Thursday
26May2005
Referendum Photos
By 
Josh Stacher
Josh Stacher
Pictures taken from yesterday's voting, protesting, and violence can be viewed here.
One thing I failed to clearly capture were the attacks against females (primarily demonstrators and journalists). I have some pictures of one woman in a group of men but it is impossible to see what is going on (although I cannot even imagine).
That said, I saw many women (including some friends) after they were sexually harassed and, in some cases, beaten by those animals masquerading as humans.
____________
Feel free to circulate the photos among any interested parties.
One thing I failed to clearly capture were the attacks against females (primarily demonstrators and journalists). I have some pictures of one woman in a group of men but it is impossible to see what is going on (although I cannot even imagine).
That said, I saw many women (including some friends) after they were sexually harassed and, in some cases, beaten by those animals masquerading as humans.
____________
Feel free to circulate the photos among any interested parties.
Tags: Egypt
Egypt
Reader Comments (7)
Fantastic. Thank you for sharing.
Looks like the authorities are getting carried away with this rent-a-mob tactic. They havent got much stick for it because they have plausible deniability of responsibility. But many, many people have reported how the "supporters" are paid and organised. It's now just a sad, and very worrying, joke. I think there should definitely be more media coverage of this aspect of the state's democracy circus. Seems they only listen when the media shows them up. If they feel that they are getting away with it, they will only escalate the situation. How long before someone is killed or seriously wounded?
The soldiers of democracy have done their work well.
Satan is filled with glee.
Agree on the need for more media attention to delegitimise the rent-a-mob tactic. The Ahram Weekly touched on it gingerly. American papers like Washington Post and Christian Science Monitor have scathing articles about the beatings. I'm doing my part by forwarding the articles and Josh's photos above to everyone I know and to listservs.
I wish the opposition would play a better publicity game. The government's reaction is always predictable and lacking in originality. I think they should do something like the Belgrade "target protest". When during the Kosovo crisis, civilians went out and stood on bridges (high value targets for NATO bombers) with target signs pinned to their chests. TV crews were there of course. Kefaya have the TV crews' attention and its about time they used it more effectively. Ayman Nour needs to stop relying on the orange motif, its a bit overdone now.
Any ideas people??
Liam you are right about the publicity game. They could try some political theatre, like a silent protest with tape over their mouths and puppet-masters wearing Mubarak masks, something like that...or large ballots with Mubarak's face next to each candidate listed, to bring home the cynicism of the so-called multi candidate reform. they might also find Gandhian civil disobedience methods helpful.
[...] my delay in posting as I tried to tie everything together. Pictures I took can be found posted below on the Arabist or directly accessed here. I met up with two friends - th [...]