Labor Protest in Cairo

Today I covered a labor protest in downtown Cairo with a filmmaker friend. Egyptians are protesting for a higher minimum wage. The current minimum wage is 35 EGP, the equivalent of $7 USD per month, and was set in 1984s. Laborers are asking for a minimum wage of 1200 EGP, roughly $200 USD.

The following video was shot by my friend, Lillie Paquette.

Radiohead and MTV EXIT

If you've followed this blog over the past year, you know human trafficking is an issue I've written about fairly frequently. Today I stumbled upon the MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign while watching a music video on youtube.

According to the MTV EXIT website,

MTV EXIT is a campaign to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking in Europe and Asia. Since the campaign launched in 2004, MTV EXIT has created various programs and activities that informed and empowered millions of young people both from source and destination countries about the issue and take actions within their communities.

The video I was watching was recommended by a friend - All I Need by Radiohead. Here it is:

Human trafficking and exploitation CAN be stopped. The first step in the battle is awareness. Trafficking is probably occurring right in front of your eyes.

Be aware.

Keep a lookout - there are pirates

Apparently there were pirates following my brother's ship in the Gulf of Aden earlier today.

The ship noticed the pirates lurking about seven miles away. When the ship passed, the pirates picked up speed and came within about two miles before reconsidering and heading off. Luckily, my brother's ship is what they consider a "hard target" - the ship would be hard to take, and they were aware of the pirates straight away. Armed men on deck may have figured into the pirates' reconsideration as well.

Pirates off the coast of Somalia have frequently been in the news in recent months, and not without reason: my brother says the ship sees pirates more often than not. Only two days ago a ship was taken less than 100 miles (160km) from their position.

While this BBC article argues against carrying arms on merchant ships, my brother sees the guns - shotguns, nothing more - as a visual deterrent more than anything. The article doesn't take into consideration the realities of living on such a ship, and in some ways takes the side of the pirates. Merchant marines have little sympathy for the pirates. "I understand why they do it," says my brother. "But at the same time I feel that if you are willing to [hijack] someone to possibly kill them for ransom money then you get what's coming to you. Piracy used to be punishable by death."

The rules of engagement are complicated, and the situation is drawing significant media attention. For now, I'm just glad my brother's ship isn't an appealing target for pirates. Hopefully it will stay that way.

A Day with Ayman Nour and al-Ghad

Ayman Nour walking to the al-Ghad Party headquarters in Alexandria

Yesterday I found myself smack in the middle of Egyptian politics.

After a last-minute invitation from a new friend, I hopped on a mini-bus at 9am for the three-hour trip from Cairo to Alexandria. Thankfully the trip was uneventful, and the bus was even air-conditioned. Around 1pm we found ourselves sitting at a beach-front cafe sipping fresh juices (strawberry for me, guava for her) and reveling in the clean air and smell of the sea. We took a long stroll down the corniche (the road which runs along the water) and found ourselves outside Ayman Nour's apartment at quarter to three - 15 minutes early! (Apparently neither of us have gotten back on Egyptian time yet.)

(Quick background: Ayman Nour is a well-known figurehead of opposition politics in Egypt. Formerly a member of the Wafd party, Nour left to form al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party in 2004. Al-Ghad was officially licensed just in time for Nour to run for President in 2005, Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential elections since Nasser's revolution in 1952. Nour came in second to president Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981. Officially Nour received 8% of the vote, but there is speculation that the actual percentage was much higher. Following the election Nour was convicted on forgery charges largely recognized as politically motivated and spent nearly four years in prison. He was released in February of 2009.)

We relaxed in the living room for a while, and eventually the five of us - myself, my friend, Nour, his secretary in Alexandria, and another Ghad party member - left for lunch. Nour nodded out the window to a guard station as we piled into the car. The four men at the station were watching us, and while three of them didn't seem particularly concerned the fourth was looking between us and his phone. He was letting his superior know we were leaving the house, Nour said.

Anyone who argues that Nour's popularity has fallen since his release from prison last year (and multiple tabloid-esque stories in the media) has not seen him in public. From the moment we entered the mall, where we stopped for lunch with other al-Ghad members, the flow of people stopping to speak with Nour, shake his hand, or take a picture with him did not abate until we got back in the car to go home at the end of the night. Men and women young and old approached him, all with smiles and handshakes and waiting camera phones.

