Back when Hosni Mubarak was in power, he would always try to play himself off as the brave secularist standing in the way of the Islamic radicals who may or may not have been trying to nudge their way into power and shit on everything. That's how he scared the people into submission, that's why they couldn't have democracy. So the two main political forces in Egypt for the last few decades has been Mubarak the secularist dictator, and right wing Islamists (whose parties were banned by the state). Egyptians are voting today. And it doesn't look like this political makeup has changed at all. That's very unfortunate, because that means it's lose-lose.
Out of the 13 candidates on the ballot, there are five major ones who come out on top. Two of them are former Mubarak Ministers. Two more are rival Islamists. There's only one secular leftist, and he probably doesn't have much of a chance. The leftists -- the heroes and martyrs who got the revolution rolling, whose actions are why this election is happening at all -- have been shunted. Last fall, the Islamist parties altogether took about 70% of Parliament, and with the help of the military junta completely shut the leftists out. Mohamed ElBaradei, considered a hero to the revolutionaries, stepped down from his position and vowed not to run for president because he didn't feel the revolution had been won. There's actually a huge split among Egyptian leftists on whether they should boycott this election.
But good news! It doesn't matter who "wins" at all! Nobody knows what powers the president is actually going to have, as nobody bothered to write up a constitution! So it's almost certain that whoever wins is going to be taking orders from the military junta. ElBaradei was right. The revolution was never concluded. There are too many Mubarak men still in power. And going to the realm of speculation, I'd bet a good deal of money that the United States has a large hand in this. Mubarak was our ally, we're not just going to let Egypt go to decide its own fate. American fascists were screaming their heads off all those months ago about Obama "losing Egypt," as if it was ever "our" country in the first place. Joe Biden said:"Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with – with Israel. … I would not refer to him as a dictator." Cool! I like how absolutely none of those things excludes him from being a dictator.
Mubarak and the Egyptian military have always been exceptionally close to the U.S. The Obama administration gave $1.5 billion in aid to the Egyptian military junta, bypassing congressional requirements for democracy. The west is doing everything its power to retain as much of the Mubarak regime as is possible, and it's working. Thanks entirely to intervention from the major powers, it looks like Tunisia is going to be the only country in the Arab Spring to win something close to freedom.
Here's a great interview on Democracy Now from this morning breaking down the election.
2011 was one of the greatest years of my life, but not for anything I actually did, or what happened to me directly. I got to witness international revolution. It was also fairly torturous for me, because more than anything else, I wanted to actually be at these places. I got to protest in Madison before Occupying was cool, which was pretty fucking rad, but labor struggles in first world countries just don't seem as important when people elsewhere are being shot in the streets.
I've been told before that I should major in history, and others have told me I should major in political science. But to be perfectly honest, I'm starting to feel like my hidden calling might be journalism. The greatest political writers -- Paine, Orwell, Hitchens -- were all journalists (not that I'm even hinting at comparing myself to those giants, I just admire them). Every one of them saw revolution firsthand. Paine personally travelled with the continental army during the New Jersey campaign. Orwell travelled to Spain amidst civil war as a BBC correspondent; but once he got there, he knew he couldn't just stand by and let the fascists win, so he picked up a gun. And Hitchens, the former socialist, travelled to Cuba and covered Castro's revolution. Even Matt Taibbi spent time in Russia, not to mention Chris Hedge's career as a journalist in the most dangerous parts of the planet, on the edges of the American empire.
I feel like such a dweeb sometimes just giving my criticisms behind a computer about things I've never actually seen. I mean, I do like graphic design. I can do it. It's a job. And besides, journalism is a for-profit industry, I highly doubt I would be able to deal with those hacks. Taibbi is stuck writing politics for the illustrious Rolling Stone Magazine because no one else can deal with the fact that he isn't a partisan, and Hedges had to leave the New York Times after he started reporting facts; he hasn't been in journalism for years, he just writes books now. The media has been purged of dissenting thought, it's only real role anymore is to manufacture consent. Maybe I'll just save up and travel around someday.
I digress. This is a year of revolution in review. Meet Mohamed Bouazizi. Mohamed Bouazizi was not only the greatest person of 2011. So far, he was the greatest person of the 21st century.
On December 17, 2010, Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest of the Tunisian government. He died 18 days later, on January 4. Here's the former president of Tunisia visiting him in the hospital.
Inspired by Bouazizi's selfless sacrifice in their name, the people of Tunisia rose up.
It didn't take long for the cowardly fascists holding that nation hostage to flee in terror. They just held their first democratic elections. Egyptians soon poured into their own streets chanting "We are next!" They organized, and occupied Tahrir Square. Another regime fell.
Then Libya rose up. A third dictator is gone.
People have been protesting in many other countries throughout the Middle East. We shouldn't forget that Iran rose up with its Green Movement an entire year before the Arab Spring. The people of Iraq have been protesting against their oppressive government, and in many cases have been shot, but you likely didn't hear about that since Iraq is a U.S. ally. Tunisia and Egypt were U.S. allies too, not to mention Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, which the U.S. is still supporting (Saudi Arabia's oil exports through the gulf are why war drums are currently thumping against Iran). The Chinese government unfortunately is doing an excellent job at putting a lid on the protests arising there. In Europe, people have risen in countries like Spain, England, Italy and Greece. A friend of mine just got back from studying abroad in Italy, she saw some of the protests firsthand. Iceland had itself an entirely peaceful revolution, where communities elected their own representatives to write their new constitution, and the country got to read it and make suggestions over the internet as it was being formed (read more about that here, it's pretty incredible).
Greece's protests have been particularly intense. Europe is basically blaming them for the entire continent's crisis, and the Greek people don't want to put up with foreign debts being pushed on them. Some protesters simply want their government to default so they can start all over, and possibly even leave the European Union, and others want the entire government to collapse so they can institute a more socialist government. Greece went through a civil war after WW2 that resulted in three decades of bitter political rivalry between leftists and rightists. It finally climaxed into the brutal military junta of the 60s and 70s, in which thousands of leftists were systematically rounded up and tortured (the junta was backed by the U.S. for the whole seven years, they were anti-communist after all!). So yeah, needless to say, Greece has had a rough 20th century. The leftists are finally able to come out of hiding, I remember hearing a poll somewhere saying over 90% of Greeks are supporting these protests. It's good to see the inventors of democracy showing the world how it's done.
