campus april 2012 issue

Don’t let anything stop you

Alexandria City Centre 03 3970238 . City Stars 02 24802903 . Jazeerat El Arab 02 33050415 . Mall of Arabia

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Chairman Shady Sherif

Editor-in-Chief Louis Greiss

Creative Director Leila Tapozada

Editors

Wessam Sherif Yasmine Zohdi

Junior Editor

Youssef Saad Eldin

Business Development Ismaeel Khoudeir

Senior Media Executive Zeina El Alfy

Media Executive Ghada Zayed

Financial Manager Ehab A. Aziz

Chief Accountant

APRIL 2012 MARCH 2012

Sherif El Haggar

Accountant Ahmed Serag

Office Manager Sylvia Peter

Office Assistants Ibrahim Mansour Mohamed Eid

IT Manager Ahmed Saher

Production Executive Manager Sherif Mahmoud Mahmoud El Araby

Distribution Manager Shazly Eid

Distribution

Abdelhamed Fathy Ashraf Ramadan Gamal Moustafa Ramy Afifi Ragab Fathy Aly Afifi Aly Fawzy Waleed Gilani Abdel Aziz Abdel Rahman Mahmoud Samir

Art Director Ahmed Saad

Graphic Designers Bassem Raafat Muhammed Abdelaal

Writers & Contributors Ahmed Amin Ahmed Farghal Hana El-Hattab Hend Ghorab Karim El Degwy May Kamel Menna Tarek Mos’ab El Shamy Rowan El Shimi Sarah El Wakil Sherif El-Mashad

Cover Credits Ahmed Saad

Heliopolis

69, Adidas (El-Marghany), Africana Café, C&CO (Horreyya St- El Korba), Belino Café, Blueberry (Ard El Golf ), Beano's Café (British Council – El Korba – Airport – British University), Charleston Café, Cortigiano, Café Mo, Cairo International Airport, Coffee Roastery, Colors, Cat, Diwan Bookstore, Diadora, Desire, Every Man’s Bookstore, Farah Café , Flower Market, G Live, Genga Café, Gelateria Roma Café, Harris Café, Gallery Bel3araby (El Nozha St.), House Café , Hope Flowers, Hot Pink, In Flower, Hyper Original, Khodier, Rosso Cafe, IIPennello Ceramic Café, Kan Zaman Restaurant, Le Rince, Linea, La Cassetta Retaurants, Makani, McDonalds, Mobil Mart, Mori Sushi (Salah Salem), Milk, Musicana (El Korba), Munchies Café, No Name, Nuts @ Nuts, Occo, One 4 all, Polka Dolka, Pottery Café, Schatz Café, Smart Gym (Sheraton & Ard El Golf), Roma Café, Shell Mart, Salah Beauty Salon, STR8, Spicy, Style Gym, Tres Bon, Up 2 Date, Viking Cafe, World Gym, Waffle Point, Zein, L’Aubergine

Nasr City

Adidas(Genina mall), Aroma Lounge (City Stars), Beano's Café (City stars – Makram Ebeid – Abbas El Akkad), Beka, Calvin Klein Jeans (City Stars), Casper & Gambini's, C&Co (City Stars – Geneina Mall), Esprit (City Stars), Farah Café (Geneina Mall), Le Gourment Marche, Kenouz Restaurant, ISI (City Stars), Martino, McDonalds (Abbas el Akkad), Musica (Abbas el Akkad), My Day Cafe, Pascucci Café, Ravin, Spicy (City Center - Geneina Mall) ,Virgin Megastore

Mohandiseen

Adidas/Timberland (Lebanon Street, Gezeeret Al Arab Street), Beano's Café (Gameat El Dowal Street), Beau Jardin Café, Bershka (Gezeeret Al Arab Street), Café Mo, Cedars café , C& Co, Café Bean (Aswan Sq.), Cocolina (Syria Street), Ciccio Café, Cilantro, Mohamed El Sagheer, Cocolina, Dar Al Balsam Bookstore, Diwan, Eventya Flowers, Laguna Café, L`Aroma Café, Makani, Marsh Café, McDonalds, Mori Sushi, Multi Stores, Non Bookstore, Pasqua Café, Quick24, Renaissance Library, Safari Café, Samia Alouba, Silviana Heach, Solitaire Café, Shoe Room, Scoop Café, Second Cup, Spectra, Spicy, Sports Café, Tommy Hilfiger, Toy Story, Trianon Café, Tornado Café, Volume One, Zarina, Zee Lounge, P 75, Al Dar, Café De Fiori

Downtown & Mokattam

AUC Bookstore, Beano's Café, Beymen, Cilantro, Maktabet El Balad, McDonalds (Tahrir), Balady

Dokki

Ahl Cairo, Adidas, Beano's Café (British Council), Coffee Roastery, Dar Al Balsam Bookstore, Mr. Joe, Makani, Korista Café, Momento, La Boutique, Orange, Quick24, Retro, Spicy, Tabasco, Zein, Zarina

Zamalek

Al Akhbar Bookstore, Arabica, Beano's Café, Coffee Bean, Cilantro, Cocolina, Crave, Diwan Bookstore, Euro Deli, FDA, 69, Gardenia Flowers, Goal, Googan Bookstore, Kodak Express, L'Aubergine, Makani, Mezza Luna, Mobil Mart, Mohamed El Sagheer, Mori Sushi, Munchies, Orangette, Tabasco, Quick 24, Ravin’, Romancia Bookshop, Sequoia, WIF, Zamalek Bookshop, Van Gogh Bookshop, Zafir

Maadi

Adidas, Adam Bookstore, Arthur Murray, Bakier Stationary, Bander Café, Beanos, Beau Jardin, Books & Books, Beta Bookshop, Bookspot, Caj, Euro Deli, Cat, Condetti, Chilis, Coffee Roastery, Gengra Café, Greco, Costa Coffee, El Shader, Dunes Lounge, Ghazala Stationary, Green Mill, Gudy, Kotob Khan, Kiwi, Honest Bookshop , I Spot , La Gourmandise, Makani, McDonalds, Mediterraneo Restaurants, Reebok, Renaissance Library, Rigoletto, Samia Alouba, Second Cup, Shell Shop, Shoe Room, Spectra,The Bakery, Timberland, Volume One

October City

Beano's, Byblos Café (Dandy Mall), Café Mo, McDonalds, Mexicana Café, Mori Sushi (Dandy Mall), Second Cup, Shell Shop, Solitaire, Sans Soucis Café, Trianon

El Rehab & Fifth Settlment

CTP & Printing

Food Court (Le Reve Grand Café, Jounich Café, Gauchos Café, Mercato Italiano), AUC Bookstore

Campus Magazine's Address

Beano's, Dar El Shorouk, Mexicana Café, Polo Shop

Emails

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Tanta

Axon, Pizza Station, La Plato Café

EDITOR’S NOTE

GOOD LUCK FINDING YOUR PRINCE CHARMING, BITCH!

The princess kneels down gracefully, gently presses a kiss on the frog’s forehead and waits. The frog looks up at his to-be-bride, eagerly anticipating his transformation.

Minutes and hours sprint by to no avail; the frog remains a fugly frog.

“What the hell is wrong?” the frog asks in frustration. “Why aren’t I a prince yet?!”

Taken back by the frog’s bitter tone, the princess pauses for a moment before replying. “I… I don’t know, maybe it takes time?”

“Time?! You better not be lying to me, lady!”

“I’m just guessing! I’m as a clueless as you are, you ungrateful prick!”

“Oh no you didn’t! I’m outta here! Good luck finding your Prince Charming, bitch!”

That’s how I imagine this fairytale going down, had it taken place in the real world. In fact, I have an alternate scenario for almost every fairytale. Not to mention that I’ve recently taken a preference to realistic tales over those that always end in a happy ending. Yes, I might prefer a realistic sad ending to an unrealistic happy one.

Don’t get me wrong, I love fairytales; I mean The Lion King is one of my top 5 favorite movies. It’s just that I don’t let them interfere with life; I manage to segregate, because life won’t give background music to your days nor will it carefully place a bunch of pleasant, perfectly timed coincidences in your way. Reality will teach, then reward you -tough love, if you will.

Tales, on the other hand, will pump life into your soul, but will also instill illusions in your head if you let them.

I guess what I’m saying is: be a poet at heart but a fighter in reality.

© muhammed abdel aal

4 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

Photo © suzeeinthecity.wordpress.com Mural by Shaza Khaled and Aliaa El Tayeb

EDITOR’S NOTE

The Power of Make-Believe I pass through the square… and my heart aches.

I am well aware that the revolution is not Tahrir. The revolution is within; in our heads.

And in my head, I am still there.

The rain has just stopped. The air is still a bit damp but exhilaratingly fresh. A chilly breeze makes me pull my jacket tighter around me. I can hear strains of music coming from the other end of the square where Eskenderella are playing on the makeshift stage in front of the Mugamma’. I laugh as I read the words on the tri-lingual sign the thin, dark, young man ahead of me is holding, “‫كنتاكي مغلقة يا غبي‬ Kentaky is closed, stubed.

Kentaky est fermée, bête!”

I look up. The huge banner with the people’s demands – so loud and clear - hangs down the full length of the tall building on the corner leading to Talaat Harb. I take a picture, intending to post it online just as soon as I go home, so those who keep asking me why I still go to Tahrir after the president has declared that he won’t be running again would freaking shut up. I say something to my friend next to me, but she isn’t there. I scan the faces around me until I see her, she’s holding her camera and smiling, and I rush to see what she’s filming.

An old man with a stubborn, withered face full of wrinkles is singing in a hoarse voice, and a large crowd is gathered around him, clapping, cheering, and singing along, ‫ هم املال و احلكم معاهم و إحنا الفقرا‬...‫ و إحنا مني؟ هم األمرا و السالطني‬...‫“هم مني‬ ‫ شوف مني فينا بيحكم‬...‫احملكومني! حزر فزر؛ شغل مخك‬ ”!‫ شوف مني فينا بيخدم مني‬...‫ حزر فزر؛ شغل مخك‬...‫مني‬ A man with an eye-patch offers me date bars… I thank him and say I’m not hungry, but he insists I take one. It’s getting dark. My friend and I head to the black-clad woman with the tea tray… two coins for two paper cups of tea. It has an insane amount of sugar in it, but I still think it tastes good. We make our way back to the tent through the hordes of people chanting, giving out flyers, eating, debating… breathing. Back in the square’s circular garden, the guys are huddled

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in and around the tent, still in the midst of the heated discussion that has started an hour earlier. We join them. We argue, we hurl different opinions at one another, we laugh when we remember the president’s speech a few days earlier, we argue some more, and all along, we know – beyond the shadow of a doubt – that we will win.

I pass through the square, and I picture it the way it was that day.

Packed, triumphant, bursting with energy. Happy, determined, unbeatable. Magnificent.

I am still there.

Call it denial, call it escapism, call it make-believe.

So what if I make-believe?

If I still have the ability to make-believe, then I still have the ability to imagine; to dream. And that means they haven’t killed me yet.

They built stone walls, artists proclaimed them nonexistent, and declared the rule of a colourful fantasy over that of an ugly reality. “‫ … ”مافيش جدران‬isn’t that a small, brilliant form of resistance?

I choose to resist.

If the one victory I can afford right now is to – against all odds - believe, then I will keep believing, and I will never stop.

That scene I keep reliving was one day real. It was a dream, but it wasn’t a fragment of my subconscious. It was manifested in reality, and I happened to experience its sacred beauty, drink it in, become one with it.

So, I’ll keep recalling it. I’ll keep resisting, and I’ll keep believing.

Imagine.

Isn’t that what revolution is all about, anyway? Isn’t that how it all begins?

CAIRO CITYSTARS – PHASE 2- LEVEL 3 - +202 24802687

FEATURE ] ] FEATURE

The Egyptian Educational Culture

The reason why most of us have lingering issues

By Wessam Sherif

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY, MY STORY. I WAS ALWAYS AN EXCELLENT STUDENT, STARTING FROM KINDERGARTEN ALL THE WAY UP TO THE SECONDARY THANAWEYA AMMA STAGE (YES, I WAS ONE OF THEM TROOPERS). I WAS THE NERD. IN FACT, I WAS SO COMPETITIVE THAT ALL THROUGHOUT MY SCHOOL EDUCATION I HAD TO SCORE THE HIGHEST GRADES IN CLASS, AND IF I DIDN’T, I’D SLIP INTO AN ABYSS OF MISERY SWEARING BY THE GODS NOT TO “FAIL” AGAIN AND PROMISING MYSELF TO REGAIN MY TEMPORARILY CONFISCATED TITLE AS “ASHTAR WA7ED FEL FASL”.

I made my way through school with this disease, and come secondary school, I chose “3elmy Reyada” because I’m not the man to memorize; I use my brain. Or that’s what I thought. So, the saga continued and I got high grades and ended school as the reigning “ashtar wa7ed fel fasl”.

You could probably guess where I went from there. Yes, engineering.

That was the logical choice; actually, there was no other choice. And that’s how I started the university phase and was well on my way towards becoming an engineer. There was one problem, however.

I flunked, hard.

That was the first time I ever knew what failure felt like. Ironically though, it felt like I had just taken the blue pill in the matrix. That’s exactly what it felt like -- I had just gotten unplugged from years and years of programming.

That was the long story short. Now let me show you how I really see it. (If you relate, you had a crappy education).

The Primary Stage The second you walk into school, you’re shown to your class that is standing in a queue in the school’s playground. You listen to a militarylike drumming as you wait for the “chosen” three who go up to salute the flag. In some schools (mine was one of those) you’re forced to do a

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This is also the reason why the biology lesson about the reproductive system becomes a largely anticipated, yet very awkward topic. I swear, our teacher (a woman) had a male teacher substitute for the entirety of this part of the curriculum. Was it because we were a cheeky bunch?

Or was it because she was shy (aka mo2adaba)? I didn’t know, but it registered in my brain, and at the time, I thought it was the right thing to do.

It’s not like we’re in dire need of a Sex Ed class, because I don’t think we need it. I believe students need to interact, as a start, that’s all.

lame synchronized exercise routine. I hated morning queues. That is, of course, in addition to the fact that you have to stand up every time you address a teacher. That’s not respect, that’s instilling unnecessary fear into a child’s mind instead of allowing them to feel comfortable The first day of school – and I mean the first day – I was assigned a wretched task, one that is more putrid and annoying than any other; tagleed (covering notebooks). During my time, notebook covers were not the user-friendly ones that you simply insert the notebook in, no, they were big sheets that you had to cut to fit the notebook and then stick them on it. This was my yearly nightmare; I never knew why the science notebooks had to be covered in blue, Arabic in green…etc. I just did, because the teachers require that of us.

Remember the handwriting class? I have THE worst handwriting this country has ever seen. So, this class was not only boring and useless (having to write something over and over again) but it was also quite humiliating for me. Once again, I never got why I had to improve my handwriting, I mean, I’m an editor now and I’m doing just fine with my Neanderthal-ish handwriting.

Here’s another useless class: seyana (maintenance) for guys and tadbeer manzelly (home economics) for girls. The mere class designation goes to show how sexist and ignorant our education has been and still is. Not to mention how absolutely useless knowing what nail goes where is. And you know what the absolute joke is? We were actually tested on that crap! In fact, I remember how my teacher absolutely flipped at me after saying all the wrong answers during an oral exam.

Also, every week, a teacher would come in and ask the Christian students to accompany her/him out of the class so that take “7esset el deen”. If that doesn’t get engraved in a youngster’s subconscious, I don’t know what will. Differentiating students based on religion, and nobody even seemed to notice. That’s why, for many generations to come, there will be an “us” and a “them”, as a result of a useless class. Religion should be left at home.

The Preparatory Stage This is the phase where you get to befriend your teachers… and they start beating you up. I had a Mrs. K, she used to walk around the corridor with a ginormous stick and he who gets caught breaking the schools rules gets whooped. Let me give you an example. I have nice hair, but I could never grow it long, because that was, for some reason, against school policy, so I had to always keep it really short and I consequently looked like a bitter chipmunk and I wasn’t even allowed to put gel on it. On the other hand, girls had to wear a hair band at all times.

Why, I don’t even know.

This is also the phase where puberty hits. And seeing how sexes rarely ever interact in Egyptian schools (I’m referring to lower class ones), students get… frustrated. And it shows. We had a French language teacher who wore short and tight outfits, something that should otherwise be normal. But the second she walked in class, we all eyed her like a bunch of hungry wolves, which is sad, really. And then people complain of harassment. Egyptian education breeds harassment. The simple fact that the opposite sex is considered a taboo throughout one’s upbringing exacerbates frustration and creates lusty, deprived minds.

The Secondary Stage The part of your life where you make the decision that seems at the time like the most important decision of your life. And in many ways, it is; you get to decide which herd of sheep you’ll follow. It’s mere absurdity having to choose “hate7faz” wala “hatefham” to get into one of “kolleyat el qemma” regardless of whether or not you want any of these majors. That’s our culture you know, if you’re not an engineer, you’re a doctor and if you’re not a doctor, you’re a bum. Even social sciences are regarded as secondary careers, because there’s no eventuality to them: “hateshtaghal eh ya3ny?” This society demands that you know what you’ll be doing with your life at the age of 14, and it better be a respectable job, forget art and creativity, dool mesh bey2akello 3eesh.

