Will AUC reflect the society's Islamic affiliations?

Length of the completed project: 14:32 min

The Egyptian society is getting more and more religious oriented and the Islamic movements are taking more power after the 25th of January revolution. But is The American University in Cairo going to be affected? Is the elite’s school, the so called “bubble” going to reflect these affiliations?

Students praying in the plaza, photo by: Mariam Rizk

People interviewed in this documentary:

1.     Sayed Omar

2.     Mohammed Yassin

3.     Saad El Shater

Historical component was gathered from A-U-C’s library archives.

Music tracks used in this documentary are:

1-    “Hassan and Morkos intro” by Yasser Abdel Rahman

2-    “The end of the World” by Robert Kral

3-    “Once in a red moon” by Secret Garden

4-    “Hob wa Ounf” by Omar Khairat

5-    “Heila Heila” by Basata band

Natural sound from Caravan's YouTube channel.
For the full script check this link.

Who are you going to vote for? Why?

Music (Sahara Band, Sahran Wayaki) fades in for 0.3 sec

With less than a month left for the first presidential elections after the 25^th January revolution, many Egyptians haven’t yet made up their minds concerning the candidates they are going to vote for. We asked some of the student at the American University in Cairo who are they going to vote for and why and these were their opinions.

Music fades out

Candidates who have been disqualified from presidency
Picture from en.aswatmasriya.com

I’m Ahmed Hussein, political science major and I’m a senior. I’m going to vote for Khaled Ali although he’s a socialist and I’m not but I think that he’s the one who can make the change not Aboul Fotouh or anybody else because he’s been fighting for workers and peasants’ rights for a long time since 2006 I guess. I mean I’m sure he is going to be the one who would be good at defending their rights.

My name is Dina Abdel Moneim, I’m a psychology senior and I will not be participating in the upcoming presidential elections because so far it’s just been a big joke; people have been disqualified left and right, we don’t know the reasons why, we don’t have a constitution, we don’t know what the president is going to do, we’re still under this dictatorship, any kind of elections under this kind of dictatorship is not democratic and should not be taken seriously and that’s it. I mean there are more important things to do right now like implement the constitution, create a representative constitutional body, overthrow this army of dictators that is ruling over us so presidential elections that’s the last thing we need to do right now.

I’m Omar, major political science, Middle Eastern studies but I’m not voting actually, I would ideally vote for Khaled Ali if he had a chance but I’m not voting because pragmatically any person who is coming is going to dig our own grave.

Sarah Salib, architectural engineering, I’m going to vote for Aboul Fotouh because he’s the best one available, he’s the least worse. We can’t know for sure what he’s going to do in the future but I’m optimistic because Egyptians have proven that they can revolt at any time, so if he does something that is not really in our benefit, they’re going to go against him.

NADEEN: But the copts are like a minority, they’re only 10 percent of the population, do you think it’s going to be effective if only this portion..?

I think religious freedom is the thing that we need to worry about most; I think that the rights of all Egyptians go together so it’s not going to be like that.

I think religious freedom is the thing that we need to worry about most; I think that the rights of all Egyptians go together so it’s not going to be like that.

People interviewed: Ahmed Hussein, Dina Abdel Moneim, Omar El Sabee, Sarah Salib
Music used: Sahran Wayaki, Sahara Band
Produced by: Mariam Rizk and Nadeen Shaker

Find this and more on sound cloud at this link http://bit.ly/Jdk07P

اوعي العدالة! ده واضح أن القانون بياخد مجراه في قفايا

الحبس 3 سنوات لتلميذ مسيحي بأسيوط أدين بـ«ازدراء الإسلام»

ايه الظلم ده!!! و هو ازدراء الأديان ده عالإسلام بس؟ ماحنا ياما بنتبهدل و محدش يتتهز له شعره! 3 سنين لولد عنده 17 سنة!! ربنا اللي انتوا فاكرين نفسكوا بتدافعوا عنه عارف ياخد حقه كويس...و ميرضاش بتضييع مستقبل ولد زي كده...اهي دي نوعية الأخبار ...اللي تفور الدم..طب و أصحابه اللي يا حرام زعلزا بسبب تريقته و قلة أدبه و حرقوله البيت بتاعه؟ سقفنالهم صح؟ بنعلم ايه بس بنعلم ايه! يعني اللي عمله آه اعتداء فكري لكن اللي هما عملوه اعتداء حقيقي و فعلي! مش عارفة أقول ايه بس...

