MOAR EGYPT (post #2; it's public if you wanna link)

[imagines]

source

I am SO glad I have a snow day today, because all I wanna do is watch Al Jazeera.

There was this plan for one million people to meet up in Tahrir Square before marching to the presidential palace tonight [Cairo time]. (NOTE: According to @sharifkouddous, the march to the palace may not occur today: link 1, link 2.)

...It's approaching 6:45 pm in Cairo, and there are currently about two million people in the square and surrounding areas. And more keep arriving, despite the fact that the gov STOPPED THE TRAINS to try to prevent it.

There are also enormous demonstrations in Alexandria (hundreds of thousands of people, I'm hearing), Suez (don't know how many, probably a lot), and presumably elsewhere as well.

State TV has been broadcasting quiet streets, pleas for people to stay home, and pro-Mubarak rallies. (Those rallies are kinda... small, in comparison.) I don't deny that there are people who are pro-Mubarak. To me, the issue here is that state TV is frantically insisting that NOBODY IS UNHAPPY, NOPE, NOBODY AT ALL!!!

But you don't pretend that two million people aren't shouting in Tahrir Square unless you're really quite worried about them.

I think it's incredibly smart of the army to stand by and allow the demonstrations to happen for the most part. They lack the numbers to end the protests by force, and they know it. More strikingly, they simply refuse to take offensive action against their own people, which is how it should be. This is counter to the riot police at the beginning of this who did NO GOOD AT ALL by shooting at protesters. IMO, the army/protesters dynamic is one of the most fascinating things about this. (According to Al Jazeera, the army is helping to prevent police from infiltrating the demonstrators.) Check it out:

Egypt army: will not use violence against citizens (Reuters)

"The presence of the army in the streets is for your sake and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. The armed forces will not resort to use of force against our great people...

Your armed forces, who are aware of the legitimacy of your demands and are keen to assume their responsibility in protecting the nation and the citizens, affirms that freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed to everybody."

And now for an assortment of links I enjoyed:

Kragen @ Canonical || Why Egypt’s popular rebellion is the greatest historical event in a decade, and how Barack Obama missed the boat.
Three days ago, I read Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. He delivered it on the same day that the #Jan25 protests began in Egypt. I was dismayed that he didn’t mention the protests at all, because they’re more important than almost everything he did mention. This essay is an attempt to explain why they are so important, why Obama ignored them, and what the possible results of that choice could be.

Wikileaks || cable 07CAIRO1417, PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION IN EGYPT
Wikileaks bringing funtimes speculation from way back in 2007 on what could happen if Mubarak actually steps down. In short: expect "an anti-American tone" from the successor. Honestly, I think my ego can survive if that happens. It's not like my country hasn't spouted anti-Middle East sentiment for as long as I can remember. We dished it; we can take it. (P.S. If the all-caps hurts your eyes, use this handy tool to convert it.)

MediaBistro || Youth in Egypt Protect Libraries
THESE FUCKING EGYPTIAN YOUTH, YOU GUYS. They can organize protests, direct traffic, set up security checkpoints, and save the Library of Alexandria. Rock the fuck on!

Salon || Why can't we watch Al Jazeera?
Originally published in 2008, this article explains the difficulty of finding Al Jazeera anywhere that's not online, if you're in the United States. You can also read it here at ontd_political if you prefer their formatting.

YouTube || The Most AMAZING video on the internet #Egypt #jan25
Fucking makes me cry every time I watch it. Which I do, a lot, because I love it. Especially the dude who belives political rights are more important than your religion. FUCK YEAH.

HuffPost || Anderson Cooper In Egypt: 'Nobody Has Any Answers For What's Going To Happen Here'
Cooper said he did not know when he would leave Egypt. "I'm not even sure how to get out at this point." Anderson Cooper: STILL A BADASS.

If Twitter is your thing:
@AJELive, Al Jazeera's feed
@beleidy, freelance writer in Cairo
@monasosh, Egyptian blogger
@TheReal_Mubarak, for big lulz

And in case you somehow haven't seen it yet, or have not seen the big, beautiful version:


(click for very big)

Comments

[kaberett.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the linkspamming: I don't have the spoons to keep up with the news and am feeling guilty about it, but your summaries are very helpful.

[imagines.livejournal.com]

You're more than welcome. ♥ I am so into this that I've been bookmarking literally hundreds of links to read. The least I can do is share the ones that stand out to me. ONTD_P has been doing some liveposts, which I enjoy, but they can get so massive so fast that they're hard to follow if you don't have much time. So I wanted to make something a little smaller. :) Glad it's useful!

