The transition to civilian rule in Egypt is "effectively over"

i saw this story when it broke early this morning... to me, it's a demonstration of just how tenaciously those who are accustomed to unfettered power and limitless reservoirs of stolen money and resources will finagle to make sure they stay on the top of the pile, the common good and the will of the people be damned...

from common dreams...

'Military Coup' in Egypt as Court Dissolves Parliament

CNN reports:

Egypt's highest court declared the parliament invalid Thursday, and the country's interim military rulers promptly declared full legislative authority, triggering a new level of chaos and confusion in the country's leadership.[...]

"Egypt just witnessed the smoothest military coup," said Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, in a tweet after the high court's decisions Thursday. "We'd be outraged if we weren't so exhausted."

"Egypt is entering into a very dangerous stage and I think a lot of people were caught by surprise," he said.

Riot police and military personnel, some in armored vehicles, were outside the court ahead of the rulings. Military intelligence officers were also present.

After the ruling about Shafik was announced, a crowd of citizens shouted their disapproval. Military police moved to block the road in front of the court -- a major Cairo artery.

Ahram Online reports:

Eliminated presidential candidate Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh on Thursday declared that allowing Ahmed Shafiq – the military's preferred presidential candidate – to vie for Egypt's highest office while dissolving the elected parliament and granting military police the right to arrest civilians represented a de facto "military coup."

"Anyone who believes that Egypt's millions of revolutionary youth will allow this to pass must be delusional," Abul-Fotouh declared.

i spent a great deal of time early last year watching the al jazeera livestream of the tahrir square protests and, finally, the capitulation of mubarak... ever since then, egypt's super-rich elites have been playing the waiting game, keeping all of the mubarak power and money system intact while throwing an occasional bone to the masses... now it looks like they've gone and made a master power play, effectively telling the egyptian people, "tough shit, we're in charge and we DARE you to do anything about it"...

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More tragedy in Cairo

from spiegel...


Stones thrown during clashes between soldiers and protesters in Cairo are
placed in a heart-shape around blood stains, in memory of protesters killed
during the latest clashes. Thirteen people have been killed in the violence
since Friday with hundreds suffering injuries. Over 100 demonstrators have
been arrested. The most recent clashes come just days after Egyptians voted
in the latest round of parliamentary elections. Protests against ongoing military
rule in the country have been ongoing since mid-November and have become
increasingly violent since then. Forty-two people were killed in street battles
in November. Both United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have expressed concern at the latest flare-up.

so sad...

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Egyptian army major: I’m supposed to die for these people, not them die for me

it makes sense that there would come a point when even the most establishment and status quo among us can longer stand by while our fellow citizens are brutally repressed... i'm wondering when that realization will fully hit our militarized police here in the u.s...

the guardian...

Speaking next to an open window that looks out on to Tahrir Square, Major Tamer Samir Badr says he now feels it is his duty to protect 'these people who are fighting for our rights'. The 37-year-old claims many officers have been attending the protests secretly in civilian clothes.

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The Cairo prostesters in Tahrir Square have no intention of being bamboozled again

following the egyptian situation definitely gives a different perspective to my worry that the occupy movement may be fading... those egyptians are a real inspiration...!

from democracy now...

Egyptian protesters continue to fill Cairo’s central Tahrir Square over the ruling military council’s refusal to immediately transfer power to a civilian government. In a televised address on Tuesday, the head of Egypt’s military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, said he has accepted the prime minister’s resignation and that the military is ready to relinquish power if Egyptians call for that in a referendum. But protests only intensified after Tantawi’s speech and security forces unleashed a barrage of tear gas. Over the past five days at least 38 people have been killed, thousands injured, and at least 15 journalists attacked as Egypt has witnessed the largest protests since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

fool me once...

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Cairo, Tahrir Square: November 19 - 22

a round-up of the last four days of the egyptian revolution... a very important compilation of key events...



this certainly puts our occupy efforts in stark perspective, doesn't it...? the egyptians have no delusions that their super-rich elites and the military that empower them have no intention of going quietly into that good night... we here in the u.s. are just starting to wake up to that fact... god forbid that we have to deal with their level of violence and repression but seeing what has been taking place in places like uc davis et al, i'm not so sure it isn't coming quicker than we might think...

