North Africa: From Jasmine to the Nile Revolution, to…
25 January, 2011 | By Genet Mersha
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Egyptian regime went about employing, in a typical fashion of a besieged
regime Tuesday afternoon, to bedevil the thousands of protestors in the
streets. In Egypt, officially this was supposed to be a Police Day.
Egyptian dubbed it a ‘Day of Anger.” By late Tuesday afternoon in Cairo,
Alexandria, Suez, Mansoura, Mahalla al-Kobra and elsewhere, thousands of
protesters came out to call for the Mubarak regime to go. Some lives were
lost—both civilian and policemen. Several protestors were injured. Egypt has
not had such a fury in decades.
As in Iran during its last election, social media has done good by popular
action, summoning the people for protests. The New York Times reported
more than 90,000 people signed up on a Facebook page to join the protests,
“framed by the organizers as a stand against torture, poverty, corruption and
unemployment.” From what I saw in the media, all classes of Egyptians were
out there to inform Mr Mubarak and his entourage that people were tired of
his thirty years in power.
Wonders never end; Egypt’s Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly has not read the
writing on the wall. He warned the protestors on Police Day that they would
be detained. And indeed, the police took some of them. Seemingly exhorting
himself and his colleagues, the minister said, “Security authorities are capable
of deterring any danger to citizens’ safety or damage to properties.” The
regime also diminished Internet and mobile phone services.
What is interesting is in unusual concession from the regime, where emergency
law has been in place for thirty years now, he said, “the protesters will be
protected only if they are merely gathering to express their opinion.”
Nonetheless, as if all dictators and their officials graduate from the same
school, Mr Al-Adly described the protestors as “a bunch of incognizant,
ineffective young people.” However, what the world witnessed on television
were experts, women doctors, lawyers, workers…explaining why they are
angry, not “incognizant… “
Mr Al-Adly’s words reminded me of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s
murderous electoral escapade, in which his forces mowed down in one-day
nearly 200 young lives in 2005. Ato Meles went on BBC interview with
Stephen Sucker days later accused of stealing election results to claim those
he ordered killed and the survivors were “unemployed.” Any ways, what
difference does that make? Still he is responsible for their death.
Today, Egyptian police used water cannons and barrages of tear gas on
thousands of people that converged in Tahrir Square, not far from the US
embassy, the Interior Ministry, and an environ of upper class hotels, according
to news reports. Nothing was able to deter Tuesday’s angry protestors. They
are determined to initiate in earnest Egyptian requiem for the Mubarak regime,
guided by the spirit of the Nile Revolution.
Civil society organizations quickly moved in the protest areas. About 30
Egyptian human rights groups have set up operations unit in downtown Cairo
to provide protesters with legal support. Tuesday’s public protest, organized
on the social media, is the largest ever in Egypt in years. Initially it was
peaceful, even the brutal Egyptian security forces showing unusual restraint,
according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), “in what appeared to be a
calculated strategy by the government to avoid further sullying the image of a
security apparatus widely seen as little more than corrupt thugs in uniforms.”
A recent visit to Cairo gave me the shock of my life, where within ten days I
heard a chorus of complaints from everyone I met, as never before, about the
difficult life in Egypt. The chitchat everywhere is about money, cost of living,
the dreaded political suppression and brutality of the regime. In a country
where only 20 percent of the population is below the poverty line, in this
difficult time, it seemed every Egyptian have their wails. Beyond any shadow
of doubt the middle class is unhappy with Mubarak and his regime. Bear in
mind, this is a class that has relatively done well under him, especially since
2004.
I would not like to think how deep the rage must be in Ethiopia. Under normal
times, according to the 2010 UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI), the
population under distressful life conditions, measured on the health, education
and living standards] metrics is 94.2 percent. Especially this time, in a country
where poverty has dug deep, and inflation at 15 percent last December that
keeps on rising, has been hitting them hard on a daily basis. The ‘ethnocratic’
regime has kept on feeding them false hope about the continually rising
economic growth that bears no fruits ordinary people can eat. Is it too much
for these people to seek change by any means to their conditions of life?
I recall writing my discontent on behalf of my people, when I discussed in a 31
January 2010 article “The Rise of an Ethnic Oligarchy”, www.addisvoice.
com, dealing with the level of institutionalized corruption in Ethiopia. With
poverty rising significantly since then, the depth of anguish and anger must
have no limit. Water is a good conductor of currents; hopefully the currents of
change would pass from Tunis to Cairo via the Nile, enabling Ethiopians to
seek their redress.
Professionals I met in Cairo were sarcastic about the regime’s efforts to
silence them, their second nature humour intact. They have plenty of funny
jokes about the old man and his regime. As in any society under the grips of
fear, Egyptians crack their jokes in the privacy of their homes and amongst
circles of friends. Day and night, they shred Mubarak’s regime to pieces; they
despise it for its corruption. As the BBC after the protests put it this afternoon,
Egyptians despise the regime’s lack of vision and sense of the future.
