Yemen's Qat tradition

Before I went to Sana'a, I heard about how people chew qat there all the time because it is simply "legal narcotics". Of course, Yemenis never accept that it is drugs, or that it is bad for health, for them it is only herbs.

When I arrived there, I was shocked by the number of chewers, few start since the morning, more by  noon, and by the afternoon almost all men walking around the streets have a bulge in their cheeks.


While I overcame my shock months after the week I spent there in the capital, I could not prevent my eyes of getting very wide when I saw men talking on state TV, while they look like each have ate a tennis ball for breakfast! (Actually, they were blaming rebel tribesmen, who president Saleh to step down, on all the chaos in the country - but that's a different story).

Yemeni men in the capital Sana'a talking to state television

All were chewing. It was ok to come on TV, with their mouth full with the green substance, as it was fine to talk to tourists through a mouthful of leaves.

The gray sky of the Arab spring

The pictures and videos of the dead body of a 13-year-old boy, named Hamza Alkhatib, is taking Syria beyond the unrest phase. Some people refuse to compare it to Libya, that's right, you should not compare the country, but we can compare the leaders.

Both Moamer Gaddafi and Bashar al-Assad have gone crazy over power. Hosny Mubarak, Zine AlAbidine and Ali Abdullah Saleh were also mad with power.

But Gaddafi and Assad have closed their minds to the sound of reason. Numbers of people killed in both countries is getting higher minute after another.

Gaddafi got mercenaries to fight with him when most of the army defected, while Assad got his Shabiha (thugs) to kill his people.

The 13-year-old Hamza Alkhatib has died after he was brutally tortured. He was badly beaten, his penis was chopped off, and there were signs of burns all over his body. (I could not link the video because it is too disturbing.)

The news made me think of this woman I talked to a couple of times by phone. She is in Damascus, she was in charge of some rights group after its director was arrested.

Their office was closed, they were threatened and they worked from home.

The last time we talked, she was extremely sad. She had no clear thing to say, and she was weak.

"I'm fed up. I've been called names, I've been accused of selling my country, of being a conspirator. I've been accused of fabricating stuff. My father was a warrior. He took part in liberating my country years ago, how can I be an outsider now. How can I erase this heritage I carry and sell my country."

She kept going on, and for few minutes I could not say anything.

People die everyday in Syria, Libya and Yemen. People still die in Egypt and Tunisia and Bahrain.

The Arab Spring has not bloomed,  the heat and the sun took over, and it is summer already.

On Egypt's sectarian problems

Some blame Salafists on violence targeting Christians in Egypt, others blame security loyal to Mubarak, and others blame foreign countries – mainly Saudi Arabia.

One analyst told me that the Royal family feels threatened by “calls for freedom and democracy in the the Arab Spring." (while writing this Saudi Arabia released a statement condemning the Imbaba attack that killed 12, injured hundreds and destroyed a church)

All of the above is true.All three factors are one way or another meddling with Egypt's future.

Vulnerable and shaky after 30 years of the Mubaraks' (the family and the loyalists) strong fist over the country, Egypt is waiting for someone to draw its road map. Instead of working hard together, people are too concerned with their fear about lack of security and police. All they talk about is thugs and crime taking place in this or that neighbourhood.

But, is Egypt still a place for religious diversity? For any kind of diversity?

Change is not really part of the Egyptian Culture. Egyptians like to live in the same apartment throughout their lives, changing jobs is not really part of the culture too. Being different – whether in your clothes, attitude or beliefs – will not help you to survive in the society.

Yet, after January 25, many Egyptians hoped this era has ended, and people will begin to embrace change as part of life. May be people were too optimists about what the revolution brought. It changed a regime, but apparently not much more.

Some are frustrated, many are angry, because they do not know what to do to stop the increasing rift between Muslims and Christians, and do not know how this will affect the country's political transition ahead of the September parliamentary elections and the presidential polls following it later this year.

ANALYSIS: Sectarian strife casts shadow over Egypt transition

By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa

   Cairo (dpa) - Sectarian violence, once sporadic, has become a recurrent problem in Egypt and risks derailing the country‘s political transition.

   A gloomy mood has fallen over many Egyptians, who feel the country may be losing the harmonious social atmosphere that graced the country after the 18-day uprising that forced former president Hosny Mubarak out of office earlier this year.

   "These incidents affect the already shaky security situation in the country, which remains the main concern for the people. Thus, it leaves them with increasing doubts about the revolution and their ability to continue working for it," said Diaa Rashwan, a researcher and an expert on Islamist movements.

   The weekend attack on the Mar Mina church, in the poor and densely-populated Cairo neighbourhood of Imbaba, is the latest in a series of incidents that have left many members of the country‘s religious minorities wary and afraid for their future in the predominantly Muslim country.

