Egypt Archives - Humanosphere

Egypt

At Seattle Town Hall, the Google executive who sparked the Egyptian revolution |

In 2010, Egyptian Google executive Wael Ghonim used Facebook to coordinate a protest of the torture and killing of a man by dictatorial President Hosni Mubarak’s security police.

It was the beginning of a revolution, the explosion of the Arab Spring movement in Egypt — a popular revolt which forced Mubarak out of office but continues its struggle today under a military regime increasingly at odds with its own people and one of its biggest supporters, the U.S.

Tonight, at Seattle Town Hall, Ghonim will speak on being Inside a Revolution. Moderating the panel will be D Parvaz, a reporter for Al Jazeera based out of Qatar and, before that, a colleague of mine at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Parvaz received international attention last spring when she was arrested and held for weeks in Syria after entering the country to attempt to report on the protests there.

Here’s a recent video interview of Ghonim by the Economist:

Egypt remains in turmoil but Ghonim says he is hopeful:

“I’m very optimistic … We are basically recovering from 60 years of military rule, 30 years of dictatorship and 10 years of a very bad economic situation for most Egyptians.”

Ghonim can be expected to speak tonight in Seattle about his experience, the power and the limits of social media in popular protests and about what he believes has already been an amazing amount of positive change in Egypt. “What’s needed,” he tells the Economist, “is patience, passion and optimism.”

FILED UNDER: Politics, Arab Spring, Dorothy Parvaz, Egypt, Wael Ghonim

November 23, 2011 | 8:30 AM | By Tom Paulson |

Arab Spring flares up |

Flickr, Jonathan Rashad

Egypt's Tahrir Square, at the start of the uprising

The popular uprising across the Middle East has intensified this week with the eruption of violence in Egypt and the resignation of Yemen’s president President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

As the Washington Post reports, the level of violence in Egypt has reached levels unseen since the original protests which nine months ago forced President Hosni Mubarak out of office. Protesters are demonstrating against what they see as the military’s attempt to hold on to power. So far, 38 people have been reported killed and the UN has condemned the interim government’s response.

Meanwhile, Time magazine says, the UN has announced that Yemen’s President Saleh has agreed to step down if he is allowed to flee to Saudi Arabia and avoid prosecution.

In Syria, the government has continued to crack down on protesters with a death toll so far estimated at 3,500. As Reuters reports, many believe Syria’s violent response to the popular uprising could foment widespread bloodshed and violence for the entire region.

The only bright spot right now is Tunisia, where the Arab Spring started, sparked by the suicide of a fruit seller long abused by the authorities. As the AP reports, Tunisia’s first fairly elected political assembly went to work this week:

Tunisia’s newly elected assembly held its inaugural meeting Tuesday, and begin the yearlong process of shaping the constitution and the democratic future of the country that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.

And it didn’t take long for the legislators to feel one result of free speech: hundreds of people protested outside Parliament, demanding everything from women’s rights and a crackdown on security forces to limits on Qatar’s influence over Tunisia’s affairs.

Yeah, democracy is messy. Whether the rest of the Middle East and north Africa follows Tunisia’s promising lead remains in question.

FILED UNDER: Justice, Politics, Arab revolt, Arab Spring, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen

March 10, 2011 | 1:58 PM | By Tom Paulson |

Analysis: Could the Middle East “Jasmine Revolution” spread to America? Should it? |

Flickr, Megan Skelly

Grass fire

The grassfire Arab revolt sparked last December in Tunisia by the self-immolation suicide of a poor, abused fruit seller is now being called the Jasmine Revolution, apparently because the media likes to color code these kind of things.

Like Iran’s green revolution (which failed) and Ukraine’s orange revolution (which succeeded).

