Yesterday on her way to join a delegation of 100 women traveling to Gaza, Medea Benjamin was detained at the Cairo airport. She was given no reasons, but this 60-year-old American (co-founder of Global Exchange and CodePink) was treated no better, no worse than many Palestinians traveling through Cairo on their way home to Gaza.
I’ve met several Palestinians from Gaza who have had the “honor” of spending time in Egypt’s accommodations at the Cairo airport. They spend hours, sometimes days, in a holding cell with many other Palestinians waiting to learn whether they will board a bus for the trip across the Sinai to Gaza, or whether they will be deported back to the city/country from which they arrived.
They are treated as common criminals — professors, lawyers, doctors and other professionals — with no respect or common courtesy.
The difference between Medea’s treatment yesterday in the Cairo airport’s detention cell and the experience of Palestinians who share that same fate?
Medea is an American with a cell phone and was able to tweet about her experience, see here. The world was watching and listening. No one sees how Palestinians are treated when they step off the plane.
Cairo airport holding cell for “undesirable” passengers, primarily Palestinians
Hours later, with no explanation, Egyptian security officials brutally deported Medea to Turkey where she received medical treatment for a badly damaged or broken arm. She was on the phone right away giving interviews and talking with reporters. Listen to her account of the detention on Democracy Now here.
Medea was never told why she was detained or deported, but CodePink staff learned that her name was on a black list. Was the Egyptian military coup leader al-Sisi trying to send a message to activists abroad to warn them against traveling to Gaza? Egyptians have apparently opened the Rafah border with Gaza only 9 days since January 1st preventing 1000s of people from leaving or entering Gaza.
My message to al-Sisi: FU*K YOU! PLEASE PUT ME ON YOUR BLACK LIST! I’m more determined than ever to return to Gaza.
The New York Times reports that more than 1000 people have been killed in the past week, the most violent period in modern Egyptian history, and it seems that the social fabric of Egyptian society is disintegrating, as these gruesome videos attest.
Neither side shows any signs of backing down. Both sides sound righteous and determined to prevail. As the propaganda and demonization grow more intense each day, the poor Egyptians caught in the middle are the ones who are suffering. They were promised another election soon, but I hope no one is holding their breath.
The propaganda war is hurting the Palestinians too. Lina Attalah explains how the Egyptian media is demonizing Palestinians in this short 16 minute podcast.
General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the Egyptian military want to strike fear in the hearts of Egyptians and Western audiences by justifying their massacres as a war on “terrorists”. (Oh, I hate that word!) They learned their lessons well from President George W. Bush and the US Army War College.
Egyptian General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
And the anti-coup, pro-Morsi demonstrators are fighting a battle on the streets and on their computers too. I’ve been bombarded with blog posts, Facebook posts, Tweets and YouTube videos “explaining” the truth and warning me not to be duped by the other side’s propaganda.
ARRGGHHHH! Some moments I just want to throw up my hands in disgust.
Now some youth in Gaza are taking up Tamarrod’s banner (that’s the group in Cairo that began the petition process to oust President Morsi). They have released a video (in Arabic) calling for Hamas to step down. I’m sure Fatah and Israel are pleased.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is very happy that President Morsi has been overthrown and Jamal Nazzal, a senior Fatah representative, called on Palestinians to overthrow Hamas in the wake of the events in Egypt.
I would caution those youth to be very careful. Hamas doesn’t take kindly to dissension within the ranks. They might very well consider these youth, as idealistic as they may be, are traitors doing Fatah’s bidding. What I really think these youth, and many others in Gaza, want is a chance to have another election. I hope they don’t hold their breath.
I want to show my solidarity with the RIGHT side in Egypt …. but which is the RIGHT side in this confusing turn of events?
Certainly not the Egyptian military. They are slaughtering innocent civilians with impunity.
Certainly not the Tamarrod, liberal-elites and anti-Morsi, pro-coup supporters. They’re in bed with the military and deep state complex which will soon release President Mubarak.