Mubarak fell low in the eyes of the people not only for the corruption and
brutality of his regime, but also for daring to pretend Egypt is a democracy for
which he is preparing his son to take the mantle of power. The young think
and believe they have never had leaders in a long time, embarrassed about the
senility of the ‘emperor’, who is now dynastically brokering Gamal’s
succession in an election that would take place less than a year from now.
Even separated, as they are by income differentials, taste and life styles, what
binds together young Egyptians, the working-class folks and members of the
middle class and higher ups is their hatred for the regime that has lost its ways
for a long time now and is organizing an election in which, irrespective of the
vote counts, his son would be declared a winner.
On 19 January, I read an article on www.almasryalyoum.com. I never realized
that it was sign the time has come. It simply surprised me that, in a country
where the media is censored and journalists are dismissed or imprisoned,
almasryalyoum dared to write the following:
In the case of Egypt, therefore, the Nile Revolution would witness, if it is not
crushed with the level of impunity only cruelty knows, it would have stronger
support. What will make today’s protest in Egypt potent is not only its
vehemence, but also the non-participation of the Moslem brotherhood that has
chosen to sit out, according to Annette Young of France 24.
Quoting the Associated Press, WSJ wrote,” Mothers carrying babies also
marched and chanted, “Revolution until Victory!” while the young waved signs
reading “OUT!” that were inspired by the Tunisian protestations of
“DEGAGE!” Men sprayed graffiti reading “Down with Hosni Mubarak.”
25 January, 2011 | By Genet Mersha
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Egyptian regime went about employing, in a typical fashion of a besieged
regime Tuesday afternoon, to bedevil the thousands of protestors in the
streets. In Egypt, officially this was supposed to be a Police Day.
Egyptian dubbed it a ‘Day of Anger.” By late Tuesday afternoon in Cairo,
Alexandria, Suez, Mansoura, Mahalla al-Kobra and elsewhere, thousands of
protesters came out to call for the Mubarak regime to go. Some lives were
lost—both civilian and policemen. Several protestors were injured. Egypt has
not had such a fury in decades.
As in Iran during its last election, social media has done good by popular
action, summoning the people for protests. The New York Times reported
more than 90,000 people signed up on a Facebook page to join the protests,
“framed by the organizers as a stand against torture, poverty, corruption and
unemployment.” From what I saw in the media, all classes of Egyptians were
out there to inform Mr Mubarak and his entourage that people were tired of
his thirty years in power.
Wonders never end; Egypt’s Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly has not read the
writing on the wall. He warned the protestors on Police Day that they would
be detained. And indeed, the police took some of them. Seemingly exhorting
himself and his colleagues, the minister said, “Security authorities are capable
of deterring any danger to citizens’ safety or damage to properties.” The
regime also diminished Internet and mobile phone services.
What is interesting is in unusual concession from the regime, where emergency
law has been in place for thirty years now, he said, “the protesters will be
protected only if they are merely gathering to express their opinion.”
Nonetheless, as if all dictators and their officials graduate from the same
school, Mr Al-Adly described the protestors as “a bunch of incognizant,
ineffective young people.” However, what the world witnessed on television
were experts, women doctors, lawyers, workers…explaining why they are
angry, not “incognizant… “
Mr Al-Adly’s words reminded me of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s
murderous electoral escapade, in which his forces mowed down in one-day
nearly 200 young lives in 2005. Ato Meles went on BBC interview with
Stephen Sucker days later accused of stealing election results to claim those
he ordered killed and the survivors were “unemployed.” Any ways, what
difference does that make? Still he is responsible for their death.
Today, Egyptian police used water cannons and barrages of tear gas on
thousands of people that converged in Tahrir Square, not far from the US
embassy, the Interior Ministry, and an environ of upper class hotels, according
to news reports. Nothing was able to deter Tuesday’s angry protestors. They
are determined to initiate in earnest Egyptian requiem for the Mubarak regime,
guided by the spirit of the Nile Revolution.
Civil society organizations quickly moved in the protest areas. About 30
Egyptian human rights groups have set up operations unit in downtown Cairo
to provide protesters with legal support. Tuesday’s public protest, organized
on the social media, is the largest ever in Egypt in years. Initially it was
peaceful, even the brutal Egyptian security forces showing unusual restraint,
according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), “in what appeared to be a
calculated strategy by the government to avoid further sullying the image of a
security apparatus widely seen as little more than corrupt thugs in uniforms.”
A recent visit to Cairo gave me the shock of my life, where within ten days I
heard a chorus of complaints from everyone I met, as never before, about the
difficult life in Egypt. The chitchat everywhere is about money, cost of living,
the dreaded political suppression and brutality of the regime. In a country
where only 20 percent of the population is below the poverty line, in this
difficult time, it seemed every Egyptian have their wails. Beyond any shadow
of doubt the middle class is unhappy with Mubarak and his regime. Bear in
mind, this is a class that has relatively done well under him, especially since
2004.
