August 2012


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


Youth Votes Will Drop Significantly in 2012 Election


The Hampton Roads Messenger


Egypt’s First Lady Represents New Image


3


BY JESSICA CHEUNG In 2008, presidential candidate


Barack Obama ran a grassroots campaign based on the mantra of hope and change, generating a wave of support from his youth voters and those who plan to vote for him when they become eligible.


Unfortunately, in the 2012 election,


the youth who are now eligible to vote for the first time, are less enthusiastic about making a difference with their vote.


“Obama’s 2008 platform


emphasized hope and change in an idealized way, and that was what attracted the attention of youth voters who wanted a change after eight years of Bush as president,” Emily Moody, 19, of Wesleyan University, said. “But now that Obama has been in office for four years and people actually see what progress he has and hasn’t made, the message of hope and change is a bit tarnished and voting may not seem as exciting to youth voters.”


“This isn’t going to be like the


milestone election it was in 2008,” noted Sean Lee, 19, of McGill University.


According to a report released by


the Center for the American Electorate, youth voter turnout is predicted to drop significantly in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, due partly to the decline in political interest among young people. Voter turnout for the 2008 election was the highest since 1960, according to Fair Vote.


“Last election, Obama really tapped


into the youth, but now that he’s an incumbent, I’m seeing less excitement and enthusiasm from him,” Edmond Chan, 19, a freshman at the University of California at Santa Barbara, said. “[Since I’m a democrat,] I probably won’t vote in the presidential election because I’m 100 percent sure California will go blue.”


A freshman at the University of


North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Irina Kirnos, 19, shares the same sentiment. “I pretty much know California will vote for Obama,” she said. “I’m also not voting because I haven’t had the time to keep up with the details of the election.”


“This is my first opportunity to vote,


but I plan not to vote in November,” Lee said. “I support Obama, and to quote my AP history teacher: the incumbent always has the advantage. Truthfully, I have the one-vote- isn’t-going-to-make- a-difference attitude.”


“Young people assume their views


will be reflected in the results of the elections,” Nicola Householder, 19, and a student at Barnard College in New York City, said. “When you’re just hanging out with a group


of friends who share similar views,


there’s a misconception [that everyone shares your beliefs] and people assume that their votes will be accounted for.”


Organizations such as Rock


the Vote aim to encourage youth to head for the polls through pubic service announcements by celebrity spokesmen.


But some youth voters say it it’s


not the celebrities that drive young voters, but the issues on the line.


“Employment and job creation


is my biggest concern, and is one becoming more pertinent for students coming out of college,” Householder said.


A national poll of America’s 18- to


29- year olds by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics released in April cited that 58 percent of them said “jobs and the economy” are the top issues that concern them.


With the recent wave of Occupy


movements on college campuses and rising student debt, for them the economy is a hot-button issue.


“I feel Obama has only thrust our


economy farther into recession and I do not foresee future improvements with him in office,” Jessie Chase, 19, of Fordham University, said, adding: “Even though in the last election I was pro-McCain, I still remained hopeful Obama would live up to his promises.”


Yet, despite the slow economic


progress, with an 18 percent unemployment rate among young adults, Democrat hopefuls recognize that nothing can stop unemployment dead on its track.


“Even though Obama’s track


record so far in his presidency hasn’t been flawless, I appreciate his steps forward,” Moody said. “He had a lot of tough situations—the struggling economy included—to deal with.”


Recently, Obama’s birth control


policy, which mandated insurance plans to cover costs of contraceptives, as well as his endorsement of same-sex marriage, resonated with socially liberal youths.


“I am voting Obama for economic


and social reasons such as gay rights and abortion laws,” Householder said.


“Obama’s social and economic


views line up better with mine than those of any other candidate,” Leo Sussman, 18, a student at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., said. “I support his tax policies over Mitt Romney’s, as well as his views on marriage equality.”


But for students who aren’t


motivated by politics or the economy to vote in November, some say they may still go to the polling station if there is some incentive.


