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Egypt's Day of Rage Goes On. Is the World Watching?
The scale of protests in Egypt has shaken a regime that has long relied on citizens' passivity to retain power
Tens of thousands of Egyptian demonstrators took to the streets on 25
January, young and old, Muslim and Christian, rich and poor, educated
and not so-educated. They all chanted "Long live Egypt", "Life, liberty
and human dignity" and "Down with the Mubarak regime".
The day marked for the celebration of Police Day was dubbed the Day of Rage. The protests, which continued through a second day in almost every part of the country, are showing no signs of abating on the third day, with a million-strong march scheduled for Friday. These demonstrations are sending shivers down the spine not only of the regime but of its friends and allies as well.
The scale of the protests came as a blow to all those who have been betting that a sleeping dragon will continue its slumber. For three decades now, Egyptians have been kept on a tight leash, fed more with promises than with bread. They were cajoled into compliance by a media that has the interests of the regime at heart and a religious establishment that owes its allegiance and existence to the state, but were often threatened into submission by the force of the baton if they refused to comply.
Egyptian grievances are numerous. They have seen neither the fruits of peace nor of the huge economic growth that Egypt is reported to be making in international economic indices. What they experience on a daily basis is endless queuing for inedible bread and suffocating traffic congestion as the police force is increasingly burdened with the task of protecting the regime and its men.
There were also demonstrations last month calling for a minimum monthly wage of 1,200 Egyptian pounds (roughly £130). Too much, said the government. It could only promise to institute a minimum wage of 400LE (£43). This is hardly surprising from a government made up of businesspeople who no doubt have a vested interest in keeping wages as low as possible. The spokesmen of the regime shamelessly argued that it was a fair wage to expect.
For some years now, the Mubarak regime has been heading for disaster. With rampant unemployment, soaring prices and a 30-year long state of emergency, its popularity has dropped to an all-time low. But more importantly, it has repeatedly shown its total disregard for public opinion, a disregard that would have amounted to political suicide under any other system.
An obvious example is the rigged parliamentary elections of November 2010, which were perhaps the worst in Egypt's history. The ruling National Democratic party had the audacity to announce that these elections were one of the fairest in Egypt's history. Ahmed Ezz, the iron-tycoon-turned-politician and one of the new guard at the NDP, who is known to have masterminded the electoral operation, triumphantly announced the results. He stated that the landslide victory that secured 98% of the parliamentary seats for the ruling party was the result of its popularity on the streets and the fruit of the hard work of its members.
The initial call for the Day of Rage was made by young Facebook activists inspired by the success of Tunisians in overthrowing Ben Ali. The Facebook invitation for the protests received 95,000 positive responses. Other forces and opposition groups later responded to the call, including the Muslim Brotherhood, whose participation has so far been quite low-key.
For the first time in decades, Egyptian protesters went out in unprecedented numbers across the whole country with one slogan: "People want the regime to fall". They made their demands clear. Mubarak should step down, the illegal parliament be dissolved and emergency law be suspended. The call was for the whole country to rally and unite, and there were no religious chants or slogans.
The reaction of the regime to the protests so far has been pathetically inadequate. It shows that this regime is still in denial. While Mubarak kept his silence, the interior ministry took on the task of communicating with the people, in the only way it knows how to. As it cracked down on demonstrators, it issued statements, banning any further protests and repeating the same old excuses. It blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for what it called riots on the streets and blamed their members for infiltrating the crowds in order to wreak havoc. This is supposed to do the trick of scaring the world about the propsect of an imminent Islamist takeover of Egypt – a fear that the regime has painstakingly been fostering. The interior ministry also blamed the ill-defined but frequently invoked "foreign hands" that are always bent on fomenting trouble and inciting people against their loving and God-fearing rulers.
State-controlled newspapers have also shown that their reports are approved, if not written, by the security apparatus. People were shocked to see the headlines of the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper on 26 January, after a day of massive protests in different Egyptian cities: "Widespread protests and disturbances in Lebanon". Egyptian state television was no better. While the streets were teeming with protests, it offered its usual mix of cookery programmes and soap operas. The demonstrations were, no doubt, happening in another country.
