Dear friends,
more on the inspiring protest by Egyptian women. According to the Associated Press article run in The Australia, around 10,000 women have marched through central Cairo calling for the fall of Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF).
The Guardian also has a series of stunning photos from the Women's March, which can be viewed by clicking here.
Inspiring!
In solidarity, Kim
**
more on the inspiring protest by Egyptian women. According to the Associated Press article run in The Australia, around 10,000 women have marched through central Cairo calling for the fall of Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF).
The Guardian also has a series of stunning photos from the Women's March, which can be viewed by clicking here.
Inspiring!
In solidarity, Kim
**
AP's raw footage of Women's march in central Cairo
Egyptian women hit street over violence
Associated Press report: The Australian: 21 December 2011
AROUND 10,000 women have marched through central Cairo demanding
Egypt's ruling military step down in an unprecedented show of outrage
over soldiers who dragged women by the hair and stomped on them, and
stripped one half-naked in the street during a fierce crackdown on
activists the past week.
The dramatic protest, which grew as the women marched from Tahrir
Square through downtown, was fueled by the widely circulated images of
abuses of women.
Many of the marchers touted the photo of the
young woman whose clothes were partially pulled off by troops, baring
her down to her blue bra, as she struggled on the ground.
"Tantawi
stripped your women naked, come join us," the crowd chanted to
passers-by, referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the
military council that has ruled Egypt since the February 11 fall of
Hosni Mubarak.
"The daughters of Egypt are a red line," they chanted.
Even
before the protest was over, the military council issued an unusually
strong statement of regret for what it called "violations" against women
- a quick turnaround after days of dismissing the significance of the
abuse.
The council expressed "deep regret to the great women of Egypt" and
affirmed "its respect and total appreciation" for women and their right
to protest and take part in political life. It promised it was taking
measures to punish those responsible for violations.
The
statement suggested the military's fear that attacks on women could
wreck its prestige at home and abroad, which has already been heavily
eroded by its fierce, five-day-old crackdown on pro-democracy protesters
demanding it surrender power.
The ruling generals have
campaigned to keep the public on its side in the confrontation,
depicting the activists as hooligans and themselves as the honorable
protectors of the nation, above reproach.
In unusually harsh
words, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday accused
the Egyptian security forces and extremists of specifically targeting
women.
"This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonors
the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform, and is not worthy
of a great people," she said.
In a possibly significant hint of
new flexibility, the council also said in its statement that it was
prepared to discuss any initiatives to help the security of the country.
In recent days, a number of political factions have pressed the
military to hand over power by February, rather than June, when it
promised to hold presidential elections.
In the past, police in
Mubarak's regime were accused of intentionally humiliating women in
protest crackdowns. But images of women being abused by soldiers were
particularly shocking in a society that is deeply conservative and
generally reveres the military.
The independent press has
splashed its front pages with pictures of soldiers chasing women
protesters, including ones in conservative headscarves and full
face-veils, beating them with sticks and clubs and dragging them by
their hair. The crackdown has left 14 people dead - all but one by
gunshots - and hundreds wounded.
The images of the half-stripped
protester, whose identity is not known, clearly had a powerful
resonance. A banner showing a photo of her on the asphalt - one soldier
yanking up her black robes and shirt, another poised to stomp on her
chest - was put up in Tahrir Square for passing drivers to see.
"The
girl dragged around is just like my daughter," said Um Hossam, a
54-year old woman in traditional black dress and a headscarf at the
march. "I am a free woman, and attacking this woman or killing
protesters is just like going after one of my own children."
Ringed
by a protective chain of men, the women marched from Tahrir to the
Journalists' Syndicate, several blocks away, chanting slogans demanding
the military council step down.
Many accused the military of
intentionally targeting women to scare them and their male relatives
from joining protests against the generals. Previously, the military has
implied women who joined protests were of loose morals. In March,
soldiers subjected detained female protesters to humiliating tests to
determine if they were virgins.
"They are trying to break women's
spirits, starting with the virginity tests. They want to break their
dignity so that they don't go out and protest," Maha Abdel-Nasser, an
engineer who joined the march, said.
Two sisters, Yomna and
Tasneem Shams, said they never took part in previous protests because
their parents wouldn't allow them. But they happened to be downtown and
spontaneously joined the women's march.
"No one should ever be
beaten for expressing their opinion," Yomna, 19, said. "I am proud I
took part in today's protest. I feel I can tell my kids I have done
something for them in the future."
Some also criticized Islamic
parties, which stayed out of the antimilitary protests and did not
participate in the march - even though religious conservatives often
tout their defense of "women's honor." Pro-democracy activists accused
them of being worried about anything that might derail ongoing,
multistage parliamentary elections, which the fundamentalist Muslim
Brotherhood and the more conservative Al-Nour Party have dominated so
far.
"This is a case of honor. But they clearly don't care for
honor or religion. They now care only about their political interests,"
said Mohammed Fawaz, one of the men in the protective chain around the
marching women.
The protest also is likely to deepen the
predicament of the military as critics began to talk openly about
putting them on trial for abuses, and politicians are floating ideas for
their exit, perhaps in return for immunity.
Emad Gad, a newly
elected lawmaker, said that without guarantees they would not be
prosecuted, the generals won't hand over power by the end of June as
promised. Foremost on their minds, he said, was the fate of Mubarak, who
ended in court facing charges that carry the death penalty after ruling
Egypt for nearly 30 years.
"They didn't get clear assurances and
that is why they try diabolical tactics to make sure they get these
guarantees," he said, citing the military's attempt to enshrine in the
next constitution language that would shield it from civilian scrutiny.
"We have to address their fears, their interests and future role," he said.
The
public and many activists welcomed the military when it took power from
Mubarak in February. But relations have deteriorated sharply since as
the democracy activists accused the generals of hijacking their
uprising, obstructing reforms, human rights abuses and failing to revive
the ailing economy or restore security.
The most recent protests
- and an earlier round of protests that saw a deadly crackdown last
month - have seen unprecedentedly bold ridiculing of the military, which
for decades was considered a revered institution above criticism. Young
protesters have heaped profanities into their antimilitary slogans,
demanded the execution of Tantawi and taunted soldiers in Tahrir.
On
Monday, a member of the military council, Maj. Gen. Adel Emara, took a
hard-line in a press conference, denouncing the protests as a conspiracy
to "topple the state" and accusing the media of fomenting sedition.
He
defended the use of force by troops, saying they had a duty to defend
the state's institutions and declined to offer an apology for brutality
toward female protesters. He did not dispute the authenticity of the
image of the woman being dragged half naked by soldiers, but said
Egyptians should not see it without considering the circumstances
surrounding the incident.
The apparent change in attitude with the statement of regret left some women unimpressed.
Sahar
Abdel-Mohsen, a 31-year old activist, doubted the promise to punish
those responsible and said the statement was in response to the US
criticism. "This is an apology to one woman, Hillary Clinton."
"This
is like someone raping a girl, and then going to the police station to
marry her (to avoid prosecution) and then divorce her as soon as he
leaves," she said.
"It is an attempt to exonerate themselves after the deed is done, but with little accountability."
AP
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