Mona Seif منى سيف
Born	(1986-03-12) March 12, 1986 (age 26)[1] Cairo, Egypt
Residence	Cairo
Nationality	Egyptian
Ethnicity	Egyptian
Religion	Muslim
Parents	Ahmad Seif and Laila Soueif
Relatives	Alaa Abd El-Fatah (brother)
Website
http://tahrirdiaries.wordpress.com/

Mona Seif (Arabic: منى سيف‎, IPA: [ˈmonæ ˈseːf]) is a female Egyptian activist, known for her use of social media,^[2] her role in the 2011 Egyptian revolution,^[3] and her continued push against military trials for civilian protesters.

Background[link]

Seif grew up in a family of activists, and activism was a constant topic of discussion in Mona's childhood. Her father, Ahmad Seif, is a human rights attorney who was imprisoned five years. During his detention, he was tortured. Her mother, Laila Soueif, is also an activist and a mathematics professor. She helped organize demonstrations against the Mubarak regime over the decades before his downfall. Her mother is "known on the streets as brash and courageous, and has on numerous occasions faced down baton-wielding policemen with nothing but her scolding, scathing, booming voice and steely eyes".^[3] Mona's brother Alaa co-created the Egyptian blog aggregator Manalaa and in 2005 began to document abuses by the Mubarak regime. Alaa was arrested at a demonstration in 2006 and imprisoned for 45 days, during which Mona and jis wife Manal helped organize an online campaign to free him. Mona's younger sister, Sanaa, is also involved in organizing protests.^[3]

Seif is a cancer research lab worker, but much of her time is spent pursuing human and civil rights reforms.^[3]

2011 revolution[link]

Nour (Ayman Nour's son) & Mona Seif.

In the year leading up to the revolution Mona became involved in the dissent movement, spreading awareness and attending demonstrations. Between January 25 and February 5, the members of Mona's immediate family and many members of their extended family gathered together in the Tahrir Square protests. Mona recalls "It was a life-changing moment for most of the people in Tahrir Square. You could see the gunshots at people...".^[3]

Post-Mubarak[link]

Dr. Aida Seif El Dawla and Mona Seif at the Anti-Torture conference

Seif is a member of No to Military Trials for Civilians^[4], a group pushing for the release of those detained during the revolution, the movement of civilians from military courts to trials by a civil judge, and, investigation of torture allegations involving military police.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} Seif wrote on her blog Ma3t, about the military police during crackdowns on Tahrir protesters, requesting people come forward with their stories.^[10]

She has been critical of the action's of Egypt's interim ruling body the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) saying, of the release of protesters without full exoneration: “The fact that they have suspended sentences does not give them the pride they deserve as revolutionaries who did nothing wrong."^[11]

Seif estimates that military courts have sentenced 7,000 civilians since former Hosni Mubarak's ouster in February, 2011.^[12][13] She notes that there has been a shift in the SCAF's approach since March and that protesters are now getting suspended sentences rather than the 3-5 year sentences they were previously getting. She speculates that this may be an attempt to stop the regular marches and may also be due to the pressure applied by international human right groups.

She has continued to criticize tactics of the SCAF: "We have evidence that the military right now is targeting protesters. ... They selected known figures of the Tahrir protest. They selected people who were known and they tortured and beat them up...and if you read or listen to the testimonies of those who were released, which are a few, we still have a lot of people detained unconstitutionally. And you see that it's not just that they're getting tortured or beaten up, but there's an element of the Army trying to break the revolutionary spirit." ^[3]

