Showing posts with label Photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Photos. Show all posts
Friday, June 30, 2017
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Photos: Protests against Mubarak regime acquittal in Abdel Moneim Riyad Sq.
Peaceful protesters chant against Mubarak, Sisi & military rule
Elderly activist holds signs commemorating martyrs of the January 25th Revolution, denouncing the governments of Mubarak & Sisi
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| Chants against Ministry of Interior & police brutality |
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| Strong criticism of the judiciary and their verdicts |
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| Riot police trucks deployed in front of army APCs in Tahrir Square, sealed-off by barbed wire barriers. Water cannons, tear gas, and shotguns were used to forcefully disperse the peaceful protesters. At least one protester was killed, tens of others injured and arrested. |
Monday, September 29, 2014
Haunting photos of children toiling in Egypt’s limestone quarries
WIRED.com
September 3, 2014
Pete Brook
The haunting figures in Myriam Abdelaziz’s photographs look otherworldly as they emerge from the haze wearing makeshift masks and protective eyewear. But they are not the stuff of science fiction, but a harsh reality.
They are the limestone workers of Egypt, eking out a living doing back-breaking work in searing temperatures.
They also happen to be children.
Abdelaziz’s series Menya’s Kids chronicles the children who toil in the limestone quarries south of Cairo, leading lives as hard as the rocks they carve from the earth.
“The work is very dangerous,” says Abdelaziz. “Many children working there die prematurely, from electrocution or from injury due to heavy machinery. Also common are permanent injuries such as the loss of an arm or a leg.”
Menya, on the banks of the Nile River 150 miles south of the Egyptian capital, has more than 300 quarries employing 15,000 people. Many of them are children as young as 10; the youngest workers follow the stone-cutting machines, stacking bricks and bagging the ever-present dust. Nothing in the mines is wasted.
The quarries are central to the city’s economy, yet rarely chronicled. Menya’s Kids attempts to illuminate this dark corner of the Egyptian workforce. Employing children in the mines is illegal, so it is no surprise then that most quarry owners refused Abdelaziz entry. “They understood that international exposure could back fire on their business,” she says.
And what a business it is. “Child labor is a dominating phenomenon in Egypt,” reads the opening line of a 2011 report on child workers by the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University.
Between 3 and 15 percent of Egyptian children have been classified as child laborers, or between 1.3 million and 3 million children. The figures, compiled by NGOs and independent agencies, vary widely because most child labor is seasonal (cotton harvesting), informal (selling goods on the street), or unmonitored (domestic work.) Whatever the number, most agree poverty is to blame.
“Children take jobs wherever and whenever an extra hand is needed,” says Abdelaziz. “Some families cannot survive if everyone is not working so child labor is seen as something common.”
An average quarry workers earns between $7 and $14 daily. That’s a lot compared to farmers, carpenters and mechanics. That makes the work very appealing to a family on the edge.
Eight years ago, the World Bank worked with the Catholic organization Caritas and Wadi El-Nil Association for the Protection of Quarry Workers to remove kids from quarries by 2008. But efforts to raise awareness of the problem, get the child workers back in school and train them for less dangerous jobs did little to improve the situation—which has been exacerbated by the economic instability that followed the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Change is unlikely to come quickly, but Abdelaziz remains hopeful. And she is doing her part to help. Beyond illuminating the issue, she has donated her photos to a local charity that provides alternatives to lives in the mines.
“Sending children to work is an easy way to increase a family’s income. Those who are poor and uneducated cannot think of any other way to survive,” she says. “Mentalities need to change.”