 

طب معلش و كمية الشتايم اللي طلعت بعد وفاة البابا و مش بس التريقة لأ شتايم وحشة علي كل فيديو أو صورة تتحط للبابا...ها؟ مش ازدراء للأديان ده؟ لما تحاكموا اللي شتمونا و قتلونا و حرقولنا كنايسنا ابقوا حاكموا الولد الأهبل اللي شتم...و ادوله إعدام لو عايزين! أنا مش بحب أتكلم بعنصرية كده و عمري ما كان عندي عقدة الاضطهاد...لكن برده احكموا بالعقل..يالمنطق..بالعدل اللي المفروض ندافع عنه..

Religion at AUC, Now and Then

LEAD-IN: In the Egyptian society religion plays an important role that is even increasing day after the other, but is the American University in Cairo witnessing the same changes?

AUC Plaza, Captured by: Mariam Rizk

Music Desertology II fades in...

Religion has always been an important dimension in the Egyptian society. Recently in the past few decades, Egyptians are even more concerned with religion. Religious identity is shown with the increased number of veiled girls and bearded men. Dalia El Rasheedi, an A-U-C alumna who graduated 1987 discusses the difference between the way religion was perceived at her days and
nowadays.


Music fades out...

EL RASHEEDI: “I can definitely say that religion was more in the heart, practicing religion was a personal thing, nobody judged anybody else by whether or not they prayed in groups, nobody thought anybody was less or more worthy because of the way they dressed or because they went to pray in a mosque or at a church” (:35)

Music Yanni fades in and plays for 2 seconds...

With the old regime being over- thrown, many groups that were oppressed in the old regime started finding their way to the public and political community. Islamists as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists were among these groups. With the Islamists winning 75 percent of the parliament seats in the last elections, growing support for these groups becomes a valid suggestion.

But will these Islamists reflect their affiliations on the American University in Cairo; the University that has always claimed to be liberal but at the same time an active part of the Egyptian society?

Mr. Sayed Omar, Captured by: Mariam rizk

A-U-C’s old constitution banned forming a club on a religious or political basis. According to Mr. Sayed Omar, Student Organization Specialist at the office of Student Development at A-U-C, this policy was the main reason that A-U-C didn’t have announced religious groups in the past.

However, this is not the case within the new constitution that allowed more freedom of speech and allowed inviting rather controversial people as Muslim Brotherhood prominent figure, Khairat el Shater.

Music fades out...

OMAR: “According to the new freedom of speech, there is not any kind of rejection to start this kind of organization…as a student you’ll be responsible for this kind of activities, any group, any students, any staff or faculty can invite any people on campus” (:30)

   

Music Desertology II plays again...

Yet Omar suggests that A-U-C students are still not interested enough in politics or religion to form such groups or to embody a reflection to the rise in Islamists in Egypt.

These will remain speculations until there is evidence of the first public religious group on the liberal   campus.

Mariam Rizk, A-U-C news.

Music plays for 3 seconds and then fades out...

Credits:  
Sound bite from interview with Mr.Sayed Omar
Sound bite from  dar.aucegypt.edu, interview conducted by Lara El Gibaly with Dalia El Rasheedi
Music: 1-Desertology II by Sahara Band
2-Yanni
 

The Rundown, a Radio Experience!

Host: Nada Badawi

Producers: Mariam Rizk and Lamees Hazem

Music: "SleeplessNights" by Anitek

Roundtable topics: iphone 5, Apple Stores, Smart Phones

Interviewee: Salima Ikram, AUC Egyptology professor

Topic of the interview segment: the recently discovered cancer mummy known as M1.

Rundown Group, Captured by: Tarek El Maghraby

The radio show was a fun experience but a tiring one at the same time. Preparing for the show was easy, as you would prepare for any kind of story, whether written or spoken. We researched the topic, picked the interviewees and wrote down a script that is rather conversational and flexible to on-the-air sudden changes.

