Egypt: Too soon to analyze, so here?s my outbox
from …My heart’s in Accra by Ethan
Protesters stop for prayer during January 28th demonstrations in Cairo (possibly 6th October Bridge.) Twitpic posted by @ollywainwright
What Role Did Social Media Play in Tunisia, Egypt Protests?
As the protests are playing out in the streets of Cairo and the rest of Egypt today, I have been glued to the live-stream of Al Jazeera English as well as the Twitter hashtag #Jan25, a top trending topic based on the big protests a few days ago. The Egyptian protests come on the heels of a similar revolution in Tunisia, where a longtime dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was ousted after young people organized protests via Facebook. We’ve heard about “Twitter revolutions” before in Iran after huge protests there in 2009, but how have things changed today? How much of a role has social media played in the turmoil happening in the Middle East? Will that continue to be the case? Vote in our poll below, or share your deeper thoughts in the comments below.
Egypt: Demonstrations Continue for Fifth Day
Written by Amira Al Hussaini
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
Widespread demonstrations continue to rock Egypt for the fifth day in a row, as netizens around the world continue to closely watch developments on the ground. Reports say the millions of demonstrators are taking to the streets to protest against president Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.
Lebanon: Protest in Support of Egypt
Written by Amira Al Hussaini
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
A solidarity protest in support of the demonstrators in Egypt is taking place next to the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. Similar protests are being reported around the world, as Egyptians continue to rally against the 30-year rule of president Hosni Mubarak.
Crisis Mapping Egypt: Collection of Protest Maps
from iRevolution by Patrick Meier
NEGATION IN EGYPT
Open source insurgencies, revolts, etc. operate on very simple premise:
They negate, block, stop, halt, reverse, etc. the status quo.
A dictator. A policy. An occupation. Etc.
Egypt: When Mubarak’s Speech Fires Back
from Global Voices Online by Amira Al Hussaini
Egypt in Photographs: From the Streets of Cairo
Written by Jillian C. York
Egyptian human rights activist and Global Voices Advocacy contributor Ramy Raoof has been, like many Egyptian protestors, online only sporadically over the past few days. When online, Raoof has uploaded photos taken on the streets of Cairo: photographs of the demonstrations, of street graffiti, and of soldiers, showing the world the view from the street.
Sudan next?
Sudan Tribune reports that activists in Khartoun have called protests for Sunday, looking to emulate recent developments in Tunisia and Egypt:
An email seen on Friday, which Sudan Tribune has paraphrased due to spelling errors, called for mass demonstrations in Khartoum on Sunday saying it was the ‘right time to rise against oppression and despair’.
EGYPT: Looting as Counter-Insurgency
There have been a growing number of reports of looters/thugs conducting smash and grabs across Cairo. Interestingly, there’s also a growing number of reports that when these thugs are caught, they have police/interior ministry identification on them. If this is so, the reasons for it are:
Events in Egypt (everything is fine love the egypt government)
Along with tons of others out there, I have spent a good part of the last 24 hours watching AJE’s live coverage of the events in Egypt, and reading all of the reports and posts about these events. The Guardian UK also has a page with live updates, here. Max Forte has a new post over at Zero Anthropology: “Focus on Egypt.” Daily Kos has an open thread going right now, as well as a large collection of posts, reactions, thoughts, and links about the protests. Twitter has also played an interesting role in spreading news about these events through a series of topics and tags (ie #Jan25; #Egypt, etc).
Ozymandias Redux
One of the great Victorian Orientalist poems, Ozymandias, was penned by Percy Bysshe Shelley almost two centuries ago in 1818. Substitute the name ?Hosni Mubarakias? and experience the déjà vu that is Egypt, and indeed the entire world.
Egypt Lies I Read on Twitter: Debunking Rumors and Misinformation on the #Jan25 Uprising
from Boing Boing by Omar Chatriwala
Update: Following Egypt events live on Twitter, video, liveblogs
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Egypt: On Twitter, the Search for Wael Ghonim
Written by Jillian C. York
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
On Twitter, friends express concerns for Egyptian blogger and Google Middle East staffer Wael Ghonim, who has been missing since Thursday. Ghonim, who studied in Cairo and is now Head of Marketing at Google’s UAE office, had tweeted his intent to be at the January 25 protests:
Israel: Social Media Offers Alternative Egypt Commentary
Written by Carmel L. Vaisman
For the last 48 hours, ?revolution in Egypt? is set as the ?hot? topic on the front page of Israblog, the largest Israeli blogger community; however, as little as 12 bloggers posted on this topic to date. Along with the conversations on Twitter and Facebook, Israelis express mixed feelings: intuitive support of the demand for freedom, alongside echoing of Western media fears of Islamic fundamentalism under the guise of democracy.
