Clean-up. Easy.

 A municipal worker cleans Mohamed Mahmoud street in central Cairo, the scene of deadly riot police clashes with protesters [AFP]

SUBTITLED VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEJA3tGwkp4&feature=player_embedded

Whilst viewing the above video we would do well to bear in mind SCAF's statement saying a strike would 'pull down the economy and risk chaos.'

Perhaps no threat in light of the present economy and daily chaos, but if that isn't a warning we can but wonder what is.

 'You bring it upon yourselves' 

seems to resound as an echo surrounding the call for reform

When smite fails

Assume the voice of reason

And blame the victims

 https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+egyptian+protesters+injured&hl=en&prmd=imvnsu&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Y-YzT46uOKOi0QXA4a2ZAg&ved=0CCMQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=756

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/Joe-Lieberman
"The current crisis with the Egyptian government has escalated to such a level that it now threatens our long-standing partnership. There are committed opponents of the United States and the US-Egypt relationship within the government in Cairo who are exacerbating tensions and inflaming public opinion in order to advance a narrow political agenda. At the same time, there are people of good will in both countries, civilian and military, who are working hard to resolve this crisis. This cannot happen soon enough."

If the above statement is perceived in good faith then it may appear equally reasonable to assume foreign policies should be not only  addressed but considerably reviewed. Instead, we are left with only the most poignant perpetuating quandary of all: Who continues to pay the price? 

Little other than a brief revisit to Noam Chomski's birds eyeview in:

That’s what’s happening in Egypt

  is required:

http://wilyawil.com/en/2011/11/video-noam-chomsky-thats-whats-happening-in-egypt/ 

Open wounds...

... find song buried in the heart http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjZyZlamUYA

"A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people"

M.Gandhi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjZyZlamUYA 

"Culture of the mind           

 must be subservient to the heart." 

Egyptians have little if any confidence in Scaf's Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi's promise of a partial lift to the prevailing emergency law since it comes with a proviso that the lift cannot include the crimes committed by 'thugs'.. presumably such  individuals as depicted above, a protestor holding his head in his arms. A man able to do little more. The law mentions nothing of hired thugs or armed military personnel ordered to fire.

Cynicism prevails. And yet orchestrated transgressions continue to augment.

 Graffiti of Egyptian youths killed in clashes depicted on the walls of the capital Cairo [EPA]

With so much blood already lining a shrouded revolution, it would seem unlikely that the sacrifice comes to a halt before more blood is shed.  For those killed for daring to speak, for those doing little more than rightfully opposing unjust authority and for those who remain behind to carry forth the challenge~ no sacrifice appears too great.

And yet, with every new spurt of enthusiasm generated in order to carry the nation through these tempestuous times the odds mount up further and more ascerbically than ever.

Momentum shifts from a people's aspiring surge to a crush by military and regime that still controls only to be followed by another upsurge and another more violent pulverisation.

The end to the struggle is not in sight for unlike a match that may tie in the end, here there cannot be a draw. 

Until the people are seen to receive 'some' justice not even the fringes of reconciliation are likely to come into sight.

left and right, activist Salma Said, before and after. "An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so." M.Ghandi

                                                                                      (poster photo courtesy of Mahmoud Salem)

 

 AP Photo/Ahmed Hassan

The face of a casualty in the wake of so many dead, killed with not even their name to be remembered by those who pulled the trigger.

Managing profound grief and chagrin so deep is no easy feat, but the inimitable spirit that rises above cannot be suppressed.

Egyptians channel their fears, hopes and determination by tapping into a deep-seated, bottomless well of solidarity; a wealth of national spirit surfacing continuously in visible conviviality and artistic expression.

We may even go so far as to say that "expression" has become something of a religion to be practised vibrantly in Egypt today.

                             

Defiant and disparaging of the gunmen and their deadly ammunition, the following is a casually challenging address with the catchy chorus of: 'kharateesh kharateesh kharateesh, nasshin ya shaweesh!' Cartridges .. cartridges.. cartridges.. aim, aim & fire! fire! blast! blast! Oh soldier...!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR6lR1poKW_ys&feature=youtu.be 

 

 AP photo

Unlike blood-stained streets, tears and dreams are not swept away. 

