Dispatches from Cairo #10: Military violence escalates over the weekend

Over the past weekend Downtown Cairo has once again borne witness to scenes of disgusting military violence leaving 10 dead and over 430 wounded. Despite attempts by security forces to confiscate all cameras in the area, several instances of horrific brutality have been caught on video, rendering useless any attempts by the military to deny the claims.

Egyptian Democracy?: Maikel Nabil and SCAF's assault on freedom of speech

This article is also posted on MidEastPosts under the title Egyptian Blogger Jailed: What Sort of Democracy is This?.

While in excess of 12,000 individuals currently languish in military jails, one case in particular has caught the attention of activists and the media alike, causing many to cast a darkly ironic glance at the “free and fair” electoral process currently underway in Egypt.

Maikel Nabil, a Coptic blogger, was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison and fined L.E.200 (around £22) for “insulting the military” in a blog post he published in March entitled “The army and the people were never one hand”.

Dispatches from Cairo #9: Election Results Amid Continuing Sit-In

Over the last week and a half Cairo has been enveloped by a sense of elation, as the population participated in the initial round of voting for the country’s first free and fair elections in over thirty years. On the 28th and 29th of November voters queued across the capital for up to five hours, at times enduring cold and wet conditions. Lines of people sprawled across the city, winding around buildings, and stretching across roads. 

Election Update #2

This article is also posted on MidEastPosts under the title "Egyptians Brace for the Final Results in First "Free and Fair" Elections".

Ballots are being counted in the nine governorates that took part in the initial round of voting in the country’s first free and fair elections. Final results are set to be announced this evening.

Election Day #1

This article is also posted on MidEastPosts under the title Turnout "Surprisingly" High: Day One of Egypt's Elections A Promising Start.


Turnout appears to be extremely high as voting kicks off in Egypt today. Abdel Moez Ibrahim, the head of the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) declared he was “surprised” as it was “higher than expected". 

Dispatches from Cairo #8: An update on protests in Tahrir Square

The eighth installment of my Dispatches from Cairo series is now posted on The Daily Organ.

Crowds are continuing to occupy Tahrir Square, despite the fact that it has begun to drizzle. The atmosphere is tense and today’s "Legitimacy of the Revolution" rally is expected to draw a sizable number of people. 

Egypt's Uncertain Future

This article is also posted on MidEastPosts under the title Egypt Protests: So, Who's Got the Plan Then?. An updated version is available on the MasterPeace blog.


Crowds are continuing to gather as night falls on the fifth day of protests. Yesterday’s “million man march” was an impressive display of determination and courage in the face of arbitrary violence from Central Security Forces (CSF). So far at least 33 people have been killed and 1,700 wounded. After a ceasefire was agreed earlier today CSF have just forcibly retaken control of Mohammed Mahmoud Street and Falakky Square resulting in further casualties.

Video: Motorcycle ambulances carry the injured away from the battle on Mohammed Mahmoud Street.

Scenes of chaos in Tahrir Square as motorcycle ambulances work tirelessly to carry the injured away from the battle mid-way down Mohammed Mahmoud Street. Protesters cleared a pathway to allow motorcycles to get to the injured, and bring them to safety as quickly as possible. This is a video I took around 13:00 Egyptian time (11:00GMT). The frequency that the motorcycles are passing by should give some idea of the brutality of the fighting.

Dispatches from Cairo #7: Revolution 2.0?

The seventh installment of my Dispatches from Cairo series is now posted on The Daily Organ.

The largest protests since February have rocked Downtown Cairo over the last few days, leaving at least 3 dead and 800 injured. Events began on Friday, when Islamists mobilised to occupy Tahrir Square, their numbers in the tens of thousands. Since this relatively peaceful beginning the protests have broken down into chaos, with pockets of violence concentrated in several side-streets. 

Photo diary of the last few days of protests.

*NOW UPDATED WITH PHOTOS FROM MONDAY 21ST NOV*

Friday November 18th: Protesters march up Kasr el Aini after Friday morning prayers to join those gathered in Tahrir Square.

Some useful sources for those of you with a vote...

The Arabist has posted a fantastic map by Jacopo Carbonari detailing the religious vs. secular, and right vs. left convictions of the various parties. It also includes information on the coalitions and blocs in existence. It's slightly out of date, so check the comments underneath for updates.

If you're still not sure where you stand a "Voting Compass" has been made available by Radio Netherlands Worldwide. The compass was designed with input from academics and collates information from party manifestos, statements and websites to help you decide which parties policies are most in keeping with your own beliefs.

