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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Table of Contents:
A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.
C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
D. ARTICLES IN FULL
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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
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National White House call-in day to support Bradley Manning
February 3, 2011
Bulletin from the cause: Bradley Manning Support Network
Go to Cause
Posted By: Tom Baxter
To: Members in Bradley Manning Support Network
National White House call-in day to support Bradley Manning
National White House call-in day to support Bradley Manning, Thursday, February 3rd
White House switchboard:
202-456-1414
Or, White House comments:
202-456-1111
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/884/1/
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TWO MEETINGS WILL BE HELD IN THE BAY AREA TO TALK ABOUT HOW WE CAN
BAND TOGETHER TO STOP FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS
Thursday, February 3, 2011, 6:00 P.M.
Grace Tabernacle Community Church
1121 Oakdale Ave. (at Ingalls), San Francisco
Saturday, February 5 - 2:00 pm
Rivertown Resource Center
301 W 10th Street, #16, Antioch
* Hear people's attorney Jerry Goldberg tell about how they've been fighting foreclosures in Detroit.
Jerry is a founder of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions & Utility Shutoffs.
* Community speak-out - Come and share your ideas on how to fight back and protect our homes.
Today the vast majority of home loans are owned or backed up by the federal government. This means when your home is foreclosed, the government pays off the bank for the full value of the inflated loan, evicts you from your home, and then sells off your home to some investor for peanuts. This is a silent bail-out of the banks.
Instead of evicting us from our homes, the government should declare a moratorium on foreclosures - just like they did in 25 states during the 1930's. Then people could stay in their homes with affordable payments, based on the real value of their property.
Sponsored by Bail Out the People Movement, Moratorium NOW! Coalition, and Nuestra Casa Community Services, with many thanks to Bishop Ernest L. Jackson and the Grace Tabernacle Community Church. For information call 415-738-4739 actioncenter-sf@peoplesmail.net or 925-597-0008
Let People Stay in their Homes - Housing is a Human Right!
Bail Out the People, Not the Banks!
Demand a National Moratorium to Stop All Foreclosures and Evictions!
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INTERNATIONAL DAY OF MOBILIZATION
IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE EGYPTIAN AND TUNISIAN REVOLUTIONS
Protest and march to stand in solidarity with the people of Egypt, Tunisia, and other countries in the region as they struggle against repressive governments.
Saturday, February 5th, 2011, 1 pm.
U.N. Plaza, Market and 8th, San Francisco, CA
Join thousands of community members from the Egyptian, Tunisian, and Arab communities in the U.S., and all those in solidarity with popular movements for justice and liberation.
Why:
On January 28th, Egypt's Day of Anger, Egyptian activist groups issued a call for international solidarity, stating that: "We need your solidarity to support the demands and aspirations of Egyptians." It is in response to this call that we are holding the February 5th international day of solidarity.
Today, February 1st, millions of Egyptians marched in Cairo, Alexandria, Mansoura, Mahalla, Suez, and other Egyptian cities to put an end to 30 years of dictatorship, poverty, unemployment, and torture. The dictator responded by declaring that he would finish his term and not seek re-election! The people of Tunisia continue to make history, struggling to defend their victory and demand a real end to Ben Ali's regime. Massive protests against dictatorships and misery are erupting in Jordan, Yemen, Libya, and other Arab countries.
This Saturday, thousands of community members from the San Francisco Bay Area will stand in solidarity with Egyptians, Tunisians, and all the people in the Arab world fighting for freedom and dignity. Nationwide, US residents are joining in solidarity with Arab popular struggles to voice dissent against the propping up of oppressive regimes globally by the US government. Egypt's Mubarak-led regime, the second largest global recipient of US military aid, has utilized this funding to suppress free speech and political dissent for many years.
The International Solidarity Day events in San Francisco will include live interviews with journalists on the ground in Egypt, and a march to call upon the American government to take a firm stance in support of the Egyptian people's just demands
Endorsers (List in Formation): Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition, ANSWER Coalition, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Berkeley Egyptian Students Association, Berkeley Muslim Students Association, Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine, Cafe Intifada, CODEPINK Women for Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace - Bay Area, Middle East Children's Alliance, San Jose Peace & Justice Center, South Bay Mobilization, Stanford Says No War, Stanford Students Confronting Apartheid, US Palestinian Community Network
Inquiries: Yasmine Samy, 510.379.8911, yassam123@gmail.com
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United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) Steering Committee Meeting to Build April 10!
All Bay Area UNAC members invited.
Tuesday, February 8, 7:00 P.M.
474 Valencia Street (Between 15th and 16th Streets -- in the childcare center)
Great News! Today we learned that the United Steelworkers of America, the largest industrial union in the country, has endorsed April 9-10. The times are a changin'.
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Cephus Johnson invited you · Share · Public Event
Time
Saturday, February 12 · 10:00am - 3:00pm
Location EOYDC East Oakland Youth Development Center
8200 international Blvd
Oakland, CA
Created By
Cephus Johnson, Beatrice X Dale
More Info The Oscar Grant Foundation
Brings to East Oakland Young Men ages 16 yrs to 34 yrs Old
A DAY Of EMPOWERMENT And OPPORTUNITY
`Empowering Our Communities'
Opportunities To:
Expunge Your Criminal Record;
Speak with Representatives from the Cypress Mandela Certification Program;
Laney College Workforce Development Program;
Mental Health Counseling;
Drug Treatment Program;
Men Of Valor Employment Training Program; and Much More
Join Us for Breakfast: 9:00am - 11:00am
Grits, Eggs, Toast, Pancakes, Potatoes, Coffee, Juice
Partial List of Participants:
Project Think 1st;
Cypress Training Institute;
Alameda County Probation Department;
Oakland Housing Authority;
Laney College;
Merritt College;
East Bay Community Law Center;
Private Industry Council;
City of Oakland Re-Entry Specialist;
Volunteers Of America;
Alameda County Mental Health.
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Bay Area Supporters of International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum invite you to:
"Honoring Revolutionary Continuity: An Afternoon Public Forum & Fundraiser for the Leon Trotsky Museum in Mexico City"
Sunday, February 13 @ 2:30 p.m.
Alameda Public Library
1550 Oak Street (@ Lincoln Ave.)
Alameda, Calif.
Featuring:
Presentation by ESTEBAN VOLKOV, Leon Trotsky's grandson and president of the Leon Trotsky Museum Foundation, and
Preview of "A Planet Without A Visa: The Movie" -- a film by DAVID WEISS, with presentations by LINDY LAUB, director of the documentary film, and SUZI WEISSMAN, historian of the revolutionary and socialist movements
Also: Honoring founding members of the American Trotskyist movement ESTAR BAUR, ERWIN BAUR & RUTH HARER
Sliding Scale $10 to $20
For more information, call Frank Fried at 510-459-0328
[If you are not able to make the event but would like to make a tax-deductible donation to International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum, please send your check, payable to Global Exchange (our fiscal sponsor), to International Friends, PO Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.]
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US President Barack Obama may soon announce plans to expand Afghan security forces by roughly 70,000 over current targets by year's end. The plan is expensive: It would cost the United States another $6 billion next year -- nearly twice as much as previously planned.
The United States needs JOBS and a full-employment economy. NOT MORE WARS OR MILITARY SPENDING!
Please join us in demonstrating for Peace on February 18 at 2 PM., corner of University at Acton. Wheelchair accessible.
Sponsors:
Strawberry Creek Tenants Association
Fran Rachael
841-4143
Berkeley GRAY PANTHERS
Phone: (510)548-9696 FAX: (510)548-9697
Email: GrayPanthersBerk@aol.com
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Next Meeting of United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) Steering Committee Meeting to Build April 10!
All BAy Area antiwar and peace and justice activists invited.
Sunday, February 20, 1:00 P.M.
Centro del Pueblo
474 Valencia Street (Between 15th and 16th Streets -- second floor, in the rear.)
Great News! Today we learned that the United Steelworkers of America, the largest industrial union in the country, has endorsed April 9-10. The times are a changin'.
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MEDIA RELEASE from Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (BFUU)
A Benefit Evening to Support Bradley Manning
Thursday, Feb 24, 2011 7 - 9 pm
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
Fellowship Hall address: 1924 Cedar Street , Berkeley CA 94709
Sponsored by: Courage To Resist, Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists & Code Pink Golden Gate
Wheelchair Accessible. Suggested Donation is $5 - 10. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Dr. Caroline Knowles of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists will give the welcoming remarks.
Daniel Ellsberg will speak. As the "Pentagon Papers" whistle-blower of the Vietnam War era, he is in a unique position to put the the current issues into historical context.
http://www.ellsberg.net
Senator Mike Gravel has been referencing the damage to a democratic society that excessive secrecy and media manipulation has had on the ability of citizens to exercise informed judgment. All the while the government has passed more repressive laws since the 9/11 attacks that intrude on citizen privacy and rights.
http://www.mikegravel.us
Jeff Patterson of "Courage To Resist" will provide an overview of the issues and the history of Bradley Manning's case.
http://www.couragetoresist.org
Cynthia Papermaster of Code Pink Golden Gate chapter will MC. She will offer views on the treatment of Bradley Manning and will report on her recent experience at the demonstration on MLK DAY at Fort Quantico Prison where Bradley Manning is being held in solitary confinement.
http://www.codepinkgoldengate.org
Details of the event can be found at BFUU Upcoming Events Webpage.
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
Fellowship Hall address: 1924 Cedar Street , Berkeley CA 94709
Phone: 510-841-4824
www.bfuu.org
office@bfuu.org
Submitted by
Shirley Adams
404-245-7977 (cell)
BFUU Membership Team
The only gift is a portion of thyself.- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Saturday, March 19, 2011:
Day of Action to Resist the War Machine!
8th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq
Scores of organizations coming together for worldwide protests
In San Francisco, the theme of the March 19 march and rally will be "No to War & Colonial Occupation - Fund Jobs, Healthcare & Education - Solidarity with SF Hotel Workers!" 12,000 SF hotel workers, members of UNITE-HERE Local 2, have been fighting for a new contract that protects their healthcare, wages and working conditions. The SF action will include a march to boycotted hotels in solidarity with the Lo. 2 workers. The first organizing meeting for the SF March 19 march and rally will be on Sunday, Jan. 16 at 2pm at the Local 2 union hall, 209 Golden Gate Ave.
In Los Angeles, the March 19 rally and march will gather at 12 noon at Hollywood and Vine.
March 19 is the 8th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Iraq today remains occupied by 50,000 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of foreign mercenaries.
The war in Afghanistan is raging. The U.S. is invading and bombing Pakistan. The U.S. is financing endless atrocities against the people of Palestine, relentlessly threatening Iran and bringing Korea to the brink of a new war.
While the United States will spend $1 trillion for war, occupation and weapons in 2011, 30 million people in the United States remain unemployed or severely underemployed, and cuts in education, housing and healthcare are imposing a huge toll on the people.
Actions of civil resistance are spreading.
On Dec. 16, 2010, a veterans-led civil resistance at the White House played an important role in bringing the anti-war movement from protest to resistance. Enduring hours of heavy snow, 131 veterans and other anti-war activists lined the White House fence and were arrested. Some of those arrested will be going to trial, which will be scheduled soon in Washington, D.C.
Saturday, March 19, 2011, the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, will be an international day of action against the war machine.
Protest and resistance actions will take place in cities and towns across the United States. Scores of organizations are coming together. Demonstrations are scheduled for San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and more.
Click this link to endorse the March 19, 2011, Call to Action:
http://www2.answercoalition.org/site/Survey?SURVEY_ID=8062&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.AnswerCoalition.org/
info@AnswerCoalition.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-265-1948
Boston: 857-334-5084 | New York City: 212-694-8720 | Chicago: 773-463-0311
San Francisco: 415-821-6545| Los Angeles: 213-251-1025 | Albuquerque: 505-268-2488
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Are you joining us on April 8 at the Pentagon in a climate chaos protest codenamed "Operation Disarmageddon?" It has been decided that affinity groups will engage in nonviolent autonomous actions. Do you have an affinity group? Do you have an idea for an action?
So far these are some of the suggested actions:
Send a letter to Sec. of War Robert Gates demanding a meeting to disclose the Pentagon's role in destroying the planet. He will ignore the letter, so a delegation would then go to the Metro Entrance to demand a meeting.
Use crime tape around some area of the Pentagon. The idea of crime/danger taping off the building could be done just outside the main Pentagon reservation entrance (intersection of Army/Navy) making the Alexandria PD the arresting authority (if needed) and where there is no ban on photography. Hazmat suits, a 'converted' truck (or other vehicle) could be part of the street theater. The area where I am thinking is also almost directly below I-95 and there is a bridge over the intersection - making a banner drop possible. Perhaps with the hazmat/street closure at ground level with a banner from above. If possible a coordinated action could be done at other Pentagon entrances and / or other war making institutions.
A procession onto the Pentagon reservation, without reservations, and set up a camp on one of the lawns surrounding The Pentagon. This contingent would reclaim the space in the name of peace and Mother Earth. This contingent would plan to stay there until The Pentagon is turned into a 100% green building using sustainable energy employing people who work for peace and the abolishment of war and life-affirming endeavors.
Bring a potted tree to be placed on the Pentagon's property to symbolize the need to radically reduce its environmental destructiveness.
Since the Pentagon is failing to return to the taxpayers the money it has misappropriated, "Foreclose on the Pentagon."
Banner hanging from a bridge.
Hand out copies of David Swanson's book WAR IS A LIE. Try to deliver a copy to Secretary of War Robert Gates.
