Kalb-Baladi

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Mahalla Strikes Again

To pay a factory worker less than two dollars a day is obscene, to put it politely.

It is not surprizing then that the Mahalla workers decided to strike again.

If the government thought that the workers will happily carry on working, then the whole cabinet must be suffering from a serious mental breakdown. I wish them a quick recovery.

These simple workers will go down as heros in the history of the Egyptian labour movement and they are making all opposition activists, groups and parties look like pussies.

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Monday, September 24, 2007

Alexandria

So Muslim and Copt youths clashed in Alexandria because a young Muslim girls was going out with a Coptic boy...

It all started when a Muslim boy saw a Muslim girl entering a house accompanied by a Coptic boy. (someone needed to just mind his own fucking business).

An argument errupted between the two boys. One thing led to another and the next thing you know, dozens of kids are fighting in the street with bottles and knives.

It's not the first time this kind of shit happens in ALexandria. It happened last year and the year before.

It's particularly sad that this is happening in Alexandria, once the most cosmopolitan city in Egypt. I can't believe that relations between Copts and Muslims have gone that bad. I am more inclined to believe that people are just venting out their frustration discontent on each other.

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Saturday, September 22, 2007

Interview with a president on his birthday

Jorno: Happy birthday Mr. President.
President: What?... please raise your voice. I have trouble these days hearing anything quieter than a jet engine.
Jorno: HAPPY BIRTHDAY YA RAYYES...
President: Thank you :)
Jorno: MR. PRESIDENT, WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING THE ONLY 90 YEAR OLD PRESIDENT IN THE WHOLE WORLD?
President: No peer pressure.

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Thursday, September 20, 2007

Is Salamo 3alekom offending?

A few days before Ramadan, I was entering a building in Cairo. There were two men standing at the door, so I said, "salamo 3aleko". They did not answer, looked at each other and then they stared back at me. One of them looked down and shook his head.

"What?", I asked. One of them just laughed. "Is there a problem?", I asked again.

"No. Come in (itfaddal)".

About two hours later it occured to me that maybe the two men, who were bouncers, didn't think it was appropriate of me to say salamo 3aleko to them while I was entering the bar.

Personally, I don't see why not?

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Addictive

Shit... This is soooo f***ing addictive

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Elections

Q : In a democratic society like Egypt, how important are elections?
A : Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election.

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يا نهار أزرق

خبر ابن أحبة عالصبح. أب وأم قتلوا بنتهم في قرية أبو قرقاص في المنيا عشان نامت مع شاب من شبان القرية وحملت منه.

الأم كتمت نفس البنت والأب نزل بشومة على دماغها لحد ما فرتك نفوخها

يا حرام البنت كان عندها 21 سنة. وأبوها وأمها مارحموهاش

أنا بازعل جدا لما بقرأ عن حوادث التعذيب في أقسام الشرطة والسجون. بس الظاهر إن القسوة مش مقتصرة على ضباط الشرطة بس. القسوة بقت في دمنا وينشوقها حوالينا طول اليوم ويبدو إن ماحدش ضميره بيوجعه أو حتى بيهرشه

معاناة الناس وألمهم ما بقاش بيحرك فينا ذرة إحساس. ما حدش يستغرب من التعذيب في الأقسام. عادي ما الناس بتتعذب في كل حتة. وإيه يعني لما عماد الكبير حطوا له العصاية في طيزه واللا فلان قتلوه واللا علان كهربوه واللا ترتان علقوه. إذا كان الأبهات والأمهات نفسهم هما اللي بيقتلوا عيالهم

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Monday, September 17, 2007

Money talks and bullshit walks

The royal family in Saudi Arabia is often critisized for things like being more prone to corruption than other royal families around the world and being soft on extremism, in addition to other minor things like banning women from driving and cutting people's heads and hands and legs off in public squares, but this does not appear to pose the slightest ethical concern to their business partners.

BAE has about 40 billion reasons to love the Saudi Royals.

When will naiive people like me learn that money talks, bullshit walks, that's how life goes :)

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