The recording part was the fun part! We just had a conversation but behind the microphone and after a while I forgot we were recording and started talking normally. Recording was a very nice experience and it wasn’t that tiring as I thought it would be.

However, the production wasn’t that fun. We found out that what we recorded wasn’t enough in terms of minutes, the voice levels varied and there were other problems that needed to be tackled.

But overall, the radio is another media world, which is conversational and engaging way more than print journalism but challenging more than broadcasting as it communicates only through voice. Would love to do it again!

Documentary Review, Young Married and Divorced

Documentary: Young married and divorced

Produced by:  BBC Radio 1Xtra  
Narrated by:  Tracie Rodavenshall
Length of the Documentary: About 23 minutes

Picture from Sarah Samir's blog

The documentary was about early marriages and divorces and was trying to determine whether early marriage could lead to a divorce or not. It didn’t yet offer a concrete answer, as expected, for there is no general rule for such thing. The narrator made it clear that it is not a rule, it depends on the case.

The documentary was very interesting, from the first seconds with the traditional wedding music, listeners could recognize the topic of the documentary. Very good authoritative sources and cases were used and also interesting variety of music.
The tone, with which the narrator and the interviewees spoke, was so conversational that it seemed like you’re hearing the interviewees talk without them even knowing it’s something recorded. Good sound quality wasn’t sacrificed for good content, as well.  

The natural sound of the wedding and the priest saying the wedding prayers made the listener visualize the situation and its quality is very good as if it was recorded in a studio, no distortions, no noise, no popping.

Even the laughs and the music pauses, the producer was not afraid to give some space that will add a taste to the documentary, but will make it longer, rather than making it seem heavy and dull and make it shorter.

The narrator’s voice and the pacing were good. The quality of the writing was fine; she used short, conversational sentences and delivered it quite well. It was great that the narrator let the interviewees tell their story in their own voices with their own emotions and just paved the way for them. This was a good decision to make because people would want to hear the story from the person who experienced it not from the narrator.

The documentary started and ended with nat sound and a sound bite, which is not something I would probably do, but she made it effectively and it was a strong start and ending.

 When I looked at the documentary length, before I listened to it, I thought it was too long. But after I listened to it, I felt it wasn’t that long because it was interesting and the time was used efficiently. In fact I could go back and listen to it again.

Overall the documentary was very interesting, it pulled the listeners in from the beginning and it kept their attention till the end. There were lots of voices, which was a bit confusing, but you could figure out who wants to say what. The title of the documentary says it all but it's not creative. It says what the documentary is all about, which is fine, but it doesn’t pull in readers.

After all, I could say it was very well produced and organized.

!قالوا يا فرعون ايه فرعنك قال ملقتش حد يلمني

إلي القارئ العزيز المصري في الأغلب، المتدين غالباً الذي يكيل بمكيالين معظم الأوقات...الذي من الأغلب أنه سيطوي الصفحة بمجرد قراءة أول سطور هذه المقالة لأنها ببساطة صريحة و تتطلب منه صراحة في التفكير.

الفرعون اللي في حياتنا، كل فرعون و مفرعن نفسه، عايزه أقوله بكل بساطة "أنت ملقتش حد يلمك!" أيوا نعم ده حقيقي أنا بكلم سعادة، معالي، نيافة حضرتك. إلي المدرس اللي مستقوي نفسه علي العيال، و المدير اللي مستقوي نفسه علي الموظفين و كل من هو شايف نفسه علي خلق الله بحق و بدون حق عايزه أقوله "لم نفسك"!

أنت، عزيزي القاريء، قد تكون أحد هؤلاء الفراعنة المتفرعنين، أو قد تكون أحد المتفرعن عليهم، قد تكون الجاني أو المجني عليه و في كلتا الحالتين أحب أقولك "كفاية بقي الثقافة دي اللي جابتنا ورا"!!!

ثقافة الفرعون اللي خلتنا سايبين مبارك ريس عشان هو "بابانا"! أو عشان ميصحش ده راجل كبير و تقبل ده علي باباك؟ و عشان هو أكيد فاهم مصلحتنا أكتر مننا و عشان هو "الريس" لازم يبقي فوق و احنا تحت.

