The Other Side of Me

A little less than four months ago, a mother and a father lost their son or daughter, and with them, they lost a part of their soul. Somewhere in this country, a little less than four months ago, kids had to live without their daddy, they'll have to grow up without having him around. A wife will have to live without the love and care of her husband. A husband will have to live without the love and tenderness of his wife. A friend, a brother, a sister, a lover, many have suffered the loss of someone special. They had to lose them to give every single person who's still alive a better future. These people had to die so we can hold our heads up high. They died to make us proud. But are we making them proud? Or are we having their families regret the day they let them go lose their lives for us? On February 2nd, that black Wednesday (mawk3et el gamal), I met a man I don't know in Tahrir, he introduced himself as a retired army officer. He asked: "are you worried that the ...

Wondering why you should protest tomorrow? Here's why: Although trying the old regime heads for illicit gain is very important, it's not at all enough, we haven't seen any trials for killing protesters, corrupting political life, and other more important things that have ruined our lives for the past 30 years. Mubarak and his wife are still having a special treatment. Laws are not implemented, at all. The police aren't doing their job, and they're taking their salaries every month from the tax payers. Minister of the interior is doing nothing, nothing, to fix the security problems. Many of the old regime heads and ex-SS officers are working to abort the revolution by spreading sectarian strife, and it's very easy for people to listen to them, so things get worse. And no one is arresting them! The SCAF keeps trying out things on us and doesn't listen unless we protest. The SCAF is not transparent enough. Military trials are unacceptable, if laws are ...

I'm trying so hard to remember the ten days between the day Tunisians brought down Ben Ali and the day our revolution has been born. I've blacked out most of the incidents that happened at that time, I only remember very few things. But just a few days earlier, with the first hour of this year, I remember the church bombing, how innocent souls were killed. Christians were sure that this bombing was done by Muslims, nevertheless, there were no words against Muslims at all, they knew they were terrorists, speaking falsely in the name of Islam and Muslims, they knew that Muslims were against what happened and were mourning the death of innocent Egyptians as much as they were. Seven days later, we celebrated Christmas together, Muslims and Christians, we united on one thing and celebrated Christmas. We proved, to ourselves rather than to anyone else, that we can be united, that we care for each other, that we both want a better Egypt, a safe Egypt for everyone, the Egypt we can al...

Remember those 18 days? Remember when you walked in the street and felt safe among millions? Remember being in one place with four million and not feel worried about being harassed or pick pocketed? Remember how powerful you felt? Remember the energy that filled the place? Remember how optimistic you were? Remember how disciplined you were? Remember how organized you were? Remember how civilized you were? Remember how clean you were? Remember how positive you were? Remember how resilient you felt? Remember feeling like the whole world can't stop you? Remember when your belief was so strong for anyone to break?  Remember eating half your meal and saving the other half for someone you don't even know? Remember when everyone was equal? Remember when you were wise enough to think before you believe?  Remember how it felt to wave your flag up in the air? Remember how hard you chanted until your throat hurt, but you didn't even care? Remember how different singing the Nation...

I know we don't live alone, and I know we can't hide from what is happening around us. I know we should always show support and solidarity in what we believe in. And I support Palestine and I believe that we, their next door neighbors, should do everything we can to help free them. But the question is, are we now strong enough to support them? And I don't mean strong enough to face the Israeli army, because I believe we're still kind of far from this point. Israel wouldn't want to start another war right now, especially with Egypt, they'd rather wait and see if we can still be friends. They already have Palestine and Syria to worry about. By strong enough I mean are we united enough? Is our government strong enough to support us? Is our country organized enough to have us forget about it, even for a minute, and focus on other things? Because if we are not strong enough then it's acting, it is something symbolic. This could be good too, but when our countr...

Since the day Bin Laden was killed, I've been hearing so many people calling him a hero and others calling him a martyr. I've been trying to understand their opinions, and I've got so many answers, but they all revolved around one truth, he's fighting the enemy. But there is a lot to think about when this sentence is said. And let the first thing we ask ourselves be who is the real enemy? whose enemy are they? And why? The first answer would be that America is the enemy, but think again, is the enemy the Americans or the American government? I know America is a democratic country and I know that the government speaks in the name of the people. But anyone who has spent a day in America would know how brainwashed these people are. They only care about having a house, a good job, and a big car. Anyone would know that they know nothing happening outside the borders of their country. Their media doesn't show it, and they don't even care. I happened to wake up in...

Americans love stereotyping, African Americans are niggers, southerns are red necks, Jews are kikes, Asians are gooks, Germans are krauts, Arabs have too many names, starting from terrorists to sand niggers. And the list goes on forever. Giving labels to people and calling them names is very offensive, and it's not only done by Americans, this is done all over the world. But what is worse is dividing people into groups and jumping to conclusion about them according to the label they're given. The best example to this is calling all Muslims terrorists. But there are other examples, and no matter how silly they might sound to you, they are offensive. Like for example, calling all blondes stupid. Or all Khalijis poorly educated, or all  upper Egyptians stupid, or all Damnhoories thieves, or all Egyptian women moody, or all Egyptian men dictators. Then reacting according to these conclusions is another catastrophe. Like taking all upper Egyptians' words for granted. Or like ha...

I believe that no one should choose who to vote for before there's a full, official electoral program. But one can have an initial idea, and mine is for El Baradei. Here are some of the reasons why I think El Baradei might be the best candidate to be president in the following few years: He brought hope back into our lives when he came last year; spreading this hope will help everyone move forward with the country. He has never tried to be a leader, instead he encourages people to work for a better Egypt. How is this good? Having a leader would mean following one person on doing what's best for the country from his idea, but having a president that encourages people to work for the country will result in people renovating it in many different ways and in all fields, and that's what we want right now. He's not charismatic, and this is very very important right now. The next few years will be the time to build a strong democratic life in Egypt that will make sure we do...