The reaction of Arab and international media has also been disappointing. Throughout the first day, there was a near-total disregard of the events happening on Egypt's streets. Al-Jazeera, which always follows important events as they happen, covered the demonstrations rather mutedly at the beginning, while concentrating on Lebanon. When it finally got round to covering the events, the coverage was poor in comparison with Tunisia. Western media, including CNN and the BBC, gave Egypt very limited space.
The so-called free world that prides itself on championing the causes of liberty and democracy seemed rather bewildered at what was happening and official statements took time to appear, if they did at all. The American and European governments' endorsement of the Mubarak government meant that they systematically turned a blind eye to its violation of human rights and its repression of dissidents. All Barack Obama could say in his comment on Egyptian elections was to say that he was concerned at the situation. He expressed no shock, condemnation or blame for the blatant violations of the most basic of democratic principles.
Hillary Clinton has reiterated her belief in the stability of the regime and has asked all parties concerned for restraint. She was probably too busy to follow the news closely. Otherwise she would have learned that peaceful demonstrators were attacked with rubber bullets, electric batons and tear gas, all incidentally made in the US. This is not to mention the new invention by the Egyptian security apparatus, which was reported to have used sewage water in dispersing demonstrators. But to give Clinton her due, she has politely asked Egyptian authorities to unblock Facebook and Twitter, which they did for a couple of hours.
The young people who have succeeded in rallying people around a common cause are out on the streets, reinventing themselves and the whole country. Their voices are loud and clear. The regime is now forced to listen. And the whole world will have to take heed.
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89 Comments so far
Show AllThe rage for "Life, liberty and human dignity" is spreading.
Time for Hillary to retire. She's been enabling bad men her whole life, for way too long. I hear Walmart has an opening on its Board of Directors. A great corporate lawyer, she would be perfect in that role. The sooner she leaves government, the better.
The Walton kids even have a spare mansion for her just outside Bentonville, Arkansas, a state almost as poor as Egypt.
i have high hopes for these arab boys girls men and women who are out in the streets demonstrationg for their rights and their dignity
the puppet states of amerika are trembling with the righteous rage of the people - i am sure these tin pot diktators are real happy to have their amerikan weapons to shoot their own
these folks who are demonstrating have set an example for the sheeple of amerika
the oligarchs in amerika have been warned this would happen by their own boy, the chickenhawk turd Zbigniew Brzezinski
"For the first time in human history almost all of humanity is politically activated, politically conscious and politically interactive... The resulting global political activism is generating a surge in the quest for personal dignity, cultural respect and economic opportunity in a world painfully scarred by memories of centuries-long alien colonial or imperial domination... The worldwide yearning for human dignity is the central challenge inherent in the phenomenon of global political awakening... That awakening is socially massive and politically radicalizing... The nearly universal access to radio, television and increasingly the Internet is creating a community of shared perceptions and envy that can be galvanized and channeled by demagogic political or religious passions. These energies transcend sovereign borders and pose a challenge both to existing states as well as to the existing global hierarchy, on top of which America still perches...
The youth of the Third World are particularly restless and resentful. The demographic revolution they embody is thus a political time-bomb, as well... Their potential revolutionary spearhead is likely to emerge from among the scores of millions of students concentrated in the often intellectually dubious "tertiary level" educational institutions of developing countries. Depending on the definition of the tertiary educational level, there are currently worldwide between 80 and 130 million "college" students. Typically originating from the socially insecure lower middle class and inflamed by a sense of social outrage, these millions of students are revolutionaries-in-waiting, already semi-mobilized in large congregations, connected by the Internet and pre-positioned for a replay on a larger scale of what transpired years earlier in Mexico City or in Tiananmen Square. Their physical energy and emotional frustration is just waiting to be triggered by a cause, or a faith, or a hatred...
[The] major world powers, new and old, also face a novel reality: while the lethality of their military might is greater than ever, their capacity to impose control over the politically awakened masses of the world is at a historic low. To put it bluntly: in earlier times, it was easier to control one million people than to physically kill one million people; today, it is infinitely easier to kill one million people than to control one million people."
amerika comes up against its bullshit mythology about democracy and freedom - fact is they support terror, terrorists and murderous despots everywhere
no denying it now
let me repeat for emphasis:
"To put it bluntly: in earlier times, it was easier to control one million people than to physically kill one million people; today, it is infinitely easier to kill one million people than to control one million people."
that pax amerika rght there for y'all to ponder
My experience has been - particularly in terms of college students - is that the media hype of "rage" is more a mask over profoundly dedicated students with practical concerns that recognize and EMBRACE the need to support voices of those excluded from higher education. Do not underestimate the importance of this.