Egypt: Sixth Day of Uprising Tweeted
Written by Hisham
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
The Egyptian protesters have been defying the night curfew on Sunday, as they continued demonstrating against the 30 year-old rule of Muhammed Hosni Mubarak. In a dramatic day that saw the closure by the Egyptian government of the Al Jazeera TV network’s bureau in Cairo, the rapidly changing situation on the ground was largely relayed by social media networks on the Internet, especially on the micro-blogging platform Twitter.
Egypt: ?We are No Longer Afraid?
Written by Amira Al Hussaini
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
It’s past midnight in Cairo, Egypt, where anti-Mubarak demonstrations continued for the sixth day. As the protests grow stronger, so does the will of the people to oust president Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for 30 years.
Egypt: El Baradei – Protesters’ Friend or Foe?
Written by Amira Al Hussaini
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
Egyptian opposition figure Dr Mohamed El Baradei paid a short visit to thousands of anti-Mubarak protesters, camped at Tahrir Square in Cairo, a few minutes ago.
Egypt: Solidarity Pours in from Around the World (Videos)
from Global Voices Online by Hisham
Egypt: Al Jazeera Cairo Bureau Shut
from Global Voices Online by Amira Al Hussaini
Maldives: In Solidarity with Egypt
Written by Saffah Faroog
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
The ongoing protests in Egypt have ?electrified? netziens in the Maldives. The fascination with the current phenomenon in Egypt transcends all geographical borders but in the Maldives there is a special significance as it brings back flashbacks of pro-democracy protests held only a few years ago to bring democracy to the Indian Ocean island nation.
Maldives to Egypt: Can a Revolution be Censored?
from Global Voices Online by Saffah Faroog
USA: Voices of Support for Egyptian Protesters
Written by Simon Maghakyan
While the official US response to the protests in Egypt is a desperate hope for stability, lesser televised American voices are supporting the protesters in the land of the pyramids.
Qatar: Qaradawi to Mubarak: ?You are blind, deaf and dumb?
Written by Amira Al Hussaini
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
Banished Egyptian cleric Yusuf Al Qaradawi described Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak as ?blind, deaf and dumb,? lending his influential backing to protesters calling for a change in the regime for the fifth day in a row.
Egypt: Government Thugs involved in Looting, Lawlessness
from Global Voices Online by Amira Al Hussaini
Omar Suleiman: Hosni Mubarak’s “consigliere”
Embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in his fit of frantic cabinet shuffling, has elevated his long-standing intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to a new post as his first-ever vice president. Suleiman is a looming figure in Middle East spook circles with long-standing connections to U.S. intelligence operatives — see Jeff Stein and Pat Lang for more on this — and appears several times in the WikiLeaks U.S. State Department cables, mostly in the context of briefings with top U.S. military officials preoccupied with Iran’s influence in the region.
What should the U.S. learn from Egypt’s use of the “Internet Kill Switch?”
The outbreak of civil unrest in Egypt this week has unfolded with rapid momentum. As in Tunisia, access to video, Twitter and other feeds at first appeared to help the Egyptian citizenry stand up for their democratic and human rights, including the right to be safe in their homes and businesses, and to come to consensus on being so.
Recap: 12 Stories of Egypt in Turmoil
from Mashable! by Charlie White
Gunfire in Cairo: 3 ways social networks failed protesters
Is the Tunisian uprising contagious?
Revolution in Egypt: witnessing history in Cairo
Egypt’s thirty year wait for a vice president ends, but then what?
?My analysis is, the government will leave them until they reach a level of exhaustion—Abdel Moneim Said, who heads the state publishing house al-Ahram.
