give voice to the ignored or maligned youth of Turkey.

But with the violent Kurdish struggle con-tinuing in spite of new dialogue, and the Turkish judicial system gaining momentum in a massive court case designed to impris-on activists and politicians, precisely those change-makers Neyzi’s subjects aspire to be, the voices of these youth and the power in-dividual stories can have in at least slowing down oppression, may have come much too late.

“Once I conducted an interview with a young Kurdish man in a very small room. He had a water bottle with him, which I later learned was vodka, and he was drinking it in the morning. This guy was really self-de-structive,” Neyzi says. “He sat down and said immediately, ‘Before you say anything, let me say something to you. Where were you in the 1990s?’ His voice was very accusatory.”

She sits back in her chair, remembering the young man’s agitation, how valid she still feels it was.

“The implication was that Kurds experi-enced this terrible violence in the 1990s and it took 20 years for Turkish social scientists to wake up,” she says. “I sat in silence for a bit. I use silence a lot in my interviews, and I didn’t want to seem defensive. And then I said, ‘You are right. You are absolutely right.’ And then we started the interview.”■

An ambitious project unearths memories of Turkey’s Kurdish youth

The Kurdish young people have performances, they all have the same story. It starts, ‘My first dayat boarding school,I didn’t speak Turkish.They beat me for not speaking Turkish.’ It is a very violent story

R

A group of young men watch television in Diyarbakir.

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8 Economy Briefs24 January 2013

Morsy Hegazy

Orascom goes DutchOrascom and a group of American inves-tors, among them Microsoft giant Bill Gates, have set into motion a transaction that will transition Orascom Construc-tion Industries into a Dutch company to be known as OCI NV. The transaction will involve a share exchange offer for all locally listed OCI stocks, as well as those listed on foreign markets, known as global depository receipts, by the new entity OCI NV. Shareholders of locally listed OCI stocks will also be given the choice to sell their share at a price of LE280. The company says Egyptian market regulators are required to approve the mandatory tender offer option for the locally owned OCI shares. About US$2 billion in com-mitments have been secured, including $1 billion from US investors comprising Cascade Investment, which is wholly owned by Bill Gates, as well as Southeast-ern Asset Management and Davis Selected Advisers, according to an OCI statement. OCI NV — the last part, an abbreviation of the Dutch term for a public limited li-ability company — will be based and listed in Holland, but will maintain business operations in Egypt, with Cairo as its head-quarters for North Africa and the Middle East. Traders told Egypt Independent that the shift would likely end with the country having to de-list from the Egyptian stock exchange, if most investors opt for the cash option instead of the exchange, since companies with less than 5 percent of their stockholders in Egypt are compelled by law to de-list from the exchange.■

Bill Gates

Qatar to the rescue

Qatar to the rescueThe country’s foreign reserves have risen to US$15.5 billion, helped by a de-posit by Qatar to support the economy, Finance Minister Morsy Hegazy said, though they are still close to critical levels after being run down to defend Egypt’s currency. The Central Bank of Egypt put reserves at $15.02 billion at the end of December. It has implemented a new regime for buying and selling foreign currency and currency controls to try to stem a fall in reserves, which have tumbled from $36 billion before the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Hegazy told reporters about the new reserve figure Saturday, Reuters reported, without giving further details about the deposit by Qatar, a generous donor to Egypt. Qatar said earlier this month it had lent Egypt $2 billion and given it $500 million outright. Asked whether his country would increase aid to Egypt, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said Tuesday, “Qatar will stand by Egypt and the Egyptian people’s needs. We don’t want to see the biggest country in the Arab world bank-rupt. I don’t think this is wise. I think it is in the interest of the World Bank and the international community not to see Egypt brought down.” Hegazy said in December that Qatar had deposited $500 million, although the reserve figure for that month was still around $15 billion, the same as at the end of November. At $15 billion, reserves cover roughly three months of imports.■

Foreign investor flight

Digging for concessionsInternational oil and gas companies see great potential in Egypt, but say they are frus-trated with the current state of concession agreements, which in some cases provide “perverse incentives” and discourage invest-ment. A meeting of senior industry execu-tives last week concluded with a call for an intensified and coordinated effort to lobby the government on concession agreements and communicate the industry’s agenda. The division of the risks and rewards of the exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas is a matter of endless negotiation and, often, tension between every producing country and every company involved in the business. Each wants to minimize risks and increase rewards. Countries like Egypt rely on oil and gas revenues to subsidize their national budget while successful companies stand to make tremendous profits. Meet-ings like this one, convened by industry trade publication Egypt Oil & Gas, are an opportunity for executives to communicate with each other, but also with the officials of the state-owned oil and gas companies that were present. The discussion had three main themes, chief among which was companies’ commitment to Egypt based on their view of great potential in the country’s reserves.

Secondly, current agreements are often poorly implemented from the companies’ point of view. Approval for expenditure on, or the import of, expensive technology can be difficult to obtain, and the state-owned oil and gas companies are slow to meet their financial obligations to their international, private-sector partners. As a result, interna-tional companies are owed several billion dollars. Several participants also questioned whether production-sharing agreements were appropriate for what was termed “diffi-cult” oil and gas, for which exploration and extraction at great depth and pressure, and consequently great cost and risk, would be necessary. British Petroleum and RWE Dea already hold a “tax and royalties” model gas concession, a model that is generally seen to be relatively advantageous to companies. Evaluating the merits of these claims is dif-ficult due to the lack of transparency in the industry. While some executives worried vocally about whether anyone in govern-ment was listening, last year’s round table did produce some positive developments for gas companies in the form of more flexible agreements, according to Samir Abdelmoaty, an exploration and agreements consultant for BP.■

Sugar highAl-Ghurair Group, an Emirati sugar producer, is creating a project in Egypt for the production of high-quality sugar from beets. Egypt is among the world’s biggest sugar importers. The project’s produc-tion capacity stands at 400,000 tons and will represent an investment worth nearly US$500 million in the Egyptian economy. “Along with the industrial undertaking, the Emirati company has also decided to implement an agricultural project on

200,000 feddans for a sugar beet planta-tion. [The project will be created] to meet the factory’s needs for beets and to cultivate other crops, like wheat and corn, to bridge the food gap and expand farmlands,” Industry and Foreign Trade Minister Hatem Saleh said in a statement Tuesday. The plant will be allocated 100 feddans at the Abu Khalifa industrial zone in Ismailia, as agreed with its governor, and will secure 30,000 jobs, Saleh said.■

Dreams of tourismEgypt received 11 million tourists in 2012 and aims to boost that number to 14 million in 2013, ministry officials say. Tourism Ministry Undersecretary Magdy Selim told the German news agency DPA Monday that the country’s tourism revenues exceeded US$10 bil-lion last year, and the ministry hopes to exceed $13 billion in tourism generated income each year. The nation’s tourist destinations are “completely safe for

tourists, and have not been affected by the political events,” Selim claimed. The occupancy rate in top destina-tion cities in areas such as the Red Sea and South Sinai reached 70 percent at certain points during the past year, he said. Selim added that while the last two months’ political turmoil have caused a drop in tourist traffic, he hoped the stabilized situation now would help raise tourism traffic levels once again.■

Where the money’s going?Most of the saved resources from the government’s economic reform program will go toward reducing the state budget deficit, Finance Minister Morsy Hegazy said Sunday, according to a report by Al-Masry Al-Youm. The ministry’s estimates indicate that the tax amendment package and measures taken to rationalize energy subsidies, along with efforts to boost investment through financial tools like sukuk, or Islamic bonds, will amount to savings for the state budget of LE31.2 billion during the current fiscal year, represent-ing 1.8 percent of the gross domestic product. This could increase to LE104 billion during the year 2013/14, repre-senting 5 percent of the GDP.■

A total of US$5 billion in foreign investments left Egypt during the last six months, the Central Bank of Egypt announced Wednesday, according to a report by Al-Masry Al-Youm. The bank also said direct foreign investments declined by 94.1 percent, or $1.75 billion, in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The total investments in the country in that period amounted to $2.25 billion, compared with $2.14 billion that left. Investments by the European Union fell significantly, compared with the quarter before, and decreased from $4.2 billion to $1.76 billion — an amount equiva-lent to 72.2 percent.■

And investments, tooQatari Finance Minister Youssef Hussein Kamal met with Egyptian Investment Minister Osama Saleh last Thursday to discuss joint investment projects. The ministers agreed to complete initial studies for a series of projects that Qatar would fund and Egypt would implement, including energy projects, Saleh told Al-Masry Al-Youm. Kamal said he would meet with Prime Minister Hesham Qa-ndil and the ministers of finance, industry and trade to further discuss projects that are on the table and begin drafting agreements. This includes a proposal for an integrated development plan in East Port Said. Qatar has already invested bil-lions of dollars in the country, Kamal said.■

The Cabinet approved a draft law on Islamic bonds after it was approved by other institutions, Finance Minister Morsy Hegazy said Wednesday. Hegazy said the Finance Ministry, Investment Ministry, Financial Supervisory Author-ity and various political groups had

approved the draft law on the Islamic bonds, or sukuk. The Islamic Research Academy of Al-Azhar had rejected a pre-vious draft law on the bonds prepared by the ministry. Later, the Shura Council Economic Committee proposed an updated draft.■

Sukuk approved

Senior oil and gas industry executives call for more government concessions.

9Economy24 January 2013

During the past 60 years, corruption became the principle, and integrity the exception

Not a cent

By Maggie Hyde and Tom Dale

early two years a�er demonstrators �rst started trickling into Tahrir Square, chanting against corrupt government practices and calling

for former President Hosni Mubarak to step down, o�cials say not one cent of allegedly stolen funds held abroad by Mubarak, his family or other regime members has been re-turned to Egyptian soil.

Instead, the government has found itself waylaid by bureaucratic hurdles, untraceable ownership of assets, weak institutions, ongo-ing political turmoil and international legal quandaries that none of the protesters who mocked Mubarak’s millions would have imag-ined.

In the face of these obstacles, the govern-ment has hired expensive foreign law �rms to represent their case abroad, pu�ing them in the embarrassing situation of spending mon-ey on investigations that have not yet borne fruit.

�ough asset recovery e�orts are ongoing, experts say the chances of any substantial sums being returned look increasingly slim.

“�e process is moving forward very, very slow,” said Hussein Hassan, anti-corruption project manager at the regional o�ce for the United Nations O�ce on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). “Not because Egypt is not doing its job, but because we cannot overcome the obstacles we face.”

Outside a meeting held this week between local o�cials working on asset recovery and their foreign legal representatives, Hassan listed the e�orts UNODC is helping lead, de-spite the bleak prospects.

�e o�ce has hosted trainings on forensic accounting, liaisons between foreign experts and local o�cials working on the recovery, and meetings like this week’s, where foreign lawyers come to Cairo to tell local o�cials what needs to happen for the money to come back.

�e pervading corruption is also deeply rooted in many institutions, he said, some-times making it di�cult for Egyptians to know the di�erence between corrupt prac-tices and politics.

“During the past 60 years, corruption be-came the principle and integrity the excep-tion,” Hassan said.

Hassan is also helping the Justice Ministry dra� harsher laws against corruption, in the hope that it will at least be more di�cult for the next generation in Egypt to get away with gra� and embezzling. He hopes that by giving Egypt’s anti-corruption agencies legal teeth, they can act as a be�er defense against future crimes.

In meeting with Egypt’s foreign counter-parts, Hassan said he’s noticed they are also struggling with how to enforce cross-border �nancial justice.

“Asset recovery is new to almost everyone,” Hassan said. He adds that Switzerland, for-merly the stronghold of �nancial secrecy, is the exception, having revamped its laws in the past 10 years to make hiding stolen funds in the country more di�cult.

It’s go�en to the point where most govern-ment o�cials would rather focus on domes-tically embezzled or illicitly gained assets, which yield be�er results and make them more popular with voters.

In the past months, Egypt has launched reconciliation e�orts with companies that bought and sold land from the former regime at lower-than-market prices. �e judiciary has also been busy se�ling accounts with regime members who received lavish gi�s from state-run newspaper Al-Ahram.

