Samira Ibrahim and the Washington Monument

Just a short time ago I was surprised to see the name of an Egyptian human rights activist on the list of recipients of the International Women of Courage Award. This award is presented by the US secretary of state and the first lady. So, this year it was presented by John Kerry and Michelle Obama. The number of recipients for the award is 10 women from around the world, consisting of teachers, bloggers and human rights activists, but this year the number of women recipients was nine. So, what happened to the tenth recipient and who is she? Her name is Samira Ibrahim, an Egyptian human rights activist. Or is she an activist?
Being a human rights activist is not something you will be able to achieve in one day.
And a human rights activist needs to be completely impartial in dealing with people. These activists defend men and women equally, they defend people no matter what faith or color they have, they are sympathetic toward all victims and most importantly they must be against any type of violence.
I am not sure why Samira Ibrahim was nominated in the first place. I came across the name of this Egyptian activist during a protest in Cairo by an angry Egyptian crowd at the Saudi Embassy last year. Many people in the Kingdom were puzzled by the protest, but many Saudis gave the Egyptian crowd the benefit of doubt and Saudis knew Egypt and Egyptians were going through a difficult time. But what puzzled the Saudis more is that the protest became very anti-Saudi Arabia and many bad words were used and one of the activists at the protest was Samira Ibrahim who used abusive words and it was all caught on tape and was put on the Internet. She is still doing it. She shouted the loudest and people took notice of this woman and her activities. During the Arab Spring, we saw millions of people shouting and destroying public properties, but we saw no one planning and constructing.
When the US State Department announced that it would honor Samira Ibrahim, I asked myself why the Americans honor a woman who is anti-American and would be given the honor to meet America’s first lady and the secretary of state.
I also asked myself why an activist who is anti-American accepts an invitation to fly to Washington and accept an American award. Why would she fly to a country that she wanted to see it burned? It turned out I wasn’t the only one who was asking these questions. People do follow Twitter and other social media platforms. Samira Ibrahim was able to make the 6,000-mile trip from Cairo to Washington, but the last mile from a hotel in Washington to the State Department to receive the award was simply impossible to cover. She was told she would not be given the award. She stayed at her hotel until her departure. May be she would be known as the only Washington visitor who just saw the Washington Monument from the hotel room window.
It turned out that Samira Ibrahim wasn’t only anti-Saudi Arabia, she was anti everybody. She still uses harsh words even against her own people in Egypt. One of her recent comments about an Egyptian group was her wish to see them burned out. During the anniversary of 9/11, she made the most pathetic remarks, which I don’t want to mention in my article. In addition, she also made sarcastic remarks on Twitter about a terrorist attack on a bus carrying tourists at an airport in Bulgaria last year.
People still remember her fiery speeches at the Saudi Embassy in Cairo using improper words against a country like Saudi Arabia that stood by Egypt and Egyptians for a long time. Saudi Arabia is a country that hosts millions of Egyptian workers who send back very badly needed currency to Egypt and to their families to help them put food on the table.
During the time of the Arab Spring, we expected to see genuine human rights activists who really wanted social justice for their people regardless of their ethnic background.
Genuine human rights activists must be ready to express their sympathy for any injustice being done to anyone in the world. Also, they must be courageous enough to express their sincere apology if they offend anyone.
Ironically, Samira Ibrahim didn’t apologize to anyone and still expresses her sarcastic and bad remarks. Last week I saw one of her very bad mannered re-tweets about Saudi Arabia and she still repeats her bad remarks about the United States, the country that hosted her for an international award. When the award was withdrawn, she first denied the accusations and then she refused to apologize. She knew it was too late and she tried to show no interest in the American award. But the award was the sour grape. And now she is blaming everybody, but herself.
I wish she referred back to the recording of her verbal attack on Saudi Arabia. I think the US State Department should have taken her to the Smithsonian Institute and show her the respect Americans have for the rich history of the Egyptian people. She doesn’t have respect for her own people’s history, so it is normal for her not to respect the others. Does Samira Ibrahim know how many Americans from Egyptian descent are there in the US?
Final note for the readers: On Dec. 29, 2012, this newspaper published my article titled “CIA’s U-2 spy plane and Twitter.” Most likely the Egyptian human rights activist didn’t read it. I wish if she did, she should have been smart enough to know that there are people who follow the social media very closely.