Instead, find their way into endless song:

http://www.elgomhoreya.tv/ar/short/bahlam

(audio-visual links provided by Nadia Elkouni and through SaraH's ever-assimilating wall on Facebook)

Bands of Black

Short story - unfinished.

A few men are gathered round, cheering, regaling in plea and protest 

To be heard,  to be considered, to be addressed.

An armed military man mounts a pedestal right before them and says in gentle apologetic tones, both calm and deadly cold~ the following words:

“All of you ‘listen’ I have been ordered to shoot one of you so retreat at once. 

I have been ordered and I will shoot”.

The crowd turns round and I see their alarmed faces 

For suddenly I am among them 

But unlike them I am seated and their large stature surrounds me

White shirts and loose trousers hiding me from sight

But my knee covered in blue, showing through, 

I tremble. 

We all remain still, frozen for a moment in time but the trembling takes over and whether it is I who rise uncontrollably or whether it is sheer gush of heightened emotion that shoves me forth ~ over I go and over I stumble. 

A shot is fired, I am still alive.

image: 'homage to the Egyptian revolution' by Bassem Yousri

I see only the legs of the crowd hurtling themselves towards the gunman, covering me, cloaking my numbed contours and I believe I am suddenly deaf for gunfire is the only sound i remember.

I look up and the lone soldier and his gun is no longer alone. His comrades in arms all take aim but with little to shoot at for around me there is a deep pool of blood and nothing much more.

The soldier was true to his warning yet his was the only gun

Amongst short-sleeved unarmed arms 

Waving for an end to despair

For a beginning to hope.

Perhaps the soldier need not voice a warning next time. 

Perhaps he never had.

Perhaps we heard his thoughts which he dared not utter 

Lest they become actions to be accounted for.

Perhaps the pool of blood will not dry out. 

Perhaps the red paint depicting scenes of a brighter future 

Uses that as its palette.

Perhaps black bands will turn white 

Once the sun shines upon them.

Kick'em where it hurts

http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/02/eyewitnesses-police-stood-idle-in-egypt-football-massacre/

                                 photo by STR/AP

Is this how Egyptians can be quashed in their search for independence? For liberation of what the regime of old continues to dictate? There are so many ways to destroy morale, to make people wish the revolution had never taken place but unless we are hit by a bullet we will never know how unbearably tragic such a despondency would be.

The undercurrents that prevail throughout this revolution are like insidious parasitic creepers who with unlimited hooked appendages dig deep into the flesh of a throbbing living entity: Egypt. They sway the tide their way, money talks and continues to talk even when  sources are umasked.

If the rest of the world isn't already fed up with Egypt's plight, it seems only a matter of time before the price seems too high even for them. This is the very aim of the outflow, the sewage of those who fight surreptitiously, continuously, relentlessly against the movement for genuine reform.

In short: Egypt does not want to be at war with the world. Egypt wants a chance to stand on its own. Result: Egypt is dissed.

If the aim is to portray Egyptians as unworthy rabble then the perverse, guileful and perfidious tactics are indeed honing their efforts towards scoring a bull's eye. Egyptians cannot be seen as having any credentials and fortuitiously for those seeking to discredit them to the core: people quickly forget what they witness with their own eyes on a global scale. The slurs and distorted images soon begin to prevail in deep-seated anti-arab speculation. 

It may be a moral obligation for those who disagree and know what stares them in the face cannot be unfounded to feel obliged to give voice to their perspectives. Clutching at straws? Perhaps.

And yet, Egypt can but call on that.

Egypt mourns. Egyptian spirit that shone only recently yet again on January 25th 2012 takes the blows but cannot fall down to a count. And yet, the bloodshed that has been may only indicate more to come. Is the fight futile? The fact that it is a fight, a war between hope and despair perhaps says it all. 