Up to 50,000 Russians went to the streets to contest their stolen elections last month, making them the largest demonstrations since the fall of the Soviet Union.
South America hasn't been left out either. Protests have erupted in Venezeula and Chile. The Chilean protests are mostly led by students demanding a restructuring of their education system (in addition to the obligatory concerns about income inequality). If only Americans cared so much about learning.
Are you noticing a pattern? Most of these countries, particularly in the Middle East, are U.S. allies. That's why these protests are making the American government so nervous. It's why the CIA won't disclose their involvement in the Occupy crackdowns. British police just labeled Occupy London protesters as "terrorists." If you haven't been concerned about the impact that the Patriot Act and the NDAA could have on American protests in the future, you haven't been thinking hard enough. They're scared shitless, and there is nothing they won't do to put a lid on this.
Which is exactly why I don't understand why the Occupy movement is still the only part of these global protests that have a cult-like devotion for nonviolence. We know how evil our government is. We know it opposes democratic movements. We know it overthrows democratic countries and installs dictators (this isn't limited to the Cold War, they are still doing this). We know it is supporting and supplying totalitarian regimes that are shooting protesters in the streets. These things are in the public record. So why are these hippies acting like their government is something to be tolerated? Shouldn't we try to be a little more aggressive, if not for ourselves, then at least to support those who our government are murdering and torturing overseas? Even the Egyptians sent Occupy a letter warning them against "fetishizing nonviolence." And I'm not even talking about violence against police officers, that's detestable and should be avoided. I'm talking about violence against property, if breaking non-sentient objects can be considered "violence." Destroying property was one of the most effective tactics the American colonists had. Jesus Christ destroyed property.
But I guess if these hippies aren't willing to use methods beyond nonviolence against a fascist government that installs and supports fascist dictators, I suppose it's a bit too much to ask them to raise their fists against class warfare and wage slavery. As far as I know, Oakland has been the only city that has shown the slightest bit of courage to resist. They defended themselves when the police attacked them. They're also the ones who successfully implemented a city-wide strike for an entire day. And shut down one of the largest ports in the most powerful nation on the planet. That's how you fucking protest. These heroes showed the world who Oakland really belongs to.
I think I'm being a bit too hard on Occupy. They've done a lot to change the conversation in this country, and no one likes violence. But nonviolence is simply not an effective means of changing this system. The problem with nonviolence is that it only works if you're appealing to people who have a conscience. Many police officers still have those things, so this tactic is not entirely useless, but the people who the police defend - the 1% - most certainly do not. We are not dealing with individuals here. We are dealing with enormous, abstract organizations and corporations which are made up of many, many people. When groups of like-minded people get together, and they are given a sense of unlimited power, without fear of repercussion, the entity they form will be sociopathic. This is practically a scientific law by now. I'm sure you've heard of the Stanford prison experiment. Look at Abu Ghraib. Look at the history of the Catholic Church. Human beings are fucked up. Questions of morality do not effect these people because they're conveniently able to deflect their own responsibility onto the system as a whole. The system can't be reasoned with.
I follow a blog on tumblr called cultureofresistance, and someone asked a wonderful question earlier. A vague form of this idea has sort of been floating around in my head for a while, but I'm glad someone else thought of it before me so they could put it into better words than I could.
This might be a stupid question, but what is the difference between an underground and aboveground movement? Why is DGR so vehemently against association with an underground?
Deep Green Resistance’s strategy involves two separate parts of the movement - an aboveground and an underground. The aboveground works for sustainable, just, and participatory institutions, and assists the aboveground frontline activists with loyalty and material support. And in any resistance scenario, the underground dismantles the strategic infrastructure of power. This is a basic tactic of both militaries and insurgents the world over for the simple reason that it works. But such actions alone are never a sufficient strategy for achieving a just outcome. This means that any strategy aiming for a just future must include a call to build direct democracies based on human rights and sustainable material cultures. Which means that the different branches of resistance movements must work in tandem: the aboveground and underground, the militants and the nonviolent, the aboveground frontline activists and the cultural workers. We need it all.
We are strictly an aboveground movement and will not answer questions regarding anyone’s personal desire to be in or form an underground. We do this for the security of all involved with Deep Green Resistance.
One of the main roles of the Aboveground is to be the public face of the movement. We stand publicly and say “I support this strategy and I advocate for DGR,” for example.
Time Magazine chose 2011's person of the year to be "the protester." I'm not sure how I feel about it.
By all rights, that title belongs to Mohamed Bouazizi, who single-handedly sparked this worldwide revolution. But this is also coming from a magazine whose 2010 Person of the Year was the facebook movie, so I don't put much weight on what they think. Seriously, what the fuck did Mark Zuckerberg even do last year?
And then there's this too. This is 100% real.
That friend who lived in Italy I mentioned earlier? She picked up one with the real cover when she was over there, and showed me when I visited Chicago last weekend. I am super jealous.
It's incredibly sad to me that I'm forced to do all my own research on these protests. I shouldn't have to. But American media is just so unbelievably incompetent. As I watched these protests happening over the course of the year, I was just fucking stunned at how little our media was covering it, and how little they understood it. In the closed off circles of American right wing politics, the protesters in Egypt are "radicals" and "Islamists," as made clear by Rick Santorum on Meet the Press this week. I don't even know what the fuck an "Islamist" is. Doesn't he mean Muslims? "Islamist" isn't a word.
"The Muslim Brotherhood is not--is not about democracy. The Muslim Brotherhood are Islamists. The Muslim Brotherhood are going to impose Sharia law."
And it's not like David Gregory actually corrected him about any of this. Because he doesn't know what the fuck is going on either: "They were popularly elected, I think."
He thinks. The people on Sunday talk, the best American journalism has to offer, think Egypt's protests are democratic. Unbelievable.
Democracy Now, undoubtedly the best news source in the country, dedicated Monday's show to reairing their coverage of the global protests throughout the year. Watch it. Good luck not getting teary.
For the fourth day now, Egyptian protesters in Tahrir Square are demanding an end to military rule, and a transition to civilian government. In the protests over the last few days, at least 33 people have been killed, many with live gunfire, and at least 1,500 people have been injured. Here's some footage.