Eventually we made our way to the al-Ghad party headquarters for the Alexandria chapter. It was election day at the party - there were two issues on the ballot, and a petition as well. The first issue on the ballot was the deputy election (4 available seats, 5 candidates). The other, a referendum to confirm the party's nomination of Ayman Nour as presidential candidate. The office, the entranceway, and the street outside were full of people milling about, speaking animatedly, talking on their phones, and vying for a moment with Nour.

Eventually my friend and I made our way inside, where there was just as much commotion. People coming to vote, and to sign their names next to their thumb-print on the petition. The petition is for a constitutional amendment to change the current electoral law, an issue supported by figures from Nour to Mohamed el-Baradei, the Egyptian former head of the IAEA. The ruling NDP party, however, has stated that it does not intend to propose constitutional amendments before the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Signing the petition

Yet al-Ghad is determined to prove that change is possible. According to Mohamed el-Wasemy, the Vice-President of the Executive Office for al-Ghad in Alexandria, the party's internal elections are a lesson for both the party and the Egyptian people at large. The ballot counting was something that probably none of us have ever seen before. The ballot boxes are made of glass, a visual reminder of al-Ghad's commitment to transparency. The ballots were counted out loud in front of a crowd of more than 60 people, the tallies marked on a board at the front of the room. During Friday night’s tally, every time the marker made a mistake and marked a tally for the wrong candidate, a dozen voices instantly called out and the error was immediately corrected. Each party member seated or standing in the room was watching carefully.

El-Wasemy called the elections a message to Egyptians. "A free election is not impossible to achieve," he said.

“Political activism is the best way to bring about change in Egypt,” said Mohamed, a member of al-Ghad's youth chapter, echoing el-Wasemy's sentiments in an interview earlier in the day. Mohamed is a fairly new member of al-Ghad and sees the party as the only challenge to the regime. Neither the Reform and Development party or the Karama party have received official licenses, and Mohamed said that much of the other supposed opposition in the country has been created by the regime to play the part of opposition without actually being such.

Whether al-Ghad offers real opposition to the ruling NDP or not, the Tomorrow party faces many obstacles in its battle for change. Mohamed pointed to the broken lock and handle on the door of the room we were in. "Obviously we have no funding," he said. Yet, despite the challenges, many in the party were hopeful as they gathered in the street following the election results.

"Say to me, mabrouk!" called out one of the newly elected deputies. I laughed and said to him, "Mabrouk!" Another new deputy echoed, "And me, and me!" Mabrouk - congratulations.

As the evening drew to a close, the crowd gathered on the street and slowly dispersed. Someone brought cake, and as we stood around talking a young member who spoke a little English walked over. "We call Obama the American Tutankahman," he said. "We like Obama." Why? I asked. "Some people love Obama because his father was Muslim," he said. "But for me, his vision and charisma."

After talk of el-Baradei (the headquarters of his National Association for Change in Alexandria is located in al-Ghad's offices), corporate scandal, and a shocked exclamation of, "What is this language?!" as someone tried to decipher my notes, it was time to head back to Cairo. This time, my friend and I caught a ride with a party member back to the city. It was 11:30pm, and past 2am by the time we arrived back in Cairo.

An eventful eighteen hours, to be sure. I wonder what is next?

Nour surrounded by party members

The Consequences of Being Late

Romans are not known for their promptness. In many cases, tardiness is even expected - if you want to have dinner at 9pm, for example, make sure to tell your guests 7. Being late has its consequences too, particularly for Italy's ruling party.

The People of Freedom Party (PDL), Prime Minister Berlisconi's party, will not be fielding candidates in Lazio's regional elections at the end of this month: an official missed the deadline for submitting the list of candidates by two hours. Berlusconi, understandably, is not pleased with the situation. Lazio is the region in central Italy that includes Rome, and it's one of Italy's most crucial regions.

Tough luck, Mr. Prime Minister - last week a Milan appeals court rejected attempts to register candidates late. Take this as a lesson to be learned: unfortunately for you, time can't be bought.

Sandy Weather

Only in Cairo is 'sand' in the weather forecast...

Incidentally, this reminds me of a particular day in Cairo back in the fall of 2008. I was chatting with one of my flatmates in our living room when our other flatmate came in, amused at weather.com's current forecast for Cairo: apparently, it was thunderstorming! The three of us glanced at each other, then out the window, and laughed at the clearly ridiculous proposition of a thunderstorm in Cairo. Not five minutes later, one of my flatmates, peering out the window, asked, "What is that?!" Rain, that's what - somehow going horizontally past our window. Utterly bizarre.

