Revolutionary up and downs in an ever more vibrant city

Cairo at its best

I've always loved this city for its vibrant character. Cairo is the most colourful city (the grey buildings let aside for one moment) I know, it's the city that never sleeps (in these days this is only true for Midan Tahrir and the close surroundings) and its full of amazing, interesting people that are always free for a glass of tea.... 

Enthralling encounters in times of the revolution

As you can imagine in times of the revolution the daily encounters are even more fascinating than usually, among the most interesting people I met for example was Bacha who is currently working here as a cameraman for a German documentary about Egypt. He describes himself as someone who can do 5 things at time. Unfortunately I do not recall all of the 5 things, but I remember that among them is filming, reporting the story, cutting the film and taking care of the technical equipment. He learned filming when it was still some kind of handcraft. 

Reporter in the Lebanon war

Actually he started his career as a reporter in the Lebanon war 1982, himself being born in Damascus. He had at that time started to cover the war for ABC, receiving his training from BBC. He later served as a correspondent and filmer for various international and German Channels, among them AlJazeera as well as ZDF, ARD, Sat1 and the Deutsche Welle. Today he seems to earn most of his money with a dubbing company based in Syria – apparently the Syrian accent is popular in the Arab world and thus this business with dubbing Turkish, Iranian and Brazilian movies is going well. The next big project for this company shall be to dub „intelligent“ children's TV programmes from Germany, who in Bacha's opinion other than Asian cartoons or American series do promote curiosity and critical thinking. So watch out for the first edition of the „Sendung mit der Maus“ in Arabic....

Of course Bacha has much more to tell, about his experiences in the Algerian civil war, the Bosnian and Czechnya war, the Second Gulf War (the one started by George W. Bush and still lively in the memories of my generation, indeed was already the third one...) and his German step-parents who still not accept him as a Muslim and Syrian as the man of their daughter. (According to him the best indidcation and at the same time reinforcement of this rejective stance is the repetitive consumption of movies as „Nicht ohne meine Tochter“- Not without my daughter...)

Dramatic scenes: individuals still "disappeared"

Then there is this girl, whose brother Ziad Bakir has disappeared on the 28^th of January. Remember: this was the bloodiest day of the revolution when protesters clashed with police men before they disappeared all at once few hours later. Ziad has not been seen since – the family searched for him in every possible place, from police stations, prisons over hospitals to the city's morgues. Yet, till now they have not found a trace of their son and brother. Not knowin what has happened to him might even be worse than receiving the message of his passing away. As an Egyptian told me today: If they knew he was dead then he'd at least be honoured as a martyr, and the family would have the chance to slowly „process“ this loss... what they are stuck with instead is the gnawing uncertainty...

There is also a facebook page supporting the search and spreading awareness about Ziad's disappearance. He is also listed in the Guardian's missing protesters database.

In the meanwhile Ziad's sister and her friends print leaflets to be ditributed at Midan Tahrir. Their intention is to raise awareness that Egyptian's are at risk of losing their revolution. Ziad is the one example that should suffice to at least cast doubt on the army's and transitional government's intentions...if real change is aspired, why have political prisoners taken since 25 January not been released? If justice is to reign from now on, why has the persecution of all the human rights violations that happened in the last weeks (and in the years before) not yet started at a large scale? If political rights and the rule of law are to secure fair and free political competition from now on, why has the army tried to disperse protesters with force on Friday night?(See articles on AlMasr AlYoum and AlJazeera).  It is also quite remarkable that an army general is to head Egyptian TV for now, someone remarked wittingly that the army seemed to settle in.... 

On Friday Ziad's sister was very upset when I met her: the attempt to gather large numbers of protesters to oust Shafiq, the prime minister which had been appointed by Mubarak in an attempt to satisfy protesters' demands, ended up in a huge "carnival". Indeed, when I arrived on Midan Tahrir sometime Friday afternoon, it rather felt like the celebrations of winning the soccer world cup or in Egypt's case, the Africa's cup: people where selling revolution merchandise of all sorts, making noise by all means and stuffing themselves with all kind of treats (ranging from the very local grilled sweet potato over ricepudding to popcorn). 

Carnival or demonstration?

Political discussions were going on in many corners of the Midan, but similarly you could find people playing music, dancing, chit chatting or posing for pictures everywhere. The most popular motive still were the tanks posited at every access street to Midan Tahrir, followed by the sea of flags held up by the crowd in one part of the Midan, directly succeeded by myself. This might not even be an exaggeration: at some point we (me, two friends of mine, and two of their friends selling Tshirts for charity) where surrounded by so many people that an army officer showed up and with a stern expression on his face asked for our passports. Holy shit. This is not an encounter you wanna have these days. 

Especially as we were kind of a suspicipous composition: besides one totally "normal" Egyptian we were two German women, one Egyptian man who had been living in Germany for most of his life, another Egyptian who after years had just returned from the states, with three of us having arrived right in time or straight after the revolution....yet my Egyptian friends took it easy...the only wrongdoing the army officer could eventually find was us selling Tshirts without a permission, so he asked us to move (i.e. get away) with our pile of shirts....yet, of course the officer's presence had of course attracted an even larger crowd, so my friends saw their time come, moved (literally) 20 meters to the left, followed by the crowd, then dropped their bags with shirts on the ground and immediately started to shout again "Tshirt, Tshirt for 20 pounds"....what else would you expect from people who had been harassed by Egyptian police officers all their lifes?

