The Golden Fly

Electronic Intifada

http://electronicintifada.net/content/interview-rapper-sphinx-why-egypt-uprising-had-hip-hop-soundtrack/10852

Does anyone have any good recommendations for documentaries on the Arab Spring?

No Hay Que Temer El Nuevo Egipto

The Golden Fly has recently been to visit Cairo, Egypt. Just over a year since the January 25th revolution, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a young white girl going to Cairo when no other tourists were really going there, I thought I might be in quite a vulnerable position. On top of this, my arrival was about a week after the Port Said massacre where 72 football fans died. This was followed by protests in Said, Alexandria, and Cairo - the public wanted answers to the questions that arise when 72 young men, mostly activists, die in a riot at the end of a friendly football match, the mayor inexplicably absent from a match he would usually attend, the police inactive and ill-equipped. Was it merely revolutionary fervour gone dangerously wrong in the wrong setting with the wrong ends? Or was it perhaps something far more sinister? There are witnesses to swear for both sides - a bus arriving just before the end of the match offloading a group of men with large sports bags and being let in by security, or men descending from the top of the stadium and loosing control - and no one really has any idea. It was a tragedy either way and the air when I arrived was still prickling with anxiety, fear but also, more importantly, solidarity and promise. 

On my second day I got stuck behind one of the football protests. Around 20,000 people crossing one of the bridges from Zamalek to Downtown and the all important Tahrir Square. Seeing those thousands of young people running down the streets, holding hands, chanting, smiling, how could anyone feel scared. It was an amazing feeling just to watch it unfold, there was a general sense of positivity and yes, injustice, but injustice that could righted by these fearless individuals ready to take on anything. The police (the army have yet to fire a shot because of the public outcry that would ensue) have been brutal in their treatment of protesters but these individuals are still prepared to give their lives in order to ensure the course to democracy is not perverted even a year after the revolution. That is true democratic accountability and I have every faith that the Egyptians will continue to hold the military to account until a fully democratic government is in place.

The position of women in the new Egypt is still unstable. Women were as actively involved in the revolution as men were but concerns are emerging about the future of women’s rights in the country. The Salafis, who now have 25% of the seats in the new parliament, put women up for election but refused to put women’s faces on their posters, instead replacing them with roses. It has been alleged that when a woman MP speaks in Parliament, some of the Salafi MPs object, claiming that her voice is sin. With a Parliament of only 1% women, the position of women in the new Egypt is dangerously low on the agenda. With Sharia Law an inevitability, and rightly so as its what the population voted for, it seems that women’s rights may be reduced. Suzanne Mubarak actually worked quite successfully to further women’s rights but any programmes with her name attached will inevitably be undone. I can only hope that new female figureheads will emerge to adopt the issue of women’s rights in the new egypt.

The position of women in the educated classes, however, is not really the issue. The educated classes tend to have a more liberal approach. The poorest districts of Cairo such as Imbaba and Ezbet el Haggana tell a very different story. It is in these districts that the Salafis are strongest. This is inevitable when religious figures are the most trusted and powerful individuals in a community. There is a report coming out later this year on street violence against women in Ezbet el Haggana. Yes, thats right - public street violence. Its chillingly reminiscent of the stadium stonings in Afghanistan. But I shouldn’t speak too soon - the report has yet to come out and so we can’t yet judge what the situation might look like. Lots of charities in these slum districts choose to work towards female economic empowerment through education and loans. Surprisingly, this can sometimes be counterproductive. If a female is empowered economically or educationally beyond her male counterpart that can sometimes worsen abuse at home. The solution to this would be simple - open up charity to both men and women on an equal basis - that is the way to truly promote gender equality, not through ‘positive’ discrimination, which is really just discrimination with a smile. 

During my week in Cairo I rarely felt uncomfortable, even when rushing through the middle of Tahrir. I met so many different people, Egyptian and foreign. Despite the problems Egypt faces, and despite the fact that SCAF have still not let go of power, I feel hugely positive about the future of Egypt. It is an incredible country populated by some of the world’s bravest and most inspiring people, I look forward to watching it transform and hope that I can be a part of it in future. One thing I want to get across is that there is no need to fear the new Egypt. I urge you to visit it and see for yourselves, going to Egypt at this momentous time and meeting Egyptians involved in the revolution and democracy has been one of the most incredible experiences of my lifetime.

Clegg’s Misguided Lords Reform Proposal

Nick Clegg called the newly released plans for Lords reform ‘evolution not revolution’ which to me sounds suspiciously like the Conservative theory that society is ‘organic’ and that we should build on what we can learn from the past rather than experiment with new ideas. It is the ‘democracy of the dead’ and the Liberal Democrats, if they want to be the reforming party they claim to be, ought to be creating new life in the British democratic system. In the past I have advocated the introduction of an 80% elected chamber and it is not this I object to; I take issue with Nick Clegg’s decision to retain 12 Bishops. Considering the party line on the issue- a fully elected senate- I am amazed that Clegg would go so far against the grain of reform and change as to retain nearly half of the Lords Spiritual. Taken in light of the fact Liberal Democrats promote a society of tolerance and multiculturalism it seems incredible that such a backwards tradition, giving undue influence to the Church of England at the expense of other religions, would be allowed to remain in these proposals.