So far, millions of dollars in gi�s has been returned, and reconciliation has brought a bit of badly needed cash for the government. Foreign-located assets, though, are a di�erent

story.“Because there have been no concrete re-

sults up till now, it’s very frustrating for o�-cials,” Hassan said. “�ey are afraid they will be blamed by voters if no money is returned.”

Swiss freeze On 13 January, Swiss o�cials — who had been the most proactive in freezing assets of 19 �gures related to the former regime — an-nounced that they would have to delay the return of 700 million Swiss francs, or US$767 million, in funds smuggled out of Egypt by members of the former regime that had been frozen a�er the revolution, due to the uncer-tain political situation in Egypt, according to Swiss o�cial news agency SDA.

�e announcement came on the heels of a December ruling from the country’s federal criminal court, which said Egyptian authori-ties were unable to provide legal documents relevant to Swiss criminal procedures against the Mubaraks because of political instability.

�e Swiss Embassy in Cairo did not re-spond for comment on the delay by the time of publication.

But what’s really causing the holdup? It’s dif-�cult to tell, according to Hassan.

Like many countries, the return of an over-thrown ruler’s money holds serious political weight.

Some Egyptian judges, Hassan said, specu-late that the ruling was a product of the Swiss judge’s disapproval of President Mohamed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsy’s November constitutional declaration and temporary expansion of powers.

But there are other hindrances — the Swiss have a legal de�nition of stolen funds di�erent from Egypt’s.

In Egypt, a public o�cial can be convicted of illicit gains if he cannot provide a credible reason for the discrepancy between his o�-cial salary and his actual income.

A similar law does not exist in most Eu-ropean countries or the US. Rather, in these places, the burden of proof of corruption is on the prosecutor, not the defendant.

For Mubarak money to be returned from Great Britain, Switzerland or the US, Egyp-tian o�cials would need to present evidence of a particular crime and link it to a speci�c amount of money.

In the Mubaraks’ modern �nancial world of nameless trust funds, o�shore accounts

and friends in high places, this task is nearly impossible.

London stallingA delegation of high-level UK o�cials came to Cairo last week to discuss the return of as-sets obtained illegally by �gures associated with the former Mubarak regime.

�e UK delegation was led by Jeremy Browne, minister of state for crime preven-tion, who sought to reassure reporters at a press conference Monday a�ernoon that his government was doing all it could to identify, freeze and return to Egypt assets obtained il-licitly under Mubarak’s government.

Browne oversees the UK Task Force on As-set Recovery, which was set up in September last year, shortly a�er BBC Arabic broadcast

a documentary titled “Egypt’s Stolen Bil-lions,” which criticized the role of the UK and Egyptian governments in the asset recovery process.

Browne said the lack of results so far is due in part to the political tumult in Egypt, which had produced a succession of “di�erent min-isters and di�erent o�cials” over the past two years. �e UK has consistently complained that Egypt has not provided it with su�cient information to take further steps.

“We are trying to make sure that the infor-mation provided by authorities in Egypt is the information we need,” said Browne, who added that a UK o�cial would soon be ap-pointed to take up o�ce in Cairo to liaise with the Egyptian government on asset recovery.

�e UK Treasury maintains that it has acted properly and does not have enough evidence to proceed with asset freeze in the cases docu-mented by the BBC. In the BBC documenta-ry, broadcast last year, evidence was provided that suggested that in Britain, not all such as-sets have been frozen.

Responding to a question from Egypt In-dependent, Jeremy Rawlins of the UK Crown Prosecution Service refused to comment on allegations concerning speci�c companies, but appeared to say it was the UK Treasury, not visibly represented on the delegation, which held the “lead,” or responsibility, for as-set freezing.

Rawlins also said it “has to be clear that the assets that were frozen clearly are those be-longing to or controlled by” the 19 individu-als concerned.

�e delegation abstained from any estimate of either how long it would take for assets to be returned or how much the eventual sum might be, although it was said that it would be “signi�cant.”

O�cer Jonathan Benton, who is respon-sible for the case at the London Metropolitan Police, also stressed the delicacy and di�culty of identifying illicitly gained funds.

“�e information that comes from the Egyptian authorities is being passed on to the private sector — banking and �nance institu-tions,” he said. “We must be cautious in how we do that ... and must be satis�ed that the

release of that information will not unduly prejudice somebody in the action that may then follow.”

Not giving upIf other countries prove too intractable, Egypt can take them to court, which could bring results. Egypt Independent learned that one such case is in the works.

“Leigh Day has been asked to investigate a potential challenge to the failure by the UK authorities to take all necessary steps to identify and freeze the assets of former members of the Mubarak regime,” Rosa Curling of Leigh Day, a prominent law �rm in London, told Egypt Independent.

“Such a case would result in the UK courts investigating and considering

whether the steps taken by the UK authori-ties to freeze the assets of those listed in the EC Council Decision are su�cient,” Curling said.

Curling said Leigh Day would be chal-lenging the UK’s failure to extradite a former member of Mubarak’s regime who has been convicted in absentia and who has not been returned to Egypt to face the sentence and �ne imposed.

Egypt Independent is not naming the man in question in order to not jeopardize the case.

Even employing all possible e�orts and high-pro�le lawyers, Hassan said he doesn’t expect all the e�orts to recover more than $1 billion.

“To be honest, I am not very hopeful we will recover very much,” he said.

�at does not mean of course, he added, that he is going to stop trying.■

Two years on, Mubarak money abroad remains unattainable

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10 Opinion24 January 2013

By Sharif Abdel Kouddous

t is important to consider the story of Qur-saya as the second anniversary of the revolu-tion approaches. It’s a story of violence and imprisonment, of the powerful targeting the

marginalized, of ruling interests trampling over the rule of law, and of an ongoing struggle against a state that regards its poorest citizens as a bother-some nuisance impeding plans for progress.

�e island of Qursaya is a rarity in the crowded cacophony of Cairo: an undeveloped stretch of lush agricultural land near the west bank of the Nile in Giza. With no bridge tying it to the main-land, Qursaya is only accessible by boat or a manu-ally operated chain ferry. �e island is home to a community of roughly 4,000 farmers and 1,000 �shermen who have managed to stake out a rural life in one of the world’s most congested cities.

Generations of families have grown up on the island. �ey built houses, cultivated the land and �shed the surrounding waters. �ey set up basic infrastructure, bringing in electricity and water, paid for alongside taxes for real estate and farm-land. While the government never granted the res-idents ownership rights, to them, Qursaya is home.

Yet the community was si�ing atop prime real estate in the heart of Cairo. In 2007, the govern-ment issued an eviction order and ordered that farmers’ land contracts not be renewed, claiming the island was state property, in what was seen as a prelude to selling it to wealthy developers.

�e military stormed the island with troops and bulldozers to try to forcibly evict the residents. �ey refused to leave and instead took their case to court and won. �e government challenged the ruling, but was shot down in 2010 when Egypt’s highest administrative court ordered the govern-ment to halt any eviction plans.

Nevertheless, the army maintained a small camp on the island, where it grows crops and sells them back to the residents. A�er the revolution, the army presence thinned out until two months ago, when it decided to strike with brutal force.

On 16 November, an army colonel backed by 500 soldiers visited Qursaya a�er residents decid-ed to take back some of the land le� vacant by the low military presence. �e colonel met with resi-dents, who presented copies of court documents a�rming their right to work and live there. He le� without requesting that the residents leave or pro-viding any warning of the impending a�ack.

A�er two days, the army stormed Qursaya in a brutal dawn raid. Chanting “God is great,” soldiers descended on the island from boats. �ey a�acked people with batons, electrocuted them with ca�le prods and �red at them with birdshot and live am-munition. �ey stormed houses and set �re to sev-eral �shermen’s boats and farmers’ huts.

Fleeing the violence, many residents jumped into the Nile, where soldiers continued to �re at them. Mohamed Abdel Mawgoud, a 20-year-old �sherman, was shot twice and died minutes later.

�e raid ended with the army indiscriminately arresting 25 residents, ranging in age from 18 to 50, and hauling them before a military prosecu-tor who charged them with assaulting the military and seizing land owned by the Armed Forces. �ey have been behind bars for the past two months.

�e next day, army spokesperson Colonel Ahmed Mohamed Ali responded to critics with a statement on his o�cial Facebook page in which he claimed the land was in fact owned by the Armed Forces, pointing to a document drawn up by the military itself to register the land in its name

in July 2010, a full �ve months a�er the second court ruling a�rming the residents’ right to live and work there. �e statement also made the dubi-ous claim that the land was vital to the army’s mis-sion to secure the capital.

Despite the brutality of the raid, the story quick-ly faded from public view, overshadowed by Isra-el’s assault on Gaza, and followed immediately by President Mohamed Morsy’s contentious decree, which allowed the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies to ram through a controversial Constitution.

One of the biggest outrages of the new Consti-tution is that it allows for cases like the Qursaya military trial to continue. An earlier dra� of the constitution contained language that strictly pro-hibited trying civilians before military courts. Yet assembly members removed this language “a�er military justice o�cials formally objected,” accord-ing to Human Rights Watch.

Article 198 of the Constitution leaves intact the military’s discretion to try civilians in mili-tary courts in a signi�cant step backward for hu-man rights in Egypt. Previous constitutions did not mention military trials of civilians, allowing lawyers to argue that the practice itself was uncon-stitutional. Now, Article 198 makes referring civil-ians to military trial constitutionally acceptable.

�e Muslim Brotherhood’s capitulation is all the more troubling given their long history of being among the primary victims of military trials dur-ing the Hosni Mubarak era. In their ascent from a banned opposition group to political power, an explanation can be found. �ose with access to power are not threatened by the most abusive practices of the state, like military trials. It is soci-ety’s most marginalized who are always targeted, and the Brotherhood has stepped forcefully out of the margins only to sacri�ce those le� behind.

A military court is scheduled to hand down a verdict on the Qursaya detainees on 28 January, a date that marks the second anniversary of the “Friday of Anger,” when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets in what was arguably the most decisive day yet in Egypt’s revolution. For the people of Qursaya and those who share in their struggle, we need many more like it.■

Sharif Abdel Kouddous is a correspondent for “Democracy Now!”

and a fellow at �e Nation Institute.

Those with access to power are not threatened by the most abusive practices of the state, like military trials. It is society’s most marginalized who are always targeted

The responsibility of memory By Lina A�alah spent days grappling with the di�culty of

identifying ways of remembering 25 Janu-ary — and we’re only down to the second anniversary.

Every possible story seems to have been told and retold. Barracks have been cast on both imag-ination and memory. Everyone suggests these are symptoms of discontent, common to those too a�ached to the event by virtue of having to re-count and interrogate it everyday.

“When I look at us from above, from a bird’s-eye view, I feel we’re walking normal steps. De-pression becomes just personal then,” says our reporter Heba A�fy in a conversation I asked to have with some team members, in an a�empt to confront the di�culty I’m experiencing in com-memorating the revolution.

“Maybe it’s a defense mechanism?” she won-ders. “We try to avoid thinking about it. �e memory of the revolution unavoidably comes with its frustrations. �ere is a lot of sadness as-sociated with it.”

My colleague Omar Halawa tries to establish an analytical distance to interpret the impasse that Heba refers to. “�e problem is with the move from revolutionary puritanism to political gambling,” he says, pointing to a sentiment of es-trangement that has hit many who felt engaged and responsible at an unmatched moment in the country’s recent history.

He sees a growing disparity between the street and closed rooms, with decision-making process-es only conceived in the la�er. While I disagree that decision-making processes are conceived in-dependently from the street, the word estrange-ment hits some chords.

then be talking about a revolution, but we would be furthering it. And we would also be learning how to write history di�erently.

When Heba referred to the pictures, the music and other relics that remind her of the revolution as a deliberate act of commemoration, my other colleague, Mohamad Adam, interjects. “Let’s transcend these. It doesn’t ma�er,” he tells her.

