'Blue bra girl' rallies Egypt's women vs. oppression

Thank you to Sarah for this write up on a recent relevant news issue - see bold for links to S&C concepts!

A newspaper photo shows Egyptian security forces beating a female demonstrator during clashes in Cairo on Sunday.

Within every country all over the world there is gender inequality, whether it be the workplace, home, government etc. Recently in post-revolution Egypt, gender inequality has been a big issue, many people have been beginning to speak out and protest about woman’s rights and how they are severely lacking in Egypt.  Recently a protest was held in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where thousands of men and women gathered to demonstrate their feelings towards the inequality.

“When thousands of women take to the streets and demand they be listened to then this is a historic event (CHANGE!). The all male military dictatorship are trying to drive them off the streets with brute force, killings and beatings. But not only this brutal rape and humiliations. The military after they took over power in February performed invasive, pseudo-medical 'virginity tests' on several women arrested after a demonstration in March. This was rape intended to intimidate all women. So is the stripping of women and the beating of women in the recent march. The video of the young women where she was stripped and beaten by all male soldiers makes things clear. When her clothes were pulled off she was shown to be wearing a blue bra. She is now referred to as the "blue bra girl" and "blue bra" is being used on twitter to spread the word asking for support for the movement.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2076547/Egypt-protests-Thousands-women-march-mistreatment-Tahrir-Square.html

The people are protesting against the pPesident Mubarak who has been in reign with his own regime for 30yrs. They have been influenced by the sucess of what happened in Tunisia. They want more freedom, more jobs and food prices to go down. The internet has been shut down because it is a way of communicating and protestors can gain support etc in this way. If you are shut down from communications you are more likely to stay at home and do nothing. Mobile phones are not working either. They have also closed down international news channels on tv so the locals do not know what is happening.