Have short speeches in park between Pentagon and river; nice photo with Pentagon in background.
Die-in and chalk or paint outlines of victim's bodies everywhere that remain after the arrest to point to where real crimes are really being committed.
Establish command center, Peacecom? Paxcom? Put several people in white shirts and ties plus a few generals directing their armies for "Operation Disarmageddon."
Make the linkage between the tax dollars going to the Pentagon and war tax resistance. Use the WRL pie chart and carry banners "foreclose on war" and "money for green jobs not war jobs."
Hold a rally with representative speakers before going to the Pentagon Reservation. This would be an opportunity to speak out against warmongering and the Pentagon's role in destroying the environment.
As part of "Operation Disarmageddon," we will take a tree and plant it on the reservation. Our sign reads, "Plant trees not landmines."
Use crime tape on Army/Navy Drive to declare the Pentagon a crime scene. Do street theater there as well. Other affinity groups could go to selected entrances.
Establish a Peace Command Center at the Pentagon. Hold solidarity actions at federal buildings and corporate offices.
What groups have you contacted to suggest joining us at the Pentagon? See below for those who plan to be at the Pentagon on April 8 and for what groups have been contacted.
Kagiso,
Max
April 8, 2011 participants
Beth Adams
Ellen Barfield
Tim Chadwick
Joy First
Jeffrey Halperin
Malachy Kilbride
Max Obuszewski
David Swanson
April 8 Outreach
Beth Adams -- Earth First, Puppet Underground, Emma's Revolution, Joe Gerson-AFSC Cambridge, Code Pink(national via Lisa Savage in Maine), Vets for Peace, FOR, UCC Justice & Witness Ministries, Traprock, Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order, (National-INt'l) Vets for Peace and WILPF, Pace e Bene, Christian Peace Witness & UCC Justice & Witness (Cleveland).
Tim Chadwick -- Brandywine, Lepoco, Witness against Torture, Vets for Peace (Thomas Paine Chapter Lehigh Valley PA), and Witness for Peace DC.
Jeffrey Halperin -- peace groups in Saratoga Spring, NY
Jack Lombardo - UNAC will add April 8 2011 to the Future Actions page on our blog, and make note in upcoming E-bulletins, but would appreciate a bit of descriptive text from the organizers and contact point to include when we do - so please advise ASAP! Also, we'll want to have such an announcement for our next print newsletter, which will be coming out in mid-December.
Max Obuszewski - Jonah House & Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore
Bonnie Urfer notified 351 individuals and groups on the Nukewatch list
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Endorse the call to action from the United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC)
Bring the Troops Home Now!
March and Rally
Sunday, April 10th* in San Francisco, assemble at Dolores Park (18th and Dolores Streets) at 11:00 A.M.
*This date was changed because of the Annual Cesar Chavez Parade scheduled in San Francisco April 9. This is a huge community event that we can't conflict with.
Saturday, April 9th New York City (Union Sq. at noon)
--Bring U.S. Troops Now: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan! End the sanctions and stop the threats of war against the people of Iran, North Korea and Yemen. No to war and plunder of the people of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa! End U.S. Aid to Israel! End U.S. Support to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine and the Siege of Gaza!
--Trillions for jobs, education, social services, an end to all foreclosures, quality single-payer healthcare for all, a massive conversion to sustainable and planet-saving energy systems and public transportation and reparations to the victims of U.S. terror at home and abroad.
--End FBI raids on antiwar, social justice, and international solidarity activists, an end to the racist persecution and prosecutions that ravage Muslim communities, an end to police terror in Black and Latino communities, full rights and legality for immigrants and an end to all efforts to repress and punish Wikileaks and its contributors and founders.
--Immediate end to torture, rendition, secret trials, drone bombings and death squads
To add your group's name to the endorser list, local, state or national, please contact:
United National Antiwar Committee
P.O. Box 123 Delmar, New York 12054
518-227-6947 UNACpeace.org unacpeace@gmail.com
email you endorsement to:
jmackler@lmi.net and cc: unacpeace@gmail.com
Initial List of Endorsers (List in formation)
* = For Identification only
Great News! Today we learned that the United Steelworkers of America, the largest industrial union in the country, has endorsed April 9-10. The times are a changin'.
Endorsers:
United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC)
Center for Constitutional Rights
Muslim Peace Coalition, USA
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Veterans for Peace
International Action Center
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Black Agenda Report
Code Pink
National Assembly to End U.S. Wars and Occupations
World Can't Wait
Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Project Salam
Canadian Peace Alliance
BAYAN USA
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
Office of the Americas
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Middle East Children's Alliance
Tariq Ali
Dr. Margaret Flowers PNHP *
Ramsey Clark
Ambassador Syed Ahsani, Former Ambassador from Pakistan
Ahmed Shawki, editor, International Socialist Review
Ali Abunimah, Palestinian American Journalist
Alice Sturn Sutter, Washington Heights Women in Black *
Al-Awda NY: the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
American Iranian Friendship Committee
American Muslim Task Force, Dallas/Ft. Worth
Ana Edwards, Chair, Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project - Richmond, Va.
Anthony Arnove, Author, "Iraq: The logic of Withdrawal"
Andy Griggs, Co-chair, California Teachers Association, Peace and Justice Caucus/UTLA-retired*
B. Ross Ashley, NDP Socialist Caucus, Canada *
Bail Out the People Movement
Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Barrio Unido, San Francisco
Bashir Abu-Manneh
Baltimore Job Is a Right Campaign
Baltimore-Washington Area Peace Council, US Peace Council Chapter
Battered Mother's Custody Conference
Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace
Blanca Misse, Student Worker Action Team/UC Berkeley, Academic Workers for Democratic Union - UAW 2865 *
Blauvelt Dominican sisters Social Justice Ministry
Bob Hernandez, Chapter President, SEIU Local 1021*
Bonnie Weinstein - Bay Area United Against Wars Newsletter
Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights
Boston UNAC
Boston University Anti-War Coalition
Café Intifada - Los Angeles
Camilo E. Mejia, Iraq war veteran and resister
Campaign for a Mass Party of Labor
Carole Seligman - Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal *
Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War
Chesapeake Citizens
Howard Terry Adcock, Colombia Support Network, Austin (TX) , Center for Peace and Justice *
Coalition for Justice - Blacksburg, Va.
Colombian Front for Socialism (FECOPES)
Columbus Campaign for Arms Control
Committee for Justice to Defend the Los Angeles 8
Dave Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council
David Swanson, WarIsACrime.org
David Keil - Metro West Peace Action (MWPA) *
Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality - Virginia
Derrick O'Keefe, Co-chair StopWar.ca (Vancouver)
Detroit Committee to Stop FBI/Grand Jury Repression.
Doug Bullock, Albany County Legislator
Dr. Andy Coates PNHP *
DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) - New York
Elaine Brower - national steering committee of World Can't Wait and anti-war military mom
Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST)
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Freedom Socialist Party
Gilbert Achcar - Lebanese academic and writer
Guilderland Neighbors for Peace
Haiti Action Committee
Haiti Liberte
Hands off Venezuela
Howie Hawkins, Co-Chair, Green Party of New York State *
IIan Pappe, Director Exeter University, European Centre for Palestine Studies
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
International Socialist Organization
International support Haiti Network (ISHN)
Iraq Peace Action Coalition - Minneapolis
Italo-American Progressive Fraternal Society
Janata Dal (United), India
Jersey City Peace Movement
Jimmy Massey, Founding member of IVAW
John Pilger, Journalist and Documentary film maker
Journal Square Homeless Coalition
Justice for Fallujah Project
Kclabor.org
Karen Schieve, United Educators of San Francisco *
Kim Nguyen, Metrowest Peace Action (MWPA)*
Kwame Binta, The November Coalition
Larry Pinkvey, Black Activist Writers Guild
Lillie "Ms. K" Branch-Kennedy - Director, Resource Information Help for the Disadvantaged (R.I.H.D.), Virginia
Lisa Savage, CODEPINK Maine, Bring Our War $$ Home Coalition *
Los Angeles - Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee
Maggie Zhou - ClimateSOS *
Maine Veterans for Peace
Malu Aina, Hawaii
Maria Cristina Gutierrez, Exec. Director, Companeros del Barrio
Mark Roman, Waterville Area Bridges for Peace & Justice
Marlena Santoyo, Germantown Friends Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
Mary Flanagan, United Teachers of Richmond *
Masjid As-Salam Mosque, Albany, NY
Mazin Qumsiyeh
Michigan Emergency Committee Against Wars and Injustice
Mike Alewitz, Central Ct. State University *
Middle East Crisis Committee
Mobilization Against War and Occupation - Vancouver, Canada
Mobilization to Free Mumia
Moratorium NOW Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs
Muslim Solidarity Committee
Nancy Murray, Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights*
Nancy Parten, Witness For Peace *
Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council *
New Abolitionist Movement
New England United
New Jersey Labor Against War
New Socialist Project
New York City Labor Against the War
New York Collective of Radical Educators
No More Victims
Nodutdol for Korean Community Development
Northeast Peace and Justice Action Coalition
Northern California Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
Northwest Greens
NotMyPriorities.org
Nuestro Norte Es El Sur ((NUNO-SUR) Our North is the South
Omar Barghouti, Human rights activist (Palestine)
Pakistan USA Freedom Forum
Pakistani Trade Union Defense Campaign
Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People
Peace Action Maine
Peace Action Montgomery
Peacemakers of Schoharie County, New York
Peace and Freedom Party
People of Faith, Connecticut
Peninsula Peace & Justice, Blue Hill, Maine
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center - Palo Alto, Ca.
Peoples Video Network
Phil Wilayto, Editor, The Virginia Defender
Philadelphia Against War
Progressive Peace Coalition, Columbus Ohio
Protestobama.org
Queen Zakia Shabazz - Director, United Parents Against Lead National, Inc.
Radio Free Maine
Ralph Poynter, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
Revolutionary Workers Group
Rhode Island Mobilization Committee
Roland Sheppard, Retired Business Agent Painters Local #4, San Francisco *
Rochester Against War
Ron Jacobs, writer
Saladin Muhammad - Founding Member, Black Workers for Justice
Sarah Roche-Mahdi, Code Pink Boston*
Saratoga Peace Alliance
Senior Action Network
Seth Farber, PhD., Institute of Mind and Behavior *
Sherry Wolf - International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Author Sexuality and Socialism
Siege Busters Working Group
Socialist Action
Socialist Organizer
Socialist Viewpoint
Solidarity
Solidarity Committee of the Capital District
Staten Island Council for Peace & Justice
Steve Scher, Breen Party of NYC 26 AD *
Stewart Robinson, Stop Targeting Ohio Poor *
Stop the Wars Coalition, Boston
Tarak Kauff, Veterans for Peace
The Campaign Against Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran
The Thomas Merton Center Antiwar Committee
Twin Cities Peace Campaign
Upper Hudson Peace Action
Virginia Defender
West Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice
WESPAC Foundation
Women against Military Madness
Women in Black, Westchester
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Pittsburgh
Workers International League
Workers World Party
Youth for International Socialism
To add yourself to the UNAC listserv, please send an email to:
UNAC-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
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B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.:
[Some of these videos are embeded on the BAUAW website:
http://bauaw.blogspot.com/ or bauaw.org ...bw]
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WikiLeaks Mirrors
Wikileaks is currently under heavy attack.
In order to make it impossible to ever fully remove Wikileaks from the Internet, you will find below a list of mirrors of Wikileaks website and CableGate pages.
Go to
http://wikileaks.ch/Mirrors.html
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Streaming TV from Egypt
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/anger-in-egypt/
Mr. ElBaradei, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for his work as the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Friday: "The Egyptian people will take care of themselves. The Egyptian people will be the ones who will make the change. We are not waiting for help or assistance from the outside world, but what I expect from the outside world is to practice what you preach, is to defend the rights of the Egyptian to their universal values."
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Labor Beat: Labor Stands with Subpoenaed Activists Against FBI Raids and Grand Jury Investigation of antiwar and social justice activists.
"If trouble is not at your door. It's on it's way, or it just left."
"Investigate the Billionaires...Full investigation into Wall Street..." Jesse Sharkey, Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSNUSIGZCMQ
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Michelle Alexander | January 7, 2011
The New Jim Crow/ The Drug War/ Mass Incarceration of Blacks
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/NewJi
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Georgia Man Fined $5000 for Growing Too Many Vegetables
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRlXieQohhA
kiss my taxed ass! Georgia Man Fined $5000 for Growing Vegetables
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfY1YXk9ihI&NR=1
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Oil Spill Commission Final Report: Catfish Responds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ZRdsccMsM
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New antiwar song that's bound to be a classic:
box
http://www.youtube.com/user/avimecca
by tommi avicolli mecca
(c) 2009
Credits are:
Tommi Avicolli Mecca, guitar/vocals
John Radogno, lead guitar
Diana Hartman, vocals, kazoo
Chris Weir, upright bass
Produced and recorded by Khalil Sullivan
I'm the recruiter and if truth be told/ I can lure the young and old
what I do you won't see/ til your kid's in JROTC
CHO ooh, put them in a box drape it with a flag and send them off to mom and dad
send them with a card from good ol' uncle sam, gee it's really just so sad
I'm the general and what I do/ is to teach them to be true
to god and country flag and oil/ by shedding their blood on foreign soil
CHO
I'm the corporate boss and well I know/ war is lots of dough dough dough
you won't find me over there/ they just ship the money right back here
CHO
last of all it's me the holy priest/ my part is not the least
I assure them it's god's will/ to go on out and kill kill kill
CHO
it's really just so sad
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You might enjoy a bit of history:
William Buckley Show with Socialist Workers Party Presidential Candidates
http://vimeo.com/18611069
William Buckley Show with Socialist Workers Party Presidential Candidates from asi somburu on Vimeo.
