The historic democratic uprising in the Arab world continues this week. The fall of the government in Tunisia has sparked off demonstrations in Yemen, Jordan, Algeria and most significantly now in Egypt.
These uprisings are not being led by any political parties or religious groups but are spontaneous demonstrations by the people who are fed up with poverty, corruption and a lack of human rights. They also pose a massive threat to U.S. and other Western interests in the Middle East who have backed these Arab dictatorships for decades. The U.S. is showing its true colours once again by failing to back the demonstrators on the streets. Wikileaks released documents on the 28th January showing just how much the U.S. government knew about Mubarak's crimes against his own people.
These uprisings are also being fuelled by the new channels of information like satellite television and the internet through Facebook, Twitter and Wikileaks. The Egyptian government in response has pulled the plug on the internet. Online protest group Anonymous has also launched cyber protests against the regime in solidarity. As John Pilger has observed, the world is witnessing the rise of a new superpower, and that's the power of the world's people.
Update:: Mubarak has sacked the Cabinet but is resisting demands to resign as protests continue. He has now appointed Omar Suleiman as Vice President. Lieutenant General Omar Suleiman (born 1936) is the Egyptian General Intelligence Director. He is the head of intelligence in Egypt and loyal to Mubarak. Protesters have loudly condemned the appointment of Omar Suleiman as Vice President. New Prime Minister of Egypt has been appointed - Ahmed Shafiq was Aviation minister in the former government.
Protesters are out in the streets in great numbers in defiance of curfew for a second night. Police and State Security have vanished, being replaced by the army which has been welcomed by protesters. The death toll in the week of protests is now more than 100 people.
Solidarity protests have been called in Sydney, Melbourne on Sunday 30th January and Brisbane on February 4th.
Background: Egypt:Tens of thousands on the streets | Egyptian Government pulls the plug on the internet | Egyptians reclaim the streets
Comments
Solidarity protest in Brisbane on Feb 4
There will also be a solidarity protest in Brisbane on Feb 4. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=194404163903352
Some cool links on the Egyptian Revolution
Photos of women in the Egyptian protests
Youtube clip of January 25th protests
Inspiring statements from protestors from the Guardian website
Youtube spoof on Hilary Clinton speaking about Egypt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBuMuzhvYeA
Australian witnesses police executing protestor in Egypt
A young Melbourne woman trapped at Cairo airport says she fears for her life after seeing a man on his knees with his hands in the air being shot by police during the deadly revolt that is gripping the nation.
"We left the streets because actually last night from my hotel room I saw someone shot and killed. Last night we saw riots, we saw looting, we saw fires. We decided it was time to get out of the country," Brigette told radio 3AW
"I'm not sure whether it was a real bullet or a rubber bullet, by that point no one was quite sure, but he was on his knees with his hands up and they pointed the gun at him.
"It's a little intense here, really intense actually.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/trapped-in-cairo-melbourne-student-fea...
Re: Egypt rises up – protests erupt to bring down Mubarak
aljazeera has some great coverage (even though they have been kicked out of the country and reporters arested) http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/
google set up a voice to tweet system, this one is really sweet http://www.saynow.com/playMsg.html?ak=TkxFNENGTHVQQzdTdVE4N0xILzlLdz09
good luck be strong and stay safe.
Democracy Now Coverage
There is also some great first hand accounts and interviews on the Democracy Now website
http://www.democracynow.org/
“Every Egyptian soldier is under oath not to fire on Egyptians”
“I would not have thought a scenario possible where we welcome military intervention but the Egyptian army is very much part of the fabric of Egyptian society. And in both 1977 and 1985 it refused direct orders to fire on Egyptian demonstrators. An oath taken by every soldier is that he will not shoot Egyptians. So at the moment the army is securing for us this space in our country where we are carrying out our peaceful, democratic, young, inclusive, open-source, grassroots revolution.
From an atmosphere piece by Ahdaf Soueif, female author of the novel The Map of Love.
Interview with protestor from Tahir Square
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtLJpzUp2Z8
Interview with Noam Chomsky
Chomsky: Why the Mideast Turmoil Is a Direct Threat to the American Empire - February 3, 2011 |
In recent weeks, popular uprisings in the Arab world have led to the ouster of Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the imminent end of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime, a new Jordanian government, and a pledge by Yemen’s longtime dictator to leave office at the end of his term. We speak to MIT Professor Noam Chomsky about what this means for the future of the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy in the region. When asked about President Obama’s remarks last night on Mubarak, Chomsky said: "Obama very carefully didn’t say anything... He’s doing what U.S. leaders regularly do. As I said, there is a playbook: whenever a favored dictator is in trouble, try to sustain him, hold on; if at some point it becomes impossible, switch sides." We continued the interview with Chomsky for 50 minutes after the live show.
http://www.alternet.org/story/149786/chomsky:_why_the_mideast_turmoil_is...