At this point, there’s no need to go to school. I mean, why go to school when you can have the teachers come to your place? Tutors, those blood-sucking opportunists that program you to memorize regardless of your major; they prep you up for the final exam yet f*ck up your brain for good. You see, ever since the very beginning, this dark-age education encodes the term “exam” in our system, because that’s what it’s all about; your score. There’s “emte7an el shahr”, “emte7an nos el sana” and the final exam, but there’s hardly any practical or field work. So the tutors come to enmesh that culture, giving you a heavy dosage of exams to be answered and “expected” questions, killing off any remnants of thinking your brain had, at this stage, managed to retain.

You take the final exam and wait for your score. And when it comes out, you get to walk the zombie path towards whatever college your score dictates, because like I said, it doesn’t even matter what you like or the background/context that you come from; it’s all about your grades.

And then, when thrown into an equally mind-numbing, yet more independent, environment they expect you to succeed.

That is why I failed my first year of college, because I actually woke up from the coma and realized that there was no need for me to neither study nor attend classes I wasn’t even interested in. After sobering up from the shock of actually failing an entire school year, I decided to take up something that I actually found interesting. So, I enrolled in the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences and even after graduation I eventually settled in a job that didn’t have anything to do with my field of study, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I broke free of our educational culture, at a price, and perhaps a bit late, but it was so worth it.

Ever since, my learning (and I mean what you generally learn, not specifically in school) curve multiplied tenfold and I have become a more well-rounded person, both culturally and academically, simply because I started making choices.

Mind you, my initial intention was to write about how utterly pathetic our educational infrastructure is and how misleading and flawed our curricula are (when have we ever been taught anything about international history?) But that would’ve been stating the obvious, whereas our educational culture, a blind spot, explains many of our society’s very ugly blemishes.

Part of education is failure, a luxury our messed up educational culture doesn’t allow.

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Tourism Post-revolution: FEATURE

How Bad Is It, Really?

By Rowan El Shimi

All through the first post-revolution year in Egypt, headlines of newspapers have been complaining about the dire state of Egypt’s economy, especially the tourism section: “Tourists are afraid to come”, “Tourism plunges due to violence”, etc. However, maybe one has to stop and ask oneself: was tourism that great pre-revolution to start with?

The current situation Of course the tourism industry is affected by the revolution. The revolution is only attracting foreign journalists, the adrenalinejunkie type of tourists (who are mostly young international activists, who - let’s face it - aren’t here to buy souvenirs and see the pyramids), and tourists who are taking advantage of the many discounts the industry has to offer. But for average families, honeymooners and travelers, Egypt isn’t a safe place to be at the moment. There is an ongoing uprising and the army and security forces keep killing protesters and arresting foreigners. The security vacuum leaves room for tourists to be kidnapped in Sinai and killed in Sharm. And there are continuous - and unfortunately truthful - news reports on women groped, stripped and raped in Tahrir. Why would anyone come? I know when I was in Central America in 2009 and the Hondouran coup was happening against president Zelaya, I took Honduras off my itinerary.

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According to the Ministry of Tourism, the number of international arrivals to Egypt in 2011 is down by a 1/3 compared to 2010.

However, they are expecting tourism to pick up in 2012. People working in the tourism industry have criticized this number though, claiming that the drop is much higher; estimated at a 70-80% drop.

Tourism business owners say that the number of visitors released by the ministry includes 500,000 arrivals from Libya, Palestine and Sudan along with arrivals in transit on their way elsewhere.

General facts Tourism represents 11% of the Egyptian economy and Egypt is the country that receives the largest amount of tourists per-annum in the Middle East and Africa, with 14.8 million tourists visiting Egypt prerevolution in 2010. Great; bravo 3aleina. Morocco, Saudi Arabia and South Africa closely follow us with a range of 8-10 million tourists a year.

But, wait a second. We have more than one third of all the ancient artifacts of the world, we’re home to the best recorded civilization of the ancient world, we have the only standing world wonder (the ancient wonders I’m referring to, not that bullshit competition they did a couple of years ago). Not to mention that we have 27 natural protectorates, beautiful deserts, and our country is located on two seas. We are the passage between Africa and Asia. Oh, we also have an impressive contemporary arts and cultural scene, and we have the longest river in the world. Plus, we have great weather all year round. And all those facts are not even scratching the surface of our potential for local, regional and international tourism attractions.

So why are we only getting 14.8 million tourists a year? France gets almost 80 million tourists per year. Spain gets 52 million. Mexico (which is very similar to Egypt in offerings) gets 22 million. Another one? Ukraine gets 21 million visitors.

bazaars.” My favorite story from my mother is that of a tour guide who took a group of foreigners to one of those perfumeries near the Sakkara pyramid and told them these were “Cleopatra’s favorite scents”.

However, it is important to note that tour guides resort to this because most travel companies underpay them. A tour guide’s job is hard; they have full work days, often travel for more than a week accompanying the tour groups, and are constantly on their feet. Not to mention the pressure of being the main representative of their country. So if their wages are insufficient, then of course they have to resort to alternative money-making methods.

Apart from cultural and industry issues, Egypt is impossible to figure out for independent travelers. It is impossible to rent a car and understand our highways, while public transport is a mess and taxis over-charge. This makes most of the tourists who come to Egypt the ‘tour group’ type of tourists, and not everyone likes to travel in this manner, which makes us lose on a lot of potential business.

Also, it is very difficult to obtain a license to open a tourism company, and involves a lot of ‘knowing the right people’ and paying money in the right pockets. This makes the industry, which has many respectable companies, infested with many corrupt ones as well.

How it used to be? That’s not good enough.

When I see these numbers, and look at all that Egypt has to offer, something doesn’t quite add up. There is definitely a problem somewhere between what Egypt has to offer and where tourism is at the moment, and that’s even before the revolution started.

Why tourism in Egypt is so screwed up The problem is very complicated, but can be summarized by two main issues: xenophobia towards foreigners and Egyptians harassing them, and tourism industry corruption.

In our culture, we have become extremely xenophobic. We don’t accept other cultures, we’re judgmental and we’re not afraid to show it. We stare at tourists and make them uncomfortable. We talk to them in a condescending manner. We make fun of them to their face.

And at the back of most Egyptian minds, we consider foreign men not real men since they have no control over ‘their’ women, who are of course all sluts and whores.

Foreign women are constantly sexually harassed on the street (even if they have male companions with them; like we said, to Egyptians a foreign-looking man is not a real man). In fact, according to a research conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights, 98% of foreign women are sexually harassed in Egypt, and the study showed that 66% of these women confirmed that their encounters with sexual harassment left a negative impact on how they viewed Egyptian society. Also, 7.3% said they would not return to Egypt because of it, and 4.6% declared they would not advise their friends to visit Egypt.

Not only do we harass tourists, we also rip them off. From the moment a tourist arrives at an airport they are being over-charged.

Taxis over-charge them. If they want to ride a camel for five minutes they get charged $50. If they want to buy a souvenir they get charged a shitload of money. Not to mention that we have this great mechanism where tour guides make deals with certain bazaars, taking their tourists there only to get a 15-20% commission on sales. My mother has been working as a tour guide in Egypt for 30 years and she has seen the knowledge, commitment, and integrity of tour guides drop in Egypt over the past three decades. “Tour guides became sales people,” she tells me. “Some guides lie to the tourists, and tell them wrong information to sell them souvenirs at the

Yes, tourism right now is bad. In fact, it’s in the worst state it has ever been in Egypt. Many people are losing their jobs, and the people most affected are the workers on the ground, not the business owners you keep hearing about in the news. But you know what, it will pick up again soon. And we’ll go back to getting 14 million tourists a year in a year or two.

But is that enough? Really? Are we going to continue to settle for so low? We just had a revolution for crying out loud. Egypt has continuously been on the front pages of every newspaper around the world throughout 2011 and 2012. People don’t just want to come to see our history and natural heritage anymore; they want to come meet those brave, funny people who took to the streets demanding freedom and justice.

What can be done The Ministry of Tourism is taking some steps forward, by attending 180 tourism fairs over the year to promote Egypt, most recently being an official partner at the ITB Berlin convention, the leading travel industry think tank. They are also bringing back the Cairo-Aswan Nile cruise that was cancelled in the 90s for fear of terrorism, and are putting money in restoration and preparation of cultural and historical sites en route. The Egyptian Tourism Authority is also sponsoring many festivals; most notable is the Dahab Festival to take place in Sinai this month.

We have a role to play as well, though. We need massive cultural change. We need to break these myths on the ‘foreign agenda’ and raise awareness on the importance of welcoming tourists and helping them. After all, there is no better marketing than word-of-mouth. We also need to form lobby and pressure groups to re-draft the laws limiting travel companies, and we need to set up frameworks to encourage alternative tourism and make it accessible.

We have a long way to go if we want to reach 80 million tourists a year. But we have the potential, and the tools, so what are we waiting for? Tourism represents around 11% of Egypt’s GDP with around 11 billion dollars of revenues. Imagine what it could be. Imagine how many jobs it can create. Imagine how many travelers it can inspire. C

15

[ UNDERSCORE ]

English is Haraam!

The media’s newest misquote that’s turning people hysterical

By Ahmed Farghal

In late February 2012, Mr. Shaaban Abdelaleem, Nour Party MP and head of the Education Committee in the new Parliament was delivering the Education Committee’s report on the USAID Partnership Grant Agreement for Basic Education Strategic Objective (BESO). The report was on the occasion of a proposed ninth amendment to BESO which increases the American contribution by 4 million USD (bringing the total U.S. contribution until 2016 to an expected 496 million USD).

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I stop here to mention that one of BESO’s objectives, among many, is “to improve the quality of education of the English language across all levels of basic education” and states that the program “shall support the Ministry of Education in introducing the education of the English language as a second language at the 2nd primary year rather than the 4th primary year” in government schools. (ref: Article V-2 of Annex 1 to the second amendment of the agreement) Basic education means primary and preparatory levels of school.

Another Nour Party MP, Mr. Mohamed El Kurdy, asked to speak to comment on the agreement in question. El Kurdy expressed concern over the agreement (and the associated U.S. grant) which, in his view, and I quote, has a goal of “teaching English as of the 2nd primary year instead of the 4th primary year.

English is now taught everywhere starting from K.G. 1 and in all levels of education.”

“Honorable MPs, Mr. Speaker,” Kurdy continued, “language is the cornerstone of the civilization and culture of nations. There is a plan to let English seep into our children’s minds at a very young age in order for them to be caught under Western hegemony, a hegemony that does not recognize or leave room for their own national culture. What is being planned for our nation?”

Shortly thereafter, the Speaker of Parliament Mr. Saad El Katatny (rudely, in my opinion) cut off El Kurdy and told him off. An internet shitstorm erupted over the whole thing. Kurdy, previously unknown to the general public rose to infamy as tweeps ceaselessly mocked him. As is usual in these situations, the content of what Kurdy said was distorted little by little until there was a public consensus that Kurdy said that “English is haraam” and that he wanted to obliterate the education of the English language from all levels of education.

What the hell, people?

The man took three minutes of the parliament’s time IN THE FREAKING EDUCATION COMMITTEE to comment on a proposed amendment to an agreement and expressed concern over teaching a second language at a very early stage of children’s lives. It is a legitimate concern in my opinion. And it’s not like Parliament was discussing something else (like the handover of power from the military) and he raised an irrelevant point. His statement was on point.

I do not claim to be an education expert and I am hardly qualified to debate the effects of teaching a second language at an early age on the linguistic development of a child. However, I do have concerns over the way Arabic is taught in schools. I care very much about Arabic and it pains me to see the very sharp and noticed deterioration in young people’s grasp over the most basic rules of Arabic grammar and spelling. I am also appalled at the increasing dominance of the English language in many classes of Egyptian society.

I believe that Mr. Kurdy brought up a point that is rarely discussed by the public though it is of utmost importance.

I believe the way it was handled in Parliament by Katatny and his fellow MPs as well as the way the issue was handled by media is downright shameful. The issue was shamelessly reduced into a bipartisan feces-slinging fest like monkeys in a zoo. Disgusting.

I am not saying Kurdy is completely free from blame.

He approached an important issue with insinuations of a global conspiracy and failed to deliver a concise point about the language of education. This I give you.

But we need a more principled approach to the way we write our educational curricula. We need a plan. And how on Earth are we going to get a plan when we avoid even discussing the issue? Katatny cut him off and Twitter and Facebook went nuts.

When, pray tell, will we be able to get a plan when we ridicule those who dare raise such issues?

I believe there could be an argument for teaching basic education in Arabic only. I think it is a point that needs to be discussed quietly without hysteria.

It is worth mentioning that independent liberal candidate Amr Hamzawy was also not in favor of the amendment in question, but for other reasons (namely lack of accountability over the grant’s funds).

You know what else bugged me? The way the Nour Party threw Kurdy under the bus completely. Nader Bakkar issued an almost immediate apology for Kurdy’s words. What enraged me even further was that Bakkar’s statement completely misquoted Kurdy and echoed the distorted claims on social media websites and the media in general about how Kurdy wishes to eliminate English from the educational system, which is false.

What we have here is an official spokesman of a political party (which apparently has no control over its MPs and certainly no coordination with them) misquoting his own MP! Not a very good indication of how their internal hierarchy functions. Right?

And where does this episode leave us? Sensationalist media claiming to be independent taking over public opinion and steering it towards believing a very distorted version of a public televised event. The underlying issue is now politically poisonous and no one will dare raise it again in the near future in fear of losing political capital (even Kurdy’s own party disowned him for God’s sake!) The bipartisan rift between liberals and islamists is even wider. I cannot think of any positive spin to this whole debacle. It’s a game in which we all lost. C

17

UNDERSCORE

Something in the Air Mother Nature is Pasteurizing Us!

By May Kamel

LONGEST. WINTER. EVER. PROBABLY THE COLDEST IN YEARS… WITH BRIEF PERIODS OF 30+ DEGREE MORNINGS… MORE RAIN; YES DEFINITELY MORE RAIN… VERY WINDY DAYS. AND ALL OF THAT WOULDN’T JUST END! 18 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

As per our social studies books, we all know that Egypt has ‫حار رطب‬ ‫شتاء‬ ‫صيفا ً ومعتدل‬ climate. And despite the fact that I tend to blame everything on the old regime, that was sort of true. We would have four distinctive seasons, with a few days of sand, rain, or suffocating hotness in respective seasons, but overall, we could tell which season it was!

We, Egyptians, usually have the perfect explanatory theory for every single thing man has ever known, or better yet, had not even heard of before. And oh, do we love our weather. We speak weather language in 3 different calendars: Georgian, Coptic and Lunar. 7alawetna.

Bas e7na nas 3amleen thawra w keda fa maysa7esh. We want to bust the myths and talk facts, for apparently this whole “weather” thing is bigger than tweet-material for the brainless.

The Forecast, or Not… Lately, everybody seems to be increasingly bitching about the weather… not that I’m pointing out that we are turning into an uber-boring society or anything (totally am), but really, what’s with the weather? Three months into 2012, and the weather is far from explainable. The other day, I was literally sweating on my side that was towards the sun and freezing on the side in the shade!

For years, we have known our winters to be moderately cold, with a few super cold nights, occasional rain that is only blown out of proportion by our excuse of a sewage system and that’s all what there was. I even recall last winter, 2011, to be fairly warm.

Egyptian-ly speaking, this is how the past three months can be explained (Amthalna El Sha3beya mode: Activated) : - ‫ في كيهك صباحك مساك‬: With the last 8 days of this month being the very first few days of January, the weather is said to be warm in the morning, moderately chilly at night, with day time being shorter than 10 hours tops.

- ‫ ده برد طوبة‬: according to the myth, it’s the coldest month of the year.

Most of it being in January explains the frrrrreezing nights and the loss of sense in extremities (we miss our toes ba2a).

- ‫ االسم لطوبة والفعل ألمشير‬: the latter corresponding to February, it explains the bipolar weather with lots of wind (also referred to as za3abeeb amsheer) and the rise of the temperature somehow in preparation for the spring to come.

- ‫ في برمهات روح الغيط وهات من كل احلاجات‬: Done laughing? Ok, here’s the deal about this month, elly howa March ba2a.It’s supposed to be the end of our sentence to freeze for life, with mornings being sunnier, wind becoming less aggressive and the overall temperature rising gradually.

Springy stuff ba2a!

- ‫ في برمودة وال يبقى في الغيط وال عودة‬: that’s April, you guys, with the weather becoming dryer and essentially warmer throughout the day.

- ‫ بشنس يكنس الغيط كنس‬: May, almighty. Asthmatic people would definitely know what we’re talking about here. Sand storms, very hot, dry, mornings, akyas zebala tayra f kol 7etta…you name it.

I could go on, but that would be a waste of paper ba2a (and social life for me)…you get the point.

What is it then that we are experiencing now? Radical climate change.

Before you activate your apocalypse-now mode, here’s what we are supposedly going through.

Remember the climatic graphs popularized by former American vice president Al Gore in his film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’? Well, those graphs were looked at again with a more skeptical eye. They have clearly shown a link between Co2 and global temperature increase, yes.

However, it was observable that the warming began BEFORE the steep increase in our Co2 output. Co2 has merely continued to track the warming trend, which is not so shocking when you realize that warming climate leads to more Co2 being released into the atmosphere from several natural sources. In other words, our contribution just increased the greenhouse effect, but it is not the reason why the Earth is going bonkers.

What started this then, you may ask…The only source of energy capable of bringing about such major changes is the sun.

There is now no doubt that the sun has increased its output of radiation extensively, and its behavior has become more erratic of late. Even conservative NASA has spoken about an extremely stormy solar maximum in 2012, following an already rocky maximum in 2001; by this, we mean extreme solar storms and solar flares. But scientists are nagging people with lots of time on their hands, so they took it a step further and even noticed a wider effect reaching the other planets in our solar system. But they don’t have air conditioners or car exhaust or Pyrosol on other planets, you may think…Eih ba2a ya Al Gore? El aliens kaman mesh asdeqa2 el bee2a?

