Things I don’t understand about activism, the short list: • Sleeping in a park if you have an actual bed somewhere to sleep in; • Willingly being in a place where you increase your risk of being arrested/maced; • Being uncomfortable in a crowd when you can just, you know, read coverage on blogs; • How crowds of people with signs change anything, ever.
Amount I’m willing to concede ignorance on matters of activism: • Oh, a lot; • I’d go so far as to say "total."
What I decided to do about it: • Not take an eight-hour bus ride to New York City, that’s what; • Get someone [...]
We understand: you're busy running your social marketing company/law firm/dying publishing establishment. Plus you're besieged as well—by information overload and first world problems. It's okay! Here's a handy digest so that you can stay informed on Egypt without having to read 4000 blogs and newspapers.
• Today's demonstrations are being called the "Day of Departure," or "Friday of Departure," which is a classy way to demand the immediate resignation of President Mubarak. Today has been described as peaceful and jubilant; for the most part, pro-government thugs have not been sent forth to create violence.
• Much of the city of Cairo is difficult to move through today, with [...]
"This particular book-or rather, set of books-is every edit made to a single Wikipedia article, The Iraq War, during the five years between the article's inception in December 2004 and November 2009, a total of 12,000 changes and almost 7,000 pages. It amounts to twelve volumes: the size of a single old-style encyclopaedia. It contains arguments over numbers, differences of opinion on relevance and political standpoints, and frequent moments when someone erases the whole thing and just writes 'Saddam Hussein was a dickhead.'" (via)
Back in April, Egyptians received a violent reminder that their post-revolutionary freedom to assemble in protest was a conditional one. That night was the first time activists moved demonstrations from Tahrir Square to the Israeli embassy in protest the Gaza occupation. By 2 a.m., the Egyptian army (known as the SCAF) had received orders to attack the group. Soldiers fired rubber bullets into the crowds and tear-gassed the corridor, killing one and taking hundreds into custody.
The message from the SCAF was clear: “You may gather in protest with our blessing—but Israel is off limits.”
But last Friday, five Egyptian border security guards were accidentally killed by [...]
You know what is the worst possible thing the Egyptian government could have done? Detaining just-returned possible opposition candidate Mohamed ElBaradei. That won't inflame protests at all! Not that they need inflaming in the slightest; Cairo is apparently choking with tear gas. The good news? People arrested may not stay in jail for long: Al Jazeera reports that in Suez, "the police station in the port city has been taken over by protesters who have freed detainees." Meanwhile, French journalists have been arrested and CNN's cameras have been seized by police, as the country believes it can silence news about the brewing revolution.
Ah, the classic techniques of clearing a city, martial-law style. Here's the cops trapping students at the University of Pittsburgh on a stairway while they fire teargas into the crowd below. But the fun doesn't stop there!
These protests in Sudan are awesome: "52 women were arrested on Tuesday as they protested outside the country’s justice ministry." The trigger for the demonstration: a video of a woman being flogged, in public, by "laughing police officers." There is video but I haven't watched it and don't feel any need to share it. I mean, it's of someone being humiliated and flogged in public by the state, and the description of the video alone should upset people.