ثقافة الفرعون اللي بتنص أن المدرس يكون لا يفقه شيء في أي شيء و هو لا هيبة و لا علم و لا أخلاق و يذل في الطلاب لمجرد أن الزمن الأغبر و الحظ العاثر حطه في منصب و لا في مركز أنه أقوي منهم و يقدر يستقوي عليهم.

حتي يا ربي لو نشاط في الجامعة، نشاط مجرد نشاط ! ، و تلاقي رئيس هذا النشاط شايف حاله و متفرعن علي زملائه...يا أخي "اختشي"!

كل اللي عايزه أقوله، خد بالك من الفراعنة اللي في حياتك، اللي أنت اديتهم فرصة يتعدوا حدودهم معاك و يعاملوك معاملة العبيد لمجرد أن منصبهم أعلي منك. وقف الناس عند حدودها، بالأدب، بالأخلاق ، بالذوق!

لحظة! اوعي تكون فهمت أني بقولك اتعامل بعدم احترام مع غير المحترم، لأ! الاحترام واجب مع كل الناس لكن الحدود برضه واجبة. حط حدود للناس، متسمحش لحد أنه يتفرعن عليك...

يا ريت لو قريت و حسيت أنك واحد من الفراعنة دول تفكر...مش بقولك غير فكر! فكر أنك لو مكانهم مش هتحب يتعمل فيك كده، فكر أنه مفيش رياسة و لا سلطان بيدوم، فكر أن حب الناس مهم زي احترامهم بالضبط، و أن احترام الناس الحقيقي مش بيجي بأنك تفرعن نفسك...

كلمة أخيرة، يوم ما تفتكر نفسك أنك حاجة كبيرة و أنك مش محتاج تتعلم و تتغير كل يوم للأحسن زيك زي اللي تحتك، يوم ما هتبتدي رحلة السقوط و الانحدار، اوعي تقعد في الصفوف الأولي من نفسك، اقعد في الصفوف الأخيرة و خلي الناس هي اللي ترفعك و تقعدك قدام...متقعدش نفسك أنت قدام...و افتكر "قبل السقوط تشامخ الروح"...

Islamists on AUC Campus, Audio Documentary...Coming Soon!

AUC policy banning religious and political based clubs, hidden religious groups on campus and whether the growing support for Islamists in Egypt will reflect on the liberal AUC.

" If the policy states that no religious or political then MAL and MUN and all these clubs should be banned from being done," Mohammed Yassin, a former Help Club member.

To know more about this attend the listening session, at AUC's New Cairo campus on Sunday, May 13 and Wednesday, May 16 at 10 a.m. each day in the BEC building, room 1060.

For this track and more go to http://bit.ly/yzWezB

Saad El Shater Speaks Up His Opinions



Saad El Shater
Captured by: Mariam Rizk

Saad El Shater, the son of Khairat El Shater (a prominent Muslim Brotherhood figure) was interviewed to know his opinions about various topics concerning the Muslim Brotherhood and AUC. This is a segment of the interview.

0.00 AUC students are supposed to be the leaders of the future so what happens outside the campus or outside the university should reflect inside or on campus because if you need a role in the future in the community you have to focus on the leaders of the future so it’s clear.

0.25 But the university says or claims that it is a liberal university, there is a policy that says no clubs should be formed on a religious or political basis, what do you think of this policy?
I disagree with the policy, I think they need to rethink of that policy because all the other universities, there are political clubs there, they have a lot of activities there and so on so they should reconsider that policy again here.

1.04 So you think that if there would be a club here for the Muslim Brotherhood it would a political oriented one not a religious oriented one?
Yes of course if there is a party here or a club representing the Muslim Brotherhood it should be based on a political background based on the part not on a religious basis.

 1.29 What about other Muslim brotherhood sons on campus, do you know some of them, do you meet often because you have like similar backgrounds, similar background of oppressive regime, as you were saying, and then of feeling of freedom afterwards so what do you think?
Actually there are no Muslim brotherhood sons here, even there is one or two members of the party here on campus and I rarely see them, my time and their time and there is nothing binding between us to meet like we don’t have regular meetings or so, so I rarely see them but they are my friends.

