Current Affairs in Egypt

Mandour, Maged. "Political Violence and State Repression in Egypt."OpenDemocracy. Open Democracy, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.

The latter half of the 20th century was an incredibly turbulent time for Egypt as regimes cycled in and out every couple decades and the country seemed to always be at war. “The Yacoubian Building”, a 2002 film, illustrated how the resulting corrupted government and abysmal economy affected Egypt’s population, especially the lower classes. Additionally, the viewer saw how these two factors led to both the appalling treatment of women and the rise of violent insurgency groups.

When reporting on terrorism, the media function as a double-edged sword. They assure terrorists that their grievances will receive public attention; yet they also can mobilize public opinion against the arbitrary use of violence by stripping terrorism of its "romantic veneer" and exposing its violent underpinnings to public scrutiny.20 ' The proposed general industry guidelines should minimize the harms from publicizing terrorist events while maximizing the speech interests vital to a democratic society (Moffitt, 1998). In previous decades, the journalistic mission was to report the news as it actually happened, with fairness, balance, and integrity; Profit gaining motives associated with journalism have forced much of today's television news to look to the spectacular, the stirring, and the controversial as news stories. It's no longer a race to break the story first or get the facts right. Instead, it's to acquire good ratings in order to get advertisers, so that profits soar. The goals of terrorists are not solely confined to winning the attention of the masses. In addition to that, through the media, they aim to publicize their political causes, inform both friends and foes about the motives for terrorist deeds, and explain their rationale for resorting to violence

It has been six years since Egypt drove itself into oppositions of institutions in 2011. Still to this day, there is no label of the revolution to be a “success” or “failure”. It is easy to stop the moment of a unethical government was taken down, the reconstruction of Egypt and its laws is an ongoing struggle. In American history, there was no specific day when we came out of mass chaos into a united country of freedom and democracy. For Egypt's sake, all we can do is give them time to get the government back on their feet and support them in what they are still going

This revolution caused many countries with authoritarian governments become less self-assured. Despite our inability to conclude definitively that this is going to be the start of yet another global democratic process – these events have shown us that the Arab world is not as obdurate towards democracy as we might have previously believed. In light of this information, we can see the importance of violence as a means of striving towards democracy. The violence in the case of the Arab revolts is seen as a positive stride towards capitalist development. This, in turn, will lead to a freer society by way of disbanding the authoritarian government which rules these

The movement in Egypt started with a push for the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. Egyptians rallied in Cairo and other cities to protest his rule. The regime change started out with the intellectuals, student groups, unions and some others. At this point the military was not involved in a violent manner. Through this first change in power, the military remained non-violent and an ally to the people. As a result, Mubarak stepped down and handed power to the military. Following Mubarak’s leave, the first religious groups finally joined the fight for change. The Muslim Brotherhood provided people, who carried their beliefs, for the new role of leader. For the first time, Egypt democratically elected its president. The Muslim Brotherhood won this election against a “military remnant of the Mubarak regime”[4]. A series of leadership changes followed as citizens realized the corruption of their newly elected leaders. Egyptians wanted Mohamed Morsi to step down because he lied about his plans for when he would come into power. While Morsi was in power so, too, was the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood claimed, “We will blow Egypt apart… There will be blood, there will be booby-trapped cars, there will be remote-control explosions… this (violence) that’s happening in Sinai will stop the second [general] Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declares the reversal of the coup”[5]. Through both action and speech, it is very clear that the Muslim Brotherhood wanted to remain in power. Civilians were being kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the military and the Muslim Brotherhood. Both the military and the Brotherhood wanted to eliminate critical thinking and debate in order to take control of an obedient country[5]. Why would these groups want an obedient country to rule? For the same reason that any leader ruling with violence:

Depending on where you get your news, what TV shows you watch, and by which mediums you most frequently consume the media, your individual interpretation of the same event may vary greatly with that of others. The advantages of a 21st century media are unquestionable. In an advanced society it is completely reasonable to assert that differing ideologies are necessary and in fact healthy for a learned civilization. The importance of credible institutions reporting on the behalf of the masses is a vital part of the freedoms expected to be globally upheld. Unfortunately, there are some clearly negative societal consequences of our vast media markets as well. As they do at times, veer away from credibility and steer towards agenda based and profit influenced reporting. When consuming any form of media, it is vital to be cautionary of different biases, and factors that may impact the way information is presented to you as a consumer. It is important to acknowledge that all media sources operate within the boundaries of some agenda or purpose. Media sources often times provide very different accounts of the same information. The Syrian refuge crisis has sparked an extensive amount of discussion globally. in 2016, it has been one of the most frequently covered topics of discussion. The uniquely demanding crisis, has had great impact on political rhetoric in every corner of the world. The nearly 6 million estimated individuals fleeing Syria have been the topic of much discussion.

“The people want the fall of the regime, It’s your turn doctor,” read a simple message crudely spray-painted on a school wall in the southern Syrian city of Darra. Little did the teenager perpetrators know that their defiant graffiti would act as a catalyst to one of the greatest humanitarian crisis in modern history. The message was directed towards Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, who was a practicing ophthalmologist prior to his presidency. It was a cry for democracy, a challenge towards al-Assad totalitarian authority in an oppressed and unstable region. Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi, dictators of Libya and Egypt, had just watched their regime collapse in a political uprising, leaving the al-Assad administration distressed over a similar revolution. Consequently, the boys were promptly arrested, beaten, and interrogated for their message of rebellion. Relatives, neighbors, and hundreds of other discontented citizens took the streets in protest in which al-Assad’s security forces responded to by opening fire, killing several. Thus marking the beginning of the Syrian civil war. As news spread hundreds of thousands more started taking the street in protest. Al-Assad responded with an iron fist, using force to hinder the protesting. The brutal and uncompromising response was intended to coerce Syrian civilians into submission, instead the opposite occurred, civilian resolve for revolution was strengthened.

