Kareem Taha on…..

Not many visitors to České Budějovice have had quite such a long journey here as Kareem Taha.

The Egyptian human rights activist was a member of the pro-democracy April 6th Youth Movement in Egypt and also participated in the „Arab Spring“, best remembered for its colourful and media-savvy protests on Cairo’s Tahrir Square, which finally ended the dictatorial reign of the country’s leader, Hosni Mubarek.

Now living in Prague, Kareem was a guest of honour at České Budějovices „Jeden Svět“ (One World) film festival on March 21st and has also been giving talks on his experiences in Egypt at schools and university faculties around our city.

Milk and Honey took the opportunity to catch up with Kareem whilst he was in town and get his take on the Arab Spring, adjusting to life in Pragues Žižkov and bringing his story to České Budějovice.

Kareem on…

Revolution and backlash in Egypt

When Mubarek was kicked out, there was huge elation in Egypt. We had come out the other side, after thirty years of a one-man dictatorship, no votes, no choice, no freedom of expression. It seemed for us young people that the world was opening up. However, our country has a long history of accepting military rule. Older people still remember a „golden age“ in the 50s, when the army brought stability and peace and Egypt seemed to work. Like every other media in the world, the Egyptian media is owned by the powerful and makes great use of fear to keep people in their place. And the majority of Egyptian people are not educated, they are very easily influenced by fear tactics. The Egyptian media constantly plays up threats of terrorism, foreign spies in our midst, infiltration by foreign agencies, including the USA and Iran…. Fear of everything really. That is why it was so easy to label someone like me, a peaceful democracy activist, as a terrorist, possibly violent, probably supported by dangerous foreign agencies. When the military promised stability and a return to what they knew, people listened.

Leaving Egypt

I left Egypt with pretty much no time to prepare. My lawyer rung me one evening and said I was facing a lifelong prison sentence if I stayed. I basically had to pack up and go. I travelled south into Sudan, through the desert to Khartoum, from where I managed to get a flight to Prague, via Dubai. I was officially listed as a terrorist and both in Khartoum and Dubai, I was threatened with deportation back to Egypt. I had already been imprisoned four times by this point and horrific things had happened in prison, including torture. I knew I had to escape with my life or that would be it. At Prague’s Vaclav Havel airport I immediately applied for asylum.

The Czech Asylum system

On arrival,I was sent to Zastávka u Brna, but I was only there for a week. After that I got my „papers“ and was released, but as an asylum seeker, I had no real way of continuing with my life. I had no rights, I couldn’t work, I couldn’t meet people. Unfortunately, in the Czech Republic, any kind of „integration program“ only begins when a person is granted asylum, even though the process is long and can take years. Before that there is no support, no advice, no help with the Czech language, nothing.

The beginning was awful. My identity papers looked like a scruffy library card or membership of a video club. Nobody would accept that I was legally allowed to stay here. I finally managed to rent a flat in Žižkov but I still could not work and found it nearly impossible to meet people. It seemed to me that people were afraid of me, would avoid me in pubs or on public transport. I quickly fell into depression and a sense of hopelessness.

New beginnings

However, I happened to meet Amnesty International at a volunteers meeting in Brno and suddenly I was with people who treated me differently. They were worried about my situation, interested in my story and they wanted to help me. After that, I had friends to socialise and play football with in Prague and to help me adjust to Czech life, in terms of dealing with the official procedure and integrating into Czech society. Now my phone is always ringing. I’ve come to love Žižkov and the people there and am also planning to spend some time in Brno in the future. Amazingly, I have the honour of being the first asylum-seeker ever in the CR to be granted indefinite asylum. Which makes me very happy. I can work here, I can live here.

I know I will return to Egypt one day because it is my country, but now is not the time. If it ever seemed to me that the Egyptians had woken up again, were willing to fight for freedom and that I could help them do that, I would return. For now though, Egypt is a full scale military dictatorship and there is nothing but danger there for me.

České Budejovice

With the help of Amnesty International, I gave talks not just at Jeden Svet festival but also at a couple of schools in the town and at the pedagogical faculty of the university. It was obvious how little the students knew about how it was in Egypt during the revolution and how people are living there now. Czechs think of Egypt as a tourist destination, not a place people are forced to escape from. During the talks I could see the faces of those who were listening – really surprised, asking how this was possible. After that there were always a lot of questions, people were really interested in my story. They also come up to me after the discussion to say thank you, ask a question or offer some help. Which is important.  Although I am hopefully safe now a lot of my friends, activists, top journalists like my friend known as Shawkan are still there – in prison facing terrible things. Through little things like signing the Amnesty petition or sharing #freeshawkan #shabab6april we can bring some hope to them.