So there are some members of them Muslim brotherhood that are on campus
Yea there is one or two

Only one or two?
Yea

2.25 Aren’t they thinking of forming a group or aren’t they having already a group?
Actually their low number doesn’t let them do so, they cannot form a group of two so they don’t think of forming any group or anything

2.44 Ok so wasn’t there any other people who would believe in the Muslim Brotherhood but would have no opportunity to show that in the oppressive regime and then they had it now like these two might be the shown ones?

May be but it needs to take some time to think of it or I need some time to talk to them about it. It wasn’t clear the period ago.

3.16 Didn’t your father encourage you to try and form a group here?
Actually he’s so busy I rarely see him so he’s not interested in that detail of forming a group in the American University in Cairo but maybe there are some people who are responsible for universities in Egypt in the Muslim Brotherhood who are responsible for that part may be they are thinking of but none of them talked to me may be they think of it and they didn’t take an action towards it they only thought about it.

3.57 But there are Muslim Brotherhood basis in every university as you were saying that they got their popularity may be from the youth, wasn’t there any thoughts or didn’t they try to implement it?
Again there are no members here so they cannot build a base upon them so there are two members or one I don’t know the other who maybe graduated the last semester or something so they may be need but they don’t have the tools to start.

4.46 Do don’t you think there are other groups maybe clubs who would have the Muslim Brotherhood principals and mentality and they’re working on this basis but they are not saying we’re Muslim Brotherhood?
They say that help club is one of them but I actually I know most of its members and I partially know their vision and their activities and so on but I can’t clearly say that they are far away from being intoconnected or share a vision with the Muslim Brotherhood because Muslim Brotherhood is broader than this club or this club’s vision.

Audio Section, Coelho's "The Winner Stands Alone"

This is a section of an audio book of Paulo Coelho's "The Winner Stands Alone". Coelho is known for his books which mix between fiction and self-help in a dramatic sequence of events. This novel is a good read and consequently will be amusing to hear. It's when the author offers you amusement and thoughtfulnes at the same time.

Pages used: 34,35

"People are never satisfied. If they have a little, they want more. If they have a lot, they want still more. Once they have more, they wish they could be happy with little, but are incapable of making the slightest effort in that direction.

Is it just that they don’t understand how simple happiness is? What can she want, that girl in the jeans and white T-shirt who just came running past? What could be so urgent that it stopped her taking time to contemplate the lovely sunny day, the blue sea, the babies in their strollers, the palms fringing the beach?

“Don’t run, child! You’ll never escape the two most important presences in the life of any human being: God and death. God accompanies your every step and will be annoyed because he can see that you’re not paying attention to the miracle of life. Or indeed death. You just ran past a corpse and didn’t even notice.”

Igor has walked past the scene of the crime several times now. At one point, he realized that his comings and goings might arouse suspicion and so decided to remain a prudent two hundred yards from the scene, leaning on the balustrade that looked out over the beach.

He’s wearing dark glasses, but there’s nothing suspicious about that, not only because it’s a sunny day, but because in a celebrity town like Cannes, dark glasses are synonymous with status.

He’s surprised to see that it’s almost midday, and yet no one has realized that there’s a person lying dead on the main street of a city which, at this time of year, is the focus of the world’s attention.

A couple are approaching the bench now, visibly irritated. They start shouting at the sleeping beauty; they’re the girl’s parents, angry because she isn’t working. The man shakes her almost violently. Then the woman bends over, obscuring Igor’s field of vision.

Igor knows what will happen next.

The mother screams. The father takes his mobile phone from his pocket and moves away, clearly agitated. The mother is shaking her daughter’s unresponsive body. Passersby stop, and now he can remove his dark glasses and join them as one more curious onlooker.

The mother is crying, clinging to her daughter. A young man gently pushes her away and attempts mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but soon gives up; Olivia’s face already has a slight purple tinge to it.

“Someone call an ambulance!”