“Egypt on the Edge” by Andrew Watt
The Egyptian revolution, to date an inspiring and seemingly entirely grassroots and popular uprising against an ossified, dysfunctional regime, is entering a critical phase. As I write ? the curfew has just started on Sunday – the regime appears to be preparing to strike back.
Slowing down the revolution
The Obama administration is edging towards accepting, if not openly endorsing, an end to Mubarak’s rule.
“We want to see an orderly transition so that no one fills a void, that there not be a void, that there be a well thought out plan that will bring about a democratic participatory government,” said the secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
What role for the Ikhwan?
Egypt: Sentiments vs. Advice
?Some may argue that the events unfolding in the Middle East now are too unpredictable to warrant a wholesale shift in U.S. foreign policy, that transferring support from loyal satraps to an untested popular opposition may backfire if that opposition fails or is put down, that the U.S. needs reassurances of friendly allies (often at the expense of democracy). But America is not simply a bystander in all of this — its actions and words will affect the outcome. They will signal to opposition and regimes alike how far each can expect to go in challenging — or repressing — the other. Opposition movements (and would-be opposition movements) secular or Islamist are not only waging a battle against authoritarian oppression — but a battle against the ways in which the U.S. manifests its quest to secure its geo-strategic interest.”
MAIN FOCUS: West gives Mubarak cold shoulder | 31/01/2011
In view of the ongoing mass protests in Egypt the US and Europe have distanced themselves from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and called for a transition to a democratic system. The West’s decision to push for more democracy comes late, the press writes, but is nonetheless necessary to prevent the Islamisation of the country.
2011-01-28 World leaders comment on events in Egypt
Amidst the on going protests / revolution, several leaders across the world have spoken out in regards to the turmoil which has over taken Egypt. The following are excerpts from the various governments’ press release.
2011-01-28 Cable: Egypt’s Emergency Law
US State cable 2010-01-12 10CAIRO64 from one year ago, discusses the use of the State of Emergency, in effect in Egypt almost continuously since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
2011-01-28 Cable: Political arrests of Muslim Brotherhood
US State cable 2010-02-11 10CAIRO197 from one year ago, discusses the arrest on the morning of February 8, of three high-ranking members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau (the group’s 16-member administrative body) along with twelve other lower ranking members
Arab world, social networks and WikiLeaks
2011-01-28 Cable: The Amir of Qatar discusses Syria, Egypt, and Iran
US State cable 2010-02-23 10DOHA70 details a February 14, 2010 meeting between Senator John Kerry and the Amir of Qatar. In the meeting, the Amir stresses the importance of Israel’s return of the Golan Heights to Syria. Hamas “for sure,” he said, will accept the 1967 border but will not say it publicly so as to lose popular Palestinian support. The Amir accuses Egypt of delaying an agreement between Israel and Palestine to extend their own role. “According to the Amir, Fatah and Hamas agreed on a memorandum of understanding, but the Egyptians wanted it changed.” The Amir offers to deliver a message from the US to Iran.
Encircling Empire: Report #11, Focus on Egypt
EE: Report #11, FOCUSING ON EGYPT
2011-01-28 Cable: Egypt displeased with number and tone of U.S. human rights recommendations
US State cable 2010-02-25 10CAIRO253 records that Government of Egypt officials, on February 24, expressed concern over the U.S. recommendations at the February 17 UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Egypt’s human rights record.
2011-01-29 No Internet? No Problem! Anonymous Faxes Egypt
Now that Mubarak is trying to pull the plug on the Internet in Egypt, the hacker activist group Anonymous is going Old-School, dusting off the old fax machines and using them to agitate for change in Egypt.
Egypt: 8-year-old girl lectures Mubarak (video)
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
2011-01-28 Cable: Egypt action against poet, bloggers, novelist and journalists
from WL Central by GeorgieBC
Following events in Egypt on Twitter
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Notes on the Egyptian internet, censorship resistance, and Tor
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
All Eyes on Egypt
Ramses II, left; Mubarak I, right
About a month ago I visited the King Tut exhibit in New York. Here was the splendor of one of the minor pharaohs of Egypt, one that died at a very young age. Other pharaohs reigned for a lifetime, such as Ramses II who was in power over three millennia ago and ruled the mighty Egyptian empire for more than half a century. Hosni Mubarak on the Nile is no pharaoh any more than Saddam Hussein was Nebuchadnezzar on the Euphrates. Still, he has been in power almost three decades with a son said to be waiting in the wings for succession. But it is unlikely that he will match Ramses, and not simply because he would be over a century old if he did. The words of the Prophet Daniel, for a different time and place, are apt: mene mene tekel upharsin.
