What can be described as definite goals of Kamel’s campaign is social change, especially in regards to women’s rights. Each article has a brief mention of her time as a TV host as well as stating that she is an activist (although not always clear exactly what she is active in doing). Kamel feels as though her campaign is a metaphor for success of women’s rights in Egypt currently, as well as a push for the future of women in politics, giving her a very Hegelian aspect. However, what is apparent is that the support for Kamel does not necessarily come from within Egypt. Between the articles leading up to the elections (which are in November), there has been almost no talk of exactly how she has been campaigning or what she has been doing with regards to promoting herself to the Egyptian peoples.
From all accounts she is mostly targeting the female voting population, but there is little to no evidence to her other supporters. Thus we can say that the struggle that Kamel has is not necessarily immediately related to her political views but is more of a gendered issue. Further, our group found it exceedingly difficult to elicit information regarding her candidacy from Egyptian news sources, which gives insight as to how she’s viewed from within her own country.
Gaurdians Depiction of Kamel.
Only in one article from The Guardian (a US/UK news website http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/05/bothaina-kamel-egypt-woman-president) was it found that she had been attempting to intervene in police-civilian conflict in a smaller village, taking the side of the lower-class individuals. The article also stated that she was more opposed to the heavy militaristic focus in Egypt left over from the Mubarak regime, but had little else to offer on her methods of dealing with this.
Dear Kitty displayed Kamel as an activist who takes to the streets.
The article from the blogger (“Dear Kitty. Blog Some” http://dearkitty.blogsome.com/2011/06/17/egyptian-woman-presidential-candidate/) had an interesting aspect; not a single negative remark was made regarding Kamel and her campaign, which was rather uncharacteristic of other articles which examine multiple angles or at least tried to bring conflict into the story. This is not the case; what is given here is an individual admiring a feminist struggle and the social connotations that come with it. In correlation with the other articles however, Kamel is portrayed as a revolutionary thinker and idealist, but the bias is blatent and not hidden as it is in other articles.
Alternet shows us a shot of her possibly being interviewed
Another article from IPS news (http://www.alternet.org/world/152909/post_revolutionary_egypt's_first_woman_candidate_begins_her_presidential_campaign) had information regarding Kamel’s own political party, the Justice and Freedom Party (JFP). None of the other sources reviewed yielded much about her political party save this one, which in particular stated that her own political party does not support the notion of a female head-of-state. This further drains the ability of Kamel to effectively campaign in her own country if her own political party does not fully support her or the changes in which she wishes to make.
NPR shows us more women than just Kamel that join the fight for equality.
The National Public article (http://www.npr.org/2011/04/19/135523441/women-press-for-a-voice-in-the-new-egypt) gives us the idea that Kamel’s story is important enough and significant given the credibility associated with the NPR. While this gives a good worldview, we have little way to tell just how much the publicity and media coverage outside of Egypt gives support for Kamel within her country, given that she will still have to rely on those people to elect her to presidency.
Image portrays a single female holding the Egyptian flag, such as the single women running for the position of president. One woman holding the flag towards a clean blank background, perhaps a new horizon on the sea, represents Egypt’s new patriotism.
Furthermore, there is little follow-up of the articles regarding Kamel’s candidacy despite the impending election date. Some of this is due to the notion of Leading Classes controlling the media, which can be viewed by examination of the coverage from the Ms. Magazine article(http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/05/12/egypts-first-woman-president/). Because the article is controlled by the Feminist Majority Foundation, the content is typical to favor women’s rights and promote the idea of feminist movements such as female candidacy.
Thus what we can deduce from the media coverage of Bothaina Kamel’s campaign is that she does not have a great deal of support from within her own country, whether due to her own political party seeking to retain credibility or from media control that wishes to support male candidates. The main thoughts that came when discussing the various articles related to what is defined as an ‘activist’ as opposed to a ‘civil icon’; each article expressed that she has a very small chance of winning (one statistic was less than five percent) which gives us the idea that to her own country, Kamel is viewed more as a radical or extremist as opposed to a revolutionary.