Dulcinea del Toboso

Every year of my life I have returned to the same village in central Spain to spend a month amongst the last remnants of the Francoist regime. The village has changed little in 40 years except that it has become steadily more deserted as the last families vacate to the more affluent cities. The local shepherd-mayor still struggles to make ends meet and has to sign up for compensation each time his sunflower crop fails, the bitter and corrupt ex-mayor still sits on the same bench daily outside his house with his wife, the white witch Maria de las Rosas. Nothing seems to change.

The village is not always empty, however, it fills once more with people for a few days at the end of August annually and one can imagine how bustling it must have once been. The now derelict school house must once have been bursting with children not dissimilar to the ones that now flock the streets throwing water balloons, the women that sit now in the bar playing cards are probably little different to those who would have crowded round the bread van every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the last loaf was gone. 

Observing the village as it is rejuvenated for those few days of fiesta (the annual festival of the village’s patron saint) is one of the truest glimpses into the social history of a place I have experienced. The whole village unites nightly in the square for a communal supper around 11 followed by traditional music and dancing. There is always the one elderly woman with the loud screeching voice who takes over the proceedings and dictates how much soup is dished out or how much flour goes into the special recipe hot chocolate.

One can detect the slightly out of place elements of modern society that are the norm in the region’s larger towns; the drunken anonymous teenagers from surrounding villages grinding on the dance floor, the showing of the pirated movie projected against a wall in the square that provoked one of the more difficult residents to switch of the electricity supply. These aspects contrasted against the repeated rituals sense of history which, as an outsider, one gets when watching this festival, which stretches back beyond the living memory of the village, unfold. This one aspect of time has been repeated year on year and managed to survive the civil war, all the years of the Francoist regime, urbanisation and recession.

The party is over as quickly as it began and soon the streets are empty again. Yet the history remains, it is in the glittering eyes of Maria de las Rosas, in her decaying skin, her patched and repatched clothes, the musty smell of her dark kitchen. The past enriches and enlivens the here and now, it gives it substance and texture. It is my experience of this tiny village in the middle of the near desolate Spanish plains that has made me want to carve a path for myself in the study and exploration of history.

Reclaiming Feminism

It makes me sad that the word ‘feminism’ is scorned at by so many people. Often people whose opinions generally come into line with my own on other social issues. The fact is that feminism is not about man hating and bra burning at all. Judging the whole concept on a few radicals that rarely crop up any more is completely insane; its just as bad as judging an entire religion on the actions of a tiny extremist fringe. I find it incredible that seemingly sensible people announce with so much pride that they are ‘anti-feminist’; feminism means advocating equal rights for men and women so any ‘anti-feminist’ is a self-proclaimed chauvinist. The concept of feminism needs to be firmly reclaimed in a positive light.

In my eyes there is still a long way to go before we can say we live in a universally equal society; even in the supposedly developed UK there is still disparity between male and female pay. Farther afield huge inequalities can be seen, of course much of this is cultural and is down to societies being held back in the traditions of the past; it is not possible for the international community to force them to bring themselves forward when the problems are so richly embedded in tradition and history. However, when this backwardness results in brutality inflicted upon women then international institutions have the right and the responsibility to become involved. One archetypal example is rape, horrific and mutilating, used as a weapon of warfare in the civil war in the Congo. At the absolute base level Congolese women who have suffered and managed to escape should be unquestioningly given asylum and extensive pastoral care in the UK. They should not be subjected to the current situation where the appeal for asylum involves a long and drawn out period before the case is considered when the women can neither work nor study legally in the UK.

The Morality of Revolutions

‘In a revolution, if it is a true revolution, you either win or you die’. Those were the words of Fidel Castro and they epitomise the attitude of the Cuban revolutionaries. The same words can be applied to the French revolution which saw thousands of gallons of blood spilt at the guillotine in the years immediately following the overthrow of the monarchy. Stalin’s Soviet Russia mutilated the originally noble cause of Russia’s revolution by systematic brutality and oppression of the peasant workers that amounted to genocide. Retrospectively each of these revolutions has their man/monster who became a demon once the revolt took power of the government. So my question is this; is it possible to carry out a true revolution without breeding a culture of systematic execution for all those that do not actively and verbally promote the side of the winners?

Lords Reform, But How?

At a recent visit to my school, I asked my local MP Oliver Letwin what he thought of Lords reform. Ever the Tory reformer, he said that it was a pressing issue but remained vague on the details of the necessary reforms and avoided setting a date for its discussion in Commons. It surprises me that the Coalition government has remained so quiet on this issue; I would have thought the Lib Dems would be clinging to it for dear life considering it marks a rare occasion where they agree, at least superficially, with the Conservatives. Below I will outline in brief the various arguments for different types of Lords Reform as well as providing an explanation of the UKIP no reform standpoint.  