The Twitterverse Responds to Protests in Egypt [STATS]
from Mashable! by Lauren Indvik
Reports of damage, and civilians preventing damage, to Egyptian Museum antiquities
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
2011-01-28 Cable: Police torture in Egypt
Robert Fisk in Egypt: “Death throes of a dictatorship”
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Visualizing Egypt?s Internet Blackout [GRAPHIC]
from Mashable! by Sarah Kessler
Egypt: Citizen Videos Manage to Bypass Blockage
from Global Voices Online by Juliana Rincón Parra
2011-01-28 Cable: Assessing support for Mohammed El Baradei
Protests in Egypt
from Osocio Weblog by Tom Megginson
Egypt (video): Army intervenes to protect protesters from police
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Stratfor: In Egypt, plainclothes security forces are looting
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Egypt: The Twitter-less revolution
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Iran: Egypt Uprising a Vivid Reminder of Iran’s Green Movement
from Global Voices Online by Hamid Tehrani
2011-01-28 Egypt is on Fire!
It is 8:00pm in Cairo and protesters are still out in the streets defying the curfew that went into effect two hours ago, it bans anyone from the streets until 7:00am. In Cairo, the ruling party headquarters is on fire. Internet, SMS and cell phone are now being interfered with but earlier we had this from the Guardian’s running blog:
2011-01-28 Cable: Mubarak discusses Iran and a “split” within Arab ranks
US State cable 2009-02-23: 09CAIRO326 describes a February 17, 2009 meeting between US Senator Joseph Lieberman and Egyptian President Gamal Mubarak.
Gamal criticizes the Israeli government’s decision not to move forward on the Gaza ceasefire without the release of Corporal Shalit. “The various Palestinian factions are due to begin reconciliation talks in Cairo “in about 10 days” and this development will make those discussions more difficult. It makes Egypt look bad, and strengthens Hamas.”
2011-02-28 Cable: Torture and police brutality in Egypt are endemic and widespread
US State cable 2009-01-15: 09CAIRO79 is titled SUBJECT: GOE STRUGGLING TO ADDRESS POLICE BRUTALITY. The title is directly contradicted by the cable which concludes The GOE has not begun serious work on trying to transform the police and security services from instruments of power that serve and protect the regime into institutions operating in the public interest.
2011-01-28 Cable: President Mubarak in Washington
US State cable 2009-05-19 09CAIRO874 contains a complimentary profile of 81 year old Egyptian president Mubarak where he is praised for weathering, during his 28 year tenure, at least three assassination attempts, and a “manageable but chronic internal terrorist threat”.
Egypt: Visualizing Topics Shared on Twitter
Written by Gilad Lotan
Egypt: Videos Are Worth a Million Words
from Global Voices Online by Hisham
How I?m following the developments in Egypt (Updated)
How to follow a 21st century revolution. What sources am I missing?
Egypt Coverage
A number of Berkman projects and collaborators are keeping a close eye on the state of Internet access in Egypt.
You can follow Herdict‘s tracking of reported Internet inaccessibility from the ground in Egypt on their blog, and follow their twitter feed at http://twitter.com/Herdict to get ongoing updates.
Egypt: Information getting out despite information blackout
from Global Voices Online by Ivan Sigal
Egypt: Tweeting the Protests Continues
Written by Gilad Lotan
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
Egypt: ?The People Will Bring the Regime Down!?
Written by Amira Al Hussaini
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
People around the world were glued to their television and computer screens today, as Egyptians took to the streets after the noon Friday prayers.