For him, even if we cannot retrieve a particular poetic moment, there’s much more to remember and think about. “Ultimately, we won’t let anyone take us backward,” he says de�antly.

Memory becomes the rudimentary tool for that quest — and not solely the memory of the jovial. In his writings about history, Walter Benja-min draws a portrait of the storyteller as one who must assume remembrance for the dead.

“Justice for the dead resides in a remembrance (by the living) of the injustice and the outrage done to them,” he writes in his seminal �eses on the Philosophy of History. “History is thus above and beyond o�cial narratives, a haunting claim the dead have on the living, whose responsibility is not only to remember but to protect the dead from being misappropriated.”

Of those who le� us and departed during these 18 days remains that voice that reactivates our memory. And we have to act upon this memory by externalizing it. �is is when, in revolution-ary times, life is snapped out of death, both in its physical and �gurative forms. �is is when re-membrance ceases to be a choice and becomes a duty — when forgetfulness becomes a luxury we cannot a�ord.■

Lina A�alah is editor-in-chief of Egypt Independent.

Beyond our personal ways of relating to the revolution, informed by our individual backgrounds, class, tastes and so on, there is another position to be assumed: that of the storyteller

Yet I am not content with the narratives of loss. In fact, if there is anything I don’t want to see our generation reproduce, it is that literary and cul-tural production of defeat conceived by Egypt’s 1960s intellectuals, disillusioned by the loss of a dream of national liberation.

But how do we mitigate this bi�erness if our job is to write about post-revolutionary politics without coloring our production with this feel-ing? And how do we handle that sentiment of estrangement if we depart from the basic stand-point that we are deeply implicated in what we are reporting about? How, in other words, do we combat our own sense of defeat?

Perhaps the answer lies in pu�ing an end to the constructed binary of the happy 18 days that toppled Hosni Mubarak versus the gloomy a�er-math, replete with confusion, violence, more loss and more status quo. Beyond our personal ways of relating to the revolution, informed by our individual backgrounds, class, tastes and so on, there is another position to be assumed: that of the storyteller.

�is position dictates the continuous and in-cessant recounting of a story that began on 25 January and that is ongoing. Sometimes we will like its details, sometimes not, but we will keep telling it as we live it.

�is story is actually in the myriad details, rather than in the grand meta-narrative of good vs bad. While the 18 days were heydays for many of us, we forget they weren’t for the mother who lost a child or the person permanently injured.

Similarly, there are many micro-victories far less celebrated than the 18 days that should also trespass our consciousness. Not only would we

Qursaya: A story of betrayal and struggle

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11Focus File24 January 2013

By Heba A�fy

hmed Farag, a 25-year-old lawyer, sits in his o�ce in a suit and tie, but un-derneath his desk is a backpack with jeans, a shirt and sneakers.

�e extra clothes are always on hand in case a protest turns unexpectedly violent and he needs to head to the scene.

Like the thousands who have engaged in the ongoing events of the 25 January revolu-tion over the past two years, Farag’s a�empt to go back to normal life is occasionally inter-rupted by outbreaks of violence or renewed protests.

And as he goes about his day-to-day busi-ness, that nagging sense of un�nished busi-ness persists.

“I have my normal life, I study and work, but the revolution is always in the back-ground ... preoccupying and upse�ing me. Sometimes I can’t work because I’m always concerned, following the events and [feeling] depressed,” says Farag.

For the young people who’ve become en-trenched in the continuing revolution, its presence shadows them in their daily lives — at times elating, at others dismal.

�ey continue to grasp on to the hope that the revolution will eventually triumph, but the frustrations of the past two years and the struggle to �nd a way to continue to serve the revolution have taken their toll.

“�e revolution is always a priority. When there’s something that requires me to go back to the street, I have to go, regardless of wheth-er I have work or anything else,” says Farag. “We remain suspended, unable to work and unable to continue our revolution. We don’t know what to do.”

For revolutionaries, the second anniversary of 25 January is no reason to celebrate. At best, it’s an opportunity to renew the revo-lutionary zeal. At worst, it’s an occasion to mourn.

“25 January is the anniversary of a catastro-phe. �is is when the bloodshed started, con-tinued for two years and hasn’t paid o� yet,”

says activist Ranaa al-Dardiry.Dardiry, a media specialist at a petroleum

company, remained an independent activist until she joined the Dostour Party recently, led by reform leader and former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed El-Baradei. She joined in the hope that an orga-nized e�ort and political bloc, as opposed to a revolution, could counter the ruling Muslim Brotherhood more e�ectively.

In the past 24 months, Egypt’s revolution-ary camp has su�ered losses and dealt with frustrations that at times have seemed insur-mountable. It has had an undoubtedly sober-ing e�ect on revolutionaries following the initial euphoria, which led many to expect immediate and drastic changes.

A�er �ghting military rule for the �rst year following Mubarak’s ouster, revolutionary groups lost election a�er election to the Mus-lim Brotherhood, which, in the process, has won control of all branches of power.

Meanwhile, the main reform demands of the revolution remain unmet, and periodic clashes erupt, raising the death toll and the cost paid by unrelenting protesters.

Despite her dark outlook on this year’s an-niversary, Dardiry still hopes that in 10 or 20 years, she will be able to celebrate 25 January as a complete and successful revolution.

Be�ing on the integral and irreversible change that many Egyptians have experi-enced, she still believes the revolution will continue and, eventually, a�ain the goals and aspirations of the people who bravely rose up against the system.

“My loyalty is to the blood of the martyrs. We have not yet go�en their rights and this is why I am still �ghting,” she says.

Countless citizens live with a lingering nostalgia for the early days of the revolution, which they try to relive and recreate in their street activity.

But, at the same time, a sizeable percent-age of the people who participated in the �rst days of the revolution have since turned away from it out of despair or turned against it and the accompanying complicated political de-velopments that followed. For them, it will never be the same.

“�ere’s life and work, but then there is al-ways a feeling that something is missing,” says �nancial adviser Hany al-Kady. “�is is why I take every opportunity to go back to the street. I want to feel the spirit of the revolu-

tion again by any means.”Like many, Kady �nds solace in the com-

pany of those who maintain the revolution-ary path.

“I’m going to participate in protests on the anniversary of the revolution mainly to see the faces that I love and that give me a boost of energy,” he says.

With the setbacks and hurdles the revolu-tion has encountered, Kady says that despite his strong will to keep the spirit and continue onward, he lately �nds himself with a dimin-ished belief in the power of the revolution.

Days before the recent polarizing refer-endum on the divisive Constitution, which passed with the backing of Islamists, Kady says that a�er designing and printing �yers campaigning for a “no” vote, he decided not to distribute them.

He says he felt Islamists would have their way as they have in the past elections, despite his best e�orts.

“I still have this revolutionary belief that any small thing I do will make a di�erence, but there are times that I �nd myself unable to keep going,” he says.

Dentist Ahmed Shousha has altogether stopped referring to 25 January as a revolu-tion since, he says, it failed to instigate radical change.

However, he still believes in the goals of what he considers a popular uprising, and continues to participate — but it’s not all con�ned to protests. Revolutionaries, he says, have to learn to advance their cause in their daily lives by utilizing all the political tools at their disposal, including protests but also elections and awareness campaigns.

“�e revolutionary state has to be continu-ous ... we have to always be trying to advance the goals of our revolution. Even when we’re not protesting, our presence has to be felt,” he says.

While most revolutionaries are trying to �nd ways to incorporate the revolution into their lives and �nd new ways to advance its demands, a small group insists on being ac-tive in the very epicenter of the 25 January protests: Tahrir Square.

Dozens continue to put their lives on hold and reside in tents in Tahrir in the longest running sit-in yet. Entering its second month, the sit-in’s main demand is the removal of President Mohamed Morsy and a return to the revolutionary road.

In this space, the disdain is palpable toward political parties and movements that have moved beyond the square.

“�e parties are playing politics, [but] we are in a revolution ... [which] eradicates all that preceded it,” says activist Mahitab al-Jila-ny, si�ing in front of her tent in Tahrir.

Jilany and others who remain in the square resent all the political developments and the gradual approach to reform politicians have adopted. �ey insist on the downfall of the current regime, deeming the presidential election illegitimate.

Instead, they seek a fresh start with a revo-lutionary presidential council accompanied by a temporary government.

“We are tired of politicians. �ey only look out for their own interests — we want revo-lution,” says Jilany. “�e parties come to the square to put on a show, but we will remain here no ma�er how small our number gets. Our belief will help us continue.”

Striking a balance between the contradic-tion of the revolutionary zeal within and the revolutionary recession surrounding them is a di�cult task for the proactive youth.

“�e revolution has become a part of me, like a new religion. It continues in the life of people, it made me di�erent in all aspects of my life; I carry it over to my work and my in-teraction with people,” says Mohamed Ali, an account manager at a dairy company.

While the current context is less than en-couraging, Ali says revolutionaries don’t have the luxury of giving up.

Carrying both the sacri�ces and accom-plishments of the past two years, he says the �ght for the revolution continues, as does his belief in the ability to induce positive change, albeit with small numbers.

“�e revolutionaries don’t whine and cry over spilled milk. �ose who are whining and complaining are the people who stayed home,” he says.

And while the responsibility and the — so far unrealized — dreams of the revolution leave his generation with a heavy burden, it is also a source of immense pride.

“I feel that my kids will not tell me, as we tell our parents, that we did nothing and let the situation get worse,” he says. “�ey might say that we tried and failed, but at least we didn’t stay silent.”■

A foot in both worldsSuspended between a sense of normalcy and an ongoing revolution

A

12 Focus File24 January 2013

Photos By Eman Helal

In the course of the 18-day uprising that began on 25 January 2011, and in the tumultuous 18-month transition that ensued, hundreds of Egyptians lost their lives, hundreds more were injured, and thousands were detained. Since the onset, attempts

by authorities to quell the uprising, and continued aggression toward protesters demanding rights and freedoms, resulted in fierce clashes and long stand-offs between civilians and security forces. In the violence, the injured would be carried away from the frontlines in droves, their bodies riddled with birdshots and bullets — on numerous occasions,

protesters’ eyes were the prime target. Those who survived had to learn to live with their

injuries, their lives changing drastically as a result. They mourn lost friends, deal with slowly healing wounds and learn to live with new handicaps that, for some, has cost them their livelihoods and, for others, is a source of continuing embarrassment.

No end in sightThe hundreds injured during the revolution are learning to live with their injuries

Reda Abdul Aziz, a 20-year-old who worked as a tuk-tuk driver, lost both his eyes on 20 November 2011 after being shot by police during the Mo-hamed Mahmoud clashes. At the time, demonstrators were demanding a transition from military to civilian rule and called for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to step down. In the clashes, 21 demonstrators were killed and thousands wounded, with most sustaining eye or chest injuries. Reda, pictured on 21 September 2012, has since learned to use a computer with the help of voice software. On the top left, he is seen riding a bus to a rally by former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi.

Mohamed Ibra-him Soliman is seen here at Salam Hospital on 2 October 2012 during a physical therapy session. Half of his body was paralyzed after he was hit by cartridge shots in the nerve area of the brain on 28 January 2011, in Cairo’s Ramses Square, during the Fri-day of Anger.

13Focus File24 January 2013

No end in sightThe hundreds injured during the revolution are learning to live with their injuries

Helmy Abu al-Maaty is 56 years old and used to work as an accountant. The father of four lost sight in both his eyes after being shot by a police officer on 28 January 2011 during dem-onstrations in Kit Kat Square. He was merely a bystander to the events, venturing outdoors only to check on his children who were participating in the protests. Forced to stop working and due to his difficult financial circumstances, he had to move with his family to his father’s old and rundown house (right). Abu al-Maaty is seen here (top) on 29 September 2012 walking into a class at a computer skills learning center set up by a vol-unteer for those injured during the revolution. He is helped inside by another casualty of the security forces’ aggression.

Nagat Abdel Wahab, a 54-year-old vegetable street vendor in one of Cairo’s poorer neighborhoods, lost her vision on 28 January 2011. Nagat and three of her sons participated in protests on that day by coincidence. While on the road returning from a visit to her elder son who works in the army, they saw the massive protests and decided to join. She was shot by police with several rubber bullets, causing her to lose so much blood that her family thought she had died. She is seen here on 8 October 2012 at her home in Cairo.

