A Photo That Encapsulates the Horror of Egypt's Crackdown

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/12/a-photo-that-encapsulates-the-horror-of-egypts-crackdown/250147/

Three soldiers beat a defenseless woman, pull off her abaya, and drag her down a Cairo street:



The above photo shows Egyptian army soldiers beating a young woman in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Saturday, the second straight day of clashes with protesters that began on Friday and continued overnight. There's no reason to believe that there was anything special about this woman or even about the way that soldiers treated her. Members of the army, once beloved by Egypt's activists for standing by their side during the revolution in February, have sent hundreds of men and women to the hospital over the last 48 hours and have killed at least 10, some with live ammunition fired into crowds.

But there is something especially barbaric about this photo. The taboo of violence against unarmed women is unusually strong in the Arab world. But to watch three soldiers beat a defenseless woman with batons, their fists, and for one extraordinarily cruel soldier with his boot, is not even the most provocative part. For these men to pull her black abaya above her head and expose her midriff and chest is, for Egypt, a profound and sexually charged humiliation. And there is a certain awful irony of using that abaya, a symbol of modesty and piety, to cover her face and drag her on the street that, though probably not intentional, will not be lost on Egyptian eyes. Here, below, is part of the photo pulled out in detail.



Activists managed to capture a video of the incident. It is difficult to watch. She takes so many blows to her head, and one man stomps on her chest so forcefully, that it's difficult to imagine she required anything less than hospitalization. Though one of the soldiers makes a half-hearted effort to cover her back up (after he is done beating her, of course, on the face and chest with a baton), she appears limp. Three soldiers pick her up from her arms and legs, and then the camera cuts away.



Outraged Egyptian Facebook users posted a composite of three photos from the above video. Taken together, they appear to show that a pair of bystanders -- a man and a woman, both well dressed -- watched the young woman's beating, went to her side after the troops discarded her, and were then beaten themselves for their effort.



The Egyptian military, the strongest and most powerful institution in the country and perhaps the Arab world, has taken a dramatic and dark turn since winning power earlier this year. Though it initially safeguarded the revolution in February by protecting protesters from President Hosni Mubarak's state security forces, it has gradually (if clumsily) consolidated power since his fall, declaring that it will retain independence from and control over any democratically elected government. As protests against the military have grown, the generals have abandoned their earlier pledges to support the people and refrain from violence against civilians. The SCAF -- the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, a panel of top military leaders -- increasingly looks like Egypt's new dictator. Its troops, now openly attacking civilians, are unlikely to deescalate their war against democratic activism.

All crackdowns are brutal. Stories of violence against women, frequently tinged with sexual aggression, are as common in Egypt's crackdown as they are in every other. The story behind this photo, of a modest young woman stripped down and beaten like an animal, is remarkable precisely because it is ordinary.

[syyuge]

The shape of things to come!

[briann]

A bunch of Nazi animals.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

And we should feel sorry for her... because? I guarantee you she wants Israeli Jewish girls to get more than just a good beating.

[TruthSpreader]

Agree with Axl. We should stop feeling sorry for these women. They would wish the same thing to Jewish women anyway.

[heyuguys]

these muslim animals asked for this to happen with their socalled facebook and twitter revolution. what did they think would happen? the muslim brotherhood was by far the most organized and supported opposition to hosni mubarak and obviously had the support of many people in the military who are also nazi scums.

the commentary given by 'the atlantic' is ridculous as well. the taboo of violence against unarmed women is strong in the arab world? really? really? tell that to the thousands of girls and women who are killed in honor killings every year by their male family members. muslim men get off on belittling, hurting and even killing women. they are as cruel to their women as they are to christians, jews, hindus, etc. like rabid jackals they prey on the weakest in their society. every time you hear of a riot in the arab world its women, children or eldery people getting trampled to death as the cowardly men protect themselves at all costs.

it appears this woman was wearing a black tent over her entire body, signalling a fervent islamic belief. we can safely assume she is/was an islamic nazi. why else wear such stupid clothing? the atlantic calls it a symbol of modesty and piety. its a symbol of sexual slavery!!!!

it appears these muslim brotherhood nazi police were simply overcome by islamic barbaric hatred and couldnt help but be cruel savages. with no law or rules to hold them back they simply did what comes naturally to muslims!!!

anyone with a brain could have predicted this would happen. islam is tyranny and only tyrants can survive in the islamic world. hosni mubarak was toppled by his people because he wasnt barbaric enough for them. these facebook democracy idiots are nothing but a tiny minority in the islamic world. one of the biggest problems with mubarak in the islamic world was that he was maintained the camp david treaty with israel. mubarak was nothing more than a gangster, but he wasnt a bloody tyrant like saddam hussein, khomeini or gadafi.

[heyuguys]

i think the real horror of the new egypt is seeing tens of thousands of egyptians in that stinky square listening to nazi clerics scream death to america and death to israel.

[Ulli]

I think too, that there is no "taboo" among Muslims of violence against women. In fact the opposite is true.

I think we have to diferenciate between several things here.

First between what the Muslim says and what he does.

Secondly when he states something what is it's meaning for us and what is it for him.

It is true that Muslims claim, that they are extra modest and that they respect the modesty of women. But on the other hand, sexuall haressment and rape - even publically in daylight - is widely spread in all Muslim communities in the Muslim world as well as in the Immigration. They attack Muslim women as well as non Muslim women - only the reasons that they state for this are different.

Basically the modesty is not caused by the fear of God and healthy piety, but it is a tool to controll the women like a herd of camels in order to exploit them. If there is no family member to protect them, strange women are free property, of that anybody can make use of. This is accepted in the Muslim world.

All is there about exploitation of the weaker by the stronger. 

[heyuguys]

yes ulli you are 100% right. that line about violence against women being taboo in islam is so crazy. the media really does perpetrate such lies and falsehoods to promote islam. instead of the men loving and defending the women or children with their lives, the men routinely put themselves at the front at the expense of the weaker people in their society.

the reason the egyptian nazi army stomp this woman is because they know she has no chance of defending herself and there is a much greater chance she will die from the beating than a healthy man. they prey on the ones who can least defend themselves. know how the muslim men act, they probably saw she had western attire on under that disgusting arab black tent like the teal-colored bra and jeans and it just drove them crazy. that is why they pulled the tent over her head and beat her further.

we should all remember if a christian or jewish man did this to a woman in america or israel respectively and it was videotaped, it would cause a massive outrage and this man would go to prison for a very long time. 99.9% of people in america or israel would be sickened by the evil murderous beating. but here in egypt you have hundreds of islamic nazi army men doing it and obviously being very proud of it. so in essence in egypt they have tens of thousands of charles manson types running around waiting to kill and maim. tens of thousands? probably a lot more just waiting for the opportunity to be violent and get away with it.

the biggest mistake people in the west make is to underestimate how barbaric the average muslim is.