PoliticsEgypt: Revolution: Khaled Said, recovering from Army's attack on protesters in latest round, expresses 'cautious trust' again

The Facebook face of the Egyptian student revolution 'We are all Khaled Said' says

"My trust in the army was shaken after yesterday's events. It was awful & most protesters felt betrayed by the army that promised NEVER to attack us. The army's apology has helped. It's the first time ever someone ruling Egypt apologises for a mistake. Mubarak always accused victims of being the attackers. I now have a cautious trust in the Army. That's my own personal view on the situation."

What else can he say? -- to lose trust definitively woud land the distrusters in whole new stage of development of the revolution.  Or shrinking back into quietism, perhaps.  It's a tricky and worrisome dilemma to have to face and with which to cope in the present endeavour.

-- Politicarp

Excellent infographic map of the 'epicenter' of the Cairo revolution from Tahrir Square outward.  "18 Days at the Center of Egypt's Revolution" (Jan25 up to Feb12,2k11) New York Times.

Brief diary-like sketches of each day from Feb12 to update for Feb25.2011 "Egypt News, The Protests" New York Times.

General Information on Egypt

Official Name: Arab Republic of Egypt
Capital: Cairo (Current local time)
Government Type: Republic
Population: 80.3 million
Area: 386,000 square miles; approximately equal to Texas and New Mexico combined
Languages: Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes
Literacy: Total Population: [71%] Male: [83%]; Female: [59%]
Year of Independence: 1922
Web site: Egypt.gov.eg (in Arabic and English) 

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Unfit for Democracy?

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Don’t tell people dying for freedom in the Arab world that they’re not ready for it.

February 26, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ),POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT, MIDDLE EAST, CHINA, CAIRO (EGYPT), RIYADH (SAUDI ARABIA), BAHRAIN, MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

How the Arabs Turned Shame Into Liberty

By FOUAD AJAMI

To topple the tyrants, societies had to stop enabling them.

February 26, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS,MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ), ARABS,COUPS D'ETAT AND ATTEMPTED COUPS D'ETAT, POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT, LIBYA, TUNISIA, BAHRAIN, YEMEN, BEN ALI, ZINE EL-ABIDINE, HUSSEIN, SADDAM, NASSER, GAMAL ABDEL, MUBARAK, GAMAL, QADDAFI, MUAMMAR EL-

Cairo Protests Resume in Tahrir Square

By LIAM STACK

Protests returned to Tahrir Square on Friday as people rallied to keep pressure on Egypt’s transitional government.

February 25, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS,MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ), CAIRO (EGYPT), TAHRIR SQUARE (CAIRO), MUBARAK, HOSNI

Mubarak’s Regime and Its Link to Trade Center Attacks

By JIM DWYER

The oppression under Hosni Mubarak during his years as president of Egypt can be linked to the violent extremism behind the attacks on the World Trade Center.

February 25, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: TERRORISM, WORLD TRADE CENTER (NYC),MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ), BOMBS AND EXPLOSIVES, NEW YORK CITY, ABDEL RAHMAN, OMAR, MUBARAK, HOSNI

A Tipping Point for Oil Prices

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS

Most economists think that while high by historical standards and an impediment to growth, oil prices are not high enough to completely derail the economic recovery. But if prices go much higher, all bets are off.

February 25, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND TRENDS, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ), OIL (PETROLEUM) AND GASOLINE, PRICES (FARES, FEES AND RATES), PRODUCTION, UNITED STATES ECONOMY, ALGERIA, BAHRAIN, CHINA, EGYPT, LIBYA, SAUDI ARABIA, TUNISIA, UNITED STATES, YEMEN

Listening to the Revolution

By CATHERINE ASHTON

We should listen to what changes the Egyptians and Tunisians seek. And we must act.

February 25, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: DEMOCRACY (THEORY AND PHILOSOPHY),TUNISIA, EUROPEAN UNION

Latest Updates on Libya's Revolt and Mideast Protests

By ROBERT MACKEY

On Friday, The Lede is following Libya's revolt and protests in Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq and the West Bank.

February 25, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS,MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ), BAHRAIN,EGYPT, IRAQ, LIBYA, YEMEN

Hundreds of Thousands Protest Across Mideast

By SHARON OTTERMAN and J. DAVID GOODMAN

Protesters in Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain and Egypt demanded accountability and expressed solidarity with the uprising in Libya.