I would not like to think how deep the rage must be in Ethiopia. Under normal
times, according to the 2010 UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI), the
population under distressful life conditions, measured on the health, education
and living standards] metrics is 94.2 percent. Especially this time, in a country
where poverty has dug deep, and inflation at 15 percent last December that
keeps on rising, has been hitting them hard on a daily basis. The ‘ethnocratic’
regime has kept on feeding them false hope about the continually rising
economic growth that bears no fruits ordinary people can eat. Is it too much
for these people to seek change by any means to their conditions of life?
I recall writing my discontent on behalf of my people, when I discussed in a 31
January 2010 article “The Rise of an Ethnic Oligarchy”, www.addisvoice.
com, dealing with the level of institutionalized corruption in Ethiopia. With
poverty rising significantly since then, the depth of anguish and anger must
have no limit. Water is a good conductor of currents; hopefully the currents of
change would pass from Tunis to Cairo via the Nile, enabling Ethiopians to
seek their redress.
Professionals I met in Cairo were sarcastic about the regime’s efforts to
silence them, their second nature humour intact. They have plenty of funny
jokes about the old man and his regime. As in any society under the grips of
fear, Egyptians crack their jokes in the privacy of their homes and amongst
circles of friends. Day and night, they shred Mubarak’s regime to pieces; they
despise it for its corruption. As the BBC after the protests put it this afternoon,
Egyptians despise the regime’s lack of vision and sense of the future.
Mubarak fell low in the eyes of the people not only for the corruption and
brutality of his regime, but also for daring to pretend Egypt is a democracy for
which he is preparing his son to take the mantle of power. The young think
and believe they have never had leaders in a long time, embarrassed about the
senility of the ‘emperor’, who is now dynastically brokering Gamal’s
succession in an election that would take place less than a year from now.
Even separated, as they are by income differentials, taste and life styles, what
binds together young Egyptians, the working-class folks and members of the
middle class and higher ups is their hatred for the regime that has lost its ways
for a long time now and is organizing an election in which, irrespective of the
vote counts, his son would be declared a winner.
On 19 January, I read an article on www.almasryalyoum.com. I never realized
that it was sign the time has come. It simply surprised me that, in a country
where the media is censored and journalists are dismissed or imprisoned,
almasryalyoum dared to write the following:
- “Before former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s
unceremonious ousting from power, he resorted to the desperate
tactic many dictators attempt when faced with questions they can’t
answer. He blamed “hostile elements in the pay of
foreigners…manipulated from outside the country.”
When Egyptian leaders employ this tactic, by “foreigners” they
might mean Islamic fundamentalists from other countries. But more
often than not, it means just one thing: It’s a Zionist conspiracy.
It took less than two days for some prominent members of Egyptian
society to blame a Zionist conspiracy for the five Egyptian copy-cats
of the Tunisian man who burned himself as a form of protest
against the government.
In an effort to analyze the would-be suicides, member of the Al-
Azhar-affiliated Islamic Research Academy Magdy Mehanna told Al-
Youm Al-Sabei newspaper, “[Suicide] is an objection against God.
[...] How can a Muslim do this? [...] It must be related to the Zionist
plans to bring down the Arab and Muslim world.” From orchestrated
power outages to remote-controlled killer sharks, Egyptian
accusations against Israel range from the plausible to the ludicrous.
The frequency and sometimes absurdity of finger pointing in the
Israeli direction has left Egyptians vulnerable to ridicule in the
foreign media. Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal went so far
as to dub Egypt “a nation of political imbeciles.”
In the case of Egypt, therefore, the Nile Revolution would witness, if it is not
crushed with the level of impunity only cruelty knows, it would have stronger
support. What will make today’s protest in Egypt potent is not only its
vehemence, but also the non-participation of the Moslem brotherhood that has
chosen to sit out, according to Annette Young of France 24.
Quoting the Associated Press, WSJ wrote,” Mothers carrying babies also
marched and chanted, “Revolution until Victory!” while the young waved signs
reading “OUT!” that were inspired by the Tunisian protestations of
“DEGAGE!” Men sprayed graffiti reading “Down with Hosni Mubarak.”
| All rights reserved. |
| Ethio Quest News Together We Can Make It! |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Ethiopia's History of National Resistance for African Unity & Dignity |
| Ethio Quest News: For latest Ethiopian News, views, Reviews and More |
| Ethiopian Perspective Articles by Category Ethiopian Diversity Ethiopian Economy Ethiopian Politics Ethiopian Women |
| Previous Articles by Genet Mersha |
| Egyptian cartoon: self-immolation—the height of ultimate distress |
| Courtesy of Al Ahram, 20 January 2011: “Acts of self-immolation spread throughout the Arab World, replicating what happened in Tunisia.” Cartoon by Fahi Abul Ezz (by Lina El-Wardani) |