Posted on 03/08/2011 3:50:27 PM PST by GOPGuide
This wasnt the only ominous confrontation today in Egypt: Crowds of Muslims and Coptic Christians ended up throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at each other after a protest over a church-burning over the weekend. I want to focus on the womens protest, though, partly because of the location, partly because its International Womens Day, and partly because I got to watch it happen, sort of, in real time this morning. (More on that below.) CNN is reporting what happened as a case of shouting matches between women in the Square demanding equal rights and men opposed to them, but things went waaaay beyond that.
snip
The AP, acknowledging that sexual harassment is widespread in Egypt, says what started with heckling ended with shoving, groping, and even beatings. And, as with the attack on Lara Logan, it didnt stop until the Egyptian army intervened. Quoth one woman protester: I thought we were going to be celebrated as women of the revolution because we were present during the days of Tahrir. Unless women are included now, we are going to be oppressed. Foreign Policy editor Blake Hounshell started retweeting reports from English-speaking Egyptian women in the Square while this was all going on, which is how I came to follow the story. Heres a selection of them from his Twitter feed; its in reverse sequence, so read from the bottom up to see how it unfolded. Hounshells verdict, delivered amidst these reports: Whats going on in Tahrir Square right now is a national tragedy for Egypt.
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The turnout against Mubarak in Tahrir Square was on the order of hundreds of thousands; the turnout today for womens rights, less than a month after revolutionary brotherhood swept the old bastard from power, was by some estimates less than 100. Quote: Ive never been as afraid as I am now in all my years in Egypt, she said, watching men deride women standing nearby and yell: The people want to bring women down! So theres where things stand today in the heart of the new Middle East. For an equally pessimistic take, read Hitchenss new piece in Vanity Fair explaining why he cant get excited about the Egyptian revolution. And in case youre wondering, no, theres no coverage of this yet at Al Jazeeras website that Ive been able to find. There is, to their credit, this overview of sexual harassment and womens rights in Egypt but nothing about the ugliness in Tahrir Square. Thats not the first time theyve quietly overlooked a story about an attack on women that would reflect badly on the revolution. Probably wont be the last.
to all you ululating muslim female university students in hijabs and headscarfs -
be careful what you ask for, you might get it
Democracy Whiskey Molesty
If youd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
I'm thinking that what's being described as harassed would be criminal in most of the west
The BS media is too busy waving the Charlie Sheen debacle around as a distraction.
It’s a shame that this happened to those women today. Unless women work to change Islam from the inside, nothing will ever change. I was rooting for them today.
Crowds of Muslims and Coptic Christians ended up throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at each other after a protest over a church-burning over the weekend. I want to focus on the women's protest, though, partly because of the location, partly because it's International Women's Day, and partly because I got to "watch" it happen, sort of, in real time this morning. (More on that below.) CNN is reporting what happened as a case of "shouting matches" between women in the Square demanding equal rights and men opposed to them, but things went waaaay beyond that.Gosh, it's almost as if Islam is just medieval fascism, and the Koran a medieval Mein Kampf.
be careful what you ask for, you might get it
Is that you, Marie?
“(Unless[deleted]) women (are included now,[deleted]) we are going to be oppressed.
“Praise Allah! Mubarak is gone, democracy is here!”
Yes! Life, liberty and the pursuit of willing and/or unwilling poon! Milton! Thou shouldst be living in this day (so we could stone you to death)!
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