Saturday, February 2, 2013
Al-Jazeera Video: Egypt opposition calls for President Morsi to step down
"Clashes broke out in Cairo's Tahrir square on Friday, but it was actions the security forces took to stop the protests which have shocked Egyptians. A 23-year-old man was brutally beaten and killed, and it was caught on live television. Video footage shows a man being stripped naked and beaten by security forces before being bundled into a van. The actions of the police forces were condemned by the Interior Ministry calling it an 'isolated incident', but Egypt's main opposition has voiced its support for protesters calling for the end of the regime and Muslim brotherhood's control. Al Jazeera's Erica Wood reports."
Egypt protests galvanised by video of police beating naked man
Opponents of Mohamed Morsi
say the footage proves that the president has chosen to order a brutal
crackdown
A video of a protester
being beaten and stripped
naked has galvanised protests against the police and government in Egypt.
Hamada Saber, a middle-aged man, remained in a police hospital on Saturday,
the morning after he was shown on television, dragged over naked tarmac and
beaten by half a dozen policemen who had pulled him to an armoured vehicle near
the presidential palace.....But the police action against protests this time has been far deadlier than it was even a few months ago, when bigger crowds demonstrated against a new constitution. That suggests to opponents that Morsi has ordered a tougher response.
Khaled Daoud, a spokesman for the opposition National Front said: "The instructions of the interior minister to use excessive violence in confronting protesters does not seem like surprising behaviour given the clear incitement by prominent figures in the presidency, and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood to which the president belongs, and other parties in solidarity with them."......."
Reforming the police is the solution, not emergency law
Khaled Fahmy , Saturday 2 Feb 2013
Ahram Online
"President Morsi, his group and government, have failed to resolve Egypt's present crisis, and have deepened it. And while the opposition flounders, only the youth of the revolution can be relied upon......"
The revolution, back in black
The black bloc must provide
Egyptians with a positive vision if they want their struggle to succeed.
ANOTHER EXCELLENT PIECE
By Mark LeVine
Al-Jazeera
".......Revolution as creative destruction
In the wake of the Brotherhood/FJP's electoral victories, the anemic
performance of the official "opposition" represented by the "National Salvation
Front" and a population desperate for some sort of economic recovery,
revolutionary forces were on the defensive in the last few months. But the mass
protests and then violence surrounding the Port Said verdict and the
second anniversary of the start of the uprising on January 25 has generated a
recalibration of the political scales. The black bloc has become a public (and
even more so media and government) symbol of the militant opposition that is
quite literally on the march against the still unstable emerging order.
It's hard to overstate the dangers a well- yet self-organised and decentralised protest movement could present to Egypt's power elite. The country's military chief, Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, is not exaggerating when he says ongoing protests threaten a "collapse of the state"; nor are prosecutors wrong in considering those deploying black bloc tactics as "terrorists". For what is the goal of revolution if not the collapse of the existing state, and how can protests aimed at that end not terrorise those presently in power?
All true revolutions involve a supreme act of creative destruction - an anarchic and ordering impulse that both destroys the old order while creating something new to take its place. The reason most revolutions either fizzle out or are hijacked or taken over by forces other than and often opposed to those who first led them lies precisely in the failure to move successfully from the destructive to the creative phase and discourse. This is as true of the axial religious revolutions, including the Abrahamic faiths, as well as for modern political revolutions in Mexico, Russia, China, or Iran.
It's anarchic impulse stems directly from the fact it is directly taking on the existing system. But if one state - that is, arrangement and network of power relations - is to be replaced by another one, a new system has to replace the one that disintegrates. Similarly, every true revolution is a powerful combination of what the sociologist Manuel Castells calls "resistance" and "project" identities; the former being narrow, closed and hostile to outsiders, the latter open, inviting and future-oriented.
