The Charlie Hebdo Attack: Are We Are Asking the Wrong Questions?

In the past few days, I've been observing the reactions on the ground in Egypt about the Charlie Hebdo attack. And I found it shocking and disturbing how very few people are asking the right questions. The ongoing debates seem to be all about whether one should tweet #JeSuisCharlie , #JesuisAhmed, or both; whether silence is an acceptable response; whether the outrage should be mainly directed at the cartoonists who didn't  respect our religion and thus supposedly endangered their own lives, or at religious institutions that are not combating extremism. It is all about blame allocation and haughty holier-than-thou attitudes across the board. Very little self-reflection is going on and very little awareness of the gravity of the rampant fundamentalism in our culture, its repercussions on us-- and the world-- for hundreds of years to come.

I see news like this popping up and very few people are actually paying attention and I wonder to what extent does most of society condone things like this:

Raif Badawi was sentenced to  10 years in prison, a 1 million Saudi Riyals and a 1,000 lashes. His cybercrime? Insulting Islam by calling for open debate about its interpretations and starting the website Free Saudi Liberals. What is even more astounding in this tale is that Raif’s lawyer, prominent human rights activist Waleed Abu Al-Khair, was also sentenced to 15 years in jail for “inciting public opinion” and undermining the regime.

And let’s not forget the two women facing "terrorism" charges in Saudi Arabia for the heinous terror-spreading crime of driving a motor vehicle. Public response was condemnation then "business as usual" for most and a thinly concealed desire for a women ban on driving in Egypt too.

One may be tempted to say that this is Saudi Arabia and that's what Saudis do but we, in progressive Egypt, are as freedom-loving as they come. Well, news like the three-year sentence Karim Al-Banna received for announcing that he is an atheist prove such optimism to be a fallacy.

Egypt Student Gets 3 Year Jail Term for Atheism

The cherry of the top of this news tour is president Sissi's condemnation of the Charlie Hebdo attack and his call to global leaders to join forces in fighting terrorism and closing down Takfiri groups' websites and portals. Takfiri, linguistically, is the 'ex-communicator', or one who declare others 'infidels.' If the world was to heed Mr. Sissi's call then they should shut down entire countries, Egypt included!

President Sissi calls to fight terrorism and close down Takfiri group websites

There is actually "Takfiri" residing in each and everyone who doesn't believe in freedom of worship, human rights and freedom of expression. And in our corner of the world, these Takfiris are state-sponsored. Heck, the state does its own Takfir. The state thinks it can maintain monopoly on Takfir. But the truth is it can't, these ideas spread like a malignant cancer infesting and infecting the whole culture. It turns most Middle Easterners / Muslims into bigoted, intolerant, freedom-hating people.

The current processes by which religion is handed down and spoon fed to the young is setting them up to be Takfiris-in-the making. They may then become recruited by the likes of ISIS, el Qaeda, or whatever forsaken bloodthirsty terrorist cell offers the severely disturbed ones a home and tribe to belong to.  I find the inability of Muslims worldwide to stop and self-reflect on what might be our contribution to the problem staggering. After all, God explicitly tells us that personal responsibility is the key to change, that all change starts with personal change :"God alters not what has befallen a folk until they alter what is within themselves" Ra'd verse 11. So perhaps the question is not whether or not you are Charlie, but the real question is how is the little Takfiri inside you feeding the circle of violence that is consuming us all.

If you decide you are not Charlie,that is ok. But the question remains: will you accept me when I say that #IamCharlie, and #IamAhmed, and also Loujain and Maysa and Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu Alkhair and Karim Al Banna? Or will you, like Mr. Sissi's judiciary, punish me? If you ask me, a Takfiri is as Takfiri does. We are treading in murky dangerous waters with head-chopping militants roaming in our region, on our streets, social media and our mosques and churches too. Can we really afford forfeiting personal responsibility and duty? I think not!

The debate is not whether you are Charlie or not Charlie, the debate is really whether you recognize how your outdated value system, culture, and your government's backwards policies and practices contribute to the problem.

Gay Men Jailed in Egypt: Everyone's Shame

Four men were sentenced to eight years in jail for engaging in "deviant" homosexual acts. These

men were reported by none other than their neighbours. Egyptian newspapers said that the neighbours called the Police because many "feminine-looking" men were frequenting an apartment rented by one of them.

 The Egyptian police searched the apartment and found make-up and female "garments", which apparently is evidence enough for them to arrest the guys and was proof enough for the court later to sentence them for eight years in jail!