Dispatches from Cairo #6: The Election Countdown is Underway

The sixth installment in my Dispatches from Cairo series is now up on The Daily Organ.

Egyptian elections will be kicking off on the 28th of November, but despite their looming presence, coverage has been relatively low, as has anticipation.

Demystifying Egyptian Elections: Is This the Most Convoluted Electoral System Ever?

Commencing on November 28th, Egyptian elections are set to be a drawn out and extremely complicated process, lasting over three months, with every voter having to visit a polling station between 2 and 4 times. 

Dispatches from Cairo #5: Bloody Sunday

The fifth installment of my Dispatches from Cairo series is now posted on The Daily Organ.

Sprinting away from a military charge on Sunday night I had a sinking “here we go again” feeling. The sense of déjà vu only intensified as I spent the evening following the tags #tahrir and #maspero on twitter, and learned of the 24 confirmed deaths, the 200 wounded, and that the curfew had been reinstated, if only temporarily.

Sexual Harassment IS a Big Deal

This article is also posted on MidEastPosts.

If Egypt is to become a more pleasant place to live it needs to do more than stamp out corruption and implement democracy. The political “clean-up” of Egypt needs to go hand in hand with a societal “clean-up” of community values, and an examination of what can be done to make the city nicer for everybody.

Dispatches from Cairo #4: Islamist Protests and Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman

This is the fourth installment of my Dispatches From Cairo series in The Daily Organ. 

The protests that continue to flare up around the capital are not solely the handiwork of left-leaning secularists. Protesting has become the weapon of choice for any group with something to say, and after 30 years of not being able to say anything, people have a lot of bottled up anger to express.

Dispatches from Cairo #3: Expectations vs. Reality

The third installment of my Dispatches from Cairo series is now posted on The Daily Organ.

A malaise has settled over Egypt’s population as the ever more complicated saga of how best to move towards democracy unfolds. As the politically-engaged debate increasingly ideologically charged issues of election law and the “continuing revolution”, large swathes of the population want nothing more than for elections to be held, and for life to go on.

Why Britain Should Vote “Yes” to Palestinian Statehood

A version of this article is posted on The Daily Organ.

As the U.N. Security Council’s vote on Palestinian statehood approaches, Britain, along with the rest of Europe, is keeping silent about which way it will vote, “in order to exert as much pressure on both sides to return to negotiations” according to Foreign Secretary William Hague. This statement is misleading, phrased as though responsibility for the failure of negotiations rested equally on both parties.

Syria: An Uncertain Road Ahead

This article is also posted under the title 'Syria: Growing Pressure on Assad to Stand Down Falling on Deaf Ears' on MidEastPosts.

Protesters in Syria continue to rally against President Bashar al-Assad, and his ruling Baath Party’s more than 40 year dominance over every aspect of Syrian society. On September 9th they came out onto the streets in the name of the “Friday for International Protection”, marking the first time a significant number have called for outside interference to shield them from the wrath of incumbent President Bashar al-Assad.

Dispatches from Cairo #2: Comment on Friday's Attack on the Israeli Embassy

The second installment of my "Dispatches from Cairo" series in The Daily Organ has now been posted.

Once again protestors in Egypt have hit the headlines, this time for their storming of the Israeli embassy late Friday night. The embassy protest was not the most well attended of the Friday protests, but sadly has garnered the most attention due to the ferocity and violence of its attendees, and the fact that it led to the withdrawal of the Israeli diplomatic mission almost in its entirety, leading to fears of a complete breakdown in diplomatic relations. While it seems that the situation has been salvaged, this sinister new development has caused a distraction from the movement to get the revolution back on track, the aim of “The Friday of Correcting the Path”.

New weekly column: "Dispatches from Cairo" in The Daily Organ

I am now writing a weekly column for The Daily Organ entitled Dispatches from Cairo. It will consist of short updates on my impressions and insights regarding events in Cairo as they unfold, as well as offering occasional social and cultural commentary on this fantastic and varied city. The first, introductory, installment is posted below:

Despite hearing rumours that events in Tunisia in December 2010 were threatening to spill over into the rest of the Arab world, when I moved out to Egypt in January I little expected that within a matter of weeks I would be chanting for the fall of a dictator of 30 years, and learning that washing my face with Coca Cola was the best way to reduce the stinging effect of tear-gas.