“Like free donuts,” Chan joked. BY AHMED THARWAT MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.--The


world now knows that Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party became the first civilian elected president in Egypt’s long history on June 24. But this isn’t the only “first” that Morsi has brought to the Egyptian political landscape.


Morsi is the first Islamist to get to


the presidential palace. He is the first Egyptian president with Mohammed as an actual first name—although Hosni Mubarak and Anwar Sadat injected “Mohammed” into their names for Islamic flavor.


Also, he is the first Egyptian


president to hold a PhD degree, which he earned in engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). And he is the first president to win a competitive election, where Egyptians had--for the first time--the opportunity to choose from more than one candidate.


Her Fashion Statement—A Full Hajib An additional “first” that has


garnered attention from the West — especially among Americans — is that Morsi’s wife, as the First Lady, is also the first to wear an abaya, the traditional Islamic dress and full coverage hijab.


Her name is Najla Mahmoud. Born


in Cairo in 1962, she is Mohammad Morsi’s first cousin (don’t panic, they do it in Texas) and married Morsi in 1979. The couple has four sons and a daughter.


Egypt’s new First Lady lived in the


United States with her husband while he studied at USC. She has been an active member of the Brotherhood for many years running multiple charity projects, particularly in the field of education, and she worked as a translator at the same time.


Even by Egyptian standards she is


a very different First Lady. The new First Lady received a fair


amount of ridiculous coverage from Egyptian liberal media and so-called secular Egyptians. Some even questioned if she is “really fit to represent Egypt.” Her image has become the subject of a rancorous debate on Egyptian websites and in newspapers.


A column in the newspaper El Fagr


asked sarcastically, “How could she receive world leaders and still adhere to her traditional Islamic standards of modesty?” The paper added, “Don’t look at her. Don’t shake hands with her,” in stating that her new status presents a “comic scenario.”


Traditionally the role of the


Egyptian First Lady is an invisible one. The past First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak, lived in Hosni Mubarak’s shadow,


running charity organizations and meeting dignitaries.


According to a recent interview


in Egyptian press, the new First Lady does not even like the title. She told the media, “Islam taught us that the next president is the first servant of Egypt, this means that his wife is also the servant of Egypt. Any title that has been forced upon us must be gone with. It should disappear from my political and social dictionary.”


Everybody’s Mother Mahmoud sees herself first in the


woman’s foremost traditional role as a mother. She admitted that she preferred to be called ‘Em Ahmed’ (mother of Ahmed, her eldest son) above any other title.


Former First Lady Suzanne


Mubarak, though, would have never accepted being called Em Gamal, (her eldest son). She was, however, grooming him to take over Egypt after her ailing husband displayed deep signs of political boredom.


Even though former First Ladies


spent fortunes on their appearance, appealing to many western fashions statements, the new First Lady will have none of it. The only fashion statement she has to make is the hijab and the full dress Islamic dress. This will be the one representation of post-revolution Egypt.


And that won’t be too difficult


for most Egyptian women to follow. Muslims as well as Christians—in fact, most women in Egypt, regardless of religion, already wear some kind of head covering.


Dalia Saber, 36, an engineering


lecturer, said of Najla Mahmoud, “She looks like my mother. She looks like my husband’s mother. She probably looks like your mother and everybody else’s.”


Yet, the West has a fixation about


traditional Muslim attire and the hijab. That criticism is that the hajib is mostly a colonial style and a symbol of oppression—as if the multibillion-dol- lar fashion industry weren’t dictating what western women should wear.


Racist attitude towards Muslim


women wearing traditional dress is often hidden behind the veil of secularism.


“I wear a hijab to be part of a faith


not a part of fashion,” explained a young French Muslim woman responding to a question of why she covers her beautiful hair.


Najla Mahmoud, the first


hijabi-wearing First Lady of Egypt, may just bring a new attitude toward Muslims women, and a new look toward Muslim fashion.


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