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'CIA-created Frankenstein': US turns blind eye on terrorist?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gW6Dyr1qBU
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Cathie Black Meets With Downtown Parents
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHHhLCF0t88&feature=player_embedded
Solution to Crowded Schools? How About Birth Control?
By FERNANDA SANTOS
January 14, 2011, 4:55 pm
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/solution-to-crowded-schools-how-about-birth-control/?ref=nyregion
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Wall Street Fat-Cats Flip Public Service Workers the Bird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTcSOygSBBM
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Free Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4eNzokgRIw&feature=player_embedded
Song for Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_eood7DUwI
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Supermax Prison Cell Extraction - Maine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jUfK5i_lQs&feature=player_embedded
Warning, this is an extremely brutal video. What do you think? Is this torture?
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Rachel Maddow- New GOP scapegoat- public workers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ5byLyKPRI
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Did You Know?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
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These videos refer to what happened at the G-20 Summit in Toronto June 26-27 of this year. The importance of this is that police were caught on tape and later confirmed that they sent police into the demonstration dressed as "rioting" protesters. One cop was caught with a large rock in his hand. Clearly, this is proof of police acting as agent provocatours. And we should expect this to continue and escalate. That's why everyone should be aware of these facts...bw
police accused of attempting to incite violence at G20 summ
Protestors at Montebello are accusing police of trying to incite violence. Video on YouTube shows union officials confronting three men that were police officers dressing up as demonstrators. The union is demanding to know if the Prime Minister's Office was involved in trying to discredit the demonstrators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbgnyUCC7M
quebec police admit going undercover at montebello protests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg&feature=related
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The Wars in "Vietnamistan!" (The name Daniel Ellsberg gave to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as quoted from the video...bw)
Veterans for Peace White House Civil Disobedience to End War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOde31QYbI0&feature=player_embedded
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John Pilger: Global Support for WikiLeaks is "Rebellion" Against U.S. Militarism, Secrecy
December 15, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzaclKj2B8M
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WikiLeaks founder concern for Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPrShC8qx4k&feature=player_embedded
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Newsnight: Bailed Julian Assange live interview (16Dec10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NouXB5JACCw&feature=player_embedded
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Julian Assange: 'ongoing attempts to extradite me'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C30UhZDOO9A&feature=player_embedded
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Published on Thursday, December 16, 2010 by Countdown With Keith Olbermann
Quantico, the New Gitmo
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/12/16-0
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Domestic Espionage Alert - Houston PD to use surveillance drone in America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpstrc15Ogg
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15 year old Tells Establishment to Stick-it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U_gHUiL4P8&feature=player_embedded#
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POLICE KETTLING (STUDENT DEMONSTRATION against the EDUCATION CUTS), LONDON, 30-11-2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRV9h2dyBVU&NR=1
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Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded
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LOWKEY - TERRORIST? (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmBnvajSfWU
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Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E7h-DNvwx4&feature=player_embedded
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Flashmob: Cape Town Opera say NO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElyrFOnKPk
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Video of massive French protest -- inspiring!
http://www.dailymotion.com/Talenceagauchevraiment
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"Don't F*** With Our Activists" - Mobilizing Against FBI Raid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyG3dIUGQvQ
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C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
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MECA Middle East Children's Alliance
Howard & Roslyn Zinn Presente! Honor Their Legacy By Providing Clean Water for Children in Gaza
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=13
Howard Zinn supported the work of the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) from the beginning. Over the years, he lent his name and his time countless times to support our work. Howard and Roz were both personal friends of mine and Howard helped MECA raise funds for our projects for children in Palestine by coming to the Bay Area and doing events for us.
On the first anniversary of Howard's passing, I hope you will join MECA in celebrating these two extraordinary individuals.
- Barbara Lubin, Executive Director
YES! I want to help MECA build a water purification and desalination unit at the Khan Younis Co-ed Elementary School for 1,400 students in Gaza in honor of Howard & Roslyn Zinn.
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=13
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Lucasville Hunger Strike Ended, Some Demands Met
From: Freedom Archives
Denis O'Hearn 4:33pm Jan 15
www.Freedomarchives.org Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org
Folks, I have a short report on today's rally at OSP in support of the three men on hunger strike. But, first, I can now report to you the wonderful news that all three have resumed eating because they achieved a victory. The prison authorities have provided, in writing, a set of conditions that virtually meets the demands set out by Bomani Shakur in his letter to Warden Bobby, provided elsewhere on this site.
The hunger strikers send you all thanks for your support and state that they couldn‚t have won their demands without support from people from around the world. But they add to their statement the following: this time they were fighting about their conditions of confinement but now they begin the fight for their lives. They were wrongfully convicted of complicity in 1993 murders in Lucasville prison and have faced retribution because they refused to provide snitch testimony against others who actually committed those murders. Now, because of Ohio's (and other states') application of the death penalty, they still face execution at a future date. Ohio is today exceeded only by Texas in its enthusiasm for applying the death penalty. We need to take some of this energy that was created around the hunger strike to help these men fight for their lives.
So, we may celebrate a great victory for now. Common sense has prevailed in a dark place where there appeared to be no light. But watch this space for further news on their ongoing campaign.
I hope to share a copy of the Ohio prison authorities' written statement that ended this hunger strike in a short time.
As Bomani has told me many times,
It ain't over...
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org
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Call for EMERGENCY RESPONSE Action if Assange Indicted,
Dear Friends:
We write in haste, trying to reach as many of you as possible although the holiday break has begun.......This plan for an urgent "The Day After" demonstration is one we hope you and many, many more organizations will take up as your own, and mobilize for. World Can't Wait asks you to do all you can to spread it through list serves, Facebook, twitter, holiday gatherings.
Our proposal is very very simple, and you can use the following announcement to mobilize - or write your own....
ANY DAY NOW . . . IN THE EVENT THAT THE U.S. INDICTS JULIAN ASSANGE
An emergency public demonstration THE DAY AFTER any U.S. criminal indictment is announced against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Spread the word and call people to come out, across the whole range of movements and groups: anti-war, human rights, freedom of information/freedom of the press, peace, anti-torture, environmental, students and youth, radicals and revolutionaries, religious, civil liberties, teachers and educators, journalists, anti-imperialists, anti-censorship, anti-police state......
At the Federal Building in San Francisco, we'll form ourselves into a human chain "surrounding" the government that meets the Wikileaked truth with repression and wants to imprison and silence leakers, whistleblowers and truthtellers - when, in fact, these people are heroes. We'll say:
HANDS OFF WIKILEAKS! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING!
Join the HUMAN CHAIN AROUND THE FEDERAL BUILDING!
New Federal Building, 7th and Mission, San Francisco (nearest BART: Civic Center)
4:00-6:00 PM on The Day FOLLOWING U.S. indictment of Assange
Bring all your friends - signs and banners - bullhorns.
Those who dare at great risk to themselves to put the truth in the hands of the people - and others who might at this moment be thinking about doing more of this themselves -- need to see how much they are supported, and that despite harsh repression from the government and total spin by the mainstream media, the people do want the truth told.
Brad Manning's Christmas Eve statement was just released by his lawyer: "Pvt. Bradley Manning, the lone soldier who stands accused of stealing millions of pages secret US government documents and handing them over to secrets outlet WikiLeaks, wants his supporters to know that they've meant a lot to him. 'I greatly appreciate everyone's support and well wishes during this time,' he said in a Christmas Eve statement released by his lawyer...." Read more here:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/mannings-message-christmas-eve-i-gr/
Demonstrations defending Wikileaks and Assange, and Brad Manning, have already been flowering around the world. Make it happen here too.
Especially here . . .
To join into this action plan, or with questions, contact World Can't Wait or whichever organization or listserve you received this message from.
World Can't Wait, SF Bay
415-864-5153
sf@worldcantwait.org
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Email received from Lynne Stewart:
12/19/10; 12:03pm
Dear Folks:
Some nuts and bolts and trivia,
1. New Address
Lynne Stewart #53504 - 054
Unit 2N
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TEXAS 76127
2. Visiting is very liberal but first I have to get people on my visiting list Wait til I or the lawyers let you know. The visits are FRI, SAT, SUN AND MON for 4 hours and on weekends 8 to 3. Bring clear plastic change purse with lots of change to buy from the machines. Brief Kiss upon arrival and departure, no touching or holding during visit (!!) On visiting forms it may be required that you knew me before I came to prison. Not a problem for most of you.
3. One hour time difference
4. Commissary Money is always welcome It is how I pay for the phone and for email. Also need it for a lot that prison doesn't supply in terms of food and "sundries" (pens!) A very big list that includes Raisins, Salad Dressing , ankle sox, mozzarella (definitely not from Antonys--more like a white cheddar, Sanitas Corn Chips but no Salsa etc. To add money, you do this by using Western Union and a credit card by phone or you can send a USPO money order or Business or Govt Check. The negotiable instruments (PAPER!) need to be sent to Federal Bureau of Prisons , 53504-054, Lynne Stewart, PO Box 474701, Des Moines Iowa 50947-001 (Payable to Lynne Stewart, 53504-054) They hold the mo or checks for 15 days. Western Union costs $10 but is within 2 hours. If you mail, your return address must be on the envelope. Unnecessarily complicated ? Of course, it's the BOP !)
5. Food is vastly improved. Just had Sunday Brunch real scrambled eggs, PORK sausage, Baked or home fried potatoes, Butter(sweet whipped M'God !!) Grapefruit juice Toast , orange. I will probably regain the weight I lost at MCC! Weighing against that is the fact that to eat we need to walk to another building (about at far as from my house to the F Train) Also included is 3 flights of stairs up and down. May try to get an elevator pass and try NOT to use it.
6. In a room with 4 bunks(small) about two tiers of rooms with same with "atrium" in middle with tv sets and tables and chairs. Estimate about 500 on Unit 2N and there are 4 units. Population Black, Mexicano and other spanish speaking (all of whom iron their underwear, Marta), White, Native Americans (few), no orientals or foreign speaking caucasians--lots are doing long bits, victims of drugs (meth etc) and boyfriends. We wear army style (khaki) pants with pockets tee shirts and dress shirts long sleeved and short sleeved. When one of the women heard that I hadn't ironed in 40 years, they offered to do the shirts for me. (This is typical of the help I get--escorted to meals and every other protection, explanations, supplies, etc. Mostly from white women.) One drawback is not having a bathroom in the room---have to go about 75 yards at all hours of the day and night --clean though.
7. Final Note--the sunsets and sunrises are gorgeous, the place is very open and outdoors there are pecan trees and birds galore (I need books for trees and birds (west) The full moon last night gladdened my heart as I realized it was shining on all of you I hold dear.
Love Struggle
Lynne
The address of her Defense Committee is:
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York 11216
For further information:
718-789-0558 or 917-853-9759
Please make a generous contribution to her defense.
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Help end the inhumane treatment of Bradley Manning!
Bradley Manning Support Network. December 22, 2010
The Marine Brig at Quantico, Virginia is using "injury prevention" as a vehicle to inflict extreme pre-trial punishment on accused Wikileaks whistleblower Army PFC Bradley Manning (photo right). These "maximum conditions" are not unheard-of during an inmate's first week at a military confinement facility, but when applied continuously for months and with no end in sight they amount to a form of torture. Bradley, who just turned 23-years-old last week, has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest in late May. We're now turning to Bradley's supporters worldwide to directly protest, and help bring a halt to, the extremely punitive conditions of Bradley's pre-trial detention.
We need your help in pressing the following demands:
End the inhumane, degrading conditions of pre-trial confinement and respect Bradley's human rights. Specifically, lift the "Prevention of Injury (POI) watch order". This would allow Bradley meaningful physical exercise, uninterrupted sleep during the night, and a release from isolation. We are not asking for "special treatment". In fact, we are demanding an immediate end to the special treatment.
Quantico Base Commander
Colonel Daniel Choike
3250 Catlin Ave, Quantico VA 22134
+1-703-784-2707 (phone)
Quantico Brig Commanding Officer
CWO4 James Averhart
3247 Elrod Ave, Quantico VA 22134
+1-703-784-4242 (fax)
Background
In the wake of an investigative report last week by Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com giving evidence that Bradley Manning was subject to "detention conditions likely to create long-term psychological injuries", Bradley's attorney, David Coombs, published an article at his website on Saturday entitled "A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning". Mr. Coombs details the maximum custody conditions that Bradley is subject to at the Quantico Confinement Facility and highlights an additional set of restrictions imposed upon him under a Prevention of Injury (POI) watch order.
Usually enforced only through a detainee's first week at a confinement facility, or in cases of violent and/or suicidal inmates, the standing POI order has severely limited Manning's access to exercise, daylight and human contact for the past five months. The military's own psychologists assigned to Quantico have recommended that the POI order and the extra restrictions imposed on Bradley be lifted.
Despite not having been convicted of any crime or even yet formally indicted, the confinement regime Bradley lives under includes pronounced social isolation and a complete lack of opportunities for meaningful exercise. Additionally, Bradley's sleep is regularly interrupted. Coombs writes: "The guards are required to check on Manning every five minutes [...] At night, if the guards cannot see PFC Manning clearly, because he has a blanket over his head or is curled up towards the wall, they will wake him in order to ensure he is okay."