Danger of the revolution being halted midway
 

Ziad's sister and many other people I met were seriously concerned that this carnival atmoshpere was fully inapropriate – not because it didnt do justice to the martyrs but because it enhanced the risk of loosing sight of the real goals of this uprising and forgetting about the tasks right ahead of the Egptian people....Yet, the events Friday night again alerted many people.

Above that the reform council has today announced officially the proposed amendments to the constitution. This news of this recent development also reached many Egyptians who had lost interest in the revolution and the political developments since life returned back to some fragile form of normality...Facebook (again it's facebook) is bustling with debates on whether these constitutional amendments will suffice to guarantee free and fair competition in the next elections.

(That shall be it for now. Much more to follow soon with some stories from those who have been camping out in Midan Tahrir for weeks now....)

Gaddafi ready to leave for Zimbabwe?

There is rumours Gaddafi was ready to leave Lybia with his private plane - already loaded with gold and hard currency - to join his friend Mugabe in Zimbabwe before a no-fly zone is imposed on Lybia. Read more ...

Also NY Times published an editorial two days ago pointing to ways in which the international community could react to the events in order to bring the bloodshed to a hold. Read more ...

From my side that will be it for today...but inshallah I'll join today's demonstrations on Tahrir later on and then will be back with fresh first-hand news tomorrow...

Is the counter revolution already under way?

With several incidents pointing to that direction, fears of a counter revolution are increasing among Egyptians. A lack of reliable sources of information, deliberate attempts at misinformation and the fluidity of the situation add to feelings of uncertainty.

Same old, same old - the "new" cabinet

Yesterday I had already mentioned the reshuffling of the cabinet as reported by several media. Al Ahram Online today offers a pretty informative overview with short profiles of the new cabinet members as well as of those who had been appointed by Mubarak some two weeks ago in an attempt to calm protesters with reforms, and of the (as Al Ahram calls them) „old guard“. (For another interesting article on criticism of new cultural minister el Sawy, move on to the Al Ahram page.) Provided with such a systematic overview and useful information on the individual ministers I come to strongly doubt the honesty of this attempt to create an inclusive transitional government. Besides Ashraf Hatem Mahmoud Ibrahim, Minister of Health and Population, all members of the „new““ cabinet are either successful, rather wealthy businessman or have been in a government-related position already before. Both can be considered indicators for the person in question being in line or at least not at odds with the principles, mechanisms and networks of the old regime.

Counter revolution under way: destroying Muslim-Coptic unity

 

Accordingly fears are mounting among Egyptians that a counter-revolution is already under way and that the revolution could go lost before it has been carried through to the end. The handout I published in the last post reflects this fear and calls for further immediate changes that could prevent or at least reduce the chance of a backlash. Also there's suspicion that the recent attacks on Coptic institutions might be a strategy to create unrest and destroy the unity among Christians and Muslims that has been so visibly cultivated during the protests. As for the attacks: the ones I know about are the killing of a Coptic priest in Assiut and the army's attempt to render a monastery even more defenseless, which has sparked protests in Cairo on Wednesday. For a beautiful way of expressing this unity, watch this video where Egyptians connected a mosque and a church with a huge Egyptian flag. 

Facebook Battle: NDP behind 25th January Party 

Also, the battle of (mis)information which has been waged since January 25 is continuing. There's a facebook group counting more than 300 000 members by now, calling itself „25th January Party.حزب 25 يناير“. Whether the according party has already been registered officially I don't know, yet in any case there are already rumours that the party was founded by Hossam al-Badrawi, general secretary of the NDP (hizb al watani, FORMER (?) ruling party). At least there is a facebook group called 25th January Party is ex-NDP. حزب 25 يناير هو الحزب الوطنى سابقا which has as its declared purpose to inform people about the real origins of 25^th anuary Party...it's getting messy again (or rather: it never stopped being messy), only one thing is for sure: facebook is the pivot of all this spin...

Uncertainty and misinformation: Killing of a cop. Or a bus driver. Or noone in the end?

Another recent issue also sheds light on the current situation in Egypt's capital: this afternoon the ex-pat (for ex-patriats) mailing list „Cairoscholars“ was flooded with emails asking about the current situation in Maadi, an upscale neigbhourhood in the south of Cairo and home to many wealthy Egyptians and foreign diplomats and NGO workers. These mails referred to some shooting going on and their authors wondered whether it would still be safe to go a festival scheduled to take place in Maadi tomorrow, or whether this celebration with music would now turn into „something like protest“. 

The explanation followed soon: a cop got into a fight with a microbus driver and then was killed by the driver who had shortly left the scene only to return with a couple of bloodthirsty friends. This report was revoked only short time later and eventually a newspaper article provided some (tentative) clarification: A cop had intended to fire into the air when he felt threatened in a fight with the microbus driver and some bystanders, one of the bulletts hit the driver, who was taken to a hospital. The police man got roughed up by angry observers and taken to the hospital as well, while the bystanders set two cars (whose car? Only one of them being the police car...) on fire. 