Colorful depiction in extremis of legitimate voting block such as students can mislead very quickly into popular rhetoric of violence and expectation of violence which does a profound disservice to the future citizen parliamentarians of the world.
Thanks for the excerpt, medmedude. At least Brzezinski's not pretending.
I looked it up, found the NYT edited version of the lecture that has the opening only. Went to other sources and couldn't find the unedited speech. Do you have a link?
These passages from the Guardian article struck me:
" .... This is hardly surprising from a government made up of businesspeople who no doubt have a vested interest in keeping wages as low as possible. The spokesmen of the regime shamelessly argued that it [the official minimum wage] was a fair wage to expect."
"... But more importantly, it [the Mubarak regime] has repeatedly shown its total disregard for public opinion, a disregard that would have amounted to political suicide under any other system."
Thanks, Jack
Actually, considering the workings of the modern media, Edward Bernays theory, the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda model, and history - especially international labor and socialist movement history since the 1840's, I suspect exactly the opposite of your concluding paragraph is true. It is far, far easier to control one million to kill one million.
If the internet has brought such revolutionary change to organizing, why were there far larger mass mobilizations of workers that threatened (and in the case of Russia, overthrew) the establishment through the 19th and early 20th century, when not even telephones existed or were widely available? In my rust belt town in the late 19th century, there was a daily broadsheet newspaper available from a nearby street corner published by practically every kind of leftist-labor party and tendency imaginable. Flyers could be quickly printed and distributed in every back-street for rapid mass mobilizations. The worker was far, far more informed about his class interest and what the oligarchs were up to than today. There was a seamless system of trolleys and trains, so workers could get quickly to the actions without worrying about the fate of their beloved car.
Twitter and facebook and websites, are services owned and run by, or entirely dependent on a capitalist business. They can end the service worldwide in a millisecond with a few keystrokes. At very least, any mobilization for revolutionary action is in an incredibly precarious position if it is depending on these services - literally a few keystrokes from being utterly dissapeared without a trace the capitalists even having to kill anyone! But worse, such internet-based mobilizations may be unwitting dupes in an effort to disable revolutionary change by isolating and diluting all the participants into obscure corners of the internet.
Could such a thing be done when all the organizing information was on paper and neighbor-to-neighbor by word of mouth?
We don't need no goddamn twitter or facebook, we need workers to get off their asses, leave their smart phones at home, and just get in the streets.
Yeah.
Reading this, one is struck by how familiar it sounds.
i agree.
i still remember how shockingly familiar to me
the haitian and other latin american stories by isabel allende and eduardo galleano were, and
how similar the indian and pakistani experiences are to others' when i was reading their stories about partition written by indian and pakistani writers.
No doubt, the Nobel Peace Price laureate Obama is reassuring Mubarak that Xe's thugs (death squads) will be delivered, Overnight.
From a Guardian article:
As fresh waves of protesters broke through police cordons to join the throng in Tahrir, a festival atmosphere took hold – groups were cheered as they arrived carrying blankets and food, and demonstrators pooled money together to buy water and other supplies.
"The atmosphere is simply amazing – everyone is so friendly, there's no anger, no harassment, just solidarity and remarkable energy," added Hisham.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Similar accounts were made during the Paris Commune of 1871 where working class Parisians took over the city.
Good observation. Yes, indeed. The Paris Commune.
Dear Governments and Business people and corporations:
There is NO stopping an idea whose TIME has come. Besides, these people have nothing to eat, and what's more, they have NOTHING to lose!
Despite the media/govt's lack of appropriate attention, the news is spreading quickly. Time for another balloon boy.
Obama supports right-wing dictators in Honduras, Egypt and Tunisia (until Tunisian dictatorship was overthrown two weeks). Heck of a job, Barack...