Although, I suppose that wasn't nearly as bizarre as actually having a thunderstorm complete with hail, as Cairo did a few weeks ago. Go figure...

Making a new life in Amreeka, Palestinian-style

Amreeka. This is where Muna, a single mother from Bethlehem, and her teenage son, Fadi, find themselves. When a long-forgotten green card application is accepted, the pair leaves behind harrowing border checks, the increasing inconvenience imposed on Palestinians, and their family to try life in Illinois with Muna’s sister. While the youngest cousin instructs Fadi on what to wear so as not to look like a FOB (fresh off the boat), Muna struggles to find a job. Set as America is invading Iraq, Fadi is faced with hostility at school, Muna discovers her two degrees and 10 years of experience mean nothing, and patients at her brother-in-law’s medical practice are walking out every day. 

A story of family, discrimination, and understanding, Amreeka will take you through the hard times and the moments filled with laughter and dancing as Muna and Fadi struggle to find their places in America.

In her debut feature, director Cherien Dabis makes strong observations without being repetitive. While she doesn’t focus on religion in the film, she shows her viewers some of the intricacies of religious identity and blanket generalizations: Muna’s family are Christian Palestinians, yet in small-town Illinois they are assumed to be both extremist and Muslim simply because they are Arab. And Muna’s understated new friend, one of the few who doesn’t discriminate against her family, is a Polish Jew. Dabis highlights these and other ironies and injustices simply, slipping them quietly into the family’s everyday life.

Winner of 4 awards and nominated for 6 more in 2009, Amreeka is definitely a movie to see.

Living the 'T' with Transgender Teens

Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers is in many ways most human book I have ever read. Cris Beam narrates her experiences with transgender teens in California’s Los Angeles with wit, compassion, and incredible amounts of strength and humanity. Discrimination, back-alley surgeries, hard drugs, prostitution, homelessness – Beam describes how the teens she knew faced each of these problems and so many more as they searched for love, stability, and acceptance in a world where ‘transgender’ is nothing if not stigmatized. 

Kate Bornstein, author of Hello, Cruel World, aptly notes: “These kids are most usually know about rather than known. But Cris Beam knows them.” 

And each girl – Foxx, Cristina, Dominique, and the others – is certainly worth knowing. Take the time to read this book – it will definitely get you thinking, and not just about society’s definitions of gender.

Read it.

Selling Children

FACT: two children are sold every minute.

Despite being outlawed by more than a dozen international conventions over the past 150 years, slavery still exists. Over 27 million people are enslaved today, meaning there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. TIME magazine defines slaves as “those forced to perform services for no pay beyond subsistence and for the profit of others who hold them through fraud and violence.” Slavery manifests in many forms in today’s world. One of the most prominent is human trafficking, which frequently leads to forced labor or sexual exploitation.

FACT: over 1.2 million children are trafficked annually.

The majority of females are trafficked into the commercial sex industry. Children in both the developed and developing world are used and exploited for sex, a lucrative business in some parts of the world. In some instances children are sold by family members, sometimes for as little as $10. Other children find themselves forced into prostitution due to destitute conditions, either trying to feed themselves or their families. Many are lured away from their homes by the promise of a job and a better life, only to find they have been sold to a brothel.

FACT: children as young as 5 are sold for sexual exploitation.

Gang rape, drug provision, sleep deprivation, and torture are used by traffickers to “break” new children into the sex trade in Bloemfontein, South Africa, according to a recent TIME magazine article. Forced abortions and unprotected sex are often part of the equation. In brothels in southeast Asia, “menus” are sometimes offered to clients, describing the children: “#145, age 7; this will be her first [x]; it will cost $100 to [x]”; “#144, age 11; [x] and [x] are OK. $200 for entire night, add $100 for extra [x].”

FACT: over 100,000 U.S. children are forcefully engaged in prostitution or pornography each year.

Trafficking in children is not limited to the developing world, where clients are sometimes attracted for “sex tourism.” The sexual exploitation of children also occurs in developed nations, such as the United States. In South Africa, the continent's wealthiest country and host of this year’s World Cup, as many as 38,000 children are trapped in the sex trade. Children in South Africa can earn more than $600 per night, and a recent TIME article revealed that many traffickers are “looking forward to doing more business” during the World Cup.

FACT: the United States spends more money in a single day fighting drug trafficking than it does in an entire year fighting human trafficking.

The Obama administration has pledged to make the issue a top priority. Thus far? No change. The South African president, as well, has pledged to fight human trafficking and the unexpected opportunities for trafficking created by hosting the World Cup. In many places of the world those fighting human trafficking, slavery, and the sex trade find themselves standing alone.