Without going into (more) boring scientific details, we’re experiencing climate change. And it’s not only because of global warming. Sure our practices do help exacerbate the situation, but the change is inevitable.

Adding the galactic alignment of the Earth, sun and center of the Milky Way that we are to experience very soon, things might appear more chaotic than they really are. So all you emos out there, tough luck for you; we’re not dying soon! Solar storms can leave us with power outages, but we’ll survive. Without internet for a couple of days, maybe. But we’ll live.

The Earth is Fine I think that this whole climate thing was best explained by the epic George Carlin. Yes, some people like to worry about everything. Some have cases of compulsive blowing-things-out-of-proportion. It’s just our “arrogant trials to control nature”…Allaaaaah ya Carlin.

Long story short, call me an optimist, but we’re not dying this year.

Freezing over the weekend on a road somewhere, or suffocating in July fi 3ezz el seyam, maybe. But not because of an apocalypse or because of drastic climate changes. The Earth knows how to take care of itself and handle stuff.

Some may ask, how do we help reduce what is to become of the climate change? Scientists may suggest a list of environment-friendly advice that you can follow. I, however, beg to differ; I say you download a reliable weather forecast application, check it daily and dress accordingly.

‫صاينتيفيكلي سپيكينج‬ Although I think the Egyptian explanation for seasonal changes in weather is sheer genius, I’m more interested in the scientific side of it.

Complex stuff coming ahead…

2012 is taking the fact that it’s a phenomenal year a bit too seriously, new weather trends included and all. Mind you, the change is not sudden, and it’s not transient either. It’s global, and, unsurprisingly, it might prove Al Gore all wrong and prove global warming a hoax!

19

PRESS RELEASES

AND CIRQUE DU SOLEIL® BRING JUKARI FIT TO FLEX™ TO EGYPT! Following the worldwide success of JUKARI Fit to Fly™, Reebok & Cirque du Soleil offer JUKARI Fit to Flex™; the second innovative workout to come out of this ground-breaking partnership to Egypt.

As of the 18th of March 2012, Samia Allouba Gym, Dance, & Fitness Centers in Cairo will be offering JUKARI Fit to Flex to all of its members.

Together, they embarked on a journey to design an innovative program that would shake up and invigorate a woman’s typical gym routine. The first installment in the long term and ground breaking partnership, JUKARI Fit to Fly™, became a smash success when it launched in February 2008.

As the creative inspiration behind the project, Cirque du Soleil played a crucial role in creating the program.

To date, JUKARI programs are available in over 18 countries and more than 170 fitness clubs worldwide.

Drawing inspiration from the strong controlled movements performed

by Cirque du Soleil artists, this group fitness program is designed to help develop long, lean muscles and powerful core strength. Reebok JUKARI Master Trainers lead the 60-minute classes designed to help enhance flexibility, muscle tone and coordination.

With the use of the specially designed JUKARI Band™, participants are guided deeper into active stretches to help develop long, lean muscles and increase range of motion.

The program challenges participants with high-intensity cardio-specific choreography and stability movements. Choreographed to custommixed Cirque du Soleil tracks, this high-energy cardiovascular workout harnesses the freedom of movement through dynamic flexibility.

In early 2008, Reebok and Cirque du Soleil came together to create a fitness program that was unique and specially tailored to women.

Rami Serry Crowned Red Bull King of Drift for Second Consecutive Year!

Fawry Payment Service… Makes Life Much Easier!

Thousands of motorsports fans gathered at the Cairo Stadium Parking Area to witness exceptional drifting skills and exhilarating performance during Egypt’s Red Bull Car Park Drift local Qualifier. A heated battle between some of the best local driving talents culminated in crowning Rami Serry Egypt’s King of Drift for the 2nd consecutive year.

Serry will join the representatives’ line-up for at final competition in Beirut, which promises to deliver an intense face-off for the win of the regional title.

Sponsored by Chevrolet, DC and Valvoline Oil, the fifth Stop of the regional qualifier, witnessed a race between the contestants, with Rami Serry sweeping the lead title after demonstrating an outstanding performance in front of around 5000 spectators.

Ahmed El Wakil came in second place, while Tamer Bashat came third.

Following his victory, Rami Serry was extremely thrilled by his achievement and expressed his hopes to secure a podium at the Final in Beirut.

This year’s extraordinary drifting performance at the Red Bull Car Park Drift, Egypt qualifier, captivated the audience with some of the finest drivers in Egypt showcasing their technical skills to the judge in their modified cars.

20 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

Don’t you just hate it when you don’t pay your DSL bill on time and they cut off the internet services on you? You tend to want to get on your phone and start yelling at the providers for doing their job; and even though we know that it is our fault, it doesn’t change a thing to us!

Imagine this, you’re at your ATM withdrawing money, and while you’re at it, you can pay your DSL bill right there from your trusted ATM machine.

All you need to do is choose ‘Fawry Payment Services’ from the menu, choose the bill you wish to settle, enter the amount you wish to pay and ta-daaa your payment is done instantly! Your ATM receipt serves as proof of payment and a burden is taken off your back with a ‘click’. You don’t have a bank account? No sweats; Look for the Fawry sign at the supermarket or the pharmacy next to your house, ask to use Fawry to pay your phone bill, for example, give the guy your landline number, he’ll tell you the due amount as it appears on the Fawry machine, just pay the dude the cash and get the Fawry receipt as proof of payment.

No one imagined that as Egyptians we will have technology serving us at every corner! Via this Fawry service available everywhere around us, we can now recharge our mobile phones, pay our mobile bills, pay our landline telephone bills, our DSL bills, make various payments for e-commerce websites, donate to charity institutions and pay for airline tickets in literally no time and in a one stop shop.

It’s good to know that you don’t need to worry about finding the time to pay your bills anymore. Give Fawry a shot; it will save you a lot of trouble.

] CENTER STAGE ]

Presidential Candidate

KHALED ALI:

“We can’t let fear drive us to compromise our dreams for the future”

By Karim El-Degwy Photography by Samir Ezz

He’s a leftist lawyer who’s been involved in the revolution from day one and has played a major role in protecting those who have been – and continue to be - unjustly arrested and detained. Today, he’s human rights, the current political scene, other things, we had this talk with 40-year-old presidential candidate Khaled Ali. What do you believe is the point of strength you have that would make someone vote for you rather than any of the other candidates?

Well, for one thing, what I say regarding the future and what I intend to do – especially concerning social justice – matches my history and what I do for a living. For 17 years now I’ve been working with poor and marginalized classes in the country, and I’ve collaborated with many revolutionary social and political movements on issues such as the legislative environment and guaranteeing all kinds of freedoms for Egyptian citizens, as well as improving their social and economic conditions. We’ve worked on protecting social insurance funds, we’ve called for minimum wage and we’ve fought against the privatization of public institutions. I’ve also worked with African refugees, the ones the Egyptian government used to arrest and deport back to their countries where they were in grave danger, and I managed to get a ruling from the administrative court that prohibited deporting refugees anywhere where their lives might be subjected to peril. I think this is it; the fact that I speak from experience and therefore mean what I say.

But some might argue that leading the country would require different skills than those needed to stand up to the deficiencies of the former regime.

The dynamics might differ, but the principles and the vision do not. My desire for democracy and social justice remain the same. It’s all about the will. If you direct all your efforts to building a strong economy system, and eliminating corruption, you eventually will. This is all it takes.

22 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

How long do you think it will take before the average citizen starts to see actual change take place under the rule of the upcoming president – who will be faced with exceptionally tough challenges?

Change might not be tangible for a while, especially when it comes to social justice. But if people feel that steps are being taken on the right track they will rest assured that change will come. For example, we have a huge unemployment problem… people need to see that something is being done about it, like building new economic establishments or putting many of the neglected public sector’s institutions back to work. As long as real measures are being taken, the public will feel secure.

What is one thing the former regime did that you’re sure you would never do?

I would never adopt policies that exploit the poor and keep them inside this circle of misfortune. Effective and quick measures can be Egypt, for example. Fishermen here are categorized into 3 degrees, depending on their license. Fishermen of the third degree are those who have their own small individual boats. They’re very poor, and there are almost 3 million of them, all working without any kind of social or health insurance. Their pension is worthless, they pay ridiculous taxes, and they renew their license for 200 pounds a year.

And the state does absolutely nothing for them.

How would you propose to solve such an issue?

Well, I would exempt such drivers, craftsmen and the like - from taxes, and make sure to develop a solid insurance program for them. It’s actually strange that the media always ask about my plans in high-end politics but not when it comes to the simple people suffering from poverty. There is so much that can be done! Take the workshops in Gammaleyya and Khan El-Khalili and El-Hussein… we import everything from China now that half of these workshops have closed down and many

families are suffering as a result, with no social solidarity program of any kind to support them. Only those who make less than 5000 LE a year are tax exempt – why not raise that number to 20,000 LE? That way we’d be helping so many people who struggle to be able to pay taxes. Egyptians pay 49 different types of taxes and fees. 27% of Egyptian tax-payers are workers and employees, while only 13% are investors and businessmen. This is totally unfair. We should adopt the progressive tax system – it doesn’t make any sense that the person who makes 1000 LE a month and the person who makes 20,000 LE a month are both expected to pay the same tax rate.

In case you win and, as president, the people protest against you, how would you react?

It’s the people’s right to protest and express their discontent. If it’s a large number I have to pause and study their demands and what it is that drove them to protest and question myself, find out whether I am actually mistaken.

Had these elections been held under different circumstances where you wouldn’t have been a candidate, who would you vote for?

For the sake of clean competition I cannot say, but it would have definitely been a revolutionary candidate, not an ex-member of the former regime.

There have been calls for certain presidential candidates to pair up and run as a team of president and vice president so as not to divide voting blocs.

Have you ever considered this notion?

I’ve heard several suggestions, but I think it’s very difficult at the given moment. I view this as a way of confiscating the future. We don’t need to narrow down our options. You never know what might happen or what these elections will result in, and every day brings a new surprise. I’m not speaking out of confidence in winning; my campaign is actually struggling to obtain the necessary signatures needed for me to run. But we’re still doing great work on the ground despite the scarce finances; the campaign is luckily filled with enthusiastic individuals who believe in our dream and they do everything they can to realize it. I have officially announced that I will be running less than 20 days ago, yet I am now considered as a serious candidate in the media and public opinion. There is always room to make things happen. I understand the idea behind such suggestions; but I view them as limiting and restrictive. Voters need diversity and alternatives.

The idea of the Superman president who does everything best is no longer valid; it’s dead

Each candidate has something to offer, we belong to different backgrounds, different ideologies, different generations even. But if other candidates decided not to run so votes wouldn’t be divided in different directions, what happens if I’m the only candidate and I get hit by a bus tomorrow? What if anyone challenges the validity of my candidacy and takes it to court, and the high electoral committee decides to exclude me? What then? We can’t let fear of the ex-regime or alleged deals between specific parties drive us to compromise our dreams for the future.

You know a lot about the internal challenges that await you, but you have limited experience when it comes to foreign affairs. How do you plan to overcome that?

That’s why there’s such a thing as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, isn’t it? That’s why the concept of the ministries exists: specialization.

You pick the right person for the right job. The idea of the Superman president who does everything best is no longer valid; it’s dead. All a president has to be is honest and true in his desire for democracy

and the establishment of a strong national economy, and a person who puts human rights above all else. It shouldn’t be about the president anymore, but the institutions.

Moreover, I do know more about foreign affairs than many others do.

What has the Ministry of Foreign Affairs been doing since the 1980s and 1990s anyway? The government’s policies were all driven by one force alone: Gamal Mubarak inheriting his father’s position. Therefore, Egyptian foreign policy sought one thing: being on good terms with the United States and Israel, so Mubarak and his son would have their blessings. And that’s how Egyptian diplomacy weakened, as all things Egyptian did. You see, your status when it comes to foreign affairs actually depends on how you’re doing within; what you contribute to human civilization. You don’t need a president who knows everything, you need a president who has serious plans of building a strong nation based on justice and the rule of law.

Where do you stand on the annual aid we receive from the US? I am against it, and I am stating it clearly. The bigger part of the aid goes to the army and therefore SCAF is in charge of it, while most of the rest goes to investors and businessmen. The aid isn’t majorly for the support of development and human rights as they try to make it seem; it is being used politically in favor of US interests, and therefore I believe a time plan to gradually do without US aid is necessary.

What’s your position on Israel and the plight of the Palestinian people?

Palestine must have Egypt’s support and we must help the Palestinian people. The very least thing we could do is not be part of the blockade on Gaza. But unwavering support to Palestine does not necessarily mean I plan to declare war on Israel; not at all. After all, if I do get elected as president, such decisions would not be left only for me to make. There’s an army who must have a say in matters of warfare, a parliament to take part in decision-making, and ministries to be consulted. My main concern is to build a nation, not go to war.

How do you currently view the Muslim Brotherhood?

An active national group whose inclinations I sometimes approve of and other times reject.

23

What about the Salafi Nour Party?

I actually think Al-Nour party is quite an impressive experience. In a very short period they managed to create a solid presence on the political scene and earn ample representation in parliament. Moreover, their performance is improving; they started religion-based but are now gradually becoming more politically balanced. I also believe their position regarding former MP El-Balkeemi was a respectable one.

So you have no misgivings regarding the performance of the Islamic parties so far?

I would only like to ask them to look a bit ahead instead of right beneath their feet. The whole world is currently speculating on what an Islamic rule in Egypt would be like; they are waiting to see whether an Islamic system could be a modern one as well, and whether it leaves room for religious diversity and freedom of expression.

If the Islamists start to restrict and oppress opposing visions and movements, they’re not really helping build a reputable image of the Islamic rule they believe in. All political movements need to realize the magnitude of the historical impasse Egypt is currently going through. We need to put a rational end to this wild power struggle.

Strength that is derived from siding with a military or organizational power or depends on money and corrupt government institutions, will never lead to the desired change. We must agree on broad concepts and values like human rights, transparency, independence of the judiciary and institutions that operate on equality, and make them our drive. We don’t want another National Democratic Party disguised beneath a mask of different ideas.

We have revolutionaries today that don’t fear getting killed; we have football fans with outstanding organizational capacities… We have a new generation that deserves a chance! The government’s old ways could never again work What do you think of the voices that call for a ‘safe exit’ for SCAF? I don’t believe in such terms as a ‘safe exit’. I believe in the law. The law and the independence of the judiciary are the only guarantee for justice and peace in a society. Whoever committed a crime against the people is to be punished, according to the law, before which everyone is equal.

But it’s been a year now; the law has not been executed and no one has been punished.

Because the one thing that has changed is that Mubarak is out of power. The system remains the same; the tools and techniques of the decision-making process remain the same. People still in charge don’t even comprehend the very concepts of freedom and democracy.

For decades the mentality governing the country’s institutions has managed them in the traditional way fit for a centralized, totalitarian state. The true obstacle is this mentality, not Mubarak, not SCAF. Some political movements even want to inherit the same mentality; they just want to be in charge, that’s all the change they aspire to. We need new blood! Egypt is different now, it can’t be run like it used to be in the 1980s and 1990s, we now have revolutionaries who don’t fear losing their eyes or getting killed; we have football fans with outstanding organizational capacities and an unparalleled level of

24 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

awareness… We have a new generation that deserves a chance to express itself and take part in decision-making. The government’s old ways could never again work, ever.

If there’s one thing you would like to tell voters today, what would it be?

Follow the battle for candidature signatures closely; a new Egypt is being built. Take part in that. Support your candidate and collect signatures for them. Unfortunately, some candidates resort to bribery to collect the signatures they need; don’t allow those a chance another honest candidate could be denied. Help the revolution’s candidates fight the battle for presidency. We know these elections will be flawed, we know democracy could never be practiced correctly underneath the rule of SCAF, but since elections will be held anyway, help our revolution have a voice and support the candidate you deem most representative of you and of your ideals.

We’d like to know some things about you as a person, away from politics.

Sure, go ahead!

What do you do during your free time?

I love to take long walks, or spend some time by the Nile… aw arouh el seema!

What’s your favorite book?

I read two very important books that helped shape my views on economic policies and their relation to globalization and how they harm the poor: “Development and Freedom” and “Economy that Bestows Poverty”.

Which newspaper do you prefer reading?

I read them all. I can’t sleep until I’ve read all the day’s newspapers; perhaps that’s why I’m always late to bed.

What’s your favorite meal?

Koshari, definitely! I’d eat koshari everyday. Actually, I love all those local meals my mother used to cook: koshari, mesaqqa’a, lentils… I used to get bored of this type of food when I was a kid, but I always long for my mother’s cooking now.

What about your favorite movie?

I love a lot of movies, I can’t possibly choose one. But I particularly enjoy the work of Muhammad Khan, Radwan El-Kashef and Salah Abu-Seif.

What would have been your dream job if you hadn’t been involved in politics?

Well, it would have had something to do with politics or public affairs in all cases. I was a member in the student union back in school, and I loved social sciences like history, geography and philosophy when all the other kids hated them. I have always believed I could only be one of 3 things: a lawyer, a history teacher, or a journalist. C

[ OPINIONATED ]

By

Remember when you were in school? There was always an annoying little prick that you’d call the teacher’s pet. His ultimate goal was to be on the teacher’s good side, to gain approval, and more importantly, distinguish himself from everyone else.

It was all about impressing the teacher, either by trying to be the ideal student or by pulling off sh*t like ratting other students out. You may also have had a guy who sucked up to the school bully in a miserable attempt to avoid his cruelty.