Can the following link every be reviewed or labelled as outdated? Regrettably not. For one simple reason: It speaks the truth; it relays to fact, to history as it unfolds before our very eyes and most of us can but stand by and watch.
We would do well to pay heed and not ignore:
http://wilyawil.com/en/2011/11/video-noam-chomsky-thats-whats-happening-in-egypt
"And that's done over and over again. It doesn't always work, but it's always tried." "It's completely routine and that's what's going on in Egypt" Noam Chomsky

Carrying the torch through

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-k6kiTz9Vg&feature=share 

"While Scaf has the guns as well as the power of state media and de facto authority, and the Islamists have their grassroots appeal through their religiously charged rhetoric, the revolutionaries have nothing but their dogged determination and their unwavering conviction that justice will in the end prevail. As such, they are decidedly a force that cannot be ignored. The new parliament will soon have to choose on which side it will finally be."

Amira Nowaira
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/25/egypt-parliament-islamist-majority?CMP=twt_gu 

CAIRO 

(Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images) 

Egyptian protesters hold up an obelisk with the names of those killed during last year's uprising, at a huge rally in Tahrir Square on January 25, 2012, marking the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak as a debate raged over whether the rally was a celebration or a second push for change.  

Mustafa el Salmawy 

And so the 25th January 2012 ~ an unerring perseverence to carry the obelisk and light up the square not unlike an Olympic torch that must not be put out before it reaches its rightful destination.

ALEXANDRIA

Extreme Islamists, having coaxed the poor with provisions and promises through their charitable work in the hope of gaining votes went a step further in an attempt to form a coalition with the army who is presently not in favour due to its betrayal of the protestors. Consequently the majority of the people marching through the city ignored the more or less cordoned areas the party  'Justice and Freedom' had engaged and proceeded in their millions to walk the length of the greater part of the city from El-Mansheya to destination point Sidi Gaber Military Headquarters.

photo by Ahmed Ali Ghoneim Fares

a giddy angle of the march. evocative of the perseverence and enthusiasm among the people celebrating and avering their stance since 25th Januray 2011

The revolution will not fail

The malice and spite of the people who try to hijack its cry for personal gain will not be tolerated for longer than need be. The hope shines through in spirits that are untainted, in attitudes that battle against adulterated compromise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RI84-OaPls&feature=share

all march with heads held high

Ta7reer flame kept alight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXEjqqmVGOc&ob=av2e

People need nourishment; FACT. But along with that fact we remain aware that 'nutriment' alone cannot fulfill their need. The children depicted starving in Africa over the past decades keep on doing so. There are reasons that go beyond food that contribute to this unbearable, evil aspect of humanity. It has been noted, not only in such decrepit conditions but even in the most prestigiously wealthy ones in the world that a child requires not only nourishment through food but very significantly through nurture. Nurture involves the stomach as does nourishment; organs of the body will gather strength and health through well-being and wholesome emotion or more tritely put through 'heart and soul'. 
Similarly, greater than physical strength is the awakening of a spirit and the resilience it bears within to remain so.

Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul." - The Koran

When spiritual growth, within or without particular religious parameters can be allowed to express itself and when tolerance is commended rather than tossed aside, the world as we know it might indeed be closer to heaven than hell.

But with spiritual decline manifesting itself in extreme reactions on both sides of religious argument, propaganda finds cause to thrive. In the age we live, we are all individually defined as either for or against religion regardless of essence and all anyone can do is hope to tap into their own personal sanctuary for  balanced thought and inner equilibrium.

"An angry man is not fit to pray." Yiddish Proverb.

"Anger is as a stone cast into a wasp's nest." Malabar Proverb

       Expression, skilled or otherwise are all part of our human propensity and it is this very need and ability that propels us forward as human beings. 

In the words of John Keats:

"The poetry of the earth is never dead."

We cannot put too high a price on any expression that finds its way into lifting the human spirit.

But for wings to sprout, dreams must be kept alive and like moonlit stars lift the darkness of night.

Should Egypt appear to stray it will somehow get back on track and it will continue to reach for the stars. The depraved economy and the currents that fight against its development and progress may well continue to present devastating scenarios and it is for this very reason that the spirit of the nation has to be kept sunlit and watered so as to survive.