Taher Abdul-Samad, 29, was a bus driver until he lost his sight on 28 January 2011 during the Friday of Anger protests, when a rubber bullet fired by police forces stuck his eyes. He had joined thousands of Egyptians that day in rallies heading to Tahrir Square. He is seen here at a computer class designed for those who lost their sight as a result of violence during the revolu-tion, on 29 September 2012.

Yasser Abdel Fatah, a 26-year-old interior designer who works in the film industry, lost his left eye when a solder fired a tear gas bomb that hit his face. Abdel Fatah was on Haram Street in a rally that was heading to Tahrir Square. He is seen here on 18 September 2012.

14 Focus File24 January 2013

Justice not served

By Mai Shams El-Din

n the second anniversary of an up-rising that erupted against poverty, injustice and oppression, demands for the rights of martyrs and those

injured continue to resonate at protests. Their families are left to grieve, with no hope of ret-ribution in sight.

Despite the myriad of changes on the po-litical and social fronts, for many of these families, it’s more of the same and little can be done to alleviate their profound sense of loss.

Meanwhile, more acquittals are granted to police officers implicated in the killing of pro-testers and violations against revolutionaries, with no genuine mechanism of transitional justice on the horizon.

Left behind are memories of lost family members, with the photos adorning the walls of their homes a stark and painful reminder of their loss.

Egypt Independent spoke to two families, one whose son is a revolution martyr and another whose son has been missing since the events of 25 January 2011. Two years on, their sentiment is one of bitter anguish and a lingering pain from neglect and the absence of retribution.

Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, followed by an 18-month transition under military rule, led to Egypt’s first elected civilian president in late June, with the passing of a highly divisive Constitution six months later.

During this time, protests have continued and clashes have erupted between protesters and security forces, leading to more violence, deaths and disappearances.

At the start of every one of these phases — a new ruler, a new Cabinet, a new Parliament — came a spark of hope that someone would be held accountable or some answers would finally be found.

That hope is consistently and swiftly doused — a disappointment felt most by the families of those who have lost their lives in the pro-cess.

‘Morsy deceived us’As Dr. Wafaa, mother of martyr Mohamed Mostafa, killed during the Cabinet clashes in December 2011, awaits justice for her son, she says she was deceived by President Mohamed Morsy.

In a televised appearance in June, amid a fierce runoff between Morsy and presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq, Wafaa told Morsy in a phone-in to “Akher Al-Nahar” talk show that she would vote for him because she cannot vote for the killer of her son.

Thousands listened to the aggrieved mother as she spoke to the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate, who promised that justice would finally be served if elected. Her words and support to Morsy resonated with many ahead of the critical vote.

“Do not worry, Wafaa, the right of your son is my personal responsibility,” said Morsy at the time.

Months later, the broken hearted mother says she was deceived. “We were trapped be-tween the worst two options: Morsy or Shafiq, the Brotherhood or the old regime. But it was Mubarak’s military regime who killed my son — I had to vote for Morsy,” says Wafaa.

“We were deceived by the Brotherhood and we have become a split nation. Morsy is liv-ing in a world of his own, a world of his own people and his own tribe,” she says nervously in a phone call from Saudi Arabia, where she is currently performing the Umrah pilgrimage.

Photos of martyr Mohamed Mostafa are prevalent around the six-story building in Cairo’s Nasr City, and when asked for direc-tions, shop owners in the surrounding streets are quick to point out the martyr’s house.

Graffiti of the 19-year-old engineering stu-dent, shot during clashes between protesters

“I have given the most precious thing I have: my son. What else can I give?” she asks.

For family members, it is the mundane and simple details that tear at their hearts.

“Here are new shoes he bought so he could wear them in the cold weather,” Mayada says, recounting his plans to visit the US. “These are clothes he’d just picked up from the cleaners.”

“When I look at pictures, I touch the photo and I feel as if I’m touching his skin. I can feel him around me,” Mayada says, clutching the photo album close to her chest, her eyes wa-tery with unshed tears. “We seem strong in front of people and the media, but God knows how we spend our nights.”

Tales of the lostOn 28 January 2011, Mohamed Seddiq, 27 at the time, left home for Friday prayers at the nearby mosque, just like millions of Egyptians do every week. But this was no normal Friday.

Seddiq knew something extraordinary was going to happen on that day. He had al-ready decided to go the protests, subseuently dubbed the “Friday of Anger,” and planned on actively taking part in the uprising.

But when Mubarak stepped down on 11 February, and as millions celebrated in the streets, the mood was very different for Sed-diq’s family.

“On 11 February, the same day of Mubarak’s ouster, he called to tell me he’d been arrested. I’ve heard nothing from him ever since,” says Sabah, a mother who has not known the whereabouts or fate of her son for the last two years.

“He was going to Friday prayers like every-one else. I knew he was going to take part in the protests, but I never imagined it would be this serious,” Sabah tells Egypt Independent.

His mobile phone was switched off throughout the 18 days of the uprising and she only heard from him on that landmark day in Egypt’s history.

Months later, in one of her tireless attempts to call his phone in the hope that he would answer, someone did pick up. But it was not her son’s voice. In an angry tone, the voice on the phone said he was a soldier at al-Gabal al-Ahmar Prison. “We will teach you not to re-volt ever again,” Sabah says the man told her threateningly.

She met Morsy two days before the runoff and was promised an investigation into the cases of all missing revolutionaries. “Nothing has happened since. I only managed to find out from police that my son received a three-year prison sentence — but for what and where? I don’t know,” she says.

A campaign called Hanla2ihom, Arabic for “We will find them,” has been launched to look into the cases of those missing, whose to-tal number is unknown. Campaign members say those who went missing may have been tried in front of military courts with their cas-es unregistered.

Rights activists say most civilians who faced military trials were randomly arrested by army and police forces and received long prison sentences while their families were never no-tified.

A list of 1,200 missing civilians was sent to former Prime Minister Essam Sharaf for in-vestigation but this inquisition never material-ized. What’s more, the list of missing persons has never been updated, even though more disappearances were reported during the Mo-hamed Mahmoud and Cabinet clashes in No-vember and December 2011.

Families complain about the lack of trans-parency and cooperation from security forces. While they toured prisons around the coun-try, they still have no access to their children. Rights activists say forced disappearances are a violation more severe than murder.

As time drags on, families of the missing wait in anticipation for their return, amid a mix of hope, fear and pain.■

and military forces in front of the Cabinet building in December 2011, cover the walls by the stairs leading to his apartment. On the door hangs a photo of him.

Inside, pictures of a young and hopeful Mo-hamed are everywhere you look.

“Mohamed was shot on 21 December. I was always checking on him during the clashes. He was shot with a pellet in his arm and leg [and died a day later],” Mohamed’s sister, Mayada, says, while standing in his room, surrounded by his clothes and small memen-tos. ”These are photos of him in a swimming competition,” she says, flipping through one of numerous photo albums of her martyred brother. “These were his friends, and this pho-to was the last one before he died — with a new haircut.”

The family is convinced that the brutal kill-ing of 74 Ahlawy ultras — groups of hardcore football fans who were instrumental during revolutionary protests — in early 2012 at the Port Said Stadium is related to Mohamed’s death.

“Mohamed was an ultras member. After

Photos of Mostafa, the 19-year-old engineering student shot during clashes in December 2011.

Two families remember their martyred and missing sons

Mohamed Mostafa memoirs are displayed in his bedroom at home.

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his death, the ultras community was moved by the tragedy and, for the first time, chanted against military rule at one of the matches before the massacre in Port Said happened,” Mayada says.

“I’m sure this massacre was a warning to get the ultras to stop intervening in politics,” she adds.

At the football match in January 2012, Ul-tras Ahlawy entered the stadium and formed a big picture of Mohamed’s face, a poignant moment for the millions watching. “The game was aired live on national TV, and it might be the first time many Egyptians heard chants against military rule,” she says.

Her mother, Wafaa, says the only choice for Egyptians is to continue the revolution, and adds that making people more politically and socially aware is a prerequisite for any measure of success.

“Those who vote for the Brotherhood and are deceived by their propaganda need to be aware of their true face and know that they are no different from Mubarak and the military,” she says.

We were trapped between the worst two options: Morsy or Shafiq. But it was Mubarak’s military regime who killed my son - I had to vote for Morsy

15Opinion24 January 2013

Bread riots and social violence may bring the opposition and Islamists together with the remnants of the authoritarian state to establish some type of proto-fascist order

By Christoph Wilckehis week in Egypt, integrity became an a�ribute to be bought, not earned. Former President Hosni Mubarak and some of his former ministers tried to

barter their illicit wealth in return for immunity from prosecution on corruption charges.

�e prosecutor general, Talaat Abdallah, un-derlined this deal-making approach to justice by li�ing a travel ban on 10 Mubarak-era o�cials a�er they had repaid some illicit funds.

If money can buy impunity, then not only will justice be for sale and owned by the rich, but incentives for accumulating illicit wealth will mount. It is a great irony and slap in the face for the people of Egypt that the corrupt can buy im-punity with money �rst stolen from the people.

�e independence and fairness of a transpar-ent judiciary that upholds accountability un-der the law for all are strong tools against cor-ruption. If impunity is for sale, it corrodes the rule of law, and corruption becomes a certainty. Does recuperating pennies for stolen millions serve justice? �ose who braved a corrupt re-gime might think di�erently.

Transitional governments face di�cult choices about providing accountability for past crimes against the daily exigencies of advancing economic progress. But selling amnesties do not help a scarred nation move forward.

Egypt’s judicial elite should re�ect on the need for a clean break with a crony capitalist system in which a few enriched themselves at the expense of many.

of corruption are not consulted.Judicial o�cials have also faced criticism as

courts cleared former high-level o�cials of cor-ruption, such as former Culture Minister Farouk Hosni.

�e Justice Ministry may be waking up to the criticism of its handling of the corruption �le. Last week, it dra�ed a law to speed up recovery of stolen assets from the Mubarak era. So far, no assets have been recovered from abroad.

It is not yet clear just how much public money former o�cials or their cronies siphoned o�, though estimates are in the billions of dollars.

Repatriation of stolen assets is a complicated and o�en long judicial process, and the fear is that foreign states cannot legally freeze assets forever. So far, Switzerland and the UK have fro-zen US$700 million of Mubarak’s personal as-sets, but proceedings to return them to Egyptian state co�ers are far from completion.

Cu�ing deals now with those facing corrup-tion charges in exchange for small �nancial gains will hurt rather than help Egypt build a reputa-tion for judicial integrity. It would endorse and therefore continue the injustices of the previous era that people rose up against.

You cannot build a reputation for accountabil-ity and integrity by pu�ing a price tag on impu-nity from corruption charges.■

Christoph Wilcke is Middle East and North A�ica regional director at

Transparency International.

Justice for sale

It is a great irony and slap in the face for the people of Egypt that the corrupt can buy impunity with money first stolen from the people

The opposition’s lost bet on the economic crisisgypt faces a severe economic crisis that has not been seen since the late 1980s, when the country was on the verge of bankruptcy.

The budget deficit soared to almost LE100 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year, and is expected to exceed LE 200 billion by its end in July 2013. This means it will hover at about 13 percent of the gross domestic product.

In the meantime, the already meager for-eign reserves keep dwindling at an alarming rate. Doubts are cast on the country’s short-term ability to finance basic imports, such as fuels and foodstuff, while still serving its foreign debt. And it is noteworthy that the country’s credit rating has been recently downgraded, despite the ratification of the Constitution.

This deteriorating economic condition warns of a sweeping wave of social unrest that could deal a blow to the newly elected Islamist ruling elite. Yet this is not to as-sume that their detractors in the National Salvation Front(NSF) are to benefit from an Islamist showdown, given their inability to formulate a genuine discourse that could handle economic and social grievances.

