During the past few months, Egyptians have been haunted with catastrophic headlines and top stories on a daily basis – from murders, to corruption, to a series of fires, to sexual harassment… not to mention the effect of the global economical crises that the Egyptian officials allegedly confirmed hasn't significantly affected the (already) deteriorating economy. Seriously, it was like a spell has been cast on Egypt and caused a series of unfortunate events.
Amid this grim, Egyptian bloggers decided to revolt against the country's current rueful state and bring out some positive energy to the surface through the “Change the Channel” campaign.
The campaign is the brainchild of blogger Tarek Amr, one of Global Voices Online‘s authors, who describes it as follows:
و بعد كده لما شاركت في جلوبال فويسز لاقيت نفسي مطالب بإنتقاء تدوينات كل فترة لكي أترجمها للغة الإنجليزية حتى يقرأها العالم. و هنا إتحولت العقدة إلى عقدة و شنيطة و كان شبه مستحيل إني ألاقي في وسط هذا الكم من السواد بصيص أمل يحسس الناس إن مصر برضه بلد حلوة مش مستنقع.
He then continues:
مش شرط تكون كتابات, ممكن صور أو رسومات أو بلوجات صوتية أو أي حاجة.
يوم واحد كل شهر نغير فيه المحطة السودة و نروح لتردد أكثر بياضا.
المهم الحملة ديه إتفقنا نسميها
غيَر المحطة
و حاتكون في اليوم إل رقمه زي رقم الشهر
يعني واحد يناير و إتنين فبراير و تلاته مارس لحد إتناشر ديسمبر
The initiative is highly encouraged and welcomed around the Egyptian bloo sphere and some bloggers are exhilarated about going pink. In her blog, Jessy decided to change the tone until further notice:
“I am going to limit this negative input and replace it with more positive and healthy messages, at least in my own pink bubble life”
10 comments
Its one of the best initiatives.. I love it.. and will join in defiantly..
Very good move.
Well done, Tarek. Excited to hear where this leads. Thanks for bringing us the story, Nermeen.
~ Maya
* GVO, Israel
BTW, what does the image say?
Maya the image says ‘change the channel’
This is a very good initiative from Tarek and the other bloggers thanks Nermeen for bringing it to our attention. Watching the news has become so depressing lately
Fozia
Well, that seems obvious. Thanks, Fozia.
My eyss teared up as I read this. What a marvelously cool thing to do!
Tarek is one of the most compelling bloggers I know. He continues to be a bright spot in the blogosphere. It does not surprise me that he would lead such an important and life-altering campaign.
My hat is off to all of the Egyptian bloggers who made the decision to ‘change the channel’. Blessings to you all – and to you, Nermeen, for sharing this story.
yess!! this is the spirit we need!..i am in .
me too as well very happy with the idea, let’s try to find a bright side to look at :), I believe that we may be cheered up from the others experiences, may be I see something very dark, and the other experienced a very good thing in that area.. like seeing a helpful Mowazaf for example, in the same day I suffered with a erocratic one.