…..
“….the fact that the outside world continues to engage this guy Mubarak is ridiculous. It’s over.
This has nothing to do with any political party. It is truly a popular movement. There is concern about what is going to happen next. We need to continue to experience this with joy. We have to remain peaceful until we get our demands. Look, there are more and more people walking into Tahrir Square.
We want new elections to set up a committee to write a new constitution. We want clean elections; once we have a new constitution, we can elect a new government. We are not less than South Africa. Tell the Americans we are not less than South Africa. We deserve our rights. ”
….
Another contributor to the tension in Tunisia — rising food prices making it difficult for average Tunisians to sustain themselves. Part of the price rise is from drought in Russia and Australia caused by climate change.
Wow.
Heba Morayef at Human Rights Watch wrote earlier today:
“At least 20,000 protesters in Tahrir square now, it’s absolutlely packed. Two fighter jets have been flying overhead for the last 10 minutes – people are cheering the flyovers. They’re chanting “we will not leave until he leaves” and “long live the crescent together with the cross.” There are judges, independent journalists, the Muslim Brotherhood, the National Association for Change, April 6th movement – all standing together and leading the chants.”
huffpo has a pretty stunning slideshow at the top of their homepage, along with the news of al jazeera’s shutdown, thousands defying curfew, and more than 100 dead. US embassy is urging americans to leave and apparently there are military jets flying low overhead…
from what i understand of the HuffPo blog, it sounds as though while Al Jazeera has been blocked from Egypt, it is still broadcasting form Cairo. not sure if that is still the case, though.
Ordinary people, daring to dream a new future. The photos are reminescent of the 60’s here in this country. Passion and anger. Perhaps the Uranus/Pluto thing will be occuring in that area of the world this time around.
“Internet not working, police cars burning,” sent out one Egyptian. “Today marks a great day for Egypt,” sent out another.
These messages weren’t coming from mobile phones or computers, but from an amateur radio sending out Morse Code somewhere amidst the chaos in Egypt.
The Egyptian government’s efforts to limit communications within the country has triggered a wave of activism from an international group of free speech activists on the Internet called Telecomix.
Organizing using chat rooms, wikis, and collaborative writing tools, this largely anonymous group has worked to inform Egyptians about their communications options while receiving incoming messages from them. Telecomix has previously worked on free speech efforts in Tunisia, Iran, China and other countries who have tried to censor or block parts of the Internet.
Egypt has been identified as a “top priority” for Telecomix on one of its network sites, We Re-Build. It has a wiki set up as a one-stop shop with the latest chat rooms and resources for the ongoing efforts.
There are roughly 20 extremely active members, 50 active and some 300 total including lurkers, according to chat administrator Christopher Kullenberg from Gothenburg, Sweden.
“Think of Telecomix as an ever growing bunch of friends that do things together,” Kullenberg says
~~~~~~~
The main webpage of We Rebuild is very interesting indeed:
Previously Al Jazeera had offered all its reporting of this situation, for free, under Creative Commons licensing, to any other news network who wanted to pick it up, and had been a primary source of information about the uprising.
The trigger, in Tunisia, was the seemingly small event of a slap in the face. I would call that a fulcrum moment. Interesting to me that this article, about the self-immolation of Tunisian fruit-seller Bouazizi, appears in a business journal:
Mohamed Bouazizi was a 26-year-old Tunisian with a computer science degree.
Like millions of angry and desperate Tunisians, he faced the unpleasant combination of poor employment prospects and food inflation. Moreover, the Tunisian government was seen as corrupt and authoritarian.
By December 17, resentment against authorities has been brewing for a while.
To make ends meet, the unemployed Bouazizi sold fruits and vegetables from a cart in his rural town of Sidi Bouzid, located 160 miles from the country’s capital Tunis. He did not have a license to sell, but it was his sole source of income.
On December 17, authorities confiscated his produce and allegedly slapped his face.
Bouazizi became incensed.
He then drenched himself in gasoline and set himself on fire outside the governor’s office. Bouazizi survived his initial suicide attempt. After being transported to a hospital near Tunis, he was visited by President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali before passing away on January 4.
After his suicide attempt, unrest broke out in Sidi Bouzid. The police cracked down on the protestors, which only fueled the movement. The revolt eventually spread to the capital city.
On January 14, the masses of protestors prevailed as President Ben Ali fled the country amid escalating violence and opposition.
During Bouazizi’s funeral, Agence France Presse reported that marchers chanted “farewell, Mohamed, we will avenge you. We weep for you today, we will make those who caused your death weep.”
Eight-year-old Juju, in Saudi Arabia, knows just what Mubarak should do:
“Tell Everyone: Egypt’s Revolution is Sweet and Peaceful”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/30/peaceful-revolution-egypt-muslim-brotherhood
…..
“….the fact that the outside world continues to engage this guy Mubarak is ridiculous. It’s over.