The only way hitherto envisaged by the ruling party and other technocratic circles has been foreign borrowing. According to the international cooperation minister, Egypt needs US$14 billion to $15 billion in loans to fix its pressing fiscal and economic problems.

However, despite the dire need for for-eign finance, the International Monetary Fund loan agreement has been indefinitely suspended following the government’s in-ability to apply the tax increases and subsidy reductions last December. It seems that the government is not politically capable of ef-fecting the minimal requirements for fiscal restructuring.

Hence, no creditor is willing to pump money to finance an ever-widening deficit, with the exception of Qatar, for clear politi-cal purposes.

By Amr Adly In such a troubled context, the parliamen-tary elections approach. The Muslim Broth-erhood’s ability to keep things as they are and avoid any painful measures in the few months preceding the elections is doubtful.

Bear in mind that President Mohamed Morsy opted for signing the initial agree-ment with the IMF as early as November. The government was hoping to reach a final agreement in December so as to disburse the first tranche in January. All are signs that the fiscal situation in Egypt is unsustainable, even in the short term.

Moreover, the very fact that Morsy is-sued austerity measures amid the crushing political crisis of last December is another clear sign of the government’s dire need to conclude the IMF loan and start receiv-ing foreign funding. Even though Qatar has stepped in, depositing $5 billion in the Cen-tral Bank of Egypt, the maintenance of the current fiscal deficit is unsustainable.

Given the economic hardships and the im-minent austerity measures, the anti-Islamist opposition has put high hopes on the eco-nomic crisis. Many in the opposition camp are counting on the Brotherhood’s loss of popularity and on the final and long-antici-pated explosion of the socioeconomic crisis in the face of the ruling Brothers.

How sound is this bet? It appears that the opposition’s betting on securing direct po-litical gains from the economic crisis is un-grounded for many reasons. To start with, the opposition parties and groups have hardly developed any strong organizational links with the burgeoning independent la-bor movement.

The NSF, the biggest opposition coalition, remains heavily reliant on the support of ur-ban-middle and upper-middle classes. The front’s political platform barely contains genuine social and economic elements.

Rather, the coalition’s main investment has been in an identity-based discourse that is based on some vaguely defined Egyptian essence against the Brothers’ Islamist pro-paganda. As for the deteriorating economic

situation, the front’s stance has been by and large opportunistic and myopic, with very little alternatives given to austerity mea-sures.

The NSF has proved to be no more than an anti-Islamist coalition that lacks any in-ternal harmony. It has no comprehensive idea about the country’s socioeconomic or-deal.

So far, the powers composing the NSF have taken different economic stances. Whereas the Nasserists have shown popu-list leanings that are hardly sustainable, the liberals preferred to keep silent on austerity measures and the IMF loan.

Given the limitations of the NSF, any so-cioeconomic explosion is not likely to yield direct political gains to the anti-Brother-hood opposition, despite the fact that the Brothers are in an extremely bad situation. There is a fair chance that Egypt will witness a new wave of sociopolitical violence similar to that of January 1977.

The only difference is that such social riot-ing will probably take place against a weak and unconsolidated political regime, a po-lice force that is in shambles and an army that is aloof from direct intervention.

But these forms of protest will hardly be of use to the anti-Islamist opposition, which has neither the discourse nor the organiza-tional capacity to benefit from the looming social unrest. The potential riots are likely to be a pure loss for the broadest spectrum of the new political elites, be they ruling Is-lamists or secular and liberal opponents.

Worse, bread riots and social violence may bring the opposition and the Islamists together with the remnants of the authori-tarian state — the police, the military and the judiciary — to establish some type of proto-fascist order in the name of social stability.■

Amr Adly is director of the Social and Economic Justice Unit at the

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. He has a PhD in political economy.

Mubarak and company are not pro�ting from laws they passed but from amendments to the 1997 investment law that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces passed on 3 January 2012 to allow this kind of deal making on impunity for cash.

Amendments to Articles 7 and 66 of the law allow reconciliation proceedings for those pros-ecuted in corruption cases: in e�ect, impunity in exchange for paying back illicit gains. Victims

T

E

of stolen assets from the Mubarak era. So far, no assets have been recovered from abroad.

It is not yet clear just how much public money former o�cials or their cronies siphoned o�, though estimates are in the billions of dollars.

Repatriation of stolen assets is a complicated and o�en long judicial process, and the fear is that foreign states cannot legally freeze assets forever. So far, Switzerland and the UK have fro-zen US$700 million of Mubarak’s personal as-sets, but proceedings to return them to Egyptian state co�ers are far from completion.

Cu�ing deals now with those facing corrup-tion charges in exchange for small �nancial gains will hurt rather than help Egypt build a reputa-tion for judicial integrity. It would endorse and therefore continue the injustices of the previous era that people rose up against.

You cannot build a reputation for accountabil-ity and integrity by pu�ing a price tag on impu-nity from corruption charges.■

Christoph Wilcke is Middle East and

li�ing a travel ban on 10 Mubarak-era o�cials a�er they had repaid some illicit funds.

If money can buy impunity, then not only will justice be for sale and owned by the rich, but incentives for accumulating illicit wealth will mount. It is a great irony and slap in the face for the people of Egypt that the corrupt can buy im-punity with money �rst stolen from the people.

�e independence and fairness of a transpar-ent judiciary that upholds accountability un-der the law for all are strong tools against cor-ruption. If impunity is for sale, it corrodes the rule of law, and corruption becomes a certainty. Does recuperating pennies for stolen millions serve justice? �ose who braved a corrupt re-gime might think di�erently.

Transitional governments face di�cult choices about providing accountability for past crimes against the daily exigencies of advancing economic progress. But selling amnesties do not help a scarred nation move forward.

Egypt’s judicial elite should re�ect on the need for a clean break with a crony capitalist system in which a few enriched themselves at the expense of many.

ecuted in corruption cases: in e�ect, impunity in exchange for paying back illicit gains. Victims

16 Environment24 January 2013

In brief

The Scientists’ Syndicate geology division demanded that the state take immediate action to stop the indiscriminate mining and random destruction of old phara-onic gold mines, saying it significantly threatens the environment and people’s health. The scientists also emphasized the dangers of using toxic cyanide materials

in the gold extraction process, which it said can pose a major threat to health if it seeps into groundwater networks. They have asked the Shura Council to urgently discuss mining regulation laws to help the state organize mining, which they said squanders national resources and violates the country’s natural heritage.■

Calls for mining regulationTo increase the use of biomass technology in different governorates, newly appointed Environment Minister Khaled Fahmy an-nounced he would open biomass units in Fayoum and Assiut to convert agricultural waste into energy. Biomass units are pro-

duced by squeezing the sweet sorghum plant and extracting pure ethyl alcohol. Fahmy also emphasized the importance of the role of young people to push devel-opmental projects forward, especially the ones related to climate change.■

Sweet biomass

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The Agriculture Ministry is exerting great efforts to provide 25 new silos to solve the problem of storing wheat, Ag-riculture Minister Salah Abdel Momen said. The minister said the current lack of storage space leads to a waste of large quantities of the country’s wheat produc-tion, which reaches 9 million tons yearly.

Abdel Momen said the Agriculture Re-search Center could provide 17 types of wheat seeds for the farmers to increase their production. To fight the black mar-ket for seeds, he said the ministry intends to establish a cooperative involving the Cooperative Union as a buyer and the farmer as a producer and seller.■

New silosHoping to reduce environmental pollution by 85 percent and save more than US$50 million per year, inventor Mohamed Saleh has come up with a device that can con-vert car and factory exhaust to natural gas through a special filter that can be easily installed. Saleh says the device is the first of its kind not only in Egypt, but the world. It relies on a process through which exhaust

fumes are immediately absorbed. Accord-ing to Saleh, the device could help pro-tect the environment and should become a national project because it protects the environment, extends the lifetime of car engines and saves about 30 percent on oil consumption. However, he says he is still waiting for government support for his in-vention.■

Gas from exhaust?

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17Environment24 January 2013

Is there a shark in the water?

High-tech education

By Rana Khaled

ew articles have been added to the existing government ban on shark fishing, as a result of a campaign launched by the Hurghada En-

vironmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA) for the protection of sharks in the Red Sea.

It is now totally prohibited to display or sell any marine species that is protected or endan-gered.

On its website, HEPCA asked all tourists visiting the Red Sea, as well as residents, to keep their eyes open.

“Please send us a report if you witness any taking of endangered species; this is an illegal action and shall not be accepted,” the associa-tion noted.

The campaign started after HEPCA sup-porters found a photo on Facebook of a dead shark displayed on a buffet table in one of the biggest hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh. A few days later, they also received news that a popular grocery chain was selling shark meat.

To counter this, HEPCA members contact-ed a group of government officials, including the environment minister, tourism minister and Sinai governor, who responded immedi-ately.

“Since 2000, we have been fighting to pre-vent shark fishing in Egypt for two main rea-sons,” says Mahmoud Hassan Hanafy, pro-fessor of marine environment at Suez Canal University and HEPCA’s scientific adviser.

He says sharks have great value because they play an important role in maintaining the ecological balance, in addition to serving as an indicator for how healthy the environ-ment is.

“In terms of the economic aspects, sharks have utmost importance, as they’re consid-ered a significant attraction for tourists and bring in large amounts of money to Egypt,”

he adds.Hanafy says natural resources are divided

into living and non-living resources, and that, unfortunately, many people don’t pay atten-tion to living types, even though they are more sustainable and can significantly con-tribute to national income in the long term — unlike nonrenewable resources.

Thus, they need more protection and care to guarantee their sustainability for future generations, he explains.

“In a place like Brothers Island, an impor-tant diving site in the south of the Red Sea, you can find large numbers of mega sharks, which attract thousands of divers who pay large amounts of money to enjoy the beauty of the place,” he says. Each mega shark can at-

tract up to US$200,000 yearly, which means a single shark could be worth $4–8 million during its life span, which ranges from 20 to 40 years.

Although Egypt received an international award in 2005 for being one of the main spots protecting sharks around the world, and has signed dozens of international agreements in various environment protection fields, this has proved to be insufficient in controlling the illegal fishing and selling of sharks.

Hanafy says displaying sharks as a deco-ration in hotels and restaurants gives a bad impression to visitors, making them think shark fishing and trading are legal activities in Egypt. Moreover, he asserts that eating shark meat isn’t healthy, as it contains dangerous

levels of mercury and other toxic heavy met-als.

In addition to applying the laws and pun-ishing violators, he believes it is important to increase society’s awareness about the sig-nificance of the species through educational curricula.

“Despite the fact that the new Constitu-tion mentions the natural resources and the marine environment, and that Egypt has enough laws to protect these species, this is clearly not enough,” he says. “It’s very im-portant for every citizen in this country to carry the responsibility of protecting and preserving our natural resources treasures, which is one of the basic foundations of de-velopment.”■

By Rana Khaled

group of professors from Beni Suef University have established the first spe-cialized university in the

region for nanotechnology and biotechnology.

Called the Faculty of Post-Grad-uate Studies for Advanced Sci-ences, the professors hope the new department will improve the qual-ity of scientific research and find applicable solutions to most of the environmental and industrial prob-lems Egypt suffers from.

“This faculty is the first of its kind not only in Egypt, but also in Africa and in the whole Arab world,” says Mohamed Hamdy Khedr, dean of the faculty. “In fact, it will enable ambitious researchers to study dif-ferent branches of advanced sci-ences that traditional faculties don’t pay much attention to.”

He believes that many Egyptians fail to market themselves or create plans for the future. Thus, the fac-ulty plans to adopt an innovative integrated system to help provide solutions to many of the country’s existing environmental and indus-trial problems.

“The faculty will accept gradu-ates from different applicable fac-ulties, such as science, medicine, pharmacy, and engineering, and organize them in groups to al-low them to work in teams and share their experiences,” he ex-plains.

The faculty has decided to start its program by open-ing three main departments: nanotechnology and material science, biotechnology and bi-ology sciences, and environment and industrial development.