I’m not a fan of President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood either. Morsi clearly over-reached and made many mistakes. Perhaps his biggest mistake was trusting the military. Or maybe it was not bringing the other political factions into his government. He pissed off ALOT of people.
I am supporting the Egyptian people who want a peaceful transition to a democratic, secular government that works for the public good. When I heard about the young engineer who died in the Rabaa massacre, I knew who I was going to stand in solidarity with. He was not an extremist. I was told he opposed the Muslim Brotherhood and wanted early elections. When he realized the coup had been hijacked, he joined the protesters at the sit-in.
Just a few hours before the massacre on August 14, anti-coup protesters in Egypt were struggling to voice their demands to the world by raising their four fingers. The “Rabaa sign” has now become the symbol of the massacre. Rabaa al-Adawiya Square is as famous as Tahrir Square in Cairo because of the hundreds of thousands of anti-coup protesters who sat in there for more than two months.
I added the Rabaa sign to my Facebook profile a few days ago, standing in solidarity with those who denounce the massacre. To be expected, the R4BIA sign has developed a meme of its own with many variations. Some are critical of the original message, others are downright derisive.
“A spare” – Referring to the ever lasting nickname of Morsi since he is known to be the “spare” president of the MB or that he is the MB’s puppet
“Egg” – Egyptian slang for testicles which is used to explain shitty situations with multiple meanings kind of like saying fuck!
I don’t even know what that is…someone told me it is a female vagina..
“Army slave”
Mega is an Egyptian ice cream
“Baby feeding”
“We will live in yellow”– Rephrasing Hazem Salah Abu Ismail’s slogan of his campaign “we will live with dignity”, who got kicked out of the presidency race for having an American mother.
Gika is a martyr who was killed by police in Mohamed Mahmoud 2012 clashes
“Look at the bird”
“Egypt above all” – the nationalistic version
“Do you know who says what and how” – a famous quote that turned into a joke by Morsi
“No to the yellowing of Facebook” – Zack Zuckerberg, the Egyptian version
“Sisi” – in Arabic Sisi is also a pony
“No this is just when lights go out and I make a rabbit in 3D on the wall” ..because under curfew we are bored
CC is also as in Sisi, head of SCAF
“Rabaa Adawia” – The picture is of a popular singer Mohamed Adawia who shares the same last name as the mosque.
“56734 in a small alley” – Taken out of a speech by Morsi, when he said that there were about 56734 people in an alley conspiring against the country..it became an endless political joke in Egypt
“Tasty and cool” – Making a hand into the 7up icon feedo dido
Rabaa – but with the Egyptian middle finger fuck you instead
This is praying to God for he is the one who punishes
“A yellow square” – Aljazeera, referring to the lies that Aljazeera broadcasts
“We will pull out your family’s eye” – literal translation of a common slang term, but the meaning is that we will show you no mercy.
“Five to keep the evil eye away from Sisi”
“Police, we will show the Muslim Brothers no mercy”
“You have a cigarette”
“Alcohol and gas don’t mix” – a famous quote by Morsi who said it in Germany speaking horrible English, it became a popular joke and many versions of it like ‘Egypt and Morsi don’t mix”
“Tamroud movement: let’s write the constitution with a buzz”
The international solidarity for Rabaa
“Clown hat” – which also means puppet, it is referring to the current president Adly Mansor
“We are all Rabaa” – or four
Sisi as a donkey I guess
“Wait a bit, you get something good” – the sign is for the command wait in the Arab world
“Hey you!”
“The return” – Which also rhymes with Rabaa, an anti-SCAF poster referring to the return of state brutality
“Something yellow” referring to alcohol..
“Get me a man!”
“Opa Morsy Style”
“Caution, the wheel of production”
“Peaceful”
Sisi and Morsi the murderers
“Apple” – a group of Egyptian & regional channels with a banana that has apple on it suggesting they are liars
*Thanks to the Angry Egyptian blog for these graphics.
لماذا غزة؟ Why Gaza? 