Denver Nicks writes in The Daily Beast that "[Bradley Manning's] attorney [...] says the extended isolation - now more than seven months of solitary confinement - is weighing on his client's psyche. [...] Both Coombs and Manning's psychologist, Coombs says, are sure Manning is mentally healthy, that there is no evidence he's a threat to himself, and shouldn't be held in such severe conditions under the artifice of his own protection."
In an article to be published at Firedoglake.com later today, David House, a friend of Bradley's who visits him regularly at Quantico, says that Bradley "has not been outside or into the brig yard for either recreation or exercise in four full weeks. He related that visits to the outdoors have been infrequent and sporadic for the past several months."
In an average military court martial situation, a defense attorney would be able to bring these issues of pre-trial punishment to the military judge assigned to the case (known as an Article 13 hearing). However, the military is unlikely to assign a judge to Bradley's case until the pre-trial Article 32 hearing is held (similar to an arraignment in civilian court), and that is not expected until February, March, or later-followed by the actual court martial trial months after that. In short, you are Bradley's best and most immediate hope.
What can you do?
Contact the Marine Corps officers above and respectfully, but firmly, ask that they lift the extreme pre-trial confinement conditions against Army PFC Bradley Manning.
Forward this urgent appeal for action widely.
Sign the "Stand with Brad" public petition and letter campaign at www.standwithbrad.org - Sign online, and we'll mail out two letters on your behalf to Army officials.
Donate to Bradley's defense fund at www.couragetoresist.org/bradley
References:
"The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention", by Glenn Greenwald for Salon.com, 15 December 2010
"A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning", by attorney David E. Coombs, 18 December 2010
"Bradley Manning's Life Behind Bars", by Denver Nicks for the Daily Beast, 17 December 2010
Bradley Manning Support Network
Courage To Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
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KOREA: Emergency Response Actions Needed
The United National Antiwar Committee urges the antiwar movement to begin to plan now for Emergency 5pm Day-of or Day-after demonstrations, should fighting break out on the Korean Peninsula or its surrounding waters.
As in past war crisis and U.S. attacks we propose:
NYC -- Times Square, Washington, D.C. -- the White House
In Many Cities - Federal Buildings
Many tens of thousands of U.S., Japanese and South Korean troops are mobilized on land and on hundreds of warships and aircraft carriers. The danger of a general war in Asia is acute.
China and Russia have made it clear that the scheduled military maneuvers and live-fire war "exercises" from an island right off the coast of north Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) by South Korea are very dangerous. The DPRK has made it clear that they consider these live-fire war exercises to be an act of war and they will again respond if they are again fired on.
The U.S. deployment of thousands of troops, ships, and aircraft in the area while South Korea is firing thousands of rounds of live ammunition and missiles is an enormously dangerous provocation, not only to the DPRK but to China. The Yellow Sea also borders China. The island and the waters where the war maneuvers are taking place are north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone and only eight miles from the coast of the DPRK.
On Sunday, December 19 in a day-long emergency session, the U.S. blocked in the UN Security Council any actions to resolve the crisis.
UNAC action program passed in Albany at the United National Antiwar Conference, July 2010 of over 800 antiwar, social justice and community organizations included the following Resolution on Korea:
15. In solidarity with the antiwar movements of Japan and Korea, each calling for U.S. Troops to Get Out Now, and given the great increase in U.S. military preparations against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, National Peace Conference participants will organize immediate protests following any attack by the U.S. on Korea. U.S. war preparations include stockpiling hundreds of bunker-busters and conducting major war games near the territorial waters of China and Korea. In keeping with our stand for the right of self-determination and our demand of Out Now, the National Peace Conference calls for Bringing All U.S. Troops Home Now!
UNAC urges the whole antiwar movement to begin to circulate messages alerts now in preparation. Together let's join together and demand: Bring all U.S. Troops Home Now! Stop the Wars and the Threats of War.
The United National Antiwar Committee, www.UNACpeace.org
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In earnest support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange:
http://readersupportednews.org/julian-assange-petition
rsn:Petition
We here undersigned express our support for the work and integrity of Julian Assange. We express concern that the charges against the WikiLeaks founder appear too convenient both in terms of timing and the novelty of their nature.
We call for this modern media innovator, and fighter for human rights extraordinaire, to be afforded the same rights to defend himself before Swedish justice that all others similarly charged might expect, and that his liberty not be compromised as a courtesy to those governments whose truths he has revealed have embarrassed.
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GAP Inc: End Your Relationship with Supplier that Allows Workers to be Burned Alive
http://humanrights.change.org/blog/view/workers_burned_alive_making_clothes_for_the_gap
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GEORGIA PRISON STRIKE PETITION:
http://ca.defendpubliceducation.org/?p=716
A handful of East Bay organizations have put together an open letter to the strikers. If your organization would like to become a signatory, you can email me to put you on it you and can do so here.
A Letter to the Prisoners on Strike in Georgia,
We, as members of activist and community organizations in the Bay Area of California, send our support for your strike against the terrible conditions you face in Georgia's prisons. We salute you for making history as your strike has become the largest prison strike in the history of this nation. As steadfast defenders of human and civil rights, we recognize the potential that your action has to improve the lives of millions subject to inhumane treatment in correctional facilities across this country.
Every single day, prisoners face the same deplorable and unnecessarily punitive conditions that you have courageously decided to stand up against. For too long, this nation has chosen silence in the face of the gross injustices that our brothers and sisters in prison are subjected to. Your fight against these injustices is a necessary and righteous struggle that must be carried out to victory.
We have heard about the brutal acts that Georgia Department of Corrections officers have been resorting to as a means of breaking your protest and we denounce them. In order to put a stop to the violence to which you have been subjected, we are in the process of contacting personnel at the different prison facilities and circulating petitions addressed to the governor and the Georgia DOC. We will continue to expose the DOC's shameless physical attacks on you and use our influence to call for an immediate end to the violence.
Here, in the Bay Area, we are all too familiar with the violence that this system is known to unleash upon our people. Recently, our community erupted in protest over the killing of an unarmed innocent black man named Oscar Grant by transit police in Oakland. We forced the authorities to arrest and convict the police officer responsible for Grant's murder by building up a mass movement. We intend to win justice with you and stop the violent repression of your peaceful protest in the same way-by appealing to the power and influence of the masses.
We fully support all of your demands. We strongly identify with your demand for expanded educational opportunities. In recent years, our state government has been initiating a series of massive cuts to our system of public education that continue to endanger our right to a quality, affordable education; in response, students all across our state have stood up and fought back just as you are doing now. In fact, students and workers across the globe have begun to organize and fight back against austerity measures and the corresponding violence of the state. Just in the past few weeks in Greece, Ireland, Spain, England, Italy, Haiti, Puerto Rico - tens and hundreds of thousands of students and workers have taken to the streets. We, as a movement, are gaining momentum and we do so even more as our struggles are unified and seen as interdependent. At times we are discouraged; it may seem insurmountable, but in the words of Malcolm X, "Power in defense of freedom is greater than power on behalf of tyranny and oppression."
You have inspired us. News of your strike, from day one, has served to inspire and invigorate hundreds of students and community organizers here in Berkeley and Oakland alone. We are especially inspired by your ability to organize across color lines and are interested in hearing an account from the inside of how this process developed and was accomplished. You have also encouraged us to take more direct actions toward radical prison reform in our own communities, namely Santa Rita County Jail and San Quentin Prison. We are now beginning the process of developing a similar set of demands regarding expediting processing (can take 20-30 hours to get a bed, they call it "bullpen therapy"), nutrition, visiting and phone calls, educational services, legal support, compensation for labor and humane treatment in general. We will also seek to unify the education and prison justice movements by collaborating with existing organizations that have been engaging in this work.
We echo your call: No more Slavery! Injustice to one is injustice to all!
In us, students, activists, the community members and people of the Bay Area, you have an ally. We will continue to spread the news about your cause all over the Bay Area and California, the country and world. We pledge to do everything in our power to make sure your demands are met.
In solidarity,
UC-Berkeley Student Worker Action Team (SWAT) _ Community Action Project (CAP) _ La Voz de los Trabajadores _ Laney College Student Unity & Power (SUP) _ Laney College Black Student Union (BSU)
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In Solidarity
By Kevin Cooper
On Thursday, December 9, 2010, the inmates in the state of Georgia sat down in unity and peace in order to stand up for their human rights.
African American, White, and Latino inmates put aside their differences, if they had any, and came together as a 'People' fighting for their humanity in a system that dehumanizes all of them.
For this they have my utmost respect and appreciation and support. I am in true solidarity with them all!
For further information about Kevin Cooper:
http://www.savekevincooper.org/
http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/essays_content.html?ID=255
Reasonable doubts about executing Kevin Cooper
Chronicle Editorial
Monday, December 13, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/13/EDG81GP0I7.DTL
Death penalty -- Kevin Cooper is Innocent! Help save his life from San Quentin's death row!
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
17 December 2010
Click here to take action online:
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Kevin Cooper, who has been on death row in California for 25 years, is asking the outgoing state governor to commute his death sentence before leaving office on 2 January 2011. Kevin Cooper has consistently maintained his innocence of the four murders for which he was sentenced to death. Since 2004, a dozen federal appellate judges have indicated their doubts about his guilt.
On the night of 4 June 1983, Douglas and Peggy Ryen were hacked and stabbed to death in their home in Chino Hills, California, along with their 10-year-old daughter Jessica and 11-year-old houseguest Christopher Hughes. The couple's eight-year-old son, Joshua Ryen, was seriously wounded, but survived. He told investigators that the attackers were three or four white men. In hospital, he saw a picture of Kevin Cooper on television and said that Cooper, who is black, was not the attacker. However, the boy's later testimony - that he only saw one attacker - was introduced at the 1985 trial. The case has many other troubling aspects which call into question the reliability of the state's case and its conduct in obtaining this conviction (see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/013/2004/en).
Kevin Cooper was less than eight hours from execution in 2004 when the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted a stay and sent the case back to the District Court for testing on blood and hair evidence, including to establish if the police had planted evidence. The District Court ruled in 2005 that the testing had not proved Kevin Cooper's innocence - his lawyers (and five Ninth Circuit judges) maintain that it did not do the testing as ordered. Nevertheless, in 2007, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit upheld the District Court's ruling. One of the judges described the result as "wholly discomforting" because of evidence tampering and destruction, but noted that she was constrained by US law, which places substantial obstacles in the way of successful appeals.
In 2009, the Ninth Circuit refused to have the whole court rehear the case. Eleven of its judges dissented. One of the dissenting opinions, running to more than 80 pages and signed by five judges, warned that "the State of California may be about to execute an innocent man". On the question of the evidence testing, they said: "There is no way to say this politely. The district court failed to provide Cooper a fair hearing and...imposed unreasonable conditions on the testing" ordered by the Ninth Circuit. They pointed to a test result that, if valid, indicated that evidence had been planted, and they asserted that the district court had blocked further scrutiny of this issue.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had already denied clemency in 2004 when the Ninth Circuit issued its stay. At the time, he had said that the "courts have reviewed this case for more than eighteen years. Evidence establishing his guilt is overwhelming". Clearly, a notable number of federal judges disagree. The five judges in the Ninth Circuit's lengthy dissent in 2009 stated that the evidence of Kevin Cooper's guilt at his trial was "quite weak" and concluded that he "is probably innocent of the crimes for which the State of California is about to execute him".
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On 2 June 1983, two days before the Chino Hills murders, Kevin Cooper had escaped from a minimum security prison, where he was serving a four-year term for burglary, and had hidden in an empty house near the Ryen home for two nights. After his arrest, he became the focus of public hatred. Outside the venue of his preliminary hearing, for example, people hung an effigy of a monkey in a noose with a sign reading "Hang the Nigger!!" At the time of the trial, jurors were confronted by graffiti declaring "Die Kevin Cooper" and "Kevin Cooper Must Be Hanged". Kevin Cooper pleaded not guilty - the jury deliberated for seven days before convicting him - and he has maintained his innocence since then. Since Governor Schwarzenegger denied clemency in 2004, more evidence supporting Kevin Cooper's claim of innocence has emerged, including for example, testimony from three witnesses who say they saw three white men near the crime scene on the night of the murders with blood on them.
In 2007, Judge Margaret McKeown was the member of the Ninth Circuit's three-judge panel who indicated that she was upholding the District Court's 2005 ruling despite her serious concerns. She wrote: "Significant evidence bearing on Cooper's guilt has been lost, destroyed or left unpursued, including, for example, blood-covered coveralls belonging to a potential suspect who was a convicted murderer, and a bloody t-shirt, discovered alongside the road near the crime scene. The managing criminologist in charge of the evidence used to establish Cooper's guilt at trial was, as it turns out, a heroin addict, and was fired for stealing drugs seized by the police. Countless other alleged problems with the handling and disclosure of evidence and the integrity of the forensic testing and investigation undermine confidence in the evidence". She continued that "despite the presence of serious questions as to the integrity of the investigation and evidence supporting the conviction, we are constrained by the requirements of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA)". Judge McKeown wrote that "the habeas process does not account for lingering doubt or new evidence that cannot leap the clear and convincing hurdle of AEDPA. Instead, we are left with a situation in which confidence in the blood sample is murky at best, and lost, destroyed or tampered evidence cannot be factored into the final analysis of doubt. The result is wholly discomforting, but one that the law demands".
