Discussion of All Things Political

On February 11, 2011 Egyptians toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak. Blogger and viral video producer Aalam Wassef was one of the many people who worked for years to make it happen. This is first in a series on the daily life of
Egypt's revolution. It's a manual on how a civil resistance was built to win.

El 11 de febrero de 2011, el pueblo egipcio derrocó al dictador Hosni Mubarak. El bloguero y productor de video viral, Aalam Wassef, fue una de las muchas personas que trabajaron por años para que esto sucediera. Este video es el primero en una serie sobre la vida cotidiana de la revolución egipcia. Es un manual sobre cómo una resistencia civil fue construida para triunfar.

CAIRO, May 17, 2011 (IPS) - Abeer Fakhry, a young Christian woman, had only wanted to live with a man who would love and respect her, and not with her abusive husband. But within months of trying to escape her marriage, and her faith, Abeer finds herself chased by her family, by the Orthodox Christian Church, by the fundamentalist Islamic Salafi Group and, lately, by Egypt’s top army generals.

"I just wanted to be happy," said Abeer, who is now known by her first name, in a Youtube video that made her story famous in this country.

Abeer’s story has come to underscore the conditions of Orthodox Christian women who are subjected to domestic violence and who seek protection elsewhere, but find that the teachings of their church keeps them in permanent, and often intolerable, wedlock.

While the Church itself complains of discrimination by the country’s Muslim majority, this case also highlights denial of freedom practised by the Church itself against its own members. MORE

CAIRO, May 4, 2011 (IPS) - Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo on Wednesday, paving the way for the formation of a Palestinian national unity government. The move, say local analysts, reflects the changing political equation in the Middle East amid the ongoing wave of Arab popular uprisings.

"The revolutions currently sweeping the region - especially the fall of Egypt's Mubarak regime - have altered the strategic balance, particularly as it pertains to the Arab-Israeli file," Mohamed Megahid al- Zayat, assistant director of the Cairo-based National Centre for Middle-East Studies, told IPS.

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On Wednesday, the two factions, along with 11 other smaller Palestinian groups, officially endorsed the agreement in Cairo. A formal signing ceremony on Thursday is expected to be attended by Fatah headman and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal.

Three joint committees have reportedly been drawn up to discuss means of integrating the two factions' security forces, restructuring the Palestinian Liberation Organisation to accommodate Hamas, and establishing a system and timetable for upcoming elections. The accord also reportedly calls for a prisoner exchange between the two sides. MORE

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Protests in the Turks and Caicos ( Read more... )

SWAZILAND

Swazi Government Challenged

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SENEGAL

Senegal united by Anger\

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Anti-Government Rally Disturbs Normal Calm of Senegal's Capital

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Senegal opposition deride plot accusation

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COTE D'IVOIRE

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Thousands flee Cote d'Ivoire violence

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YEMEN

Yemen's leader fails to stop uprising

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SYRIA

Syrian mourners call for revolt


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SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Arabia's week of shame

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Saudi Arabia's king announces huge jobs and housing package

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Saudi Arabian intervention in Bahrain driven by visceral Sunni fear of Shias

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EGYPT

Deep Divisions Over Egypt's Referendum

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Egypt crowd attack ElBaradei at voting station

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BAHRAIN


Bahrain eases curfew

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ALGERIA


Algeria's president promises political reform

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Heavy fighting continued on Monday in Abidjan amid an ongoing power struggle between forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, Cote d'Ivoire's incumbent president, and those backing his political rival Alassane Ouattara.

Pro-Ouattara fighters were reported to have moved into the Yopougon neighbourhood held by Gbagbo loyalists. Gun battles raged near the home of army chief of staff Phillipe Mangou who has remained loyal to Gbagbo since November's presidential elections. Ouattara is internationally recognised as the winner of that vote.

The state-run RTI television station denied local reports that Mangou's house had been attacked. A spokesman for the pro-Gbagbo army, Col. Hilaire Gohourou, confirmed that the battle in Yopougon was ongoing, but refused to give any further details.MORE

The confirmed death toll from the Christchurch earthquake remains at 166 and 41 victims have now been named .
The number of bodies recovered was unchanged over Sunday night.
Police said this morning that about 200 remain missing from the earthquake almost two weeks ago, but the occasional name is still being added to the list by overseas families worried about family members in New Zealand.MORE

As a nonwhite women journalist, I recognise that I occupied a strange space when covering international stories. Without ever being told so explicitly by my employers, I knew that my "value" was lower than that of my white female colleagues. And while things have changed in the past decade with increasing number of nonwhite women reporters working for mainstream media, many of the experiences and issues I mention here have not drastically changed as long as one works for a western media outlet. In frankest of terms, this means that I always recognised that I made less of a story than my American or European colleagues would (For those who question it, compare the media inches granted to Logan vs the temporary detentions of Sonia Verma the Indo-Canadian reporter or Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros in Egypt). This knowledge informed the risks I took as well as the professional decisions I made.

