6 April 2008

some 100 people have been arrested during the clashes risen on April 6, day of the Egyptian general strike.

actually 23 people (2 women and 21 men) were arrested even before taking any action in the strike as a preventive measure. they are currently placed in provisional detention for 15 days under investigation for provoking public unrest and calling for a strike which is against an emergency law that has been implemented in Egypt now for more than 25 years (the same law according to whom more than 50 homosexuals have been processed in the 2001 "Queen Boat Trial"). there is a big possibility those young Egyptians will be sentenced for imprisonment.

today, April 10, journalist Amina Abd El Rahman, has been arrested and detained in a police station in the town of Mahalla al-Kubra. she has been questioned in the absence of a lawyer and has been accused of working as a reporter without permission, according to the story of her husband Hamada ElKashef, reporter in El Badeel journal and who is on his own now in Mahalla.

yesterday, April 9, George Ishaak, one of the leaders of the opposition movement Kefaya, has been arrested. he has been accused of provoking unrest and calling for strikes. El Marg Prison administration has been preventing the admission of medications, food, clothes and blankets to the detainees since the morning. Hossam Shahata, the person in charge of delivering them started a hunger strike inside the prison. finally the authorities yielded to the pressure and allowed everything to be delivered to the detainees.

then my question is: is Egypt a democratic Country? answer: NO.

question #2: are these actions violations of human rights? answer: YES.

Egypt is a strategic partner for America in the process of "pacification" currently ongoing in the Middle East and its soldiers have been sent to kill their Arab brothers in Iraq just not to break the close ties the Country has had with the USA since the Sadat Era in the 70s and (of course) not to lose the HUGE aids its government is receiving from President Bush (Egypt is the second Country after Israel per weapons received). BUT, isn't President Hosny Mubarak aware that, in the past, Saddam Hussein has been a close friend of US too and Osama bin Laden was actually a business partner of Bush sr. and jr. himself? there could be a possibility than, in an attempt to "export democracy" in the Middle East, US troops up river Nile to "protect the disrespected rights of Egyptians"... i hope i'm just too fond of conspiracy theories...

by the way the strike was a kind of success: according to local sources, Cairo streets were empty and many people stayed at home from work, while many parents didn't send their children to school. students at Cairo and Helwan universities held demonstrations, while the Nasserite Students of Assiut university held a vigil on campus.

the Muslim Brothers, instead, did not take part in the strike (unless in the past days it seamed they would do it).

streets of Mahalla al-Kubra (where 27,000 textile workers on strike were expected to be the centre point of the nationwide demonstrations) were empty and schools were closed. The Misr Helwan Spinning & Weaving Company workers said security forces prevented them from demonstrating, arriving in the factory during the night and arresting 150 workers.

now, a new action has been planned for May 4, 2008...

La vita e' un sogno o i sogni aiutano a vivere?

OMG, i think i'm starting to get crazy over this guy... last night i've dreamt of K.
(don't indulge in XXX thoughts: no kisses and no sex were involved...)

Il prezzo della cultura part 2

and by the way my (w)horoscope for 2008 said it...: "Taurus, you are a very cultured and talented person, but you have to cultivate your gifts and focus on learning this year... read more books, go for a master degree, keep yourself updated on world news... do something for your education."

and Mr. Robert Brezny is always right!

so, since prices of university courses here in the UAE are nothing but HUMANGOUS, i've chosen to read more...

the second part of my 2008 (w)horoscope was: "Quando nel 2009 la diga delle Tre Gole, in Cina, funzionera' a pieno ritmo, la sua produzione idroelettrica costituira' una fonte di energia rinnovabile per buona parte della popolazione del paese. Andando a sostituire il carbone, eliminera' anche 100 milioni di tonnellate di gas serra. Questa e' la buona notizia. Quella cattiva e' che migliaia di villaggi e paesi saranno permanentemente inondati e oltre un migliaio di persone saranno costrette a lasciare le loro case. Penso che potresti trovarti davanti a una scelta simile nel 2008, Toro. Se sei disposto ad accettare l'esilio e la perdita delle tradizioni, guadagnerai l'accesso a incredibili riserve di magica energia."

