The caption accompanying the post: "One neighbor to the other."
Bramjnet, one of the largest (is there a bigger one?) Egyptian web forums on the internet, features a very long thread on the Egyptian elections, with over 27,000 posts and almost 1 million views.
For those of you who don't like Egyptian presidential candidate Hazem Abu Ismail, take a look at this video of a TV interview with him and his mother. [The video is included within the article on Al-Arabiya, and it has English subtitles.]Yes, that's right, the mother whose American citizenship got him prohibited from running for president (at least for now).
We also found the video on YouTube:
You might be surprised, but his mother comes off as....articulate, respectful, religiously moderate, and intelligent. We here at the blog wish his mother was running instead of him. His mother, Dr. Nawal AbdelAziz Nour, presents herself very well, speaking positively of other religions and condemning the Al-Qaeda attacks.
Nour's attitude is in stark contrast to that of her son, who regularly issues streams of lies to the Egyptian people. An example of that can be found in this video that we found on Bramjnet. Here, Abu Ismail rails against American aid to Egypt, spouting lies such as:
American aid never consists of actual money; Americans love homosexuality and gay marriage, and American aid is intended to promote that; American aid is tool intended to end American unemployment by giving jobs and factories to Americans in Egypt but disguising it as American aid to Egyptians; Americans give Egypt defective food; Americans throw thousands of tons of wheat into the sea to keep the prices high....the list goes on and on. Watching Abu Ismail's videos really shows that the man is not fit to be a president.
Check out this YouTube video*. It's a clip from the Spanish version of the movie 300, with fake Arabic subtitles written below. The Spartans are the Muslim Brotherhood, and the other fighters they meet on the hill are the Egyptian public:
Translation of the subtitles:
Spartan leader: Pick up the pace, to the Parliament!
Narrator: The Muslim Brotherhood advances, and approaches the Parliament.
Spartan leader: (encountering a group of other fighters) Greetings, we are on our way to Parliament.
Other fighters, looking worried: You haven't picked out a presidential candidate yet….what are you waiting for?
How does the Muslim Brotherhood not have a candidate for president?
Spartan leader, looking sly: Because we promised that we wouldn't field anyone for president.
Other fighters: Don't make excuses, you don't have anyone who capable of being president, of dealing with that position.
Spartan leader:Areyoutalkingaboutus?
You! (points to Fighter 1) Who are you going to nominate for president?
Spartan leader: Khairat Shater….we're committed to the decision of the Brotherhood leadership!!!!
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This video was actually posted by supporters of Khairat Shater, i.e. guys who want him to run for president. If you don't know who Shater is, then you better find out. No doubt he will have a huge influence on the Egyptian presidential election. For background, check out the New York Time's profile on Shater here.
* We found this one posted by one of our Egyptian-American friends on Facebook. This being a blog on Arabic social media, we usually link to where we find content, but for privacy purposes we haven't included it here.
Although the actual footage is from December, this thread just popped up on Iraqcenter.
In the thread, a user posts a video featuring the famous Egyptian TV presenter Hala Sarhan on NasBook, her popular TV show. NasBook is a talk show aired on Rotana Masriya (Egyptian Rotana), in which Sarhan hosts famous Egyptian and Arab politicians, stars, etc. to talk about current affairs. As it's on Rotana, the show leans toward a younger look and feel, and it's one of my favorite talk shows to watch.
In this video, watch as Sarhan discusses a particularly unusual fatwa from a Yemeni sheikh. The sheikh apparently forbids the use of chairs by women, saying that evil spirits enter women when they sit on chairs. He notes that chairs (and anything similar to them, like couches) are an unusual, Western invention, and how can we enjoy an invention from our enemy, the West? He notes that the original followers of prophet Muhammad never used chairs - they sat on the floor, so we should too. According to Sarhan, the sheikh even said that for women, sitting on chairs is equivalent to adultery.
Interestingly, Sarhan, who is not very overtly religious and pretty liberal in her outlook, doesn't lay into the fatwa with sarcasm as much as I thought she would. She actually interprets it in various ways. In my opinion they're ridiculous, but they are definitely worth noting:
1. She says that originally, she thought the fatwa was an attack on حزبالكنبة (Party of the Couch) in Egypt. The 'Party of the Couch' is a term used to describe apathetic Egyptians that aren't involved in protests or don't actively participate in politics. She says she thought that the fatwa was meant to get them to vote and prevent them from 'sitting on their couches' during the elections.
2. She then says that wait, this guy isn't Egyptian, he's Yemeni, so he can't be attacking the Party of the Couch. He must be talking about the Yemeni protestors, who 'stood' (i.e. not sitting) in public squares, protesting their revolution. They never sat until their ruler was kicked out of his throne (the word in Arabic for chair is the same one used for throne).
3. She then says that this fatwa can be interpreted as a warning to all Egyptian presidential candidates that Satan is calling them to the seat of power, basically noting the dangers of too much power and how, I assume, it can erase gains made by the revolution.
Honestly, Sarhan's interpretations at the end definitely make this clip worth watching, but I really just thought she was going to rip into this guy.
