Below is part I of coverage highlights from GlobalPost correspondents Jon Jensen and Erin Cunningham who have been reporting from the scene for more than 24 hours
The deadly clashes in Cairo‘s Tahrir Square that erupted Nov. 19 have been escalating, with inuries and deaths mounting by the day.
The reason for the riots? Egyptians are demanding the military-led government to hand over its authority so a citizen-formed government can begin. with thousands of protesters fighting against police demanding the military-led government to hand over its authority to an elected government.
Below is part I of coverage highlights from GlobalPost correspondents Jon Jensen and Erin Cunningham who have been reporting from the scene for more than 24 hours…
CAIRO (AP) – Security forces fired tear gas and clashed Monday with several thousand protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in the third straight day of violence that has killed at least 24 people and has turned into the most sustained challenge yet to the rule of Egypt‘s military.
Throughout the day, young activists demanding the military hand over power to a civilian government skirmished with black-clad police, hurling stones and firebombs and throwing back the tear gas canisters being fired by police into the square, which was the epicenter of the protest movement that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February.
All these countries have jumped from dictatorships to US hegemony.
In all these countries,the alternate to the fallen dictators is Anarchy.
US has been very clever in destabilizing Dictators with a token support to dissidents(it also ensures that the opponents to the regime are not united) ,which would ensure that there is no viable alternative ,thus keeping the Country unstable.
This would facilitate US interests in Oil and the likes of Halliburton and the Oil Giants will have a field day.
The world is paying for the Oil Greed of the US.
See the related articles, you will know what US has done and how CIA has played both sides at the same time.
The CIA and other Western intelligence agencies worked closely with the ousted regime of Muammar Qaddafi, sharing tips and cooperating in handing over terror suspects for interrogation to a regime known to use torture, according to a trove of security documents discovered after the fall of Tripoli.
The revelations provide new details on the West’s efforts to turn Libya’s mercurial leader from foe to ally and provide an embarrassing example of the U.S. administration’s collaboration with authoritarian regimes in the war on terror.
WASHINGTON, March 22 (UPI) — One of the primary reasons for the U.S. military intervention in Libya is because of the dependence on foreign oil, a Democratic lawmaker charged.
A U.S. fighter jet crashed in Libya while on a mission that was part of an international effort to put pressure on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The U.N. Security Council last week passed a resolution that allowed for military intervention in Libya to protect the civilian population.
“We’re in Libya because of oil,” he said. “And I think both Japan and the nuclear technology and Libya and this dependence that we have upon imported oil have both once again highlighted the need for the United States to have a renewable energy agenda going forward.”
Dictators in Arab countries like Libya and Egypt may have deserved to be ousted by their people. But the role of the West in hastening the demise of the regimes in such countries, especially in the case of Libya its ruler, has been prompted by its greed to control natural wealth
After seven-odd assassination attempts over the last four decades, it was on October 20, 2011, that one of the most successful Libyan leaders, Muammar Gaddafi kissed the most brutal and disgraceful death. Libyan fighters snapped him out of his ‘hole’ and shot him to death. His body, half naked, completely wounded, with shambled hairs and bloodied, was then delivered as prized possession to Misrata (a city near Sirte) where it was put on public display as a token of victory for the rebels. And with it came an end of the era, which Gaddafi had built over 40 years. And with his end, the US again proved its double standards to the world.
The role networking sites had in recent uprising in Egypt is well-known.
While this is a welcome sign for those in repressed States, there is also the danger of Alien States misusing them( even States misuse in their own country).
With the evolution of the Internet and growth of Soc-ail networking sites our thoughts are being conditioned;we read what we are presented with(in this connection read my Blog on Media Fixing content filed under media).
We need to have an open mind on any subject/views;
Here at OSM we’ve been bringing you news about the growing role of social media and social networking sites in growing protests around the world, as in the recent Tunisian Twitter Revolution, the unrest in Libya where the Internet was shut down, and also in the protests in Egypt, a revolution helped in part by the use of social media.
The protests and demonstrations in Egypt eventually led to President Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarek stepping down from power, a move that led to jubilant scenes across the country. Now we hear that one new proud Egyptian father has chosen to thank Facebook for the role it played in the revolution, by naming his daughter “Facebook.” Emil Protalinski over on ZDNet reports on this news, sourced from Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram and translated by Tech Crunch.
The newspaper told of a young Egyptian man who wished to show his gratitude to Facebook (the social networking site) and so named his child “Facebook Jamal Ibrahim.” Apparently people have gathered round the baby girl to give gifts to Facebook (the baby) and show continuing support for the revolution and Facebook (the social networking site).
There’s also news that the Egyptian army, which is temporarily running the country, has also opened its own Facebook page. Along with that, in the fourteen days following the first day of the revolution, 32,000 new Facebook groups were established in Egypt with 14,000 pages created.