("If you are willing to accept the exile and loss of traditions, you will gain the access to incredible stocks of magic energy.")

i guess i'm ready.

ready to lose my traditions.

ready to live on exile.

ready to sign this contract.

ready for this fucking visa.

Il prezzo della cultura

on saturday evening i've bought 2 books in Abu Dhabi Co-Op: an old novel by V.S.Naipaul (i've loved his books Beyond Beliefs and The Suffrage of Elvira!) and a kind of essay about how chance affected the results of many battles and wars (from the Horse of Troy to the Gulf War in 1991).

i need to read. actually i should read more: last week i've finished a very good novel, Absurdistan, but before that it was at least one month that i didn't read a real book.

all i've been reading lately were tips and samples on "how to build a successful marketing plan" and academic papers on the health sector in the UAE and on Al Ain city. "i have to admit" that it helped me a lot in my work, but i'm not that keen in sales&marketing.

i prefer literature... any suggestion about must-read books?

Facetta nera...

yesterday afternoon on the bus, coming back from Sharjah, where i went for an appointment, i've met Deniet.

she was sitting besides me and, when i woke up from my sleep, i've noticed that she was reading the Gospel in italian (and that she was kind enough to take care that, while sleeping, my head would not hit the sit in front of me when the driver braked...)

so, we started to talk and i found out that, beyond being a very pretty girl, she's eritrean from the capital city Asmara and that she can speak italian PERFECTLY 'cause she learnt it in the italian school in Asmara. she was an italian teacher before coming here and she's looking for a job now.

i would really like to help her, so i'll try to propose her as an italian teacher at CICER (Circolo Italiano Culturale E Ricreativo di Abu Dhabi), but i doubt that the italian mafia will give her a chance...

sometimes we still think that we had an "Empire" (???) before:

1884 – Eritrea: the first attempts to set an Italian Colonial Empire goes back to the 1884, when the Prime Minister Francesco Crispi tried to acquire a port on the Red Sea through an agreement with the United Kingdom to occupy the city of Massaua. Further to the Treaty of Uccialli, in 1890 Eritrea became an Italian colony with Asmara as its capital. Then it stayed like that until 1941, when it was occupied by the British troops together with the rest of the Italian Eastern Africa.
1889 – Somalia: the first Italian colony was established in Southern Somalia between 1889 and 1890, initially as a protectorate. In June 1925, the Italian influence was extended to former part of British Kenya and in 1940 the Italian troops occupied the British Somalia, known as Somaliland. But in 1941, British occupied the whole Italian Somalia and re-conquered Somaliland also.
1911 – Lybia: After a fast war against the Ottoman Empire, in 1911 Italy took control on the Lybian regions of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, which have been then unified in 1934 under the name of Lybia (the old Roman name for the territory). During Fascism Age, Italy have been attempting to “pacify” the colony (against the rebels of Omar Mukhtar), during which gassing campaigns and mass deportations have been severely perpetrated against the original inhabitants. Italy lost control of Libya when German and Italian forces withdrew into Tunisia in 1943. Italians were against the Lybian invasion because they didn't want the government to spend their money to build roads and infrastructures in a land that they claimed was "uno scatolone di sabbia" (a box full of sand). Unfortunately they didn't notice that it was a box full of oil, so when Colonel Qaddafi took power in 1969 after the Green Revolution, he evenly kicked all the remaining Italian asses out of the Country and kept the royalties on petroleum and gas. On the Lybian campaign there is by the way a nice movie from 93 years old Italian director Mario Monicelli: Le Rose del Deserto (2006).
1912 – Dodecanese Island: the islands of Rhodes and the surrounding islands were a territorial gain Italy was able to make at the expense of the enfeebled Ottoman Empire with the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912. While the Treaty of Sèvres in 1919 called for most of the smaller islands to join with Greece, with Rhodes and several other islands remaining Italian, later, in 1923, the treaty of Lausanne gave international recognition to the continued Italian administration over the whole group. Two days after the Italian Government reached an armistice with the Allies on 8th September 1943, German forces attacked the Italians on Rhodes, forcing a surrender the next day. Despite the landing of British troops, the Germans seized Kos on October 4 after a day of fighting, and Leros fell to the Germans on November 16 after five days of fighting. You can find some details about this story in the movie Captain Corelli's Mandolin with Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz (if you are good enough to get rid of the buttery love story...). Otherwise i suggest Gabriele Salvatores' Mediterraneo (Oscar Winner as Best Foreign Language Film in 1992): w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l!
1936 - Ethiopia: in the 1890s the Italian Army, following a previous agreement with the Negus of Ethiopia Menelik, occupied a part of the Ethiopian Highland including the city of Asmara. Italy was defeated in its first attempt to conquer Ethiopia (called Abyssinia by Europeans at that time) in the First Italo-Ethiopian War in 1895-96, but the Italians were able to occupy Ethiopia in the war of 1935-36 after seven months of fighting. Victory was announced on 9th May 1936, when the Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III proclaimed himself “Emperor of Ethiopia” and Benito Mussolini “Founder of the Empire”. At the beginning of 1941 the English troops defeated Italians and occupied Ethiopia, but some flash points of Italian resistance remained active until the autumn of the same year and re-established the former Negus Haile Selassie.i've read an interesting article on the excellent Italian magazine Internazionale last year about the Italian heritage in Ethiopia and Eritrea: in Asmara, Massaua and Addis Abbeba is still plenty of old people speaking Italian and of places built during the Fascism Age with names in Amharic and Italian. I've remembered this article once when i was in Rock Bottom (a club in Abu Dhabi where i used to go) with my friends and the Ethiopian bouncer wanted us to leave even if our glasses were still full. i asked him where he was from and when he told me "Addis Abbeba", i said: "Ah, what a beautiful city!" "Have you been there?" i lied: "Yes, i've spent one week there..." "Really? Where were you staying?" "Oh, do you know that nice hotel near Cinema Impero? i can't remember the name..." "Oh yes, yes! I know it! Then if you were in Addis Abbeba, no need to leave now my friend!"... as you see, we are all brothers and sisters in the end...

1939 – Albania: Albania was already firmly within Italy's sphere of influence for twenty years when, in 1939, Mussolini decided it should formally be brought under Italian control. The Italian invasion of Albania began on 7th April 1939, but resistance to the Italian occupation grew rapidly at the end of 1942 and in 1943. By the summer of 1943, most of the mountainous interior was controlled by resistance fighters led by the Communist leader Enver Hoxha. By the end of September 1943, three weeks after Italy signed an armistice with the Allies, Germany took control over Albania.


Other territories submitted to Italian authority were Montenegro and Dalmatia (in the former Yugoslavia), Tiensin in China, and Nice and Corsica (French territories invaded by Italians during World War II).

But we don’t study these things at school ;-P

El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido!

New strikes in Egypt.

Today, April 6, 2008, Egypt is facing a general strike, initiated by the textile workers of Mahalla al-Kubra in the Nile Delta, among the best organized and most politically conscious workers unions.

this is potentially the broadest-based gathering of dissent the Mubarak regime has ever faced, making his autocracy in Egypt forcefully challenged.

after two days local elections will finally take place, after a two-year delay to allow time for a sweeping crackdown on the Muslim Brothers. in classic Hosni’s style, the local elections have been rigged in advance through the elimination of most candidates known to oppose the National Democratic Party.