Right now, most of the attention is on Libya where Muammar Gaddafi (or Gadhafi, or Mallomar Godzilla, however you want to spell his name) is waging war on his own people, trying to turn back the tide of political reform. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Justice, Arab revolt, Egypt, income inequality, Jasmine Revolution, Libya, poverty, Tunisia, wealth

March 7, 2011 | 8:59 AM | By Tom Paulson |

Wikileaks on Libya, Tunis and Egypt |

Wikileaks

The Telegraph published a worrisome article today about Libya, based on its interpretation of a Wikileaks diplomatic cable. Unlike in Tunisia and Egypt, the cable says, Libya’s popular revolt may be fueled by extremist Islamic elements.

Former jihadi fighters who underwent “religious and ideological training” in Afghanistan, Lebanon and the West Bank in the 1980s have returned to eastern towns in Libya such as Benghazi and Derna to propagate their Islamist beliefs, the cables warn

Of course, this was much the same rumor that accompanied the revolution in Egypt — with the media focused on the Muslim Brotherhood — which so far appears to have been not the case.

Still, it’s worth remembering that the Arab revolt’s launch in Tunisia may have been prompted in part by Wikileaks making public the excesses and corruption of the former regime of President Ben Ali.

Here’s a somewhat amusing 2009 cable from the US Embassy in Tripoli about Gaddafi’s children getting in trouble overseas and fighting among themselves for power.

Here’s a less amusing, perhaps revealing, 2008 cable from the US Embassy in Cairo that describes the Egyptian military as having great economic and social influence but also in decline.

Diplomat Matthew Tueller writes of the military’s “decline” in terms of its influence within the Mubarak power structure. What Tueller could not have predicted, of course, is that the military’s declining influence among the power elite may have been what contributed to the military’s identification with the popular revolt:

Recently, academics and civilian analysts painted a portrait of an Egyptian military in intellectual and social decline, whose officers have largely fallen out of society’s elite ranks….

Contacts agree that presidential son Gamal Mubarak’s power base is centered in the business community, not with the military. XXXXXXXXXXXX said officers told him recently that the military does not support Gamal and if Mubarak died in office, the military would seize power rather than allow Gamal to succeed his father.

FILED UNDER: Politics, Arab revolt, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Wikileaks

February 21, 2011 | 3:05 PM | By Tom Paulson |

Tonight at Seattle Town Hall: Tunisian-American Rajaa Gharbi on the Arab Revolt |

Rajaa Gharbi

Reminder: Local Tunisian-American artist Rajaa Gharbi will speak tonight at Seattle Town Hall on the democracy movement spreading across much of the Middle East.

The event is called Tunisia, Egypt and Beyond: Protest, Politics and Change. As Gharbi told me, we should remember that the Arab Revolt began when one man in Tunisia just couldn’t take the abuse any longer.

“This is a real revolution and we should dare to call it that. It’s about human rights, people reclaiming their dignity.”

Gharbi hopes that by encouraging community dialogue on what’s rocking much of the Arab world right now we will be able to move beyond stereotypes, simplistic “us versus them” mindsets, and seek ways to support what may be one of the world’s greatest democracy movements in recent history.

CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday did a report out of Tunisia about the 26-year-old fruit seller, Mohammed Bouazizi, who killed himself by setting himself on fire as a desperate statement of protest against abuse by Tunisian officials:

FILED UNDER: Justice, Politics, Arab revolt, Egypt, Rajaa Gharbi, Tunisia

February 12, 2011 | 9:18 AM | By Tom Paulson |

Egypt is free, but it’s not over |

Egypt’s dictator Hosni Mubarak bowed to popular pressure and stepped down.

As Bill Easterly at Aidwatch noted “Egypt is Free!” due to a true people’s democracy movement, one which the U.S. government did little to support until the very end. As Easterly and others have also noted, the amazing events in Tunisia, Egypt and in the Middle East should bring more scrutiny on our approach to foreign aid.

Other repressive governments we work with and support are doing what they can to tamp down media reports on what has happened in Egypt. Similar popular Arab revolts in Algeria and Yemen are being met with force by the governments there. Tunisia, where this all started, is still struggling to establish a new democracy.