You can't bring about the "downfall of the system" and the creation of one in its place without both. As important, you can't in the long term keep tens of millions of people supporting destruction if the positive vision of the future is not there for them to see. The problem is that while the two halves of the creative destruction equation naturally overlap for much of a revolutionary period, at some point the destruction has to subside and the creation has to become the dominant process, otherwise the revolution becomes either self-destructive and nihilistic, coopted, or redirected (often by the military, as epitomised by the phenomena of Bonapartism or Caesarism). In such a situation, one time supporters will turn against it in favour of the stability of a restored if changed ancien regime (if in new clothes).
What made Tahrir truly revolutionary during the 18 days, but sadly too few days since, was that in the Square you could see, feel, the possibility of a new Egypt, a different Egypt, an Egypt that could fulfill the dreams of the majority of its inhabitants. Young and old, rich and poor, Muslim and Copt, metalhead and Sufi, everyone radiated "silmiyya" - peacefulness - even as they screamed at the top of their lungs for days on end.
It was clearly a liminal, paradoxical experience, and one which, as Georgetown professor and Jadaliyya co-editor Adel Iskandar reminded me in a recent conversation on the present situation, was itself a two-part phenomenon: "the one from January 25 to February 4 which was violent, confrontational and black bloc-esque... and the Tahrir of the Utopian imaginary that dominated between February 4 to 11... The two continue to exist and manifest with oscillating frequency."
The key question is, of course, how to control the oscillation, particularly when you can't really tell either when the tipping point has arrived and which way it is tipping. For two years now the Egyptian "state" has been in this liminal state; the structure at its core - that is, the deep state of power holders through whom the vast majority of the networks of power and wealth flow in Egypt - has remained seemingly stable, and is enlarging a bit as the Brotherhood and its own networks of power and patronage are, with some difficulty, absorbed into this elite. But the state remains gelatinous and porous outside of the core nucleus, and if the opposition can siphon enough power and legitimacy away, the system could, as General al-Sissi warns, move towards collapse.
Millions, if not tens of millions of Egyptians understand that if the state structure rehardens or concretises in the shape it's apparently taken, they will be either frozen into pretty much the same place they were under Mubarak, or pushed even closer to the margins or completely outside the state. Indeed, the "state of emergency" once again declared, now by a democratically elected President, and the organised attacks on women by forces clearly aligned with the existing power regime, reflects this desperate need to clear as many people away from the power networks as possible before the new system hardens.......
However we might want to judge their tactics more broadly, their commitment and loyalty to other protesters are hard to question. When women were being brutally attacked in Tahrir Square last week, beyond the ability of groups like Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment to protect them, black block activists have literally appeared out of nowhere to take on the often armed groups of attackers and protect the women and other activists.......
It's clear that black bloc tactics and the militant revolutionaries deploying them will not on their own carry Egypt further than the Zapatistas have pushed Chiapas (which, interestingly, has a Human Development Index ranking of .646, almost identical to Egypt's .644), never mind Mexico as a whole. But if they succeed in throwing the country's power-holders off-balance and reinvigorating the youth led-opposition, and can provide a creative and ultimately positive vision and strategies for continuing the revolution into its third year and convincing increasing numbers of ordinary Egyptians to keep up he struggle for real freedom, dignity and social justice, they will have played an important role in Egypt's tortured transition from an authoritarian to truly democratic system."
It's hard to overstate the dangers a well- yet self-organised and decentralised protest movement could present to Egypt's power elite. The country's military chief, Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, is not exaggerating when he says ongoing protests threaten a "collapse of the state"; nor are prosecutors wrong in considering those deploying black bloc tactics as "terrorists". For what is the goal of revolution if not the collapse of the existing state, and how can protests aimed at that end not terrorise those presently in power?
All true revolutions involve a supreme act of creative destruction - an anarchic and ordering impulse that both destroys the old order while creating something new to take its place. The reason most revolutions either fizzle out or are hijacked or taken over by forces other than and often opposed to those who first led them lies precisely in the failure to move successfully from the destructive to the creative phase and discourse. This is as true of the axial religious revolutions, including the Abrahamic faiths, as well as for modern political revolutions in Mexico, Russia, China, or Iran.
