Imprint

Imprint Movement: Recently learned about this grassroots association of young, Egyptian women volunteers united to combat sexual harassment during Eid al-Fitr festivities. A sexual harassment trend particularly became associated with these celebrations in recent years. Why during Eid al-Fitr? Possibly because there are more people out at this festive time. The Imprint Movement organized popular patrols made up of its members and other volunteers to roam metro stations to stop harassers during Eid. Eid became a “season for harassment,” movement member Abdel Fattah Mahmoud said, explaining that this is why the movement decided to launch the patrols during all of Eid (Egypt Independent, 8/17/12). What's interesting is that this is not the first year sexual harassment has occurred during these celebrations, but never previously has it prompted so much discussion and gained such wide attention. Rebecca Chiao, co-founder and director of the initiative, told Think Africa Press that "it comes down to Egypt’s “very hierarchical society, [which is] very oppressive and aggressive”. Women face harassment, she argues, because “women are just one of the groups which are at the bottom (Think Africa Press, 9/10/12).”

First Woman Judge in Egypt: Tahani al-Gebali is the current Vice President of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt. In 2003 she was appointed by President Hosni Mubarak to her office, becoming by that the first woman to hold a judiciary position in Egypt; and she remained so until 32 Egyptian women were appointed to various judicial positions in 2007. She has a reputation of being honest and independent from the military. Presently, the Muslim Brotherhood is campaigning against her. Gebali states: "I believe women should benefit from the revolutionary mode by stressing the rights that they have already gained and make sure there is no setback in this realm. Most of women's rights are achieved legally and constitutionally. Yet, we should thwart attempts that aim at hindering the activation of these rights on the ground (Noha El Hennawy, "Q&A with Tahani al-Gebali: Say "no" to constitutional amendments," Almasry Alyoum , 10/11)." She was on the court, presided over by Maher El-Behary, that declared that President Mohamed Morsi couldn't invalidate its ruling suspending parliament and order the lower house to resume work.The Court had declared the People's Assembly (the lower legislative house) election invalid. Now Charged with Being in Cahoots with Military: Currently, a former member of parliament (MP) has accused Gebali of telling the New York Times that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces did not intend to hand over power or hold parliamentary elections. The NYTimes article states that: "Even as they promised to hand authority to elected leaders, Egypt’s ruling generals were planning with one of the nation’s top judges [Gebali] to preserve their political power and block the rise of the Islamists, the judge (Gebali) said (D. Kirkpatrick, 7/3/12)."The Times reported that Gebali “advised the generals not to cede authority to civilians until a constitution was written.” Gebali is now saying that she gave no such interview to the NYTimes.Cleanliness: Today, the platform on the fire escape ladder where my garbage chute is located was swept completely clean. I couldn't believe it! Naturally, I'm using Western standards; but before that, it was getting close to looking like a garbage dump.