No doubt the successful drive for self-determination in Sudan has some influence on events in Tunisia, Algeria, Yemen, and Egypt. The process of decolonization that was stopped by the USA and its so-called Cold War has reasserted itself and is being driven by a new generation unwilling to stoop like its parent's generation. The very underpublicized movement of the Global South is now grabbing headlines as they strive for a prize denied for far too long. A new and wholy unanticipated counterattack in the Global Class War is occuring. Egypt has tried to use the rhetoric of the Global War OF Terror in its attempt to get backing from its patron for its actions, but the US Empire is already too weakened for any threats or admonishments it makes to carry any weight, so deep is the hole it's dug with its wars and terror.
Sudan is a very different story. The "self-determination" of southern Sudan has US fingerprints all over it. See below:
~~~~
~snip~
AFTER THE South Sudanese themselves, the next most enthusiastic advocates of Southern secession may be members of the U.S. business and national security establishment. The U.S. supported the Southern rebels in the late phases of the civil war, as the regime in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, became a vocal opponent of U.S. policy in the Muslim world.
~snip~
At the same time, U.S. sanctions against Sudan--in particular, the inclusion of Sudan on the list of "state sponsors of terrorism"--prohibited U.S. companies from cashing in on Sudan's growing oil business. Capital from China, along with Malaysia and India, filled the investment vacuum. China has spent more than $8 billion to get Sudan's oil flowing, including the construction of the key pipeline. Sudan currently supplies 30 percent of the oil consumed in China.
~snip~
The U.S. turned to Plan B: Get South Sudan ready for independence, and--voilà--the U.S. would have a new oil-rich client that's open for business.
~snip~
Covert aid to the Southern rebel force, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), became open assistance from DynCorp, a CIA-infused private contractor whose toolkit ranges from oilfield logistics to military training--a for-profit activity that's apparently allowed while sanctions are in place.
~snip~
With military-to-military connections cemented even before the birth of the new country, the U.S. enlisted the help of regional allies to broker this year's vote.
http://socialistworker.org/2011/01/26/new-country-in-africa
Good to see you Tom.
You may find this interesting. Back a few years ago I put together a "what it will take" list. At the time it seemed like an impossible fantasy, so remote that it seemed impossible that I would ever live to see it.
* Massive spontaneous uprisings start happening in response to conditions
* "Reds" move to the front, and the unions are dragged that direction
* Leaders respond with measures that are certain to make the conditions worse, thereby insuring yet more resistance
* The resistance refuses to compromise when various enticements are offered and instead demands more
* The resistance starts spreading from country to country and gaining momentum, and connections are made between the movements in the different countries
* The resistance jumps the English channel (I saw that as a big and difficult step)
* The Arabic people rise up
* Police and military start switching sides for the first time
I have now checked those all off over the last 12 months or so. Amazing. Hard to believe.
Everything after that depends upon what we do here. The empire is teetering everywhere else. We will either side with the US ruling class as it brutally suppresses the movement - and pursuing electoral politics and trying to "restore America" or "regulate" or "take baby steps" are just dishonest ways to support that possible brutal repression and subjugation -
or....
...we won't.
Thanks for your contribution, Tom. It should be clear that it makes no difference if the US Empire is the root cause of Sudan's destabilization; the mere fact that people were allowed to pursue self-determination is huge for the region.
i'm at work so i must admit i haven't read the article above but did have time to read the article of the journalist for the Guardian who was beaten by Egyptian riot police and (i think) taped part of the encounter.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/egypt-riot-security-force-action
Go People of Egypt. People of the world stand with you. I stand with you.
and I await to take to the streets of Amerika and do the same when the time comes!
If you mean by Amerika the US, don't hold your breath. Its population members are by and large too isolated from each other, too polarized, too complacent, too self- indulgent, too frightened and paranoid, too ill-informed and immersed in myth, too antisocial to collectively rise up against anything or be capable of coherently identifying anything to rise up against. They are incapable of any common action other than histrionics and cathartic social theater.
Life liberty, and the desire to breed more children on an overpopulated planet, all the while complaining that they can't afford stuff at Wal Mart.
Crisis brings clarity. We can see it happening in front of us today. Egypt is an extremely important linchpin in the empire. People are being forced by events to choose sides, to reveal their true colors.