Khedr adds that instead of just submitting a research paper to get their master’s or PhD certificates, students will be asked to work on a prototype that could solve one of the many problems Egypt faces. The students will also be sent to electronics companies to get tech-nical and empirical training that will help them apply everything they study on the ground.

In the long term, this will con-tribute to changing the mentality of Egyptian researchers and scien-tists, Khedr says.

Ahmed Farghaly, a nanotechnol-ogy professor at the university and the head of the project’s support

and financing unit at the university, says that nanotechnology is the magic wand that could change the

environmental and industrial face of Egypt.

“It is very important to pro-vide students with courses about nanometric materials and their modern applica-tions in the fields of alternative energy and developed indus-

tries,” he says.One example, he says, is water

purification. Egypt has had amaz-ing results regarding the removal of harming contaminants, such as dyes, found in high concentrations in factory waste, he says.

“Also, nanotechnology can help reduce the costs of many indus-tries, as it decreases the amounts of catalysts needed to complete chemical reactions,” Farghaly says.

Using nanotechnology can allow the country to get rid of air pol-lution caused by carbon dioxide emissions from cars, by using fil-ters made from simple, modified natural materials that can break gas molecules and turn them into safe and useful gases, he says.

Farghaly also states nanotech-nology’s importance in the field of

solar energy, saying it can be used to turn sunlight absorbed by solar cells into electricity, which could later be used for operating devices.

The faculty aims to welcome all students who have a strong desire to learn — though they will pri-oritise graduates with high grades — believing everyone has the right to try and learn new technologies, Khedr says.

“The faculty contains modern laboratories and high-quality equipment,” he says. “We agreed on an Egyptian-American partner-ship program and are waiting for another fund from the internation-al cooperation ministry.”

He says he expects the faculty to be a great success, despite the fact that many people rejected the idea in the early stages of the project and were resistant to changing ex-isting teaching methods. But they changed their minds when they realized how much value could be added to education and scientific research.

“The success of this faculty will encourage universities to repeat this experience again in different specializations and generalize it across Egypt,” he notes.■

New laws put in place to protect endangered marine species

Beni Suef University establishes nanotechnology faculty

Instead of just submitting a research paper, students will be asked to work on a prototpye that could solve one of the many problems Egypt faces

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A new law bans the display or sale of all protected and endangered marine species, including shark meat.

18 Culture24 January 2013

Who was Ahmed Basiony?

By Mai Elwakil

barely knew Ahmed Basiony in per-son. I only got to meet him casually at exhibition openings around down-town or ran into him on the side street

leading up to the Townhouse Gallery. I did hear much about his artistic experi-

ments, though, how groundbreaking they were in the local scene, and how they in-spired so many artists. And luckily, I got to see his art projects on two occasions.

The first was at the second Form Through Light exhibit in 2005; the second at the 2010 Cairo Documenta show. In the latter, he presented an exciting work that visitors, regardless of their background, could naturally engage with.

“ASCII Doesn’t Speak Arabic” was inter-active, entertaining and, at the same time, conceptually engaging. Few works could be described in those terms.

As visitors entered one of the back rooms at downtown’s Viennoise Hotel, their im-age gradually formed on the wall. In the details, one could see that letters from the Arabic alphabet were forming. The projec-tion changed as people moved and, even-tually, a group of visitors could form words or even sentences from the letters making up the headshots.

Yes, we could control our image and its formations through our body movement. But that was not the only goal Basiony wanted to achieve. Through his experi-mentation with Open Source programing, he managed to highlight the Arabic al-phabet in the ASCII (American Standard Codes for Information Interchange) pro-gramming code.

Basiony was killed on 28 January 2011 while protesting and filming the street clashes around Tahrir Square. Mainstream media — generally not interested in con-temporary arts — gave him much atten-tion and he was dubbed the “martyred artist.”

Still very few seemed to be able to speak of his diverse body of work. Very few had seen it.

A few months later, the Culture Minis-try announced that Basiony would repre-sent Egypt at the 54 Venice Biennale. His friend and mentor Shady El Noshokaty was assigned the responsibility of organiz-ing the show and from there things began to escalate: arguments about the ministry abusing his legacy and whether the Ven-ice exhibit — video documentation of his 2010 performance, “Thirty Days Running in Place,” along with unedited footage of street protests he filmed from 25–27 Janu-ary 2011 — actually reflected Basiony’s work.

Like many Egyptians who found it hard to travel to the Venice Biennale, I did not get to see the show but waited patiently for the promised exhibition in Cairo.

Almost a year and a half later, the Ven-ice exhibit was shown in Cairo as part of a mega retrospective of Basiony’s work at Darb 1718, the American University in Cairo’s Sharjah Gallery, and Noshokaty’s new art educational foundation ASCII in Ard al-Lewa. To everyone’s delight, the retrospective was also organized and cu-rated by Noshokaty. Finally, we thought, we would get to see Basiony’s work.

Noshokaty curated the exhibition so that Basiony’s more recent sound, video and interactive works were on display at Darb 1718, whereas the Venice project and documentation of the many workshops he gave at the Helwan Faculty of Art Educa-tion were shown at the American Univer-sity in Cairo and ASCII, respectively.

In an interview with Egypt Independent, Noshokaty explained that he conceived the retrospective as an educational exhibit, one that other artists and students could learn from, an inspiration for different pos-sibilities and paths they might want to ex-plore. “That was a curatorial decision,” he said, one that he made from the beginning and part of his vision for the show.

As I visited the exhibition at Darb 1718, however, I did not feel I was seeing Basi-ony’s work but rather a take on it, one so strong that it became difficult and even confusing to navigate. Even those quite familiar with his work had a hard time fol-lowing through.

I went back five times, watching the vid-eos and projections, and reading the very long explanatory texts and visual aids on the walls — each time trying to decipher where the work was from and what was on display, to engage with it emotionally, personally.

Such engagement is what often leaves the strongest impact. Did it work? Not re-ally.

Some of Basiony’s works were grouped

for visitors to draw relationships between them. In one gallery on the top floor of Darb 1718, video documentation of Ba-

siony’s 2009 “Symmetrical System” — a performance he did at the “Body Invis-ible” exhibition at the historic Mawlawi-yah Palace — looped on a screen, while the famous street cleaner’s blue uniform, the rubber boots and bags of clothes pegs he wore for the performance, and later at Tahrir Square, hung from the ceiling.

For “Symmetrical System,” Basiony fixed a rubber material treated and painted to look like human flesh to the floor of the theater stage at the palace, and then gradu-ally shaped and stitched it while in uni-form, as a performer dressed in Baroque-style dress moved on its surface.

We do not really know why he wore the costume to the square in 2011 though some interpreted it as possibly being an-other performance. The Darb 1718 exhibit seems to emphasize that since, in the same gallery, we see footage of running feet on the streets of Tahrir, playing on a screen fixed to the floor.

In a review of the 2011 Egyptian Pavil-ion in Venice for Egypt Independent, art historian Angela Harutyunyan wrote that Basiony’s art was framed in relation to his role as a citizen-activist in such a way that “the viewer’s experience is pre-emptively foreclosed.” The same could be said for the exhibition of “Symmetrical System” at Darb 1718 and the presentation of the Venice project at the American University in Cairo.

Too strong were the overlays, and hang-ing the costumes he wore during the “Symmetrical System” and “Thirty Days Running in Place” performances next to the documentary footage simply empha-sized the fact that he was dead and that his artistic equipment had become a sort of artifact shown at a museum, despite No-shokaty’s best intentions.

Noshokaty explained his decision to show the objects and screen the footage Basiony shot by saying it could be the rea-son for his death. He added that it showed the various aspects of Basiony’s personal-ity — perhaps even his thought process. But for exhibition visitors, there was too much of Noshokaty’s own vision and in-terpretation and not enough of Basiony’s.

For “ASCII Doesn’t Speak Arabic,” the visual aids at Darb 1718 somehow worked, explaining the code and how images are formed using keyboard art. But, because the laptop that operates the software and constructs the images was only there for the opening night of the exhibition, many visitors found themselves left with a con-cept, without being able to see how Ba-siony applied it and the play involved in it.

Perhaps the aspects that best reflected Basiony were the documentary footage and photographs Noshokaty collected and screened from the workshops and from friends who were artists, as well as the sound art pieces visitors could listen to through headphones. Only then could we see for ourselves how he taught and medi-ated complex concepts to his students, like he did through his art practice.

Leaving the three shows, one is left with a strong impression of how dedicated and creative an artist Basiony was, work-ing across different media and constantly pushing their boundaries. We also regret never getting to know him and see his work firsthand.

Noshokaty says Basiony’s friends should dedicate more effort to his memory. Nu-merous exhibits could be made in the fu-ture from the many works he produced during his decade-long career. Maybe then — depending on how they are shown — we will get to experience them for ourselves.■

A retrospective of the artist and martyr fails to explain the man

Hanging the costumes he wore during his performances next to the documentary footage simply emphasized that he was dead and his artistic equipment had become a sort of artifact

Despite the variety of work on display, the exhibition failed to convey Basiony’s vision.

The famous blue street cleaner’s uniform from Basiony’s 2009 “Symmetrical System.”

I

The mega retrospective of Basiony’s work was curated by his friend, Shady El Noshokaty.

Mai

Elw

akil

19Culture24 January 2013

Open books

A dash of culture

A local book swap initiative brings literature to the masses By Maha ElNabawi

ohamed Reda, a profes-sional driver by day and musician by night, can distinctly remember

the first time he came across the “Change Your Book” initiative on the streets of Cairo’s Shubra al-Khei-ma neighborhood.

“It was my son’s 10th birthday, and I had yet to buy him something because I did not have money at the time,” he says.

Riding on his motorbike, they were on the way to a cousin’s house when they found themselves in front of several tables of books.

“We got off the motorbike, and my son Youssef was enthralled by all the books on the table, so we stopped and looked through some,” Reda continues. “I typically always have a book with me, so when Youssef came across an Arabic comic book, I was able to easily swap my book for the comic. It remains one of the best presents because Youssef contin-ues to read comics now. In fact, he claims that he wants to write comic books when he is older.”

It was in 2009 that Ahmed Hassan first came up with the idea to orga-nize a book swap.

“You always hear that people in Egypt do not read,” he says. “But that is an incomplete sentence. Sure, people in Egypt do not read, but it is because of many reasons. Mostly it is the poverty — books are expen-sive — but it also has to do with the fact that there are no real libraries in Egypt, which makes books inacces-sible to your average Egyptian.”

Main libraries in Egypt include the Misr Public Library in Giza, the National Library and Archives, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Greater Cairo Library in Za-malek, which has been closed for nearly two years while undergo-ing renovations. Ahmed Ali Morsy, former Egyptian National Library chairperson , says that under former President Hosni Mubarak there was an initiative to open public libraries in various Egyptian governorates, but because of limited funding and resources, most of the libraries have likely fallen by the wayside due to their poor conditions.

Meanwhile, while refusing to ac-

cept that “people in Egypt do not read,” Hassan and friends continued working on their plans to address the staggering illiteracy rates and lack of accessibility to books.

It did not take long for them to come up with the idea for a street-side book swap. The concept is sim-ple: Visitors or passersby donate a book and, in return, they take a book of their choosing.

There is no monetary exchange or questions asked, and any book can be donated or swapped.

“We currently have about 7,000 books,” explains Hassan. “As of now, we have successfully swapped close to 5,000 of those books. If you con-sider that each book costs about LE10, then that is a lot of money we have saved people.”

In only a few short years, the book swap has visited various governor-ates within Egypt. “Change Your Book” is typically organized about five times a year. It has taken place within cities and neighborhoods

such as Tanta, Shubra and Port Said.Hassan says the book swap has

also visited Cairo University, Ain Shams University and the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria, in addition to factories such as the Eastern To-bacco Company in Haram and vari-ous cultural institutes.

“We soon realized that the book swap works best when someone from an institute calls us to organize it. That way we do not have to deal with the cops on the street hassling us for licenses and all the costs that go into renting tables and delivering the books,” says Hassan.