Over the past few days, the child sex trade has been brought to my attention in various – somewhat unusual – ways. This past weekend I attended a concert of eight local bands, both bands I saw play back in high school and bands who are just forming. The show was a benefit concert for Love146 (read more below). This week’s TIME magazine contained an article about the child sex trade in South Africa. Finally, I discovered that today is National Global Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

Please, take the time to acquaint yourself with the issues. There IS something you can do to help. 

Earlier blog on trafficking of human body parts: Trading in Humans

TIME magazine article: The New Slave Trade

Resources/ how you can help:

• Love146: The vision of Love146 is the abolition of child sex slavery and exploitation. Begun in 2004, Love146 works for the prevention of child sex exploitation, to rehabilitate children rescued from exploitation, and to promote awareness. The organization is named for a little girl with a spark of life in her eyes, who was seen by the organization’s founders during an undercover investigation of child sex exploitation in southeast Asia. By the time the brothel was raided and shut down, child number 146 was no longer there.
• ECPAT: End child prostitution, child pornography and trafficking of children for sexual purposes (ECPAT); a global network of groups and individuals fighting child exploitation.
• Somaly Mam Foundation: Their mission is to give victims and survivors a voice in their lives, liberate victims, end slavery, and empower survivors as they create and sustain lives of dignity. They also sell items hand-made by survivors.
• Molo Songololo: a children's rights group based near Cape Town
• COFS: combating the sale of human organs

Submitting to Security

Most children think airplanes are really cool. When I was little airports were really cool, too. Sometimes I was allowed in the cockpit to meet the pilot and add his signature to my autograph book, and I could even go through security without a boarding pass to stand at a huge pane of glass, wondering which magical plane held whomever I was waiting to meet.

In the years since, passengers have been met with wave after wave of new security measures. First, only ticketed passengers were allowed through security. Next, nail clippers and lighters were banned. Then liquids (some airports even include tubes of lip gloss in a passenger’s liquid allowance). In London, passengers are limited to one carry-on, while in the U.S. the size of allowed carry-ons is shrinking even as airlines start charging for checked baggage. Now, full-body scanners and mandatory profiling.

The Christmas Day bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound flight instigated the latest furor over security measures. The EU is discussing the installation of full-body scanners in all of its members’ airports and the U.S. has created a country list for mandatory profiling. Residents of a “sponsor of terrorism” – Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria – or of 10 other “countries of interest” will be required to pass through new security measures; the U.S. government has yet to release exactly what those measures entail.

While some passengers willingly submit to these new security measures as necessary for their safety, others have raised major doubts as to their viability, legality, and necessity. Full-body scanners are eyed with much skepticism by passengers who view them as a major invasion of privacy. Meanwhile, the new profiling regulations have come under fire from both sides: some call them a form of racism and others claim they don’t go far enough.

The debate ultimately comes down to this: what is the acceptable price for security? In an age of increasing trans-border movement, citizens are finding certain of their liberties – such as the right to privacy – curtailed in governmental attempts to guarantee security. In the U.S., we still have it better than most places in the world. We are free to criticize the government, to protest, to congregate. We have the right to a trial by jury and are innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. We even have the right to privacy. How much of that are we willing to give up – and what if we didn’t have to?

Israelis don’t.

One could easily argue that Israel is a higher profile target for terrorism than the U.S., yet Israeli airports don’t use body scanners and passengers typically make it from the parking lot to the waiting lounge in 25 minutes. Israeli airport security studies behavior, not stuff – and security hasn’t been breached since 2002. Perhaps submission to hours of waiting and full-body scans and searches isn’t actually necessary.

Supposing the security measures passengers face in the U.S. are necessary, however, do they actually work? Less than a year ago I boarded a U.S.-bound flight with a Swiss Army knife in my carry-on bag (I forgot it was there). But then, I’m a clean-cut white girl with an American passport who carries a teddy bear around the world. Who could possibly suspect me of terrorism? Racial profiling – right there.

Sources:

"Controversy over body scanners." Al Jazeera English. 5 Jan. 2010. Web. 5 Jan. 2010. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/01/201015183039178220.html.

Kelly, Cathal. "The 'Israelification' of airports: High security, little bother." The Star. 30 Dec. 2009. Web. 5 Jan. 2010.http://www.thestar.com/iphone/news/world/article/744199---israelification-high-security-little-bother.