We have yet to see if the Egyptian people will truly rid themselves of the entire corrupt apparatus that supported the Mubarak regime. This is about more than one or two political leaders, of course. It appears the Egyptian military is now in charge, which so far appears to be in sync with the popular movement.

But this is really just the beginning of what could be a stunning, historical transformation of the Arab world. Let’s not sit on our hands as it continues to unfold.

Flickr, Al Jazeerz

Democracy marchers Cairo

FILED UNDER: Politics, Arab revolt, Egypt

February 10, 2011 | 5:01 PM | By Tom Paulson |

Tunisian artist seeks to paint accurate picture of the Arab revolt |

The eyes of the world are now on Egypt, but it’s worth remembering that the Arab revolt began in Tunisia.

“This is a real revolution and we should dare to call it that. It’s about human rights, people reclaiming their dignity.”

Rajaa Gharbi

So says Rajaa Gharbi, a Seattle artist who moved here many years ago from Tunisia. She has been active in many efforts aimed at trying to bring a more accurate, more balanced, perspective to our view of the Arab world and North Africa in general.

Gharbi will host a forum on what’s rocking much of the Arab world right now on Feb. 21 at Seattle Town Hall. The event is called Tunisia, Egypt and Beyond: Protest, Politics and Change.

NOTE: Here’s some of the latest news out of Tunisia: Risk of chaos.

Q What is the main message you hope to get across to people about the Arab revolt?

“This is not a religious uprising. This is a revolution by people who want to govern themselves, to live in dignity. Just look at the protests and what people are saying. It’s really important that we change the lens through which we look at the Arab world.

Q Why did this Arab revolt, now shaking Egypt and threatening to spread to other nations, begin in Tunisia?

“The swiftness and magnitude surprised most people, including me. Tunisians are highly educated. The authoritarian nature of the state was pervasive and affected everyone. People were forced to accept so many indignities, making it a ticking time bomb. The self-immolation of Bouazizi (a young Tunisian man abused by authorities) set people off. It became too much.”

Q Why should we care?

“We are going to be affected economically, culturally and politically by what’s happening throughout North Africa. There is an effort everyday on the part of the old regime to maintain or regain power…. Tunisians are still protesting, nonviolently struggling to rid themselves of the authoritarian regime. We need to pay attention.”

Q Any thoughts on how the Obama Administration has reacted?

“Honestly, I think the reaction was very hypocritical. The Obama Administration waited until it was very clear that the government of (former Tunisian president) Ben Ali would not survive. It already looks to many Tunisians like there is a major effort behind the scenes to make sure the next leader will serve the interests of the U.S. government, as usual. It’s the same for Egypt.

FILED UNDER: Politics, Arab revolt, Egypt, Rajaa Gharbi, Tunisia

February 10, 2011 | 9:30 AM | By Tom Paulson |

The Guardian on mixing up defense and development |

The Guardian examines the uneasy, risky, issues involved when we too closely try to combine foreign aid with foreign policy in the context of what’s happening now in Egypt.

Over the last two weeks, images emerged from Egypt revealing foreign aid as a crucial protagonist in the ongoing protests…. What the development economist William Easterly had called “the dirty secret” of the international aid system – the nonchalance of donors in the face of government repression in recipient countries – is now (nearly) front page news.

To be sure, US aid in Egypt has gone to fund programs focused on health, education and trade, but the vast majority of the multibillion-dollar US aid package to Egypt has been spent on military and domestic security initiatives. Whether intentional or not, foreign aid to Mubarak’s regime is widely seen to have strengthened the government’s ability to confront popular movements.

The British news organization also has this story on a report by Oxfam contending military goals are distorting foreign aid priorities and also endangering aid workers.

As I’ve noted here before, there’s a push by the Obama Administration, specifically Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to “re-invent” foreign aid. This push is aimed at making it dovetail even more with our foreign policy and security issues, which in Egypt is widely viewed as having been about propping up a dictatorship.

Perhaps it’s worth considering re-inventing foreign aid so that it is focused less on our international political and military agendas and more on simply providing assistance to those in need.