The Death of Osama Bin Laden

by Jon L. Denby

As someone who was in New York on 9/11 and witnessed the events, I am overjoyed that this evil man has finally met his end. But there is still Ayman al-Zawahiri who is the second in command, the real brains behind Al Qaeda, and even more dangerous. But my hats off to the intelligence and special-ops people who got him. It is a great achievement.

Live From Egypt: Elections, Democracy, and the Man Who Still Lives In a Tent

by Jon L. Denby

First off, I apologize for the long break because I had exams in college. Second, in response to the comment from my last entry about my status, I'm a born-and-raised New Yorker, but just recently moved out here to attend college.

On to more important things: Egypt just recently had its first organized elections regarding the Egyptian constitution. Basically, the current "government" presented several amendments regarding the presidential powers, including limitations in their power and time in power. Egyptians came out in astronomical numbers to vote yes or no. “Yes” means that they approved of the new amendments, and Egypt would begin constructing the new parliament; “No” meant the army would remain in control with military law in place until the next elections, after which the newly elected powers would remake the ENTIRE constitution.

There was a reported 41 percent (28 million voters out of a population of 80 million) that voted in this referendum. That number may not seem large but there are also millions of Egyptians unaccounted for because they are not registered. Approximately 77 percent voted “Yes” to the amendments.

Currently, the new parties in this recent election are using this time to get together and become established in hopes of winning seats in the parliament or the presidency. Meanwhile, other problems persist, such as with thugs robbing pedestrians and kidnappings. Many universities had student protests, and there was even military involvement in the German University in Cairo. Things are steadily transitioning back to the way they were despite the occasional military checkpoint.

With the way things are going in Libya, the Egyptian militia needs to be prepared for whatever may happen since Libya is so close to Egypt. Qaddafi has turned into the Dave Chappelle of the Middle East with his antics! (Interesting little fact about Qaddafi: he still sleeps in a tent!) Plenty of people here are expecting the death of Qaddafi, either by murder, or a Hitler-style suicide (since he is military and his ego won't allow him to go down in humiliation).

Here's a topic I'd like to get your opinions about in the comment section: Several prominent businessmen/politicians who were arrested for fraud and corruption, and all that fun stuff, are in jail and awaiting trial. Now comes the question of morality. Some argue that they should be tried and stripped of all of their assets, while others think they should just pay back the billions they stole. Those who present the latter argument say that their businesses employ thousands of people and a trial could leave them jobless; the opposition argues that they should be tried and not given leniency because they took advantage of the people, and negatively affected those who purchased their monopolized products. What do you think?

I will leave you all with not a question but an interesting fact: Kuwait gave away 1000 dinar (equivalent of approximately 20000 USD) to every citizen (approximately 1000000 citizens) and Saudi Arabia set up a program where unemployed graduates receive 2000 riyals a month (about 600 USD). I don't think that's possible here, but at least we got Oprah! Boo-ya!

Live From Egypt: Restoration, Camaraderie….and Oprah?

by Jon L. Denby

 Photo by Mohamed Ghanem

"Hey Mubarak, nobody likes a quitter!”, "Mubarak is the Brett Favre of presidents," and other jokes have kept spirits high and alive here in Egypt's capital. For Mubarak and his entire party, the party is over. Moral has also been maintained by what we will call the "Restoration Project" (as can be seen in the accompanying photos). No, it is not an official name, but rather a name I personally like to call the cleanup of Cairo, and will continue to call it. The particular reason why I am calling this event the “Restoration Project” is because Egypt did not die—hence there is no reason to call it a resuscitation project, nor was it even broken enough to be called a rebuilding process. Egypt was merely dormant, stuck in a time thirty years earlier than where you are now. This restoration project has been primarily lead by young people in their teens and 20s. They have been flooding each others’ Facebooks with invites to events to clean the streets, paint the sidewalks, and paint Egyptian flags everywhere (and, for the tree enthusiasts, we inquired as to whether the tree could be negatively affected by the paint, and it turns out that the trunk will be just fine. We were told to stay away from leaves and roots).

The recent success of the protests and uprising in Egypt has inspired many similar uprisings in much smaller institutions in society. Where exactly? Well, for starters, in the universities. For example, I am a college student here in Egypt in a private university. Prior to Mubarak’s fall, there was no student union or any sort of student representation with the university’s administration. The Deans, and those responsible, got word of a possible student protest and quickly made it clear that they would like to speak to student representatives to try and work out a reasonable agreement as far as tuition, exam schemes, rubrics, exam/class time, and academic probation was concerned (other topics ranged from bathroom cleanliness to lab improvements).

As far as the Egyptian people themselves, they seem to have this new "lean on me, and I'll lean on you" concept of brotherly cooperation. While working on the cleaning and painting, people would come down to the streets with tea, food, drinks and my favorite soda (which is Pop for those who follow in the south). While purchasing the paint and brooms, the owners of the stores gave us nearly a 75 percent discount, while others just gave them away. Since everyone became closer to their neighbors and got to know each other a lot better, people in general seem a lot nicer to each other. They seem to be happy with the unity and all the new friends everyone has made.

Oh, and by far the best news we got this week: everyone's favorite richest woman in the world is reportedly going to host a show in Tahrir Square! Yes, that's right, Oprah! This could be the best thing to happen aside from the resignation of former president Hosni Mubarak. I know I'll be there. Maybe she'll even buy me a car! Wishful thinking, maybe, but at least now I know it’s not impossible!

Hope you all have a wonderful day! Cheers! Stay tuned for more updates from the revolution.

P.S. Now, I'm sure a lot of you guys may have some questions, comments and all that jazzy stuff. Feel free to email them to Jonathan, or me at MoIsWhatWeAimFor@hotmail.com, or on Twitter for live info @MoIsWhatWeAim4. In the e-mail, just include your name, and the comment/question, and I will either answer with a reply or directly in my next entry!

Attached, I sent two pictures of tanks in the streets of Cairo during the protests about a month ago, and attached as well are two pictures I took from my camera phone (which explains the poor quality) several days ago.

Photo by Mohamed GhanemPhoto by Mohamed Ghanem

Mohamed Ghanem is a contributing correspondent based out of New York City.