Part of Seif's project involves asking detainees who have been released to record what happened to them. In some cases she says she has managed to get their testomies immediately after their release and so record bruise marks and burns. It is Sief's opinion that with these cases the only way to fight them is via the internet. ^[3]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/war-zones/pc-egypt/564-egypt-my-part-in-the-revolution-mona-seif.html
• http://womensvoicesforchange.org/tag/mona-seif
• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/quiet-heroines-whose-courage-has-helped-keep-uprising-going-2205080.html
• http://blogs.aljazeera.net/category/person/mona-seif
• http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/06/16/arab.unrest.irevolution/
• http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/hanna150611.html
• http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/467893
• http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/452285
• http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/02/2011217134411934738.html
• http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/02/02/18671000.php
• http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110209/jsp/foreign/story_13555988.jsp
• http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2011/04/15/segments/159143
• http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2011/02/04/segments/158939
• http://electronicintifada.net/content/egyptian-activist-mona-seif-its-revolution-and-its-not-over/9230
• http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/mona-seif-egyptian-activist-inside-tahrir-s

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mona Seif

• Diaries under military rule, a blog about the experienced of detained protesters
• Mona Seif's blog Ma3t
• Mona Seif's flickr account
• Mona Seif's twitter account

Martin Ennals (27 July 1927 – 5 October 1991) was a British human rights activist. Ennals served as the Secretary-General of Amnesty International from 1968 to 1980. He went on to help found the British human rights organisation ARTICLE 19, followed by International Alert in 1985.

During Ennals's tenure as Secretary General, Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Erasmus Prize, and the UN Human Rights Award.^[1]

Early life and Career[link]

Born in 1927 in Walsall, Staffordshire to Arthur Ford Ennals and his wife Jessie Edith Taylor. Ennals was educated at Queen Mary's Grammar School and The London School of Economics, where he received a degree in international relations. Ennals worked for The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from 1951 to 1959. In 1959, Ennals became a founding member of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, and also become Secretary General of the National Council for Civil Liberties, a position that he held until 1966, when he become Information and Publications Officer of the Commission for Racial Equality.^[2]

Ennals's older brother, David Ennals was a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Social Services.

Award[link]

The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, created in 1993, is granted annually to someone who has demonstrated an exceptional record of combating human rights violations by courageous means and is in need of protection. The award gives international "protective publicity" to human rights defenders around the world, mainly in their country of origin (a unique characteristic of this award, and very important from a protection point of view), through mass media (television, radio and internet). The winner is selected in Geneva, the world center for human rights, by a jury made up of 10 leading international human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Frontline, International Commission of Jurists, etc. ^[3].

The Martin Ennals Award is considered THE award of the whole human rights movement. It is known as "the Nobel prize for human rights" (Le Monde), "the world prize of human rights" (El Pais"), etc. The Annual Ceremony is an event with world Internet and TV coverage. The most recent ceremony took place at the Victoria Hall in Geneva on 13 October 2011. ^[3]

See also[link]

• Human Rights Defenders

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
• Human rights defenders from Iran and Zimbabwe receive Martin Ennals Award 2006, presented by Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

This biographical article about a United Kingdom activist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Rachel Maddow
Maddow hosting KPTK's "Changing the Media, Changing America" event in Seattle
Born	Rachel Anne Maddow (1973-04-01) April 1, 1973 (age 39) Castro Valley, California, U.S.
Education	B.A., Stanford University D.Phil, University of Oxford
Occupation	News anchor Political commentator Television host
Notable credit(s)	The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC) The Rachel Maddow Show (Air America Radio)
Website
www.rachelmaddow.com

Rachel Anne Maddow (pronounced /ˈmædoʊ/; born April 1, 1973) is an American television host, political commentator, and author.^[1][2] Maddow hosts a nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC.^[3] Her syndicated talk radio program of the same name aired on Air America Radio. Maddow is the first openly gay anchor of a prime-time news program in the United States.^[4][5][6][7]

Asked about her political views by the Valley Advocate, Maddow replied, "I'm undoubtedly a liberal, which means that I'm in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican party platform."^[8]

Early life and education[link]

Maddow was born in Castro Valley, California. Her father, Robert B. "Bob" Maddow, is a former United States Air Force captain who resigned his commission the year before her birth and found civilian work as a lawyer for the East Bay Municipal Utility District. Her mother, Elaine Maddow (née Gosse), is a school program administrator from Newfoundland, Canada.^[9][10][11] She has one older brother, David. Her father is of Russian and Dutch descent and her mother is of English and Irish ancestry.^[11] Maddow's mother was raised a strict Roman Catholic, and Maddow herself grew up in a community that her mother has described as "very conservative."^[12][13] Maddow was a competitive athlete and played three sports in high school.^[14] Referencing John Hughes films, she describes herself in high school as "a cross between the jock and the antisocial girl."^[13]