So far so good...yet there's still a video of a guy who's inconscious or dead, surrounded by angry/desperate people which remains unaccounted for but is said to belong to the same scene... the essence of it is once more: it is hard to understand what is actually going on. From this incident's report we additionally learn that police men have a much more uncomfortable role than they used to have before the revolution. Supposedly all the police staff fled the area after the incident, a hint at just how uneasy they might feel at the moment. And just remember: only last week had policemen been protesting against their senior officials' orders ruining their reputation...

Die Revolution ist andauernd (al-Thawara Mostamira) The revolution is not over yet

[This is a leaflet created by the founder of the facebookgroup Egyptian German Network for Changing Egypt to be distributed at tommorrow's demonstration at Midan Tahrir. It was translated by me, an Arabic version is also in preparation.]


1) Mubarak and his regime invested a lot in building up a brutal security apparatus. This security apparatus served to strengthen the regime and to terrorise, torture and slaughter countless Egyptians. Mubarak and his men have have to be brought to justice for these atrocities, and for murdering hundreds of peaceful protesters since Jan 25 immediately. This includes leading figures of the NDP, Zakria Azmi, Safwat al-Sharif and many more as well as F. Sirour. And this has to happen NOW!

2) Power has to be transferred immediately to a civilian technocratic presidential council, composed of well-qualified individuals who have the approval and acceptance of the Egyptian people, together with army representatives. The revolutionaries and their views have to be represented in this council. It is sovereign in leading the country, building up the state, and assisting the reformulation of the constitution. This technocratic council – not the military – is to appoint the transitional Egyptian government. The transition of power to a democratically elected government has to last as long as it takes to establish parties, to conclude cases of corruption and other crimes committed against the Egyptian people, and to allow the Egyptians to shake off the fear that was installed in them in the last years. It may well take a longer time, up to two years, until democratic elections can be held. But the transition to a civilian technocratic council has to happen NOW!

3) The state of emergence has to be lifted – immediately! No restrictions to the right to demonstrate. Immediate dissolution of the terror-state security apparatus.
 
We all have to be on alert now. The attacks on Coptic institutions in these days seem to be a deliberate strategy to destroy the atmosphere of tolerance and the solidarity among Egyptians.

Police set Ministry of Interior on Fire

According to Masr AlYoum and several other newssources police officers who had been fired last week have just set the Ministry of Interior located in downtown Cairo aflame.

Time for politics: government reshuffled, constitutional reform debated

The more people's life in Cairo returns to some kind of routine, the less the presence and pressure of/by protesters in the streets becomes, the more I have the impression that initiative and momentum for change has shifted to different arenas...Most visibly to the political arena, which to the date is dominated by the MIlitary Council. It is thus worth looking at some of the developments that have taken place regarding the institutional side of all this, time for politics:

Governemnt reshuffled - and already impaired by lack of legitimacy

The government has been reshuffled, several ministers of Shafik's cabinet being substituted by other figures. The process has been kind of chaotic, first information leaked on Sunday, more rumours were out on Monday, and it took untill Tuesday till the government's new composition was known. On Monday for example, it was first announced that el-Sawy, a reknown but contested figure in Egypt's cultural landscape, famous for his cultural center in Zamalek, was appointed cultural minister. Later media announced that Sawy refused to join the current government, other reports quoted him as only saying he'd first await the reshuffling before announcing his decision. Eventually he accepted the post and gave his first speech yesterday. As reported by Bikyamasr the appointment of el-Sawy was met with severe criticism by several „young intellectuals“. 

Gouda Abdel Khaleq, a member of Tagammu party had accepted his appointment without discussing the issue with his party, which responded with the outright rejection of his decision and threatened him with exclusion from the party. 

Another supposed minister announced he had not been informed lest asked about his appointment, and was not willing to take up any post. (A blog article gives an idea of the chaos surrounding the appointments and also of the doubtful credentials of some of its members.) Some people already suspected that this was mis-information policy was inetnional, intending to prevent people from joining the protests on Tuesday.

Masr al Youm lists the names and positions of the new cabinet members,and amends this by an article in which new Deputy Prime Miinister Al-Gamal expresses his doubt about the integrity of several new ministers...

According to Masr alYoum There is a fact finding commission on the violence against protesters in the first week, they have confirmed several allegations (police opening fire intentionally, using rubber bulletts and live amunition, armored vehicles delberately running over people) and indicated that there has been some finding as to who was responsible for the camels and horses assaulting the protesters in week 2.

Constitutional Change heavily debated

Regarding constitutional reform heated debates are going on, there is dissent regarding several aspects, some of them being:

The time frame: should all necessary constitutional changes happen now or some of them being postponed to after the next elections? Yet there is also no agreement yet as to when the next elections should be held. Fears are grwoing that early elections in September as previously announced by the Military Council would benefit the Muslim Brotherhood and the remnants of the old/outgoing/persistent regime. While other fractions and groups of Egyptian society still need time to organize their participation in election (campaigns), and to institutionalise their efforts, the MB and figures from the Mubarak regime/NDP can draw on existing infrastructure.