26 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

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Naturally, that guy would grow up to suck up to his professors in college and ultimately suck up to his boss as an employee. Come to think of it, in any given context you’ll always find someone who decided to put all his efforts into sucking up in order to make his way.

It is important, however, to distinguish between the two different types of suck-ups out there. The first one is the one I already explained, where being the teacher’s pet is the goal. The second one is when sucking up is a means to an end, like passing a course or getting a promotion.

The first type does believe in the “awesomeness” of his superior; he is not a sleazy, opportunistic suck-up. This type of person usually has a thing for authority, where they idolize the authority figure and believe them to be beyond screwing up and making mistakes.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely” See, Mubarak probably wasn’t born with that God complex of his, nor was any high-ranked official or even your boss; they are all victims of the corrupt environment we live in. From these people’s points of view, not sucking-up will be translated into being an unappreciative person or at least, a failure from your side to realize how great they are. Putting you on their black list is probably a subconscious decision.

I guess all of this falls under the greater umbrella of “power corrupts… absolute power corrupts absolutely”. As explained, if this goes on (and I think it will) we will literally face the same scenario all over again. No matter how modest or fair the next president will be, there will be a point in time when he will think he’s beyond accountability and beyond screwing up. C

The second type on the other hand, is pretty much your average suck-up; he doesn’t exactly enjoy sucking-up but he see is it as a necessity or –at least– an easier way to accomplish his goals.

Sucking-up in Egypt Sucking-up to the “man” is an international phenomenon: you’ll find it in any given country and at any given time. But just like corruption, sucking-up has reached an intolerable level in Egypt. You could always notice it in the Egyptian political scene. The “good citizens” who genuinely believed in Mubarak and remained loyal to him are the same people who are loyal to SCAF and Tantawy, despite the ironic fact that it was SCAF that imprisoned Mubarak and put him on trial.

It never was about Mubarak and it sure as hell isn’t about SCAF; it’s about authority. Some people just need the feeling of knowing that there is an entity or a figure responsible for everything.

The type of suck-ups that actually believe the greatness of authority are mainly “el mowateneen el shorfa2” who seem to look the other way whenever SCAF demonstrates that they are no angels. On the other hand, the other type of suck-ups, the opportunistic ones who use it to achieve their own personal goals are the public figures who constantly seem to have an urge to tell us that “el geish 7ama el thawra”.

I remember it was only a couple of days after Mubarak’s step-down that I realized that we’re back to square one. It wasn’t because of my skepticism towards SCAF, but because of what I read in one of the most widelycirculated state-owned newspapers. The article I read wasn’t your typical “all hail the king” type of article; it was a rather average article about some average topic, one that I no longer remember. But I remember how it was written -- the overglorification of Tantawy was appalling, especially since the article wasn’t about him in the first place.

Terms like “his wisdom” or “his high sense of patriotism” will automatically force any man/woman with an average level of intelligence to question the neutrality and the credibility of an article.

So even though at the time I didn’t think of Tantawy as the devil incarnate, I became absolutely positive that it would take more than overthrowing a tyrant to change this culture.

If people keep telling you how great and “magnificent” you are for long period of time you will eventually believe it, even if it’s entirely untrue. So when you have a high-ranked official being constantly praised by a bunch of suck-up assholes for something he’s not, he will believe them. While whoever dares to not suck-up to him will be– from the officials’ point of view–an unappreciative bastard. And then, you’re left with the environment of either sucking-up or being on the “black list”.

27

OPINIONATED

Big city, small life We’re not stuck in traffic, we are traffic.

I HAVE RECENTLY TAKEN UP THE LONG OVERDUE TASK OF PURSUING HAPPINESS; YOU KNOW, THE DREAM. THE LIFE WE WISH FOR ON A DAILY BASIS. NO TRAFFIC JAMS, NO CAR HORNS, NO PARKING SPOT WARS, NO POLLUTION AND NO GARBAGE PILES. I’M MERELY TRYING TO DESCRIBE WHAT’S REFERRED TO AS THE “NORMAL LIFE”, A LIFE WHERE YOU’RE NOT CONSTANTLY UPSET, TURNED OFF AND CONSTANTLY RUSHED TO DO EVERYTHING.

28 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

By Ahmed Amin

That same rush made our parents put us in school at the age of 3 or 4. For me, the entire schooling system has been nothing more than an 18 year charade where I had to presumably earn the right to live on my own in the future and decide where I’m headed. So at around 21, you’re supposedly ripe and ready to go out there and live, pursue perfection and one would expect that each individual would attempt to pull off some marvelous Herculean feat or help the less fortunate thrive and prosper, but no! The opposite happens, we can barely make ends meet, it’s excruciatingly hard to find a decent place to live and even harder to tie the knot with person you love.

Something’s really off here, don’t you think?

What went wrong?

The answer is really obvious, we’re the problem. Just like how we’re not stuck in traffic on a daily basis; we are the traffic! The only thing that’s standing between us and a good dignified life is us; our wrong decisions, our clouded judgment and flawed perception. We should stop living in denial and actually start facing the problem.

Our cities are no more than country-sized sweat shops where everyone does something for money -- as opposed to doing something with money.

The big city is slowly dying by our hands and smaller cities are following in its steps while the rest of the country remains underdeveloped, malnourished and over-looked. Egypt on the map is quite geographically diverse, and with diversity comes opportunity and potential; we have the ability to do many different things in many different places. All sorts of technology or innovation have a place in Egypt, yet sadly most of the people have their place in an overcrowded suffocating city, which is perfectly fine until you start hearing everyone complain about everything.

Why don’t we move from the crowds and move the crowds? Why do we have to be in a constant position where we’re all next to each other, literally compressed in a glorified tuna can?

Have you checked the Cairo density figures lately? According to Wikipedia, Cairo has around 7 million people and as of 2010 its density figures are 17,190/km². It’s like roughly having 120 people in a soccer field and that’s just by dividing population averages of the city without considering its suburbs.

A more practical example would be the “metro ma7shy” we go through if we choose the metro as a means of transportation, not to mention public colleges that have 1000 students crammed up into one lecture hall.

This aside, let’s looks at how our economy is suffering: we need more job creation, more products to export, more inventions to adopt and more creativity. In more colloquial terms, we need a breakthrough, a groundbreaking discovery, or in other words, what we need is the overlooked obvious. We need to discover new grounds, we need to break the city chains and head through new roads to new beautiful spots in Egypt and do what we love there.

So what’s holding us back? Why has Sinai remained underdeveloped for all these years, we got it back in the 80s yet it got none of us. The last time we were there was when Moses split the sea probably.

This is the core difference between us and the Pharaohs. They roamed the land, and made the most of every spot they could get their hands on, from Giza to Gebel Elba. Everywhere you go they seem to have left something behind, and then add to it the Coptic and Islamic civilizations that both made great use of the land.

Yet what we’re doing is shuffling through traffic while watching half-naked children eating leftovers from dumpster hotspots.

We need to get out of the major city clusters we’re glued to. What’s going to make Egypt a great country isn’t the traffic and politics in Cairo or Alexandria; it’s going to be the building of new sustainable and humane living environments and developing over-looked opportunities, hopefully enabling us to fight the lethal population problem by adding more space and more job opportunities… or else we’ll just keep roaming the big city like zombies.

29

OPINIONATED

Confessions of an

Ex-Islamophobic…

Who Finally Found Her Faith Again

By Sarah El-Wakil

I never thought I’d find myself writing this, but here I am. I’m a proud young Muslim woman, who never thought the day would come when I’d define myself as such. I was brought up a Muslim in Egypt, in a family not fully practicing Islam. I knew about fasting, and I did fast, but I didn’t know how or why to pray till the age of 13 or 14. I prayed on time every single day for over 5 years, and if I tried to go to bed not having prayed, guilt would torment me, and I’d hop right back up and pray.

I was the kind of girl who would go back home after a Valentine’s Day date and pray to God thanking him for the blessing of love. I was a dreamer, a thinker, and spent many hours in my dream bubble, where everything was beautiful, everyone was kind and life was smooth. I knew religion as a fact, not as an option, and I took it as such, and I swear it was so much easier.

30 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

Then one day, inevitably, the real world hit me in the face and the bubble of perfection was no more. School was over, people were different, ethics and morals were no longer how I defined them. I got exposed, to bad people, bad intentions, options and ideas. The small bubble of “facts” was gone, and I had to ‘think’.

I encountered people and circumstances that shook me, shook my faith and everything I believed in; I met people who were double faced; people who prayed and preached about God and then lied and stole, I met people who prayed every Friday but still slept around, drank alcohol, harmed people and broke other people’s hearts and believed themselves to be good people. Then, I met really good people who didn’t even believe in God, and they were kind, decent and honest people.

I also met those people who made me hate all the little things I enjoyed doing, people who’d come up to me after I finished prayer and told me that I needed to move my arms a little bit forwards, or upwards, and things like that made me cringe. I hated how some people would come up and smile at you and tell you bits of information or advice as if they’re doing you a huge favor, or as if they understood things better than you did when it came to religion.

Overtime, I got confused and I started to read and question, but I was too young to grasp all the information I received. It was the first phase of my actual journey with religion, or lack of it. I naturally got mixed up and depressed, and so I decided to avoid religion altogether. I became spiritual rather than religious; I believed in God, I still believed myself to be a good person, but I was angry, upset that I couldn’t understand. I started talking to God in my very own way without doing the five prayers per day ritual, which I felt had become routine actions that I no longer believed in.

However, I still felt I had a duty to understand more about the world’s belief systems. I went online and read about Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, agnosticism, atheism and most of all I read the attacks against Islam that exist in abundance in the electronic world. I used to read them in shock at first, and spent a lot of time in denial. I could not feel hate against Islam, but could no longer love it the way I did before either; I could no longer believe in a religion with such a reputation, a religion that the west - which then appeared quite moderate to me - attacked so viciously.

It was a very painful time in my life. I gradually started viewing every pious Muslim around me as an ignorant person, who was not lucky enough to have an open mind to explore the world like I did. I did not oppose them, or make fun of them, because I myself was confused and didn’t want to be the reason someone else got confused. I adopted the phrase “ignorance is bliss”, and believed it in my core.

Step by step, I started to drink, and not feel the least bit guilty about it; it was the natural development of my lack of faith. I didn’t understand people who had a problem with drinking, and I found alcohol extremely attractive and people who drank very classy. I pitied people who were less fortunate than I was. I started to admire people who were smart enough to not believe in Islam, and found myself really disappointed when a person who seemed extremely intelligent turned out to be a believer.

Yet I could never hate Islam or pious Muslims around me; I couldn’t accept criticism to Islam or against Muslims, and I could not betray my people and look at them with an eye of racism. I couldn’t understand people in Europe or France in particular, who were supposedly advocates of free will, but refused to let a woman keep her veil on, in the name of freedom. I could not accept such double standards.

Then one day, God, who so easily removed faith from my heart at its strongest, to the extent that I no longer remembered what faith was even like, just as easily gave it back to me. Exactly as mentioned in the Quran, it was something I couldn’t control, even if I had wanted to, and to this moment I cannot explain when exactly it happened, or what changed within or around me and made me believe once again.

However, I cannot lie and say that it was always constant. There were moments when I didn’t really understand why I believed again; and for a while it kept coming and disappearing… I’d remember the reasons that made me not believe in the first place; I’d picture the Prophet PBUH and accusations against him – that I found quite valid, and think of the verses in Quran that refer to wars and killing, and I’d feel disappointed again.

knowledge and certainty. Three days later, he answered my prayers: a friend of mine randomly informed me about a course by an Egyptian international speaker of Islam, Mr. Fadel Soliman, the director of Bridges Foundation, an international organization aiming to bridge the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims around the world.

In one course after the other, Mr. Soliman talked about the misconceptions about Islam, and responded to all the difficult questions and accusations that had once made me lose my faith. I learnt more about war in Islam and that Islam teaches us that war should be initiated and ordained to stop injustice not for the sake of war itself. I understood that anything we read in the Quran had to be read in context, and that the Quran is self-sufficient, and includes all the answers only if we did a bit of effort to find them. I learnt that Islam was not spread by force; Muslims conquered Spain and India and ruled there for hundreds of years, yet Muslims are a minority there today, whereas the biggest Muslim populations are in Indonesia, Malaysia and China, and there is no record of one Muslim soldier ever being there; only records of Muslim traders. He also talked about the prophet, his life, his traits and his teachings; he discussed his life and marriages in historical context.

Step by step, I realized that I had actually known nothing about the prophet; his life, his journey and all the good things he did and taught people to do. I realized that I had looked at Islam and hated the prophet PBUH just as any person in the west would if they heard all the misconceptions said about them. I realized that I had been a victim of Islamophobia.

I discovered that I had lost my faith in the past, due to my ignorance, not due to deficiency in my religion itself. I understood that the misusage of Islam by some hypocrites, who ruin its image, is not Islam’s fault, but the fault of those people themselves, people who have chosen to change their outer image and speak in the name of religion, before their hearts became full of faith, because Islam is all about the faith within the depths of your heart, that if strong enough, pushes away evil inclinations and brings about genuine piety, knowing that God is there everywhere around you.

I have come to believe that the act of prayer, which is one of the main bases of our religion, is not only a connection with God, but that optimum balance in life could be achieved if you are capable of waking up each morning planning ahead when and where you will dedicate 2-4 minutes to communicate with God five times a day with sincerity. I also believe that the veil, which I do not yet wear, doesn’t exist to stop men and their savage appetites, but as an act of devoutness in the eyes of God, because when we are at home praying in the privacy of our rooms, there are no men to hide from, yet we wear a veil to show that we are humbled in the presence of God. I also came to believe that if we want Islam to be rightfully presented to ourselves and to the world; more good people should make an effort to read and know about Islam from knowledgeable sources who tackle Islam with logic, in the proper historical framework, and depend on explanation supported by the Quran, in order not to leave our religion in the hands of hypocrites who don’t mind deviating from it and manipulating it to suit their own sick, twisted minds and serve their lowly interests.

Learn. It may be tedious, but it eventually comforts you. I’ve tried being ignorant for a while… and it never turned out to be the bliss I thought it would be. C

I knew I found great comfort in the Quran, but I could not really support it with logic, until the beginning of this year. With faith in God, knowing that he’d be there for me, I did my first prayer in years, I cried, and asked God to help me, to guide me, to give me

31

OPINIONATED

Egypt sucks you in – just to spit you right back out

By Leila Tapozada

IF I HAD A DOLLAR FOR EVERY TIME SOMEONE ASKED ME WHY I DECIDED TO LIVE IN EGYPT, I WOULD NOT BE SITTING AT MY OFFICE DESK WRITING THIS, WHILE LISTENING TO A SHOUTING MATCH OUTSIDE MY WINDOW BETWEEN A SAYYES AND THE DELIVERY MAN OF STEAK OUT – I WOULD BE LOUNGING ON MY YACHT IN GOUNA, FANNING MYSELF WITH MONEY AND TOSSING DIAMONDS INTO THE SEA FOR THE HELL OF IT.

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Now, obviously random Egyptians don’t go around asking one another “howa enta 3ayesh fi Masr leih?”, but my personal case is a bit of an anomaly (gross understatement) to many people. They just can’t wrap their heads around why someone, who not only has a foreign passport, but a home, friends, and immediate family (mother, brother, grandmother, grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) in another country (the US) would choose to not live there and live here instead.

Sort of like a person who’s racist against his own race, many Egyptians are country-ist (don’t ask) against their own country. (Note: I feel like I should use a more intelligent term than ‘country-ist’ but it’s been a good four years since I graduated from university and most sociological or anthropological terms have long been forgotten, so bear with me.)

Anyways, for a people who are so patriotic (and Egyptians are pretty damn patriotic), why are most of them so shocked and amazed to hear that someone who has the choice to live abroad, instead of here, would choose not to?

And like most questions in life, you’re not handed an answer, you’re smacked full-on in the face with it. And that’s just what happened to me.

FLASHBACK 15 YEARS When I first moved to Egypt, I was like, “Oh, HELLLL no.” The streets looked and smelled like a cess-pool. The whole landscape of Cairo was one of dirty beiges and grays. The air was thick with dust, pollution and sweat. There were too many cars, too many people, and they were all uglier and noisier and dirtier than the one before. I couldn’t get over the feeling of being looked at all the time. I hated people’s questions, nosiness, ignorance and general backwardness. But mostly, I hated my parents for forcing me to come here.

But over the next few years, something strange started to happen. I made friends at school and started to understand a little bit of Arabic, and actually came to appreciate their offbeat Egyptian humor. We moved to Maadi, and greenery and space and restaurants and cafes started to reappear in my life. I was introduced to places like Sharm, Ain el Sokhna, Hurghada and Luxor and began to realize that not all of Egypt is Cairo. I started to evolve into a strange hybrid creature that began to un-see all the dirt, poverty and chaos that is Cairo, and yet would still feel excited every time the Pyramids would pop into view.

And that was it. Somehow, and in some way, I switched from wishing an earthquake would swallow the country whole to its biggest supporter and defender. I would always use the clichés of how Egyptian people were the kindest, funniest, warmest people with good values and how people elsewhere were cold. And even though it was always understood from a young age that I would go to university in the States because my parents didn’t have high opinions of universities here, I put my foot down and refused to go back to the US; I wanted to go to AUC with the rest of my friends. And even when my mom and brother moved back to the US, I chose to continue living in Egypt, even if it meant living alone.