February 25, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS,MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ), LIBYA, YEMEN,BAHRAIN, IRAQ, MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, MALIKI, NURI KAMAL AL-,QADDAFI, MUAMMAR EL-, SALEH, ALI ABDULLAH

Sizing Up Revolutions in Waiting

By CHRYSTIA FREELAND | REUTERS

Predicting whether other countries will go the way of Egypt and Tunisia, analysts say, would involve understanding their potential for rebellion and the possible catalysts.

February 24, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET, POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT, TUNISIA, MIDDLE EAST

The Caucus Podcast: Egypt vs. Libya

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Reporters and editors discussed President Obama's varied reactions to North African uprisings.

February 24, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ), UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, EGYPT,LIBYA, OBAMA, BARACK

U.S. Trying to Pick Winners in New Mideast

By MARK LANDLER and HELENE COOPER

The Obama administration has come to a stark recognition: the region’s monarchs are likely to survive; its presidents are more likely to fall.

February 24, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ), POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT, TUNISIA, MIDDLE EAST, JORDAN, BAHRAIN, YEMEN

Tumult Around the Region

An overview of the day’s developments in the region.

February 24, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS,DEFENSE AND MILITARY FORCES, TUNISIA, LIBYA, SAUDI ARABIA,ALGERIA, WEST BANK, BAHRAIN, YEMEN, IRAQ

Latest Updates on Libyan Uprising

By ROBERT MACKEY

On Thursday, The Lede is following the uprising in Libya and protest movements across North Africa and the Middle East.

February 24, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS,MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ), BAHRAIN,EGYPT, LIBYA, MOROCCO, YEMEN

Tumult Around the Region

An overview of the day’s developments in the region.

February 23, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS,SHIITE MUSLIMS, POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT, LIBYA, SAUDI ARABIA, IRAN, YEMEN, BAHRAIN

Arab Revolts as Viewed From Beijing

By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW

China has been closely monitoring Middle Eastern unrest, looking to assess how to respond to citizens’ grievances and how quickly frustrations can become violent.

February 23, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS,POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT, TUNISIA, LIBYA, BEIJING (CHINA),CHINA

Egypt's Tourism Industry Faces Sharp Reversal

By EMAD MEKAY

Egypt’s tourism industry is losing $1 billion a month as tourists avoid the country in the wake of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

February 23, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA UNREST (2010- ), TRAVEL AND VACATIONS, MUBARAK, HOSNI

Economics and Democracy in Egypt

By CASEY B. MULLIGAN

Economic indicators signal that Egypt is not likely to embrace democracy quickly, an economist writes.

February 23, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: ARAB WORLD UNREST (2010- ),DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS, POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT, EGYPT, CLEMSON UNIVERSITY

Feb. 24 Updates on the Uprising in Libya

By ROBERT MACKEY

On Wednesday, The Lede is following the uprising in Libya and protest movements in Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Morocco and Iran.

February 23, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: ARAB WORLD UNREST (2010- ),DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS, BAHRAIN, EGYPT,IRAN, LIBYA, MOROCCO, YEMEN

Teaching Rebels

By FILIPE CAMPANTE and DAVIN CHOR

The rise of political defiance in Arab dictatorships matches the rise in levels of education.

February 22, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS,EDUCATION (SECONDARY)

Latest Updates on Middle East Protests

By ROBERT MACKEY

On Tuesday, The Lede is following protest movements in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Morocco, Iran and Egypt.

February 22, 2011

MORE ON EGYPT AND: ARAB WORLD UNREST (2010- ),DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND RIOTS, BAHRAIN, EGYPT,IRAN, LIBYA, MOROCCO, YEMEN

PoliticsArabZone: WSJ list: Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria, Palestinian Authority, Iran, and of course Tunisia and Egypt

Wall Street Journal carries a summative dispatch by margaret Coker, Matt Bradley, and Tamer El-Ghobashiny that overviews "demands for similiar political reforms" that have already "swept across the Arab world ... following the resignation of [Egypt's] President Hosni Mubarak.

Caution your optimism, however.  Iran is trying to co-opt the revolutionary virus, vainly imagining it can steer Arab youth in its own direction (Iran is not Arab, but Persian predominately).   Gaddafi's regime in Libya has been given almost a full week to prepare its troops and goons to smash the scheduled mass demonstrations planned for Thursday, Feb18,2k11.