At the same time, I and other nonwhite reporters can access people and places that many "western" journalists can not, regardless of gender. And that is an advantage that few media outlets can ignore, especially as the power balance shifts away from the traditionally western centres of power.

Perhaps, to reference Toni Morrison, it is the privilege of whiteness (or lack thereof). I confess that I have used it to my advantage, as have many other women journalists from Latin America, Africa, Asia. I also have to admit that it has worked to my disadvantage, although more at institutional rather than human/individual levels.MORE

It is widely accepted that the spark for the recent dramatic events in Egypt came from last month's uprising in Tunisia. If people power could bring down one regime perhaps it could do the same elsewhere.

Many of the necessary conditions were already in place: public fury at years of political repression, an economy that rewarded a corrupt elite and kept a majority in poverty, and widespread loathing for a leader clinging to office.

Could Egyptians be persuaded to overcome 30 years of fear and apathy and take to the streets?

It is no accident that this question has been answered, emphatically. Over the course of a remarkable fortnight, People & Power has been filming exclusively behind the scenes with a core group of young activists from the April 6th opposition movement.

As Elizabeth Jones reveals, they have spent a long time planning and organising for these momentous days, taking lessons from other revolutions about how to mobilise popular support.

• Talks between the Egyptian regime and opposition figures are on the brink of collapse
• The Egyptian military has been involved in beatings and other abuses, according to an investigation by the Guardian
• Egypt's provinces have seen widespread protests, in further signs that the uprising has spread beyond the major cities
• A wave of strikes erupted across the economy, including railway workers, public employees and electricity staff
It sounds like the next big protest is being planned for Friday but there will be more to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

11.26pm: Canada's Globe and Mail has an interview with Ahmed Saleh, a former member of the April 6 Youth Movement and one of the earliest protesters, on what happens next:

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Thousands of factory workers stay away from work as pro-democracy protesters continue to rally seeking Mubarak's ouster.

Egyptian labour unions have gone on a nationwide strike, adding momentum to pro-democracy demonstrations in Cairo and other cities.

Al Jazeera correspondents, reporting from Egypt, said around 20,000 factory workers stayed away from work on Wednesday.

Al Jazeera's Shirine Tadros, reporting from Cairo, said that some workers "didn't have a political demand".

"They were saying that they want better salaries, they want an end to the disparity in the pay, and they want the 15 per cent increase in pay that was promised to them by the state."

However, Tadros also said that some workers were calling for Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, to step down.

The strike action came as public rallies calling for Mubarak to immediately hand over power entered their 16th day.

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Building Egypt's new labor movement
February 8, 2011

In the five years prior to Egypt's popular uprising, Egyptian workers have repeatedly demonstrated their capacity to fight against their employers and Hosni Mubarak's police state. While textile workers have led the way with dramatic, high-profile strikes, the new labor activism has involved workers in several industries.

Fatma Ramadan, a trade unionist, labor researcher and socialist in Egypt, has been deeply involved in the new workers' movement. In an interview conducted shortly before the the mass demonstrations took off at the end of January, she spoke with spoke with Lee Sustar at the recent Other Davos conference in Basel, Switzerland.MORE

Thousands of Luxor's unemployed and those affected by the impaired tourism sector gathered in front of the Labour Force Authority to register their names and seek compensation and financial aid as designated by the ministry of finance.

Head of the authority Abdraboh Hassan said that its employees have worked from eight in the morning receiving applications and registering them. He added that owners of small businesses, investors and businessmen have the right to apply for compensation as well, though not through the authority.

A large number sought unemployment benefit, many of whom graduates or diploma holders from the classes but were unable to find jobs. Others applicants do not hold regular jobs or have been afflicted by the suspension of tourism.MORE

Following the “Million Man" demonstrations and mass strikes that escalated across Egypt on Tuesday, a new wave of mass strikes and workers' sit-ins also spread on Wednesday.

Ahram Online has been receiving continuous reports of strikes breaking out in both public and private companies across the country, many of which are still being confirmed. At the time of publishing, the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS) had confirmed the following:

More than 2000 workers started a strike in Helwan’s silk factories and circulated the office of the company’s chairman demanding his exclusion.

Thousands of workers have started a strike in Helwan’s coke factories demanding higher wages and full-time contracts.

In Mahala's Spinning and Weaving factory, hundreds started a sit-in in front of the administration building.

In Kafr El-Zaiat hospital, 1500 nurses started a sit-in demanding their late wages.

Four hundred workers in Suez’s Egypt National Steel Factory started an open strike demanding higher wages.

In Menoufeia, more than 750 of Schweppes factory workers started a sit-in demanding higher wages.

More than 800 of the spinning and weaving workers in Menoufeia started a sit-in demanding higher wages.MORE