There's also another interesting line in the article describing the arrest. The reporter stated that the neighbours "almost finished them off", but the police officers took them swiftly away.

Now, I have been living for the past fifteen years in Egypt and there is one thing I'm sure of about the Egyptian police: they are not a friendly, responsive bunch.

I called the Police on my neighbours on two separate occasions in the past fifteen years. The first was because my next door neighbours were holding a wedding in their own backyard and they were firing celebratory shots in the air scaring my week-old baby to tears every time. The police officer I talked to hung up on me.

The second time was to report a domestic dispute-- the screams of a woman being brutally beaten and the loud roaring insults of an abusive husband. This time the police responder asked if I heard any gunshots and when I said no, he also hung up!

So why oh why does the police--and the courts--care about people's sexual behavior behind closed doors, on private property? We can throw in religion as the easy answer, but I believe the rot runs much deeper. All in all, people in Egypt are not as religious as they'd like to pretend they are. They let a LOT of things go--just so long as it does not threaten their patriarchal society.

Patriarchy-friendly Causes: Bring'em On
Activists in my corner of the world are so predictable, they rarely surprise me anymore. The pick and choose their causes on a whim.

There are two sets of causes: those that threaten patriarchy and those that can be made patriarchy-friendly. For instance, when it comes to women's rights, sexual harassment is a patriarchy-friendly cause. After all, it has to do with "honor." It's a cause that readily gathers supporters and mobilizes activists. Whereas something like Female Gential Mutilation finds much more apathy and down-right resistance--being labeled as "not important now" or "not a priority."

And here allow me to describe a new Syndrome, authentically Egyptian, and proudly adopted by many post-revolutionary revolutionists: the Not-A-Priority-Now Syndrome. Its symptoms are easy to spot and the underlying aetiology is clear: causes that threaten societal hierarchy and patriarchal norms.

Some of the regular victims of this syndrome are: Bah'is who want their religion acknowledged in official papers, Christians who want churches built, Nubian minorities who are seeking long-ignored right, women who want laws to protect them from margination, atheists who are arrested and thrown in jail for their beliefs or lack thereof.

But of course, the ultimate sufferers are the guys with alternative lifestyles--the homosexuals, the gays, the black sheep of  a beaten-down male-dominated society. No one shall stand for them. No one will utter even a cry of dismay. Because, well, they are "feminine" males. They are guys who are being "done to" instead of being the ones doing the "doing."

This is why our revolution is failing us, because the revolution of the mind is far from being completed. When rights, for ALL, are considered worth fighting for, then we can talk about living the dream we've been fantasizing about since the ouster of Mubarak in 2011.

One of my favorite all time quotes about the Egyptian revolution is a quote by the visionary Mona El-Tahawy. She says that our political revolutions will fail, unless we have social and sexual revolutions that push them into the home. I wholeheartedly agree and I think that the sooner Egyptian activists realize this, the sooner they can wash away the shame of their silence and their turning away from the very ideals they promote.

How To Change the World

Happy new year dear readers. And yes I am back, but this time with a slightly different oulook on things. Politics has drained me.

In fact, talks of politics and religion have drained a whole country. All Egyptians suffer now. I walk down the street and I can sense the change--that twinkle, that glimmer of hope that we witnessed all across Egypt after the Uprising of 2011 is now, officially, extinct. 

Religious extremism, poverty, and corruption existed back in 2011, as they do now. But what had changed since the early days of the revolution was people's heartfelt belief that a change is possible. The hope in people's hearts gave them resilience and it empowered them. Everyone believed that what they do matters, and that they have the power to change their world. 

The fanatics are like the angry mob in the illustration, yelling "$KULL&BONES!#$&@." 

Don't fear them. 

They are puppets. Their insecurities pull their strings. 

Don't shout back at them. You can't win at the game of ugliness. Instead, show them love. Show them happiness. Show them fullfillment. Show them gratitude. Show them all the things they miss out on by being who they are. And slowly, one by one, you will convert them. 

Stand in the Face of Fanatics and Change the World One Heart at a Time

You may be skeptical but have faith, I have witnessed such "conversions" myself. Inside every human being is the need for connection, and the yearning for transcendence. They may not show it--or know it for that matter--but it is there. 

Just lead and show them the way. This is how to change the world, by touching one heart at a time. 

P.S Thank you  Robin Möller  my colleague in the RMT institute for sharing this inspiring comic strip. 