Not mentioned on WSJ's list, both Jordan and Lebanon are still two cawt in their old ways, too impacted by stalemates (at best) that divide the new generation, apparently thus preventing the launch of any genuinely new initiative.  Don't look for any real change in these countries unless the new generational in Iran seizes its moment against the Ayatollahs, and wins.  More likely, the Iranian state woud use massive repression by its army and its Revolutionary Guards before a real chance were opened.  At the moment, Syria seems to have made its own separate peace with the agents of Iran who put the former country into the Iranian Ayatollah's orbit.

Three factors must be weighed in most of these countries:  women, Sunni vs Shi'ite differences in each population, and the size and entanglements of the Christian population in each of these countries where it exists.

-- Politicarp

PoliticsEgypt: Transition: Mubarak disappoints, again; Cairo blogger announces Friday's biggest march ever

Update:  See video of a scholars panel at Hudson Institute USA (feb8,2k11) on C-Span.org.



Cairo blogger Abu A. sends "passionate email" to Huffington Post (Feb11,2k11) with an announcement that today, Friday, will bring the youth revolution's largest march and demonstrations so far: 

 A very URGENT update on the situation in Cairo. We just finished our late night/morning emergency meeting within range of Tahrir Square with representatives from each sector of our trusted civil disobedience organizers. We have decided unanimously to march from Tahrir Square to the Presidential Palace later today on this Friday the 11th of February. The word is spreading rapidly that it shall be the largest peaceful protest witnessed in Cairo thus far. This has just been decided upon after Mubarak's "bait-and-switch" speech that turned the crowd from hopeful to angry earlier. Much fear is in the air, however there is power in numbers. May peace guide our actions as we seek a new dawn in Cairo. 

Earlier, the same Abu A. showed just how naïve to a fawlt, these youthful protesters can be.  He cites the vapid rhetoric we have come to distrust, just as much as we distrust the dictators.  But he makes some 
very hard-reality points as well.  Now Abu A's email text:

 [There] is something we are rallying around and showing others here as the speech we the people of Cairo WANTED Mubarak to give. It is an analogy for our situation in trying to get a true Democracy and no more dictators regardless of name or rank. We do not want any hard-line Caliphate like Iran as that would be worse for human rights than even Mubarak's secret police squads. We want tolerance and an open economy without corruption or crackdowns for a change.

The speech video I refer to is the one given by Charlie Chaplin in his movie The Great Dictator when his character is mistaken as the exact double for the movie's parody of Hitler and him handing over the power to the people.

Just as Mubarak and the rest of the 30 year old dictatorship friends in the current power structure should be doing as well. This is the best analogy for what we want. Please watch and you will see what we are trying to strive for here now. May peace guide our actions as we seek a new dawn in Cairo. 

Yet, as long as the 10% Christian national minority in Egypt is not mentioned -- is erased -- along with other Egyptian minorities and demographics, the "general community" idea proves itself historically to be a screen for the same old totalist and totalitarian propensities borne along by the rhetoric of democratic pieties. Read: democratistic, majoritarianism.  Beware, young revolutionaries!  I know you mean well, and I want to support you in your endeavour for a renewed Egypt where the old and the new can live side by side in good will.





[Check out refWrite's YouTube channel, yUT2ube, for this vid and our entire collection.]


-- comment, plus materials from HuffPo, posted by Politicarp

Huffington Post (Feb10,2k11)

Egypt labor strikes break out 

across the country; protesters defiant

AP/The Huffington Post Posted: 02/ 9/11 02:45 PM

CAIRO - Thousands of state workers and impoverished Egyptians launched strikes and protests around the country on Wednesday over their economic woes as anti-government activists sought to expand their campaign to oust President Hosni Mubarak despite warnings from the vice president that protests won't be tolerated much longer.

Some 8,000 protesters, mainly farmers, set barricades of flaming palm trees in the southern province of Assiut, blocking the main highway and railway to Cairo to complain of bread shortages. They then drove off the governor by pelting his van with stones. Hundreds of slum dwellers in the Suez Canal city of Port Said set fire to part of the governor's headquarters in anger over lack of housing.

Efforts by Vice President Omar Suleiman to open a dialogue with protesters over reforms have broken down since the weekend, with youth organizers of the movement deeply suspicious that he plans only superficial changes far short of real democracy. They refuse any talks unless Mubarak steps down first.