When people started asking me why I chose to stay here, I would launch into impassioned speeches about how great Egypt is; that life elsewhere is too bland and that as long as you have a sense of humor, you’ll always love living in Egypt.

Well, ladies and gentleman, after 15 years, I think it’s safe to say that I have finally lost my sense of humor.

BACK – UNFORTUNATELY – TO NOW I still love Egypt, I do. I think I once wrote in an article somewhere that I love Egypt in the same way that a mother would love her ugly, brainchallenged child. But I don’t know if it’s because the country has been spiraling downwards recently, or if after 15 years, I’m just worn out.

Because that’s really how I feel now. I feel like living in this city is a daily struggle, and come on, don’t we all have enough emotional and psychological and professional struggles in our life? Do we need to struggle with our city on top of it all?

I’m tired of sitting in a car for hours, for a distance I could walk, but that I CAN’T walk because I don’t want to be harassed or groped or touched

or even looked at. I’m tired of seeing poverty-stricken people all the time and knowing that not only can I not do anything for them, but neither is our government. I’m tired of conflicts, and violence, and in-your-face religion, and an oppressive society and a confused culture. I want privacy and freedom and rights and mostly for my bawab to get the f*ck out of my face.

I’ve come to realize that it’s not shameful or unpatriotic to want to live in a place that’s clean, and safe, with air that you can actually breathe, and where you can walk the street wearing shorts because the weather is hot.

That should not be a luxury to enjoy in Gouna. That should be regular life.

It’s not unpatriotic to want to be in a place that has a government who actually PROVIDES for you – and is actually AFRAID of pissing you off! It’s a cliché that’s been said a million times since the revolution, but it’s still so true – a person’s government is supposed to work for THE PEOPLE! That’s the way it works in dozens and dozens of other countries – there’s no reason why we should be welad el batta soda.

Sometimes it makes me feel like a failure, but when I’m honest with myself, I realize I’m done here. It doesn’t mean that I don’t love it here, and will always love it here, but I love myself more. I might limp on for another year or two, but I need to do what’s best for me. That doesn’t make me nadla, or a traitor, or unpatriotic. It just makes me a person who believes I deserve to live a good-quality life.

33

OPINIONATED

By Menna Tarek

In some cases, I am referred to as an “empowered” woman.

This means that I am leading a successful career, that I claim ownership over my own body, that I manage my own finances, that I can get 10,000 more college degrees or that I have the luxury of choosing my partner. Anything along those lines would indicate I have a say or a choice in what happens to me as an individual.

That means I am empowered, right? Right? Please?

Well, NO! It doesn’t mean I am an empowered woman.

It just means that I am a fortunate individual. Had my family raised a boy, he would have turned out exactly the same way I did.

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Preface

To be honest, being a woman never really stopped me from doing anything that I wanted to do until I began to understand sexism as an issue later in life, even though I went to a strict Catholic nuns’ school. Having been introduced to it, society’s obsession with women was rather interesting to me.

Many times I hear stories about domestic violence that occurred in homes that I never would have thought carried such a crack within them. Many times I found myself defending females in various situations just because they are females; because they are being attacked for the sole reason of being females. Remember the whole Aliaa El Mahdy thing? My mind never processed that people would be upset over this because she is a female that wanted to do something with her body and went for it. In her defense, I would say that it is merely a reaction to all the monaqabbat out there. If one chooses to cover her body, another will choose to expose her body. So yeah, I had to defend Aliaa El Mahdy at one point -which I didn’t like- simply because I thought the whole thing was dumb.

Why discriminate against women specifically? Threat? Maybe. Your male boss might not give you what you deserve if he feels threatened by you. Same goes for your female boss as well. She might give you hell and favor guys over you even if you are smarter and more efficient.

But sometimes positive discrimination happens too. And I have never heard a woman complain about society being unfair to her when someone picks up her cheque, or when her boss gives her an early leave on an ‘infilat amny’ day.

The Alpha Female Dilemma

The interesting part here, though, would be how this affects relationships between men and women. Being an alpha female is something that is both good in a bad way, and bad in a good way.

Allow me to explain.

Alpha females are less approachable

They are too intimidating. They could be making more money than their male version, they have good genes, they know things, and God, they even have table manners. This state of not being very approachable filters away potential candidates. Leaving aside natural selectivity and all that, an alpha female could actually want to be with someone who is not an alpha male for various reasons. While an alpha male wouldn’t always want to be with an alpha female for various reasons too, chief among them is the fact that some males would prefer to be with a female who is not-so-alpha. They don’t want opponents. This leaves the alpha female with a very narrow pool of selection. She is left with the alpha male who is not intimidated by her.

And these are rare, very rare.

Good thing = Natural filtration of not-so-clean-cut males who could be douchebags.

Bad thing = Narrow pool of selection ranging from very clean-cut males who are, most probably, egoistic and self-absorbed.

Alpha Females are human beings too

They like selecting, they like being selected, they prioritize their careers (maybe), they want the best of both worlds (the single one and the companionship one), they have needs (urgent and longterm) and they would want a partner who has table manners too.

Good thing = Matters are taken with their own-set pace.

Bad thing = Considered egoistic, selfabsorbed and unapproachable by a wide pool of males (alpha and not).

What we are looking at right here is case of a female who is an opponent to the male who she chose/got chosen by.

Of course, in some case the fact that she is an opponent to him might be the reason of his attraction to her in the first place. Facing a situation like that would oblige the female to be top notch all the time or else the attraction would fade away.

Pick a side!

My point is you can be an opponent and deal with it; as in don’t ask your male friends for a ride home because they are boys and you are a girl and all, don’t accept someone paying your cheque, don’t accept positive discrimination in whatever form it might be delivered. Or, you can choose to accept it and spare us the lectures about feminism and how society is unfair to you. Pick a side and don’t bitch about it.

And by the way, choosing the first side doesn’t deprive you from malegives-to-female privileges. It just puts it into the straight context of: Female: “I don’t need that” Male: “I know, but I feel like offering you that”

Without this context set, the confusion will lead to a miscommunication that both sides should avoid.

Now take that example and apply it to all other fields.

The individual who is capable of setting his/her own standards and actually abiding by them is the empowered person over here. And no, if that person happened to be a female, it doesn’t count as a goal in the battle between the sexes game. C

35

PRESS RELEASES

The new Spring/Summer 2012 Adidas women’s collection is out, everyone!

For the upcoming season, Adidas Women’s Training brings together next generation athletes including Naomi van As, Shanaze Reade, Britta Steffens, Becky James, Harriet Lymer and Global Yoga Trainer Ashleigh Sergeant and Dance Instructor Marta Formoso to unveil the new Spring and Summer 2012 collection, which aims to be an inspiration to the women that workout regularly to be fit and therefore feel good about themselves.

The highlight for Spring and Summer 2012 is Cool Dance, which represents the combination of dance with sporty performance. This collection is represented by the Dance Instructor Marta Formoso. Her confidence and attitude is a perfect match for the new, unexpected dance collection. Iconic 3 stripes gives this collection both brightness and energy. The long Clima Training Tee in bright pink creates a perfect match with the black bottoms that are an ideal fit for women training.

The collection also features feminine products such as the Clima Training gym skirt. In footwear, the Clima Generation X stands out and is the ideal training shoe to complete this modern look featuring a very feminine design and lightweight properties.

Last but not least, the Essentials collection, a statement where modern minimalism meets sportswear design, is also available for this season offering performance products alongside the casual range. Ambassadors such as Becky James, Naomi van As and Britta Steffens are wearing more feminine pieces, in different vibrant colour combinations while exercising at the gym but also while comfortably relaxing in between their training sessions.

Twirl! IOS application Twirl! is a simple yet challenging puzzler. There are 3 game modes: Classic, Separator and Survival. Tap on a square, and the surrounding squares will twirl around it; you can use the direction button to change the twirl direction.

The goal of Classic mode is to score as high as possible with a fixed amount of twirls (50, 100 or 200). You score when a 3x3 square of the same color has been made.

The goal of Separator, is to separate the colors on the board, (2 or 3) with the least amount of moves. This is a bit harder than Classic and requires a bit more skill.

Last but not least, the Survival mode. It is similar to Classic mode except the number of twirls is not fixed. You start with 10 twirls and the more squares you make, the more twirls you get. You start at level 1, where a square is worth 9 twirls, then after making 5 squares, you proceed to level 2 where each square is worth 8 twirls and so on.

Win with Visa and attend the London Olympic Games!

Visa, one of the world’s leading payment solution providers, is celebrating its long-standing worldwide sponsorship of the Olympic Games with one its biggest ever regional campaigns.

As an Olympic partner since 1986, Visa continues to be the exclusive card of the Olympic Games and official payment service of the International Olympic Committee with Visa being the only card accepted at all Olympic venues for all official Olympic-related transactions.

‘Go World’ advertising across the GCC Visa’s eye-catching ‘Go World’ campaign was unveiled to the public last month featuring an interactive 3-D activation in Dubai, which enabled Visa to promote its involvement with The Games in a fun and engaging way.

The high impact advertising campaign has now been rolled out across the GCC and will be launched this month in Egypt.

36 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

The extensive campaign will run until July and with a series of belowthe-line initiatives, including a dedicated PR and social media campaign, complimenting the advertising campaign.

Win a chance to go to London 2012 Olympic Games As part of Visa’s worldwide sponsorship of The Games, Visa will be running a series of promotions giving over 100 Visa cardholders across the region the chance the unique opportunity to attend the Games in London with a friend during the summer. In Egypt, 4 packages are on offer directly from Visa, with customers of local banks having additional chances to win this much coveted prize as part of exclusive partnerships with Visa.

More than 25 years of Olympic success for Visa As the world’s biggest sporting event, the Olympic and Paralympic Games provide Visa with an unparalleled opportunity to promote our brand to our broad and diverse customer base and to reinforce preference for Visa products and services at an international and local level.

CAMPUS SURVEY:

Weapons!

It’s no news that people don’t take their safety for granted like they used to. For more than a year, words like “thugs”, “ota3 toro2” and “armed robbery” are no longer associated with movies only and became a part of our everyday life.

Moreover, due to the lack of trust between citizens and law enforcement institutions, many people considered at some point taking matters into their own hands and started thinking about carrying weapons for self-defense.

We conducted an online survey to formulate a better understanding of people’s perspective on the matter.

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It’s a jungle out there alright!

Stone cold killers

Apparently, the vast majority of the people who took the survey (85%) think they need a weapon, while 11% actually own weapons and a very tiny portion (4%) think that they don’t need a weapon. This means that 96% think that there is an ongoing security crisis and that they do in fact need to protect themselves, which is more or less an indicator of how poorly the government is performing!

37% said that, if necessary, they would use their weapons without blinking even if it meant killing someone. Some gave specific answers:

Better safe than sorry

While 33% answered said that they would use a weapon but would NEVER go as far as killing someone, 22% said that they’ll only use it to scare thugs off without actually hurting them.

When asked about why they believe they need a weapon, 44% blamed it on the poor security situation these days. Surprisingly however, 48% stated that they don’t actually “need it” but would like to have a weapon as a precaution; the good old “better safe than sorry” notion.

While only 4% don’t think that a weapon is needed, there is another 4% who would like to get their hands on one because they “like collecting weapons”. It is also worth mentioning that none of the surveyed thinks that it’s cool to own a weapon!

Say hello to my little friend It didn’t come as a surprise that the majority (44%) picked the gun as their weapon of choice, in addition to another 8% (we’re guessing they’re gamers) who specifically chose shotguns.

15% chose a stick (baseball bat, shooma, etc.) as their weapon of choice, and we believe that goes back to the fact that it’s very easy to get your hands on one. Another 15% chose the taser (electric shocker) while knives and mace (pepper spray) got a very modest 7% each.

• “Only against ‘thugs’”.

• “I would shoot someone but not to kill, but I would kill them if I had to!”

8%, however, said that they never thought about it, which might be a problem because we think before you carry a weapon you need to know that carrying it might in fact put you in greater danger (if a thug sees you with a weapon, he might get more violent!).

I know a guy…

Turns out that 34% of the people surveyed know arms dealers and are capable of getting a weapon if they wanted to, this percentage doesn’t include the 14% who have family members in the police or the army who could facilitate the process.

On the other hand 26% said that they had absolutely no clue where to start looking for a weapon while another 26% said that “anything could be used as a weapon”.

The rule of law When asked whether the people who own a gun have a permit, 46% said that they do have one, while 54% said that they DON’T, which isn’t reassuring, really.

Big spenders?

Obviously YES, just a little over 54% are willing to pay over L.E 500 (including a couple who stated that they could pay thousands) on a weapon, which goes to show the importance of security on people’s priority list. A good 34% said that they are willing to pay from L.E 150 up to L.E 500, while 7% said that they’re willing to go only as high as L.E 150.

Here are some of the reasons behind why people procure weapons without license: • “Paper work is a b*tch” • “You can’t just get a permit” • “In the jungle we live in now, no one would actually care” C

Parenting Level: Egyptian In normal cases, parents should never allow their children to carry weapons. But apparently things are getting messed up to the point where a remarkable 34% are ok with their children carrying weapons.

Add to that an even more surprising 7% of parents who actually encourage them to do so!

There still is a 55% majority of parents who would never allow their children to be “armed”, whereas 4% never talked to their parents about the issue.

Badass? Not so much!

When asked whether they used weapons before or not, 74% stated that they never used a weapon before (which is kind of relieving).

While 11% actually used it to scare someone off (firing in the air) and 8% used it in a fight that escalated.

The remaining 7% did, in fact, use weapons before, however it was in the context of a military exercise or in a shooting range.

39

Eye Candy

40 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

© Mos’ab El Shamy

41

42 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

CAMPUS Quiz

You’ve been instrumentalized!

By Adham Roshdy

LATELY A CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECT HAS BEEN THE HUMOROUS STEREOTYPING OF MUSICIANS. BASED ON NUMEROUS PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSES, PEOPLE HAVE COME UP WITH A HYPOTHESIS THAT CLAIMS THAT CHOOSING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AND EXCELLING IN IT IS SOMEHOW BASED ON PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS AND CHARACTER. THOUGH SUCH A HYPOTHESIS IS PRONE TO CRITICISM, MANY MUSICIANS FIND SUCH STEREOTYPING QUITE INTERESTING AND THEY ACTUALLY RELATE TO IT. FOR THE FUN OF IT, BASED ON ONE OF THESE MUSICIAN/PERSONALITY ANALYSES, FIND OUT WHICH MUSICAL INSTRUMENT “IS YOU” AND DISCOVER THE MUSICIAN STEREOTYPE WITHIN. Back during your early school days, how did you perceive your math teacher?

A- S/he’s just like any other teacher, sucking out my personal time B- I liked him/her because s/he put me in charge of the class C- S/he was one of the most important characters in my daily illustrated comics D- I guess s/he hated my guts, or as s/he mentioned in my reports, s/he hated my restlessness E- I believe s/he gave us one of the most interesting classes F- I didn’t care, addition and subtraction were practical, but seriously, who uses Sin and Cos in real life G- I knew s/he went through a hard time teaching us, but it would have been more beneficial if she taught us drawing and painting instead

What comes to mind the moment you hear the word ‘beach’?

A- The sea view B- Trendy swim suits C- Having a cold drink while tanning D- Beach buggies and beach volleyball E- Tople…..ummmm Bikinis and stuff F- Time to socialize with fish G- Couples holding hands and walking in front of a sunset

Which of these movie/ TV show characters do you relate to the most?

A- Vince Vaughn as Jeremy Grey in Wedding Crashers or Lake Bell as Tipper in What Happens in Vegas B- Ben Stiller as Derek Zoolander in Zoolander or Rachel McAdams as Jessica in The Hot Chick C- Danny Masterson as Steven Hyde in That ’70s Show or Angelica Houston as Morticia Addams in The Addams Family D- Jack Nicholson as Melvin Udall in As Good as It Gets or Julia Roberts as Julianne Potter in My Best Friend’s Wedding E- Mathew McConaughey as Benjamin Barry in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days or Ellen Page as Juno MacGuff in Juno F- Ryan Reynolds as Chris Brader in Just Friends or Rachael Leigh Cook as Laney Boggs in She’s All That G- Ryan Gosling as Noah in The Notebook or Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola De Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love

Your best friend, who is sitting with a group of people you don’t know, invites you to join them at the table. This is what you would do: A- I’ll tap him on his shoulder, introduce myself to everyone seated and then join them only if they seem interesting B- I’ll sit down and change the subject so that they’re engaged in something I’d rather talk about C- I’ll sit down and eventually get along with them D- I’ll have a seat and find someone to talk to E- Most probably I’ll sit down for a while and then get up to talk on the phone F- I’ll sit and remain silent and start exploring my phone’s options G- I’ll fake wanting to go to the bathroom and when I come back I might claim that something came up and that I have to leave

Which of these do you enjoy doing the most?

A- During working days, I’ll enjoy a drink by myself during my break B- Keeping people up to date with my glorious achievements C- Mocking my friends from time to time D- Watching a movie all by myself E- Watch Discovery Channel or meditating F- Discussing world issues with my friends, and exposing them to my point of view G- Attending art galleries

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Which of the following cartoon characters do you prefer?

A- Pink Panther B- Daffy Duck C- Garfield D- Taz E- Otto Mann in The Simpsons F- Mickey Mouse G- Tweety

What is your favorite time of the year?

A- It’s no one’s business B- My birthday C- Weekends, just chilling around D- My lover’s birthday E- Attending concerts F- The moment I discover that I can do something new, other than what I’m usually good at G- Valentine’s Day

What is your favorite song of these?