The extent of change: should a whole new constitution be drafted or is it sufficient to change several articles?

The relation of religion and the state: should Egypt continue to refer to Islam as the state religion in its constitution, as currently done in article 2 of the constitution? Or should Egypt become a secular state? (And, actually: what does secular mean, anyways?) Regarding this issue the constitutional amendment committe had already announced it would leave article 2 untouched. Yet, 4 weeks ago, Clinton had called Egypt „stable“ and only 2 weeks ago Mubarak had thought he'd remain president....so I guess „never say never“ has never (ehm) been a better advice... http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/constitutional-amendment-committee-article-ii-will-not-be-touched

The question of legitimacy: who should actually be in charge of redrafting the constitution? Military leaders, seriously? A committee of doubtable legitimacy? And in how far and what way has such a new or changed constitution to be approved of by the people?

The system: what kind of institutional setup should the new Egyptian democracy have? Are we looking for a presidential or a parliamentary system?

Public Debate

This list could definitely be continued, yet as far as I understood these are some of the most important points for now. It is remarkable also, how much these instutional and constitutional questions have become an issue of public debate! I am not sure how far this „public space“ extends and how inclusive it is, yet what from what I observed I can conclude that the interest in the technical and legal aspects of reshaping the Egyptian state transcends (some) class boundaries, is found equally among men and women, among people young and old and of any profession. There are public lectures and debates held in various places, many Egyptian media address the issue and whether you go to the balladi akhwas of downtown, agouza and dokki or the coffeshops in upscale Zamalek you'd hear „dustour“ (constitution) and „hizb al watani“ (NDP) everywhere...

Airstrikes against protesters in Lybia

While Gaddafi and his mercennaries and some loyal soldiers are killing Lybian people randomly, indiscriminately,coverage of the events remains unsatisfying, Nytimes is basically recycling the same information over and over again...so did alJazeera english channel last night...apparently the online foreign correspondent is CNN's Ben Wedeman who entered the country via the Egyptian border last night.

Qaddafi’s Grip Falters as His Forces Take On Protesters

Several senior Libyan officials broke with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, as forces loyal to him struck back at mounting protests against his 40-year rule.

 

Qaddafi’s Son Warns of Civil War as Libyan Protests Widen

In the capital, government buildings on Monday were in flames and police were noticeably absent after the son of the Libyan leader raised the threat of Western “colonization” if protesters threw off his father’s rule.

 

Gaddafi's hold on Libya weakens

Deep cracks have opened in the regime with officials quiting, pilots defecting and a bloody crackdown on protests.

 

Breaking news on Lybia

Again Sultan al Qassemi proves to be one of the best informed, and fastest sources! It seems he must be sitting in front of a dozen TVs following various Arabic language news channels (AlArabiya, AlJazeera, BBC and CNN Arabic) at a time, always feeding us with the newest information - and rumors.

The hottest rumour: Gaddafi has fled Lybia, indicated by the abadnonment of Tripoli by Security forces. Might just be a n element of media, information, mis-information battles, but you never know...

http://twitter.com/#!/SultanAlQassemi

Some links on Lybia

What happens in Lybia is horrifying, simply. I don't think I believe in hell, but if there is one, I'm sure they have a place reserved for Gaddafi. Maybe people like him (and his sons) are even the reason why we need (the imagination of) hell.

Untill now media coverage remains scarce, the following articles are available, yet the have little new to offer

Libya defiant as hundreds of protesters feared dead (by Guardian's Ian Black)

Libya protests analysis: 'For Muammar Gaddafi it's kill or be killed'

Libya's leader faces the worst unrest since he seized power, but no-one expects him to give up peacefully (by Guardian's Ian Black)

Libya protests: More than 100 killed as army fires on unarmed demonstrators
World leaders condemn Muammar Gaddafi after army launches violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Benghazi, by Jo Adetunji, Peter Beaumont and Martin Chulov

Al Jazeera's blog futhermore reports that 

- the supposedly most liberal sons of Gaddafi, Saif al Islam, is expected to speak tonight

- some military personnel has changed sides and joined the demonstrations

- protesters have parts of Benghazi under their control

- protests spread to Tripoli where demonstrators have blocked an area, defending themselves and attacking apparent Gaddafi supporters

- violence on both sides is escalating now, with people eager to destroy anything that belong sto the government and (at least in some eyewitnesse's opinion) "people are thirsty for blood"
- several strong tribes (Warfala, Tabu, Tuareg) are now supporting the protests

It is interesting to note that Sheikh Al Qaradawi felt the urge to comment on Lybia and call upon all moslems in mosques to support the protesters...

This latter piece of information stems from @SultanAlQassemi, who is extremely worh following on twitter!

Situation in Egypt? Things are moving - at least this is for sure...