the general strike taking place today is the last one of hundreds in the wave of working-class collective action set off when the government of Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif, which took office in July 2004, began to accelerate the drive to privatize public-sector industrial and financial enterprises. the liberal daily al-Misri al-Yawm reported a total of 222 strikes, demonstrations and protests in 2006 and 580 in 2007. Workers and Trade Union Watch, a labor-friendly website, enumerated 27 collective actions in the first week of January 2008 alone. during 2007 strikes spread from their center of gravity in the textile and clothing industry to encompass building materials workers, transport workers, the Cairo subway workers, food processing workers, bakers, sanitation workers, oil workers in Suez and many others. private-sector industrial workers comprised a more prominent component of the movement than ever before.

one of the main reasons for this huge wave of strikes is the broad popular discontent over inflation and people’s anger over the shortage of subsidized bread, the main source of calories for the poor. the lines outside bakeries in Cairo’s poorer neighborhoods are the most visible indicator of how unequally the fruits of Egypt’s record economic growth are distributed.

and it is not just the price of bread that is stretching Egyptians’ meager budgets to the breaking point: according to al-Misri al-Yawm, the price of basic foodstuffs rose at rates of at least 33 percent (for meat), and as much as 146 percent (for chicken), from 2005 to 2008. the official annual rate of inflation for January 2008 was over 11 percent and over 12 percent for February. the Mahalla textile workers have popularized the demand for a national minimum wage of 1,200 Egyptian pounds a month to cope with this inflation. this move has embarrassed the trade union federation into advocating increasing the minimum wage from 115 Egyptian pounds a month, which has been the rate since 1984, to 800 Egyptian pounds a month. A family of four would live just below the poverty line of $2 a day on 1,200 pounds a month.

the rising cost of living led university professors to stage a one-day strike in March. doctors have also threatened to strike, and dentists have expressed dissatisfaction with their wages. the participation of these middle-class professionals in protests has lent broader legitimacy to the workers’ movement, but the political prospects of the strike movement remain uncertain.

click on the title of the post to read an article by Middle East Report from where i took most of the datas and information...

Bathfighting...

thursday morning, 9.15 AM. i'm late again. as usual. waiting for one of my innumerable pilipino flatmates to finish taking her shower and leave me the toilet. there are new people in the apartment this month. it means new morning fights for the bathroom.

(April 3, 2008)

Taxi Driver

a couple of days ago -----> morning, looking for a taxi to go to work.

finally one of the new taxis stops and i kindly ask to the taxi driver to take me to the Corniche, next to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

it's a nice day, i feel happy and fresh and pumped up for a new day.

the taxi driver starts the taximeter, goes forth and after 20 meters asks me: "do you know where is Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank?".

so i reply: "don't you know it? i'm sorry i'll not waste my time" and while i get off the taxi he asks me for 0.10 AED fare (?????).

so my mood changes a little, but i'm so lucky that i just find another taxi waiting for me.

this one is an old taxi and the taxi driver is an old man with a long white beard, wearing his white peron-o-tomban and a skullcap on the top of his balding head: a sort of uniform for almost all the drivers of old taxis (most of them comes from Peshawar and i think this is a kind of their "traditional dress").

the old man is very friendly and we start to talk about the new taxis that Abu Dhabi government introduced a couple of months ago: they are pretty expensive and the taxi drivers don't know the city because their company recruits them directly from Pakistan to pay a lower salary... that's bad, i know! and it's also bad that i was not enough patient to explain him the direction (i swear i felt bad after a while that i got off!), but most of the time you just keep on turning around a place and pay a higher fare... and i'm sorry, but in the morning i'm intractable!

so i enjoy talking with the old man and i'm happy again. and i guess he is happy too since he starts to talk a lot to me.

then he asks me where i come from and since how long i've been living in Abu Dhabi.

i say: "ten months. still new..."

then it's my turn to ask him: "and you? since how long do you stay in Abu Dhabi?".

the picture in his car (his taxi license or something like that) shows a man much younger than him, so i guess the answer will be 15-20 years at least.