Saad Eddin Ibrahim: «Egypt, a future of political plurality»
Internet Security Savvy Critical as Egypt Government Blocks Websites, Arrests Activists
Written by Georgia Popplewell
This guest blog entry by Eva Galperin, EFF International Activist, was originally published on Global Voices Advocacy. This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
The Fall of the American Wall: Tunisia, Egypt, and Beyond
from OPEN ANTHROPOLOGY by Maximilian Forte
Tahrir Square burns: a message from Egypt, Daniel Bruno Sanz
In Egypt, the calcified government and status-quo are melting away like snow thrust under an Egyptian sun. Thirty years of pent up hopes and dreams deferred have unleashed a torrent of rage in a nation where tens of millions live on $2 a day. From Zamalek I see the black smoke pouring from Tahrir (Liberation) Square into the already smoggy skies. The characteristically pious, stoic and soft-spoken Egyptian can’t bear it any longer. The regime of octogenerian Hosni Mubarak is living on borrowed time enabled by $1.5 billion in annual American largess and the soporific effects of Islam.
Tunis, Cairo and beyond: susceptible authoritarians may yet really topple, but questions abound, Eberhard Kienle
The middle-east path: towards awakening, Mishana Hosseinioun and Foulath Hadid
Everywhere, democracy is proving contagious – except, it has seemed until the current exciting days, in the middle east and north Africa (MENA). While the rest of the developing world is making huge strides towards democracy, especially in south America and Asia, this vast region remains mired in violence, election fraud, denial of civil liberties, and an appalling human-rights record.
Obama’s caution on Egypt is winning no friends
Dispatch from Cairo under communications blackout
Qasr al-Nil Bridge, Cairo, October 28, 2011
al-Jazeera (Arabic) reporting police have detained M. al-Baradei in Giza
Morning Brief: Egypt demonstrations escalate; government blocks Internet
MAIN FOCUS: Egypt between freedom and Islamism | 28/01/2011
The Egyptian protest movement plans to continue demonstrating against President Hosni Mubarak today after the Friday prayers. For its part the regime has deployed elite police troops and blocked the Internet. Europe’s press is divided over whether Mubarak’s overthrow will bring democrats or Islamists to power.
Egyptian NGOs speak out against excessive force and violence
Egypt’s Ayaum al-Ghadib: Speaking Truth to Power.
Biden on Mubarak: ‘I would not refer to him as a dictator.’
Whose bright idea was it to send Joe Biden out to talk about Egypt?
The U.S. vice president just made a major faux pas tonight, the Christian Science Monitor‘s Dan Murphy reports:
Ahead of a day that could prove decisive, NewsHour host Jim Lehrer asked Biden if the time has “come for President Mubarak of Egypt to go?” Biden answered: “No. I think the time has come for President Mubarak to begin to move in the direction that — to be more responsive to some? of the needs of the people out there.”
Egypt unrest a dilemma for Obama
US President Barack Obama has urged both sides in Egypt not to use violence but has thrown his weight behind change.
Egypt turns off internet, Lieberman wants same option for US
Prayers for Change
In a protest inspired by the popular uprising in Tunisia, Egyptian demonstrators pray in central Cairo to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
“We Are All Egyptians”
An Egyptian civilian kisses an army soldier after troops took position at major junctions in central Cairo on January 29, 2011 as thousands of anti-regime demonstrators continue to pour onto Cairo's streets
New Dawn in Cairo?
Five days after Egyptians first took to the streets to demand a new government, President Mubarak asked his cabinet to resign. But Mubarak himself shows no signs that he will step down and the tanks and soldiers are still present in the smoke-filled streets. Pictured: An Egyptian man stands in front of a burning armored vehicle in central Cairo on January 29, 2011.
War Zone
Egyptians take cover behind a tank as police opened fire on a crowd in the roads around the central Tahrir square in downtown Cairo on January 29, 2011.
Bravely Demanding Change
Running for Cover
Fiery Protest
An Egyptian police officer catches fire from a fire bomb thrown at police battling demonstrators demanding the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak in Suez.
Internet-enabled activism versus Malcolm Gladwell: snarkypants edition
from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow
Egypt (photo): protesters face off water cannon in prayer (Updated)
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Internet Society statement on Egypt ‘net shutdown
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Egypt: without internet, country may face “economic doom” Monday
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Mubarak: I’m dissolving Egypt’s government, new one forms tomorrow, I’m not going anywhere
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Updated: Egypt Erupts, January 2011
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I am beginning to believe Obama’s will curry favor with the Muslim world is to simply let it become a super caliphate which will subjugate Europe and wipe out Israel.
please don’t believe that. it is soooo wrong…