Even if it is correct that the AEDPA demands this result, the power of executive clemency is not so confined. Last September, for example, the governor of Ohio commuted Kevin Keith's death sentence because of doubts about his guilt even though his death sentence had been upheld on appeal (see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/079/2010/en). Governor Ted Strickland said that despite circumstantial evidence linking the condemned man to the crime, "many legitimate questions have been raised regarding the evidence in support of the conviction and the investigation which led to it. In particular, Mr Keith's conviction relied upon the linking of certain eyewitness testimony with certain forensic evidence about which important questions have been raised. I also find the absence of a full investigation of other credible suspects troubling." The same could be said in the case of Kevin Cooper, whose lawyer is asking Governor Schwarzenegger to commute the death sentence before he leaves office on 2 January 2011. While Kevin Cooper does not yet have an execution date, it is likely that one will be set, perhaps early in 2011.
More than 130 people have been released from death rows on grounds of innocence in the USA since 1976. At the original trial in each case, the defendant had been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It is clear beyond any dispute that the USA's criminal justice system is capable of making mistakes. International safeguards require that the death penalty not be imposed if guilt is not "based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts". Amnesty International opposes all executions regardless of the seriousness of the crime or the guilt or innocence of the condemned.
California has the largest death row in the USA, with more than 700 prisoners under sentence of death out of a national total of some 3,200. California accounts for 13 of the 1,234 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977. There have been 46 executions in the USA this year. The last execution in California was in January 2006.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Acknowledging the seriousness of the crime for which Kevin Cooper was sentenced to death;
- Urging Governor Schwarzenegger to take account of the continuing doubts about Kevin Cooper's guilt, including as expressed by more than 10 federal judges since 2004, when executive clemency was last requested;
- Urging the Governor to commute Kevin Cooper's death sentence.
APPEALS TO:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814, USA
Fax: 1 916-558-3160
Email: governor@governor.ca.gov or via http://gov.ca.gov/interact#contact
Salutation : Dear Governor
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 2 January 2011.
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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Free the Children of Palestine!
Sign Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
Published by Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition on Dec 16, 2010
Category: Children's Rights
Region: GLOBAL
Target: President Obama
Web site: http://www.al-awda.org
Background (Preamble):
According to Israeli police, 1200 Palestinian children have been arrested, interrogated and imprisoned in the occupied city of Jerusalem alone this year. The youngest of these children was seven-years old.
Children and teen-agers were often dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night, taken in handcuffs for questioning, threatened, humiliated and many were subjected to physical violence while under arrest as part of an ongoing campaign against the children of Palestine. Since the year 2000, more than 8000 have been arrested by Israel, and reports of mistreatment are commonplace.
Further, based on sworn affidavits collected in 2009 from 100 of these children, lawyers working in the occupied West Bank with Defense Children International, a Geneva-based non governmental organization, found that 69% were beaten and kicked, 49% were threatened, 14% were held in solitary confinement, 12% were threatened with sexual assault, including rape, and 32% were forced to sign confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand.
Minors were often asked to give names and incriminate friends and relatives as a condition of their release. Such institutionalized and systematic mistreatment of Palestinian children by the state of Israel is a violation international law and specifically contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Israel is supposedly a signatory.
Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
We, the undersigned call on US President Obama to direct Israel to
1. Stop all the night raids and arrests of Palestinian Children forthwith.
2. Immediately release all Palestinian children detained in its prisons and detention centers.
3. End all forms of systematic and institutionalized abuse against all Palestinian children.
4. Implement the full restoration of Palestinian children's rights in accordance with international law including, but not limited to, their right to return to their homes of origin, to education, to medical and psychological care, and to freedom of movement and expression.
The US government, which supports Israel to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars a year while most ordinary Americans are suffering in a very bad economy, is bound by its laws and international conventions to cut off all aid to Israel until it ends all of its violations of human rights and basic freedoms in a verifiable manner.
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"Secret diplomacy is a necessary tool for a propertied minority, which is compelled to deceive the majority in order to subject it to its interests."..."Publishing State Secrets" By Leon Trotsky
Documents on Soviet Policy, Trotsky, iii, 2 p. 64
November 22, 1917
http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/foreign-relations/1917/November/22.htm
FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING! STOP THE FBI RAIDS NOW!
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
To understand how much a trillion dollars is, consider looking at it in terms of time:
A million seconds would be about eleven-and-one-half days; a billion seconds would be 31 years; and a trillion seconds would be 31,000 years!
From the novel "A Dark Tide," by Andrew Gross
Now think of it in terms of U.S. war dollars and bankster bailouts!
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MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE
Your Year-End Gift for the Children
Double your impact with this matching gift opportunity!
Dear Friend of the Children,
You may have recently received a letter from me via regular mail with a review of the important things you helped MECA accomplish for the children in 2010, along with a special Maia Project decal.
My letter to you also included an announcement of MECA's first ever matching gift offer. One of our most generous supporters will match all gifts received by December 31. 2010 to a total of $35,000.
So, whether you are a long time supporter, or giving for the first-time... Whether you can give $10 or $1,000... This is a unique opportunity to double the impact of your year-end gift!
Your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar, making it go twice as far so that MECA can:
* Install twenty more permanent drinking water units in Gaza schools though our Maia Project
* Continue our work with Playgrounds for Palestine to complete a community park in the besieged East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, where violent Israeli settlers attack children and adults, Israeli police arrest the victims, and the city conducts "administrative demolitions" of Palestinian homes.
* Send a large medical aid shipment to Gaza.
* Renew support for "Let the Children Play and Heal," a program in Gaza to help children cope with trauma and grief through arts programs, referrals to therapists, educational materials for families and training for mothers.
Your support for the Middle East Children's Alliance's delivers real, often life-saving, help. And it does more than that. It sends a message of hope and solidarity to Palestine-showing the people that we are standing beside them as they struggle to bring about a better life for their children.
With warm regards,
Barbara Lubin
Founder and Director
P.S. Please give as much as you possible can, and please make your contribution now, so it will be doubled. Thank you so much.
P.S.S. If you didn't receive a MAIA Project decal in the mail or if you would like another one, please send an email message to meca@mecaforpeace.org with "MAIA Project decal" in the subject line when you make your contribution.
To make a gift by mail send to:
MECA, 1101 8th Street, Berkley, CA 94710
To make a gift by phone, please call MECA's off at: 510-548-0542
To "GO PAPERLESS" and receive all your MECA communications by email, send a message to meca@mecaforpeace.org with "Paperless" in the subject line.
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For Immediate Release
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
12/2/2010
For more information: Joe Lombardo, 518-281-1968,
UNACpeace@gmail.org, NationalPeaceConference.org
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
The United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) calls for the release of Bradley Manning who is awaiting trial accused of leaking the material to Wikileaks that has been released over the past several months. We also call for an end to the harassment of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks and we call for an independent, international investigation of the illegal activity exposed through the material released by Wikileaks.
Before sending the material to Wikileaks, Bradley Manning tried to get his superiors in the military to do something about what he understood to be clear violations of international law. His superiors told him to keep quiet so Manning did the right thing; he exposed the illegal activity to the world.
The Afghan material leaked earlier shows military higher-ups telling soldiers to kill enemy combatants who were trying to surrender. The Iraq Wikileaks video from 2007 shows the US military killing civilians and news reporters from a helicopter while laughing about it. The widespread corruption among U.S. allies has been exposed by the most recent leaks of diplomatic cables. Yet, instead of calling for change in these policies, we hear only a call to suppress further leaks.
At the national antiwar conference held in Albany in July, 2010, at which UNAC was founded, we heard from Ethan McCord, one of the soldiers on the ground during the helicopter attack on the civilians in Iraq exposed by Wikileaks (see: http://www.mediasanctuary.org/movie/1810 ). He talked about removing wounded children from a civilian vehicle that the US military had shot up. It affected him so powerfully that he and another soldier who witnessed the massacre wrote a letter of apology to the families of the civilians who were killed.
We ask why this material was classified in the first place. There were no state secrets in the material, only evidence of illegal and immoral activity by the US military, the US government and its allies. To try to cover this up by classifying the material is a violation of our right to know the truth about these wars. In this respect, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange should be held up as heroes, not hounded for exposing the truth.
UNAC calls for an end to the illegal and immoral policies exposed by Wikileaks and an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an end to threats against Iran and North Korea.
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Courage to Resist needs your support
By Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist.
It's been quite a ride the last four months since we took up the defense of accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning. Since then, we helped form the Bradley Manning Support Network, established a defense fund, and have already paid over half of Bradley's total $100,000 in estimated legal expenses.
Now, I'm asking for your support of Courage to Resist so that we can continue to support not only Bradley, but the scores of other troops who are coming into conflict with military authorities due to reasons of conscience.
Please donate today:
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
"Soldiers sworn oath is to defend and support the Constitution. Bradley Manning has been defending and supporting our Constitution."
-Dan Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower
Iraq War over? Afghanistan occupation winding down? Not from what we see. Please take a look at, "Soldier Jeff Hanks refuses deployment, seeks PTSD help" in our December newsletter. Jeff's situation is not isolated. Actually, his story is only unique in that he has chosen to share it with us in the hopes that it may result in some change. Jeff's case also illustrates the importance of Iraq Veterans Against the War's new "Operation Recovery" campaign which calls for an end to the deployment of traumatized troops.
Most of the folks who call us for help continue to be effected by Stoploss, a program that involuntarily extends enlistments (despite Army promises of its demise), or the Individual Ready Reserve which recalls thousands of former Soldiers and Marines quarterly from civilian life.
Another example of our efforts is Kyle Wesolowski. After returning from Iraq, Kyle submitted an application for a conscientious objector discharge based on his Buddhist faith. Kyle explains, "My experience of physical threats, religious persecution, and general abuse seems to speak of a system that appears to be broken.... It appears that I have no other recourse but to now refuse all duties that prepare myself for war or aid in any way shape or form to other soldiers in conditioning them to go to war." We believe he shouldn't have to walk this path alone.
Sincerely,
Jeff Paterson
Project Director, Courage to Resist
First US military service member to refuse to fight in Iraq
Please donate today.
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
P.S. I'm asking that you consider a contribution of $50 or more, or possibly becoming a sustainer at $15 a month. Of course, now is also a perfect time to make a end of year tax-deductible donation. Thanks again for your support!
Please click here to forward this to a friend who might
also be interested in supporting GI resisters.
http://ymlp.com/forward.php?id=lS3tR&e=bonnieweinstein@yahoo.com
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Add your name! We stand with Bradley Manning.
"We stand for truth, for government transparency, and for an end to our tax-dollars funding endless occupation abroad... We stand with accused whistle-blower US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning."
Dear All,
The Bradley Manning Support Network and Courage to Resist are launching a new campaign, and we wanted to give you a chance to be among the first to add your name to this international effort. If you sign the letter online, we'll print out and mail two letters to Army officials on your behalf. With your permission, we may also use your name on the online petition and in upcoming media ads.
Read the complete public letter and add your name at:
http://standwithbrad.org/
Courage to Resist (http://couragetoresist.org)
on behalf of the Bradley Manning Support Network (http://bradleymanning.org)
484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610
510-488-3559
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Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Dear Friend,
On Friday, September 24th, the FBI raided homes in Chicago and Minneapolis, and turned the Anti-War Committee office upside down. We were shocked. Our response was strong however and we jumped into action holding emergency protests. When the FBI seized activists' personal computers, cell phones, and papers claiming they were investigating "material support for terrorism", they had no idea there would be such an outpouring of support from the anti-war movement across this country! Over 61 cities protested, with crowds of 500 in Minneapolis and Chicago. Activists distributed 12,000 leaflets at the One Nation Rally in Washington D.C. Supporters made thousands of calls to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Solidarity statements from community organizations, unions, and other groups come in every day. By organizing against the attacks, the movement grows stronger.
At the same time, trusted lawyers stepped up to form a legal team and mount a defense. All fourteen activists signed letters refusing to testify. So Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox withdrew the subpoenas, but this is far from over. In fact, the repression is just starting. The FBI continues to question activists at their homes and work places. The U.S. government is trying to put people in jail for anti-war and international solidarity activism and there is no indication they are backing off. The U.S. Attorney has many options and a lot of power-he may re-issue subpoenas, attempt to force people to testify under threat of imprisonment, or make arrests.
To be successful in pushing back this attack, we need your donation. We need you to make substantial contributions like $1000, $500, and $200. We understand many of you are like us, and can only afford $50, $20, or $10, but we ask you to dig deep. The legal bills can easily run into the hundreds of thousands. We are all united to defend a movement for peace and justice that seeks friendship with people in other countries. These fourteen anti-war activists have done nothing wrong, yet their freedom is at stake.
It is essential that we defend our sisters and brothers who are facing FBI repression and the Grand Jury process. With each of your contributions, the movement grows stronger.
Please make a donation today at stopfbi.net (PayPal) on the right side of your screen. Also you can write to:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
This is a critical time for us to stand together, defend free speech, and defend those who help to organize for peace and justice, both at home and abroad!
Thank you for your generosity! Tom Burke
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Please sign the petition to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal and
and forward it to all your lists.
"Mumia Abu-Jamal and The Global Abolition of the Death Penalty"
http://www.petitiononline.com/Mumialaw/petition.html
(A Life In the Balance - The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, at 34, Amnesty Int'l, 2000; www. Amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/001/2000.)
[Note: This petition is approved by Mumia Abu-Jamal and his lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, San Francisco (E-mail: MumiaLegalDefense@gmail.com; Website: www.MumiaLegalDefense.org).]
Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
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Short Video About Al-Awda's Work
The following link is to a short video which provides an overview of Al-Awda's work since the founding of our organization in 2000. This video was first shown on Saturday May 23, 2009 at the fundraising banquet of the 7th Annual Int'l Al-Awda Convention in Anaheim California. It was produced from footage collected over the past nine years.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTiAkbB5uC0&eurl
Support Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause!