Several people dial the same number, all of them feeling useful, important, caring. He can already hear the sound of the siren in the distance. The mother’s screams are growing louder. A young woman tries to put a comforting arm around her, but the mother pushes her away. Someone attempts to sit the body up, and someone else tells them to lay her down again because it’s too late to do anything.

“It’s probably a drug overdose,” the person next to him says.

“Young people today are a lost cause.”

More of AUC Food Courts

AUC has two food courts, the one they call Americana and the Omda food court. Many students prefer the Omda food court because it's cheap and it offers cultural Egyptian food. Cats walking around in the food court is a serious problem that annoys many students. After all, AUC food courts are not just places where student eat but also places where they socialize and rest between classes.

Sounds of AUC Food Courts

These are natural sounds gathered from AUC food courts. Sounds of the people sitting in the open air having lunch, cats walking around, the sound of the counter and people ordering food.
These sounds were gathered by: Mariam Maher and Salma El Kerdany

The New Egypt, Where We Unite Despite Differences, This I Believe

I believe Egyptians should get along despite their differences because there are so many things that we can do together. I believe this because of my own experience.

When I went abroad for an exchange semester, I thought I would have a cultural shock from the people around me who are different in ideas, beliefs and even jokes. I also knew that some of them know nothing about my culture. But what I didn’t expect is to have a cultural shock from the Egyptians who travelled with me.

Four AUC students went with me for a semester abroad. Two of them became close friends to me. Surprisingly enough, one of these two had a totally different life and different belief than mine. He’s a Muslim and I’m a Christian. But that’s not the problem. I’ve been friends with Muslims since I knew what friendship meant. The problem was that he knew nothing about Christians. H e was actually underestimating and not fully accepting the difference in beliefs.

When we first arrived there, we were still getting to know each other. I remember a situation when I looked at the sky and I found it beautiful and I just shared what I felt. “God is an artist.” I said out loud and I found him yelling at me, “We can’t call God an artist, there is a certain speech that we should use while speaking about God.” 

I was shocked by his reaction. And after this situation, I knew we would have so many conflicts.

We had prolonged conversations. Some of these conversations were persuasive where we were about to fight and others were just informative where I talked to him about what I believed and he talked to me about what he believed.

We laughed together; we cried together, we were away from home together. Both of us missed our families, both of us missed our country and eventually, we were willing to unite for we knew we had similar circumstances.

After spending four months together, we are now close friends. He knows I worship God my way and I know he worships God his way. Even if we had a totally different religion, even if we don’t worship God at all, this shouldn’t keep us isolated and intolerant against each other.

Religion had formed a lot of our beliefs and life styles in Egypt. It is involved in every aspect of our lives to the extent that we no longer accept to see someone is different. Even though we’re all Egyptians, we are different. We believe in different things but at the same time we share a lot of things. We were raised together.  In Egypt, we should accept each other because there is a lot that we can do when we are united. Tahrir square didn’t know differences, we all had the same spirit, we all revolted against the same thing and we all felt the power of being united.

In the new Egypt, Muslims and Christians should know more about each other and accept each other, this I believe.

Listening Journal #1: Luis' Story, An Illegal Immigrant Story

Picture from World Vision Report

Luis' Story Produced by Paul Cuadros
Length of the feature: Roughly 4:50 min
Listen to the feature



The feature is a profile about Luis who is an illegal immigrant at the US. Because of his illegal status he might not be able to enter a university. The feature talks about Luis’ life, how he first came to the US and his dreams of joining the university.
It is an interesting feature because of the topic itself, the natural sound and the sound bites that the producer picked. Also the way the story was constructed and written puts some color into the story and makes you imagine the character.
The quality of the audio is very good. The natural sound is used wisely that it gives the feeling of being there but at the same time doesn’t compete with the narration or the sound bites.
The delivery of the announcer was clear and the pace, with which he talked, was suitable. It was not too fast, that you cannot understand what’s going on, nor too slow, that you feel bored.
But I think the overall feature was a little bit longer than necessary.
To make it better, I think that the timing of the feature should be provided because the listener needs to know what to expect. Also the website needs to be simplified that you don’t have to go different windows and tabs to download the feature or simply listen to it.