Egypt

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, reported yesterday that several international and Egyptian human rights activists, journalists and lawyers were picked up in a raid on the Hisham Mubarak Law Center in Cairo. The activists are currently detained at an unknown location in Egypt, and no news has been heard from them since their arrest. According to Bouckaert, the arrests are part of a clear campaign against independent eyewitnesses of the violence in Egypt, including journalists and civil society activists.” If you know more names tell @bouckap!#jan25http://is.gd/FS8kG2

 تشهد الأمة المصرية لحظة تاريخية في حياتها ، إذ أن الشعب المصري خرج عن الطوق و مضي في سبيله للتحرر من ربقة الذل ، منذ يوم عيد "الشرطة" المصرية جلادي النظام في يوم 25 يناير 2011 و مئات الألوف بل قد تجاوز العدد ليصل إلي المليون في أيام بعينها خرجوا ثائرين علي صلف و طغيان محمد حسني مبارك . و قد واجه جموع المتظاهرين اقسي درجات القمع بدءا من إطلاق قنابل الغاز المسيلة للدموع منتهية الصلاحية ، مرورا بالضرب بالرصاص المطاطي و حني بالرصاص الحي و الإحراق . إلا أن هذا القمع و البطش لم يثبط من عزيمة المصريين ، بل خرجوا في يوم 1 فبراير في مسيرة مليونية في القاهرة و تجاوزت الاعداد مئات الألوف في مظاهرات الأقاليم.

If the military is ever to be a legitimate national force, it must side with the protesters against Mubarak’s thugs and the police. These thugs have been ridiculously and mistakenly labeled by right-wing media as “pro-Mubarak demonstrators. This critical junction in the Egyptian Uprising when is the Egyptian Army’s moment of truth. As thousands of unarmed demonstrators are tortured, trampled, firebombed and molested by Mubarak’s thugs, will the military move to protect, or to crush the non-violent democratic movements that have occupied Tahrir Square in Cairo for the last ten days? Following on Paul Amar’s useful analysis (Jadaliyya, 1 Feb 2011) we need to know which faction of which of the Army's branches is ascendant, and where exactly, within these forces, we can energize possible allies.

For more than two decades, Mubarak's regime tried to change the structure of Egyptian society through the creation of a class that is loyal to it and benefited from its gains. These gains appeared to flow from Hosni Mubarak’s continuing presidency and his son Gamal’s eventual take-over. The regime put an emphasis on establishing private schools and universities which taught international curriculums, as well as opening the doors for international corporations at which the graduates of these schools and universities would be offered lucrative jobs. It also built luxury malls and attractions; this new class was intended to spend its entire income on imported goods and social diversions.