Each of these media producers have very similar coverage of the election, but the underlying differences and tones are separated by the leading classes that control how the media is presented. Larger corporations like NPR and Guardian are more vastly distrusted and well known, but are owned by foreign countries to the election. They come from democratic nations who look at this election as a grand narrative. A story composed of one great figure, Buthaina Kamel, who is trying to lead a failing civil rights attempt. Showing Americans that the world view of Egypt is a harsh and gender biased country. The smaller alternative presses that are run by limited liability corporations express their views to the readers in different light. Ms. Magazine being controlled by a feminist organization tries to show Egypt’s issues are not governmental but men in general. That the men are the reason women cannot obtain civil rights, while Altnet says that both men and women of Muslim religion do not like her. One wants us to view it as a religious issue, while the other a gender issue. It is unclear exactly who controls Egypt, but for a reader who expands their horizon to these Hegelian writings, they can reflect and see a little bit closer to what the truth is. That it isn’t just one grand figure who represents this issue, but the culture clashing with religion, gender and a toppled government.
Each of these media producers have very similar coverage of the election, but the underlying differences and tones are separated by the leading classes that control how the media is presented. Larger corporations like NPR and Guardian are more vastly distrusted and well known, but are owned by foreign countries to the election. They come from democratic nations who look at this election as a grand narrative. A story composed of one great figure, Buthaina Kamel, who is trying to lead a failing civil rights attempt. Showing Americans that the world view of Egypt is a harsh and gender biased country. The smaller alternative presses that are run by limited liability corporations express their views to the readers in different light. Ms. Magazine being controlled by a feminist organization tries to show Egypt’s issues are not governmental but men in general. That the men are the reason women cannot obtain civil rights, while Altnet says that both men and women of Muslim religion do not like her. One wants us to view it as a religious issue, while the other a gender issue. It is unclear exactly who controls Egypt, but for a reader who expands their horizon to these Hegelian writings, they can reflect and see a little bit closer to what the truth is. That it isn’t just one grand figure who represents this issue, but the culture clashing with religion, gender and a toppled government.
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Joshua Cougar
Grace McQuillan
Hannah Connolly
Peter Ronning
Bernard Sindjoun
I was not aware of this story, and now wish I was because it seemed like an interesting one to follow. I like how you brought in the Hegelian theory, this was explained and connected very well to your story. Another aspect that I liked was your focus on representation. With such a political and gendered story such as this one, representation was key and you did that nicely. I also appreciated your analysis of where the news sources you looked at gain their motivation. Great job overall!
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was clever of the ties of the Hegelian theory of history. I can see the ties especially in Hegel's dialect or a process in which a conflict between two extremes is resolved. I see the ties since Hegel asserted that each historical event follows a necessary course; in other words, it could not have happened in any other way. Women's power struggle in Egypt was bound to happen and one could argue it could of happened another way but it is what it is. I see how it ties to the second theory where each event represents not only change but progress. Bothaina Kamel may not be the most qualified or best candidate for this race but it is a start and a step in the right direction. Lastly i also see the ties that one historical event, or phase, tends to be replaced by its opposite, which is later replaced by a resolution of the two extremes. Hegel's dialectic is the "pendulum theory," which mentions that events swing from one extreme to the other before the pendulum comes to rest at middle. There was a time where Egypt only allowed power to men (one extreme) and now history is going the other way where women was rights as well. This all ties into Hegelian theory very nicely.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. Thanks! I also enjoyed the interpretation of the picture of the single women waving the flag. I couldn't have interpreted any better.
I think it is very interesting to see how different media outlets lay out their stories although they are virtually the same. The viewpoints from UK, US, and NPR were all very interesting. It would be extremely hard in Muslim nations where women do not have the power and freedom like in any developed nations around the world. It is true that women do not have their rights and freedom in many developing countries in comparison to the USA or Western European nations as well as Japan, and South Korea. But it is truly astonishing how those women are standing up to improve their rights that they are facing. I guess we still have a homework to solve this problem to make the world better place to live.
ReplyDeleteI think that Egypt is an ideal example in which the propaganda theory in mainstream media can clearly be defined. Despite this particular candidates representation in terms of what she stands for and believes, the country remains to be far more conservative and religious. Of-course the fact that things continue to remain the same is due to governmental institutions even with the removal of Hosni Mubarak. I think the absence of secularism allows for an aggravation of the propaganda theory because there is lack of 'outside the box' sort of sources as well as conflicting ones. Perhaps, they are present but this presence is suppressed by those in charge. Therefore, the media continues to serve the interests of the elite without much interference making it difficult for any type of social change that this particular candidate represents to actually occur.
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