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A smidgen of good news from Tahrir Square

i posted extensively on the february uprising in egypt (here) and have been following it ever since, altho' recently i've been focusing more on our own domestic uprising...

i was thrilled beyond words to see egyptians come together to challenge their u.s.-sponsored puppets and persist beyond all reasonable limits in insisting that real power was vested in the egyptian people and not their super-rich elite overlords... i was glued to the al jazeera livestream for the better part of every day and repeatedly felt chills running up and down my spine as i watched...

i didn't believe for a single moment then that the egyptian ptb would easily step aside any more than i believe now that our own super-rich elite overlords in the u.s. will do anything other than give a condescending nod to the concept of citizen-led democracy, social justice and the quaint notion of service to the common good...

i give the egyptian people enormous credit... their persistence is a shining example for us all... may they prevail...


A suspected police informer was surrounded by an angry crowd after he
was severely beaten in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Monday.
Moises Saman for The New York Times

Egypt’s Civilian Government Submits Offer to Resign

After three days of increasingly violent demonstrations, Egypt’s interim civilian government submitted its resignation to the country’s ruling military council on Monday, bowing to the demands of the protesters and marking a crisis of legitimacy for the military-led government.

The step was reported by Egyptian television, and it remained to seen whether the military would accept or reject the offer of the resignation, which followed the most sustained and bloodiest challenge to military’s hold on power since the fall of Hosni Mubarak as demonstrators clashed with security forces around Tahrir Square and across the country.

again, may they prevail, and may my country finally decide to pull its head out of its ass...

Crackdown in Cairo, excuses in Washington

As Egyptians return to Tahrir Square, the Obama administration sides with the military

keep your eyes and ears open... very shortly, we'll be inundated with propaganda telling us that egypt will fall under the control of radical factions of islam if we don't support the egyptian military and their rule of brutality...

and, btw, where did the egyptian military get their equipment and learn their tactics...?

Egypt uses U.S. teargas on pro-democracy crowds

600 injured as military clashes with demonstrators demanding return to civilian rule

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OWS - the continual necessity for acting and thinking boldly

i regularly think back to my time in kosovo this past february, glued to the al jazeera livestream from cairo... i was thrilled beyond words to see the people in egypt rise up and insist on taking their power back from one of the world's most decidedly corrupt regimes... the fact that mubarak had been a long-time ally of my own country was not a small part of my jubilation...

when the ows movement began here two months ago, i was equally thrilled... while that thrill has dissipated somewhat, i am still of the firm belief that ows is the most exciting development in the u.s. in my lifetime...

i worry over what, if anything, the next evolution of ows will look like... as the author of this excerpt, recently returned from egypt, states, whatever evolves, it must be big and bold... we are at a time in the history of our country and of the world where only big and bold will do...

[T]he most valuable organizing nugget I carried back with me [from Egypt] is the continual necessity for acting and thinking boldly. As an organizer here in the US, I was taught to be pragmatic and practical - go for what you can win in a specific time horizon. As an organizer, we ask leaders to dream, to name the things that hold them back from being happy, free and prosperous. And then, we set limits on those dreams, or cut them into bite-sized chunks that are so small, they sometimes bear little resemblance to the massive, audacious canvas that the leaders first painted for us. We negotiate ourselves down before we even get to the real negotiation table.

Before Egypt, I was taught that politics is the art of the possible. After Egypt, I question whether we should all be reaching for the impossible and ludicrous. Who knows who else might agree? A common call for the laughable and ridiculous widens the possibility for what can and should happen.

this takes me back to what i posted earlier - i believe we should be giving serious consideration to a constitutional convention...

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The Egyptian military shows good faith

i may be wrong (cuz, lord knows, i am the LAST person you would want to be attempting to deliver a credible prediction on anything about egypt - or any other country for that matter), but i think the egyptian military is going to pull off this transition and pull it off well... they've managed to keep the trust of the egyptian people despite 30 years of strongman rule and i don't think they're of a mind to squander it now... besides, they've never been under this kind of a global spotlight and they know that every move they make is being closely watched... on top of all that, how they handle the situation will set the template for every other populist movement in the region...

Egyptian military dissolves parliament

Egypt's new military authorities say they are dissolving parliament and suspending the constitution.

In a statement on state TV, the higher military council said it would stay in power six months, or until elections.

in effect, they've set the timeframe for elections at six months, coinciding with the time period mubarak originally set for stepping down...

p.s. yes, i have been keeping up with the revelations about the egyptian military's role in torture and human rights violations... all i have to say about that is i think such behavior is the sad norm for a powerful military, regardless of the country... and, yes, uncle sam, i'm looking at YOU...!

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