This has nothing to do with any political party. It is truly a popular movement. There is concern about what is going to happen next. We need to continue to experience this with joy. We have to remain peaceful until we get our demands. Look, there are more and more people walking into Tahrir Square.
We want new elections to set up a committee to write a new constitution. We want clean elections; once we have a new constitution, we can elect a new government. We are not less than South Africa. Tell the Americans we are not less than South Africa. We deserve our rights. ”
….
Another contributor to the tension in Tunisia — rising food prices making it difficult for average Tunisians to sustain themselves. Part of the price rise is from drought in Russia and Australia caused by climate change.
Wow.
Heba Morayef at Human Rights Watch wrote earlier today:
“At least 20,000 protesters in Tahrir square now, it’s absolutlely packed. Two fighter jets have been flying overhead for the last 10 minutes – people are cheering the flyovers. They’re chanting “we will not leave until he leaves” and “long live the crescent together with the cross.” There are judges, independent journalists, the Muslim Brotherhood, the National Association for Change, April 6th movement – all standing together and leading the chants.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
huffpo has a pretty stunning slideshow at the top of their homepage, along with the news of al jazeera’s shutdown, thousands defying curfew, and more than 100 dead. US embassy is urging americans to leave and apparently there are military jets flying low overhead…
from what i understand of the HuffPo blog, it sounds as though while Al Jazeera has been blocked from Egypt, it is still broadcasting form Cairo. not sure if that is still the case, though.
Ordinary people, daring to dream a new future. The photos are reminescent of the 60’s here in this country. Passion and anger. Perhaps the Uranus/Pluto thing will be occuring in that area of the world this time around.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/29/anonymous-internet-egypt_n_815889.html
“Internet not working, police cars burning,” sent out one Egyptian. “Today marks a great day for Egypt,” sent out another.
These messages weren’t coming from mobile phones or computers, but from an amateur radio sending out Morse Code somewhere amidst the chaos in Egypt.
The Egyptian government’s efforts to limit communications within the country has triggered a wave of activism from an international group of free speech activists on the Internet called Telecomix.
Organizing using chat rooms, wikis, and collaborative writing tools, this largely anonymous group has worked to inform Egyptians about their communications options while receiving incoming messages from them. Telecomix has previously worked on free speech efforts in Tunisia, Iran, China and other countries who have tried to censor or block parts of the Internet.
Egypt has been identified as a “top priority” for Telecomix on one of its network sites, We Re-Build. It has a wiki set up as a one-stop shop with the latest chat rooms and resources for the ongoing efforts.
There are roughly 20 extremely active members, 50 active and some 300 total including lurkers, according to chat administrator Christopher Kullenberg from Gothenburg, Sweden.
“Think of Telecomix as an ever growing bunch of friends that do things together,” Kullenberg says
~~~~~~~
The main webpage of We Rebuild is very interesting indeed:
http://werebuild.eu/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Egypt has revoked Al Jazeera’s license and shut down their operations in the country. Al Jazeera is leaving:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4021075,00.html
Previously Al Jazeera had offered all its reporting of this situation, for free, under Creative Commons licensing, to any other news network who wanted to pick it up, and had been a primary source of information about the uprising.
The trigger, in Tunisia, was the seemingly small event of a slap in the face. I would call that a fulcrum moment. Interesting to me that this article, about the self-immolation of Tunisian fruit-seller Bouazizi, appears in a business journal:
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/101313/20110114/the-story-of-mohamed-bouazizi-the-man-who-toppled-tunisia.htm
Mohamed Bouazizi was a 26-year-old Tunisian with a computer science degree.
Like millions of angry and desperate Tunisians, he faced the unpleasant combination of poor employment prospects and food inflation. Moreover, the Tunisian government was seen as corrupt and authoritarian.
By December 17, resentment against authorities has been brewing for a while.
To make ends meet, the unemployed Bouazizi sold fruits and vegetables from a cart in his rural town of Sidi Bouzid, located 160 miles from the country’s capital Tunis. He did not have a license to sell, but it was his sole source of income.
On December 17, authorities confiscated his produce and allegedly slapped his face.
Bouazizi became incensed.
He then drenched himself in gasoline and set himself on fire outside the governor’s office. Bouazizi survived his initial suicide attempt. After being transported to a hospital near Tunis, he was visited by President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali before passing away on January 4.
After his suicide attempt, unrest broke out in Sidi Bouzid. The police cracked down on the protestors, which only fueled the movement. The revolt eventually spread to the capital city.
On January 14, the masses of protestors prevailed as President Ben Ali fled the country amid escalating violence and opposition.
During Bouazizi’s funeral, Agence France Presse reported that marchers chanted “farewell, Mohamed, we will avenge you. We weep for you today, we will make those who caused your death weep.”
Eight-year-old Juju, in Saudi Arabia, knows just what Mubarak should do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn1faq0iwRw&feature=player_embedded