That post illustrates the underlying hypocrisy that permeates American "progressive" politics. Underneath the left-ish sounding rhetoric is a contempt and hostility toward the have-nots that is every bit as vicious and reactionary as any found among the right wingers.
To me it illustrates the results of people being marginalized, ridiculed, scorned and discriminated against. Nothing a heterosexual white man like yourself could understand. At the Pittsburg protests, it was pretty much only the gay community that got militant. Everyone else was pretty much herded into pens and teargassed with nary a whimper.
This person takes the higher ground (s)he earned through their lifestyle and rubs it in our face. Good for him/her. For all this yapping about tongue clicking, you sure tsk tsk a lot.
You are sure determined to get some sort of bitter feud going here. Very sad. Had you paid any attention whatsoever, I have been the most consistent person here over the last few months confronting homophobic remarks and defending equality, and arguing for the vital importance of the battle for equality, often in the face of vicious homophobic baiting. Most here assumed that I was gay, now you assume that I am not. Very sad.
I was objecting to the WalMart remarks, and to the calls for reducing the population. How you turned that into an issue related to the battle for equality and against bigotry, and then insinuated that I am a straight person opposed to that struggle, is a complete mystery. I have consistently argued strongly for GLBTQ equality, and I have consistently argued against the population reduction line of reasoning, and I have consistently opposed ridiculing the working class people as "WalMart shoppers."
Explanation please. Progressives are hostile to have nots?
We have been reduced to two classes, the filthy rich and everyone else. Conservatives may have claimed ownership of our economy. While anyone remaining in the middle class may refuse to accept the eventual loss of status or personal property, the fact remains that the coup for our government takeover has been publically announced and declared all but over. Why would you now try to separate Progressives from the main? Our forces need to communicate, not isolate.
Progressives have refused to "shut up and sit down", our voices have been heard from the beginning. Dividing the opposition is at the very top of Conservatives' wish list.
An angry Irishman takes someone to task for being angry. I'll file that one under "high comedy".
Zamboni you make an interesting point. Watch the Egyptian military.
Unfortunately the U.S. will provide whatever funding, weaponry and military advice to the Egyptian regime in order to prevent any semblance of democracy emerging there. The absence of religion in the demonstrations makes it a bit more difficult for the MSM to demonize the demonstrators, however they have been quite effective in underplaying or ignoring the events there. Soon Mubarak (who many believe was responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat) will react with brutal force, hundreds will die and the general populace will be cowed once again into accepting the status quo. A similar demonstration here in America to restore democracy would also face the same brutal response if the the ruling elites actually felt that the masses were becoming organized.
Let's keep them busy here.
Can we stop obsessing about "brutal responses" and fear-mongering? Everything worth doing comes at a price and entails some risk. Saving the world and the human race is worth taking some risks. People around the world are willing to do that. Americans are clucking their tongues and wagging their fingers - "big brother will hurt us. Best to be careful."
The more militant we are, the more courage we have, the bolder we are, the less danger there will be. There is no safety in cowering and submitting. That is an illusion.
Right on ! People rise up; resist the fascist amerikan empire !
He thinks he's saving the world and the human race. I'd tread carefully.
Using an old HP selection: F&F and thank you.
Right. The the advances of working class struggles are only secured by subsequent advances in working class struggles.
Mubarak will do the a Tienanmen sq. in a few days. The tanks will roll and hundreds maybe thousands of Egyptians will die ground under their treads. No Arab regime can last as a democracy. These countries have always been authoritarian regimes or worse and going to the streets won't change that.
It is an absurd statement that the Arabs have no choice but to submit to authoritarianism - are unworthy or incapable of anything else. As if Americans know anything about democracy. As if Americans know how to have democracy. Absurd.
Not without massive US help.
As a working class person in the US, and I presume as a leftist, why give tacit approval and acceptance to the US assisting the brutal suppression of working class brothers and sisters resiting the empire?
Your cynicism (going to the streets won't change that) jingosim (Arabs can't have democracy) and lack of class solidarity (they, over there, will be crushed) seem counter-productive to me.
Something to consider.
Some links that utterly contradict your statement that taking to the streets does not change anything -
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article244421.ece
Jordan king urges speedy reforms ahead of Friday’s demos
By ABDUL JALIL MUSTAFA | ARAB NEWS
Published: Jan 28, 2011 00:57 Updated: Jan 28, 2011 00:57
AMMAN: Jordan's King Abdallah on Thursday urged the government and the parliament to speed up "comprehensive" political, economic and social reforms.