It's anarchic impulse stems directly from the fact it is directly taking on the existing system. But if one state - that is, arrangement and network of power relations - is to be replaced by another one, a new system has to replace the one that disintegrates. Similarly, every true revolution is a powerful combination of what the sociologist Manuel Castells calls "resistance" and "project" identities; the former being narrow, closed and hostile to outsiders, the latter open, inviting and future-oriented.
You can't bring about the "downfall of the system" and the creation of one in its place without both. As important, you can't in the long term keep tens of millions of people supporting destruction if the positive vision of the future is not there for them to see. The problem is that while the two halves of the creative destruction equation naturally overlap for much of a revolutionary period, at some point the destruction has to subside and the creation has to become the dominant process, otherwise the revolution becomes either self-destructive and nihilistic, coopted, or redirected (often by the military, as epitomised by the phenomena of Bonapartism or Caesarism). In such a situation, one time supporters will turn against it in favour of the stability of a restored if changed ancien regime (if in new clothes).
What made Tahrir truly revolutionary during the 18 days, but sadly too few days since, was that in the Square you could see, feel, the possibility of a new Egypt, a different Egypt, an Egypt that could fulfill the dreams of the majority of its inhabitants. Young and old, rich and poor, Muslim and Copt, metalhead and Sufi, everyone radiated "silmiyya" - peacefulness - even as they screamed at the top of their lungs for days on end.
It was clearly a liminal, paradoxical experience, and one which, as Georgetown professor and Jadaliyya co-editor Adel Iskandar reminded me in a recent conversation on the present situation, was itself a two-part phenomenon: "the one from January 25 to February 4 which was violent, confrontational and black bloc-esque... and the Tahrir of the Utopian imaginary that dominated between February 4 to 11... The two continue to exist and manifest with oscillating frequency."
The key question is, of course, how to control the oscillation, particularly when you can't really tell either when the tipping point has arrived and which way it is tipping. For two years now the Egyptian "state" has been in this liminal state; the structure at its core - that is, the deep state of power holders through whom the vast majority of the networks of power and wealth flow in Egypt - has remained seemingly stable, and is enlarging a bit as the Brotherhood and its own networks of power and patronage are, with some difficulty, absorbed into this elite. But the state remains gelatinous and porous outside of the core nucleus, and if the opposition can siphon enough power and legitimacy away, the system could, as General al-Sissi warns, move towards collapse.
Millions, if not tens of millions of Egyptians understand that if the state structure rehardens or concretises in the shape it's apparently taken, they will be either frozen into pretty much the same place they were under Mubarak, or pushed even closer to the margins or completely outside the state. Indeed, the "state of emergency" once again declared, now by a democratically elected President, and the organised attacks on women by forces clearly aligned with the existing power regime, reflects this desperate need to clear as many people away from the power networks as possible before the new system hardens.......
However we might want to judge their tactics more broadly, their commitment and loyalty to other protesters are hard to question. When women were being brutally attacked in Tahrir Square last week, beyond the ability of groups like Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment to protect them, black block activists have literally appeared out of nowhere to take on the often armed groups of attackers and protect the women and other activists.......
It's clear that black bloc tactics and the militant revolutionaries deploying them will not on their own carry Egypt further than the Zapatistas have pushed Chiapas (which, interestingly, has a Human Development Index ranking of .646, almost identical to Egypt's .644), never mind Mexico as a whole. But if they succeed in throwing the country's power-holders off-balance and reinvigorating the youth led-opposition, and can provide a creative and ultimately positive vision and strategies for continuing the revolution into its third year and convincing increasing numbers of ordinary Egyptians to keep up he struggle for real freedom, dignity and social justice, they will have played an important role in Egypt's tortured transition from an authoritarian to truly democratic system."