"i'm expired in the Emirates. i am here in Abu Dhabi since 32 years. i've finished my life here. now i'm ready to die."

and i've felt so bad for him. i was trying to say no, you still have many years... you can go back to Pakistan... and blablabla..., and then i've realized that this man is probably younger than my father, but he looks like my grandpa. life was bitter for him.

we talked a little more till i arrived down the office and he has been a very kind a nice person unlike most of the Pathan taxi drivers around.

the ride was 3.50 AED and i left him 10 AED. he tried to give me the rest back and i've said: "no, keep it! this is for you, for the nice conversation..."

so he smiled at me and said: "i will remember you italian lady!". yes, i will remember you too, Mr. Shiraz.

the western way to keep you conscience quiet...

Junk Food

ohmmioddio! questo cibo pakistano (namkeen) mi sta uccidendo... e' tutto il giorno che mi risale... direi che i seemeen e/o mombar egiziani vari non sono niente a confronto...

Rude Girl

non so perche' la mia collega Reema mi dice sempre che sono rude con la gente...
eppure ultimamente non faccio che ascoltare canzoni d'amore...
le tracks della mia piu' recente top 3:
1. E fuori e' buio (Tiziano Ferro)
2. La mia storia tra le dita (Gianluca Grignani)
3. Ain't no sunshine (Al Green)

Horror Illness Void

Horror.
Illness.
Void.

H.I.V.
i got my blood test on wednesday and i'm clean.

MY MUM IS COMING!!!!

22nd-29 April.

Italian Elections

three days ago, i received a blank e-mail from my brother containing a link to You Tube...

the subject was "lol", so i didn't know what he was talking about and i checked the link.

well, i got on the official hymn of "Popolo della Liberta'" (the recycled italian right-wing party, led by silvio berlusconi) for the upcoming elections of 13th-14th april. the title of this masterpiece (and the main refrain) says "Menomale che Silvio c'e'" (which in english sounds more or less like "Thank God there is Silvio" - Berlusconi, of course!) and the video shows carpenters, teachers, students, taxi drivers, young call-centres employees and other kinds of workers being happy and smiling and thanking God for having given italy someone like silvio berlusconi.

i wonder why there are no lawyers and/or public prosecutors in this video! (check on the net if you can find some information in english on his trials for corruption and other nice stuff - even maphia... maybe on You Tube there is still an old episode of the american tv show "Grand Angle" about his power: very interesting!)

now:

1) how can someone be happy and smile (especially call-centres employees earning 500 euros per months illegally) and live in italy? do they understand how this guy fucked our country? (of course i'm not talking about people in the video: i guess they got paid for it, i hope they were not volunteers! but there still are millions of italians following and trusting this guy...)

2) i am disgusted from him, his party, his collaborators and his politics. and actually i'm disgusted from italian politics in general: the left-wing is boneless, that's why he has all this power.

3) THIS GUY KNOWS WHAT MARKETING IS! AND HE KNOWS THE POWER OF MEDIA ON PEOPLE'S MIND! AND UNFORTUNATELY HE IS THE ONLY ONE IN ITALY TO UNDERSTAND THESE THINGS...

i swear that i'm sorry, but "i have to admit" that he is clever.

but this does not make him a good man anyway.

p.s.: click on the post title to check the video "Menomale che Silvio c'e'"... lol?

Someone...

i'm sure that somehow i will find someone somewhere. somewhen... (December 6, 2007)

Everyone is Special

everyone is special. and for me, all the guys i met were special. because it was not only sex. because i loved every single one of them. for my whole life. for two years. for three months. for five days. for one night. for fifteen minutes. even for one second which meant a lot to me.

i don't care about the appearance. if i like someone it's because there is something in his mind that i find attractive.

and for everyone of them i have a little madeleine.

but i'm not gonna mention all my madeleines, for the simple reason that some are too important to be talked about. or because i don't feel like.

JJ = Salvador Allende's posters hung on the walls.

Rash aka "the nameless" = Huge sad black eyes even while smiling.

Nour = His daughter's picture.

Game = Talking on folding camping chairs in Mina Zayed at 4 AM.

Firas = An annoying voice.

Fabio = A Lebanese face with a Pisan accent.

Musa = A positive HIV test.