The monarch's remarks came 24 hours before a coalition of opposition parties, trade unions and activists said they planned to stage demonstrations after Friday prayers to press their demand for genuine reforms.
"All officials concerned should shoulder their responsibilities and take their decision in a daring, transparent and clear manner," the king told leading lawmakers from the lower house of parliament whom he summoned to discuss the latest spate of protests in the country.
Earlier in the week, King Abdallah held a similar meeting with leading figures from the upper house of Parliament.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gsmlRD9Sn6zuIlkpH_Vqqu8VPeJA?docId=5775345
Human Rights Watch says Jordan should stop stifling peaceful dissent
By Dale Gavlak (CP) – 15 hours ago
AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan should stop stifling dissent and allow citizens to voice their grievances freely, an international human rights group said Thursday.
The New York-based group said that, despite permitting recent protests against inflation and unemployment, authorities in 2010 prosecuted dissidents and prohibited peaceful gatherings to protest government policies.
In recent weeks, thousands of Jordanians have staged a series of peaceful street protests calling for their government to step down in an outpouring of anger over economic hardship and a lack of democratic reforms in the absolute monarchy.
"The scale of the protests came as a blow to all those who have been betting that a sleeping dragon will continue its slumber."
Very interesting metaphor. An when will the other various "sleeping dragons" around the world awaken? Particularly the great one of the West. Can they be held spellbound forever? No one can predict how history will unfold. It certainly is exciting to watch and read about these mass popular movements that are happening now. I stand in solidarity with all peoples around the world who seek to be free from the oppression and domination of their masters.
I, as an Egyptian citizen, would give my life to bring down Mubarak's dictatorship and replace him with a patriot like ElBaradei. Bilady, Bilady, Bilady!
From what I heard on the news, high unemployment and soaring food prices are the main issues. Makes sense. When people start to go hungry they get out of their chairs. The same thing will happen here if 'food insecurity' grows.
Puppets of US imperialism, run for your life 'cuz millions of angry and fed-up people are rising against your abusive and corrupt regimes.
The Empire has entered the wobble zone: it is shaking, for its puppets are shaking.
Once again, as with the Iranian revolution and the collapse of the Berlin wall and of the Soviet Union, the US intelligence agencies, albeit obese with tens of millions of our tax dollars, did not see it coming.
Solidarity with the Egyptian people in their struggle for self-determination and freedom!
The answer to the title question is:
Yes..... but only a minuscule number in N. America.
There's a good chance that these "movements" will sweep
not only the puppetry aside, but with "leaks" will
hoist Western(US) perfidy on it's own petard.
I now think it is better than a good chance - it is a certainty.
It doesn't matter what Americans think anymore. The only reason it ever mattered was because the rulers could bribe and bomb people to get their attention. Americans have an inflated sense of their own importance, and closely identify with the ruling class here - not everyday Americans, but political observers including most liberals an progressives right here. It does not much matter what we think here. The struggle will go on, and progress will happen no matter what "opinions" smug Americans have about it.
The US ruling class - and all of its apologists among the gentrified intellectuals whatever their pretenses at being in opposition to the rulers might be - has money and weapons. By that standard Britain is very important, and Egypt is some inconsequential backwater of backward people - nothing to worry about.
But in the struggle that has now started and is growing and spreading every day, it is not dollars and weapons that matter. It is numbers. The US (the ruling class here and its sycophants) are in trouble - big trouble.
All of us here who have any legitimate claim to calling themselves an opponent of the warm, torture, suppression, exploitation and murder going on at the hands of the US ruling class should be encouraged by this, not aloof and cynical, and not antagonistic to the resistance movement spreading around the world.
Americans are no longer important, no longer exceptional. Each of us can now unambiguously stand with the working class, or stay hiding behind the ruling class (otherwise known as "electoral politics" "representative democracy" "middle class" etc.) and the only thing the US ruling class has is a lock on the money, and bombs to blow people up. The more that is true, the stronger the resistance will grow. There is no going back now.
Is the world watching? What does that mean?