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, depends on your financial support to carry out its work.
To submit your tax-deductible donation to support our work, go to
http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and follow the simple instructions.
Thank you for your generosity!
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COURAGE TO RESIST!
Support the troops who refuse to fight!
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/
Donate:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/21/57/
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D. ARTICLES IN FULL (Unless otherwise noted)
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1) Despite Obama's Call, No Rush in R.O.T.C.'s Return to Campus
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
January 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/education/28rotc.html?ref=education
2) Egypt's uprising and its implications for Palestine
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada
29 January 2011
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11762.shtml
3) Egypt protesters call for strike, million man march
By blade
Created 31/01/2011 - 08:58
http://www.france24.com/en/20110131-egypt-protesters-call-strike-million-man-march
4) Protests Persist in Egypt as New Cabinet Is Seated
By ANTHONY SHADID, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK AND KAREEM FAHIM
January 31, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/world/middleeast/01egypt.html?hp
5) Protest's Old Guard Falls In Behind the Young
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and MONA EL-NAGGAR
January 30, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/world/middleeast/31opposition.html?hp
6) Rich, Poor and a Rift Exposed by Unrest
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and MONA EL-NAGGAR
January 30, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/world/africa/31classwar.html?ref=world
7) Political Crisis Starts to Be Felt Economically
By NICHOLAS KULISH and SOUAD MEKHENNET
January 30, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/world/middleeast/31alexandria.html?ref=world
8) Bloomberg Presses Cuomo on Teacher Seniority Rule
"The mayor said that if, as widely expected, the governor's office proposes deep cuts to the city's education spending this week, it must give the city flexibility in determining which teachers to lay off. Right now, it must fire new teachers first."
By MICHAEL BARBARO and NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
January 30, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/nyregion/31bloomberg.html?ref=education
9) US army to send aerial backup to Sinai
"The US Army's Aviation Regiment has mobilized for deployment to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to back the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) overseeing the Egypt-Israel peace treaty."
PRESS TV
Mon Jan 31, 2011 6:45AM
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162832.html
10) The Syrians are watching
In the tea shops and internet cafes of Damascus, Syrians are asking what events in Egypt may mean for them.
By Hugh Macleod
30 Jan 2011 12:47 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/01/2011129132243891877.html
11) Protesters flood Egypt streets
More than a million rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square as massive countrywide protests are held against President Mubarak.
Last Modified: 01 Feb 2011 14:43 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112113115442982.html
12) Largest Crowds Yet Demand Change in Egypt
By ANTHONY SHADID and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
February 1, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/world/middleeast/02egypt.html?hp
13) Haiti Agrees to Issue Passport for Aristide, Lawyer Says
By GINGER THOMPSON
January 31, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/world/americas/01haiti.html?ref=world
14) Clashes rage in Tahrir Square
At least one dead and hundreds injured as pro-Mubarak supporters attack protesters seeking his ouster in central Cairo.
February 2, 2011
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122124446797789.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122124446797789.html________________________________________________
15) Violence in Egypt: Pro-Mubarak Thugs Attacking Protesters, Cracking Down on Journalists, Anderson Cooper Beaten
Update: The Times' Lede blog reports that pro-Mubarak demonstrators are "hunting down" journalists in Egypt:
February 2, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/458821/violence_in_egypt%3A_pro-mubarak_thugs_attacking_protesters%2C_cracking_down_on_journalists%2C_anderson_cooper_beaten/#paragraph4
16) Longtime activist welcomes thousands of Egyptians to his cause
By Leila Fadel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 1, 2011; 5:37 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/01/AR2011020105033.html
17) How Was Egypt's Internet Access Shut Off?
Preliminary investigations indicate that most of the country's ISPs cut Internet access within a 20-minute period, likely at the government's behest
By Larry Greenemeier
Friday, January 28, 2011
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=egypt-internet-mubarak
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=egypt-internet-mubarak&WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20110202
18) Clashes Erupt in Cairo Between Mubarak's Allies and Foes
"Some protesters reported that they had been approached with offers of 50 Egyptian pounds, about $8.50, to carry pro-Mubarak placards. 'Fifty pounds for my country?' one woman said, in apparent disbelief."
By ANTHONY SHADID, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and KAREEM FAHIM
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03egypt.html?hp
19) Yemen's Leader Says He Will Step Down in 2013
By LAURA KASINOF and NADA BAKRI
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03yemen.html?hp
20) Journalists Are Attacked in Cairo
"As chaos gripped central Tahrir Square in Cairo on Wednesday, journalists covering the scene on the ground found themselves the targets of violence and intimidation by demonstrators chanting slogans in favor of President Hosni Mubarak."
By J. DAVID GOODMAN
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03journalists.html?hp
21) E.P.A. Plans Limits on Toxic Chemicals in Water
By JOHN M. BRODER
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/science/earth/03epa.html?hp
22) Jobs and Age Reign as Risk Factors for Mideast Uprisings
" 'Not every country with an employment rate above a certain figure will necessarily face a revolution as each society has its own dynamics, but there are shared and distinct factors driving the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia,' said Tristan Cooper, head analyst of Middle East Sovereigns for Moody's Investors Services. 'Contagion into the wider region is more likely in countries that have large numbers of frustrated, unemployed citizens who are eager for political change.' Algeria, Jordan and Morocco, countries with high jobless rates and growing young populations, are among the most vulnerable, according to the Standard and Poor's ratings agency."
By SARA HAMDAN
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03iht-m03job.html?ref=world
23) Sudanese Start Protest Movement
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/africa/03sudan.html?ref=world
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1) Despite Obama's Call, No Rush in R.O.T.C.'s Return to Campus
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
January 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/education/28rotc.html?ref=education
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Obama called for college campuses to "open their doors to our military recruiters" and the Reserve Officer Training Corps.
This would have been an explosive statement with wide ramifications 40 years ago, at the height of the Vietnam War, but in today's context, it is basically symbolic. The hostility between universities, many of them now dependent on federal funding, and the military, with the draft long over, is much diminished.
Military recruiters have already been on most college campuses for years. And since Congress last month repealed "don't ask, don't tell," the policy that banned gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military, most of the elite universities with no R.O.T.C. programs have indicated that they are prepared to bring the military onto campus.
But that is no guarantee that such programs will materialize. For one thing, the military has limited resources for new R.O.T.C. units. For another, the level of student interest is extremely low, with no more than 10 to 20 students at these campuses participating in nearby R.O.T.C. programs now, though that could change if units were more convenient to campus.
"New schools or universities interested in R.O.T.C. programs will each be evaluated" with an eye toward "the most efficient use of these resources," Cynthia Smith, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said Wednesday.
Diane Mazur, a law professor at the University of Florida, a former Air Force officer and author of "A More Perfect Military," said: "I would be the most surprised person in the world if the military came back to Harvard or Yale. The military doesn't have the staffing or the funding, and it's very expensive to start a new R.O.T.C. detachment."
She added: "Both sides have to dance to make it work, and the military isn't in a position to expand these programs."
The Pentagon says that only two schools - Vermont Law School in South Royalton, Vt., and William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul - have barred military recruiters.
But as soon as Mr. Obama and the military certify the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," Vermont and William Mitchell will allow recruiters on campus, spokesman for both said on Wednesday. It is not clear when that might happen, but Mr. Obama said in his speech that he expected it to occur "this year."
At the same time, the elite Ivy colleges that resisted the military in the 1960s and 1970s now say they are ready to welcome R.O.T.C. units.
Shortly after "don't ask, don't tell" was repealed, Drew Faust, the president of Harvard, said in a statement: "I look forward to pursuing discussions with military officials and others to achieve Harvard's full and formal recognition of R.O.T.C."
Richard Levin, Yale's president, said last month that the university was "eager to open discussions about expanding opportunities for students interested in military service."
Stanford has formed an ad hoc faculty committee that is considering whether to expand its relationship with the military. The committee, which met Tuesday night as Mr. Obama delivered his speech, is expected to make its recommendations in a couple of months.
Columbia has formed a task force on military engagement. Ron Mazor, co-chairman of the task force and a student at Columbia Law School, said Wednesday that town-hall-style meetings would start next month, as would a student survey on attitudes toward the military. He said the results would be reported to the university senate, of which he is a member, by March 4.
Lee Bollinger, Columbia's president, said in an earlier statement that repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" "effectively ends what has been a vexing problem for higher education, including at Columbia, given our desire to be open to our military, but not wanting to violate our own core principle against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation."
But the universities were forced to carve out exceptions to that policy in the late-1990s and early 2000s, when Congress, backed by the Supreme Court, denied them federal money if they spurned military recruiters. They stood to lose hundreds of millions of dollars, not just in defense grants but from across the federal government. (Vermont has lost about $500,000 a year in grants, a spokesman said, and William Mitchell simply did not compete for certain grants so did not actually lose money, said Eric Janus, its president and dean.)
As for the R.O.T.C. programs, the Pentagon said it had "disestablished" its units on certain military campuses at the height of the Vietnam War. Ms. Mazur, the law professor, said: "The services made the decision, in an era of downsizing, not to adapt their course content or increase the qualifications of instructors in an effort to meet university requirements," and so they left.
"It wasn't worth it to the military to wrestle with these campuses" over the academic qualifications, Ms. Mazur said. Instead, the military established R.O.T.C. units at one centrally located university and allowed students from nearby universities to attend. Students at Harvard, for example, participate in the R.O.T.C. program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; students at Columbia go to Fordham.
The military says that at this point, it has 489 R.O.T.C. units with "cross-town arrangements" with 2,400 universities, allowing almost every student in the country access to a program.
As the universities now move toward recognizing R.O.T.C. programs, they still may hit a snag. Some students are arguing that even with the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," the military still does not meet the antidiscrimination requirements of the universities because it bars people who are transgender.
At Stanford, Alok Vaid-Menon, a sophomore and president of Stanford Students for Queer Liberation, said his group wanted to keep R.O.T.C. off the campus, though still allow students to participate in programs at nearby campuses, until the military accepted transgender students. He said that he had tried to raise support for this view from students at other universities but that the response so far had been "bleak."
Mr. Vaid-Menon said there were about 10 transgender students at Stanford, which he said was about the same number of those involved in R.O.T.C.
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2) Egypt's uprising and its implications for Palestine
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada
29 January 2011
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11762.shtml
We are in the middle of a political earthquake in the Arab world and the ground has still not stopped shaking. To make predictions when events are so fluid is risky, but there is no doubt that the uprising in Egypt -- however it ends -- will have a dramatic impact across the region and within Palestine.
If the Mubarak regime falls, and is replaced by one less tied to Israel and the United States, Israel will be a big loser. As Aluf Benn commented in the Israeli daily Haaretz, "The fading power of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government leaves Israel in a state of strategic distress. Without Mubarak, Israel is left with almost no friends in the Middle East; last year, Israel saw its alliance with Turkey collapse" ("Without Egypt, Israel will be left with no friends in Mideast," 29 January 2011).
Indeed, Benn observes, "Israel is left with two strategic allies in the region: Jordan and the Palestinian Authority." But what Benn does not say is that these two "allies" will not be immune either.
Over the past few weeks I was in Doha examining the Palestine Papers leaked to Al Jazeera. These documents underscore the extent to which the split between the US-backed Palestinian Authority in Ramallah headed by Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction, on the one hand, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, on the other -- was a policy decision of regional powers: the United States, Egypt and Israel. This policy included Egypt's strict enforcement of the siege of Gaza.
If the Mubarak regime goes, the United States will lose enormous leverage over the situation in Palestine, and Abbas' PA will lose one of its main allies against Hamas.
Already discredited by the extent of its collaboration and capitulation exposed in the Palestine Papers, the PA will be weakened even further. With no credible "peace process" to justify its continued "security coordination" with Israel, or even its very existence, the countdown may well begin for the PA's implosion. Even the US and EU support for the repressive PA police-state-in-the-making may no longer be politically tenable. Hamas may be the immediate beneficiary, but not necessarily in the long term. For the first time in years we are seeing broad mass movements that, while they include Islamists, are not necessarily dominated or controlled by them.
There is also a demonstration effect for Palestinians: the endurance of the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes has been based on the perception that they were strong, as well as their ability to terrorize parts of their populations and co-opt others. The relative ease with which Tunisians threw off their dictator, and the speed with which Egypt, and perhaps Yemen, seem to be going down the same road, may well send a message to Palestinians that neither Israel's nor the PA's security forces are as indomitable as they appear. Indeed, Israel's "deterrence" already took a huge blow from its failure to defeat Hizballah in Lebanon in 2006, and Hamas in Gaza during the winter 2008-09 attacks.
As for Abbas's PA, never has so much international donor money been spent on a security force with such poor results. The open secret is that without the Israeli military occupying the West Bank and besieging Gaza (with the Mubarak regime's help), Abbas and his praetorian guard would have fallen long ago. Built on the foundations of a fraudulent peace process, the US, EU and Israel with the support of the decrepit Arab regimes now under threat by their own people, have constructed a Palestinian house of cards that is unlikely to remain standing much longer.
This time the message may be that the answer is not more military resistance but rather more people power and a stronger emphasis on popular protests. Today, Palestinians form at least half the population in historic Palestine -- Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip combined. If they rose up collectively to demand equal rights, what could Israel do to stop them? Israel's brutal violence and lethal force has not stopped regular demonstrations in West Bank villages including Bilin and Beit Ommar.