But they held on. You want to know why the protesters are still able to remain in Tahrir Square after the military and police tried to evict them? Because they refused to be stepped on, and fought back. What a concept. Here's an excerpt from a letter that a group of Egyptian activists sent to the Occupy movement:
It is not our desire to participate in violence, but it is even less our desire to lose. If we do not resist, actively, when they come to take what we have won back, then we will surely lose. Do not confuse the tactics that we used when we shouted “peaceful” with fetishizing nonviolence; if the state had given up immediately we would have been overjoyed, but as they sought to abuse us, beat us, kill us, we knew that there was no other option than to fight back. Had we laid down and allowed ourselves to be arrested, tortured, and martyred to “make a point”, we would be no less bloodied, beaten and dead. Be prepared to defend these things you have occupied, that you are building, because, after everything else has been taken from us, these reclaimed spaces are so very precious.
They're absolutely right, and it's a shame we're not listening. Here's a bunch of protesters at UC Davis sitting on their asses allowing themselves to be maced.
As Orwell said, "Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common sense." The result of this nonviolence? Everyone was arrested and the protest ended. Good job guys. I'm all for using nonviolence to win over the public, but my patience is really running thin. Police have no more right to hurt you than any other man in the street. If someone attacks you, then you defend yourself. This isn't hard.
Ward Churchill, in "Pacifism as Pathology," writes:
Pacifism, the ideology of nonviolent political action, has become axiomatic and all but universal among the more progressive elements of contemporary mainstream North America. With a jargon ranging from a peculiar mishmash of borrowed or fabricated pseudospiritualism to "Gramscian" notions of prefigurative socialization, pacifism appears as the common denominator linking otherwise disparate "white dissident" groupings. Always, it promises that the harsh realities of state power can be transcended via good feelings and purity of purpose rather than by self-defense and resort to combat.
Pacifists, with seemingly endless repetition, pronounce that the negativity of the modern corporate-fascist state will atrophy through defection and neglect once there is a sufficiently positive social vision to take its place ("What if there was a war and nobody came?"). Known in the Middle Ages as alchemy, such insistence on the repetition of insubstantial themes and failed experiments to obtain a desired result has long been consigned to the realm of fantasy, discarded by all but the most wishful or cynical (who use it to manipulate people).
If these protesters want change, then pacifism is extremely ineffective in accomplishing it. You know what Egypt accomplished by fighting back? Their interim government offered to resign yesterday. That's change. The military finalizes this, so it's unlikely to happen, but it's still an extremely significant step. Three days of real protests: Egyptian government resigns. Two months of peaceful protests in America: nothing. Absolutely nothing.
This photograph, which has become famous at this point, shows Jennifer Fox, 19, being carried off at Occupy Seattle after being maced in the face by police.
When Jennifer tried explaining to the police that she was pregnant and she wanted to leave, the police responded by kicking her in the stomach, hitting her with a bike, and spraying mace in her eyes with two separate spray cans simultaneously. Her baby miscarried. Here's video of Jennifer immediately after her chemical attack. Don't look away.
I don't know what the hell it's going to take for people to start taking this seriously. If "fetishizing nonviolence," as the Egyptians put it, is what this movement is about, then we've already lost. Dancing around in drum circles and allowing women to be assaulted seems to be the fun thing to do, but it will never give us our freedom. Ever.
Can't find any embed code, but here's the video. These are two of the best minds in politics right now, and I'm pretty ecstatic about both of them being in the same room at once. Guess who has a signed Amy Goodman book (sunglasses.gif)
In addition, he had Slavoj Žižek on a couple days later. Good week, Charlie Rose, good week.
Early yesterday morning, police in full riot gear descended on the occupiers in Oakland, tossing smoke canisters and flashbang grenades, and shooting at them with rubber bullets. The protesters were peaceful and did nothing to instigate this. Here's some footage. At about a minute in, you'll see a protester being carried off who was shot in the face with a rubber bullet.
In this video, when protesters attempt to help a man lying injured in front of a police line, the police toss a flashbang grenade right in the middle of them. The injured man is a Marine who served two tours in Iraq.Edit: The man on the ground here is the same guy being carried away in the last video. It wasn't a rubber bullet, a tear gas canister hit him in the head. He's in the hospital with a fractured skull in critical condition. Doctors aren't sure whether he'll suffer permanent brain damage.
And here are cops tearing down the camp.
The crackdown is understandable. Protesters shut down Chase Bank a few days before (the black flags suggest anarchists). You got tens of thousands of people being forced out of their homes, but the moment you step into the home of the people doing the foreclosing, you get a tear gas canister shoved up your ass.
Edit: Democracy Now covered Occupy Oakland today. If you don't watch this show regularly, there's never been a better time to start, they upload the show to their website and onto their podcast every day. Turn off the cable.
Occupy Wall Street also received a statement today from Cairo, making it clear that Egypt is with us. This is so beautiful, new york is calling me I'd give anything to be there right now holy fuck with the freedom
So the protest in New York dodged a bullet. The mayor backed off and the park wasn't stormed. Which is a good thing, because they weren't moving, and it would've been a bloodbath. I can't believe how easy it was though. The unity and decisiveness of the people there is really inspiring, they just drew a line and said "no." A quote from Gene Sharp comes to mind: "Dictators are never as strong as they tell you they are — and the people are never as weak as they think they are."
Tomorrow is where it's happening though. Protesters all around the world are taking to the streets in solidarity with the Occupy movement. Italy couldn't wait. Here's protesters in Milan today tossing fruit at riot police, and storming the offices of Goldman Sachs.
FUCK YEAH!
There's one going on in downtown Springfield tomorrow. But they're only wanting about 200 people, and actual numbers usually go well below estimates, so you know... meh. Springfield's sort of a moderate conservative town, so I doubt this will really do anything, aside from mental masturbation, and getting my Republican parents pissed off at seeing my face on the nightly news. I'd rather watch the bigger protests over the internet, where things matter. The real action's in New York and D.C. Here's a photo from the one in D.C., where protesters have been signing this huge banner.
John Adams, reflecting on his life in his old age, once estimated how much of the American population supported the revolution. He guessed that about a third of Americans supported it, a third opposed it, and a third remained neutral. That seems sort of similar to the Occupy movement. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll (WSJ is conservative) shows that 37% of Americans support the movement. But hey, only 18% oppose it! That's much better than Tea Party numbers, where only 28% support it, and 41% oppose it! Why the hell doesn't this "I don't know" 50% get off their damn fence, are they damn idiots or something?