A graduate of Castro Valley High School in Castro Valley, California, she attended Stanford University. While a freshman, she was outed by the college newspaper when an interview with her was published by the student newspaper before she could tell her parents.^[15] Maddow earned a degree in public policy from Stanford in 1994.^[16] At graduation she was awarded the John Gardner Fellowship.^[17] She was also the recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship and began her postgraduate study in 1995 at Lincoln College, Oxford. In 2001, she earned a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in politics from Oxford University.^[18] Her thesis is titled HIV/AIDS and Health Care Reform in British and American Prisons (supervisor: Dr Lucia Zedner). She was the first openly gay American to win a Rhodes scholarship.^[19][20]

Radio career[link]

Maddow's first radio hosting job was at WRNX (100.9 FM) in Holyoke, Massachusetts, after she entered and won a contest the station held to find a new on-air personality.^[21] She was hired to co-host WRNX's morning show, The Dave in the Morning Show. She went on to host Big Breakfast on WRSI, in Northampton, Massachusetts, for two years. She left the show in March 2004 to join the new Air America.^[18] There she hosted Unfiltered along with Chuck D (of the hip hop group Public Enemy) and Lizz Winstead (co-creator of The Daily Show), until its cancellation in March 2005.^[22] Two weeks after the cancellation of Unfiltered in April 2005, Maddow's weekday two-hour radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show, began airing; in March 2008 it gained an hour, broadcasting from 6 to 9 p.m. EST with David Bender filling in the third hour for the call-in section, when Maddow was on TV assignment. In September 2008, the show's length returned to two hours when Maddow began a nightly MSNBC television program. In February 2009, after renewing her contract with Air America, Maddow returned to the 5 am hour-long slot.^[23] Her last Air America show was on January 21, 2010, two weeks before its owners filed for bankruptcy.^[24]

Television career[link]

In June 2005, Maddow became a regular panelist on MSNBC's Tucker.^[25] During and after the November 2006 election, she was a frequent guest on CNN's Paula Zahn Now. In January 2008, Maddow became a MSNBC political analyst and was a regular panelist on MSNBC's Race for the White House with David Gregory and MSNBC's election coverage,^[26] as well as a frequent contributor on Countdown with Keith Olbermann.^[18]

In April 2008, Maddow was the substitute host for Countdown with Keith Olbermann, her first time hosting a program on MSNBC. Maddow described herself on air as "nervous." Keith Olbermann complimented her work, and she was brought back to host Countdown the next month. The show she hosted was the highest rated news program among people ages 25 to 54, a key demographic in ratings.^[27] For her success, the next Monday, Olbermann ranked Maddow third in his show's segment "World's Best Persons".^[28] In July 2008, while Olbermann was on vacation, Maddow filled in again for several broadcasts and, on July 21, for half the show.^[29] Maddow also filled in for David Gregory as host of Race for the White House.^[18]

[edit] The Rachel Maddow Show

In August 2008, MSNBC announced The Rachel Maddow Show would replace Verdict with Dan Abrams in the network's 9 p.m. slot the following month.^[30][31] Following its debut, the show topped Countdown as the highest rated show on MSNBC on several occasions.^[32][33] After being on air for more than a month, Maddow's program doubled the audience that hour.^[34]

Early reviews for her show were mostly positive. The Los Angeles Times writer Matea Gold stated Maddow "finds the right formula on MSNBC,"^[35] and The Guardian writes Maddow has become the "star of America's cable news."^[20] Associated Press columnist David Bauder said she's "[Keith] Olbermann's political soul mate" and the Olbermann-Maddow shows are a "liberal two-hour block."^[36]

Public image and publicity[link]

Maddow has been profiled in People,^[37] the Guardian,^[38] and the New York Observer,^[39] has appeared on “The View” and “Charlie Rose”^[40]