Perhaps Egypt has, to its great advantage, valuable lessons in history, but these are often buried in the subconscious of a nation. When the threads of memory surface to combine with aspiration, the song only then  may begin to feel complete.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019fxjf

Reem Kelani

And for a peek into portrayal through Spanish eyes, namely Miguel Angel Sanchez's, here's the perspectively enhanced interview between eminently acclaimed journalists Alexandre Buccianti and Yossri Fouda:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLEhS0t9p00

Art itself may be said to live in spite of all attempts to stifle it and returns the favour by keeping us
alive.

photos: amiraT

Respect the Spring bud ...

http://depositphotos.com/1503558/stock-photo-Young-plant-in-desert.html

.. that grows in the desert.

Just like thinking outside the box allows ideas to breathe it also helps ideologies continue to pulsate.

Conventional negative responses may fill us with despondency and yet they are wherever we turn. For every person wishing Egypt maintain its dignity and grow in strength there must be at least the equivalent if not ten-fold who believe it is far cleverer to assume the worst. This observation is not restricted to outsiders but applies to individuals and constituents in Egypt itself, many who believe it their right to pilfer from the state for services rendered. 
And yet the revolution did occur, sparked by an unadulterated cry for change. May it remain unforgotten, undismissed. Respect for its source must remain.

  
In a most insightful article in the Guardian, titled: 
'Egypt's revolution has been misread', Khaled Abdullah writes:
"There are three main poles of power in Egypt: the army, the Islamists and the revolution. No single event is powerful enough to obliterate the influence of any one of them. Only time can. The real question is: whose ideology is most resilient?"
 
"As people take their seats in parliament on 23 January, deep down they will know that it is blood that got them there."...

Astutely, those who have tapped into directing efforts into helping the starving and deprived are perhaps those who may well impose religious sanctions upon the nation if they were ever to find themselves in a position of firmly established power. Moderately inclined political members must indeed begin to focus or lose out ~ in the short term at the very least.

"If the Islamists can bring that future in one choppy parliament, expect the future to be theirs, deservedly. But presuming they can't; it will be civil society that writes the future, as the street finds ways to organise itself and build its vision"  
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/16/egypt-revolution-misread

photo: amiraT

The Egyptian spirit has always had an integral sense of  directing energy towards aiding the most down and out through community spirit and good old-fashioned methods of direct donation and support. This would appear to have been on the decline in recent years and the Ta7reer episodes of affirmed unison served as acute reminders; innate expressions of visible support and thereby laying emphasis on infinite possibilities for change.

But now in the aftermath and sense of limbo felt nationwide there appears to remain the ongoing antithesis of this very ideal. With the sudden surges of apparent great wealth preceding the revolution; grand statements in the public domain still appear to claim precedence over any other national enterprise. This fake aggrandisement does little more than add to the already substantial confusion and bewilderment among those struggling most. Simplicity is abandoned in favour of pomp, contributing  nothing to the basic upholding edifices of the nation. These serve as mere distractions; imported costly frills depleting even further a struggling economy. Currents that fight against conscientious development and progress may well bring about more devastating scenarios than the country has ever known and it is for this very reason that the spirit of the revolution must remain strong in order to survive.

photo: amiraT

Egypt has a very long way to go. With hardship and insecurity the more self-serving in a community care less for its spirit and the echoing after-shocks of revolution are but hindrances. All would be lost were there not a counteracting force, a spirit greater and more resilient that still spurts feverishly through; perhaps most visible in spontaneous expression, a flourish of art, in all its forms, uninhibited creative thinking outside the box.

  And like the common garden plant that leans towards the sun and reaches for the rain, without expression of thought, dreams and hopes, a nation would be little more cherishable than a barren piece of land. 

When a heart is grateful it is also replenished. Here is a cheerful 'thank you' of sweet sorrow. 'Shukran' from a duo depicting Egyptian spirit. Thanks to those who have passed, those present and with a hopeful look to the future, a light-hearted rendering, poignantly illustrative:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lAk8FrtKvU Mohamed Abdel-3al Mado and Wael 3amer.