To start with a lighter note I want to share a video with you, it's of Jon Bon Jovi's song "No apologies" which he and his band dedicated to the Egyptian revolution. Whether this was really necessary remains to be debated but I guess we can all recognize his well-meaning intention... :)

Even without Bon Jovi's help thing sin Egypt are moving - yet it still remains quite unclear into which direction. And - let's be realistic about that - it's gonna stay like this for weeks, months, maybe even years to come. I am optimistic that the Egyptians will successfully manage the transition to the country they have been dreaming of (or at least to something that comes much closer to their dreams than to their nightmare). Yet: Any kind of development or transition per definition includes an element of instability, insecurity...all this might be particularly true if any kind of military force is involved...

The main events in the last days were

- another huge demonstration at Midan Tahrir, the protesters basically demanding the resignation of the government which had been appointed in the last days of Mubarak's reign (how...he wasnt a monarch you're saying?)

- Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an apparently still highly ifnluential figure, who enjoys considerable respect from many people, adressed the crowds on Midan Tahrir in his Friday sermon, supporting their demand to a new government, read more in an article by NY Times  

- Banks are said to reopen today, I will see whether this is true later :)

- Yesterday for the first time in ages the founding and registration of a new party was approved of by the legal authorities. More than a dozen years after it's split from the Muslim Brotherhood the efforts of „Al Wasat“ to become an official party finally bear fruits. While an article by the ORF 

(unfortunately in German only) announces this remarkable step with the headline „Court allows foundation of Islam-Party“, underlining the relation to the MB and the intent to make Sharia a source of law, the NY Times has the follwowing to note: „And the government recognized the first new political party formed since the revolution, a moderate Islamist group that has sought recognition for 15 years.“

- Several former ministers are facing trials, the charges on Habib al-Adly, former Minister of interior and Zoheirr Garranah, former Minister of Tourism and the former Minister of Housing Ahmad al-Maghrabi, and former National Democratic Party leader Ahmad Ezz are currently under investigation. I was told that also a lot of other charges of corruption against many more former leading figures of NDP but also against many businessmen are under way.

- The military council and the former judge leading the drafting of a new constitution seem eager to speed up the process as much as possible, yet this rush apparently creates some problematic side effects, at least if we believe the following appeal circulating on facebook:

"Voting cards deadline 28th feb: All you need is to go to home/work zone Police Station with Original National ID + copy, the process takes 10 minutes, they have a look at the original + keep copy. You receive your voting card around April/May at the same place you applied. Pls circulate. We'll need this card in order to vote in the upcoming constitutional changes, parliamentary & presidential elections. (copied)"

This might be another interesting article by NY Times (yet I haven't read it yet, so no guarantees here:)

In a Town Built Upon Patronage, a Test of Egypt’s New Order 

By ANTHONY SHADID

Death toll in Lybia rising, Gaddafi slaughtering his people

Regarding the situation in Lybia, there is increasing evidence that the government has stepped up or at least sustained its violent crackdown on protesters. There are reports of 300 people having been killed since Thursday, others speak of 150 dead people in Benghazi alone in the last night. A spreviously in Egypt, Internet access in Lybia has partially been shut down with several sites also being blocked. As far as I know the number of foreign correspondents and the general presence of foreign media had been low in Lybia previous to the uprisings, so there is not many professional media accounts available. Thus we are left with messages as transmitted via facebook, twitter and youtube, and the death count in an spreadsheet. I give you some exmples below so you can start form your own opinion on what is going on:

„PLS HELP ME RAISE GLOBAL AWARENESS INTERNET HAS BEEN DC'D IN ALL OF LIBYA & IF UR LUCKY ENOUGH 2 GET A CONNECTION U'D HAVE 2 HACK IN 2 THE SYSTEM TO ACCESS BLOCKED SITES (FB) THE PPL OF LIBYA ASKED FOR THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS AND RECEIVED BULLETS IN RETURN. LIBYAN GOVT HAS KILLED OVER 300 LIBYANS IN THE LAST 3 DAYS WITH HUNDREDS LEFT IN CRITICAL CONDITION PLS SPREAD THIS MSG THE WORLD HAS NO CLUE WT IS HAPPENING HERE!“ (Found in facebook group „Europe Protests for Egypt 29 Jan“)

„@radicalahmad: Video: Libyans claim Gaddafi shipping in African mercenaries to crack down on protesters http://bit.ly/dK3ef3 #Libya“

@ShababLibya: Death toll to be confirmed in Libya. The world must intervene! END THE VIOLENCE! DOWN WITH GADDAFI!

@TheTruthNetwork: عاجل ليبيا: قصف بنغازي بالصواريخ والجثث هائلة أمام المنازل BREAKING : War planes are bombing #libya, Death toll: Unknown #arabrevolt

And a video of someone allegedly speaking from the coast of Lybia, Benghazi, where the largest protests and most violent crackdowns have taken place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyIyz44oKQQ

With media coverage being sporadic at best, Gaddafi seems to accomplish what Mubarak failed to do/was prevented from doing/could not have done: he is "slaughtering his people in the dark" (I would like to give credits to my friend Makram here who used this expression when speaking to me about the internet crackdown in Egypt weeks ago.)

