Global Voices is reporting on a new social media hashtag that is demonstrating that pro-LGBT proponents in Egypt are not afraid to speak out. The hashtag #ضد_رهاب_المثلية (Against homophobia) has been generating conversation between LGBT supporters and opponents, but its very existence points to a broadening of Egyptian debate on the topic of LGBT rights.
Cairo
Posted inArt
Images from Pre-Revolutionary Cairo
This week’s Egyptian election drama offers a curious backdrop to Michael von Graffenried’s photographs of life in Cairo.
Posted inOpinion
Street Artist Paints Away a Wall in Tahrir Square
LOS ANGELES — The image above has been making the rounds on social media this week. What you’re looking at is a wall in Cairo painted to look like it’s not a wall, like it goes through and enters into Tahrir Square.
Posted inNews
Major Egyptian Library Devastated by Fire
La Libération newspaper has confirmed that the 213-year-old Institut d’Égypte, which was founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798, has been ravaged by fire.
Posted inOpinion
Required Reading
This week, the lowdown on Mark di Suvero’s radical history, Terry Richardson’s parents, street art in Cairo, Miami and without spray paint, word clouds and some erotic Austrian art of yesteryear … and some other great links.
Posted inNews
Flickr Images from Revolutionary Cairo
If Twitter has been dominating the discussion of social media and the current protests in Egypt, they aren’t the only social network filling the intertubes with oodles of information created by everyday people, media professionals, and governmental forces.
Sure the other social media channels have suffered because of the internet clampdown that made their use near impossible but now that the country of Egypt is (kinda) connected again to the World Wide Web, we can go beyond Twitter’s textual minimalism to explore more vivid realities, notably Flickr.
Posted inNews
Unverified Tweets: Egyptian Museum In the Middle of Turmoil [UPDATING…]
The information is coming fast and furious via regarding the Egyptian Museum and the attack of protesters by pro-government authorities in Tahrir Square. So we are compiling a list of tweets to keep you up-to-date on what’s happening on the ground. Many of these tweets are from Tahrir Square, and others, like @SultanAlQassemi, are from elsewhere but from people monitoring the situation very closely. We have also added some Twitter commentary from others. Here they are unverified and unedited, and (mostly) in chronological order.
[UPDATE]: Museum has been attacked with molotov cocktails, no verified reports of the museum actually on fire, though rumors fly.
Posted inNews
Database Launches to Track Artifact Looting in Egypt
There have been many reports about damage to Egypt’s art treasures, but reports are conflicting at best, which may be because the facts are being caught up in the spin of the Egyptian government’s propaganda campaign to represent themselves as the group capable of maintaining the safety of the public … and the treasures of Egypt.
Posted inArt
Saying Goodbye to Egypt
Amman, Jordan — The decision to leave Egypt wasn’t easy on me, but I was out of options. Feeling alone, broke, beaten up, and lonely in a country I can’t predict anymore made me feel uncertain about the future. This revolution has been a life-altering event to each one of the people witnessing it, and I’m no exception.
Posted inArt
In Photos: Walking in Cairo During a Revolution
Cairo — I won’t lie to you. I was scared yesterday. I got in a fight with a group of passersby in one of the poorest neighborhood in Cairo. The people thought I was reporting for Al-Jazeera, the Qatari-based news channel that has been the target of major government propaganda over the last few days. People were pulling me from my clothes, hitting me on my back and dragging me to the floor until I was saved by a reasonable police officer who pretended to arrest me and my friends to calm the crowds.
Posted inArt
Art and Revolution During the Egyptian Protests [UPDATED]
Cairo — As I write this story, I am in my room overlooking the main square of Cairo, ironically called Tahrir Square, which means Liberty in Arabic. The square is buzzing with what news agencies estimate is as much as half a million protesters, chanting together. People want to overthrow the president.
Egyptian people took to the streets demanding the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, their president for the last 30 years. The demonstrations, which started five days ago, are becoming life-altering events to those witnessing it from the ground.
Posted inNews
Breaking: Images of Egyptian Museum Damage [UPDATE 34] King Tut Objects Damaged?
CONTINUING COVERAGE … UPDATE 24: Sat. Jan 29 12:43pm EST: Al-Jazeera has broadcast video of the damage at the National Museum, aka Egyptian Museum. The strange thing about these images is that they demonstrate that the damage is certainly more than a few mummies, which is what Reuters reported that Zahi Hawass, chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, had said on state television.
