Posted on 01/27/2011 2:34:19 PM PST by NormsRevenge
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's web activists have been brazen critics of the President Hosni Mubarak 30-year rule online. This week's unprecedented protests across Egypt showed they are becoming formidable opponents offline too.
Activists have used Facebook, Twitter and other social media to rally supporters online, coordinate protests and share tips on how to dodge arrest and deal with teargas. They blame the government for making access to the sites patchy.
"Mubarak took over Twitter and we took over the streets. Good deal," one anonymous user tweeted.
With two thirds of Egypt's 79 million people under the age of 30 and with many frustrated by largely toothless opposition parties, many of Egypt's youth have turned to the digital sphere as one of the few channels available to express their anger.
"The system has not responded to repeated calls for reform," said political analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah. "But these new generations managed though virtual space to break that silence and move to the streets."
Analysts say web activists have to prove they can sustain the momentum of protests and may find numbers shrink if the state responds with past tactics such as wage hikes and handouts for the poor instead of the political change they are demanding.
But for now, the web activists, who called for Tuesday's "Day of Wrath" that kicked off protests now in their third day, are reveling in their success in bringing demonstrators out.
"This revolution will be called the revolution of the internet youth," a member of a Facebook group calling for protests wrote. "We will take it all the way to the end."
Protesters in Egypt have been inspired by fellow Arabs in Tunisia who toppled their president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, of 23 years. They too spread the word for protests online.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
No, Make that .. a 'In Yur Facebook' Revolution.. double wow.
also a Reuters piece, much as the first posted,
ElBaradei returns to Egypt for Friday protests
Reuters
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110127/ts_nm/us_egypt_protest
Dina Zayed And Shaimaa Fayed – 23 mins ago
CAIRO (Reuters) – Police fought protesters in two Egyptian cities on Thursday and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei returned to the country on the eve of nationwide demonstrations seeking to oust President Hosni Mubarak.
Security forces shot dead a Bedouin protester in the north of Egypt’s Sinai region on Thursday, bringing the death toll to five on the third day of protests inspired by unrest which toppled Tunisia’s president earlier this month.
Demonstrators appeared determined to allow no let-up in mass rallies against Mubarak’s three-decade rule, with another wave of protests expected after Friday prayers.
In a sign of open defiance against authoritarian rulers spreading in the region, police also clashed with protesters in the Arabian Peninsula state of Yemen and Gabon in West Africa.
In the Egyptian city of Suez, police fired rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators calling for an end to Mubarak’s rule. Protesters chucked rocks and petrol bombs at police lines.
I have not watched any TV or heard radio mush.....ARe the Rioters the GOOD guys or the BAD guys....relatively speaking, that is.
Using social media for anti-government activities sounds so ip and trendy until one of the people on your friends list gets busted and the government takes a birds of a feather philosophy, looks at his friends list and proceeds to round everyone up including you.
Soros Fund Management Chairman, George Soros, attends a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, January 27, 2011.
Organisers and CEOs at the annual Davos meeting projected cautious confidence in the global economy as the event opened on Wednesday,
pointing to numerous risks which could yet derail a still-fragile recovery. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
NWO, take note , V
Think Scott Farcus, (is that his name? Christmas Story
Islamic extremists are working overtime to take over any country any way it can.. Mubarak is quilty of imprisoning a lot of them and executing some over his many years in office.
Caption: Egyptians demonstrator in front of the Lawyers' Syndicate in Cairo. An Egyptian protester was shot dead by police Thursday as nationwide protests raged into a third day and pro-democracy activists vowed to step up their campaign to oust President Hosni Mubarak. (AFP/Mohammed Abed)
Oh...the ISLAMISTS are trying to take over Egypt!!!! OMG! I KNEWQ I should have gone to see the pyramids before these crazy people BLOW THEM UP!!
Pro-democracy? That's doubtful. They will only replace a secular dictatorship with a much harsher religious dictatorship. To the woman in Egypt: get out your burquas. You will need them real soon.
Knock yourselves out.. He did a bang-up job at the IAEA for years.. lolol
—
Egypt activists keep up the heat, boosted by ElBaradei
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110127/wl_mideast_afp/egyptpoliticsunrest_20110127220452
CAIRO (AFP) – Protests calling for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak raged in Egypt for a third straight day on Thursday as leading dissident Mohamed ElBaradei returned home, offering to step into the breach.
As the deadly unrest continued, US President Barack Obama warned that violence was not the answer, urging restraint on both sides, and also pressing Mubarak to adopt political reforms.
ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate and former UN nuclear watchdog chief, arrived in Cairo from Vienna, and said he would join mass protests planned after weekly Muslim prayers on Friday.
“It is a critical time in the life of Egypt. I have come to participate with the Egyptian people,” ElBaradei, a vocal critic of Mubarak, said before leaving Cairo airport.
Earlier, in Vienna, he told reporters he was ready to “lead the transition” in Egypt if asked.
That’s purely speculation on my part, yaknow.
just a coincidence?
Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt..
may cooler heads prevail.
—
I made my trip to Egypt in the 80s. The Pyramids are hugh but kind of stinky inside.. Got to ride a camel too.
They should take them apart, clean them, and put them back together again... right after the war.
Looks like I’ll never get there now.....and no, it sounds like these revolutions have been planned.
Well, both. The Hosni Mubarrak government has, like many governments in the region, been quite corrupt and the ordinary person on the streets has not necessarily benefited from the Egyptian economy. Not as blatantly corrupt as Tunisia for example, but all the same sufficient to make the young particularly to feel disenchanted. Also, there is a strong belief that Mubarak (who has been ailing) is grooming his son Gamal to take over, and thus it seems the usual dynasty-type of government trying to insert itself. Thus, there is good reason for them to protest. The bad news: The bad news is that the Muslim Brotherhood has been gaining a lot of power and prominence, and once Mubarak is out of power (due to natural reasons or being forced out) it is almost a given that the mode of government will be islamist. That is a problem for the US, for Israel, and (ironically) for the same people who are protesting in the streets (if you recall when Mogadishu in Somalia fell to the Al Shabab, there was a lot of rejoicing because of the peace and stability the Al Shabab brought ....initially. After a very short while the same people celebrating realized they had made an impish deal, and the same Al Shabab was not telling them what to do, what not to do, punishing at will, killing, and enacting an extremely harsh version of Shariah).
There is no easy answer here. However one given is that for all the faults Mubarak has, whatever will rise to fill the vacuum will most probably be uncontrolled, brusque, and islamist.
Like using a rattlesnake to chase out rats from your house. Sure, your pantry is no longer hosting rodents, but then again you now have to watch your ankles and check the bed. Impish deal.
Thanks for the explanation. Islam is the anti-Christ.
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