Friday, February 1, 2013
VIDEO: Egyptian police strip, beat man in front of presidential palace
Footage from Al-Hayat
satellite channel shows security forces stripping a grown man naked and beating
him in front of Egypt's presidential palace on Friday, 1 February 2013
Ahram Online, Friday 1 Feb 2013
The Fragmentation of the Arab World Continues.....Wait for the New Republic of Shubra!
"Protesters waiving a new flag for #PortSaid, a symbol of their frustration, chanting we want our own state. pic.twitter.com/igZ3xX4Z"
Guardian Video: Egypt's revolution two years on: 'The fear is gone'
"At 22, Mariam Kirollos is a feminist and passionate advocate of human rights. She explains how Egypt's 2011 revolution broke her fear barrier and made her realise that millions of Egyptians have the same aspirations as hers. During the protests, she says, differences disappear and men and women are equal before the revolution."
Sexual attacks on women in Egypt
Amnesty International
"Almost every girl and woman – regardless of age, social status or choice of attire – who has walked the streets or taken public transport in Cairo, has experienced some form of verbal or physical sexual harassment.
This isn’t new. For years, Egyptian women’s rights activists and others have called on the authorities to recognize the seriousness of the problem.
There needs to be a fundamental shift in institutionalized attitudes that discriminate against women.
The Egyptian authorities must introduce legal reforms, prosecute perpetrators and address root causes, because the plight of women who have experienced sexual violence has been ignored.
Blame is placed on the victims for being dressed “indecently”, or for daring to be present in “male” public spaces.
The horrific testimonies emerging following protests commemorating the second anniversary of the “25 January Revolution” have brought to light how violent mob sexual attacks against women have happened, but have rarely been brought to public attention........"
"Almost every girl and woman – regardless of age, social status or choice of attire – who has walked the streets or taken public transport in Cairo, has experienced some form of verbal or physical sexual harassment.
This isn’t new. For years, Egyptian women’s rights activists and others have called on the authorities to recognize the seriousness of the problem.
There needs to be a fundamental shift in institutionalized attitudes that discriminate against women.
The Egyptian authorities must introduce legal reforms, prosecute perpetrators and address root causes, because the plight of women who have experienced sexual violence has been ignored.
Blame is placed on the victims for being dressed “indecently”, or for daring to be present in “male” public spaces.
The horrific testimonies emerging following protests commemorating the second anniversary of the “25 January Revolution” have brought to light how violent mob sexual attacks against women have happened, but have rarely been brought to public attention........"
Ahhhhh....After the "Success" of the Yemeni "Revolution": Yemen: Scores of children on prison hunger strike after minor sentenced to die
"Despair and hopelessness pervade in a Yemeni prison where scores of children are on hunger strike to protest at their conditions and about a fellow inmate's recent death sentence, activists have told Amnesty International.
Since Sunday, 77 alleged juvenile offenders have refused to eat their prison meals at the central prison in the capital Sana'a until the authorities comply with a list of demands made in a handwritten signed statement.
They launched the hunger strike in response to the sentencing to death of Nadim al-‘Azaazi on 26 January for a crime he is accused of committing when he was reportedly 15.
“Executing juvenile offenders is expressly prohibited in Yemen's Penal Code and international human rights law – the Yemeni authorities must live up to their obligations and overturn this death sentence immediately,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.
“The reports we've received from inside Sana'a Central Prison point to truly appalling conditions faced by juvenile offenders, and we urge the authorities to act immediately to ensure children are treated humanely and not kept behind bars for longer than their sentences.”
Some of the children held in Sana'a Central Prison have apparently finished serving their sentences but remain in detention due to their inability to pay court-imposed fines......
“This cry for help shines a light on the Yemeni authorities' failure to respect the human rights of children kept behind bars, and it must serve as a call to action to ensure that due process is followed and prison conditions are improved for all juvenile offenders in the country,” said Luther. ......"