As 2010 approached its ending, a previously unheard of global issue started surfacing. All over the Middle East and parts of East Africa, a loud mantra could be heard repeatedly in the air. The chant made its way through many countries, gathering more and more followers as it travelled all around the Arab world. Social media sprung with constant chatter with a certain phrase appearing almost everywhere: “The people want to topple the regime.” Thousands of fed up youth and their elders filled the streets, demanding political freedom and economic stability from their unjust rulers. For many people, they didn’t see it coming. Despite the fact that democracy had been spreading across many areas of Europe, East Asia, Africa, and Latin America, many Middle Eastern countries have been standing their grounds, refusing to change. Their leaders had been in power for way too long to even consider a switch in politics that could risk their personal gains. All across the Arab land, frustration and hostility filled the air as people started realizing how long they have been dormant. It wasn’t a surprise when someone finally decided to end the silence. On December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian fruit vendor, set himself on fire after having his goods confiscated unjustly by a police officer. Just like a falling row of dominos, Bouazizi’s decision caused a chain reaction causing millions of angry Tunisians to take a stand, finally deciding to face their corrupt

The Arab Spring movement is a fundamental event that occurred in the Arab world and a source for contentious debate amongst Western and Middle East scholars regarding the degree of political change and empowerment that the Arab Spring produced; political change refers to the overthrowing of autocratic governments and empowerment refers to the newfound collective identity, empowerment, and unity amongst citizens to challenge corrupt governments. Social movements such as the Arab spring, are defined as collective acting with some degree of organization and continuity outside of institutional or organizational channels for the purpose of challenging or defending the state authority, whether it is institutionally or culturally based in the group, organization, society, culture, or the world order of which they are a part (Orum and Dale 2009, 218). With this definition in mind, the Arab Spring is a wave of social protests initiated by civilians against corrupt governments. In the case of Egypt, the Arab Spring movement is primarily recognized as the 2011 Egyptian revolution. This revolution is characterized by eighteen day long social protests that largely focused on political and regime changes in regards to Hosni Mubarak’s governance. In part, because Mubarak failed to meet the legitimate aspirations of their citizens. These include but are not restricted to political/economic freedoms, human dignity, and economic prosperities. Considering these explanations, the uprising in

In Egyptian colloquial language the 1967 war against Israel is dubbed elnaksa meaning “the great crisis”? This term signifies the great loss of Egyptian pride and identity that have become greatly synonymous with this war for Egyptians. Perhaps what made matters worse was the fact that the Egyptian people felt betrayed by their leader Gamal Abd El Nasser who had greatly disillusioned them and was greatly disillusioned himself into believing that Egypt could enter this war and emerge victorious. The question therefore becomes “Why did Egypt decide to escalate conflict with Israel by embarking on the 1967 war?”

After Two months of the attack that was grasped by a Tunisian operative who was unemployed because of the treatment of the state, countless and large demonstrations have range so fast amid the working class as well as the youth in the finished Middle East. The movement commenced to range so fast from one state to one more that it was shouted the Arabic Spring as it range to Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and Libya. Every single administration in every single state was frightened that the waves of anger should menace his rule. Countless strategies have been set to protect the administrations in countless countries. The

After the 25th of January revolution in Egypt, the media started to be the backbone of the Egyptian social political lifestyle. The media forms the people’s opinions towards a certain candidate, propagate against an ideology or a movement. Before the presidential election in Egypt, each political party started to open its own TV channels publicizing their own agendas and thoughts on certain issues and problems that faces the Egyptian at the time, for example, a writer by the name Abdel Moneim says “in 1997 when the Egyptian Radio and Television Union asked me to host a program titled Behind Events. I agreed on one condition: I would operate with complete independence,” which means that to be independent, it was a very hard task and a

This rise of the Arab Spring, a revolution demonstrating the unity of Arab’s across the Middle East and North Africa, forced Ben Ali to be exiled to Saudi Arabia after several weeks of protests against his authoritarian rule that had led to declining socioeconomic conditions as well as the corruption of the president’s extended family. As to why it is important to recognize the media role in shaping societies view on global politics, the use of media in Tunisia by the Arab Spring exposed a different side of Ben Ali; who was for most of his years ruling, a “convenient if uncomfortable ally” for the west. For the first time the rest of the world were given an insight to what Ben Ali’s authoritarian regime had done to his country, the high unemployment rate and injustices across the region were along with many other issues of national interest that risked the stability of his regime in the long term.

In September 2003, in an interview with Al-Ahram, the Egyptian government newspaper, in response to a question about economic problems with a reference to a current shortage of bread - President Mubarak of Egypt stated, once again, publicly and forcefully that rapid population growth in Egypt was the primary cause of the country's economic and social problems. He added that the country was doing what it could to solve these problems, but that the government could only do so much. Implicit in his announcement was a patriotic call to the people to have smaller families. If the President of Egypt speaks out publicly about population growth, it must be a grave concern of state officials. Indeed,