Il Sudan = British accent. And a swimming pool in the night.

Antonio = A beautiful mind hidden behind a rude behaviour.

Mohamed #3 = An empty room.

(December 5, 2007)

Islands & Bridges

men are islands. but it's like in Venice: islands have bridges to be connected to each other and don't drift away. so you cannot disconnect men from the others as you cannot disconnect facts and feelings which are linked to two or more people.

sad black eyes.

sweet smile.

brown skin.

childlike figure.

red&black-striped t-shirt.

desire-speedy heartbeat-dumbness-suspiciousness-lust-disgust-relax-speedy heartbeat #2-hope-anger-happiness-care-growing affection-happiness again-exploding love-sadness-missing someone-sadness-sadness-sadness-change-doubt-speedy heartbeat #3-sadness-hope-the most hopeful hope ever-a rat in your brain-driiin! the telephone rings-anger-infinite sadness.

impotency.

here for you a sample list of facts/feelings which still bridge over two islands going toward the open sea of life: we don't have anyone to care about anymore.

we just have now memories of a beauty spot hidden by the smile and of buffy 70s hair. omani eyebrows and peach bath foam. sweaty bedsheets and chocolate boxes.

my loneliness and his friends.

(December 4, 2007)

Basic needs

donno... need something. anything.

it's strange. i didn't realize before that i'm someone very weak, who always needs something to be fine.

and i don't mean money or dresses or a nice car. i just mean some basic feeling... al-hamdu li-Llah i have some good friends, but what i really need is having someone to care about and who cares about me. a sort of exchange of favours... mmmh, it sounds business...

(December 1, 2007)

Thank God is Friday!

it's a quiet sunny friday on Hamdan Street. sometimes i feel this city could be beautiful. in the early morning, with the fog dripping, or during the week-end, when none is in the street and all the people enjoys his free time with the family at Lulu Island or in the malls. and it's beautiful when you can still hear the birds singing although the jungle of cars and skyscrapers. this is amazing. sometimes you can see a small bunch of grass breaking the tar and coming out to remind you that there is life everywhere, even under the dead petroleum cover.

(November 23, 2007)

Another chance

ok. life always gives us another chance. the problem is that we don't know if it's better than what we experienced before or not. i'm sorry. i'm a little cynical. and drunk. because when you are drunk you always do the right thing. ok, c'mon, not always. i made so many mistakes just 'cause i was drunk. like loving a guy who fucked me up in a country i hate. but this is another story. actually i don't aim talking about rashid (oh, shit! i've pronounced his name!), but about all the guys i've known (especially in abu dhabi. oh, shit! i said the name of the place i'm living in!). 'cause guys are all the same. after a while they just throw you out of their life as a used kleenex. (November 22, 2007)

something for myself

i should do something for myself. i should do something for myself. i should do something for my self. i should do something for myself. i should do something for myself.

keep my mind busy.

knitting. baking cakes. kite surfing. painting on ceramics. folding origami. growing healing herbs. creating new fragrances. yoga. thai boxing. embroidering napkins. aromatherapy. storing sun dried tomatoes. a course to recognize precious stones. dancing salsa. pedicure. manicure. hairdo. wax. sculpting coloured&scented candles. making chocolate eggs. feeding kittens in the street. charitable acts. stop smoking. studying Maths.

autism.

autism.

closure.

i should do something for me. stop thinking. i need a life coach. some explanations about how to stab people and be happy. all you've ever wanted to know about (un)human (mis)relationships in 10 lessons. how to ask someone else's help without feeling a loser.

depression.

sadness.

and emptiness.

when you give too much of yourself, then you realize you didn't keep enough for you: it's like a blanket, too small. you cover one side of your body and it doesn't cover the other side too. and you freeze.

same thing for feelings. it doesn't matter if there are 45 Celsius degree outside: people in this place install a/c even in their hearts so they keep themselves cool and don't burn their minds for something which is not money or big cars or blond russians.

(November 21, 2007)