February 14, 2011
On the long morning after, protesters returned to Tahrir Square to clean it up and savor their victory. There were even some initial scuffles with the military that may be over-anxious to assert control and show it is in charge.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Now, Egypt Faces 'the Hard Part'
By Danny Schechter
February 14, 2011
February 14, 2011
1 comment:
THE NON-EVENT
(2/19/2011)
There seems to be a rush ( almost
a panic) towards recognizing a
"revolution" in Egypt and else-
wheres, especially among academia,
social critics, recognized "spokes-
peaple", and students. Apparently
there is a deep psychological need
(perhaps created) to claim a revel-
utionary victory.
I continue to believe that nothing
of substance has happened so far.
One military dictator, failing to OBEY (see Noam Chomsky) has been
forced out. The constitution has
been suspended. The parliament has
been dissolved. The streets where protests were held have been
"cleared". The US stockmarket has
gone up.
1. Left untouched was the Egyptian
military.
2.Left untouched was most of the cabinet.
3.Left untouched were the police.
4.Left untouched were the repressive thugs.
5.Left untouched were the equal rights of Muslims in a traditionally Muslim land.
6.Left untouched was the continuation of torture prisons
(a favored destination of the US CIA).
7.Left untouched were the thousands of Egyptian detainees.
8. Central was the unemployment
frustration of university students
in Egypt---not of workers or others
farther "down" the social scale.
9.Left untouched were the implications for Egyptian students
should Egyptian families now
flourishing in exile in such places as Cambridge,MA,USA, return
to "help".
There is at present no structure in place for the expression of
Muslims, workers, or other minority groups.
The result, at this writing, is a non-event which the protestors bought hook line and sinker. This
"non-event", such as it was, was covered minute-by-minute,by inter-
national media.
Meanwhile ethnic cleansing goes on
dailey in Palestine. The US
President has celebrated the bringing down of the Berlin Wall but is silent on the rights of Palestinians in occupied territories, silent on continued
Israeli ethnic cleansing, silent on the denial of the right of
Palestinians to believe as they choose. There was not the slightest
mention of the continued building of the so-called "separation wall"
by Israelis. Nor was there any mention of the rights of Palestinians and sympathetic Israelis to protest the building
of this wall, the massacres, the demolishing of their homes, their
lands, their resources, their places of work,the lack of their own judicial system.
This is "democracy", "freedom" at work.
Peter Loeb
352 Massachusetts Avenue, # 316
Boston, MA 02115-4953
email: peterloeb@yahoo.com
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