Year: 2008

The Innocent

Posted on By 3arabawy

Here’s a Egyptian classic film you should try to get hold of its uncensored copy.

I found online, via Torture In Egypt Blog, the uncensored finale of Ahmad Zaki‘s 1986 movie “Al-Bare’e” (The Innocent), where he plays the role of a naive peasant police conscript, brainwashed to torture dissidents in prison by the sadist prison sheriff (played by Mahmoud Abdel Aziz), as “enemies of the nation” or “spies” or whatever.

Our innocent conscript however gets disillusioned when one day a young fellow from his village shows up among a new patch of student detainees sent to the torture factory.. Zaki spontaneously tries to protect the young man (played by Mamdouh Abdel Alim) from the “welcome party” arranged for the detainees in prison, while screaming he knew the detainee and that he could not have been a “traitor” or a bad guy.. Zaki ends up in trouble, while the young detainee dies.

The final part of the movie was censored by the government, though bootlegged copies were always in circulation, depicting Zaki, released from confinement and back on the job, climbs up the tower, spots a new group of detainees being shipped in, so he decides to shoot the sheriff and the soldiers.

The official version of the film, which the government allowed, only showed Zaki screaming “No” and then the screen freezes. The uncensored edition however was shown public only once in 2005 when the Minister of Culture decided to honor Zaki’s memory during the Cairo Film Festival.

Enjoy!

Real Estate Tax strikers’ victory opens new door for civil servants’ struggle

Posted on By 3arabawy

The Center for Socialist Studies issued a statement on the victory of the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike, asserting this will open new doors for the struggle of professionals and civil servants in other government sectors.

I received also some photos of the strikers celebrating their victory following the negotiations with the Finance Minister, taken by labor journalist Mostafa Bassiouny.

  • The strikers chanting for victory as the finance minister leaves the building, Photo by Mostafa Bassiouny
  • Kamal Abu Eita chanting following the end of negotiations with the minister in victory, Photo by Mostafa Bassiouny
  • Kamal Abu Eita chanting following the end of negotiations with the minister in victory, Photo by Mostafa Bassiouny

Another fight is also looming in the air… Once again it’s over the unions… The strike all throughout was run by the Higher Committee for the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike, headed by the dynamic Kamal Abu Eita and in theory included one representative from each of the country’s 26 provinces. In effect, from seven to 15 members including Abu Eita were the real force in the committee as they were present together in Cairo, while the others were consulted over the phone. Where were the state-sponsored Union Committee members? They were not involved. And in a humiliating proof of their illegitimacy and lack of credibility they were not even invited to the final negotiations between the Finance Minister and members of the Higher Committee for the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike, the true representatives of the civil servants.

The state-sponsored union bureaucrats standing in the street, while the strike leaders and the Finance Minister negotiate an agreement. Photo by Mostafa Bassiouny.

[The state-sponsored union bureaucrats standing in the street, while the strike leaders and the Finance Minister negotiate an agreement. Photo by Mostafa Bassiouny.]

Qursaya residents skeptical of Ahram report on scrapping mega-project

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily News Egypt…

Residents of the island of El-Qorsaya have vowed to continue their campaign to resist eviction from their homes despite reports published by the state-owned Al Ahram newspaper that plans to build a tourist complex on the island have been scrapped.
According to the report, which appeared on the newspaper’s front page on Wednesday and which is entitled “Government cancels plans for tourist project on El-Qorsaya, upholds residents’ rights,” the Agricultural and Irrigation Committee of the People’s Assembly together with government representatives had decided to cancel plans for the construction of a tourist complex.
The report states that the decision was made after MP Muhammad Aboul Enein and Azab Mostafa made urgent appeals to the Committee about islanders’ fears that they would be expelled from their land.
The article claimed that the government has succeeded in “presenting a model of democracy for the protection of citizens’ rights.”
Artist and El-Qorsaya resident Muhammad Abla is more circumspect.
He told Daily News Egypt, “This report is simply false. This PA committee doesn’t have the authority to make these sorts of decisions, it can only make recommendations.”
He also questioned why the decision had not been reported in any other newspapers, and said that the campaign to save the island would continue until the report is verified.