(no subject)

[imagines]

If you are following Egypt news, today I'll be focused on:
• Al Jazeera live coverage of Tahrir Square
• @sharifkouddous, who is currently at Tahrir Square as well
• BBC live coverage in text

That's thousands and thousands of people ignoring the curfew. Holy crap. And they were getting buzzed by fighter jets about an hour ago. (They were unfazed by said fighter jets.)

And if you're wondering what the hell is going on anyway, I like this Mother Jones post.

eta: I'm just gonna keep dumping links here.

Live From the Egyptian Revolution by Sharif Kouddous

There is a great sense of pride that this is a leaderless movement organized by the people. A genuine popular revolt. It was not organized by opposition movements, though they have now joined the protesters in Tahrir. The Muslim Brotherhood was out in full force today. At one point they began chanting "Allah Akbar" only to be drowned out by much louder chants of "Muslim, Christian, we are all Egyptian."

HELL YEAH.

6:45 pm Cairo time: Al Jazeera estimating 1,000,000 people in the square; Mohammed Elbaradei has joined protestors there.

DO NOT FUCK WITH THE WOMEN OF EGYPT. hiiii, they're my heroes.

Comments

[luna-manar.livejournal.com]

Is it okay if I signalboost this?

So many people in the U.S. seem to have no idea that this is even happening.

[imagines.livejournal.com]

Please do! Honestly, I'm surprised at the lack of net-chatter about it. My corner of the internet exploded over the Iran elections, so I'm not sure why this is so much different. I don't think I actually posted about the protests in Iran, but that was because everyone was already posting huge amounts of info. I was definitely following the news, though. But almost no one is talking about Egypt, so here I am. :p If I can get my thoughts organized, I wanna write a post about Why It's Important, because I REALLY think it is. It's not just "interesting because it's protests." There's all sorts of stuff wrapped up in this, like whether a gov should have a kill switch over communications tech, whether Internet access is a right, how much influence one gov should have over another, etc. OH, I HAS THOUGHTS.

Another important link you could add: akuma-river's linkpost (http://akuma-river.dreamwidth.org/389975.html), for people who enjoy MILLIONS OF LINKS like I do. This one is far more comprehensive than mine, since I'm only posting stuff that strikes me personally.

[imagines.livejournal.com]

ALSO interesting: the lack of violence and the way the military has responded. Not that people haven't been killed--because they have--but the fact that the military has responded in a totally different way than the police? That's FASCINATING. The fact that a lot of the military seems to be on the people's side? Also fascinating. I mean, they said yesterday (I think it was yesterday) something along the lines of "we work for the people to protect the people, and we would never fire on our people." How often do you see THAT happen during a protest?

I also like the way the citizens have been taking care of their own communities. No police on the streets? Let's go out and do out own patrols and checkpoints. No one to direct traffic? Okay, we'll direct traffic ourselves. Mubarak wants a curfew? LOL NO.

I love seeing human beings act this way. It gives me hope for the rest of us--the fact that people can and do act like this. There's a guy in a Youtube video shouting that it doesn't matter if you're Muslim, Christian, or atheist: you deserve your political rights. I don't see that attitude all that often IN MY OWN COUNTRY, and we're supposed to be the land of the free. A significant number of Egyptians: DOING IT RIGHT.

/done rambling now

(And yeah, it does worry me that there is SOME violence--but it seems to be on a much lower level than has occurred at so many protests in the past. Something very interesting is going on here.)

[oudeteron.livejournal.com]

Thanks for compiling some of the links, since I've been trying to follow this myself! And it's ridiculously awesome that you've had an actual protest in your city to go to.

ALSO
only to be drowned out by much louder chants of "Muslim, Christian, we are all Egyptian."
THIS IS AMAZING HELL YES.

[imagines.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! It's tough to get a handle on, I know. This event is highlighting for me just how much I don't know about the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, let alone about Egypt specifically.

I really, really wanna go to Egypt now. Not to see the pyramids--just to hang out with the people. 'Cause daaamn! And I also want to see the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, because a) it's gorgeous, and b) IT'S A LIBRARY, I WANT IN.

Clearly I need to get a fucking passport already, because just within the past couple of months, my list of Places I Wanna See has expanded from "umm... Europe?" to CHIAPAS AND TUNISIA AND ALEXANDRIA AND PALESTINE AND :D;;;