Parliamentary elections in Egypt

Parliamentary elections in Egypt

Voting in Egypt’s parliamentary elections began on Monday and will continue until January. Many of the nation’s web users are wondering whether or not they should cast their vote. Some of the activists remaining in Tahrir Square are indeed calling for a boycott of the ballot.

Blogger Ismail Naguib for example says he will not be voting as this would ‘legitimize’ the ruling military. He does not believe the elected parliament will have any authority as long as the army remains in control.

Many other cyber activists, aware of the historic nature of these elections, have been urging web users to fulfill their duty as a citizen. In this video one of the icons of the revolution, Wael Ghonim, explains the elected representatives will play a vital role in the political transition.

Blogger Zeinobia thinks it’s now too late to call for boycotting as many Egyptians have already decided to cast their vote. Long queues have indeed been forming in front of polling stations across the country, as we can see here in the suburbs of Cairo.

And so despite the doubts, the electoral process is now well underway. Cyber activists have been busy campaigning against prominent figures of the former regime. This site is trying to identify all the officials from Hosni Mubarak’s dissolved party that are running for a seat in parliament.

Bahraini activist defies security forces

These images were filmed on Saturday in A'ali in Bahrain and have been circulated all over the web. We see activist Zainab Al-Khawaja, better known online as “Angry Arabiya”, standing defiantly before riot police as they chased after protesters following the funeral of a man killed by security forces the previous day. Her act of bravery has sparked an avalanche of commentary online.

Zainab Al-Khawaja herself has taken to social networks to explain why she acted in this way. Through a series of Twitter posts she says it was not premeditated, and was almost a natural reaction when faced with the brutality of the riot police, who as we can see in this amateur video footage, fired tear gas at protesters. She adds that to her great surprise, she was neither arrested nor beaten for her actions.

The pictures of Zainab standing between police and protesters were soon posted onto sharing sites, and were met with widespread reaction. Messages have been pouring in from web users, hailing the activist’s bravery, and describing her as veritable heroine, fighting for the good of the people of Bahrain.

Others like this Twitter user feel that with this courageous act, the young woman has proved herself to be a worthy successor to her father Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, a prominent Bahraini blogger and human rights activist who was sentenced to life imprisonment in June for organizing anti-government demonstrations.

She has been widely praised, but the new icon of Bahrain’s protest movement has her feet firmly on the ground. Zainab has posted a message online saying the real heroes are all the unknown anti-government protesters who have been facing the riot police for months.

Real crime scene panoramas

Since 2009, the New York City Police Department has been using a camera called “Panoscan” to create 360° panoramic images of crime scenes. The New York Times has uploaded some of these interactive shots, which come with an audio commentary from a police officer so web users can explore these crimes scenes. Please be warned some of the scenes are not for the faint hearted.

Now trending on social networks

British film director Ken Russell died on Sunday at the age of 84, and on social networks many have been paying tribute to the filmmaker, best known for the films “Tommy, “Women in Love” and also “Altered States, hailing his extravagant inimitable style, and mourning the loss of one of the true greats of British cinema.

Video of the day

Artists Joe Hill and Max Lowry teamed up with a famous sportswear brand to break the world record for the largest piece of 3D “Street art” ever. You can see the painting for yourself in this video, it was unveiled in London, and has won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.