   "The former government was corrupt, but at least we were living fine," a man was shouting in the street the morning after the attack that left 12 people dead, 240 injured and a church destroyed.

   Salafists, hard-line Islamists who have become more vocal after the revolution, have been blamed for Saturday‘s violence, as well as for other recent attacks targeting Christians. In one incident, Salafists cut off a Christian man‘s ear for allegedly being involved in a relationship with a Muslim woman.

   "This sectarian violence aims to draw people‘s attention away from the the more important principles of the revolution, such as economic and social justice, and to incite instability and a return to the old regime," writer and analyst Hani Shukrallah said.

   Shukrallah blames "external forces" for inciting strife in the country in order to "bury the revolution."

   "There are many signs that they are being funded from Saudi Arabia, which played an active role in the founding of religious extremism and Salafists," he told the German Press Agency dpa.

   Wahabism, a stricter form of observing Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia, is an orientation within Salafism.

   "The Arab Spring, with its calls for freedom and democracy, poses a threat to the Royal family in Saudi Arabia," he added.

   However, many believe that the attackers were merely thugs hired by powerful loyalists of the former regime seeking to regain power in the country.

   Shukrallah, a Copt Christian, thinks they made the wrong choice by standing behind religious extremists.

   "They are a limited minority and they won‘t have a significant power in the coming parliamentary elections," he said, rejecting fears by millions of Egyptians that conservatives will dominate the country‘s political scene after elections scheduled for September.

   Copts experienced a bloody beginning to the year when a bomb went off outside a church in Alexandria, in northern Egypt, leaving 23 people dead.

   In March, 13 people were killed in sectarian clashes around the Cairo neighbourhood of Manshiyet Nasser, shortly after a church was torched in the village of Sol, south of the capital.

   The church was quickly rebuilt by the army, which currently runs the country.

   However, this did not stop thousands of people from protesting in Cairo, accusing the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of not doing enough to protect Christian houses of worship.

   The council has said that all 190 people held after last weekend's clashes will face military trial. The cabinet has vowed to "strike with an iron hand" those who threaten the country‘s national security.

   "The government and the council‘s approach to these incidents prove that the state is crippled and failed in this regard. They have to deal firmly with these criminals and apply the rule of law," said Shukrallah.

   The coming weeks will tell whether the army can succeed in restoring sectarian harmony and preserving the principles of the revolution. 

dpa
Published: May 9, 2011

Links:

http://bit.ly/mMuiJn

Muslim Brotherhood wants half of parliament, not presidency

By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa

   Cairo (dpa) - Egypt‘s Muslim Brotherhood revealed its plan on Saturday to contest up to 50 per cent of the parliament in the next polls, but will not field a candidate for the presidency.

   Following a meeting of its decision-making consultative council, the group said it had decided to contest "45 to 50 per cent" of parliament‘s 508 elected seats in September‘s scheduled elections.

   The Brotherhood also approved a programme for their Freedom and Justice Party, which they set up after the January 25 uprising that forced former president Hosny Mubarak and his government out.

   Mohamed Morsy, a spokesperson and a member of the group‘s guidance bureau, will head the party.

   "It is not a theocratic party. It will be a civil party," Morsy told reporters, adding that the party will be "independent from the Brotherhood but will coordinate with it".

   Egypt‘s constitution bans parties based on religion or class.

   "The council stresses that it will not nominate a candidate for presidential elections of the Republic, and will not support any member of the group who runs for office," the group said.

   Egypt‘s presidential elections are scheduled for November.

   The Muslim Brotherhood ran its candidates as independents in previous elections. In 2005, they won nearly a fifth of the total in the People‘s Assembly, making them the largest opposition bloc in the lower house of parliament.

   Formed in 1928, the group has risen to become the largest and most organised opposition force in Egypt. Although it was officially banned and faced heavy government crackdowns during Mubarak‘s rule, it remained politically active.

   Following the uprising, the Muslim Brotherhood has repeated that it does not seek power nor a majority in parliament.

   However, the announcement of seeking half of parliamentary seats might add to fears by other parties that the Brotherhood will sweep into power due to its already huge popularity in the region‘s most populous country.

   In February, a Cairo court approved the establishment of the Al-Wasat Al-Jadid political party, after its applications for official status were denied for 15 years.

   The moderate Islamic party was the first to be given a licence to operate after an 18-day popular uprising forced president Mubarak to resign on February 11.

   Earlier this month, the former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) was dissolved by a court ruling and its assets returned to the state, following pressure by activists for the party‘s abolition.

   The party had ruled Egypt from its establishment by late president Anwar Sadat in 1978 until the ouster of Mubarak.
dpa
Publised: 30 Apr 11

Links:
http://bit.ly/jQYCOb
http://bit.ly/kBNYLn