here an excerpt from my most recent article
...
There is more at stake than just these violations or the extent to which these elections have been free and fair. Permeating the 2011-2012 elections is a much broader and more significant matter that is not unique to Egypt, namely how these elections and the discourse of democracy that they have generated are being used to undermine the struggle for revolutionary change.
...
read on
Showing posts with label jan25. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jan25. Show all posts
Monday, January 9, 2012
Friday, August 12, 2011
The trial outside the court المحاكمة برة المحكمة
ده مش الموضوع
this is not the issue
ده الموضوع
this is the issue
ام خالد- ام شهيد ثورة ٢٥ يناير
Om Khaled- the mother of a martyr of January 25 revolution
ام محمود- ام شهيد ٢٥ يناير
Om Mahmoud- the mother of a martyr of January 25 revolution
ابو محمد- اب شهيد ٢٥ يناير
Abu Mohamed- the father of a martyr of January 25 revolution
مصطفى مرسي، اب شهيد ثورة ٢٥ يناير
Mostafa Morsy- the father of a martyr of January 25 revolution
ابو موحاب، اب شهيد ثورة ٢٥ يناير
Abu Mohab- the father of a martyr of January 25 revolution
تارق، اخ شهيد ثورة ٢٥ يناير
Tariq- the brother of a martyr of January 25 revolution
this is not the issue
ده الموضوع
this is the issue
ام خالد- ام شهيد ثورة ٢٥ يناير
Om Khaled- the mother of a martyr of January 25 revolution
ام محمود- ام شهيد ٢٥ يناير
Om Mahmoud- the mother of a martyr of January 25 revolution
ابو محمد- اب شهيد ٢٥ يناير
Abu Mohamed- the father of a martyr of January 25 revolution
مصطفى مرسي، اب شهيد ثورة ٢٥ يناير
Mostafa Morsy- the father of a martyr of January 25 revolution
ابو موحاب، اب شهيد ثورة ٢٥ يناير
Abu Mohab- the father of a martyr of January 25 revolution
تارق، اخ شهيد ثورة ٢٥ يناير
Tariq- the brother of a martyr of January 25 revolution
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
what i expect to happen in egypt
sorry this is rough. I will be back soon to edit. Heading out to tahrir now.
Friday night I witnessed the tanks roll into Tahrir square downtown Cairo on Friday night. To my amazement the crowds cheered. So for the most part the demonstrators are celebrating the military presence on the streets of Cairo. One demonstrator told me "the police protect us from our enemies, they won't do us any harm." Until last night demonstrators holding a permanent sit-in in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo were surrounded by a number of military tanks charing cigarettes and jokes with soldiers, while one soldier I saw joined the protestors for evening prayer.
This morning about 11am security officials stormed the Aljazeera office in downtown Cairo and closed the office. Two mobile phone carriers sent out messages that people should stay home to protect their homes from the looting. According to Aljazeera earlier today the protestors are no longer sitting on the tanks and there are reports that the military presence is spreading all over Cairo. Via @justimage the US embassy is calling on its citizens to leave Egypt, via Dutch journalist Dirk Wanrooj Heineken and Shell have evacuated their employees. @monasosh reports at 12:15 the military are tightening access for civilians to Tahrir Square. At 1pm the satellite carrier Nile Sat blocks Aljazeera Arabic from viewers in the Arab world. Choppers are increasingly flying over the skies of Cairo.
Despite the positive attitude of the people towards the army, there is no reason to believe that the military shares any interests with the common Egyptians on the street. The reason people are calling for change is that they are tired of economic policies of the Mubarak regime, they have had enough of police violence and a government that does not provide for its people. The faltering Egyptian regime's allies are interested only in what they term "stability" which means prosperity for a small class of Egyptian elites and upper middle class on the backs of the labor of the vast population. What this process entails is the selling off of Egyptian natural resources and enslaving of the Egyptian labor force working to next to nothing while food price go through the roof. The reason for this is the decisions made by the Egyptian policy makers in line with the logic of neo-liberal institutions like the World Bank and IMF, seated in the USA that primarily benefit the economies of the global North.
As we slowly approach sundown and the supposed recent daily curfew in Cairo I expect tonight will be different than the past few days. At some stage the military is going to stop acting as a mediating force and will try to take direct control. I have no illusions that they are acting as anything but a vessel for this sort of "stability" that the global North desires. In Egypt we are no longer in the age of military coups, it is not a question of who has the most influence within the military and what they can get away with, it is a matter of the interests of external forces are and these external forces are looking for the right partner within the current Egyptian regime. What does this mean on the ground? There will be harsh clashes between demonstrators against the military who will quickly switch sides. But the people will not let go easily. In the middle of all this there a lot of looting taking place especially in the suburbs. This has a mix of sources, many of the looters are police officers following orders to loot just like Fateh PA members did during Hamas' initial rule in the Gaza Strip. Other looters are petty criminals released from police stations, partly by the police themselves before they fled, also involved are opportunists who are simply hungry under the economic pressure of living under the circumstances existent in Egypt today.
