Egyptian women cane morality police
Colleen Gillard | 8 January 2012 | 12 Comments
Egyptian women lashing out at morality police, quite literally.
Vigilante gangs of ultra-conservative Salafi men have been harassing shop owners and female customers in rural towns around Egypt for “indecent behavior,” according to reports in the Egyptian news media. But when they burst into a beauty salon in the Nile delta town of Benha this week and ordered the women inside to stop what they were doing or face physical punishment, the women struck back, whipping them with their own canes before kicking them out to the street in front of an astonished crowd of onlookers.
Modeling themselves after Saudi Arabia’s morality police as a “Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” the young men raided clothing and other retail shops around the Qalubiya province over New Year’s weekend declaring they were there to enforce Islamic law, according to the Tahrir News.
Shop owners were told they could no longer sell “indecent” clothing, barbers could no longer shave men’s beards, and that all retail businesses should expect regular and surprise inspections to check for compliance. Frightened customers were ordered to cover up and threatened with severe punishment if they did not abide by “God’s law on earth.”
But when the women in a Benha beauty salon stood up to the young Salafi enforcers, they found support on the streets as well as online, with one amused reader suggesting that women should be deputized to protect the revolution’s democratic values.
Last month thousands of women marched in Tahrir Square in outrage over the clubbing and sexual humiliation of female demonstrators, like the notorious beating and stripping of “the blue bra girl” in December, whose videoed assault made headlines around the world.
In one of the first pubic apologies ever issued by the military, generals from the ruling council acknowledged the incident and apologized even before the Dec. 17 march had ended. The military faced a second rebuke a week later when a civilian court banned the military’s use of “virginity tests” to shame and humiliate female demonstrators.
In addition to invading shops, the “morality police” also smashed Christmas trees and decorations in front of stores and malls, declaring the celebration of Christmas “haram” or forbidden. Salafi sheiks have also banned the sending of Christmas greetings, prompting the more moderate Muslim Brotherhood to broadcast messages of Christmas cheer to their Christian brethren.
The conservative Salafi sect promotes the strict segregation of the sexes, with many Salafi women wearing the all-enveloping black nikkab gown with eye slits. The group has worried the tourist industry with their pledge to ban alcohol and mixed-gender beaches. Coptic Christians who saw two of their churches torched by Salafis last spring fear further persecution.
Sunni sheiks from Cairo’s respected Al Azhar mosque and university called an emergency meeting January 4 to discuss the problem, and declared that the Salafi morality police had no legitimate or legal authority on the street, according to Ahramonline.
Two days later, Egyptian former mufti Nasr Farid who was once responsible for issuing religious edicts or fatwas based on Sharia law agreed, stating that the young vigilantes were usurping state authority and did not have the jurisdiction to impose their concept of religious law.
In response, the group pointed to the al Nour party’s recent election triumph in which they won nearly 30 percent of parliament seats, as giving them a mandate to enforce Sharia law. They claimed they not only had the backing of members of Al Nour’s leadership council, but that al Nour leadership had in fact provided the funding to mobilize young volunteers.
The Al Nour party’s Facebook page however denied financing the group.
In a desperate effort to gain control of their public message, Al Nour party officials have tried to control the actions of their followers and silence individual Salafi sheiks, like Abdel Moneim el Shahat in conservative Alexandria, who has suggested covering the “obscene” figures on Egypt’s ancient monuments with wax.
The young members of the morality police held their first meeting this week, according to a report in the Al Masry Al Youm newspaper, “to determine the tasks and geographical jurisdictions of the first volunteers, who would monitor people’s behavior in the street and assess whether they contradicted God’s laws. Volunteers would wear white cloaks and hold bamboo canes to beat violators and later would be provided with electric tasers.”
BM
You have to realize that most Christian "moral values" behaviour is not really about "protecting" anyone; it's about their desire to send a continual stream of messages of condemnation towards people whose existence offends them. - Darth Wong alias Mike Wong
"There is nothing wrong with being ignorant. However, there is something very wrong with not choosing to exchange ignorance for knowledge when the opportunity presents itself."
hmmm, these idiots appear to be pushing the rest of egypt further left, not right.
good on those women though.
"Aid, trade, green technology and peace." - Hans Rosling.
"Welcome to SDN, where we can't see the forest because walking into trees repeatedly feels good, bro." - Mr Coffee
It won't be long before the permavirgins decide to do things the Chicago way. This of course, will only backfire on them, pun intended.
It's likely obvious, but these clowns are doing a pretty shitty job of promoting virtue and stopping vice. The businesses they try to terrorize will take the salon women's actions to heart, and there are many more of them then there are this flavour of fundie psycho.
"A word of advice: next time you post, try not to inadvertently reveal why you've had no success with real women." Darth Wong to Bubble Boy
"I see you do not understand objectivity," said Tom Carder, a fundie fucknut to Darth Wong
Unfortunately beating up fanatics tend to make them more fanatical rather than less.
I thought Roman candles meant they were imported. - Kelly Bundy
12 yards long, two lanes wide it's 65 tons of American pride, Canyonero! - Simpsons
Support the KKK environmental program - keep the Arctic white!