A few organizations are throwing in their support, and I'm putting up their statements. You should take the time to read them. Here's one from a group of intellectuals, activists, and leftists in China, who oppose China's oppressive capitalist government:
The eruption of the “Wall Street Revolution” is an historical indicator that the popular democratic revolution that will soon sweep the world is set to begin. It is an especially significant and important event for this movement. Before this most recent action, street protests had virtually been exclusively used as a tool by US elite groups to subvert other countries. Now, however, the “Wall Street Revolution” – with its goals of shared prosperity and popular democracy – has launched protests in the country that is the self-proclaimed defender of democracy. This will inevitably strike a hard blow against the US elite group, itself responsible for the plunder and oppression of people all over the world, and the group that pushed the world into crisis and instability. The protests ring the death knell of the rule of capital. Popular democracy will replace elite democracy in the 21st Century, and the curtain has lifted on the movement from elite politics to popular politics. Using the language of the “Wall Street Revolution,” this is a struggle of the popular 99% against the corrupt 1%, a struggle of the popular 99% against the elite 1%,and is the final struggle of the popular forces against elite capitalist rule.
The world belongs to all of the people of the world. Countries belong to the entire people of those countries. Even moreso, wealth is produced by the entire people, and therefore should be shared by the entire people, it cannot be monopolized by the 1% – or even less than 1% – that is made up of an extremely small number of elites. The demand for common prosperity in economics, and popular democracy in politics has become an unstoppable historical trend! The rapid expansion of a fictitious economy and the massive flow of social wealth has created an amply reliable material foundation for the realization of the common wealth of all people. The development of internet technology and political civilization has created the conditions for human society to make the transition from capitalist democracy to popular democracy. Human society is fully capable of transforming, on the foundation of the past democracy of slaveholders, the democracy of feudal lords, and the democracy of the capitalist class, to make the fundamental shift from the democracy of the elites to real popular democracy. Common prosperity and popular democracy will become the main content of the historical transformation of the 21stCentury. No matter how brutally the American riot police will attempt to suppress the participants in the Wall Street revolution, no matter how much the global elites – especially those in the U.S. and China –try to suppress news of the Wall Street revolution, they cannot stop the vigorous growth and ultimate victory of the democratic revolution of the people of the world.
The violent repression and virtual blockade of news about the “Wall Street Revolution” by elite groups led by the US proves that the fate of oppressed people around the world is the same, regardless of whether they are from developed or developing countries, whether they are from so-called democracies or authoritarian countries. The international elite was the first class to link-up internationally via globalization. Their plunder of public wealth and repression of popular democratic movements is cruel and far-reaching, and utterly lacking in freedom and democracy. So-called freedom and democracy in modern society is nothing more than democracy for capitalism, an elite democracy. Freedom is another word for the elite to plunder, oppress and violently suppress others. Popular forces have been completely excluded from the freedoms and democracy of modern society, and the extent of democratic rights is to choose between presidential candidates that have already been vetted by capital. You can vote once every four years, but you have no way of affecting the people above you who directly determine your fate: your boss or superior. And there is no way of constraining the capitalist oligarchs who can take away the wealth of the majority of the population with the slight of hand of fictitious capital. Freedom and democracy have become a virtual game, nothing more than a tool to subvert other countries. Now the popular and democratic world revolution – symbolized by the “Wall Street Revolution”- demands an end to this political game, and that freedom and democracy be returned to the people. Democracy is not just a check on the president, but a check on government officials; democracy is not just a check on power, but a check on capital. If the rights and privileges of feudal and absolute rulers are understood to be a sin and abomination, then giving those rights to capital is also a travesty.
Securities and computer networks should have been two crucial elements of our shift from an industrial society to an information society, from a material economy to a virtual economy, from capitalism to a human-centered economic system, and from elite politics to popular politics. But the elite class has turned securities into a tool of appropriation akin to the ‘indulgences’ issued by middle-age church functionaries in Europe. In the new securitized economy, all the public’s wealth can easily melt into thin air – including their houses, wages, labor power and even their hope for the future. All these things have become the targets of appropriation by a tiny elite minority. Both the white-collar middle classes in developed countries – owners of fictitious property, and the blue-collar workers in developing countries who cannot afford housing or health care, belong in point of fact to the same class: modern proletariat. When the people protest the unprecedented plunder and vast income gap perpetrated by fictitious capital, they are met with violent repression – both in so-called democracy countries that claim to be defenders of human rights such as the US, and in authoritarian countries that are said to lack freedom and democracy. Faced with street protests erupting from the Balkans to North Africa, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have repeated over and over, “The rights of peaceful protest and the occupation of public space should be respected at all times.” Yet when US citizens attempt to exercise this right they immediately are faced with violent repression by armed police, and a blockade by the news media. If this is reaction of the US – the self-proclaimed leader in human rights – then we can imagine what the reaction will be in other capitalist countries. Rule by the capitalist elite is just as described by the “Wall Street Revolution” – everywhere. There is nowhere left were we can live and die as people.
The eruption of the “Wall Street Revolution” in the heart of the world’s financial empire shows that 99% of the world’s people remain exploited and oppressed – regardless of whether they are from developed or developing countries. People throughout the world see their wealth being plundered, and their rights being taken away. Economic polarization is now a common threat to all of us. The conflict between popular and elite rule is also found in all countries. Now, however, the popular democratic revolution meets repression not just from its own ruling class, but also from the world elite that has formed through globalization. The “Wall Street Revolution” has met with repression from US police, but also suffers from a media blackout organized by the Chinese elite.
The same fate, the same pain, the same problems, the same conflict. Faced with a common enemy in an elite global class that has already linked-up, the people of the world have only one option: to unite and in a unified and shared struggle overturn the rule of the capitalist elite, to ensure that everyone enjoys the basic human rights of work, housing, health care, education, and a secure old-age. But we must go further if we are to realize shared prosperity and popular democracy in a new socialist world historical framework, If we are to fully escape and neutralize the crises and disasters that capitalism has brought the human race, and realize harmonious social development.
The great “Wall Street Revolution” and the great popular “Chilean Winter” that preceded it signal that the day when we realize shared prosperity and popular democracy is approaching. It signals that worldwide popular and democratic socialist movement – dormant since the 1970s – is waking up again. But this time, it will be the final battle to put capitalism in its grave. The victory of popular democracy and death of elite rule are inevitable! The embers of revolt are scattered amongst us all, waiting to burn with the slightest breeze. The great era of popular democracy, set to change history, has arrived again!
Resolutely support the American people in the “Wall Street Revolution”!
