In a dictatorship, independent journalism by default becomes a form of activism, and the spread of information is essentially an act of agitation.
#AUCworkers 27-10-2010 إضراب عمال الجامعة الامريكية بالقاهرة – Salma asks- سلمى تسأل
The AUC workers on strike.
المقاومة المصرية: هندسة شبرا…أحداث 26 أكتوبر 2010 مع رئيس الجامعة
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
“I’ve been in the water seven times already today. I’m so tired. I can’t… No I can’t. Send someone else please. No, I told you I’ve been already in for seven times.”
The diver looked very exhausted indeed. I didn’t know him. He was sitting beside me in Abu Dabab. It was obvious he was calling his boss at the diving center, asking for replacement.
I couldn’t tell his age. Actually I find it hard in general to determine the age of divers I meet. I see people in their late 20s, but they look like they are in their 40s. Forget the stereotypical look you find in diving magazines or in movies, of that muscly well built man. The profession does weary you out quickly. Between the daily over-exposure to nitrogen, extreme physical activities, malnutrition, the divers I encounter in general are aging, very quickly.
This is only exacerbated by bad habits. The first thing a diver does when he comes out of the water is lighting a cigarette. Many go into the water on empty stomachs. The food they eat is shit, and usually with lots of carbohydrates. No proteins, or vitamin supplements. More catastrophically I’ve seen divers going into the water while they are sick, with bad cold.
The divers’ working conditions are almost as bad as the construction workers in Egypt, and the money they make is peanuts. Most of the money goes to the diving centers, not to the divers.
Egypt’s divers are part of the working class. And they need a union.
Egyptian pilots took part in Darfur war: former US diplomat | Radio Dabanga
If this is true, it wouldn’t be the first time. Egypt’s army helped crush the Sudanese Communist Party coup in 1971, and bombed the Mahdi supporters later (I think in 1974).
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Hossam el-Hamalawy is an Egyptian journalist from Cairo
hossam [at] arabawy [dot] org
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