For an overview of the situation in Lybia, Bahrain, Yemen, I recommend this article on NY Times (though already published yesterday) by Anthony Shadid 
Cycle of Suppression Rises in Libya and Elsewhere 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/world/middleeast/20mideast-protests.html?pagewanted=1

 

Al Jazeera live blogs on 3 ME counrtries

Al Jazeera is running live blogs of the events in the Middle East, as today is announced as "Day of Rage" both in Bahrain and Lybia, they are covered separately. Also the Egypt blog is still online, while it has been rather calm in the last days we might expect considerably more activity today as Facebook groups have already called for another gathering at Midan Tahrir "to celebrate the victory of the revolution AND to stand up for the new situation, the further democratization and show that we are still here until the transition period ends successfully" (taken as an example here from the fb group "Egyptian German Network for Changing Egypt"). On "We are all Khaled Said" it is announced as Friday of Victory: "Friday is going to be a very vital day for our Revolution. We call it the "Victory Friday" The plan is to to do another 1 million person march in Tahrir square to make sure the military understand that we will not forget our rights, what we fought for & that they have to implement our demands quicker & very soon."

So keep following:

Egypt live blog

Bahrain live blog

Lybia live blog

Another form of Western interference: Western military links to Middle Eastern autocrats under new scrutinity

The question of Western interference has been a major topic throughout the revolution in Egypt. It was an important element of Mubarak's media war on his opponents to portray the protests as nothing more than a movement stirred by outside forces. Also the USA's wavering response might was at least partially due to the intention to avoid giving way to the reproach of neocolonial interference. And even now after the revolution in some Egyptians' accounts, the question in how far any outside power had its hands in the events figures prominently. 

In the end it might also be matter of national pride to constate, that Egyptian's had done all this by themselves and fully on their own account. A girl of my age recently even pointed out to me, that other than many people thought the Egyptians were not following the Tunisian role model in their uprising but rather the Egyptian revolution had started with the death of Khaled Said and the facebook groups founded in memory of him. Thus -according to her - the flame of the Egyptian uprising had been burning (or simmering) long before events in Tunisia unfolded in such a dramatic way late last year. Alhamdullilah the Egyptians could still claim to be the innovators of the new Arab Self-Consciousness.

Another kind of outside interference than the one referred to above has been obvious in the Egyptian revolution: many Egyptians decried the use of US made teargas canisters by the regime's police forces. Having been a long standing ally of the US, Egypt's stock in teargas canisters wasn't small in scale and the made ample use of it on Friday 28^th January and the follwoing days, literally showering protesters with them. An Egyptian friend had safed one of the empty canister's to bring it home as a memory of his fight with the teargas. 

It might be hard to imagine, yet for many Egyptian youths who participated in the first week of the protests and survived the heavy-handed police reaction, teargas has become a symbol. Being showered with teargas for hours (or days) was not only burning in their eyes at their moment, but it was also burnt into their memories...(Might well even have been traumatic in the psychological sense, while of course the borders and definitions are fluent and contested here)...When we walked home after the celebrations the night Mubarak left that Egyptian friend of mine said, when we were just crossing the last bridge to our home, already in a calmer area and mood: „I feel the streets still smell of it...“ The day before he had shown me the imprint „made in the US“ on his teargas souvenir....

While Egyptians have been pointing to this issue before, the military links and arms supply of Great Britain to Bahrain are now also debated in Britain itself, at least as reported by the Guardian:

Worries about Sandhurst links after Bahrain protest crackdown

"Among the military academy's alumni is Bahrain's king, Sheikh Hamad bin Essa Al Khalifa, who is also the patron"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/18/sandhurst-bahrain-protest

And while pro-democracy protesters across the Middle East continue to prevail in the face of brutal government crackdowns such as seenn in the last two days in Lybia or Bahrain, European weapon manufacturers and potential autocratic buyers meet at IDEX, the International Defense Exhibition and Conference held in Abu Dhabi this weekend. The Guardian has more on the topic of British weapon supply to Bahrain, in an article by Peter Beaumont's and Robert Booth':

Bahrain uses UK-supplied weapons in protest crackdown

"MoD to review arms export licences after Bahrain clears protesters with UK-made crowd-controls weapons such as teargas and stun grenades.“

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/17/bahrain-crackdown-uk-arms-sales

If you wanna see how many arms producers and related companies from your country attend the IDEX to push their trade with Middle Eastern regimes, check out the exhibitor list from IDEX 
http://www.idexuae.ae/page.cfm/action=ExhibList/ListID=1/t=m/goSection=4

After people's victory in Egypt and Tunisia protests spread throughout the region

While Egypt is walking the tight rope between the return to normality, the designing of the country's constitutional and political future, and the furthering of the more ambitious long-term goal of social justice, protests spread to the rest of the Middle East

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17protest.html?_r=1&hp

Day of Rage announced for Thursday in Gaddafy's Libya

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/201121755057219793.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/17/libyan-protesters-prepare-for-day-of-rage

In Bahrain protests have also been continuing with clashes breaking out in various places across the Bahraini capital of Manama (good opportunity for us to learn the names of Arab capitals...)