*Photos by Myriam Abdelaziz
Monday, June 30, 2014
Accurate depictions of Sisi's dictatorship
Altered image of Dictator Sisi washing feet of Saudi Arabia's absolute monarch - his paymaster - King Abdallah during most recent visit to Egypt aboard his personal jet
Press freedom in Egypt under Dictator Sisi
Dictator Sisi: Building A New Egypt
*Art courtesy of JoeTube, Financial Times, and KAL's Cartoon respectively
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Egypt: Women demand equality outside president's palace
Ahram Online
Photos: Egyptian women demand equality outside presidential palace
Friday 5 Oct 2012
Hundreds of women protested outside the Presidential Palace in
Heliopolis, Cairo on Thursday to voice their rejection of various
proposed articles addressing women's issues in the draft constitution.
A coalition of 33 women's rights organisation and initiatives, accompanied with by some male supporters, protested in front of the palace for a couple of hours on Thursday night.
"We came here today to announce our rejection of the abuse of women's rights. I also refuse the proposals of Islamists in the constitution drafting committee who want to allow the marriage of girls from age nine," Gameela Ismail, political activist told Ahram Youth website.
Other protester, Amany Ibrahim, a member of the Free Egyptian Party, talked about disputed Article 36: "It is not precise as it says there is no discrimination between men and women, except in that which contradicts with God's law," Ibrahim told Ahram Youth website.
In a joint statement signed by all participants, the coalition demands that a law criminalising sexual harassment be included in the upcoming constitution currently being drafted.
"The struggle for Egyptian women's social, economic and political rights is not a new phenomenon. It is not a fad, or importing ideas from the west, as opponents of women's freedom and progress in society say it is," the statement stated.
Women's rights, it continues, are an "integral part of human rights", adding that there is a long history of women's efforts, alongside men, that were central to standing up against colonialism.
Groups who took part in the march include the Egyptian Women's Federation (a coalition of 15 organisations), the National Front for Egypt's Women, the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women, and the Egyptian Foundation for Family Development.
Recent initiatives working to track and eliminate harassment of women in Egypt also attended, including the initiatives of 'Let's Write Our Constitution' and 'the Popular Campaign against Sexual Harassment'.
*Photos courtesy of Ahram Youth website
Photos: Egyptian women demand equality outside presidential palace
Friday 5 Oct 2012
A coalition of 33 women's rights organisation and initiatives, accompanied with by some male supporters, protested in front of the palace for a couple of hours on Thursday night.
"We came here today to announce our rejection of the abuse of women's rights. I also refuse the proposals of Islamists in the constitution drafting committee who want to allow the marriage of girls from age nine," Gameela Ismail, political activist told Ahram Youth website.
Other protester, Amany Ibrahim, a member of the Free Egyptian Party, talked about disputed Article 36: "It is not precise as it says there is no discrimination between men and women, except in that which contradicts with God's law," Ibrahim told Ahram Youth website.
In a joint statement signed by all participants, the coalition demands that a law criminalising sexual harassment be included in the upcoming constitution currently being drafted.
"The struggle for Egyptian women's social, economic and political rights is not a new phenomenon. It is not a fad, or importing ideas from the west, as opponents of women's freedom and progress in society say it is," the statement stated.
Women's rights, it continues, are an "integral part of human rights", adding that there is a long history of women's efforts, alongside men, that were central to standing up against colonialism.
Groups who took part in the march include the Egyptian Women's Federation (a coalition of 15 organisations), the National Front for Egypt's Women, the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women, and the Egyptian Foundation for Family Development.
Recent initiatives working to track and eliminate harassment of women in Egypt also attended, including the initiatives of 'Let's Write Our Constitution' and 'the Popular Campaign against Sexual Harassment'.
*Photos courtesy of Ahram Youth website
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Art Conquers Walls in Cairo
Foreign Policy
Art Conquers Walls in Cairo
Friday, 23 March
Mohamed El Dahshan
Walls. The Egyptian army's answer to protests has, for the past six months, been to build walls. The construction of these walls at a few key points in downtown Cairo, blocking major streets in one of the world's already hardest-to-navigate capitals, is severely damaging the neighborhood, both economically and socially. But that was the least of their concerns. (How very Israeli of them!).
The aesthetics of these walls is, naturally, horrendous. They're little more than cubes of stone piled up across the streets, sometimes several meters high.
