The Greatest Outrage Yet

Between 80,000 and 100,000 women demonstrated in Tahrir Square yesterday to express their outrage at the recent assault of a woman by thugs dressed as soldiers in Tahrir. The video documenting the attack went viral as soon as it hit YouTube. That single video has elicited more fury from Egyptians, a greater response from the world, and a bigger reaction from the Supreme Military Council than any other event since the revolution began. The protests today were directed at Tantawi, and he was forced to issue a statement promising that those responsible would be brought to justice.

The victim was a physician who was on her way to work in a field hospital in Tahrir. Just to make things more dramatic.

What happened to her was deeply shocking. Not just disturbing, but truly inexplicable behavior for Egyptians. It doesn't make sense for soldiers: even if people are angry at the Supreme Military Council, the soldiers in the streets are still Egyptians, most of them conscripted for three years. Even in light of recent events, any typical Egyptian soldier would never behave that way. It makes me suspect that these assaulters were not soldiers, but rather members of Mubarak's old party dressed as soldiers. They're wild wounded animals, more dangerous than ever because they're in survival mode and they have no limits.

I have no doubt that they will soon be identified from the footage that was caught of the event. Just recently, a police officer was filmed targeting protesters in Tahrir with a rubber bullet gun. He seriously wounded several people. The video was posted on the Internet, and soon his name, address, and social security number were posted on Facebook. He turned himself in to the authorities before his head ended up on a spike. Only a matter of time before the same happens to these new villains, if the actual army doesn't get them first. 

Viking Longboat or Old School Vacuum - which party would you vote for?; Only 4.5 weeks to go 'til elections conclude in Egypt!

Egypt is now one phase into its parliamentary elections, meaning that one third of the cities have voted so far (9 cities, about 13 million out of 40 million eligible voters). Only portions of the country are voting at a time, in order to make the whole process more manageable. 

Keep in mind that this is the first time Egypt has had a free and fair election. There aren't enough judges and monitors to facilitate simultaneous elections across the country. Hence, it will take about 6 weeks for voting to be complete - until the first week in January.

If you haven't yet seen the choice selection of symbols used to represent the various political parties on the Egyptian ballots, take a look:

Apparently blenders and cell phones are the modern heiroglyphs. Many voters in Egypt are illiterate, so they need a way to identify the party they want to vote for. Whoever put this selection together... I particularly like how the army tank image still has the URL on it for the website they snagged it from. Were I to vote based entirely on these images, it would be a tie between Jackhammer and Viking Longboat. 

So far, the Muslim Brotherhood has garnered about 35% of the votes, and are projected to take the majority of parliamentary seats by the end of the election. Although I suspected this would happen, I have mixed feelings about it:

On the one hand, it seems hypocritical that the party who has been long outspoken against Mubarak refused to take part in the recent demonstrations. 

On the other hand, the Brotherhood is the most organized political party in Egypt right now. They get things done. And they do a lot for the community. If a hospital needs to be built, they will build it. If they need volunteers for something, they will rally a group. 

My dad was saying that there will be a time for intellectuals to move the country forward, but for now, Egypt needs to be rebuilt. I agree. Serious basic infrastructure needs to be put in place before the country can start making up for thirty years of stunted growth. The Muslim Brotherhood may be the best option for the time being - however, I don't think their majority vote will hold out for more than a few years. Once Egypt is back on its feet, the young intellectuals that initiated the revolution will (hopefully) be more organized and politically savvy, and the new generation can really start to move the country forward.