Israel must fear that if it responds to any broad uprising with brutality, its already precarious international support could start to evaporate as quickly as Mubarak's. The Mubarak regime, it seems, is undergoing rapid "delegitimization." Israeli leaders have made it clear that such an implosion of international support scares them more than any external military threat. With the power shifting to the Arab people and away from their regimes, Arab governments may not be able to remain as silent and complicit as they have for years as Israel oppresses Palestinians.
As for Jordan, change is already underway. I witnessed a protest of thousands of people in downtown Amman yesterday. These well-organized and peaceful protests, called for by a coalition of Islamist and leftist opposition parties, have been held now for weeks in cities around the country. The protesters are demanding the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Samir al-Rifai, dissolution of the parliament elected in what were widely seen as fraudulent elections in November, new free elections based on democratic laws, economic justice, an end to corruption and cancelation of the peace treaty with Israel. There were strong demonstrations of solidarity for the people of Egypt.
None of the parties at the demonstration called for the kind of revolutions that happened in Tunisia and Egypt to occur in Jordan, and there is no reason to believe such developments are imminent. But the slogans heard at the protests are unprecedented in their boldness and their direct challenge to authority. Any government that is more responsive to the wishes of the people will have to review its relationship with Israel and the United States.
Only one thing is certain today: whatever happens in the region, the people's voices can no longer be ignored.
Ali Abunimah is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse and is a contributor to The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict (Nation Books).
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3) Egypt protesters call for strike, million man march
By blade
Created 31/01/2011 - 08:58
http://www.france24.com/en/20110131-egypt-protesters-call-strike-million-man-march
Egyptian protesters on Monday called for an indefinite general strike and said they planned a "million man march" on Tuesday to mark one week since the start of deadly anti-government protests.
"It was decided overnight that there will be a million man march on Tuesday," Eid Mohammed, one of the protesters and organisers, told AFP.
"We have also decided to begin an open ended general strike," he said.
The strike was first called for by workers in the canal city of Suez late on Sunday.
"We will be joining the Suez workers and begin a general strike until our demands are met," Mohammed Waked, another protest organiser, told AFP.
In Tahrir square, hundreds of protesters camped out overnight, in a bid to keep up the biggest anti-government protests in three decades.
Embattled President Hosni Mubarak appointed the first vice president in his 30-year-rule, and a new prime minister in a desperate attempt to hold on to power.
In the square, protesters insisted they will not leave until Mubarak does, chanting "We will stay in the square, until the coward leaves."
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4) Protests Persist in Egypt as New Cabinet Is Seated
By ANTHONY SHADID, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK AND KAREEM FAHIM
January 31, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/world/middleeast/01egypt.html?hp
CAIRO - As tens of thousands of protesters gathered in central Liberation Square to shout for his ouster, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt reshuffled his government on Monday, a gesture that the opposition has already dismissed as inadequate.
Since the demonstrations began last Tuesday, the president has stayed mostly out of sight, apparently intent on waiting for the protesters' passions to cool. But opposition organizers called for the largest demonstrations yet - a "march of millions" and a general strike - on Tuesday, and the Egyptian economy showed more signs of shutting down.
Across the square, trepidation inflected the euphoria. Many protesters suggested that the coming days may be pivotal, as an inchoate movement struggles to maintain the pressure on an entrenched state.
In contrast to previous days in the uprising, which were dominated by the young, the demonstrations Monday included a more obvious contingent of older, disciplined protesters and members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Islamist organization, outlawed under the Mubarak government, has been playing a steadily larger role in the demonstrations, after holding back at the outset.
The president appeared fatigued in a ceremony broadcast on state television in which he welcomed a new interior minister, Mahmoud Wagdy, a retired general, who will oversee the police. He replaced Habib el-Adly, who had been interior minister since 1997 and came under sharp criticism from human rights advocates for tolerating torture and other police abuses.
Mr. Mubarak left several long-time associates in place, including the foreign minister, the minister of information and the defense minister.
With the Internet still broadly disrupted, Egyptians gathered at mosques around the city for noon prayers and then marched by the hundreds and thousands toward Liberation (Tahrir) Square on Monday, the seventh day of protests there. Concerns over violence grew, as for the first time in three days, security police redeployed and clustered near the square's entrances along with soldiers.
"I brought my American passport today in case I die today," said Marwan Mossaad, 33, a graduate student of architecture with dual Egyptian-American citizenship. "I want the American people to know that they are supporting one of the most oppressive regimes in the world and Americans are also dying for it."
"Come down, Egyptians!" chanted one group heading to the square, drawing men into their march from the buildings they passed. The group, led by older men, linked hands and kept to one lane of traffic, allowing cars to pass.
At the square, they joined protesters who had stayed all night in defiance of a curfew that the authorities are now seeking to enforce at 5 p.m., an hour earlier. The numbers in the square appeared to exceed those of previous days, despite efforts by the military to corral the protesters into a narrower space.
Army troops checked the identity of people entering the square and began placing a cordon of concrete barriers and razor wire around its access routes, news reports said. But there were no immediate reports of clashes with the protesters, who have cast the military as their ally and protector. As military helicopters circled overhead, demonstrators jabbed their fists in the air, chanting, "The people and the army are one hand."
Witnesses in Alexandria, Egypt's second city on the Mediterranean coast, said police had returned to the streets there, though only in small numbers and accompanied by soldiers.
At Cairo International Airport, a voluntary evacuation of Americans - including dependents of government officials in Egypt, some diplomats and private citizens - got under way on Monday with a flight to Cyprus and two to Athens, as passengers waited to board six more flights heading for other unspecified destinations described as safe havens, including Turkey, American Embassy officials said.
The return of police forces to the street came as. Mubarak replaced his brutal interior minister, Mr. el-Adly. Protesters had called for his resignation last week as Egypt's widely reviled security forces cracked down harshly on protesters in Cairo and other cities.
But some analysts dismissed Mr. Mubarak's cabinet changes as window dressing that did not even meet the protest movement halfway.
"It is disappointing," said Gamal Abdel Gawad, of the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "There was an opportunity to use this cabinet as the tool to reconcile with the opposition by bringing in political figures from the political spectrum. But now we are back to a government of technocrats. Many of them are very good and well-respected people, but the question now is about politics; it's not about policies."
Israel, meanwhile, was reported to have called on the United States and a number of European countries over the weekend to mute criticism of Mr. Mubarak to preserve stability in the region, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
But an Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity following diplomatic protocol, said that the Haaretz report did not reflect the position of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Netanyahu spoke cautiously in his first public remarks on the situation in Egypt, telling his cabinet that the Israeli government's efforts were "designed to continue and maintain stability and security in our region."
"I remind you that the peace between Israel and Egypt has endured for over three decades, and our goal is to ensure that these relations continue," the prime minister said on Sunday as Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood and the secular opposition united around a prominent government critic in hopes of negotiating with the Army for Mr. Mubarak's departure.
The announcement that the critic, Mohamed ElBaradei, would represent a loosely unified opposition reconfigured the struggle between Mr. Mubarak's government and an uprising bent on driving him and his party from power. But it left open the broader question of how to manage the transition to democracy from American-backed governments like Egypt that have proven most adept at eliminating any vestige of it.
Though lacking deep support on his own, Dr. ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate and diplomat, could serve as a consensus figure for a movement that has struggled to articulate a program for a potential transition. It suggested, too, that the opposition was aware of the uprising's image abroad, putting forth a candidate who might be more acceptable to the West than beloved in Egypt.
In a collapse of authority, the police withdrew from major cities on Saturday, giving free rein to gangs that stole and burned cars, looted shops and ransacked a fashionable mall, where dismembered mannequins for conservative Islamic dress were strewn over broken glass and puddles of water. Thousands of inmates poured out of four prisons, including the country's most notorious, Abu Zaabal and Wadi Natroun. Checkpoints run by the military and neighborhood groups, sometimes spaced just a block apart, proliferated across Cairo and other cities.
Many have darkly suggested that the government was behind the collapse of authority as a way to justify a crackdown or discredit protesters' calls for change.
"Egypt challenges anarchy," a government-owned newspaper declared Sunday.
"A Conspiracy by Security to Support the Scenario of Chaos," replied an independent newspaper in a headline that shared space at a downtown kiosk.
Kareem Fahim, Liam Stack, Mona El-Naggar and Dawlat Magdy contributed reporting from Cairo, and Isabel Kershner from Jerusalem.
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5) Protest's Old Guard Falls In Behind the Young
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and MONA EL-NAGGAR
January 30, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/world/middleeast/31opposition.html?hp
CAIRO - Last Thursday, a small group of Internet-savvy young political organizers gathered in the Cairo home of an associate of Mohamed ElBaradei, the diplomat and Nobel laureate.
They had come to plot a day of street protests calling for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, but within days, their informal clique would become the effective leaders of a decades-old opposition movement previously dominated by figures more than twice their age.
"Most of us are under 30," said Amr Ezz, a 27-year-old lawyer who was one of the group as part of the April 6 Youth Movement, which organized an earlier day of protests last week via Facebook. They were surprised and delighted to see that more than 90,000 people signed up online to participate, emboldening others to turn out and bringing tens of thousands of mostly young people into the streets.
Surprised by the turnout, older opposition leaders from across the spectrum - including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood; the liberal protest group the Egyptian Movement for Change, known by its slogan, "Enough"; and the umbrella group organized by Dr. ElBaradei - joined in, vowing to turn out their supporters for another day of protest on Friday. But the same handful of young online organizers were still calling the shots.
They decided to follow a blueprint similar to their previous protest, urging demonstrators to converge on the central Liberation Square. So they drew up a list of selected mosques around Cairo where they asked people to gather at Friday Prayer before marching together toward the square. Then they distributed the list through e-mail and text messages, which spread virally. They even told Dr. ElBaradei which mosque he should attend, people involved said.
"What we were hoping for is to have the same turnout as the 25th, so we wouldn't lose the numbers we had already managed to mobilize," Mr. Ezz said.
Instead, more than 100,000 people poured into the streets of the capital, pushing back for hours against battalions of riot police, until the police all but abandoned the city. The demonstrations were echoed across the country.
The huge uprising has stirred speculation about whether Egypt's previously fractious opposition could unite to capitalize on the new momentum, and about just who would lead the nascent political movement.
The major parties and players in the Egyptian opposition met throughout the day Sunday to address those questions. They ultimately selected a committee led by Dr. ElBaradei to negotiate directly with the Egyptian military. And they settled on a strategy that some in the movement are calling "hug a soldier" to try to win the army's rank and file over to their side. But both newcomers and veterans of the opposition movement say it is the young Internet pioneers who remain at the vanguard behind the scenes.
"The young people are still leading this," said Ibrahim Issa, a prominent opposition intellectual who attended some of the meetings. And the older figures, most notably Dr. ElBaradei, have so far readily accepted the younger generation's lead, people involved said. "He has been very responsive," Mr. Issa said. "He is very keen on being the symbol, and not being a leader."
After signs that President Mubarak's government might be toppling, leaders of Egypt's opposition - old and new - met Sunday to prepare for the next steps. The first meeting was a gathering of the so-called shadow parliament, formed by older critics of the government after blatantly rigged parliamentary elections last fall. Those elections eliminated almost every one of the small minority of seats held by critics of Mr. Mubarak, including 88 occupied by Muslim Brotherhood members.
Among those present were many representatives of the Brotherhood, the former presidential candidate Ayman Nour and representatives of Dr. ElBaradei's umbrella group, the National Association for Change, which has been working for nearly a year to unite the opposition around demands for free elections. At the end of the meeting, they had settled on a consensus list of 10 people they would delegate to manage a potential unity government if Mr. Mubarak resigned. And though the religiously conservative Brotherhood was the biggest force in the shadow parliament, the group nonetheless put Dr. ElBaradei at the top of its list. Officials of the Brotherhood said he would present an unthreatening face to the West.
A second meeting, at the headquarters of the Wafd Party, brought together four of the tiny but legally recognized opposition parties. Critics of Egypt's authoritarian government often accuse the recognized parties of collaborating with Mr. Mubarak in sham elections that create a facade of democracy. In this case, people involved in the deliberations said, the parties could not agree on how hard to break with the president. One party, the Democratic Front, insisted they demand that Mr. Mubarak resign immediately, like protesters were doing in the streets. The other three wanted a less confrontational statement, people briefed on the outcome said.
The third meeting took place late in the afternoon outdoors, in Liberation Square, the center of the protests for the last several days, said Mr. Issa, who participated. It was brought together mainly by the younger members, organized as the April 6 Youth Movement, after the date a textile workers' strike was crushed three years ago, and We Are All Khalid Said, after the name of a man whose death in a brutal police beating was captured in a photograph circulated over the Internet. But the meeting also brought together about 25 older figures, including opposition intellectuals like Mr. Issa. Also present were representatives of Dr. ElBaradei's National Association for Change, which includes officials of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mr. Issa and people briefed on that meeting said the older figures offered to help the young organizers who had started it all. Those organizers, Mr. Ezz and Mr. Issa said, knew that that the uprising had now acquired a life of its own beyond their direction, spread and coordinated by television coverage instead of the Internet. And they knew that the movement needed more seasoned leaders if Mr. Mubarak resigned, Mr. Ezz said. "Leadership has to come out of the people who are already out there, because most of us are under 30," he said. "But now they recognize that we're in the street, and they are taking us seriously."