Some Egyptians, mad as only true artists are allowed to be, decided to do something about it. And thus was born the "No Walls Project," a series of landscapes to be painted on the six SCAF Walls in Cairo.
The artists presented themselves with a challenge: to re-open the blocked streets by making the walls invisible.
In one case they came up with an image that placed the silhouettes of children under a colorful rainbow. On another, they superimposed ancient Egyptian poetry on a rich landscape. Some used the original beige of the stone as the base of their images, while others covered it completely in paint. Others set the bar higher by transforming the wall into a window by showing us what lies on the other side. So the wall depicts what lies behind ... minus the barbed wire and the soldiers manning their checkpoints.
And if, for just a second, you look at the wall and you do see the continuation of that street, the lady with the stroller, the streetlamp on the sidewalk, the car parking on the left, then the wall becomes invisible. And the artists have won their bet.
I believe they have.
The artwork is brilliant. It is both as raw as graffiti should be, and as deft as can be summoned up only by hundreds of man (or woman) hours. It was no easy job replicating the depth and perspective of an entire street, particularly on a such a massive, unwelcoming, and irregular canvas. But Mohamed "El Moshir" Gad, Ammar Abu Bakr, Alaa Awad, Laila Maged, and their fellow artists succeeded. In fact, their own skill may have betrayed them a little - the streetscapes depicted by the painted walls look nicer than the real ones.
Take a look at these excellent-360 degree views. (Go ahead, click through the six walls. I'll wait.)
One thing does leave me uncomfortable, though.
The story has it that when British street art icon Banksy went to Palestine to tag the apartheid wall (remember the graffiti of the little girl being carried to the top of the wall by the balloons she's holding?), an elderly gentleman walked up to him and told him that he was making this ugly wall look beautiful. Banksy thanked him for the compliment. "You don't get it," the old retorted. "We don't want it to be beautiful."
As I stood inside a chalk-drawn circle (to get the right visual perspective) on Sheikh Rihan street, admiring the artists putting the final touches to the mural, I asked myself the same question as the elderly Palestinian.
Isn't it wrong, in a way, to embellish SCAF's criminal act? Shouldn't we leave this abomination in its current state in order to remind people who the true criminal is, who's the one making their lives more difficult and killing local businesses?
"We're not embellishing the walls," Mohamed El Moshir tells me as he wipes yellow paint off his fingers. "We're simply stating that the streets are open. And at the same time, we're telling a story." He points at a small painting to the side of the main work.
The painting, tucked between the SCAF wall and the adjacent Scientific Complex library, shows a young man carrying books as he is pursued by flames. This isn't an artistic conceit; it shows what actually happened when the complex caught fire months ago. It reminds people of the bravery of the revolutionaries who risked their lives to save the invaluable books in the library.
After pondering my question for a few seconds, activist Loai Nagati ventured this thought: "We're building, not destroying - and this is what the walls are about. They show that the revolution is creative."
And when the murals were completed this Tuesday, after a week of intensive work, the artists and activists held a small party, with Hasaballah, the famous troupe of traditional musicians, invited to celebrate the opening of the streets and the victory of revolutionary art over the military boot.
Art Conquers Walls in Cairo
Friday, 23 March
Mohamed El Dahshan
Walls. The Egyptian army's answer to protests has, for the past six months, been to build walls. The construction of these walls at a few key points in downtown Cairo, blocking major streets in one of the world's already hardest-to-navigate capitals, is severely damaging the neighborhood, both economically and socially. But that was the least of their concerns. (How very Israeli of them!).
The aesthetics of these walls is, naturally, horrendous. They're little more than cubes of stone piled up across the streets, sometimes several meters high.
Some Egyptians, mad as only true artists are allowed to be, decided to do something about it. And thus was born the "No Walls Project," a series of landscapes to be painted on the six SCAF Walls in Cairo.
The artists presented themselves with a challenge: to re-open the blocked streets by making the walls invisible.