A- John Coltrane: Lush Life B- Miles Davis: So What C- Queen: Another One Bites to Dust D- Prince: Musicology E- Scott Henderson: Tore Down House F- Ray Charles: Georgia G- Francis Lai/Andy Williams: Love Story

Results: Mostly As: There’s a saxophonist in you. You are a casual outgoing friend who loves freedom, but you’re territorial and very competitive when it comes to your limelight. You’re perceived as a charismatic person and you like to keep it that way.

Mostly Bs: There’s a trumpeter in you. You are independent and you believe that you’re a natural dominant person, but people around you may perceive you as an obnoxious and an offensively loud person. You’re ready to take risks just to grab attention, but unfortunately, people sense that you’re a show off.

Mostly Cs: There’s a bassist in you. You know what the world is and you enjoy being the laid-back dude/ gal. People perceive you as the humor-sparkle, but you are more layered than what meets the eye. You know how to get along with people with different personalities and if you sense that someone needs your guidance, you’ll unleash an encyclopedia of analysis and advice. You’re the main reason people are grooving to the song, and though you know that 99% of the audience don’t know that, you just smile as long as it keeps going on, for you don’t strive for the recognition but respect is all you want.

Mostly Ds: There’s a drummer in you. You’re loaded with energy and you know how to channel it perfectly into what elates you and amuses the others as well. You might think you’re the wise one around, but the truth is that too much of your fuses have been burnt out and people around you sense your insanity. You’re independent and spirited. You’ve got your way with things and situations, and you’ll just let the people talk their talk, but at the end, they’ll walk your walk.

Mostly Es: There’s a guitarist in you. You’re introverted and unpredictable and people around you may perceive you as self-involved and self-contained. You’re a wild spirit and people around you sense that vibe. People may perceive you as arrogant but you don’t prefer to play it by the book, because it kills you, so you’d rather master the basics with an eclectic approach and creatively express yourself the way you should.

Mostly Fs: There’s a pianist in you. You are intelligent and conscientious. People around you may perceive you as anti-social, but the truth is that you can’t find people who match your mentality. You enjoy your fantasies and people sense your irrationality sometimes. Though you are aware of your innovativeness, you’ll be the last one recognized for it.

Mostly Gs: There is a harpist in you. You’re sensitive and fragile and you’re most likely to believe that Twilight is a vampire movie. You hold a great admiration for beauty and you get easily carried away by daydreams. You’re blind-folded by your hopeless-romantic delusions, you love life but you’re too afraid to live it and many people eventually perceive you as unbearable. However, you add a special flavor to some great musical pieces but not to most of the other artwork.

Equal results: That’s wonderful, treat yourself to a dessert.

Once again this is just a fun test, so please don’t take it too seriously and waste your salary on a musical instrument. If there is a deep urge calling you to do so, kindly set an appointment with a music mentor and then figure out which instrument you enjoy listening to and probably will enjoy playing. Then sign up for music classes and please don’t get on stage after memorizing four chords or a few licks, the world is already overflowing with such nauseating creatures.

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EYE CANDY] ] PATTERNS

Orange You Glad It’s Spring?

All Paled-out

After a winter full of wild colors and bold prints, summer is now coming in with pale pastels that are simple and chic.

Orange is still the hottest colour this season! You will find it splashed all over the stores and styles you love, so embrace it along with the great weather that’s coming ahead!

SPRING SHADES

New Look

Shu.co.uk

French Connection Primark

Monsoon NEXT

Head Over Heels ( NEXT H&M

H&M Primark

Accessorize

Monsoon NEXT Accessorize

Zara

Women

Whimsical Patterns Monsoon

This spring, the trend is crazy, random, colourful patterns. Think animals, swirls, lamps, plants, lollipops… pretty much everything. Whimsical patterns are very in.

Asos

Primark

People Tree

NEXT

Accessorize River Island

46 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

New Look

Accessorize

Stripes and Checks

Classic Chic

The classic look remains as hot as ever. It’s all about those straight-cut pants, polished shoes, and clean-cut shirts.

This season, once again men strut the runway looking suave in stripes and checks.

Primark

Fat Face

Marks and Spencer

Asos

H&M

NEXT H&M

House of Fraser

H&M

Zara

Zara

French Connection

Hawaiian Patterns are back!

River Island

Blend in with Blue Perhaps in a celebration of nature, the colour of the sea and the sky is totally in this spring.

You may have thought the Hawaiian pattern was just a really bad phase in fashion history, but it’s actually back and trending all over runways.

Zara

Men

River Island

Republic

Fat Face

River Island

House of Fraser

NEXT

Fat Face

H&M

Primark Hush Puppies H&M

Primark

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PATTERNS

Look great even when you’re at home in this turquoise wife beater with Fatima hand from The Pink Powder Room

With Spring practically here, throw on those comfortable and culture-appropriate oriental harem pants in from Amina K… light and comfy!

For those wild nights in Gouna or Sahel, it’s always easy to pair shorts with a funky top, and this Amina K asymmetric signature piece is just that

Made In Egypt

Nothing looks better than a plain white tee with jeans and a statement piece; this Banat El 3omda circular silverplated statement earring will do the job perfectly.

If you’re a girl who loves to dazzle, this Girl-in-me Blackberry Bold 9700 Cover from Louli is for you.

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Grab yourself this simple, artistic 100 Percent Cairo Dalida Shirt, and at an affordable price too.

Fashion Bulletin JC Penney & Ellen DeGeneres VS One Million Moms With JC Penney being one of the highest-grossing department stores not only in the US but also worldwide, one would be shocked to find out that there was an anti-gay group called One Million Moms that started a campaign to get Ellen DeGeneres removed as the face of JC Penney. While the US vouches for freedom of speech and sexuality, the bittersweet reality exists, where people have come to the point that they don’t accept a homosexual individual promoting a campaign for a department store. However, both JC Penney and Ellen DeGeneres won in the end, because the One Million Moms called off their campaign, with this closing remark: “[W]e have heard back from so many of our members. We have heard back from men and women — not just moms — saying they will no longer shop there at JC Penney, as long as Ellen DeGeneres is their spokesperson.”

Photo Shoot of the month: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for Elle UK, April 2012 Other than them winning the photo shoot of the month, they have announced they have retired (Already? Come on!), and will focus on their fashion pursuits instead; mainly their joint fashion line. For the cover shoot, Mary-Kate posed in a jeweled Prada coat, while Ashley Olsen posed in a Dolce and Gabbana jeweled dress.

“We are perfectionists. We’ve always wanted to be closely involved with everything, totally hands on – that’s why it works. If we step away, it stops working. I know it sounds controlling, but it’s the way it has to be.”

–Ashley Olsen Wow; looks like someone knows what they want - maybe a little too much.

Mad Men Glamor = The New Estee Lauder Collection For all those Mad Men lovers out there, Estee Lauder knew how to attract your attention this month; their entire Spring/Summer Collection is inspired by Mad Men. Both Joan and Draper are just breathtaking, aren’t they? We all secretly kind of want to look like them. The collection is limited, also mini-sized, to fit in any girl’s purse and be at her disposal at any time. It includes coral lipstick (Cherry, $25) and a beautiful crème rouge (Evening Rose, $40), which are available on the company’s website.

Marni Does H&M! High end Italian brand Marni is pairing up with H&M! Which means you can now buy Marni’s unique designs at affordable prices.

At first a selection of celebrities were invited to the sneak peek at the official launch party in February. However, the Marni line for H&M has officially been launched end of March and will continue all through April.

During the launch it got so bad that an H&M employer screamed on the megaphone: “I need everyone to remain calm; if I see running, we will kick people out!”

So if you’re a Marni fan and happen to be travelling this month, hit up H&M and grab yourself one of their pieces before they are all gone!

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PATTERNS

Madeleine Vionnet The Pioneer Who Made Fashion What It Is Today

Picture of Vionnet, age 78, 1952

IF YOU EVER WONDERED WHERE STYLES AND TRENDS WERE ORIGINALLY BORN, THE ANSWER IS MADELEINE VIONNET. VIONNET IS A FRENCH-BORN FASHION DESIGNER AND RESEARCHER, AND THE 20TH CENTURY’S MOST PROMINENT INNOVATOR IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY. WITHOUT HER, PATENTING AND HAVING AN IDENTITY IN FASHION – IN SHORT, THE FASHION INDUSTRY AS WE KNOW IT TODAY - MIGHT HAVE NEVER EXISTED. Vionnet had started sewing at the age of 11, so by the age of 18 she felt confident enough in her work to walk out of her unhappy marriage (which was quite scandalous at the time) to work as a hospital seamstress. By 1912, she had founded her own fashion house under the name of “Vionnet”. Within her first decade of designing she revolutionized the fashion world by introducing the ‘bias cut’; the seaming technique for cutting cloth diagonal to the grain of the fabric, making it fit to the body but still look loose and flowing. This created the sleek, flattering, body-slimming look people go crazy over to this very day.

Dress with circular-cut skirt in pale pink, with brown velvet belt and brown rayon scarf at the shoulders, 1938

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During that time, designers like Poiret and Lanvin used eschewing corsets, stiffening, and padding to “create” curves for women. That is why when you look back at photos from the 1920s-1940s all women appear to have great bodies that are so proportional, but really are not. Vionnet completely disagreed with that approach to fashion; she pursued the idea of accentuating the natural female form. Greek art, depicting women wearing flowing, toga-like garments, inspired her - and that’s when she began to utilize the ‘bias-cut’ technique. This is where the Greek-style dresses we wear and see all over runways and red carpets today were born. The movement

that Vionnet began for the first time made style synonymous with comfort, which we thank God for today. Not only that; in her first solo collection, all her models were barefoot, to emphasize the comfort and flowing elegance of her designs.

Back then, using many fabrics at once was very unfamiliar not quite encouraged. But to Vionnet, nothing was impossible. She used textiles such as crepe de chine, gabardine, and satin together. This gave a taste to her designs that others lacked. She would also use accessories as parts of a dress; for example she would use a Cartier necklace as a halter strap. We see it in the present through collaborations between various fashion designers and jewelers, but it’s initially a classic Vionnet innovation.

Vionnet was also the first to introduce the notion of mass production to the world of fashion designing, making her the first to create prêt-a-porter

A collection of Vionnet dresses, with the technique of using a mirror to show all angles. This is how she won her copyrights case. (ready to wear) haute-couture designs for the US market. Up until the 1930s, most designers served as stylists or made custom-made pieces for their clientele, and high fashion was not affordable or accessible to the working class. However, Vionnet, having worked in a mass production environment during her previous job as a hospital seamstress, was able to simplify her deigns for retail price. That never affected her popularity in the upper class circles, though. Despite the fact that she was not a fan of the limelight, Vionnet actually dominated the haute-couture world of the 1930s by creating gowns for stars like Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, and Greta Garbo.

Vionnet valued the authenticity of her work above all else. For that reason she would always place the model in front of two meeting mirrors, with a logo and the date (sometimes even a newspaper), and take a picture of them, to record her work as her own and keep a lookbook of her designs.

So when one day an unlucky fellow copied one of her designs, she sued the man and had the proof to win the case. It was the first lawsuit in the history of fashion.

Vionnet was not only a tough cookie in the workforce; she was a headstrong feminist who believed in the rights of women and therefore adopted labor practices that were considered revolutionary at that time with her employees, including paid holidays, maternity leave, and daycare.

WWII led to the shutting down of most fashion house, including Vionnet’s in1939. But the visionary woman had already created a legacy. In 2009, creative director Rodolfo Paglialunga, formerly of Prada, revived the Vionnet label with its drapes, asymmetrical cuts, and flowing gowns. To check the new Vionnet line out and take a look at the Spring/Summer 2012 collection, go to www.vionnet.com.

“The dress must not hang on the body but follow its lines. It must accompany its wearer; when a woman smiles the dress must smile with her.” –Madeleine Vionnet A collection of Vionnet dresses with their logos

53

PATTERNS

The

Paradise

Fashion Show in Dubai Spending a Day in Style

By Bassem Raafat

!

IT WAS THE 10TH ANNUAL SPLASH FASHION SHOW, INTRODUCING THE NEW SPRING/SUMMER 2012 COLLECTION, HELD AT THE DUBAI FESTIVAL PARK IN THE GLAMOROUS DUBAI FESTIVAL CITY. SPLASH IS PART OF LANDMARK GROUP AND HAS BRANCHES ALL OVER THE MIDDLE EAST. THE THEME OF THE SHOW WAS TROPICAL COLORS, AND THAT’S WHERE THE NAME ‘SPLASH PARADISE’ WAS DERIVED.

The Show Fashion freaks everywhere, this is one event you wish you had attended! You could see, feel and live fashion as soon as you walked through the gates. There were people from pretty much around the world, and everyone was dressed up and looked fabulous. It was so crowded at the gates and people were already getting excited, lights were dancing across the sky and you could hear the music blasting from outside, making you die to go inside and party.

Entering the huge arena – custom-built for the event - was quite a thrill, and walking into the VIP lounge, surrounded with lights, was enough for me to feel very important! The place started to fill up as people danced, enjoying the ‘paradise’.

It actually did seem like a paradise. The stage was a tropical-themed set with huge palm trees and flamingos, like a rainforest. The atmosphere was that of a music concert, a festive nightclub, or a colorful carnival. The runway show started with models dressed in brightly-colored Lycra suits taking the stage. The main colors were blue and orange in different combinations, the shoes – mostly wedge heels - were all printed with flowers, and the dresses were mostly satin with bright floral patterns.

The hair and the makeup were themed with bold colors, which looked fun and fresh. The models, splashing their vibrant colors on the runway, were enough to radiate a feeling of a real tropical heaven, and everyone in the audience looked like they were having a blast.

The fashion show lasted for 20 minutes, and it ended spectacularly - all the models came out on the runway along with the CEO and the founder of Landmark Group as the music boomed from the speakers and the crowd erupted into applause.

The after party kicked-off with the night’s host screaming, “Let’s party!”

Dancers in bright spring colors took the stage as fireworks erupted into the night sky and Coldplay’s “Paradise” played in the background. After that, a brilliant break-dancing group wooed the crowd with their wild moves on the stage.

Dubai: International Capital of Luxury Everything in the city screams it out: ‘luxury’. Not only that, but the city is also very entertaining. The ultra-modern buildings with their mirrored fronts, the colored lights reflected off them at night, the huge shopping malls - including the famous Dubai Mall, one of the largest malls on earth (with more than 1200 retail shops including the world’s most renowned brands), the variety of dining places... not to mention tourist attractions like the music fountain that shoots water as high as 500 feet choreographed to music, and the famous Burj Khalifa, with its super fast elevator (one of the fastest in the world), and the beautiful view from the top where you can admire the view of the skyline and the Gulf’s golden sands.

54 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

But one doesn’t talk about luxury without mentioning the Ritz Carlton, and luckily that’s where I was staying. It’s a well-known fact that the Ritz Carlton is one of the best hotel chains in the world, and I am not exaggerating when I call it the embodiment of pure luxury. The staff is allattentive to the point of perfection, and the room service and the room facilities are just what you need to pamper yourself.

Overall, the Dubai Splash Paradise experience was heavenly. I had a brilliant time in this modern, diverse metropolitan city, and the event itself was huge success – I just can’t wait to see what Splash will be up to next year!

the CEO of Splash and the founder of Landmark Group

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] THE GAY SECTION ]

Romance

Revisited

From the mismatched to the fairytale-like to the wildly unexpected

By Yasmine Zohdi

Countless tales of love have been enshrined in history, and are still being discussed, gushed over and reflected upon to this day.

Although some have been so overstudied and overused they now border on clichÊ, the following romantic experiences are ones that I find untraditional, fascinating, and extensively influential – each in its own way.

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Gibran Khalil Gibran & May Ziada Love long-distance They were in love for 20 years, yet they never met. Gibran – originally Lebanese - was an established artist and poet living in New York City, while the Palestinianborn Ziada wrote for several newspapers and periodicals in Cairo, establishing a literary salon that got her acquainted with some of the biggest names in the intellectual Arab scene. Their correspondence – and heated love affair - started in 1912. Ziada had just finished reading Gibran’s “Broken Wings”, and wrote him a letter expressing her fascination with the novel.

At first their letters were mostly filled with commentary on literature and shared opinions of each other’s work, but their words gradually became more intimate, and they started opening up about their dreams and fears and personal experiences. They sent each other copies of their work, exchanged photographs, and started sharing details of their daily lives. In one letter Ziada informs Gibran that she had cut her hair, in his reply he reprimands her for losing those ‘luscious curls’ that he so loved.

If you read the book “Blue Flame”, a published collection of their love letters, you will see how their tone evolved from that of friendship to that of passion, despite the fact that they lived on different continents and the lack of any actual physical contact. Gibran was Ziada’s ideal manifestation of everything beautiful, while she, in his words, was ‘a river that flows through the valley of my dreams; a violin that – with its magical vibrations – turns rocks into blazing flames and dry branches into fluttering wings’.

Gibran, having lived in the United States for most of his life, was quite more liberal than Ziada when it came to expressing his feelings. It wasn’t until she turned 35 that she finally mustered enough courage to admit she shared the love that he had already professed he had for her. “… I do not know the meaning of what I write; all I know is you are my love; and that I fear love. Tell me if I am wrong or right; for I trust you and blindly believe everything you say. But regardless; my heart runs towards you, floats around you, protects you and dotes on you”. In response, Gibran wrote to her, “Do not fear love, companion of my heart. We must surrender to it with all its pain, longing, and loneliness… with all its confusion and turmoil.”

