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Shit, it's really kicking off in Egypt....

270 replies

headfairy · 28/01/2011 12:22

watching reuters footage coming in, they've got tear gas and the police are shooting protesters now. Bloody terrifying!

OP posts:
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firstforthought · 30/01/2011 15:56

Army was instructed to use LIVE ammo on protesters tonight but Army is refusing.

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firstforthought · 30/01/2011 16:00

AL-Jazeera news not allowed to broadcast in Egypt at present. Still not much internet access but landlines and most mobiles are working.

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onimolap · 30/01/2011 16:05

More countries are advising their nationals to leave the affected cities, and some Embassy staff/families are leaving too.

Red Sea resorts remain unaffected.

Heavy Army presence on the ground, but at present they are not acting.

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LittleMissHissyFit · 30/01/2011 16:05

firstforthought: Alex is very different. We had some Cairian relatives come to visit and H was aghast and ashamed at how they laughed so loudly and didn't cover.

H was out of Egypt for 20 years, When we went to live in his land, he got hit by culture shock and clamped down on me. He is controlling, abusive and pretty vile most of the time, I found this out there and sadly he has not changed back. I know that others do have better experiences than I did, but IME I had TWO oppressive regimes to put up with. The country and the 'H'

I had to change telephone numbers twice as guess-dialling got me twice and the number passed around all the young men trying to bag a foreigner to take them away from it all.

The average Alexandrian woman in an average area will not have much leeway in her own life. Cairo is different. As in expat lifestyles where BOTH partners are from the UK for example, the success of the 'posting' depends largely on the attitude of the one sponsoring the trip, the wage earner.

If the spouse is supported, actively encouraged to have a social life, friends and enjoy herself, it has a good chance of survival. If not, as in my case, then it's doomed to failure.

I do have a friend in Alex who has a very supportive H, a lovely house, help and a car and driver (she can't drive) She still hates it. Alex is very different. I had email friends in Cairo, they had very different lives to both mine and to my friends.

IME people in Alex were not kind to me, they literally lost no opportunity to attempt to profit from knowing me, by stealing or coercing money, or by lying and getting me in to godawwful trouble with an already awful H.

18m on, I still struggle to go outside and still find it hard to meet male gazes.

I'm glad you had a more positive experience firstforthought, makes me realise that my experience was extreme and perhaps they are not all that bad.

I won't ever be going back though. Grin

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LittleMissHissyFit · 30/01/2011 16:08

I was even abused and singled out for poor treatment by nursing staff when I was haemorrhaging from a MC.

H was charged triple for my treatment and told that'll teach you to marry from outside.

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firstforthought · 30/01/2011 16:30

gosh littlemiss your post made me sigh with sadness. Reminds of the book "fatwa"! My experience was fine and DH actively encouraged me to meet up with expats but I wasn't interested. The few friends I did make were Egyptian. We lived in a 'Baladi' area which removes me from the normal foreigner experience of living in the better class areas with the ex-pats. Any opportunist will view any foreigner as loaded and a way to make money, a side effect of poverty I guess. Sorry again.

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firstforthought · 30/01/2011 16:33
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firstforthought · 30/01/2011 16:38

sorry- how do you delete posts??

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 30/01/2011 16:42

you cant firstfor unless it is something that 'outs' you or mn mind offensvie, then you can request to them. Don't worry about it though.

To do a good link its nicenameoflink without spaces so you could make yours come up as:


6357675&fbid=493689677675#!/photo.php?fbid=4938302 72675&set=a.493689677675.268523.586357675 women of egypt

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 30/01/2011 16:42

oh bum that was shit.

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 30/01/2011 16:43

huh.

weird. I'm good at links.

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MummieHunnie · 30/01/2011 16:44

wow! to little miss and the photo's, you can ask mnhq to remove them by repoting them.

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 30/01/2011 16:44

must be because the link hasnt got an ending that mn recognises as 'end of link'.

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LittleMissHissyFit · 30/01/2011 17:32

If you happen to be watching AJE, and they show the Alex corniche shot with the ball of the Planetarium. Our building, small 5 floors, is directly behind that Ball of the Planetarium.

But even when we lived in a non-tourist area it was actually worse. I NEVER went out in the day, and never walked in the streets there, I wasn't allowed and women didn't do that.

Only men and kids were out on the streets in that area. Living next to the Library was better, because I could walk about near it and blend in with the tourists, but I had to have eyes in the back of my head every second.

Those FB pics are of the women protesting.

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LittleMissHissyFit · 30/01/2011 17:35

In 6m in 2006 of living in the first flat I went out less than 5 times. I can count the times I left the house individually.

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MumInBeds · 30/01/2011 18:13

I'm also following the tweets of James Lynch from Amnesty International in Cairo.

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drosophila · 30/01/2011 18:57

LittleMiss - Are you still with H? Are you now in the UK.

Thanks for the interesting posts.

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Niceguy2 · 30/01/2011 19:05

I was only in Cairo last week and everything seemed perfectly normal. What a difference a week makes eh?

Problem is that the longer this goes on, the more the international investment needed to get the country into the 21 century will leave.

We built a call centre there last year and as of tomorrow we're pulling the work back into Europe. The new massive deal we've recently won is now in jeapordy for Egypt. I don't blame our customer. I wouldn't want to risk it anymore.

So whilst I support and even admire what their people are doing. I don't think many of them have thought through the economic impact. This could set the country back for years.

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firstforthought · 30/01/2011 19:41

I wanted the pix up as someone was asking where were the women.
Was there anything good about your time in Alex, littlemiss?

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LittleMissHissyFit · 30/01/2011 21:09

Drosphila - am back HOME

'H' was due to leave and go back to his home on Friday. He's still here. We are pretty much over. I'm going to need a whole lot of wine... Grin

firstforthought: I met a dear dear friend, who is herself preparing to come back to the UK this week. Without her I don't know what have become of me out there. She kept me sane and I was able to see her every other week or so.

Otherwise, in reply to your question. No. Grin

I suppose if there is a silver lining to that huge black cloud it was to teach me that I am not weak, I am strong, and I can't be broken.

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slim22 · 31/01/2011 09:13
is the reality of our part of the world. Not the paranoid hysteria about islamist world domination.
We are just like anyone else, pawn in someone lunatic's political agenda. please support us. this is out berlin wall moment.

Tunisia paved the way and we are all so eager for them to lay the path peacefully. They can. Small country, highly educated, secular, they CAN.
Egypt is something else altogether. A much bigger project. Something that could potentially bring all muslims into the 21st century.


up to date info blogs here
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MummieHunnie · 31/01/2011 09:20

Egypt has people of many religions, it is not a muslim issue, it is a political issue, Slim22?!

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