Keith Olbermann played a pivotal role in Maddow's hiring at MSNBC. Olbermann was able to pressure Phil Griffin to give Maddow Dan Abram's slot. A fan of Maddow's, Olbermann was able to use his influence, which had become greater as his ratings rose.^[41]

A 2011 Hollywood Reporter profile of Maddow said that she was able to deliver news "with agenda, but not hysteria.”^[42] A Newsweek profile noted that “At her best, Maddow debates ideological opponents with civility and persistence...But for all her eloquence, she can get so wound up ripping Republicans that she sounds like another smug cable partisan.". Baltimore Sun critic David Zurawik has accused Maddow of acting like 'a lockstep party member.'”^[43]

A Time profile called her a “whip-smart, button-cute leftie.” It said that she radiates an essential decency and suggested that her career rise might signify that “nice is the new nasty.”^[44]

Political views[link]

Distinguishing herself from others on the left, Maddow said she's a "national security liberal" and in a different interview that she's not "a partisan."^[45][46] The New York Times called her a "defense policy wonk" who is writing a book on the role of the military in postwar American politics.^[35][45] (The book, titled Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power, was published in 2012.) During the 2008 presidential election, Maddow did not formally support any candidate. Concerning Barack Obama's candidacy, Maddow said during the primaries, "I have never and still don't think of myself as an Obama supporter, either professionally or actually."^[47]

In March 2010, Republican Scott Brown, the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts, speculated that Maddow was going to run against him for his seat in 2012. He used this premise for a fundraising email that read "...The Massachusetts political machine is looking for someone to run against me. And you're not going to believe who they are supposedly trying to recruit — liberal MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow." Maddow said Brown's speculation was false. On her March 23, 2010, TV program, Maddow said, "I have the best job in the world. I am not running for office. Scott Brown didn't ask me if I was running or planning to run for office, before he wrote a fundraising letter with my name. No, it's completely made up by him." Despite her comments, the next day Brown continued along the same line, telling a Boston radio station, "Bring her on." To help put an end to the matter, Maddow ran a full-page advertisement in the Boston Globe confirming she was not running, and separately demanded Brown's apology. She added that despite repeated invitations over the months, Brown had refused to appear on her TV program.^{[48][49][50][51]}

Personal life[link]

Maddow lives in Manhattan and western Massachusetts with her partner, artist Susan Mikula.^[52][53] The couple met in 1999, when Mikula hired Maddow to do yard work at her home. Maddow was working on her doctoral dissertation at the time.^[52] Their first date was at a National Rifle Association "Ladies' Day on the Range" event.^[54] Although Massachusetts and New York recognize same-sex marriage, as of 2009 Maddow and Mikula had no plans to marry.^[13]

Honors and awards[link]

• Emmy Award in the Outstanding News Discussion and Analysis category for "The Rachel Maddow Show" episode "Good Morning Landlocked Central Asia!"
• Maddow was named in Out magazine's "Out 100" list of the "gay men and women who moved culture" in 2008.^[55]
• Maddow was voted "Lesbian/Bi Woman of the Year (American)" in AfterEllen's 2008 Visibility Awards.^[56]
• Maddow won a Gracie Award in 2009, presented by the American Women in Radio and Television.^[57]
• In 2009, Maddow was nominated for GLAAD's 20th Annual Media Awards for a segment of her MSNBC show, "Rick Warren, Change To Believe In?", in the Outstanding TV Journalism Segment category.^[58]
• On March 28, 2009, Maddow received a Proclamation of Honor from the California State Senate, presented in San Francisco by California State Senator Mark Leno.^[59]
• In April 2009, she was listed at number four in Out magazine's Annual Power 50 List.^[60]
• Maddow placed sixth in the "2009 AfterEllen.com Hot 100" list (May 11, 2009)^[61] and third in its "2009 Hot 100: Out Women" version.^[62]
• Maddow was included on a list of openly gay media professionals in The Advocate's "Forty under 40" issue of June/July 2009.^[63]
• In 1994, Maddow was an Honorable Mention in the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Prize in Ethics.^[64]
• In June 2009, Maddow's MSNBC show was the only cable news show nominated for a Television Critics Association award in the Outstanding Achievement in News and Information category.^[65]
• In March 2010, Maddow won at the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards in the category, Outstanding TV Journalism- Newsmagazine for her segment, "Uganda Be Kidding Me".^[66]
• Maddow was the 2010 commencement speaker and was given an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree at Smith College in Northampton, MA in May 2010.^[67]
• In July 2010, Maddow was presented with a Maggie Award for her ongoing reporting of healthcare reform, the murder of Dr. George Tiller, and the anti-abortion movement.^[68]
• In August 2010, Maddow won the Walter Cronkite Faith & Freedom Award, which was presented by The Interfaith Alliance.^[69] Past honorees included Larry King, Tom Brokaw, and the late Peter Jennings.^[69]
• In November 2011, she was included on the list of "Over-Rated Thinkers" by the editors of The New Republic.^[70]
• In February 2012, Maddow was presented the John Steinbeck Award by the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University.^[71]