As the global worker uprising spreads from country to country, the workers in different countries are definitely watching. Who else is there? Are the rulers watching? Oh, yes, very much so. Will they then "listen" and then "change" for the better? Of course not. They are contemplating how to smash the uprising down.
Are Americans watching? Not so much, but that doesn't mean much. This will happen whether or not anyone is watching. It will be inescapable, undeniable.
Is the implication to the title that in order for change to happen, someone (presumably the ruling class) must be "watching" and "caring" and then "do the right thing?"
But this massive spreading global uprising is not analogous to some rowdy teenagers trying to get Mommy's and Daddy's attention to beg for some favors. Oh, no. Far from it.
Is the world watching? This is not a TV show in need of ratings or approval from anyone.
Is the world watching? This is not a sporting event or film seeking an audience to entertain.
Is the world watching? This is not a marketing pitch selling people something.
Here is a better question: is the world being shaken to its foundations? Yes. The "opinions" of American observers are irrelevant.
You're quite right in your analysis. The Egyptian Street is far ahead of Establishment (Government and Opposition alike). It should create its own leadership. This shouldn't be a cause of worry. Those young men and women have demonstrated a unique and highly admired political maturity in their spontaneity. Since day one, they proclaimed their clear-cut demand: Change the System.
For myself, I have been impressed by a few details. Demonstrators were remarkably peaceful and non-violent (violence came only from police forces). No Islamic slogans were raised; only political slogans against oppression and corruption. While tens of thousands took to the street for three days, not a single incident of sexual harassment was recorded (in a country notoriously known for that social problem!)
I am really happy for my country and for my people, who have moved at long last.
However, the fact that the regime has resorted to cutting all internet services and forcing a media blackout on the country bodes ill for tomorrow. Now is the time for every honest man and woman to stand by the Egyptian people in their struggle for freedom and dignity.
"The reaction of Arab and international media has also been disappointing. Throughout the first day, there was a near-total disregard of the events happening on Egypt's streets. Al-Jazeera, which always follows important events as they happen, covered the demonstrations rather mutedly at the beginning, while concentrating on Lebanon. When it finally got round to covering the events, the coverage was poor in comparison with Tunisia."
I am happy to support Al Jazeera. But, I have always found it disappointing. It just seems... off. Is it just me?
I noticed that. People are being forced by events to choose sides, and they can no longer hide. We will see that more and more here, as people who previously sounded as though they were opponents of the rulers start revealing themselves to not be. Modern Democratic party, liberal and progressive politics are so sloppy and indistinct that many people have been able to hide in them who are deeply sympathetic to those in power and the existing social arrangements while at the same time sounding as though they were not. This is part of the ongoing process of confusing and misleading us and herding us back into the "work within the system" and "ain't American democracy grand" and "restore the American dream" illusions.
It is starting to get interesting, and it will continue to get more and more interesting from here on.
"which side are you on, which side are you on?"
The "nobodies" have woken up and are on the march. Many here will scurry over to and support the "somebodies." The "somebodies" will try (as always) to murderously suppress the uprising.
I stumbled upon this when finding the thread where guitarist was 86'd. You wrote this there:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/23-6
>>No, of course I don't "want a revolution" nor do I advocate one. Nor does any serious leftist. "Revolution" is a romantic fantasy.
Which begs the question, whose side are you on?
Here is the rest so people can actually read what TA wrote:
No, of course I don't "want a revolution" nor do I advocate one. Nor does any serious leftist. "Revolution" is a romantic fantasy. Yes, I support fighting back and yes I support overthrowing Capitalism and the system falsely called "representative democracy." Yes I work to build class solidarity, and yes I well know that there will be ferocious resistance from the ruling class. It may well take something that in hindsight will be called by historians a "revolution." But no one in their right mind advocates revolution as an end in itself, for its own sake, nor does any serious leftist think they can spark or master mind it or be some glorious hero. Class analysis tells us that an overthrow of the ruling class by the working class will happen. It does not say "get out there and spread violence to prove how committed and brave you are." It says, get to work organizing and educating, and place yourself in the humble service of the working class as a whole. Discipline, discernment and humility will be needed. The group will decide how you can be most useful to the cause, not you. You will be a faithful and loyal comrade, or you will be a lose cannon in it for yourself.