Egypt revolution 2011 links

This post has been included on my new blog: http://welovearabic.wordpress.com
Here's a list of recommended resources related to the events in Egypt of Jan-Feb 2011, especially for Arabic A level students focussing on this as a history/politics research topic for the unit 4 writing paper.

Video and photo
* I am Jan 25 media library: absolutely loads of pictures and videos of the protests
* I am Tahrir facebook page: artwork of the revolution, uploaded by Facebook users. See especially We Are All Khaled Said tag word cloud and words from the mission statement of the 6 April Movement
* US TV documentary Frontline (PBS channel) excerpt Revolution in Cairo (full programme only available online in the US)

Websites
* We are all Khaled Said website: the original site that kickstarted the Egypt protests. There is also this parallel Facebook version.



Articles


Protest songs and slogans


Cartoons
* Interview with cartoonist Sherif Arafa, and some examples of his work. Before the revolution, his depictions of Mubarak were disguised in portrayals of a generic despot, but since the revolution he has dared to portray the recognisable face of the former president.
* The Egyptian Street  (by Fadi Abou Hassan)
* Imminent Migration - as North Africa is aflame with revolution (by Arcadio Esquivel)
* Egypt cries (by Farhad Foroutanian)



Jokes
* Making fun of Pharaoh (Foreign Policy magazine)


Maps and statistics
* The new Arabic Awakening maps illustrating demographic statistics for North Africa and the Middle East, including student populations, illiteracy, internet usage, oil production (Le Monde Diplomatique English edition)

Anthem of the Egyptian January 2011 revolution

This post has been included on my new blog: http://welovearabic.wordpress.com
This song by Amir Eid, Hany Adel and guitarist Hawary has become one of the leading anthems of the Egyptian January 2011 revolution. Click on the CC button to see the English subtitles.




The lyrics in Arabic:

نزلت وقلت أنا مش راجع
وكتبت بدمي في كل شارع
سمعنا اللي مكنش سامع
واتكسّرت كل الموانع
سلاحنا كان أحلامنا
وبكرة واضح قدامنا
من زمان بنستنى
بندور مش لاقيين مكاننا

في كل شارع في بلادي
صوت الحرية بينادي

رفعنا راسنا في السما
والجوع منبقاش بيهمنا
أهم حاجة حقنا
ونكتب تاريخنا بدمنا
لو كنت واحد مننا
بلاش ترغي وتقول لنا
نمشي ونسيب حلمنا
وبطل تقول كلمة أنا

في كل شارع في بلادي
صوت الحرية بينادي

(:قصيده الميدان للشاعر عبد الرحمن الابنودى)

أيادى مصرية سمرا ليها فى التمييز

ممدودة وسط الزئير بتكسر البراويز

سطوع لصوت الجموع شوف مصر تحت الشمس

آن الآوان ترحلى يا دولة العواجيز

عواجيز شداد مسعورين أكلوا بلدنا أكل

ويشبهوا بعضهم نهم وخسة وشكل

طلع الشباب البديع قلبوا خريفها ربيع

وحققوا المعجزة صحوا القتيل من القتل

اقتلنى قتلى ما هيعيد دولتك تانى

بكتب بدمى حياة تانية لأوطانى

دمى ده ولا الربيع الاتنين بلون أخضر

وببتسم من سعادتى ولا أحزانى

The poem (qaseedah) quoted in the song is قصيده الميدانby the Egyptian poet عبد الرحمن الابنودى Abd al-Rahman al-Abnody. Here is a recording of the poet reciting the poem live on Egyptian TV by phone:



This version of the same recording has the Arabic text printed in the video:



I found the text to the poem quoted in the song on this site, where you can read the entire poem in full.

If you'd like to see more videos relating to the 25 January revolution, here's a playlist of 25Jan YouTube videos.