P.S. I tracked down the artist behind this brilliant comic strip, it's Nathaneal Lark. You could catch more of his artwork at NLarkArt

Egypt...Is Freedom in the Air?

We will be free. 

Were you taught by English teachers that Freedom is an abstract noun?

Were you taught by science professors that the air can not taste sweet?

Were you taught by acoustic teachers that the chants of the masses can not chime in sync?

Well... you were taught wrong. 

Freedom fills in the air in Tahrir square again, our square, Liberation square. The air is sweet and the chants are heavenly melodious. 

Our hearts flutter with the hopes of freedom yet again. Once more we, Egyptians, will naïvely try to overthrow dictatorship. I don't care whether we succeed or not. It's just that twenty years from now I want to be remembered among the ones who fought, among the ones who stood in the face of the tyrants, among the ones who refused to bow, among the ones who said to Islamists we are NOT afraid of your guns and your merciless hateful laws, among the ones who said to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood we are not afraid of you and your "clan."

Egypt... Get Thee a Queen!

Watching the Queen's Diamond Jubilee has inspired me with the perfect solution for the political conundrum Egyptians have found themselves into. The solution is so simple, so brilliant, and so elegant that I'm surprised that none of the activists on the ground have thought of it.

Egypt needs not elect a president, since doing so seems to be so darn hard. Egypt needs to get itself a queen!

I'm not a royalist--last I checked anyway--but I see this as the ultimate solution for the leader-worshipping Egyptians out there who, unfortunately, form the majority of the voting pool. Most people are looking for something much more than a president. They are looking for a savior and a leader that will lead Egypt from the darkness to light. They want him strong, invincible, and all-powerfully capable of vaporizing his enemies should they ever dare to exist. They want someone they can adore and even God-ify.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia 

If you seek proof to such claims, look no further than the mysterious case of Hazem Abu Ismail. The charismatic sweet-talking Santa Claus figure who ran for presidency, gathered supporters, and spent millions of Pounds on electorial posters and banners despite knowing that his running for presidency inspite of his mother's American Nationality is in direct violation of the Egyptian Constitutional declaration which bans citizens with dual-national parents from running for presidency.  His supporters went crazy over him, many of them even to the point of pledging their life to him and threatening armed conflict if ever asks them for their support.

Hamdeen Worshipers 

Another, even more mysterious case, is  Hamdeen Sabahy, one of the leaders of the "old" (i.e.pre-revolution) opposition parties who had no popularity whatsoever and then , suddenly and mysteriously, rose to the spotlight. Now all you could hear is Hamdeen this , Hamdeen that. His worshippers liken him to his role-model, the late Gamal Abdel Nasser, who squandered Egypt's wealth on silly wars and died leaving a huge chunk of Egypt occupied, but is still, for some odd reason, worshipped by the masses.

Adore this Sucka!! 

Worshipping masses... listen up!

I hate to burst your bubble but... there is no savior, there is no deliverer, there is no champion! YOU are the champions.  Conscience  is the champion. No one person is ever the answer. The answer is a system. A system that is not self-righteous, but just. A system that can hold those in power accountable for the failings and mistakes. A system where no one in executive position is above the law.

But since Pharaoh worshipping has been sort of our "thing" since the dawn of time, then by all means, elect a cardboard queen... One you can admire, adore, and glorify all you want but let her hold no royal prerogative.

Frustrated Ministry of Interior Wives Thank Effervescent Sex Kitten For Getting it Up

Shown below is one of Egypt's highly acclaimed sex kittens and "soft", in body as in performance, porn stars receiving a Certificate of recognition from the National Police Wives Association. 

Her most acclaimed song titled  "I gotta say it darlin' you ain't gettin' it up" is a master feminist piece where a woman, with a barely there nightgown, twists and churns as her husband fails to "get it up" and complains that "he can't do it no more" then embarks on a series of attempts to help get it up through x-rated Oohas and Aaahs and bottom wiggling worthy of the playboy mansion.

Apparently, her efforts were so wildly successful among the population of police officers, who perhaps were a tad too limp down there, that the Police Wives Association decided to award Marwa a certificate of "Achievement and gratitude"  for, and I am quoting here for "all her efforts in boosting the morale of police officers." HA! 

The accomplished singer is grinning in the picture below holding the quasi-official certificate in one hand and the Quran in the other. The Police Wives have apparently also given her the holy book because they want her safe and sound and protected from the notorious evil eye. After all, what would frustrated police wives do without her.

Marwa No-Last-Name and Recognition certificate from MOI frustrated wives