All this to say, this mass mobilization of the Egyptian street is not without purpose. Rather, this is a powerful manifestation of the will of the people. As I walked the streets amongst protestors I was constantly amazed by the extreme attention protesters paid to parked cars and stores we passed by. The heart of this protest is a strong rejection of a tyrant, the rejection of classist economic policies and proof of the failure of neo-colonial capitalism everywhere.
Friday night I witnessed the tanks roll into Tahrir square downtown Cairo on Friday night. To my amazement the crowds cheered. So for the most part the demonstrators are celebrating the military presence on the streets of Cairo. One demonstrator told me "the police protect us from our enemies, they won't do us any harm." Until last night demonstrators holding a permanent sit-in in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo were surrounded by a number of military tanks charing cigarettes and jokes with soldiers, while one soldier I saw joined the protestors for evening prayer.
This morning about 11am security officials stormed the Aljazeera office in downtown Cairo and closed the office. Two mobile phone carriers sent out messages that people should stay home to protect their homes from the looting. According to Aljazeera earlier today the protestors are no longer sitting on the tanks and there are reports that the military presence is spreading all over Cairo. Via @justimage the US embassy is calling on its citizens to leave Egypt, via Dutch journalist Dirk Wanrooj Heineken and Shell have evacuated their employees. @monasosh reports at 12:15 the military are tightening access for civilians to Tahrir Square. At 1pm the satellite carrier Nile Sat blocks Aljazeera Arabic from viewers in the Arab world. Choppers are increasingly flying over the skies of Cairo.
Despite the positive attitude of the people towards the army, there is no reason to believe that the military shares any interests with the common Egyptians on the street. The reason people are calling for change is that they are tired of economic policies of the Mubarak regime, they have had enough of police violence and a government that does not provide for its people. The faltering Egyptian regime's allies are interested only in what they term "stability" which means prosperity for a small class of Egyptian elites and upper middle class on the backs of the labor of the vast population. What this process entails is the selling off of Egyptian natural resources and enslaving of the Egyptian labor force working to next to nothing while food price go through the roof. The reason for this is the decisions made by the Egyptian policy makers in line with the logic of neo-liberal institutions like the World Bank and IMF, seated in the USA that primarily benefit the economies of the global North.
As we slowly approach sundown and the supposed recent daily curfew in Cairo I expect tonight will be different than the past few days. At some stage the military is going to stop acting as a mediating force and will try to take direct control. I have no illusions that they are acting as anything but a vessel for this sort of "stability" that the global North desires. In Egypt we are no longer in the age of military coups, it is not a question of who has the most influence within the military and what they can get away with, it is a matter of the interests of external forces are and these external forces are looking for the right partner within the current Egyptian regime. What does this mean on the ground? There will be harsh clashes between demonstrators against the military who will quickly switch sides. But the people will not let go easily. In the middle of all this there a lot of looting taking place especially in the suburbs. This has a mix of sources, many of the looters are police officers following orders to loot just like Fateh PA members did during Hamas' initial rule in the Gaza Strip. Other looters are petty criminals released from police stations, partly by the police themselves before they fled, also involved are opportunists who are simply hungry under the economic pressure of living under the circumstances existent in Egypt today.
All this to say, this mass mobilization of the Egyptian street is not without purpose. Rather, this is a powerful manifestation of the will of the people. As I walked the streets amongst protestors I was constantly amazed by the extreme attention protesters paid to parked cars and stores we passed by. The heart of this protest is a strong rejection of a tyrant, the rejection of classist economic policies and proof of the failure of neo-colonial capitalism everywhere.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Egypt: What's Coming
Considering this jittery position of the powers that be,
(they provide their friends with these,)
and the jittery position of him,
i think our "allies" will put in place this guy
@bencnn
ElBaradei at airport says the point of no return has been reached must be peaceful change govt must stop using violence #Jan25 #Egypt
8:12pm January 27
whom "the people"
didn't elect.
This is maybe a tip toe better than what we have lived under for the past 30 years... but it is a continuation of Egypt's neo-liberal "reforms" a la mr. fayyad
... just a guess
and i dont like it.
Around here we need to start thinking about alternatives to the nation-state, because after all the "post-colonial moment is still colonial"
(they provide their friends with these,)
and the jittery position of him,
i think our "allies" will put in place this guy
@bencnn
ElBaradei at airport says the point of no return has been reached must be peaceful change govt must stop using violence #Jan25 #Egypt
8:12pm January 27
whom "the people"
didn't elect.
This is maybe a tip toe better than what we have lived under for the past 30 years... but it is a continuation of Egypt's neo-liberal "reforms" a la mr. fayyad
... just a guess
and i dont like it.
Around here we need to start thinking about alternatives to the nation-state, because after all the "post-colonial moment is still colonial"
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Ustream shut down, live feed of Cairo Tahrir protest moved here and then protest ends suddenly
latest from eye witnesses on the scene at 1am jan 26, state security move in to arrest thousands of protestors, phones are out, twitter, bambuser and ustream shut down.
Watch live video from cairowitness on Justin.tv
After police fire dozens of tear gas canisters into the crowds, all protestors disperse, arrests made
Watch live video from cairowitness on Justin.tv
After police fire dozens of tear gas canisters into the crowds, all protestors disperse, arrests made
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