But “Change Your Book” is not the only cultural development ini-tiative Hassan has been working on. He also spearheads the art and de-velopment organization Eltak3eiba Center, which is headquartered in Shubra al-Kheima.

He explains that the idea for El-tak3eiba Center came about after the disastrous and tragic fire that en-gulfed the Beni Suef Cultural Palace

in 2005 — the fire claimed the lives of 46 people and caused even more injuries.

“When Beni Suef burned down, we lost a lot of friends. It was aw-ful,” says Hassan, who explains he was active in the theater scene there and, like many others, Beni Suef was an important cultural hub for him. Hassan adds that it was around that time, in 2005, that the Rawabet Theater was built, and as a result, downtown Cairo was reclaimed as a cultural hub for independent arts and development.

“Because of this, we drifted more to the centralized art scene in down-town Cairo, where it was always the same circle of people. The thing about Beni Suef was it had a broader reach of artists and audiences,” he adds.

Hassan does acknowledge that Rawabet Theater has done an excel-lent job over the years.

“But what I noticed was that most people from my neighborhood did not have the luxury of being able to go downtown simply to be active in the arts. So that is what Eltak3eiba aims to do. We want to make art ac-cessible to those who live in the Shu-bra neighborhood,” he says.

With that mindset, Eltak3eiba Center was founded in 2007, and the book swap was a natural devel-opment down that path. It contin-

ues to operate under the Eltak3eiba umbrella; both initiatives attempt to make art, knowledge and culture ac-cessible by working directly within the Shubra community, instead of the centralized downtown scene.

“There are artists and writers everywhere you look in Egypt,” exclaims Hassan. “You can always find someone on the street drawing something, or sitting and writing. That is the whole point of all this, to bring resources to the people, instead of expecting the people to come to you. That is how you culti-vate new artists.”

For several years, Eltak3eiba Center organized various cultural events, workshops and festivals without having any official paper-work or funds. Hassan says those involved have been working “out of the goodness of their heart.”

He says it is a collective of cul-tural activists who simply want to do community outreach. Only recently has it become a registered NGO, with its official space set to open in Shubra al-Kheima by the end of the month.

The center plans to operate both in Shubra and downtown in order to bridge the gap between artist and audience.

And while there are many art-based NGOs to develop over the past few years, what is different about Eltak3eiba Center is its em-phasis on addressing the main issues within the Shubra community.

“You have to understand some-thing about Shubra,” explains Hassan. “It is an extremely poor neighborhood that is very densely populated. And what is worse is that there are thousands of street chil-dren.

“They do not get to go to the mall, or gardens to play. Their only space is the street. And when you are al-ways in the street, you forget about the beauty in this world — all you see is trash and cars,” he says.

Art is the one thing that allows a person to really think freely, he says.

“It allows you to be creative and it forces you to ask ‘why?’ And when you learn to ask ‘why’ in art, it opens up critical thought on all levels — even politically. Art gives you your individuality, and that is so needed these days,” says Hassan.■

Art allows you to be creative and it forces you to ask ‘why?’ And when you learn to ask ‘why’, it opens up critical thought on all levels — even politically

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The book swap has visited various governorates within Egypt, providing thousands with books.

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■ Two days before the second anniversary of the 25 January revolution, the 44th Cairo International Book Fair is opening its doors to the public under the theme “Dialogue — Not Clash.” A total of 735 publishers are exhibiting in this year’s fair, of which 498 are Egyptian, 210 are Arab and 27 are for-

eign publishing houses. This year’s guest of honor is Libya, as India — the first invitee — turned down the offer because the Cairo fair coincides with the New Delhi World Book Fair. Symposia about the ongoing political events will be held throughout the two weeks of the fair.■

■ The National Police Museum in Islamic Cairo will reopen next week after being closed for the past five years, announced Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Ali. The museum has been renovated and security cameras installed throughout the premises. First inaugurated in 1986, the museum’s exhibits highlight the history of the police from ancient times to the pres-ent. Six main galleries focus on everything from police arms, costumes and slogans to political assassinations, social crimes, the epic 1952 battle of police forces against the British occupation in Ismailia, narratives from police work during the Islamic and pharaonic eras and a currency counterfeit machine donated by the Cairo police ad-ministration to the museum. Some of the oldest fire trucks used in Egypt, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries will also be on display.■

■ Family members and friends attended the funeral of Egyptian comedian Waheed Seif in his hometown of Alexandria Sun-day, a day after he died in Cairo. Despite the diverse roles Seif played in his 40-year career, he is best known for his com-edy roles in films like “Sayed al-Atefy,” “Mohamy Khula” and “Ayez Haqqi.” Seif also took part in theatrical plays and was a supporting ac-tor in the film adap-tations of several of the works by Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz, such as “Al-Sokkareya,” “Karnak,” “Al-Mozneboun” and “Wekalet al-Balah.”■

Waheed Seif

20 Life & Society24 January 2013

Traditional Egyptian food in Zamalek

By Steven Viney

n a li�le alley o� of Shagaret al-Dor Street in Zamalek, a new hawawshy chain has just opened its �rst branch: 3am

Hawawshy. �e chain is geared to-ward delivery and takeout for these grilled meat sandwiches, rather than a full dining experience, but, being nearby, we decided to check it out and dine in.

�e restaurant is minimally dec-orated, like a slightly fancy co�ee shop, with randomly placed chairs and small, tall, silver tables. It is hidden in the shadows behind the constantly busy Lido club burger joint, which also recently opened.

Visiting the new Zamalek branch is slightly awkward, as the sta� seem be�er trained to use the tele-phone for deliveries rather than serve in-house guests, but none-theless, the venue — dark wood adorned with all kinds of Egyptian trinkets and antiques — is not without a simple charm

As could be predicted, the small menu revolves around hawawshy — beef, chicken or cheese — with a few sides, such as fries, tahina or green salad. Personally, despite be-ing familiar with Cairo for quite a while, I wouldn’t really know where to go to get “good” hawaw-shy, and can’t really remember the last time I ate it, so there was a li�le bit of novelty in �nding a service that claims itself to be one of the best.

We ordered one large beef ha-

wawshy with romy cheese, one mixed cheese hawawshy, and homemade chips, tahina and salad. We also ordered a ko�a sandwich, which is the only other main meal available.

�e restaurant also o�ers com-bos. A large meat hawawshy with fries and a drink costs about LE30,

while a small costs about LE20.We were completely unsure about

what the food was going to be like, or how it was going to �t on the small table, until it arrived. Once the food arrived on a large tray that sat comfortably on the small table, everything immediately looked de-licious and the concept of the place

began to make sense. �e hawawshies were beautifully

�avored and very rich in spices, but also felt very light on the stomach. �e ko�a was similar in texture to the beef hawawshy, but seemed a bit thicker and was cooked with dif-ferent spices. �e homemade fries were more like thick potato chips,

but lovely and crunchy. Surprisingly, the worst item was

actually the salad, which seemed a bit old — from the morning — and wet.

We were both extremely satis-�ed with the meal and the place by the end of the experience. �e sta� were also exceptionally nice — af-ter making a comment that the bread was particularly excellent, the owner brought us a bag full of amazing, locally made bread to take home for free.

However, despite previous com-ments about the food being very light, I certainly ate too much during this “tasting.” �ere were a couple of desserts, such as Om Ali and sweet pumpkin, but we were too full by the end of the meal to try them.

If I were to eat there again, a small combo would certainly suf-�ce. And despite the friendly sta� and cute venue, I imagine I would order delivery services from 3am Hawawshy in the future.

�e chain is obviously intended to be a way for people to order great hawawshy to their doorstep. I may not be a hawawshy connois-seur, but what they sell tastes great and is de�nitely worth trying.

3am Hawawshy delivers to Mo-handiseen, Dokki, Zamalek and Agouza, and is opening up a sec-ond branch in Maadi this month.■

3am Hawawshy; Address: 32 Shagaret al-Dor St., Zamalek; Tel.: 19534; Hours: 10:30 am to 2 am.

3am Hawawshy’s delicious spread is well worth trying

3am Hawawshy’s menu includees beef, chicken and cheese hawawshy and sides including tahina and �ies.

If Egyptian chefs stay close to their own cuisine, there are many options available for them to serve vegetarian fare

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Koshary, lentils and fuul, oh my! By Heba Helmy

s vegetarian diets continue to grow in popularity around the world, more and more Egyptians are making the shi� to healthy, plant-based diets.

�ere is increasing awareness about how saturated fats pose serious health risks and are considered a major dietary contributor to car-diovascular diseases.

Saturated fats are primarily found in animal products including poultry, meat, dairy foods and seafood.

Vegetarian food is not new to Egyptians. Egyptian cuisine is heavily based on vegetable dishes, most notably fuul medames and ko-shary, a mixture of rice, lentils and pasta that many consider the national dish.

“Authentic Egyptian cuisine has a wealth of vegetarian dishes to choose from, as we traditionally use many green, leafy vegetables — molokheya, kolkasia with salq, spinach cooked in many forms and arugula as accom-paniments at meals,” says Samira Mahmoud, Egyptian Chef Association writer and chief editor.

Mahmoud adds that Egyptian cuisine also relies on many pulses, such as lentils, fava beans and black-eyed peas, which have now been shown to ful�l all protein needs when combined with rice in the same meal.

It is believed that local vegetarian food is popular among Egyptians because working-class families cannot a�ord the high cost of animal products due to di�cult economic

circumstances.However, Mirjam van IJssel, the Egyptian

Chef Association’s executive director, says there is a return to authentic Egyptian dishes with a modern, healthy twist — for example, not using ghee, or samna.

“�e increase in vegetarian demand in Egypt is maybe as a result of the demand for more health-conscious consumption among the middle class and rich. �ere is also an in-creased interest in preserving Egyptian food traditions and many of those traditions are vegetarian,” IJssel says.

Besides local Egyptian food, there are a number of Asian restaurants, including Indian and Japanese, across Cairo that o�er a mixed bag of vegetarian experiences. However, there is no vegetarian restaurant specializing in Egyptian cuisine, which IJseel a�ributes to �erce competition with Western cuisine.

“If Egyptian chefs stay close to their own cuisine, there are many options available for them to serve vegetarian fare. However, when the Western cuisine concept to have three components (protein, starch, vegetables) on

a plate comes in, there seems to be a problem in rebalancing the plate or �nding the main focal point of the plate, when the main pro-tein component needs to be replaced,” IJseel explains.

�is is still a challenge for chefs, she says, who o�en end up with a plate with only one element, such as vegetarian lasagna or another vegetarian pasta dish, or many “loose ele-ments” that do not have harmony when com-bined on one plate.

Afaf Ezzat, professor at the Egyptian Na-tional Center for Nutrition Research, ad-vises Egyptian vegetarians to avoid eat-ing large quantities of Asian food and go for authentic Egyptian food instead.

“�ough Asian foods are cooked in a healthy way — usually steamed or raw — it is not a given that they suit all types of body requirements. A sudden shi� to a completely di�erent health regimen could cause health disorders,” Ezzat says.

Every person should �rst understand the pros and cons of each diet and then follow the one that suits his or her digestive system and

provides adequate nutrition, Ezzat explains.Even though vegetarians are at lower risk

of developing heart disease, diabetes, hyper-tension, breast cancer and obesity as a result of their low fat and high �ber intakes, Ezzat recommends they have meals comprising the �ve major food categories, including protein, iron, calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B12, to consume enough calories to meet energy needs.

“Our local pulses are traditionally eaten in every household with white rice. So actu-ally, Egyptian cuisine is a great cuisine to live in when you make the choice to give up meat,” Mah-moud says.■

Vegetarian fare is a natural part of Egyptian cuisine

Amany options available for them to serve vegetarian fare

a plate comes in, there seems to be a problem in rebalancing the plate or �nding the main focal point of the plate, when the main pro-tein component needs to be replaced,” IJseel explains.

�is is still a challenge for chefs, she says, who o�en end up with a plate with only one element, such as vegetarian lasagna or another vegetarian pasta dish, or many “loose ele-ments” that do not have harmony when com-bined on one plate.