Resolutely support all street protests pushing for shared prosperity and popular democracy!
Long live the “Wall Street Revolution”!
Long live the global movement for popular democracy!
The Occupy Wall Street protest started small. But it has now become a global movement, with occupy events planned in about 1500 cities worldwide.
It’s born out of the recognition that, in country after country, ordinary people are being made to pay for an economic crisis caused by the super-rich. The 99% are being told they must surrender their livelihoods, their future, their security and their dignity to keep a broken system afloat.
In contrast, the 1% are having a wonderful crisis. The world’s biggest corporations have emerged stronger, more profitable and more powerful than ever before.
To add insult to injury, the 1% want to convince us that we, the 99%, are to blame for the crisis. They say our wages are too high and that we don’t work hard enough. They say our social security systems are not affordable and that our rights at work are should be done away with. They say our public education and health systems are not efficient and that our public services must be privatised.
The occupy movement is raising a challenge to the power of the 1%. Its strength lies in its diversity, breadth, unity and grassroots democracy.
In New York, after two weeks of discussion, the protesters agreed on a declaration that said none of our big problems can be overcome unless the 99% can unite in a movement for real democracy.
The occupy movement has spread to Australia, with protests planned to start here from October 15.
It’s true the economic situation here is not yet as dire as in the US, where the richest 400 Americans have more wealth than the poorest 150 million.
But Australia is headed in the same direction. We should not wait to protest until things get as bad as the US, Spain or Greece, where inequality reigns supreme.
Inequality in Australia is large and growing. Already, the richest 20% of Australians have 61% of the wealth. The poorest 20% have just 1% of the wealth. Australia’s richest 11 individuals have more than the poorest 800,000 households combined.
Further, there are many reasons why we should take this opportunity to start to bring Australia’s own 1% to account.
We should occupy because White Australia has occupied stolen Aboriginal land for more than two centuries. The dispossession of Aboriginal land and culture continues today with the infamous Northern Territory intervention, which is forcing Aboriginal people from their traditional homelands. Today, Aboriginal Australians are the most imprisoned people in the world. To Australia’s eternal shame, their life expectancy is still 19 years lower than other Australians.
We should occupy cities in Australia because the richest mining and energy corporations already occupy our atmosphere, pumping it full of greenhouse gases and ignoring the warnings from scientists that climate change threatens to destroy life as we know it.
We should occupy because coal seam gas and other fossil fuel companies already occupy our farmlands, our forests, our drinking water catchments and our communities. With government support, the fossil fuel industry has free reign across the country, regardless of the serious health and pollution risks.
We should occupy because the Australian military already occupies other countries, and is bringing endless war and countless civilian deaths to Afghanistan.
We should occupy because Australian governments, Liberal and Labor, have occupied Australia with refugee detention centres — modern-day concentration camps that bring immense suffering to desperate asylum seekers that deserve our help.
We should occupy because government laws already occupy our relationships, denying the right of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people to marry if they choose and making queers second-class citizens without equal rights.
We should occupy because restrictive anti-union laws already occupy our workplaces, denying the right of working people to organise to defend their rights at work.
We should occupy because governments have helped corporations occupy our public assets, turning services for the public good into profit machines for the 1%.
And we should occupy because Australia’s richest corporations already occupy our parliaments, state and federal.
The best democracy capitalism can deliver today is the right to tick a box once every few years. Between elections, corporations have open access to politicians while the rest of us are shut out, expected to bear the consequences in silence.
The 1% give millions to the big political parties each year and they demand a return on their investment. They skew the mainstream media debate in their interests because they are the mainstream media. They pour millions into cynical public relations and advertising campaigns. Corporate power over the political process is growing relentlessly.
The global 1% will not change their ways on their own account. Profit and greed are their only gods. Only the 99%, acting together, can put an end to the system of corporate rule and build something new in its place, a system that puts human need before corporate greed.
We won’t be silenced. Our power lies in our numbers. United as communities, with our unions and with each other, we can raise a challenge to corporate power.
FUCK. YEAH.
And this last one isn't from a group, but it's a great article about tomorrow's events. It sort of borders on propaganda, but hey, it gets the blood pumping.
It is five minutes to dawn and the wind smells like freedom
It is no longer five minutes to midnight. After Arab Spring leaps to Spain, and Greece, and on to New York’s Wall Street, it suddenly feels like five minutes to dawn.
We no longer need assume that there is no time to stop the world going to shit. There is an opening and we are flooding into it.
We are suddenly in a moment that is not marked by exhausted routine protests that speak for no one and speak to no one.
The oppressors (our common enemies) are no longer unchallenged — or more no longer unchallengeable. They are instead rocked backward, confused, bewildered, furious. The billionaire mayor of New York can’t clear a tiny park — and suddenly the question is not how to force the occupiers out, but whether he may be forced out of power if he pursues that course.
For so long, all of the things that leave people crying at night: the numbing global poverty itself, the painful loneliness of atomized non-community, the discarding of the old and the young, endless war for dominance, global structures of empire, the ravaging of nature, the manufacture of ignorance, intolerance and bigotry, the rape and casual daily brutality toward women — all of these things have seemed untouchable and permanent.
Now suddenly….a different day is approaching — where we can increasingly see and act in in startling ways, with rippling new impact. Ears perk up. Sights are raised. The pulse quickens. Suddenly we recognize the faces of others — once unknown to us — animated and awake with a common spirit. The powerful look discredited and vulnerable.
Morning is coming…. Go and wake the sleeping ones.
The hope of a radically new society, of abolishing capitalism, reveals it is far from exhausted. No, it suddenly springs from every pore. These occupations of dozens of city squares are a wind that heralds a coming storm.
This is a mood that produces actual revolutionary movements and dedicated militants of a new truth process.
Advanced, radical and discontented people who felt alone and isolated — suddenly realize they are millions. Allies emerge out of shadows, attracted by each early flame.
Networks congeal almost overnight. New thought jumps from human to human, morphing in each passage, adapting and refining. The forms of expression shake off the old and exhausted…A new generation invents its language from the messaging in the air.
Let’s understand what this is. Let’s recognize where we stand. Let’s embrace the possibilities within the new.
This break in the norm reveals what has already moved into place, and had long been building. And that revelation transforms everything — especially because we all see it together, in common, and recognize ourselves in that picture.
Be relentlessly impatient with this criminal system.
Be lovingly patient with each other — as we find the common language to act and transform.