In one case they came up with an image that placed the silhouettes of children under a colorful rainbow. On another, they superimposed ancient Egyptian poetry on a rich landscape. Some used the original beige of the stone as the base of their images, while others covered it completely in paint. Others set the bar higher by transforming the wall into a window by showing us what lies on the other side. So the wall depicts what lies behind ... minus the barbed wire and the soldiers manning their checkpoints.
And if, for just a second, you look at the wall and you do see the continuation of that street, the lady with the stroller, the streetlamp on the sidewalk, the car parking on the left, then the wall becomes invisible. And the artists have won their bet.
I believe they have.
The artwork is brilliant. It is both as raw as graffiti should be, and as deft as can be summoned up only by hundreds of man (or woman) hours. It was no easy job replicating the depth and perspective of an entire street, particularly on a such a massive, unwelcoming, and irregular canvas. But Mohamed "El Moshir" Gad, Ammar Abu Bakr, Alaa Awad, Laila Maged, and their fellow artists succeeded. In fact, their own skill may have betrayed them a little - the streetscapes depicted by the painted walls look nicer than the real ones.
Take a look at these excellent-360 degree views. (Go ahead, click through the six walls. I'll wait.)
One thing does leave me uncomfortable, though.
The story has it that when British street art icon Banksy went to Palestine to tag the apartheid wall (remember the graffiti of the little girl being carried to the top of the wall by the balloons she's holding?), an elderly gentleman walked up to him and told him that he was making this ugly wall look beautiful. Banksy thanked him for the compliment. "You don't get it," the old retorted. "We don't want it to be beautiful."
As I stood inside a chalk-drawn circle (to get the right visual perspective) on Sheikh Rihan street, admiring the artists putting the final touches to the mural, I asked myself the same question as the elderly Palestinian.
Isn't it wrong, in a way, to embellish SCAF's criminal act? Shouldn't we leave this abomination in its current state in order to remind people who the true criminal is, who's the one making their lives more difficult and killing local businesses?
"We're not embellishing the walls," Mohamed El Moshir tells me as he wipes yellow paint off his fingers. "We're simply stating that the streets are open. And at the same time, we're telling a story." He points at a small painting to the side of the main work.
The painting, tucked between the SCAF wall and the adjacent Scientific Complex library, shows a young man carrying books as he is pursued by flames. This isn't an artistic conceit; it shows what actually happened when the complex caught fire months ago. It reminds people of the bravery of the revolutionaries who risked their lives to save the invaluable books in the library.
After pondering my question for a few seconds, activist Loai Nagati ventured this thought: "We're building, not destroying - and this is what the walls are about. They show that the revolution is creative."
And when the murals were completed this Tuesday, after a week of intensive work, the artists and activists held a small party, with Hasaballah, the famous troupe of traditional musicians, invited to celebrate the opening of the streets and the victory of revolutionary art over the military boot.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Beware of 'B for Bendetta' & Brotherhood's Bullshit!
BEWARE OF THE BROTHERHOOD'S BULLSHIT
Do you know what 'anarchism' means? It means your mother will wear a 'bandetta' mask!
Who? My mother?!
'B for Brotherhood's Bullshit'
*Artwork by Shahinaz Abdel Salam & Carlos Latuff (respectively)
Do you know what 'anarchism' means? It means your mother will wear a 'bandetta' mask!Who? My mother?!
'B for Brotherhood's Bullshit'*Artwork by Shahinaz Abdel Salam & Carlos Latuff (respectively)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Photos: Walls & battles on Sheikh Rihan Street
DECEMBER 18 - Clashes on Sheikh Rihan Street
On Dec. 18, clashes continued between protesters and security forces/thugs, for the third consecutive day.
After having used lethal force to dispersed the 'Occupy Cabinet' sit-in, the armed forces (on Dec. 17) constructed a massive concrete wall on Qasr el-Aini St. to keep protesters away from parliament and cabinet. Riot-police and military police attacked protesters with live ammunition, rubber bullets/pellets, tear gas, rocks, petrol bombs, and water canons using 'dirty-water.'