Afaf Ezzat, professor at the Egyptian Na-tional Center for Nutrition Research, ad-vises Egyptian vegetarians to avoid eat-ing large quantities of Asian food and go for authentic Egyptian food instead.

“�ough Asian foods are cooked in a healthy way — usually steamed or raw — it is not a given that they suit all types of body requirements. A sudden shi� to a completely di�erent health regimen could cause health disorders,” Ezzat says.

Every person should �rst understand the pros and cons of each diet and then follow the one that suits his or her digestive system and

iron, calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B12, to consume enough calories to meet energy needs.

“Our local pulses are traditionally eaten in every household with white rice. So actu-ally, Egyptian cuisine is a great cuisine to live in when you make the choice to give up meat,” Mah-moud says.■

21Life & Society24 January 2013

Mandolini: Egyptian copper welded with an Italian touch

Bejeweled

old-plated copper accessories have made a comeback in the world of jewelry in the last few years, with the shiny pieces of art combining

both a�ordability and beauty. Mandolini Ac-cessories recently launched a new winter col-lection of gold-plated copper adornments.

�e collection is elegant and original; the shiny yellow layer of gold contrasts with a variety of semiprecious stones in vibrant col-ors. �e merge of colors is energetic — dark green, turquoise, royal blue and pearl white are among the mixes available.

Large, dangling earrings and fusions of col-ors and shapes, geometrical and organic, are the collection’s strong points, while large- and medium-sized plain hammered bangles are the main a�raction. Mandolini’s winter pair is the amethyst snake ring with its matching earrings.

Semiprecious stones such as onyx, ruby, em-erald, aquamarine and turquoise are the main stones of the season, and although the entire collection is new and beautiful, a golden but-ter�y necklace with dangling onyx stones stood out, with its delicate lines and its inter-twined yet precise design.

Designer Nathalie Azar launched her �rst Mandolini collection three years ago.

“Joining the online boutique, Style Treasure, last November gave my �rst collection the viewers and push it needed,” says the designer, who is half-Italian. Azar says most materials used in her designs are 100 percent Egyptian,

except for some rare semiprecious stones, usu-ally imported from India or Turkey.

“Egyptian workmanship is the best world-wide, but unfortunately, we have become lazy,” she says, pointing out the challenges in the �eld.

Other than the online boutique, the young designer displays her work at Royal Nails in both Heliopolis and Maadi. Mandolini is also a constant exhibitor in fashion bazaars around the city.

“�e economic state of the country is not encouraging for small businesses, and open-ing a boutique or a small store for accesso-ries would be the wrong step now,” says Azar, pointing out the bene�ts of fashion bazaars. “I dream of turning Mandolini into a fashion house, but, for the moment, I am sticking to accessories.”

Being an Egyptian with Italian, Polish and Lebanese blood has pushed Azar to combine her heritage with a European touch.

Hammered copper is the signature feature of her winter collection, the jeweler says. Despite elegant taste and unique designs, the prices are a�ordable to many, ranging between LE180 and LE300.

�e collection includes 31 pieces, including rings, necklaces, earrings and cu�s.■

For more information, visit the Mandolini Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/mando-liniaccessories or www.style-treasure.com.

Two young designers create winter collections for 2013 By Amany Aly Shawky

Local jewelry and accessories have grown in popularity in the past few years, with homegrown designers honing their skills and working their

magic. For Tash and Mandolini, copper and silver, plated in gold, have proven to be the perfect materials for creating stunning but reasonably priced jewelry. Using semiprecious stones and gems, these two young designers have come up with winter collections that are colorful and bold.

A blend of styles: Tash launches its colorful winter collectionith intertwined cords, chains of gold-hugging turquoise tear drops and pearls of all colors and shapes, Tash’s new collection is a

blend of tastes, shapes and colors. It mixes Oriental touches with Islamic, Roman and pharaonic shapes.

Tash’s pieces are mostly gold-plated sil-ver.

“Only the big and heavy designs are made of copper, then given a layer of gold,” says Celine Antaki, co-founder of Tash Jewelry.

�e collection this winter is contrasting and rich; the tear drop seems to dominate the collection. �e collection features a two-layered chain with a “Masha’Allah” pendant and dangling pieces of aquamarine and other colored gems. Other designs mix gold chains with turquoise and pearls.

Aside from the delicate curves of the pendants, Tash’s collection features sym-metrical geometrical shapes in necklaces and cu�s while mixing bright gold with the depth of the turquoise, a blend found o�en in pharaonic jewelry.

Charms also appeared in the new winter collection. Fatimah’s hand and 25-piaster coins appear in earrings, alongside peace signs in pendants. Like Mandolini, ham-mered pieces seem to dominate the col-lection, which gives the pieces an edge and breaks the extra shine of the golden orna-ments.

“�is season’s collection mixes Oriental with funky,” says Antaki.

�e cord chandelier earring is de�nitely Roman-inspired; the tangled hammered cords create three circular shapes with a tear drop hanging from them. �e LE550 earring is unique and simple. �e double-hoop earring is also a hit; it is simple yet elegant and can be worn on almost every occasion.

Pieces range between LE300 to LE1,000,

and special orders are also possible, just in case you’re looking for an old piece from a previous collection, for example. Each col-lection contains about 20 to 30 pieces.

“We have a new collection every two months, as people get bored pre�y easily and the accessories market has a lot to of-fer,” explains Antaki, the daughter of fash-ion guru Paul Antaki.

�e young designer says she looks up to her father and always goes back to him for advice.

Tash is the creation of both Celine and Tina Antaki.

“We founded Tash three years ago,” says Celine Antaki, who goes on to say it all started with a simple beaded bracelet called “Enta Omry,” or “You Are My Life.”

“Tina posted it on Facebook and it sold like crazy,” she says. �e �nal product is 100 percent Egyptian, she says, except for certain types of gems that can only be pur-chased abroad.

Tash’s jewelry is available in the Mounaya concept store in Zamalek, by Hebz Store, in addition to Tash’s Facebook page. �e jeweler also displays the collection on Style Treasure, the online boutique.

“We are slowly but surely targeting the international market,” says Antaki.■

For more information, visit www.style-treasure.com, or the Tash Facebook page.

Tash’s new collection includes clutches.

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�e cord chandelier earring is de�nitely Roman-inspired; the tangled hammered cords create three circular shapes with a tear drop hanging from them. �e LE550 earring is unique and simple. �e double-hoop earring is also a hit; it is simple yet elegant and can be worn on almost every

Pieces range between LE300 to LE1,000,

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22 Travel24 January 2013

Tahrir revisitedFrom a mundane crossing to a house of history

Just before it became

a global destination for po-litical tourism after housing mass

protests and sit-ins in 2011 demand-ing the fall of the regime, Tahrir Square

was a crossing between the Egyptian Mu-seum, the Cairo Tower, classic downtown eateries and other landmarks of the capital. But the meaning of the space was repro-duced and reconstructed the moment it was occupied by hundreds of thousands

of protesters who unsettled the nor-malcy of time and space. For pho-

tographers, the people became the new aesthetic of the

frame.■

Photos by Ahmed Hayman

23Listings24 January 2013

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Art ... FreedomArt lovers can enjoy one more group exhibition about art and freedom as we move closer to the 25 January revolution’s second anniversary. Among the 27 participating artists are Adel Mostafa, Amina al-Demerdash, Aya al-Fallah, Khaled Hafez, Reda Abdel Rahman and Walid Jaheen.

Until 12 FebruaryZamalek Art Gallery11 Brazil St., Zamalek, Cairo012-2224-1062/ 02-2735-1240www.zamalekartgallery.com

Located in a serene and comfort-able creative space in Maadi, Beyt El-7ayah is hosting an evening of origami tailored to beginners interested in the Japa-nese art of paper folding. The workshop will teach the basics of origami, including how to fold paper into shapes like a butterfly, a lotus and even a flapping bird. The price is LE60, and LE30 for students.

30 January, 7 pmBeyt El-7ayahBuilding 9, Villat al-Kasr, Zahraa al-Maadi, Cairo011-4631-0310www.beytel7ayah.org

‘La Vie au Ranch’

‘Three Daughters’

In this full-length feature film, French director Sophie Letour-neur tells the tale of a group of 20-somethings getting together to study for exams. The film largely takes place in a messy Paris apartment, which the women nickname “le ranch.” But the movie is less about the stage and more about the confused psyche of a woman in her 20s.

24 January, 7 pmFrench Cultural Center5 Shafeek al-Deeb St., Ard al-Golf, Heliopolis, Cairo02-2419-3857/02-2417-4824www.cfcc-eg.org

from the dreams, feelings, and worries of its participants. To join in, call 012-8810-8880.

25 January, 3–7 pm; 26 January, 4–8 pmArtellewa19 Mohamed Ali al-Eseary St., Ard al-Lewa, Giza012-2596-3611www.artellewa.com

As part of its celebration of Indian cinema, Bibliotheca Alexandrina is screening this remarkable film from acclaimed director Satyajit Ray. The 1961 film is based upon short stories by Rabindranath Tagore and received the President’s Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Bengali.

The local masters of funk and sarcasm hit the stage at the legendary downtown nightclub After 8 to perform their unique mix of Arabic blues, funk, reg-gae and rock. The minimum charge is LE100, but these guys are sure to get you dancing, making every piaster worth-while.

24 January, 9 pm After 86 Qasr al-Nil St., Downtown, Cairo010-0339-8000www.after8cairo.com

Salalem

24 January, 7 pmBibliotheca Alexandrina16 Saad Zaghloul Square, Downtown, Alexandria03-483-9999www.bibalex.gov.eg

Italian-language book “Le Voci Di Piazza Tahrir” (The Voice of Tahrir Square) by Vincenzo Mattei is being launched with a presentation in Italian, English and Arabic by the author, an Ital-ian Middle East correspondent for RAI Marc Innaro, and direc-tor of the Italian Institute Dante Marianacci.

24 January, 6 pmItalian Institute in Cairo3 Al-Sheikh al-Marsafy St., Zamalek, Cairo02-2735-8791/02-2735-5423www.iiccairo.esteri.it

Youssef Ziedan, author and director of the Manuscript Center and Museum at the Bib-liotheca Alexandrina, will spend an evening with fans and critics, discussing his numerous insight-ful and controversial scholarly books and essays, as well as his literary production.

30 January, 7 pmTeatro Eskendria25 Fouad St., Downtown, Alexandria03-390-1339www.teatroalex.org

Twenty-six-year-old colloquial poet Mostafa Amin is launch-ing and discussing his second poetry collection, titled “The Manifesto,” at the 44th Cairo International Book Fair.

31 January, 6 pmCairo International Fair GroundsNasr Road, Nasr City, Cairowww.cairobookfair.org

‘Le Voci Di Piazza Tahrir’

Ziedan open night

‘The Manifesto’

Artellewa is hosting the Ard al-Lewa Choir Project workshop as part of its ongoing Radio Lewa. The Choir Project is an open workshop led by Salam Yousry, and is based on improvisation, writing, and composing songs

Ard al-Lewa choir workshop

New free creative workshopThis four-day workshop in Arabic aims to reflect on what it means to come of age, encouraging participants to think about their generation, future generations, the state of politics in their lives and common desires, exploring them visually. Photographer George Awde, whose work has focused on masculine identity and communities, particularly in Lebanon, Syria and the US, will lead the workshop, and help participants realize their projects. To apply, email info@ciccairo.com before 25 January.

29 and 30 January; 3 and 5 February, 7–10 pmContemporary Image Collective22 Abdel Khalek Tharwat St., Downtown, Cairo010-1173-8115www.ciccairo.com

............................................................................................................................................................................................................24 Issue no.37

24 January 2013

�is is an intervention realized for Egypt Independent by artist Dan Perjovschi (b. 1961, Sibiu, Romania) in response to this week’s issue focused on the second anniversary of the Revolution. �e work emerges in the framework of “Indent,” a collaboration between Egypt Independent and Beirut. For more information please visit: www.beirutbeirut.org.

Dan Perjovschi, Independent Drawings, 2003/present

Printed by Al-Masry Media Corp