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201121714223324820.html

Al Jazeera is also running a live blog on events in Bahrain

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/16/live-blog-bahrain

Also in Yemen (its capital being Sanaa) the heavy-handed police and security reaction to protests has already claimed lifes.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201121616448133524.html

It is worth noting that in its coverage Al Jazeera's apparently is eager to identify the victims with their full names. I do not know whether this in general common in Arab Media, yet it is remarkable insofar as both the protests in Tunisia and Egypt had been connected to the fate of the individual's Khaled Said (Egypt) and Mohamed Bouazizi (Tunisia). These „martyrs“ constituted important points of reference for mobilisation of protesters.

Similarly, in Iran protests and unrest have been going on for days now, it seemed the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt had revived some of the opposition forces, who had retreated somewhat (or rather been: successfully suppressed) after their major confrontations with Ahmadinejad and his forces last year.

The clash reported by Al Jazeera has just been the most recent event in a series of events in Iran.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112169518348693.html

Also here in Iran we can observe tactics of intended misinformation, at least partially reminding of the media war that had been going on in Egypt

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/16/iran-protester-death-hijacked

Situation in Egypt remains tense

Regarding the situation in Egypt, a video by Al Jazeera tries to capture the remaining tension between people and military while strikes and protests of various groups and fractions still go on.

The military is reportedly concerned about the strikes and so are many Egyptians, at least those who are better off.

Many are aware that the economy is in a bad state after the 18 days of protest and the government enforced halt to most economic activity. Thus the strikes – many driven by the demand for higher wages – seem to come at the very wrong moment. As an Egyptian friend from the Middle Class put it “Egyptians are getting it wrong. Once again.” Many workers and lower class employees however have now discovered the people's power, and are at the same time appalled by the reported wealth amassed by Mubarak's family and other high ranking members of the ruling party NDP. Considering that nearly half of the population lives among the poverty line (43 % is the number making the round in Egypt these days) the incredible richness of some is increasingly perceived as a betrayal and theft.

It is unclear so far, to what extent the assets of former leading figures can be seized and returned to the Egyptian people, it is also unclear how the worker's and employee's justified demands shall be dealt with in times of the economy, especially tourism, being down.

Yet what remains is an unbreakable sense of hope and energy. Many Egyptians emphasize how now Egyptians have to work together, how everyone has to and will do his or her share in changing and improving the country. It is this sense of solidarity and eagerness to contribute that makes me hopeful for the future of Egypt. Egyptians also line out how the Mubarak system held them down for decades, how it alienated people from their country and their community, how the suppression was responsible for the inability of Egyptians to act together and individually to the benefit of the community. Whether this attribution of responsibility is right or wrong does hardly matter – the narrative of the new Egypt has already be found. And this narrative of regained agency and solidarity and identification already in itself empowers the people.

For an overview of the strikes and the reaction, the NY Times offers an article (subscribed users only, but registration with their website is free!).

For detailed accounts of the various events in Egypt and for an impression of the debates going on reagarding constitutional reform, you could check out the page of the Egyptian Daily “Masr AlYoum” http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en

Short press review for today

Most important news of today so far

• Military dissolves parliament, Military supreme council announces election to be held in September
• Cabinet supposed to stay in place as set up by Mubarak
• Police staging protest in front of television building asking better pay and complaining about senior officials' behaviour destroying reputation of police
• Minor scuffles between remaining protestors and army on Midan Tahrir, when army attempts to fully clear the square

An interesting comment on today's announcements by Al Jazeera reporter James Bays:

„It is interesting that This military communicate came out shortly after the prime minister spoke to the nation, I think that they are showing where the power is, making it clear that for now the military high command replaces the president in the structure, and the prime minister does what he is told.“

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/12/live-blog-feb-13-egypt-protests

Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera correspondent is tweeting live from Prime Minister Shafiq's first press conference since Mubarak's resignation

http://twitter.com/AymanM

The NewYork Times has a couple of interesting articles

In U.S. Signals to Egypt, Obama Straddled a Rift President Obama had to navigate between the counsel of foreign policy traditionalists and a younger White House.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/middleeast/13diplomacy.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22

Mubarak Family Riches Attract New Focus: With Hosni Mubarak out of power, there are growing calls for an accounting of his family's wealth.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/middleeast/13wealth.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22

Palestinian Leaders Suddenly Call for Elections in response to revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt
In Palestine, elections were announced after a meeting in which the chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel also resigned.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/middleeast/13mideast.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22

A highly recommendable article on the "Al Jazeera Revolution"

Arabs seize the permission to narrate 

by Dan Sisken

"Just as the Egyptian revolution has liberated the Egyptian people from the grasp of a US-backed authoritarian leader (...) the Egyptian people--as covered by AlJazeera--may be bringing about a new international media order. "

Read more: http://mondoweiss.net/2011/02/arabs-seize-the-permission-to-narrate.html

Celebrating the Egyptian people's greatest victory - Part II as promised

Once back home from Midan Tahrir on Thursday afternoon we returned to our usual routine and opened alJazeera, Twitter, Facebook, prepared to spend another eve and night in front of the computer and the tv.... While he had been out in downtown we were cut off from any media access. I had for days not been as uninformed of the ungoing events as I was during these hours in which I was „participating“ in the protests. Sometime in the afternoon I had called a friend to figure out what happened at his location. In a phone conversation on Thursday he left no doubt to me HOW determined he was to join the protests also on Friday, this time targeting the presidenbtial palace Oruba and not Tahrir: „I am not afraid anymore, I don't care. Seriously, I don't care what happens to me. This man has to go, he simply HAS TO GO. Many of my friends have prepared for dying tomorrow, they have written their testament.“