DECEMBER 19 - Third wall built, clashes continue on Sheikh Rihan
On the fourth day of street fighting, the armed forces constructed another wall and barriers on Sheikh Rihan St.
While groups of protesters fought-off security forces, other protesters managed to bring down parts of the wall - by dislodging massive blocks of concrete from the barrier.
Riot-police shelter behind iron shields. In five days, security forces killed at least 18 protesters, injured at least 2,000 others, and arrested over 200.
Muslim and Christian activists in a display of unity; expressing unity in their common struggle against the military junta and its crimes.
On Dec. 18, clashes continued between protesters and security forces/thugs, for the third consecutive day.
After having used lethal force to dispersed the 'Occupy Cabinet' sit-in, the armed forces (on Dec. 17) constructed a massive concrete wall on Qasr el-Aini St. to keep protesters away from parliament and cabinet. Riot-police and military police attacked protesters with live ammunition, rubber bullets/pellets, tear gas, rocks, petrol bombs, and water canons using 'dirty-water.'DECEMBER 19 - Third wall built, clashes continue on Sheikh Rihan
On the fourth day of street fighting, the armed forces constructed another wall and barriers on Sheikh Rihan St.
While groups of protesters fought-off security forces, other protesters managed to bring down parts of the wall - by dislodging massive blocks of concrete from the barrier.
Riot-police shelter behind iron shields. In five days, security forces killed at least 18 protesters, injured at least 2,000 others, and arrested over 200.
Muslim and Christian activists in a display of unity; expressing unity in their common struggle against the military junta and its crimes.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Photos: Nov. 21 protests & clashes around Tahrir Square
Youth protesters fought back riot-police forces on Mohamed Mahmoud Street for a third consecutive day on Monday.
Central Security Forces fired relentless volleys of teargas, and rubber bullets/pellets at protesters. The troops also hurled rocks and bottles at the protesters.
Protesters hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails. Youth activists also threw back teargas canisters in the direction of the police forces.
Football ultras lit their flares, petrol bombs, and shot firecrackers while fighting the riot-police on Mohamed Mahmoud Street.
Older activist holds a sign mocking Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, along with his Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF.) Sign reads "SCAF - Sinking of the Tantawic"
"Down with Tantawi and his stooges! Down with military rule!"
Estimates suggest that well over 100,000 protesters converged on Tahrir by nighttime. Protesters shook the square's foundations with the chant "the people demand the removal/execution of Tantawi," along with "down with military rule" and other anti-SCAF chants.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Photos: Nov. 20 protests & clashes around Tahrir
Youth activists rain rocks upon Central Security Forces on Mohamed Mahmoud Street.
Riot police relentlessly fired rubber pellets, and teargas canisters. The teargas created huge white smoke-clouds which lingered throughout Tahrir and its environs.
Hundreds of protesters and activists fainted, or fell ill, as a result of exposure to the teargas. Nearly all the teargas canisters fired at protesters were made in the USA - gifts to the Egyptian State from the 'peace-loving' Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Makeshift barricades.
Youth activists called for a truce with the riot police. However, the police - as usual - did not hold true to their word. The Central Security Forces resumed firing upon the youth. Naturally, these youths responded by fighting back so as to protect themselves and to hold their ground.
Well prepared photojournalist, Khaled el-Fiqqi, takes his photos near the billowing teargas.
Youth protester hurls a lit Molotov cocktail at the Central Security Forces.
Protesters hurl rocks from behind a burning car - used as a barricade - while a CSF soldier hurls bricks and bottles from a governmental building.
Young activist prays the evening prayer on an Egyptian flag, while his fellow activists rest upon the barricades.
Youth activists celebrated their success in driving back the riot police, military police, and reclaiming Tahrir Square - along with the streets leading to it.
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