[eppy]

That is such a gorgeous image.

Also yes I am following this whole business like a hawk.

[imagines.livejournal.com]

I saw it on Facebook several days ago--maybe around the time it first showed up, I'm not sure--and the uploader had labeled it with, "too soon?" And one of the first commenters said, "No, it's perfect." I agree. ♥ It gives me chills every time I come across it, and someone even had it taped to some posterboard at the protest I went to. :D

[luna-manar.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this. I've been trying to keep up, but work keeps me swamped. This is so important. Also Anderson Cooper = Love.

[oneworldvision.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! It's fascinating to me that this is happening at a time when more than one of my TV professors have been talking about things like Tienanmen Square and the Rodney King riots; makes me think that someday, maybe I'll be in front of a classroom of students explaining the media's role in this.

[imagines.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome.

Although I'm hearing some disturbing rumors, so there may be another post today... :(

[imagines.livejournal.com]

I would love to be in that class. Fuck, it's so crazy to think that I am literally watching history here. This will be in books someday. (When I took my first college history class, we did a project comparing Pearl Harbor to 9/11. Very bizarre to deal with 9/11 in a history class, since I was alive and all...)

re: Tiananmen Square, I just saw a couple of reports that make me think it might have just gone that direction somewhat. :( I'm gonna check it out and probably make another post tonight. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I HAVE TO LEAVE FOR AN HOUR, ffs

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

IMO, the army/protesters dynamic is one of the most fascinating things about this.

Army dude/protester dude original fic? :D?

But seriously, I'm paying attention too. My favorite part about this is that it's all peaceful, and no one is putting up with anyone who's trying to make it violent. It's just people saying "hey, we're done with this now. Time to change." And it's the world listening. I love it.

[imagines.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHA. ...well, there's already been a post in boy_touching about protestors hugging each other, so, um. (eta: oh hey there's an underscore in that, okay)

YES YES YES. LOVE. I got home just now and was SO WORRIED because I was seeing rumors of the protestors getting attacked, and I thought maybe the army had snapped or something, but it looks like it was actually a group of "pro-Mubarak demonstrators" (I bet lotsa money they were actually police or something) attacking, and the army made them stop. Still trying to figure out wtf happened in the little tiny hour that I was gone.

I love to see 2 million people hanging out and not fighting each other and helping each other out. Gives me hope. My city has half a million people and the whole metro area has 2 million, after all.

[imagines.livejournal.com]

I know $mycity has a WAY different culture/dynamic/everything than a giant city in Egypt, but still. That's a fucking lot of people generally getting along in very stressful times. It's beautiful and I keep getting chills. ♥

I want to go to Egypt so badly right now. well, uh. Not RIGHT now. But when stuff settles, I wanna get in there and hang out with people and go to THE LIBRARY. Me/library, OTP!

[escherzo.livejournal.com]

I've been keeping up with it mainly through the liveposts at ontd_political the past few days and I am loving it--watching history in the making always is something special. (Speaking of something special, Al Jazeera is wonderful. Before TV went analog to digital (public TV, that is, we don't have cable) my area used to be one of the pockets of the US where it was broadcast and it was one of my favorites to watch. Now with their coverage of the Egyptian revolution I am loving it all the more)

[imagines.livejournal.com]

Dude, that's awesome! I had never watched AJE in my life before this. In fact, I have never, ever seen news covered like this. I'm definitely going to keep watching them even after this is over, because Egypt-events are highlighting just how much I didn't understand about the Middle East before now.

And yeah, the liveposts are KICKASS. They started off kinda slow, but it's been cool to watch them pick up steam. :D

[escherzo.livejournal.com]

My favorite part was when one of the journalists was interviewing some Russian offical--she mentioned an agreement with the US about something or other and all of a sudden they both start smirking like "yeah, right, US, you keep telling yourself that's what we're going to do." You never see that in the MSM in this country because it's too busy trying to convince people that Everyone Loves America. (It's a great, great source for news in the Middle East and in the world in general really. I've also been absorbed in their Palestine Papers segments)

It has :D the pictures in particular have been quite a sight to see.

[imagines.livejournal.com]

Ohh yeah. And--I think it was last night--they had a panel of people discussing Obama, and they were actually critiquing him logically instead of just engaging in rightwing-style fear-mongering or librul-hating. It was very strange to see... but I could do with seeing more.

[escherzo.livejournal.com]

I know I saw some efforts to get US cable services to cover it... though watching online is better anyway, imo. (At the very least, I certainly enjoy it more)