First Female Presidential Candidate In Egyptian History: Bothaina Kamel at TEDxTanta

First Femal Presidential Candidate in the Egyptian History:Bothaina Kamel at TedxTanta how are you? this is the first time for me to hear of Tedx the girls from Global Post who are journalists I kept saying to them T,E,D,X I'm going to it on the 19th if you guys want to do an interview with me then we can have it on the ride there they asked, what does that mean then they were like ah TEDx! you mean TEDx, so they know what it is on my way here my sister was calling me from Australia to ask me who I'm going to vote for and to tell me who she voted for you guys want to know! I'm going to vote for Hamdin it turns out that my neice like you guys, knows TEDx and attends it once a month in Australia I like any idea that brings us together as humans any project that brings us together and how simple the idea is based on our stories,and we as humans don't impress each other with inventions as much as talking about our human experiences and let me start my story with the story of my grandmother her name is Aysha Hanem Mortda she was one of the girls of the 1919 revolution and she used to always sing to me student songs from the time of the 1919 revolution which was passed down to us by the name "Oh uncle Hamza we are the students" but in a different version and there was this part that she used to sing with this rhythm sadly, I wish that you guys would record for your grandfathers and mothers because there are beautiful things that slip away from us today, I tried to remember the song but I could only remember one part "We used to just eat bread" "and to spend the night without a cover" when they were imprisoned my grandmother was a girl in the 1919 revolution she was young, she wasn't one of the leaders she told me that on the day of her wedding that she was going around to all the prisons to deliver money to the imprisoned students and revolutionists and to recieve the leaflet calling for the revolution if I had not heard this from my grandmother I would have never believed it that a girl in the year 1919 on her wedding day was participating in politics also, one of the things that she used to always tell me about it proudly -she was a very religious woman- and until the last day of her life she was reading the newspaper she would put on her glasses and read it even though she thought when I was in college and fighting against the regime was that, the time of president Al-Sadat and "Camp David Accord" her opinion was that fighting was only against the occupation. as long as there is independence then there is no fighting but I say that we are occupied and, it could be by our own country people and we must fight for our Freedom. Aysha Mortda also told me even though she had her head covered in her own way but one of the stories that she used to always tell me was when Sa'ad Basha Zaghlul came back from exile and she jumped up to him because she was still a little girl and he was tall and he told her, we don't want this (the face cover or Al-Yashmak) she used to tell me that story with pride this is my grandmother Aysha Mortda whom I grew up on her stories and the first time state Security came to our house was in the 80s the time of the Israeli Invasion of Lebanon my cousin was national security officer he told her: "Grandma, you are the reason Bothaina is like this its your fault because you talk to her about patriotism the one in the middle thats my grandfather Mahmoud Sadek my mother's father he was a dean engineer he was the chairman of the Industrial Gases Company but when I came into this world his hand was injured in a car accident outside was written Amiralay Mahmoud Sadek but my grand father didn't have any money or a job and there was a Villa with a Mango tree i used to go up the Villa's stairs and look at the other Villas around us and i was always wonder: in a beautiful street Are they all poor like my grandfather? Do they all have the roughness of life too like my grandfather? at the time of my campaign Mr.Mohamed Abdel Koddos the grandson of the great writer Ehsan Abdel Koddos he wanted to do an interview about my family he thinks that I am a patriot and that he should explore my roots i told him that my grandfather was Mahmoud Sadek was transmitted to retirement by Abd El Nasser who doesn't own anything but I don't know what the reason is was it that my grandmother,God bless her soul, but this is part of our social responsibility was from a feudal family stories that are existent in every family, local stories, so i talked to my mother, i asked her: was grandpa transmitted to retirement as the chairman of the company, by Abdl El Nasser from chairman to homestay man and he had to rent the last floor to foreigners at night so that he could live and spend money she told me that this happened because he used to talk about the corruption my grandpa was not a politician but he always talked about the corruption so in 1966 he forced to let his work and stayed at home at that moment, i realized that nothing is really gone, rights never lost, in the year of 2011, on 25th of January a group of young people called for a revolution the revolution was stolen by the military the youth kept yelling for the millitary to fall i kept thinking that Bothaina the granddaughter of Mahmoud Sadek whom was let go from his job by the order of the millitary regime unjustly,just for talking about the corruption although he was not a politician and he was not one of the "Freedom officers" I will not pretend.. in our family it's women who are tougher Mahmoud Sadek was oppresesd by the military regime and Bothaina his granddaughter is fighting against the millitary regime and that gives me great hope that nothing is really gone what is the relationship between that and me running for the presidential election? that was on the 5th of April,2011 after meeting with one of the millitary board's delegates he told me that the Egyptian citizens were all corrupt ,and that the only pure thing was the Egyptian Millitary and i said: No the entire society needs purification! then he said: you are spies and when i asked him about the virginty tests he said so what, they commited adultery I was shaken up and told him, now you are dishonoring my daughter because she was in Tahrir Square striking, and i went out saying: Mubarak ,Go ! it was March at that time at that time i realized that our revolution was being taken away from us that the one ruling us is not keep on peacefully handing over the civil rule and will get us in many problems. at that time i made my