By now I have come to know the way Egyptians can get very emotional and also have a bit more sensitivity for how their way of talking differs from the German one...so I was not too surprised when today I heard that of those 100 people that were meant to gather around my friend to move to Oruba, only 20 showed up. Yet, in fever for the revolution, he was surprised about his friends' sudden pullout. At parts out of disappointment and partially because of the sniper's that had supposedly been positioned on the building's roof, they never got to Oruba but came to Tahrir later the day. Thereby losing my sole direct connection to the protestors at Oruba, I had no clue what had been going on there throughout the day. Accordingly eager I was to get some update from alJazeera and the blogger Sandmonkey on the situation there. Before I had even managed to put myself in the picture again, another important statement had been announced, adding to the excitement stirred by announcements that Mubarak had left Cairo.

Not much later, I was still seated at the dining table with my computer, while my flatmate had already occupied the couch, and gotten her knitting whool ready, Suleiman appeared. And gave this hillariously short statement, which said what everyone had hoped for but noone expected at that moment. As the crowds on Tahrir exploded into jubilation, we were still unable to believe it: has this really happened? It's done? Finally? FINALLY! I switched to an Arab Channel to allow our Egyptian friend to double-check, but it was right: Mubarak had resigned.

For us this meant: getting ready as soon as possible (of course not without quickly posting the corresponding fb msgs) and running to downtown. In the hallway, our direct neibhgours had just gathered and congratulated us „Mabrouk“. Yet, when I responded to the nice old lady's congratulations she broke into tears. Her grief was caused by „ilkhurug ilwahesch“, the ugly departure of Mubarak. In a sense this surely referred to the many people who had died in the 18 days of protests, to the many mothers who had lost their sons in their fight for freedom, but she also decried the disgrace Mubarak's refusal to step down early and the youth's impatient reaction had brought about 30 years of rule and about the image and memory of the ruler himself. She didnt get tired of telling us, that as a person, Hosni Mubarak was a good man. She also told us that her husband was a police officer, so this might have had a strong impact on her perspective and feelings. Yet, I assume that she was not the only person who felt not only happiness about the tumultuous events and the end of an epoche....

Out in the streets we met those who were as much or much more joyful about Mubarak's departure. Countless cars where jamming the streets, and especially the bridges leading to downtown. Flags were stuck to cars, hang out of the windows, waved by passengers and pedestrians. Honking, shouting, all other kinds of noise arose to a deafening outcry of joy all over the city. The atmosphere could not have been more distinct from the tension that had gripped all of Cairo in the days before: Everyone was shouting, laughing, moving freely, openly.

The Egyptian flag was omnipresent: People had wrapped flags around their heads and bodies, were waving them in ecitement or carrying them proudly around the streets of dowtnwon Cairo. I was surprised how the supply of new flags seemed never to dry up, street sellers still offering various kinds of flags at night. Due to their sense of business Egyptians had in time come up with a variety of revolution merchandise, ranging from Egypt-coloured hats over bandeaus carrying the latest slogans of Mubarak's departure to stickers saying „I'm Egyptian and proud of it“ or „Egyptian Revolution Jan 2011 – I was there“. Shouts like „horreya“ (freedom), „masr“ (Egypt), „masr hurra“ (free Egypt) were heard as well as protest chants which had been tranformed to now say essentially „Mission accomplished“.

The group of Egyptians I was with kept singing and dancing in the streets for hours, constantly hugging each other and celebrating their new free existence. Every now and then Midan Tahrir and Midan Talaat Harb were alight by improvised fireworks, cars and people were parading the city, with people (especially children) sitting on the cars, waving flags, and even up to 9 people arranged into a human pyramide on motorbikes. Those shops in downtown which had resisted the unrest and where still open, offering food where exploding. And while the huge improvised outodoor cafes in the side alleys had been empty right after the speech, they started filling up again as soon as the first people got tired of shouting, parading and dancing. Many people also used their rest to catch a glimpse of Obama's speech or to have a look at Saturday's newspaper which appeared sometime around noon.

While the side streets became somewhat calmer after noon the celebrations at Midan Tahrir and Midan Talaat Harb did not end. People were up all night, dancing to the rhythm of stamping on the metall barriers, singing to traditional Egyptian songs, waving their flags and hugging each other. It was astonishing who the behaviour towards us foreigners made 180 degree spin. Suddenly the friendlyness had returned and was shown much more expressively than it had ever been. I finally finally finally heard the first „welcome to Egypt“ and „Egypt i love you“ (whatever this means..) since my arrival. People were visibly happy to share their victory celebration with us and proud to have us see what they have achieved. While I was standing on the side of the street waving my (huge!) Egyptian flag, a women with her children and husband stopped to welcome me. When I said: „Mabrook li ilMasryin“ (Congratulations to the Egyptians) she was so happy that she kissed me on the cheeks....And many more people showed how pleased they were to see us Europeans join the biggest and most deserved party they have ever celebrated...