Listen for the new. And grasp firmly to the truths that has so long been hidden and denied — but that we are now speaking from center stage.
Let’s seize the high moral ground (a precious position to hold), and never give it up. And be aware that thugs with suits and video cameras will be coming to snatch that ground away and portray us as fools, or dupes, or barbarians at the gate.
Above all: Let’s consciously go for the whole thing!
The change we want is about taking the accumulated wealth, technology, hard work, science, and connections of a complex global civilization — and finally (finally!) putting it into the service of us all, including the very least and previously powerless among us. It is about the voiceless suddenly speaking, and the wealthy suddenly becoming silent.
This is not about “budget financing” (!) but about power in the most fundamental sense. We don’t want to tax the zillionaires of finance capital — we need to rip their zombie hands from the throats of us all…. so we can breathe, perhaps for the first time in our lives. And so we can change the whole direction of the world.
The “freedom” we want is not the individual license promoted by smug Republican ideologues (the freedom of “up with me, you suck”). Instead, we need to seek the freedom of people, together, to shape their common world — an ethos of mutual caring and solidarity That is the freedom (the ability and possibility) that comes when new power of the people wrenches everything from the very few.
A revolution starts in ideas and mutual recognition. It then moves to the terrain of power.
At this moment: we can get a glimmer of how empires break, and how armies start to unravel. They don’t die on the battlefields, at least not at first — but in sudden re-allegiances of the young and awakening.
We cannot “take America back” — we never had it. But we can take over our own lives, our own planet and our common future — wrenching them away from sinister and hostile forces.
This moment of occupations is not about some concept of “America” anyway. It is global — because our society, our future and our biosphere are all global. This wave of contagious occupations and manifestations is about who will shape this beautiful blue orb as a whole. And we cannot allow that to be diminished and corrupted by slogans of America First.
The old “American dream” promised each one the ability to climb up upon the others. This new coming dream can be about a global community of mutual flourishing among human beings — about substituting community for the sale of humanity.
Let’s go for the whole thing. Let’s go for the future itself. Let’s save the only earth we have. Let’s aim to wipe out together the poverty of the many and the suffering of the abused.
Here at dawn, let’s envision the day we want, and make that revolutionary vision the center of debate, for once, and perhaps from now on.
FUCK. YEAH.
In closing, I think I'll just post this amazing video again from the other day
"But things can change—and sometimes they change very fast. Take the Civil Rights Movement in the United States: over a ten-year period, it was just a sea-change. Or take the feminist movement, which a lot of you are involved in: the changes came very fast. It went from being virtually nothing, a little nitpicking about activist groups having the women licking the stamps, and within a couple years it was a major movement, swept the country. When the time is right, things happen fast. They don’t happen without any basis—things have to have been happening for a long period. But then they can crystallize at the right time, and often become very significant." Noam Chomsky
A couple weeks ago, Sean Hannity told an OccupyWallStreet protester on his radio show “you don’t believe in liberty, you don’t believe in freedom.” When the woman explains that her father would've died from lack of medical attention under Hannity's utopia, Hannity ignores everything she says and calls her a Marxist. Here's the exchange if you can bear it.
This video was uploaded on the internet a couple days ago. Here's a couple Marines giving their thoughts about Sean Hannity calling them anti-freedom and anti-liberty.
The woman he interviewed said that "you can merge socialism together with capitalism" (a pretty courageous thing to say on Hannity's show, if you ask me). Hannity, without bothering to inquire what this system would entail, goes on to spew that she's calling for "an elite class, like under Marx." I've heard people like Taibbi and Chomsky say that they don't go after right wing idiots because it's just too easy. I respect them more for that, but this is therapeutic for me okay?
First of all, there wasn't anything "under Marx." Karl Marx was never the leader of a country. Marx was a philosopher who lived in Germany. He never called for an "elite class." He called for the destruction of the elite class (the bourgeoisie) which develops naturally under the capitalist system. In an attempt to bash Marxism, Sean Hannity uses the exact argument that Marxists use against capitalism. Welcome to the club, comrade.
Hannity tells this woman she doesn't believe in freedom or liberty. The definition of freedom is "the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint." The definition of liberty is "the state of being free within a society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views."
People have much more freedom and liberty under socialism. Capitalism depends on a system called wage slavery. Many abolitionists and freed slaves felt that this was just as oppressive as actual slavery, and in fact, it's exactly what former slaveowners used to drive blacks back onto the plantations after the Civil War. In its most oppressive form, capitalism is literally slavery. All too often, this system gives you no choice but to endure backbreaking work for the bare essentials of survival. 77% of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck.
Under true socialism (not the totalitarian regimes that people claim are "socialist"), people decide for themselves how many hours they work. The amount of money you earn fluctuates depending on how many hours you choose to put in. There are no "bosses" because everyone is equal, as the Declaration of Independence states, and company decisions are made by democratic process through the workers. Workers control the means of production. This frees you from the "oppressive restrictions imposed by authority" and gives you control over your own life. The man who tells you this isn't liberty and freedom is trying to get you back onto the plantation and shut up.
Hannity isn't the only bourgeoisie trying to destroy democracy. Here's a quote from professional drug addict Rush Limbaugh:
Interesting words, coming from a fat fuck parasite whose life doesn't matter.
We all need to pay attention to Wall Street tomorrow. Tomorrow, as early as 6:00 am, Brookfield Properties will be sending in cleaning crews to Zuccotti Park. Zuccotti Park is where the protesters have been sleeping for the past month, and Brookfield Properties owns it. If the protesters aren't gone by the time the cleaning crews arrive, then the police will be sent in to forcibly remove them. Upon "being allowed to return," the protesters will no longer be able to bring equipment into the park, or tents, or water proof tarps, and there will be no lying down of any kind.
The New York chapter of the National Lawyers Guild sent Brookfield Properties a letter.
There is no basis in the law for your request for police intervention, nor have you cited any. Such police action without a prior court order would be unconstitutional and unlawful.
The opinions that make up the Occupy movement vary, but how incredibly fitting, that they send in the one entity that everyone there is unified against -- business and government intertwining to limit freedoms.
The people of Bahrain have been fighting in the streets since February. This week, 20 doctors and medics were jailed for sentences ranging between 5 and 15 years, for treating injured protesters. The United States considers Bahrain an important ally, and continues to sell them weapons.
