Egyptian views on street assaults
Three young women in Cairo give their reactions to news that women were assaulted by crowds of young men in the city during Eid celebrations.
HANIN HANAFY, DEVELOPMENT WORKER, CAIRO, 28
I think chaos is spreading in Egypt.
There are the social and economic problems which mean that there's no work and people are too poor to get married.
Cairo Eid crowds: Bloggers say the picture shows a shop owner giving shelter to a woman who was assaulted
Blogs broke the story that has scandalised Egyptians (Picture: misrdigital.com)
There are problems with a lack of democracy. And also a lack of basic services such as decent education and transport.
You can't even walk safely along the street, there are so many road accidents.
It all points to one thing: a state which does not protect its people or provide them with the basics.
The targets for all these problems become the women - or Christians - who are the most vulnerable.
I can believe the police did nothing to help, because it has happened before.
In May last year women taking part in a political demonstration were sexually harassed in front of police.
Some incidents were encouraged by the officers, to frighten women away from demonstrations. This is the way police often handle security in public places.
But at the end of the day the police are not the problem; the issue is one of a state and society in collapse.
DINA ORIBY, INTERNATIONAL MUSLIM WOMEN'S NGO, CAIRO, 27
This is quite shocking. This incident was an attack on all our values. It went beyond everything we condemn.
In Egypt we don't approve of having intimate relationships in the street; of people kissing or holding hands.
So how come we have reached such an extreme of touching and bothering people?
I do think it reflects the state of corruption we live in.
I'm talking about a lack of good education and upbringing. I think the role of parenthood and Islamic preaching is missing.
We're concerned with how to pray and fast, but not with how to bring up good citizens.
Parents need to know how to punish and how to reward.
The state schools are deteriorating more and more. There are some good schools, but they only take the children of the wealthy.
I don't blame the police for not doing more. They are not paid enough and not appreciated properly. They are poor people in the first place, they are miserable and suffering too.
We have a problem in Egypt that our rights aren't protected anyway.
ELHAM FATHI, TRANSLATOR, CAIRO, 24
I was shocked when I read about this in the blogs. I nearly cried; I pictured myself having to face this kind of shameful experience.
I think there are many reasons young men are behaving like this. It shows how desperate they have become through poverty and unemployment. This means they have to wait longer before they can get married.
The media also has a role to play in this through the images it presents. Movies show heroes as drug addicts and outlaws.
Video clips and commercials use women's bodies and bad language to sell things.
I can believe that the police did nothing to help the women, because I have had experience of this myself.
Once, when I was being kerb-crawled by a man in a car I ran to a policeman for help. He said it was none of his business.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6107216.stm
I hope the brothers and fathers of the girls go find these yutes and give some family justice. No excuse for that behaivor.
Paris? Cairo? What's the difference?
I thought this only happened in Europe...
Damn that Bush!
Reminds me of Central Park.
Preview of America without full force of the 2nd Amendment.
I am sure these nice young Muslim me will say the women asked for it by actually being in public.....
Outfitting the young ladies with Kalashnikovs and multipe full magazines would go a long way toward restoring order ...
I think this is the original blog - in any case it has video and pictures of the incidents.
http://misrdigital.blogspirit.com/
I did not see any obvious nudity but there is violence and I cannot guarentee there is not some nudity in the videos as I did not watch them all - best to consider this site possible not work safe.
Here are two sample work safe pictures
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9720/ola1kp2.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/3621/p1270077xt1.jpg
Didn't happen if you didn't see it in the news...
"the attackers targeted veiled as well as unveiled women"
I thought veiled women were protected by the modesty of their veils and were supposed to be safe. Isn't that what the Australian imam said? Sarc/off
What a terrible religion and what a despicable, corrupt and utterly worthless Government Egypt has.
What Egypt and all unreformed Islamic countries need is an "Underground Railroad" of sorts, to allow women who want to escape this madness an opportunity to do so. It would provide them with secret transit to neighboring countries that have some degree of sanity, and an ability to start a new life with a new identity, to shield them from the repercussions of their 'families'..
Just as Christians played a major role in the abolition of Slavery here in the USA, so they could also play a role in the abolition of the slavery of women in the Muslim world.
Thanks to the internet, funding would such an organization would be easy. It could be done via PayPal or any other preexisting payment mechanism.
.
Sexually frustrated? What'd they do-run out of farm animals?
The old bulls in a polygamous society have to get rid of the young males so the old bulls can have all the young females for themselves.