Those who continue to support a non-elected Lords argue a 100% appointed chamber means that membership can be controlled to ensure all groups in society are properly represented. An independent appointments commission would ensure parties were not over represented and a large number of independents remained within the House. Independents that do not have financial or public backing of any particular party are much more likely to gain a position in the House of Lords than in the House of Commons. Furthermore, an appointed Lords would allow people that would not wish to stand for election to play a part in the legislative process; this could provide invaluable expertise that would be otherwise unavailable. A fully appointed Lords, however, is an archaic system and it is undemocratic. No member of the Lords has been voted in by the electorate and so the House of Lords lacks legitimacy as the nation has not consented to its presence in the political process. The appointment process could lead to corruption which would further the illegitimacy of such a House of Lords. No other developed country has a similar system where the electorate play no part in choosing who holds a seat in this part of parliament.

The most important argument for a fully elected Lords is that it would be far more democratic. Tony Blair promised to reform the Lords in 1997 manifesto and in 1999 most hereditary peers were removed but he failed to deliver on his promise to make the Lords more democratic. As the Liberal Democrats suggest, an elected Lords would work in much the same way as the US senate. It would remove the possibility of any corruption in the appointments system and would result in a more purely representative House of Lords. If PR, rather than First Past the Post, were used then the House could be quite effective in scrutinizing government as no single party would be likely to have a majority. Smaller parties could also be better represented but it would remove much of the possibility for independents to enter the political process. Also, if the second chamber was too similar to Commons a deadlock could result and the power of the Lords as a scrutinizer could potentially be entirely void. An elected second chamber would be party dominated and reduce the amount of independent and helpful thinking contributed by its members. Staggered elections could also result in voter apathy to the point where it may even be necessary to introduce compulsory voting which would increase the number of ill thought out votes.  Also, an elected Lords would advantage talented public speakers and those who enjoy the challenge of an election campaign rather than those who would have a valuable input to the legislative process.

A partly elected, partly appointed Lords would help to minimise the disadvantages of each system. In 2001 the Wakeham Commission recommended the Lords be 20% PR elected and 80% independently appointed. This would have ensured that there still remained a lot of crossbenchers whilst making the Lords more democratic. This option was, however, denounced for being too cautious which suggests that a greater percentage elected would be necessary to make this reform worthwhile. An 80% elected Lords would be far more democratic and representative of the people. Balancing necessary to stop the Lords looking too similar to Commons could be executed in the appointing of the other 20% of the Lords. It would mean that anyone truly talented but not willing to stand for election could still find a place in the Lords with an appointed Life peerage. This would be a way of making the necessary modernisation of the Lords whilst keeping the English system of Parliament unique. One of the difficulties in making this reform would be in how it was initially instigated. It would be difficult to decide which 20% of the Lords should be allowed to remain or whether the new system should be brought in gradually as life peers die. It could be argued that an 80% elected Lords is not embracing modernisation enough, some might see the 20% appointed Lords as simply a token idea to please the current Lords and allow the law to pass much like Tony Blair’s choice to keep 92 hereditary peers, in my opinion one of his greatest failings.

The best system for parliament in the UK would involve a combination of 80% elected and 20% appointed peers. The Wakeham Commission agreed that neither a fully elected nor fully appointed Lords could cater to the people of the country and the legislative system. This radical reform could help restore faith in the fairness and representativeness of the UK’s political process whilst allowing experts to input their knowledge into the legislative process. It is a necessary measure to allow the House of Lords to function well and to be a strong power against the Commons in order to balance and rationalise the work of the first chamber. Of course, a fully elected Lords would be ideologically more desirable but I am concerned that this could too easily result in another House of Commons dominated by the hated ‘punch and judy’ party politics.

The Sacred Made Real at the National Gallery

The Sacred Made Real was one of the most moving exhibitions I have ever been to. The hyperreal crucifixes from the likes of Gregorio Fernandez and the ‘god of wood’ Juan Martinez Montanes were so incredibly gory, brutal and lifelike that one couldn’t help but feel a jolt of shock when first confronted with them. I remember one critic at the time saying it was worth moving mountains to see it; I was lucky enough to see it twice without having to do anything so drastic.

The London showing, my first experience of the exhibition, is the one I want to evoke. The glossy yet extremely realistic paintings and sculptures were set up against the backdrop of dark gray walls. The atmosphere was intoxicating; the combination of close, dark walls and the ripped flesh pouring blood inexplicably evoked for me the grimy, underworld theatres of old era decadent Paris. It was the disturbing but undeniable sexual overtones, the voyeurism, the feeling that these supposedly ‘sacred’ works came closer to the profane than to purity and clemency. It was the dark side of Catholicism, the sadistic and masochistic reality of sin and self-punishment. 

The image below is Christ Recumbent. It is not from the exhibition but from the cathedral in Segovia. The Latin on the plaque reads ‘come and look at me, have you ever seen any suffering so terrible.’