Upon Gibran’s death in 1931, Ziada suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted into a mental institution in Beirut. She kept his letters and read them over and over again, until she died in 1941, her heart still full of love for him alone despite attentions from numerous men throughout her life, including luminous names like Abbas Al-Aqqad and Mostafa Sadeq Al-Raf’ie. Amongst the letters she kept a picture of Gibran, on the back of which she wrote, “…and this, for years, has been my calamity.”

The Aga Khan III & Om Habibeh Gibran Khalil Gibran

The Aga Khan Mausoleum

May Ziada

The Aga Khan III & Om Habibeh The story behind the building Have you ever wondered what that enigmatic, solitary building atop the hillside on the banks of the Nile in Aswan actually is? Well, it’s the mausoleum of the late Aga Khan III, the 48th Imam of the Shi’a Ismaili Muslims, and here’s how he came to be buried in Aswan.

In 1938, the Aga Khan III met the French Yvonne Labrousse. She had been named Miss France in 1930, and thus she toured the world extensively. She was especially taken with Egypt, and so she settled down in Cairo, converted to Islam, and adopted the name “Om Habibeh”. 6 years after she first met the Aga Khan, in 1944, she got married to him in Switzerland.

Although they lived in Cannes, they both loved Egypt dearly, and so the Aga Khan built them a villa along the Nile where they spent a lot of their time. Of their marriage, the Aga Khan III said, “I can only say that if a perfectly happy marriage is one in which there is a genuine and complete union and understanding, on the spiritual, mental, and emotional planes, ours is such.”

Shortly before he died, the Aga Khan chose a specific spot along the river bank in Aswan where he wanted to be buried. With his death in 1954, she immediately saw that a mausoleum be built exactly where he wished. For more than 40 years after his death, Om Habibeh visited his resting place daily, placing a red rose on top of his tomb, in what later became known as her ‘red rose legacy’. Even when she was away, she always arranged with the gardener to leave the rose there himself every day.

Om Habibeh never remarried. She spent the rest of her life immersed in her art (she was an accomplished sculptress), and charitable projects between Cannes and Aswan. “… now all I have left to hope for is that Allah will take me to his side,” she said in one of the interviews she gave a short while before she died.

In 2000, Om Habibeh passed away in Cannes. Her body was brought to Egypt and she was buried next to her husband in the mausoleum she had built for him in Aswan. To this day, a red rose still daily finds its way to the tomb.

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Khedive Ismail & Empress Eugenie An obsession that shaped the Cairo we know today An actual affair between the Empress of France, wife of Napoleon III, and the Khedive of Egypt is not recorded in history. However, what most historians are sure of is that the Khedive had an incurable obsession with the European monarch. And, to be honest, it does not take a genius to figure that out.

The inauguration of the Suez Canal was set to take place on November 16th, 1869 with a lavish ceremony intended to impress the whole world… and indeed it did, it even made it to history books. However, it came at a steep price. It was the beginning of Egypt’s debt crisis – and I think it’s safe to say it has been ongoing ever since, only with different dynamics. The Khedive wanted to turn the country into picturesque perfection fit for his Empress – who was the only one amongst the royal guests to be invited to come a full 3 weeks before the date of the ceremony.

To impress her, the Khedive built the first Cairo Opera House, where she could enjoy performances like those she had back in her country. To make her journey to the Giza pyramids and Sphinx more comfortable, he paved the then agricultural area leading there into ‘Pyramid Boulevard’ – Haram Street today. To make her stay even more memorable, he ordered the construction of a palace of her own on an island in the middle of Cairo, known then as Gezira Palace, and today as the Marriot Hotel in Zamalek.

Khedive Ismail

Empress Eugenie

After knowing it was one of her wishes to witness an Arabian wedding, the Khedive actually ordered one of his palace employees to get married, and threw him a ridiculously extravagant wedding that went on for days on end. Not only that, but when Eugenie expressed her desire to take a tour around Cairo on the back of a donkey, the Khedive abandoned all royal codes of conduct and joined her, perched on a donkey of his own.

Speculations are that no relationship of a romantic nature ever took place between the Empress and the Khedive; Eugenie was very conservative, and her crowded schedule during her stay in Egypt most likely never left space for any alone time where Ismail could have approached her in that manner. However, in Trevor Mostyn’s book “Egypt’s Belle Époque”, he writes that when Eugenie visited Egypt as an old woman, decades after the Suez Canal inauguration, she confided in Henry Boyle, Lord Cromer’s oriental secretary, that the Khedive Ismail had desired to include her in his ‘harem’.

Ahmed Rami & Om Kalthoum

Ahmed Rami & Om Kalthoum Frustrated passions and artistic greatness This is not your average tale of unrequited love. Ahmad Rami and Om Kalthoum shared a relationship that formed the musical consciousness of a nation. He first set eyes on her in 1924 during a concert of hers somewhere in Emad El-Din Street. She was performing one of his poems that her mentor, Sheikh Abu El Ila Muhammad, had composed for her. Rami was instantly smitten, and it was the beginning of one of history’s greatest artistic collaborations. Of Om Kalthoum’s 283 songs, he wrote 137; most of them poems expressing his love for her.

‘Thouma’, as he called her, was the only person that the brilliant poet allowed to make modifications to his work; he believed the poems to be hers just as much as they were his.

He was very special to her too. Not only did he teach her about the beauty of the Arabic language and introduce her to poetic masterpieces from all over the world; he also stood by her through thick and thin. In the 1920s, she had only recently become part of the city life, and being a peasant girl with a very modest background, there were many social situations that she found awkward and uncomfortable, like that time Saad Zaghloul and his wife Safeyya invited her to dinner. She was very nervous, and it was Rami who guided her through it and instructed her on etiquette and the proper conduct on such an occasion.

58 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

However, when asked why she never got married to Rami despite their very close relationship, Om Kalthoum said, “The love I have for Rami is the same love I have for my brother, Khaled. And I can never marry my brother, can I?” Only then did Rami realize that they were not meant to be. That never stopped him from loving her, though; it only drove him to search for consolation - he got married.

But Rami never actually tried to get over his love for the woman with the magnificent voice. She got married, divorced, then married again, and all the while his poetry for her kept flowing. Eventually, his wife - being well aware of her husband’s love for another woman as the whole country was - left him. And Rami was right back where he started. It never really ended actually. When she died in 1975, he was in love with her. When he died in 1981, he was still in love with her.

“My poetry expressed longing, and that longing, in her throat, became the country’s. Her voice caressed rage and pain, nostalgia for a world still to come, and which failed to come. Both of us… We reached our hands out to infinity to close them around pure desire, an empty core. Perhaps art is nothing more than the trace left by this absurd endeavor, certain to fail.”

Abbas Al-Aqqad & Madiha Yosri The girl that broke the giant He was a literary giant of 50; she was a young brunette of only 20. It was 1939 when they first met and when he – who had vowed to not have anything to do with women again after suffering two consecutive blows (one from May Ziada and another from a girl called Ellis, the inspiration behind his novel, “Sarah”) – fell madly in love with her.

It is not certain what type of relationship they had back then, some say she worked as his housekeeper, but what is certain is that he is the one who tought her how to read and value writing. “He would give me books and ask me to underline the words that I found difficult,” Madiha Yosri said in one of the interviews where she was asked about her relationship with Al-Aqqad. “To him, pride and dignity came above all else, and that’s another thing he taught me.”

Yet that pride was deeply wounded when the girl chose a career in film over her relationship with him. As soon as Madiha Yosri entered the movie industry, he knew it was over for them. He loved her, but he also saw that a man in his stature and position could never share his woman with the world and become just another man amidst legions of fans and admirers. He tried to persuade her not to take that path to stardom, but she never listened and soon enough became one of the country’s most sought-after leading ladies.

Abbas Al-Aqqad

Madiha Yosri

Other than Al-Aqqad’s poems where he described his pain and longing for her, it’s the painter Salah Taher who revealed how deeply Al-Aqqad suffered back then. He says that one day he was at Al-Aqqad’s place and went into the room where the telephone was in order to make a call, when Al-Aqqad called after him, “Salah, wait, don’t use the phone! I’ve been waiting for her to call… perhaps she’ll call now”. It had been four months since he’d last spoken to her, and Taher says that the great writer’s voice was filled with anguish, and that he had tears in his eyes.

Desperate for a way to forget Yosri, he asked Taher to paint him a picture of a delicious-looking delicacy with flies floating all around it. He needed a constant reminder of why he chose to stay away from her. Salah Taher did in fact paint the picture, and Al-Aqqad hung it on the wall opposite his bed so he would see it each morning when he woke up. Some say it helped him forget, others say he never did.

“And I cried, like a broken child… I, whose spine never bent before hardship”.

–From Al-Aqqad’s poem “The Day of Misgivings”, which he wrote about his love for Madiha Yosri.

Golda Meir

Golda Meir & Palestinian Banker Albert Pharaon Between fiction and reality

I don’t think we’ll ever know if this relationship existed for real, but the speculations alone are exciting enough. It turns out the notorious Golda Meir, who served as Israeli Prime Minister from 1969 to 1974, might have had a love affair with a Lebanese-Palestinian banker called Albert Pharaon during her early years in Palestine.

Meir’s children, but they knew nothing of the affair. Naturally, being a key figure in the history of her country and the Arab-Israeli conflict, it was more crucial in her case to keep such an affair – had it really taken place – secret, even from the closest people to her.

The best account of the story, although fictionalized, is found in Selim Nassib’s novel “The Palestinian Lover”. In the book, Nassib depends on what he heard from Pharaon’s grandson, a close friend of his. It is 1929. Pharaon is a wealthy banker and heir to an enormous fortune; a husband and a father. Golda Meir is a young Jewish girl, a militant Zionist, of Ukrainian origins. They engage in a relationship that lasts until 1948, when the Palestinians are expelled from Haifa, and the state of Israel is declared.

Despite the lack of hard evidence, this story has long fascinated historians and researchers interested in Middle Eastern affairs. If correct, this tale would be one beautifully complex human case worthy of much study and examination.

That the woman globally known for saying, “Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us”, had actually fallen for one of those Arabs is a notion I find almost unbearably intriguing, and that’s why I chose to place this story amongst those I find really fascinating, despite not being sure of its accuracy. C

While researching material for the novel, Nassib met Pharaon’s niece, an old woman living in Cairo, who told him that although it was a shameful matter to openly discuss within the family, her uncle used to come visit her and tell her about the love of his life: Golda Meir. Nassib also travelled to Israel and met

59

[ THE GREEN PASSPORT ]

My Turkish Experience

By Hana Elhattab

Istanbul is beautiful -- a mixture between a Middle Eastern and a European city. In its Middle Eastern aspect, it’s modern while at the same time maintaining the feeling of being in a city of the past. It’s modern in the sense that everyone recycles, and the trams and tourist technology (audio guides that work automatically in tourist attractions for example) are pretty advanced; but then it’s reminiscent of the past in the sense that everyone walks their own route, the city doesn’t seem to be overly-populated at all, people dress in all sorts of clothes, and no one seems to take a look sideways at anyone else. It’s European in its weather, cloudy Bosphorus and cleanliness. The mix of old and new is also extremely evident in the mix of people -- people of all sorts of colors and body types.

Turkey, or rather Istanbul, seems to be a very interesting experiment of mixing religion and secularism. This what I see: a city where people are “given” their civil and human rights and all options are available, even in religion (or lack thereof -- at least from what is outwardly visible). I saw mosques, booze, bars, music, piercings, the adaan, high heels, hegab, sex, obvious homosexuality and Sufism. So from the limited view that I had, my conclusion is that the Turks have chosen the “lack thereof.”

Interestingly it isn’t about secularism per se, because I would assume a result of ingrained secularism would be things like not mixing politics/statehood with religion and concepts like “live and let live”, also known as “don’t harass people and impose your own religious views on them”, etc. But from what I can see, it isn’t a case of “live and let live”, it’s more “live, and as people become enlightened/ disenfranchised with their conservativeness, they will live too”. I came to this conclusion given what I saw in certain parts of the city (Isteklal, Taksim, Eminuno, SultanAhmet, Ortukoy) and comparing it to what I saw on the Asian side of Istanbul, across the Bosphorus.

60 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

What I saw was this: you give Muslim people the option, and they will choose to not abide by what they were told is the one true religion, at least outwardly. Whether they believe they are “privately spiritual” is not something I can assess. But outwardly, many would certainly choose to not abide by the rulings and teachings, i.e. don’t have sex, don’t drink, don’t get a tattoo. Which means that if I look into Egypt’s future (if becoming truly secular was an option) I would see that, much like its past, Egyptian people will choose to not abide as well.

One important thing to note here is that what religion dictates and society dictates are two very different things. In other words, Egyptians may choose to not abide by religious teachings as long as society doesn’t frown upon them too much. Interestingly, and following my (totally non-scientific and amateur) theory, being openly gay seems to be the one ‘religiously wrong’ thing that the Turks are discreet about, and I am sure it isn’t because God said a natural disaster killed Lot’s people, but more because their society and culture are still not condoning homosexuality.

The first thing I said after walking the entirety of Isteklal Street was: “This is what I hope to see Cairo look like.” Clean and organized, with un-polluted air and diverse, non-judgmental, non-harassing people.

Lastly I would like to mention that Turkish people are super nice: my first day, I was standing there looking confused, looking for the metro/tram, and this old man came out of nowhere and asked me in ENGLISH if he could help me, and he did, and I was very thankful.

Also, while at a live music bar I went to by myself (and was the only non-Turkish person there) one of the singers said something to me, and then the other singer told him “Arab”, and then the first singer broke into his rendition of “Tamaly Ma3ak”, it made me smile. C

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] SCREENS, SHELVES & SPEAKERS ]

Movies: ruining comic

books since God knows when.

By Wessam Sherif

I have three words for Hollywood: stop this bullsh*t!

62 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

I can’t remember how many times I got super excited upon knowing that a certain comic book is being made into a movie, only to walk out of the movie theatre with a “…the f*ck?” look on my face. Not one movie—and I mean not one—has been true to its illustrated version.

And by ‘true’ I mean that it would be satisfactory to the hardcore fans, not the dumbasses that go for the effects.

So, let me show you how the movie industry’s been crapping all over my favorite super heroes:

Man of Steel my ass I can’t even describe how horribly depicted Superman is in the movies. First of all, in the comic books and the animations, Supes is a BIG muscular guy. Now, in a total of 6 freaking movies, all we got were Christopher Reeve (which I somewhat liked, because he did some acting) and this pansy from Superman Returns. And you know what?

An elderly lady could take them both at the same time.

Also, in Superman III, sh*t really hit the fan and here’s why: 1. There was some romance between Superman and Supergirl. First of all, they’re cousins, which I know sits well with Orientals, but abroad that’s a no-no, so that was just plain wrong. Besides, where the hell does that leave Lois Lane?!

2. Superman could throw that S on his chest at enemies; the S becomes a plastic-bag-like tool that wraps enemies up. Now, the dude has heat vision, invulnerability and super strength but the a*shole movie makers thought that a plastic bag would come in handy?

Now on to Superman Returns (2006). I have one thing to say: a bitesized piece of kryptonite is enough to render Big Blue helpless and eventually kill him. So it makes NO FREAKING SENSE that Superman lands on an entire kryptonite meteor and kicks the bad guys’ asses!

This movie was ass.

Before moving on to another ruined super hero, I’d like you to check out the new Superman costume that will be featured in the upcoming movie. True, DC comics did revamp Supes’ costume by removing the underwear and it does look cool, but the movie version makes Superman look like a ballerina. This, coupled by yet another lousy choice of actor, makes for another sh*tty super hero movie.

The Ekhs-Men Okay in short: 1. Cyclops is NOT a wuss who gets his ass kicked every single mission; he’s the goddamn leader of the entire team and he has some pretty decent powers. And he was never killed by Jean Grey (Phoenix); in fact, there’s a comic book series called The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix.

2. Wolverine is not indestructible being. Yes, his bones are covered with indestructible metal, but Magneto, the enemy, controls metal, and in the comics he literally strips Wolverine’s bones of that metal, hospitalizing him. The fact that Hugh Jackman played Wolverine really overrated the character.

3. I actually loved X-Men Beginnings. But to go as far as to say that mutants caused the Cuban Missile Crisis is over-stretching it.

Spidey There was this old Spider-Man TV movie back in the seventies, but I won’t discuss it, because Spidey’s best feat in it was shoving a common thug into a swimming pool. As for the recent trilogy, I don’t even know where to start.

First of all, why did they pick that idiot Toby Maguire to be Peter Parker? The dude’s too… sappy and sensitive. Not mention his horrid acting in Spider-Man 3 when he was possessed by the symbiote (black gooey alien). What the hell was that?! Remember the scene where he outdances Mary Jane just to spite her and take the spotlight from her? That is, by far, the worst super hero scene ever.

I’m Batman!

You know what the key to bringing about a good Batman movie is?

Creating enough depth to Bruce Wayne, which NONE of the Batman movies did! On the contrary, you could hardly even see any Bruce Wayne scenes, and when you did, they were filler-scenes. The best Batman in my opinion was Michael Keaton’s, because he didn’t overdo it and the suit looked fine, albeit the awkward neck movement.

That movie also featured a sublime performance from Jack Nicholson as the Joker, which, in my opinion, is the best depiction of a comic book character ever.

Then we have Val-the lips-Kilmer; a blond actor chosen for the role of jet-black-haired Bruce Wayne? WHY? WHY THE HELL?! That’s the same movie where Robin was introduced- you know, the whole stealing Batman’s car and then crying at the end of the scene after confronting Batman. That scene was a joke, literally.