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Al-Jazeera Video: الاتجاه المعاكس- إيران والربيع العربي
"Published on Jan 30, 2013
ألم تفقد إيران رصيدها في العالم العربي بسبب وقوفها مع ثورة دون أخرى؟ أليس حرياً بها ترميم علاقتها بالشارع العربي قبل فوات الأوان؟ أم إن موقفها كان متوازناً؟
تقديم: فيصل القاسم
تاريخ البث: 29/1/2013
الضيوف: أمير الموسوي، ياسر الزعاترة
تقديم: فيصل القاسم
تاريخ البث: 29/1/2013
الضيوف: أمير الموسوي، ياسر الزعاترة
"
Syria threatens to retaliate after Israeli air strikes - live updates
The Guardian
"Israeli air strikes
"Israeli air strikes
Expect to see more Israeli air strikes against Syria, warns analyst Nicholas
Noe, who is concerned that the crisis threatens to escalate into a regional
conflagration.
He added:
Noe, co-founder of MidEastwire.com and expert on
Hezbollah, said: "Unfortunately if the past is any guide to the future we are in
for more Israeli air strikes, and a political process to settle this is not
going to be forthcoming."
Speaking
to the Guardian from Tunis he said:
All of the factors exist for a much wider escalation and conflagration … It is not really important for us to understand exactly what was hit – what it is very clear is that there is activity in Syria. Things are moving very quickly … The fundamental point is that there are these [chemical] weapons and there are these factions that are extreme. That’s the catastrophic mix that we are all facing, and the Israelis took action. We knew this was coming because the underlining factors for greater involvement by outside powers was simply building.Noe suggested that Israel is as concerned about chemical weapons reaching al-Qaida-linked rebel groups in Syria such as Jabhat al-Nusra, as it is about weapons reaching Bashar al-Assad’s ally Hezbollah.
There are chemical weapons sites in Syria – perhaps the third largest stockpiles in the world – and you have an array of actors, some of them committed to very extreme forms of political action. The only way there could not be more air strikes is if the situation stabilises, and there is very little prospect of the situation stabilising at all.
There are signs that everyone is frightened, and that’s why you can read the Israeli strike as a note of caution to the international community … Hopefully the Americans and the Russians get the message and they try to use their levers of influence to pull everyone back from the brink. If they don’t it is going to be very hard to restrain this activity ...
The fundamental problem is that the Pandora’s box has been opened so wide – there are so many actors on the ground that don’t care about finding a political settlement, and they have the weapons to make this a prolonged struggle – that its very hard for these great powers to magically turn off the spigot.
He added:
Unfortunately I don’t think this extraordinarily right wing Israeli leadership is interested in sending messages of peace.
They see some of the greatest enemies to the north, Hezbollah and Syria, as very vulnerable and I’m greatly concerned that there is a strong desire among parts of the Israeli establishment who want to use this opportunity to strike some strong blows against their strategic enemies.
On the other side … there is an increasing ascent of people wanting to pull the whole temple down on their enemies, and that’s very dangerous......"
Syria may respond to Israeli air strike, says ambassador
'Scientific research centre' north-west of Damascus was
damaged in attack, according to Syrian state TV
The Guardian
Here is the Syrian Regime's "Response" So Far!
"Syria's ambassador to Lebanon has said Damascus has the option to respond to what it says was an Israeli air strike on a research centre on the outskirts of the Syrian capital on Wednesday.
Syria could take "a surprise decision to respond to the aggression of the Israeli warplanes", Ali Abdul Karim Ali was quoted as telling a Hezbollah-run news website.
"Syria is engaged in defending its sovereignty and its land," he said, without spelling out what the response might entail......"
World Report 2013: Challenges for Rights After Arab Spring
How to Build Rights-Respecting Democracies After the Dictator Falls
“The uncertainties of freedom are no reason to revert to the enforced predictability of authoritarian rule,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “The path ahead may be treacherous, but the alternative is to consign entire countries to a grim future of oppression.”
The tension between majority rule and respect for rights poses perhaps the greatest challenge for the new governments, Human Rights Watch said........
“As the Islamist-dominated governments of the Arab Spring take root, perhaps no issue will better define their records than the treatment of women,” Roth said......"
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