Bibliography[link]

• Maddow, Rachel (2012). Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power. Crown. ISBN 978-0-307-46098-1. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rachel Maddow

• Rachel Maddow on Twitter
• Official website
• Profile and show at MSNBC
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Rachel Maddow on Charlie Rose
• Rachel Maddow at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Rachel Maddow in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Mona Eltahawy منى الطحاوى
Eltahawy speaking at the 2011 Personal Democracy Forum
Born	(1967-08-01) August 1, 1967 (age 44) Port Said, Egypt[1]
Nationality	Egyptian/American
Education	American University in Cairo
Occupation	Journalist
Religion	Islam
Website
http://www.monaeltahawy.com/

Mona Eltahawy (Arabic: منى الطحاوى‎, IPA: [ˈmonæ (ʔe)ltˤɑˈħɑːwi]; born 1 August 1967, Port Said, Egypt) is a freelance Egyptian-American journalist based in New York.

Eltahawy was educated at the American University in Cairo, from which she has an MA in Journalism. Before moving from her native Egypt to the United States in 2000, Eltahawy was a news reporter for a decade. She was a correspondent for Reuters News Agency in Cairo and Jerusalem, reported from the Middle East for the UK's Guardian newspaper and was a stringer for U.S. News and World Report.

She wrote a weekly column for the Saudi-owned international Arab publication Asharq Al-Awsat for some years before her articles were discontinued for being "too critical" of the Egyptian regime, she claimed in an article written for the International Herald Tribune in 2006.^[2]

However, the ban imposed by Asharq Al-Awsat's editor in chief, Tariq Alhomayed, gave Eltahawy a platform and she now writes essays and op-eds for publications worldwide on Egypt and the Islamic world, including women's issues and Muslim political and social affairs. Eltahawy is active in the Progressive Muslim Union, and has been a strong critic of the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, and the Miami Herald among others.

Eltahawy is a frequent guest analyst on U.S. radio and television news shows. She also speaks publicly at universities, panel discussions and interfaith gatherings on human rights and reform in the Islamic world, feminism and Egyptian Muslim-Christian relations in addition to her other concerns. From 2002 to 2004, she was managing editor of the Arabic-language version of Women's eNews, an independent, non-profit news website that covers women's issues from around the world.

The Economist in 2009 credited Eltahawy with coining the phrase "the opium of the Arabs", referring to "an intoxicating way for [Arab leaders] to forget their own failings or at least blame them on [Israel]. Arab leaders have long practice of using Israel as a pretext for maintaining states of emergency at home and putting off reform."^[3]

On 24 November 2011, she tweeted (@monaeltahawy) "beaten arrested in interior ministry" amid renewed protests in Tahrir Square. She was held in custody for 12 hours and accused those who held her of physical and sexual assault.^[4] Her left arm and right hand were fractured.^[5]

Eltahawy is a board member of the Progressive Muslim Union of North America.^[6]

Awards & honors[link]