Then we have the George Clooney Batman, which Clooney should be ashamed of; he didn’t do a dime’s worth of acting in that movie. The producers relied on Clooney’s heat to breathe life into the dying series, ignoring everything that makes a good movie good. Oh, also, that’s the movie where the Bat-nipples were introduced (check the costume) and, and…. A FREAKING SILVER BAT-SUIT! What the hell where they thinking? Arnold Schwarzenegger did Mr. Freeze in that movie. Mr. Freeze is supposed to be an extremely intelligent super villain, and they chose Arnold. I have no words.

Last but not least, the Christian Bale one. This trilogy would have been downright perfect if it weren’t for freaking Christian Bale! Why does Batman sound like a zombie that’s about to burp?! Also, Morgan Freeman was literally shoved down that movie’s throat; he has no purpose whatsoever but to show up and say a couple of half-wise catchphrases. And unlike everybody else, I HATED the car! Why didn’t they make it like the original Batman movies in the 80s? It looked way better then! Batman is known for stealth and speed and this tank-like piece of junk is neither nor! I hated the car.

Now that I realize that I’ve been ranting, and that if I were to continue my “critique”, this article would stretch on endlessly, I have a bunch of concluding remarks: 1. The aforementioned was me making off-the-surface remarks without going into the details of the movies, because they truly lacked any depth or relation to the original stories. The Eric Bana Hulk is a prime example; tons of effects, no storyline.

2. Recent movies, like the Avengers-related heroes, have been moving away from the original comic book plots to avoid pissing off the fans, which ends up creating entertaining yet unsatisfactory movies.

3. Less known figures (like Ghost Rider) get sh*tty movies, although they are well worthy of good scripts. Do you know that the sequel to Ghost Rider is out in the movies now but it sucks so hard it’s unheard of?

4. Stan Lee should stop pulling off these appearances in the movies á la Sobky. The man’s a legend, I can’t deny, but enough is enough.

5. I know that many love these movies, but those are popcornmunchers; they don’t really care for the original tales.

6. Danny DeVito, Jack Nicholson, Tommy Lee Jones and Heath Ledger, thank you for making my favorite characters properly come to life. The rest, go f*ck yourselves.

I guess these movies were made that way because, in all fairness, bringing about the intricacies of the comics to the silver screen would be nearly impossible. And if it did get pulled off, it would only appeal to geeks like me and that’s never good for the box office.

Even so, I believe a balance can be struck; you can make a decent comic book movie that appeals to both the geeks and the popcornmunchers. Give me one, just one, comic book movie that respects my hardcore-ness and I’ll die a happy man. C

Moreover, Spider-Man doesn’t shoot webs out of his wrists; he shoots them out of cartridges attached to his wrists. Lying a*sholes. I guess they made this up to save up the studio-time that would’ve been allocated to actually showing us how Peter Parker comes up with the idea of web cartridges.

63

Zizo Kambutar!

SCREENS, SHELVES & SPEAKERS

Brace Brace yourselves, yourselves, the the music music revolution revolution is is here. here.

By Wessam Sherif Photography by Yehia Zakaria

ZK is the new music sensation that has recently swept this country, restoring our hope in the music industry.

ZK have come a long way to make it this big and we’ve been chasing them for quite some time now to know more about their success story. They thankfully gave us 30 minutes of their time and met us down at Zamalek’s Wel3a Café, whose staff was also thrilled to have the ZK stars pay them a visit.

Campus: Isn’t this similar to one of Medhat Saleh’s songs?

Zizo: gedeeda di.

Campus: And who of the older generation do you like?

Zizo: Ahmed Zaki in Mr. Karate. Kan ma3ah Ibrahim Nasr we kano 3amleen shoghl qawy geddan w kan fee o3’neya matla3ha “boss shoof Mr. Karate, boss shoof Mr. Karate, w 7a2os 7a2os w 7ab2a el boss” Campus: And what’s with “UB”? What does it mean?

Kambutar: Well, I can’t talk about it.

Zizo: Kambutar: It’s a philosophy that we don’t want to explain because we don’t want it to lose its meaning.

Campus: Is Zizo Kambutar one person?

Zizo: No, I’m Zizo and he’s Kambutar Campus: And how did you come up with those names?

Zizo: Ana fel 7etta bey2olooly Zizo men wana soghayar.

Kambutar: Ana aslan huckhur, wel hard beta3y darab f za3lan shwaya.

Zizo: Howa beta3 qarsana w keda, beykhosh 3al congress el amricany w keda w yfok el shafra wel kalam da.

Campus: What’s the difference between pre-fame ZK and post-fame ZK? Zizo: Bos ya ostaz, walahy el bani2adam howwa howwa. People who change after becoming famous beteb2a nas olobha da3eefa we betegry wara el shohra. E7na nas bete3mel fann; ma3aya 5 geneh, 50 geneh aw 7atta Khamseeeen alf geneh, el bani2adam howwa el bani2adam.

Campus: And what 7etta are you referring to? Where do you live?

Kambutar: Mansheyet Naser

Campus: Tell us about your fans.

Zizo: El7amdolelah we have a lot of fans, wel naga7 da mn 3and rabena, ma7adesh beyesna3 naga7o b2eedo. As for the female fans, we never say no to whoever wants to take pictures with us. E7na mesh hanet3ala 3al nas 3ashan e7na ben7eb el mo3gabeen beto3na zy mahoma bey7eboona.

Campus: are you neighbors?

Kambutar: Not really, bas e7na welad 7etta wa7da.

Campus: What exactly is your genre, sha3by?

Zizo: E7na el bey2oolo 3aleh “el electo sha3by”.

Campus: How long has it been since you started?

Zizo: We started as Zizo Kambutar a couple of years ago, bas konna lamo2akhza benkarek fel awel

Campus: What about your competition, do you have competitors within this genre?

Zizo: Walahy e7na zai mat2ool… FAZEEN fel etegah da, fa ay 7ad yenafesna hayeb2a bey2aledna.

Campus: And before that, did you guys attempt to get into the show business?

Zizo: Honestly, I was never interested in singing because I’m originally a poet. I owe my singing career to Kambutar, he’s the one who discovered my talent. It was a coincidence; kont a3ed fe nady thakafy we kont balqy qaseedet “badry”.

Kambutar: Di men el qasayed elly asaret feyya gamed geddan.

Campus: Could you tell us a part of it?

Zizo: Matla3ha bey2ool “ba7eb ashar lel sob7 w 3omry 3omry marawa7 badry” (he said it 4 times).

64 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

Campus: Tell us more about your video clips; how do you fund them?

Zizo: konna lessa bad2een 3ala adena but el7amdolelah ba3d keda ederna ngeeb mokhrega we cust a7san. For the last 2 video clips (‘Ana Zizo’ and ‘Koshary’), we got a director from India. She used to work ma3 el fannan Amitabh Batchan we da fannan kebeer fel hend. Then she came to us and offered to direct a7yanan mesh beterda takhod feloos 7obban fel fann!

Kambutar Campus: What about your second video clip, ‘Ana Zizo’? Specifically, the dance routine in the clip?

Zizo: Well some people say that the routine is similar to Michael Jackson’s but of course that’s not true. E7na gebna wa7ed mn barra yenasaq el ra2sa, howa assasan beta3 dunce; howa dares dunce. So if our routine was similar to Michael Jackson’s kan etrafa3 3aleh adeya. El ra2sa di beta3etna.

Campus: What about who participated in that routine, were they hired?

Zizo: La2 di nas kanet betetmarga7 3ady, w qararo yashtareko ma3ana, 3ady ya3ny.

Campus: What about the Korean guy who made a tribute to ‘Ana Zizo’ on Youtube?

Zizo: Korea di el heyya el yaban?

Zizo Campus: Did you vote?

Zizo: Yes we did.

Campus: Who did you vote for?

Zizo: La2 msh 7a2ool tab3an.

Kambutar: Ana ro7t bawazt soty; ro7t 3alemt 3ala kolo. Mesh 3awez akhtar 7ad.

Campus: What about the presidential elections?

Kambutar: Ana 7a3alem 3ala kolo bardo.

Zizo: Lessa rabak yesahel we neshoof, bas 7akhtar Hazem Salah Abou Ismail.

Law wa7ed salafy geh 7ayemna3 el bikini wel mokhadarat bas fe 7agten maye2darsh yemna3hom; el keef, wel ghona. De el 7agat elly betebset el nas. El keef mesh asdi beeh mokhadarat, asdi beeh el ghona 3ashan fe nas el ghona beykhaleehom fe 7etta tanya zy mabey2oolo. Oghneyet Mr. Karate, maslan, tetala3ak we tkhaleek 3awez temsek fe 7aga we tekasarha.

Campus: Of course. Tell us about ‘Koshary’. It’s a big hit now.

Zizo: E7na ben7eb zai mat2ool kda neshoof el share3 el masry fee eh w nakhdo ne3melo o3’neya, wakhedly balak? El share3 el masry 3ala tool sahran we za7ma we keda fa bada2na be ‘Badry’, wel nas bet7eb takol, fa omna nazleen be ‘Koshary’. E7na benshoof el sha3b bey7eb eh, we7na ben7eb eh we n2oom zatteeno f o3’neya.

Campus: What do you think of Shaaban Abdel Rahim?

Zizo: Howa kowayes.

Kambutar: Ostazy da.

Campus: Aren’t you worried that someone might call you “bee2a”?

Zizo: Meen elly bey2ool kda? Da tla2y howwa el bee2a we zo2o we7esh. Da tla2eeh ebn 3am el wad Fouad, men sa3et ba2eena ne3mel mazzika w howa mnafsen w ye2ollena mesh 7atenga7o wala tefla7o. Akid howwa el wad Ayman Azeb, ebn 3am el wad fouad.

Campus: Amr Mostafa?

Zizo: Ma3rafoosh.

Campus: Does being a performer pay well? Betgeeb hammaha ya3ny?

Zizo: Akl el 3eesh mesh el 3’arad, el 3’arad enena ne2addem fann 7a2ee2y, wel wa7ed bardo momken yeshoflo ay sho3’lana yeshta3’al feeha beganeb el fann.

Campus: And what were your other jobs?

Zizo: Ana abl mab2a sha3er ma3roof, kont el7amdolelah shaghal 3ala microbus 3ala khat awel abbas tamen w 3asher w tabba bas el7amdoellah batalt el shoghlana di, kont shaghal ma3 sawa2 mot3eb geddan. El mafrood yetla3 awel abbas we rab3a we ba3d kda yelef we yerga3 3ala makram we yekhosh tamen we 3asher we tabba w kda. Howa ba2a kan yeegy 3and midan el sa3a w y2ool khalas ya bahwat hena awel abbas, wel wa7ed yenzel we yemshy nos sa3a 3ashan yewsal we y2oom lafef mn el mool cetystar we yetla3 mn makram.

Kambutar: Wallahy el nas mab2ash 3andaha dameer ya akhy.

Campus: What about you, Kambutar?

Kambutar: Kan ba2aly arba3 shohoor 3andy saybar bas afalto. Kan ebn 3amy masko bas sara2na; fadda el agheza kolaha mn gowa w sabha 3al 7adeeda we ba3deen ra7 ba3ha w keseb oloofat w hereb, we ma7adesh 3areflo taree2.

Campus: What about your political views?

Zizo: Walahy e7na malnash fl seyasa, msh el mafrood el wa7ed yetdakhal feeha w yerkab 3al nas we keda. Fa e7na el7amdolelah malnash fl kalam da.

Campus: During the elections, did anybody ask you guys to help them in their campaigns?

Zizo: Walahy bye7sal. Bedoon zekr asma2 fe nas 3aradet 3alena mabale3’ kebeera bas e7na benerfod la2en el kwayes beyban mn 3’er 7aga.

Campus: What about Tamer Hosny?

Zizo: La boss, ana maba7ebesh atkalem we7esh 3ala 7ad.

Campus: Abdel Baset Hamooda?

Zizo: Da 7abeeby da.

Kambutar: Da shaghal 3alatool fel saybar.

Zizo: Leeh oghneyet ‘Boosy Kat’, bet2ool “boosy kat, fseew!”

Campus: What do you guys dream of?

Zizo: Nefsy arga3 asha3’al khat rab3a tany.

Campus: Don’t you want to record an album?

Zizo: La walahy 3awzeen, 7an3aby shereet orayeb wel nas kolaha tetbeset beeh, we yekasar el donia.

Campus: Do you guys have girlfriends?

Kambutar: Ana metgawez talata we nefsy atgawez el rab3a bas mafish feloos ba2a.

Zizo: Ana el 7amdolelah moltazem w maleesh awy fel 7agat de bsara7a.

Campus: Ya3ny msh nawy tekamel nos deenak?

Zizo: Lessa rabena yesahel. El wa7ed bas yekawen nafso we yela2y bent el 7alal. Law wa7da shayfa en feeha el mowasafat, ya3ny bete3raf totbokh we sahlet el ta3amol we togeed fenoon el gema3 teb3atlena email 3ala stedio.kambutar@gmail.com we rabena yesahel.

Campus: Do you have any advice for youth?

Zizo: Yes, el mokhadarat 7elwa bas 7atdaya3ak.

Kambutar: Ana 3andy nokta: “etnen a3deen ma3 ba3d, fa wa7ed 2al lel tany 7a2olak fazoora we law 7aletha sa7 enta tedeeny, we law ghalat ana hadeek: 7aga khadra men barra we 7amra men gowwa w feeha leb eswed, teb2a eh?

Fa sa7bo 2allo moza, fa 2allo sa7” - De bet2ool en el wa7ed dayman beylef we yedoor 3ashan elly howwa 3awzoh.

Campus: Thank you guys! C

65

SCREENS,SHELVES SCREENS, SHELVES&&SPEAKERS SPEAKERS

Wael Ghonim’s “Revolution 2.0”

REVOLUTION DOCUMENTED

By Sherif El-Mashad

THEY SAY WE CAN NEVER TRULY WRITE ABOUT ANY LIFE EXPERIENCE THAT AFFECTED US, UNTIL WE FULLY DIGEST THEM. THAT THE GREATER THE EXPERIENCE, THE LONGER IT TAKES US TO FULLY COMPREHEND. AND TO BE HONEST, THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I NEVER TOOK ANY OF THE BOOKS SO FAR WRITTEN ABOUT THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION SERIOUSLY. BECAUSE, TO ME, IT’S FAR FROM BEING OVER. I STILL CAN’T TRULY UNDERSTAND ALL THE CHANGES GOING ON WITHIN ME, ALL THE SITUATIONS I’VE LIVED, THE PEOPLE I’VE KNOWN AND THE ONES I’VE LOST; IT’S ALL JUST TOO MUCH TO HANDLE IN A BOOK THAT QUICKLY. AND THIS IS WHY I WASN’T VERY EXCITED TO REVIEW WAEL GHONIM’S BOOK “REVOLUTION 2.0”.

But I admit I was wrong.

What really caught my eye at first was the title: “Revolution 2.0”. I found an explanation on the back of the book: according to Ghonim, this is the second generation of revolutions. The first generation of revolutions in their typical form is the kind that has a leader that speaks up for the people’s demands and inspires them with his fiery speeches. But the Egyptian Revolution, however, marks a whole new generation of revolutions; where there isn’t an actual leader and the demands themselves lead the way.

And that was it. The inner geek in me was curious to read more.

The book kicks off with an unexpected start; Wael being kidnapped, blindfolded in a Security State car, heading towards God knows where. And just like in any movie, it’s a short scene that moves on to a flashback. Ghonim then, in a nice twist, takes us back to his origins, paving the way till the famous Mona El Shazly interview.

He goes through his school years and the cultural shock he had upon returning from the Gulf area to face the Egyptian governmental education system. And all through that phase, some traits in Ghonim’s personality are revealed; like how persistent and smart he is. You also discover odd things about him, such as the fact that he was behind one of the most famous Islamic websites ever: islamway.com.

The book then continues to showcase Ghonim’s personal life, and gets a bit boring there. It tells the story of how he got his degrees, how he met his wife, his professional career path all the way until he lands his current Google position.

It gets really interesting when El Baradei first appears on the Egyptian political scene. We find out that Ghonim was the admin of El Baradei’s Facebook page, and we witness the beginnings of Ghonim’s gradual involvement in political life, and how activities that start on the internet come to actually influence events in real life.

Later on, comes the moment I was anticipating the most since I started reading the book, the creation of the “Kollena Khaled Said” group on Facebook. And once Ghonim starts talking about it, it’s one hell of an emotion-filled walk down memory lane. He tells the backstage stories behind all the silent stands that had been organized and how they were managed, he quotes the most memorable, most moving status updates that appeared on the page and how people reacted towards them, and all through this you can’t but notice that a revolution was in fact already there between the lines, waiting to happen, only back then we were too

66 APRIL 2012 CAMPUS

blind to realize it. The anger, the refusal of the country’s current state, the growing awareness born with every violation taking place, everything was foretelling of the inevitable change to come.

Tons of new information is revealed as Ghonim’s narrative goes on to recount details of Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine revolution’, our own January 25th surprise afterwards, the details of his captivity and interrogation in SS buildings, his release and what Hussam Badrawy had to do with it.

And although the book ends at a rather expected point, Omar Solaiman’s announcement that Mubarak had stepped down, it actually gave me a deep feeling of satisfaction. I read all of it over a single night.

It brought back a wide range of memories and feelings associated with the first 18 days of the revolution, and I loved how Ghonim stuck to telling the facts as they were, just as they happened. I think it’s by far the most important memoir documenting how the revolution evolved online. And I don’t think there’s a better way to wrap this up than by using the last phrase Wael Ghonim used in his book: I’m proud I’m Egyptian.

CAMPUS rating: 7.5/10