No to booze and bikinis: Islamists call for ‘sin free’ tourism in Egypt

From RT:

With two Islamist parties leading in the Egyptian parliamentary elections, some fear that the country’s tourism sector is going to be seriously redefined, and not for the benefit of Western tourists.

Tourism is Egypt’s top foreign currency earner accounting for 10 per cent of national GDP. Millions of Europeans head to Egypt for vacations every year attracted by luxury Red Sea resorts and ancient artefacts.

The industry saw a sharp decrease following the mass protests and unrest that erupted in the country in January, although the situation has improved towards the end of the year.

But now that Islamist parties are gaining the overwhelming majority of the vote, resorts in Egypt may soon need to undergo serious changes or find themselves outlawed.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, which won almost 50 per cent of the vote in the first round of elections, is calling for ‘sin-free’ tourism in Egypt.

“Tourists don’t need to drink alcohol when they come to Egypt; they have plenty at home,” said Azza al-Jarf, a veiled Muslim Brotherhood candidate, addressing the crowds at a campaign event on Sunday.

“They [tourists] come to see the ancient civilization, not to drink alcohol,” she said.

Egypt’s list of attractions include the Pyramids of Giza, situated 20 kilometers from Cairo, the ancient city of Luxor 500 kilometres to the south, Nile cruises and spacious resorts situated on the Red Sea coast such as Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh, which are much admired by many Westerners.

All in all, Egypt ranks 19th on the list of global tourist destinations and number one among Middle Eastern and African countries. In 2008 it was visited by an estimated 12.8 million tourists. The country is especially popular among Russians, Britons and Germans.

Another contender for parliament, the ultra-conservative Salafi Muslims` Al-Nour party, which gained one fifth of the votes in the first round, has said it is seeking to impose strict Islamic law in Egypt, which means the ban of alcohol and mixed bathing.

Yasser Bourhami, an influential cleric among the hard-line Salafis, presented his idea of new tourism when giving an interview to a TV station.

“A five-star hotel with no alcohol, a beach for women separated from men in a bay where the two sides can enjoy a vacation for a week without sin,” he said.

The Egyptian tourism sector has faced serious challenges since the beginning of the year: first came the revolution, then the shark attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh. But with prospect of Islamist parties coming to power, it seems that the most severe obstacles might still be to come.
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Western elite wage info-war to justify Syria invasion?

From VOLTAIRE NETWORK | 14 DECEMBER 2011:

by Igor Panarin

Escalating tensions surrounding Syria are preparation for aggression. Writer and political scientist Igor Panarin believes that part of the British-American and Israeli elite is waging an information war to justify a military invasion of Syria.

The mass protests that broke out in a number of Arab countries in 2011 were orchestrated from London, which essentially became their coordination center. The BBC and Qatar’s supposedly-independent Al-Jazeera channel (which in reality is ideologically controlled by a part of the British-American elite) led the way in providing media support.

For instance, the BBC reports that an independent commission of UN human rights experts accused the Syrian authorities of committing crimes against humanity as they dispersed anti-government protests. But French journalist Thierry Meyssan found out that the commission clearly fabricated the evidence they used in their investigation. For instance, according to the UN commission, Syrian security forces killed over 3,500 peaceful protesters. But the figure is hardly credible, as it comes from a mysterious London-based human rights organization called Observatoire Syrien des Droits de l’Homme (OSDH) [Syrian Observatory of Human Rights –RT]. According to Meyssan, many of the 3,500 protesters supposedly killed by Syrian security forces are in fact alive and well. Their names, distributed by the OSDH, were in fact taken from the phonebook. Meyssan says an information war is being waged against Syria and that at least some of the footage distributed by Al-Jazeera is produced in special studios that reproduce the main squares of Syria’s major cities. The same trick was used with Libya, when the footage of street fighting in Tripoli on August 23, 2011, was actually shot in Qatari studios, which opened a new chapter in information warfare.

Some of the protesters still use smartphones to disseminate false reports, announce protest rallies and distribute anti-government materials using the “Syria Alone” application. The application, launched on November 18, was developed by British and US experts specifically to help the opposition coordinate their protests. Information warfare specialists use Syria Alone to publish anti-government materials and criticize the work of law enforcers. In addition to the US and the EU, the anti-Syrian coalition now includes the Arab League, which recently expelled Damascus and then introduced tough sanctions against Syria.

A part of the British-American elite is playing the leading role in media campaign against Syria, which is no surprise after their success in Libya, where their media attacks preceded NATO’s direct military intervention. A similar strategy is now used against Syria. For instance, the decision to suspend Syria’s membership in the Arab League leads to further international isolation, which is clearly what the West wants to achieve. The Arab League first took a similar decision regarding Libya in late February, and then it recognized the NATO-backed Transitional National Council as the only legitimate body representing the people of Libya, in August. In other words, what we see today is the same scenario being reproduced in Syria, with the Western multinational elite launching a media attack against that country.

The Syrian army and police are facing a strong opponent, including foreign mercenaries. According to some sources, there are around 10,000 of them, mainly from Arab countries, Pakistan and Pashtuns from Afghanistan.

Russia’s approach to the conflict in Syria radically differs from that of the United States and its allies. The Kremlin vetoed the UN Security Council resolution, which would have made it possible to repeat the Libyan scenario in Syria. Moscow is doing its best to avoid the escalation of the conflict, to prevent military intervention (among other things, by sending an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean) and to establish a constructive peaceful dialogue.

Igor Panarin

Source

Russia Today (Russia)

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Related:

NATO dreams of civil war in Syria
12/14/2011
By Pepe Escobar*- Asia Times