Last week I tumblr'd this video from Al Jazeera explaining the (then) current situation in Libya. Rebels had been fighting in Zawiyah, only 30 miles west of the capital of Tripoli, and they were gaining ground.
I tuned into Al Jazeera completely at random last night, and I saw that the rebels were launching an attack against the capital. I checked it out today, and watched as the reports slowly came in.
A Libyan government official said on Sunday that 376 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in a rebel assault on the capital.
"There are 376 dead and more than 1,000 wounded" since the attacks were launched late on Saturday, the official told foreign journalists, asking not to be named.
Libyan opposition fighters say they have entered the Green Square in central Tripoli. They said they entered the capital from the west and are about eight kilometres from the centre of the city.
Hundreds of euphoric Libyan rebels have overrun a major military base defending the capital, carting away truckloads of weapons and racing to the outskirts of Tripoli with virtually no resistance.
The rebels' surprising and speedy leap forward, after six months of largely deadlocked civil war, was packed into just a few dramatic hours.
By nightfall, they had advanced more than 20 miles to the edge of Gaddafi's last major bastion of support, entering the city's Green Square.
Along the way, they freed several hundred prisoners from a regime lockup.
Watching a live picture of crowds celebrating in Benghazi as reporters were continuously updating, was really fucking exciting. At the moment, two of Gadaffi's sons have been captured, and Gadaffi is rumored to have fled the country. Tripoli's "Green Square" is being renamed to "Martyr's Square." Since the war began, everyone had been saying the capital was incredibly loyal to Gadaffi, but they rose up and ran into the streets as soon as the rebels arrived.
Here's an Al Jazeera correspondant reporting from Tripoli only half an hour ago:
NATO undoubtedly got involved because of Libya's massive oil reserves. Syria, on the other hand, has been massacring people. Syrian gunboats have fired directly into the coastal city of Latakia, and 25 people are confirmed dead. Syria's oil exports in recent months have been outstripping its domestic need. So we don't help the people of Syria.
That said, I can't really sit here and condemn NATO. This revolution wouldn't have been won without them, and Libyans did overwhelmingly want their help. Sure, Libyans may soon be forced to become pawns for the west, but it's sure as hell a much better arrangement than what they've had. Back in March, a Libyan woman interrupted a press conference with western journalists, and screamed that Gadaffi's men had gang raped her in a secret prison. She was dragged away by armed guards as journalists struggled to help her, and went missing for three days.
NATO also likely got involved because of Libya's geographic position. Libya is in between Tunisia and Egypt, and now half of northern Africa is welcoming of democratic governments.
Libya's society is very tribal, and it will be extremely difficult forming a new government that satisfies everybody. We may see more violence. But as arabist said on twitter, "For those worrying about #Libya’s future: it might get worse, but it has never had a better chance to get better."
American media was once again a failure. I noticed American news didn't jump on the train until the battle for Tripoli was already well under way, and practically won. Fox earlier was bordering on outright racism, as a correspondent suggested that the Libyans just weren't competent enough to form a government on their own, and they'll need help. NATO will likely nudge its way in and give their help whether they want it or not.
The primary concern of American media is profits, and so they naturally aren't going to give a shit about things like this. An alternate media is essential if you want to be a somewhat informed citizen, so here are the sources I depend on the most:
Al Jazeera was kicked off American airwaves in the wake of 9/11, largely due to a mix of racism, and censorship. Al Jazeera is not based in the United States, so it's not going to be afraid to be critical of American policy when criticism is needed. Now, you'll find most right wingers are convinced it's run by terrorists, when Al Jazeera English really isn't all that different from the BBC. A live feed is up online, and can be watched at any time. You should watch it right now in fact, the celebrations are incredibly moving.
Aside from MSNBC's prime time, Democracy Now! is probably the only news source in the country that can be called "liberal." I don't like MSNBC because it mostly just turns into shouting matches where nothing is accomplished, but Democracy Now! moves past all the partisan dick waving and actually tries to inform you of what's happening. It clearly separates fact from opinion, where that line is always blurred in the mainstream press. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and get the full one-hour episode downloaded straight to your computer daily.
Tumblr. No, really. It's not all stupid hipster pictures, there are actually really informed people on there if you know where to look. If you do a search for a specific topic, you'll find people who are much more obsessed over this stuff than I am. I guess you could replace "tumblr" with "twitter" if you're on that, but I'm not.
And of course, there's reddit. Worldnews is great for this stuff.
Congratulations to Libya for ousting a murderous shithead. I hope he's caught, tried, and executed. In closing, I think I'm going to post this spectacular video again, because I always look for excuses to do so.
On Friday, Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a "60 Minutes" story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy.
In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.
There will be no further comment from CBS News and correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time.
Naturally, when rape is brought to the national spotlight, we're going to get idiots who know nothing about rape talk about rape.
LA Weekly blogger Simone Wilson fails miserably at hiding her hatred for Logan. After describing Logan as a "gutsy stunner" with "Hollywood good looks," and mentioning she's "blonde" for no reason, she brings up Logan's tabloid sex life, as if it's even remotely relevant right now. What's most outrageous of all was her final words -- "nobody's invincible."
SEE LOGAN? NO WOMAN CAN AVOID RAPE FOREVER.
But it gets worse. Here's a quote about Lara Logan from a prestigious conservative site called "Mofo Politics" (really?) from a couple weeks ago.
"I would totally rape her."
Hilarious. That's not from an idiot commenter. That's the article.
In light of what's been released tonight, you'd think this person would find the small amount of humanity in himself to apologize. He did not.
"EDIT: Super funny joke deleted in light of the sad news that Lara Logan actually was raped in Egypt. Can I just say, however, that I sooo totally called this."
As a male, let me say something. I'm sorry. I have no idea what it's like to be a woman. I've never had to endure sexist comments or cat calls that make me feel like less of a human being. I've never had to live with the realization that not even that long ago, my gender was not allowed to vote. The thought of carrying pepper spray on me when I'm walking around at night has never seemed like a useful or relevant idea to me. I have no idea how women must feel when stories like this pop up in the headlines. I've never feared rape. I'm able to empathize to the greatest extent I can, but no matter what I do or say, I will never be able to fully understand. To trivialize and joke about what has just happened to Lara Logan on the very night we find out about it is beyond evil. It is wholly inhuman. When thousands of women are raped throughout the world every few minutes, this animal's first reaction to it when it's brought to national attention is to belittle it and make comments about how he thinks the person who was raped is sexually attractive. I have no idea who this "person" is, but it brings me an untold amount of comfort knowing that his hatred for humanity will likely cause him to die miserable and entirely alone.
