A First

At about 3:45 pm today at the height of the usual rush hour virtually everyone in Egypt was somewhere sitting in front of a television set waiting to hear the announcement of the first (hopefully) democratically elected president in its history. The choice was a tough one for many people here, between an ex-cabinet minister from the Mubarak regime who was also a member of the military and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Surprisingly the unofficial vote count showed a clear win for Mohamed Morsi of the MB, and many people expected the military to push through a win for the ex-regime member, Ahmed Shafik, when the announcement of who won was postponed by 5 days. So the tension in Egypt was enormous. This shot of the roads going into the city from Giza was taken during the press conference announcing the winner. Empty roads like this are nothing short of miraculous.

Opening Soon

Yes, that is what someone stenciled on the wall of the burned out NDP headquarters that housed Mubarak's old political machine. It burned during the last days of January 2011 and many Egyptians hoped that it was gone forever. I don't know who took this photo. I found it on Twitter and no, it is not photoshopped. As Egypt waits for the military to announce who won the second round of presidential elections, the distinct possibility that Mubarak's prime minister will be declared winner regardless of the vote.

Election Day

Egyptians are voting in the first day of the runoff elections today in fierce sun heat. This line in Mataria, a section of Cairo, stands close to the wall for what little shade it offers. They are choosing between Ahmed Shafik and Mohamed Morsi. Who will be declared the winner is anyone's guess at this point.

Photo by Tamer el Gobashy

The Fence

Today the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that one of the candidates for president, Ahmed Shafiq, who was Mubarak's prime minister, could not be barred from running for office. It also ruled that because there were campaign irregularities in the cases of one third of the seats in the lower house of Parliament, Parliament in its entirety would be dissolved. The military council, that yesterday granted itself the right to arrest anyone for pretty much any reason, announced that it is now the official legislative body and that it will announce the membership of the 100 member council that is to form a new constitution tomorrow.

This photograph was taken by CNN's correspondent as people awaited the court's decision on the Corniche near Maadi.

Silent Vigil

Yesterday was the second anniversary of the death of Khaled Said, a young man in Alexandria who was beaten to death by the police in that city. A lot of people have tried to analyse why his death so shook the people of Egypt and I suspect that much of it had to do with the fact that he was very largely and Egyptian Everyman, someone who in various ways was much like many other young people here. After his death in 2010 protests were organised in which people wearing black or dark colours would simply stand about four or five metres apart and they wouldn't speak to each other or to passers by. The spacing was important because in 2010 protests were illegal and broken up, but if each person was not in contact with his/her neighbour, it couldn't be called a "group". Yesterday along the bridges of Cairo and the corniches that run beside the river and the sea, people gathered again in the same way to mark the anniversary of his death.

The photo is thanks to Zeinobia, who talks about the events of the day in her blog.

A Modern Obelisk

Yesterday saw the first anniversary of the protests that led to the fall of Hosny Mubarak. There were a lot of whispers about what to expect including the military's wild predictions that protesters would run riot, ransacking Cairo. What happened was beyond the realm of imagination. Tahrir was filled to capacity by 11 am, with huge marches on the way from all parts of the city protesting the continuation of military rule. The day was peaceful and powerful, challenging the military's predictions. This obelisk was brought to the protests and lists the martyrs of the protests for the past year. You can find this photo and others in the Facebook album of Egyptians in the US.

Attacked!

My sincere apologies for not posting for a while but my MacBook got attacked by a Trojan that was hijacking programs on my computer and using up all my internet allowance. I've had to have technicians clean it out and we are now trying to reconstruct my data which was saved but I worry might be infected. Bear with me.

Meanwhile, yesterday was the birth date of young Khaled Alaa Abdel Fattah, whose parents are Alaa and Manal, two of the first Egyptian bloggers that I found when I started my own blog. Most of their work is in Arabic and they are second or third generation activists who have been working to improve life in Egypt most of their lives. Alaa was arrested by the military on charges that are so obviously false it hurts to even think about it. He is still in detention and missed the birth of his first son, just as his father missed the birth of Alaa's sister Mona, another activist here. So everyone wish Khaled a happy birth day and a speedy reunion with his father.

Don't Mess With Egyptian Women

I generally post my photos from Cairo/Giza, but today is very special for all of us in Egypt and when I saw this photo I knew it was the perfect photo for Egypt today.

Hiding Place

I was up until 2 am last night reading Twitter for the news of the protests and the late break in at the Israeli embassy. The embassy is just across the road from Orman Gardens and the Giza Zoo, so fires, bullets and tear gas are quite concerning in the area. There were only a couple of people in the embassy when the protesters broke in and they were promptly turned over to the military. Contrary to Israeli statements there were no Egyptian commandos involved...Jeez. A lot of people were injured especially by over exposure to tear gas, not the least of them were soldiers who kept getting tear gas blown back at them when the security forces fires canisters. So this morning, I'd really like to be sitting in this little boat sipping some ice tea and maybe trying to catch a few of the perch that hang out in the canal. Someplace quiet and far, far away of the confusion that is Cairo right now.

A Sign of Normalcy

I suspect that Egyptian boys could find a place to play soccer ANYWHERE. This young man was getting in some good kicks to a barely inflated ball in a blocked street near Tahrir. A silver lining to any cloud.

Street Art

After years and years when anything like street art was illegal, the wellsprings of graffiti have burst their boundaries and I love it. We found this on Road 9 today. Wonderful stuff.

A Place of Blood and Tears

The mosque of Hussein is beautiful and peaceful most of the time. It faces a large square filled with sunlight and visitors marveling at the surroundings. Cafes line the square along the base of the Hussein Hotel and are usually filled with people from every part of the world enjoying a glass of tea or lunch. Yesterday evening someone dropped an explosive from a balcony overlooking one of these cafes and killed one French girl while injuring other visitors, French, Egyptian, and Saudi. The bustling peace of the square was shattered. I have visitors to Egypt staying with me and we will go to Hussein. We will visit the Khan. I refuse to allow horrible, misguided people to ruin this country.