If you’re interested in learning more about the role that Facebook played in the Egyptian protests you might want to check out an intriguing article by Abigail Hauslohner on TIME which takes an in-depth look at one of the protestors, 20-year-old Khaled Kamel, and how he used Facebook to push for change in the country.
The story of a man naming his daughter “Facebook” (whether you like it as a name or not), is a rather heartening reminder of how Egypt has come a long way in recent months and should also remind us never to take the role of social media for granted, as we use it in our everyday lives. What do you think of this news? Let us know with your comments please.
The man, later identified on Cuban blog Penultimos Dias as Eduardo Tato Fontes Suarez by people claiming to be his former classmates, works for Cuba’s interior ministry. Over the course of the 58-minute video, Suarez explains how new technologies are being used by cyber activists around the world. He says the U.S. is “trying to turn bloggers into a new category of enemies of the state”.
Fontes also alleges that the NGOs founded by young Cuban Americans are different from “historic terrorist groups like the [Miami-based] Cuban American National Foundation (CANF)”.Historically, Cuban-exile groups such as CANF and the US Cuba Democracy PAC lobbied lawmakers in Washington to uphold staunch policies against Cuba like the US embargo and the travel ban of American citizens to the Caribbean island. In recent years, younger generations of Cuban Americans have been proponents of liberalising the US-Cuba policy. Unlike their elders, Fontes says, these new NGOs and online communities have the power to effectively “deceive Cuban youth” and paint the Cuban Revolution in a negative light.
The video has been leaked at a time when the Internet and social networks have been used by young people across the Middle East and North Africa to organise recent anti-government uprisings.
Felice Gorordo is the co-founder of US-based Roots of Hope, one of the organisations that Fontes attacked in the attached video. Roots of Hope was behind Colombian rockstar Juanes’s ‘Peace without Borders’ concert. In the video, Fontes blames Roots of Hope for wanting to cancel the concert. In fact, Juanes had threatened to call it off if Cuba refused to loosen draconian security measures. According to the organisation’s website, Roots of Hope is a privately-funded organisation that does not receive any U.S government funding and “seeks to empower Cubans to be the authors of their own futures”.
They acknowledge in the video itself that we [Roots of Hope] threaten them. It’s clear that the Cuban government doesn’t know how to handle our message, which is apolitical and only seeks to increase contact with Cubans on the island and Cubans overseas.”
The Internet in Cuba does not work in the same way it does in other Communist countries like China or Vietnam, where the Web is generally accessible despite a high level of government control. In Cuba, legal Internet access is only available to a privileged group of government officials and doctors, or by purchasing prepaid cards in hotels that cost the equivalent of 12 euros an hour.
The average salary in Cuba is approximately 15 euros a month, making legal access to the Internet a luxury for most Cubans. The prohibitive Internet access price also serves as an effective extension of government censorship. Most Cubans rely on illegal connections to access the Web, at extremely slow speeds.
Omar Suleiman, speaking on state television, said Mubarak had decided to give up “the office of the president of the republic” and said the Supreme Council of the armed forces would “run the affairs of the country.”
The news swept the country and Tahrir Square, home of the protest movement, erupted in celebration.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters had gathered for a huge rally on what they called “Farewell Friday,” and after 18 days they finally achieved their main goal.
Suleiman’s statement came after Mubarak left Cairo for the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, shortly after protesters marched on his main presidential palace and held vast rallies across Egypt.
Mubarak passed most of his powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman Thursday night, but rebuffed the demands of demonstrators that he step down immediately.
Mubarak’s departure came after an offer by the army to ensure 30-year-old emergency laws were lifted and that free and fair elections were held failed to placate the crowd.
The military’s comments were seen as a major push to end the worst crisis in Egypt’s modern history and contained a clear signal that it wanted demonstrators off the streets.
However, live television pictures from Alexandria showed massed ranks of people filling a main boulevard in the city andAl-Jazeera reported there were other demonstrations in Suez, Mahala, Tanta and Ismailia.
Elsewhere, in the north Sinai town of el-Arish, there was a alarming development with Reuters reporting that about 1,000 people attacked a police station in an attempt to free prisoners.
Witnesses said they threw Molotov cocktails and exchanged gunfire with police who retreated to the roof. Al-Jazeera television reported the attackers were protesters who broke away from the main demonstration in el-Arish.
CAIRO (AP) — Military and ruling party officials say President Hosni Mubarak will speak to the nation soon and meet the demands of protesters. Protesters are insisting he step down immediately.
Military officials say the armed forces’ supreme council has been meeting all day long and will issue a communique shortly that they say will meet the protesters’ demands.
The ruling party chief, Hossan Badrawy, tells The Associated Press he expects Mubarak to address the nation and make a announcement that will satisfy their demands.
You must be logged in to post a comment.