Egypt protests: interview with protest initiator Wael Ghonim

This post has been included on my new blog: http://welovearabic.wordpress.com
Google executive Wael Ghonim was the creator of the Facebook group which originally sparked the anti-government protests in Egypt. He was arrested and spent 12 days in custody. This is his first interview after his release on 7 February 2011. The video, in which Ghonim speaks in Egyptian colloquial, has English subtitles and was posted on the website Alive in Egypt, a volunteer-run project aiming to translate videos of events in Egypt and make them available to the international audience.

Video Subtitles courtesy Alive in Egypt

Source: Alive in Egypt

Tahrir Square protest signs captured by filmmaker Oliver Wilkins

What a wonderful video! Wilkins has captured countless slogans and placards and translated them into English.

Tahrir Square, Cairo, Feb 1 2011 from Oliver Wilkins on Vimeo.

Source: Oliver Wilkins' video on Vimeo, also on his blog at DSLR

See this other article on the poetry of the revolution, its slogans and shouts.

Poetry of the revolution

The protests in Egypt have been alive with poetic chants, often using rhyming couplets, Egyptian slang and clever puns. Here are translations of some of the commonly chanted slogans and an analysis of some of the poetry of the revolution.

This video (located on Vimeo) of protests in Tahrir Square was posted on Facebook:

Untitled from Marwa on Vimeo.

Egyptian soldier speaks out in support of anti-government protesters

Watch this interview with Egyptian army officer by journalist and blogger Issandr El Amrani, on his impressive Arab politics analysis blog www.arabist.com

Key phrases - in order of appearance
مطلوب, مطالب - demand
رحيل نظام مبارك - The departure of the Mubarak regime
ثورة بيضاء - white [peaceful] revolution
حكومة انتقالية - interim government / transitional government
تغيير الدستور, يغيّر الدستور - to change the constitution
تطلعات الشعب المصري -the aspirations of the Egyptian people
الانتخابات نزيهة - fair elections
نختار واحد - we choose someone
فترة محدودة - limited term
زي أي دولة متقدمة - like any modern state (مثل أي دولة متقدمة)

Jan 2011 protests in Egypt

استمرار المظاهرات في المدن المصرية ضد مبارك

Video clip on Euronews (video might not stay on site for long, although the text should be archived)

Vocabulary
اضرموا النيران - they set on fire
اصطدم المتظاهرون مع قوات الأمن - protesters clashed with security forces
الناس ضاقوا ذرعا بالنظام - people are sick of the regime
انتقال السلطة بشكل سلمي - peaceful transfer of power
تشكيل حكومة وحدة وطنية انتقالية  - forming a transitional national unity government
حل الحكومة - dissolve the government
مطالبين باسقاط النظام - demanding the fall of the regime
متظاهر - protester
مظاهرات عارمة - mass protests
مواجهات عنيفة - violent confrontations
يصرخون ملئ حناجرهم - they're shouting at the top of their voices

More vocab
بلطجية - Baltaguia - paid thugs, hired by the police to subdue anti-government protesters. (Examples of baltaguia thugs being directed by the police on Arabist.net)

Shark attacks in Sharm al-Shaykh

شرم الشيخ: إغلاق الشواطئ بعد مقتل ألمانية هاجمها قرش

لقيت سائحة ألمانية حتفها بعد ان هاجمتها سمكة قرش فيما كانت تسبح في منتجع شرم الشيخ على البحر الأحمر في مصر.

Jehan al-Sadat interview - Al-Jazeera

This long and detailed interview with Jehan al-Sadat, the widow of former Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, is available as a video on the Al-Jazeera website or as an audio only podcast from Itunes.

The Al-Jazeera series is called Shahid 3ala al-3asr (شاهد على العصر) and the website offers the full transcripts of the interview and the introductory prologue in the first episode. Wonderful! The interviewer speaks clear fusha, and while she responds in Egyptian dialect, it is clear and not too fast, so if you have an idea of Egyptian pronunciation, it should be possible to follow for learners of Arabic who are more familiar with Modern Standard than with Egyptian.