In a desperate effort to gain control of their public message, Al Nour party officials have tried to control the actions of their followers and silence individual Salafi sheiks, like Abdel Moneim el Shahat in conservative Alexandria, who has suggested covering the “obscene” figures on Egypt’s ancient monuments with wax.
Don't you dare. Don't you F-ing dare.
Life sucks and is probably meaningless, but that doesn't mean there's no reason to be good.
In response, the group pointed to the al Nour party’s recent election triumph in which they won nearly 30 percent of parliament seats, as giving them a mandate to enforce Sharia law. They claimed they not only had the backing of members of Al Nour’s leadership council, but that al Nour leadership had in fact provided the funding to mobilize young volunteers.
I don't think they quite get how parliamentary democracy actually works...
JULY 20TH 1969 - The day the entire world was looking up
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. - NEIL ARMSTRONG, MISSION COMMANDER, APOLLO 11
Signature dedicated to the greatest achievement of mankind.
MILDLY DERANGED PHYSICIST does not mind BREAKING the SOUND BARRIER, because it is INSURED. - Simon_Jester considering the problems of hypersonic flight for Team L.A.M.E.
In a desperate effort to gain control of their public message, Al Nour party officials have tried to control the actions of their followers and silence individual Salafi sheiks, like Abdel Moneim el Shahat in conservative Alexandria, who has suggested covering the “obscene” figures on Egypt’s ancient monuments with wax.
Don't you dare. Don't you F-ing dare.
Or you'll huff and you'll puff and you'll blow their house down?
In a desperate effort to gain control of their public message, Al Nour party officials have tried to control the actions of their followers and silence individual Salafi sheiks, like Abdel Moneim el Shahat in conservative Alexandria, who has suggested covering the “obscene” figures on Egypt’s ancient monuments with wax.
Don't you dare. Don't you F-ing dare.
Jesus H Christ, SphessMurheenNumbers. Do you realize why people think you're hyperventilating or don't like you yet? Because this is a example of your typical hyperventilating. I try not to cringe at your posts, but, really please stop. It doesn't contribute to anything, except how annoying you can be.
Besides, covering them with wax (which should be mostly reversible) is a hell of a lot better than blowing them up.
I'm afraid the womens action won't change a thing. Egyptian culture is deeply misogynistic, and Feminism is actually decried as a tool of the old dictatorship.
SoS:NBAGALE Force "Destiny and fate are for those too weak to forge their own futures. Where we are 'supposed' to be is irrelevent." - Sir Nitram
"The world owes you nothing but painful lessons" - CaptainChewbacca
"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." - Wilhelm Stekel
"In 1969 it was easier to send a man to the Moon than to have the public accept a homosexual" - Broomstick Divine Administration - of Gods and Bureaucracy (Worm/Exalted)
No, seriously, I find the image of him going over to Egypt and shouting in the faces of a fundamentalist mob: "DON'T YOU F-ING DARE!" pronounced in exactly those words... amusing.
That would be, no I take it back. That wouldn't be funny to watch, though I guess it's better if they're beating on him than beating on some random woman for having an unholy hairstyle.
I'm not even sure which monuments they're referring to, and I can't say I'd care much if someone covered their genitalia with wax.
I mean, of all the dumb things that happen in the world, minor non-permanent defacement of really old artifacts just seems really far down the list of "things you might actually bother to get worked up about".
Really, SpaceMarine93; take a chill pill, realize the world isn't going to end because somebody somewhere said or did something stupid, find an actual problem to care about, and actually try to fix it instead of just complaining or raging online.
Perhaps if these delusional misogynists (and SpessMareenNumbers) put their heads into the sand and kept them there, it would be the best solution all around - they don't see or hear anything that offends them ever again, and sane people won't need to put up with them ever again.
It's a win-win situation.
"A word of advice: next time you post, try not to inadvertently reveal why you've had no success with real women." Darth Wong to Bubble Boy
"I see you do not understand objectivity," said Tom Carder, a fundie fucknut to Darth Wong
I am encouraged that the former-chief Mufta is denouncing these actions, and that the Muslim Brotherhood is also showing tolerance is the better way.
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
The middle class are an importnat voting block, and really important economy wise. Can't scare them off.
Plus, a good number of the muslim brotherhood are middle class and don't approve o doing things this way.
at a guess anyway.
"Aid, trade, green technology and peace." - Hans Rosling.
"Welcome to SDN, where we can't see the forest because walking into trees repeatedly feels good, bro." - Mr Coffee
It is promising if the MB is thinking along those lines. Am I right in understanding that the Salafi is a small offshoot? How much support do they have?
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
LadyTevar wrote:It is promising if the MB is thinking along those lines. Am I right in understanding that the Salafi is a small offshoot? How much support do they have?
Generally most people view them as batshit insane and only listen to them because of Saudi money. They sometimes win out in places like Afghanistan (well that's Deobandi's) because however bad they are the alternatives are worse.
LadyTevar wrote:It is promising if the MB is thinking along those lines. Am I right in understanding that the Salafi is a small offshoot? How much support do they have?
Generally most people view them as batshit insane and only listen to them because of Saudi money. They sometimes win out in places like Afghanistan (well that's Deobandi's) because however bad they are the alternatives are worse.
I thought the Salafists would fanatically support the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and their ilk? From the description in the OP, they certainly act like devout Islamists.
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