It's still hard for me to believe. The most powerful nation in the Arab world (Iran isn't considered Arab I guess?) has been overthrown in a matter of weeks. This is the most significant event in the middle east in the last forty or fifty years.
Now the ball's up in the air. The military has control of the country. I'm not entirely convinced that the military is quite as 'good' as we've been led to believe though. Mubarak was a military man. The military benefited from his regime. For weeks, they just stood on the sidelines and allowed things to happen. I think they were watching. They realized which way the wind was blowing, and so they hopped onto the right train. And don't get me wrong, I'm sure we're going to see free elections. But behind the scenes, I'm fully expecting them not to easily give up all the power they've had for the past thirty years. I'm hopeful, but still a little worried.
Obama's response to Mubarak's resignation was fantastic, as expected.
A few days ago, I turned on Fox News to see how they were treating Egypt. I shit you not, as they were playing footage of the protests, they discussed nothing except the effect the unrest would have on the price of oil. I was able to find a clip. Surprisingly enough, this is not what I watched. They talked about the oil angle on more than one occasion. I turned it on again today. Same deal, except replace "oil" with "Pizza Hut." Really. They were interviewing the CEO of Pizza Hut while playing footage of the protests. He let us know that 30 restaurants in Egypt have unfortunately been closed :(. Later on tonight, at the same moment Rachel Maddow was interviewing Brian Williams live from Egypt as demonstrators were occasionally being shot at right behind him, I flipped to Fox News. They were interviewing Karl Rove.
I could go on a huge rant with lots of funny bad words like I normally do, but I don't need to, because this Media Matters piece summed everything up beautifully.
Oh sure, staffers and hosts working for Rupert Murdoch are doing their best to convey a sense of grave importance when discussing the historic turmoil playing out in Cairo and throughout Egypt. But you only have to watch Fox News for five or ten minutes to see their hearts just aren’t in the story. The usual Fox News juice is completely missing. There’s no swagger on-screen these days.
Instead, it’s like watching students hand in homework, or little kids eating their vegetables.
It’s true. Egypt is killing Fox News’ mojo.
Why? The short answer is Fox isn’t actually a news-gathering organization in the traditional sense in that it reacts and responds to breaking news around the world. Nor is it one strives to inform its viewers. It’s just not. Instead, Fox News is a political organization. Under Obama, Fox News exists in order to attack Democrats and to try to destroy the Obama presidency, while at the same time boosting Republicans. Period.
Here's a collection of hilarious recent moments from the Fox News family concerning the events of Egypt. Please remember that this is where most Americans get news.
Megyn Kelly thinks Obama could "go down in history as the president who lost Egypt."
Because Egypt was "ours" to begin with? Because we don't want a nation to follow America's example by throwing off a brutal tyrant?
Dick Morris thinks Obama "broke Egypt, and he now owns it."
Once again, how is democracy bad? Is democracy a factor that breaks nations? If Obama is somehow responsible for what happening in Egypt right now, then why aren't you praising him?
Karl Rove thinks Egyptians are more "Western," "secular" and "Christian" because they are "descended from Ramses and Cleopatra"
If I was being asked about a country I didn't know anything about, I would namedrop irrelevant cultural references too. I'm surprise Karl didn't tell Hannity that he needs to walk like an Egyptian.
Glenn Beck thinks this revolution "is being orchestrated by the Marxist Communists."
Not to be confused with the Marxist Socialists.
This is not a news organization. The purpose of a news organization is to do research and report the news. Fox has done zero research. They are asking no experts. It took them a fucking week to get a single reporter to Egypt. They have no idea what's happening. They don't know what they're doing. And Fox is the highest rated news channel in the United States. America gets its news from a bunch of blundering, egotistical morons who weren't aware that anything outside of the United States existed prior to this revolution. When that fact is thrust into their laps, they don't even try to pull their shit together. They just wing it and hope no one notices. The reason why the world hates is because this is how we act.
But unlike Fox News, I'd rather not have this blog filled with nothing but hate-filled dick waving. So here's a quick update about what's actually been happening in Egypt (hint: it doesn't involve communists). I almost wanted to split this up into two entries, but what the fuck.
Today was filled with the most violence we've seen in so far. Anti-Mubarak and Pro-Mubarak demonstrators squared off in Tahir Square, and for fifteen hours straight, they battled each other on and off as the military stood by and watched. And they used more than just sticks and rocks. Hundreds, if not thousands, of molotov cocktails were tossed, and small arms fire could be heard all day, and well into the night. Five people are reported to have been killed, and at least 800 were injured. Every single time there was a clash, the pro-Mubarak demonstrators were the ones who instigated it. There are a lot of rumors flying around saying they're being paid off by the government to stir shit up. Many may be police. There have been reports coming in all day of Mubarak supporters beating the shit out of journalists and smashing their cameras. Anderson Cooper's crew was attacked.
But it's not all violence. Because human beings are inherently good, there are always feel-good stories in these situations when you look hard enough. Muslims have been showing up to Christian churches during prayer services to protect them from violence, and Christians have been returning the favor during salah. This is why I'm not afraid of Egypt turning into the brutal theocracy Fox warns you about.
"I know it might not be safe, yet it's either we live together, or we die together, we are all Egyptians."
Such are the words one expects of great leaders on the battlefield, of politicians preparing a nation for war, of civic leaders rallying people for an inspiring cause.
But these are the words of Cherine Mohamed, a 50-year-old Egyptian housewife.
This is a perfect example of why you always need to do your own research instead of depending on a middle man. I had no idea who the Muslim Brotherhood was when these protests were starting. When I first started hearing their name, I didn't freak out and listen to what the teevee had to tell me. I went and read about them. They're a political party. They used to be pretty insane, but they reformed themselves a few decades ago, and they're now vehemently anti-violence. Al Qaeda hates them because they think they're too soft.
I'm not saying I trust the fuckers, I'm pretty sure they would try to put a theocracy in power, but they're sure as shit not terrorists. Regardless of what I think, Egypt has its own country and its own culture, and it's not my place to question the government they want for themselves as long it's nonviolent. And everything we've seen so far indicates that this revolution is very nonviolent and very modern, so the Muslim Brotherhood may not even get into power at all. But don't take my word for it, because I likely have my own agenda. Go read.