Engaged Voices and MaestroConference: Social Media and the Next Arab Spring

I recently took part in an online interactive conference organised by Engaged Voices and MaestroConference about social media and the Arab Spring. The discussion centred around ways individuals in Western countries could engage constructively with initiatives in the Arab world, and how social media and other tools could be used to support social movements.

There will be a second conference on the 20th of October, and I highly recommend that anyone who is interested sign up to participate. For more details visit Engaged Voices' Facebook page.

Tripoli: An Unfinished Victory

This article was also posted on MidEastPosts.


Twenty-four hours ago, after a rapid advance on several fronts, the fight for control of Libya appeared to be over. The battle was finally taken to Tripoli on Saturday in what the media labelled “the final push” and by the time the sun set on Sunday the the six-month brutal and frequently stalemated campaign appeared to be at an end; Tripoli had as good as fallen, pro-Gadaffi forces had largely melted away, people were celebrating in the streets and Gadaffi’s two eldest sons were supposedly in rebel custody. 

This is NOT the London Spring

This article is also published on the MasterPeace blog.

Twitter and the blogosphere are alive with the sound of a significant minority of clearly deluded individuals declaring that the London Riots are comparable to the Arab Spring.

Mubarak: The Trial of the Century Must Be Above Reproach

This article is also published on both the MidEastPosts and MasterPeace blogs.

On August 3rd, as the entire Arab world watched with rapt attention, a legal circus unfolded in the police academy building in New Cairo, temporarily designated as a courthouse. While inside lawyers shouted over each other, and one went so far as to demand a DNA test as he believed the real Hosni Mubarak had died in 2004, outside street clashes took place between pro- and anti- Mubarak protesters and riot police stationed there to “keep the peace”. The importance of this trial can barely be understated, and it is for this reason that it must be held in conditions entirely above reproach. In this regard, the process has thus far been only a partial success. 

‘More Democracy, More Openness’: Norway’s Lesson

This article was published recently on both the MidEastPosts and MasterPeace blogs.

The “madman or terrorist” debate raging over the appropriate reaction to Anders Behring Breivik is dangerously obtuse. Simon Jenkin’s assertion in the Guardian’s Comment is free ‘that [because] he does something terrible does not make him a terrorist’ is nonsensical. The very definition of a terrorist is someone who uses violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. By any interpretation of his actions Breivik fits this description. While his mental health is something for medical experts to speculate on, he did not act in vacuum free from outside influences, and he had clearly stated political aims. His targets were both directly connected with Prime Minister Jens Stolenberg’s Labour Party, and his avowed purpose was to protest against the government’s stance on the perceived threat of Islam and it’s “loose” stance on immigration. 

Promise of Arab Spring Failing to Deliver for Middle-Eastern Women

This article was posted recently on both the MasterPeace and the MidEastPosts blogs. 

The Arab Spring has, not for the first time in the history of Middle-Eastern protest movements, proven beyond doubt that the women of the region are willing to, and capable of, taking their equal place alongside men in society, in both their public and private lives.

Tahrir is Dead. Long Live Democracy!

This is an article I posted on the MasterPeace blog in May, immediately after the "second day of rage". While many more concessions were made by SCAF following continued protests, including the pushing back of elections, I believe that the central point of this article, that Tahrir protesters are no longer representative of public opinion in the country at large, still stands.

Egypt held its “second day of rage” on Friday, otherwise known as “Revolution 2.0” and the result was flat and disappointing. On the original Day of Rage on Friday 28th of January, the mood was one of conviction and fervor. The chants and slogans had the weight of a united populace behind them. In stark contrast, the atmosphere in Tahrir Square on Friday 27th of May was uncertain and the chants somehow rang false. Despite the claims by those admitting people to the square that there were one million present, the numbers were clearly only in the tens of thousands, and the majority of them appeared to be spectators. The previously good-natured culture of protestors bringing large amounts of food and drink to the square and then handing it out for free to their fellow-protestors in a show of comradeship has been replaced by an aggressive army of vendors selling tea, packaged snacks, popcorn and candy-floss. 

France Banning the Burka: an affront to Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité

This is an article I posted on the MasterPeace blog back in April, when France became the first in a succession of supposedly "liberal" European democracies to ban the wearing of the face-covering Islamic veil. The ban has now spread to Belgium and Italy, and the arguments contained in this article can be applied to those countries as well as to France.

A few days ago, France’s ban on the face-covering Islamic veil came into effect, and all I could think was ‘what the hell were they thinking?’