Tag: Arab Spring

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and sometimes they come on horseback

            Welcome to post revolution Egypt the wonderland of “Baltagiya”. The word Baltagiya (thugs/mercenaries) comes from the Turkish Balta (axe) followed by the regional postfix “-jia” or “-gia” , means axe-wielders. And that what they do, they axe and disrupt social activities for higher. They don’t have a political views or platform, they are anti views of any sorts, and their platform is always the street. Something like the Tea party here, they are not for anything, but against everything. Baltagiya have long been used by members of Egypt’s ruling party since the Turkish ruler in Egypt, but especially during Mubarak 30 years of dictatorship, there were his goon-squads that has been used for years to intimidate Egyptians to stay in line and behave, a trained hired thugs that the Mubarak regime had utilized effectively and efficiently  to make sure election goes the Mubarak way. Once the rotten regime was toppled on February 11^th, and the Mubarak security apparatus vanished from the street, Egyptians were free for the first time and the fear factor was broken, as for the trained Baltagiya, almost one million of them, the last hired job was on 28^th of January, 3 days after the start of the revolution, they showed up in Tahrir Square in the most bazaar seen of the revolution, at “the battle of the Camel”, as it was coined by Egyptians, where at the heightening of the revolution,  while Mubarak regime  was losing ground to the millions of protestors, desperate alone after his regular police appended him, the Army stepped in to fill the vacuum but stayed neutral, so the bankrupt Mubarak regime showed their ingenuous act; sending a few thousands of  “Baltagiya” on Camels and horses backs to Tahrir Square to intimidate the protestors, about five millions of them were there that night. It didn’t work, protesters determination to topple the corrupt regime was much stronger than the Baltagiya willingness  to get paid overtime, after a growling bloody confrontation the Baltagiya finally vanished with the Mubarak regime, the Military refused to get involved and stayed neutral, for that alone people admired their Military the banner of “The people and the Army one hand”  was raised in Tahrir, there was a short honeymoon between the pro democracy protesters and the Military, and the Supreme Council of Armed forces (SCAF) as it was called, became the defector governing body. A few month later the Baltagiya are resurfaced again everywhere, as the relationship between the Military who is admired by most Egyptian and the “Thouwars”, young revolutionaries got complicated, The Military lately has been trying desperately to discredit  the “Thouwar”,  those hard core protestors who started the revolution, and still on a general strike in Tahrir Square since the revolution. “We are determined to see real change” explained one of the organizer, We are not leaving until all our demands are met” he declares in their almost daily press conference, most of all a speedy trial of Mubarak and his regime”.  He added.  The Military not known for their democratic and sharing power appetite, they went on a mission to discredit Tahrir protestors and turn them from “Thouwar” to Baltageyah. Al Mesery El Youm a private daily paper in Egypt that known for its independency reported on April 22^nd, that “Most Egyptians would agree that the 25 January revolution deserves a place in the Egyptian Museum — the most prominent and well-established museum in the country, and a fixture in Tahrir Square, the center of the protests. But allegations that the ruling armed forces used the museum building to incarcerate, violently interrogate, and abuse pro-democracy protesters has indelibly changed the site’s history. Is the legacy of the Egyptian Museum, once the celebrated home of Egypt’s most prized ancient artifacts, now a “torture chamber”.

Continue reading THE EGYPTIAN THUGS, BELTAGEYAH