decision to run for presidency in addition to my strong belief in the woman's rights and in Equality and part of the social justice is that any selection for any role should be based on the efficiency not on the sex or religion or the social status or family lineage (audience clapping) this is in Mohamed Mahmoud why do i show this picture? because i started going around Egypt i feel historical stories, I like the story of Isis and Osiris just like Isis i put the revolution on my shoulder and going around talking about it in the towns and villages and I find myself depressed and can't feel the outcome of the revolution so i keep pushing them their welcome was very warm and you will see it in the pictures later on but they didn't give us a chance the Maspero Massacre Mohammed Mahmoud Port Said and lastly the Ministry of Defense which was a trap and all the truths will be revealed later on ,but thank God we are in the age of the limitless skies and i was just broadcasting we all can create our own media and our phones can reveal truths that was one of the points even though i went down. This is in Fayoum ,with the young adults and inside the poor houses and the women ,whatever they were wearing so what if you were a woman what have we seen from men why not try (audiance clapping) this is the truth of the Egyptian people this is the value of the revolution so what a small kid, why not try so what a woman, why not try so what if Christian, why not try so what if Redneck,why not try so what if from Sinai,why not try raise your head,you are Egyptian with every part of Egypt we are proud to be Egyptian and when our revolution wins (if God wills it) we will find that rights are for everyone because we said diginty, freedom, social justice this is a girl from Fayoum i recommend her to talk here in TEDx I know from Amr that you want to spread everywhere Huda is an excellent girl, and she got a scholarship from the AUC for free, to study and these are the little girls i would always make sure when I am around them to say you are going to be a minister you are going to be the president and the kids there must be a dream you will be a minister in of foreign affairs sadly, the house are simple and poor towards our society always when i meet my friends they tell me after the parliament elections we are shocked by the Egyptian people and i say: What are you shocked with? What did you do for the Egyptian People? each individual thought of his own project, their own dream as student, to take their first step and succeed,but if we really thought what have we done for our people no, we didn't do anything we're really delinquent but i am optimistic about the revolution with all that initiative i watch on Facebook and what all the youth come to tell me about even the newspaper this was on the day i recieved my election papers it was a very important day that was the first time i faced the cameras with a traditional outfit(Galabia) i love anything that is traditional and i consider -raise your head,you are Egyptian- is everything i am as an Egyptian and who gives me these (Galabia) is a friend because my salary was stopped in February2011 i joke around and say, I am going to be like Nagib Al Rehani, and eat yogurt with a shoe stick i was going to withdraw the election papers this is where the center of the presidential committee and i said: Shahira she is a doctor in Islamic History but she is interested in traditional clothes encourage me to wear the (Galabia) if i wear Siwi traditional clothes it will look to be ethnic,different wear the ones with the silver, like the "Wahat" that is fine ,but to wear the (Galabia),that's really weird but i want to tell you that when i wore it i felt a very weird feeling i felt like i was the countryside woman from the statue of "Nahdet Maser" by the sculptor Mahmoud Mokhtar by the way he is from Tombara,Al Mahla and his mother is from Al-Mansoura. i am sure that life contains a lot of messages that move like this suddenly, i realized that Mahmoud Mokhtar was the first Egyptian Sculptor who picked up the art from the last pharaonic sculptor and made "Nahdet Maser" the Egyptian countryside woman waking the Sphinx up the Egyptian countryside woman i felt as if he was sending me this message after 200 years of his death to wear the (Galabia) and say: stand up Egyptians and step out of your ignorance we will start a new page that will be based on equality. this was after the parlimant elections as the first female presidential candidate there is something important i want to confess when i announced myself running for presidential election i was a joke to the Egyptian Media i remember this time, in a newspaper i was in a Seminar, and my mother was sitting and i went outside for pictures first then i asked :where is my mother? so they started to joke about it but something important i want to say this is the importance of this international experience that makes the biggest local news take me seriously the Gurdian,News Week, Washington Post when they took me seriously they found admired and important media dealing with a presidential candidate and by the way that shortned a lot of distance. and this was after the parliament elections and you know, that Carter Center was allowed to supervise over the elections. Carter met the presidential Candidates after they finished the supervision. i want to end this, i think i passed my time they always say: " behined every saccessful man ,is a woman" but i say, behined every independant woman an environment of grandfathers its like how Freud said: we are like an onion layer upon layer upon layer this is my husband,judge, Ashraf Al-Barodi with the indpendance group and participated in the judge revolution of 2006 and the revolution should have started then i want to tell you guys that he suffered alot with me like taking away from his manhood they alwayes wonder: how could he be unable to control his wife? and he was always the one who answered and when sometimes they mention that no ruling for women he says, this isn't ruling and he is a man of law and has studied Islamic law he say it's not a rule it's a job and here we were together because he works in Dubai we were in a match we stood together at the stadium and this is one of the "shohda'a" of the "Ultras" in the Port Said Massacre i appluad my husband judge,Ashraf Al-Barodi (audiance clapping) and i say to all the Egyptians we are a respected nation the right of the injustice bloodshed won't be wasted without claim we will get our brother's rights and kids as free patriots we will continue our path thank you