The group's goal now, Mr. Ezz said, was to guide the protesters' demands, chief among them the resignation of Mr. Mubarak, formation of an interim government, and amendments to the Constitution to allow for free elections. The group settled more firmly on Dr. ElBaradei, consulting with a group of other opposition figures, to speak for the movement, Mr. Issa said. Specifically, he said, the group expected Dr. ElBaradei to represent the protesters to the United States, a crucial Egyptian ally and benefactor, and in negotiations with the army, which the group expected to play the pivotal role in the coming days and weeks.
Mr. Ezz said the group also discussed future tactics, including strikes, civil disobedience and a vigil for dead protesters, as well as music performances and speakers in Liberation Square.
Others briefed on the meeting said that the group had also decided to encourage protesters to adopt the "hug a soldier" strategy. With signs that the military appeared divided between support for the president and the protesters, these people said, the group decided to encourage demonstrators to emphasize their faith and trust in the soldiers.
"We are dealing with the army in a peaceful manner until it proves otherwise, and we still have faith in the army," Mr. Ezz said. "Until now, they are neutral, and at least if we can't bring them to our side, we don't want to lose them."
Then, Mr. Issa said, it was the young organizers who directed Dr. ElBaradei to appear Sunday afternoon, after the curfew, in Liberation Square, to speak for the first time as the face of their movement.
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6) Rich, Poor and a Rift Exposed by Unrest
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and MONA EL-NAGGAR
January 30, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/world/africa/31classwar.html?ref=world
CAIRO - As the government of Egypt shakes from a broad-based uprising, long-simmering resentments have burst into open class warfare.
Over the past several days, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians - from indigent fruit peddlers and doormen to students and engineers, even wealthy landlords - poured into the streets together to denounce President Hosni Mubarak and battle his omnipresent security police. Then, on Friday night, the police pulled out of Egypt's major cities abruptly, and tensions between rich and poor exploded.
Looters from Cairo's vast shantytowns attacked gleaming suburban shopping malls, wild rumors swirled of gunfights at the bridges and gates to the most expensive neighborhoods and some of their residents turned wistful about Mr. Mubarak and his authoritarian rule.
"It is as if a domestic war is declared," said Sarah Elayashi, 33, from an apartment in the affluent neighborhood of Heliopolis, not far from Mr. Mubarak's palace. "And we have nothing to defend ourselves but kitchen knives and mop sticks."
"The protesters are against us," she added. "We hope President Mubarak stays because at least we have national security. I wish we could be like the United States with a democracy, but we cannot. We have to have a ruler with an iron hand."
Now some accuse the Mubarak government of deliberately fanning class tensions in order to create demands for the restoration of its brutal security state. But such resentments have built up here for nearly a decade outside of public view.
"These big guys are stealing all the money," said Mohamed Ibraham, a 24-year-old textile worker standing at his second job as a fruit peddler in a hard-pressed neighborhood called Dar-al-Salam. "If they were giving us our rights, why would we protest? People are desperate."
He had little sympathy for those frightened by the specter of looting. He complained that he could barely afford his rent and said the police routinely humiliated him by shaking him down for money, overturning his cart or stealing his fruit. "And then we hear about how these big guys all have these new boats and the 100,000 pound villas. They are building housing, but not for us - for those people up high."
The widening chasm between rich and poor in Cairo has been one of the conspicuous aspects of city life over the last decade - and especially the last five years. Though there were always extremes of wealth and poverty here, until recently the rich lived more or less among the poor - in grander apartments or more spacious apartments but mixed together in the same city.
But as the Mubarak administration has taken steps toward privatizing more government businesses, kicking off an economic boom for some, rich Egyptians have fled the city. They have flocked to gated communities full of big American-style homes around country clubs, and the remoteness of their lives from those of average Egyptians has become starkly visible.
The new rich communities and older affluent enclaves closer to the city were seized with fear over the weekend after a rash of looting Friday night.
At the ravaged City Centre mall, looters had pulled bank A.T.M.'s from the walls, smashed in skylights and carted away televisions, and on Sunday a small crowd was inspecting the damage and debating the causes.
A group of men standing guard said they had watched the police abandon the mall as if on command Friday at 11 p.m., and the first looters arrived in cars shortly after. They argued that the government had tried to create the impression of chaos. Others blamed hordes who poured in from impoverished neighborhoods, or Bedouins who they said came in from the desert.
Ayman Adbel Al, 43, a civil engineer inspecting the damage with his two teenage sons, blamed Mr. Mubarak, arguing that he had allowed the growing class divisions in Egyptian society to build up for years until they exploded last week. "I can say that I am well off, but I hate it, too. It is not humanitarian," he said, showing a picture of himself with his family at the protests Saturday. The only people who wanted Mr. Mubarak to stay in power, he argued, were rich people "afraid for their money."
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7) Political Crisis Starts to Be Felt Economically
By NICHOLAS KULISH and SOUAD MEKHENNET
January 30, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/world/middleeast/31alexandria.html?ref=world
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt - An army tank stands guard at the port of Alexandria to make sure no one gets in. The bigger problem is that next to nothing is going out.
For four days now, containers arriving on ships have been stacking up at Egypt's largest port, shipping company employees and truck drivers here said. With distribution networks barely functioning and the Internet down since Thursday night, much of business in Egypt has nearly ground to a halt.
While protests remain at the center of attention, as jets fly over Liberation Square and escaped prisoners instill fear in the public, the political crisis could turn into a humanitarian one if the current economic paralysis continues.
"A big part of the production system is government-run, and this is frozen, including many of the bakeries making the subsidized bread," said Hoda Youssef, an economist at the Arab Forum for Alternatives, an independent think tank, and a lecturer at Cairo University. "Here in the short term - today, tomorrow, the coming few days - we might have a serious problem with shortages of food, water and fuel," Ms. Youssef said.
Egypt was not a country with a wide margin between normalcy and crisis to begin with; it has long been susceptible to price pressures and rioting. And on Sunday there was anecdotal evidence that food prices were already rising.
At one Alexandria market in the western neighborhood of Agamy, the price of onions on Sunday had risen to about 60 cents for a kilogram, or about 2 pounds' worth, from 25 cents. Tomatoes were up to about 85 cents a kilogram, from a quarter, and the price of a kilogram of beans had risen fivefold to about $1.70 from 35 cents.
Khaled M. Hanafy, an economic adviser to the Federation of Chambers of Commerce in Egypt, the umbrella group representing all the chambers in the country (or some four million businesses), said that while they had no figure for the economy's losses, the cost of the disruptions had reached the billions of dollars.
"The effect was immediately felt by businesses because so many transactions are completed by the Internet, and particularly the sectors that deal with the outside world," Mr. Hanafy said. Asked if the chamber's leadership had raised concerns with the government, he said: "Nowadays, there is no government in office. You don't have anyone to talk to."
At the office of the Egyptian Navigation Company, a shipping business in a large, curving building across from the port, employees said the goods lifted off the ships with cranes were not leaving the premises.
"For four days, the goods have remained in there for security reasons," said Islam Wagih, an assistant to the manager, adding that he had no idea when it would end. "It is not in our hands," he said.
He was carrying bags of vegetables to take home at midday. "We are trying to provide for our families," Mr. Wagih said. The security situation was also a worry with Mr. Wagih, who had not slept, he said, because he was helping to guard his neighborhood against looters until 5 a.m.
Ms. Youssef said the flights taking tourists out of the country were carrying off badly needed tourist money with them as well. "Egypt is highly dependent on tourism," she said. Foreign direct investment would probably decline too, she said, as Egypt's reputation for stability degenerated further.
"We did not get any new gas for the last two days," said Mustafa Ahmad Hamadi, the owner of an Alexandria Mobil station, adding that he usually received about 2,600 gallons a day and now has only about 1,300 gallons left. He said that he had owned the station for 12 years, but has "never seen a situation like this before."
"When I called the company, they told me there is no more distribution at this point and they don't know when they can deliver again," he said, as cars lined up for his remaining fuel and arguments broke out among customers despite employees' efforts to keep them in line.
A taxi driver with two women waiting in the back seat said he had been to 12 gas stations since Saturday, and this was the only one with gas. "I am really worried," said Muhammad Youssri Said, 29. "This car is the income for me and my family. No taxi, no money, no food."
Adil Gabir, 43, a truck driver, had just left the port with cargo. "We are the first trucks that were allowed out of the port for the last two days," he said. "Everything was stopped, and there are still huge problems."
Many companies were still functioning, if below capacity. The Amreya Petroleum Refining Company could keep working because it has a pipeline connection to the port. It was operating with two shifts instead of the usual three, but employees felt the impact of the strife sweeping Egypt in the most personal and wrenching way.
While talking to reporters on Sunday, Salah Medin, 55, who works at the refinery, received a phone call telling him that its manager had been killed in the protesting.
"This is the price that we pay for freedom," Mr. Medin said.
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8) Bloomberg Presses Cuomo on Teacher Seniority Rule
"The mayor said that if, as widely expected, the governor's office proposes deep cuts to the city's education spending this week, it must give the city flexibility in determining which teachers to lay off. Right now, it must fire new teachers first."
By MICHAEL BARBARO and NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
January 30, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/nyregion/31bloomberg.html?ref=education
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg set up his first major confrontation with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Sunday, publicly demanding that he use his coming state budget to reverse a rule that protects long-serving teachers from layoffs, regardless of merit.
In a bluntly worded speech delivered at a politically influential black church, Mr. Bloomberg said current state law could force him to fire every teacher hired by the city over the last five years, 15,000 in all.
The mayor said that if, as widely expected, the governor's office proposes deep cuts to the city's education spending this week, it must give the city flexibility in determining which teachers to lay off. Right now, it must fire new teachers first.
"I say enough with Albany rules," Mr. Bloomberg said at the church, the Christian Cultural Center in Flatlands, Brooklyn. "You just cannot do this. If the governor's budget contains education cuts, it must also contain changes to the law so that we can take merit into account when making these difficult decisions."
Aides to Mr. Cuomo said he opposed scrapping the teacher seniority rules in his budget, to be released on Tuesday, because it was not a fiscal issue. They added that the budget was unlikely to make teacher cuts necessary.
Predicting deep cuts at this stage of a marathon budget process may be premature: Mr. Bloomberg, among other politicians, frequently warns of massive layoffs that never materialize.
Yet his remarks may have been more significant in what they revealed about the relationship between the mayor and the new governor. Mr. Bloomberg endorsed Mr. Cuomo during the governor's race last fall, has spoken warmly about him since, and emphasized Sunday that he considered him a friend. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, often cited the endorsement by Mr. Bloomberg as evidence of the bipartisan character of his campaign. And both have agendas that bring them into conflict with New York's public-sector unions, including the teachers' unions.
But Mr. Bloomberg has made overhauling education a top priority and has made little secret of his disdain for what he portrays as archaic, union-backed rules that impinge on his ability to control the school system.
Mr. Cuomo, however, may not wish to further inflame teachers' unions, which have long supported the seniority rules. He is already seeking to impose a cap on local property taxes, a priority that teachers fiercely oppose because it could deprive schools of revenue.
Many have viewed a clash between Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Cuomo as inevitable: the mayor, a billionaire and national figure who has entertained presidential aspirations, is one of the few people in the state who can seriously rival Mr. Cuomo for power and influence.
The mayor's bargaining power may be limited, though. Mr. Cuomo's popularity is very high, and aides say he has an unmistakable mandate from voters to reduce spending.
Mr. Bloomberg's poll numbers, by contrast, are the lowest in years. And when it comes to education, he has suffered politically because of his choice of Cathleen P. Black as schools chancellor.
The timing and location of Mr. Bloomberg's speech seemed deliberate and symbolic: He spoke to a mostly black audience led by the Rev. A. R. Bernard, whose political endorsement is highly coveted in New York.
The mayor told the congregation that state cuts to New York City's education budget, cuts he has said could reach $1 billion, would disproportionately hurt poor neighborhoods, where schools tend to have the newest teachers because of high turnover.
"So we have to really do something about this," Mr. Bloomberg said. "Across this city, layoffs would send exactly the wrong message to our kids. You know, we tell them, 'Work hard, play by the rules, you can rise as far as your talents can take you.' And yet Albany rules say that when it comes to teaching, talent doesn't matter, results don't matter."
Mr. Cuomo has signaled his openness to overhauling the seniority rule, known as "last in, first out" - but not within the budget.
Under the State Constitution, if Mr. Cuomo includes the provision in his executive budget proposal, the Legislature cannot remove it unless Mr. Cuomo consents to resubmitting his entire budget later this year.
As a result, Mr. Cuomo, a politician known to dislike being backed into a corner, would be far more formally committed to defending the change in seniority rules and have less ability to use it as a bargaining chip later.
A senior official in the Cuomo administration said that if the seniority rule were changed, its replacement would have to be "fair, rational criteria that will be the new rules of the road if layoffs are necessary."
"We will be working on this issue through the budget process," the official said, insisting on anonymity because the negotiations are confidential.
Aides to Mr. Bloomberg said he wanted the change in the governor's budget to speed its adoption and emphasize its importance. "We believe that the budget is the one piece of legislation that is guaranteed to pass in Albany," Howard Wolfson, a deputy mayor said. Asked why the city was pushing for the change now, he said the seniority rule had "significant implications for our budgeting process."
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9) US army to send aerial backup to Sinai
"The US Army's Aviation Regiment has mobilized for deployment to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to back the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) overseeing the Egypt-Israel peace treaty."
PRESS TV
Mon Jan 31, 2011 6:45AM
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162832.html
US Air Force
The US Army's Aviation Regiment has mobilized for deployment to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to back the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) overseeing the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.
Connecticut National Guard Detachment 2, Company I, 185th Aviation Regiment of Groton left Connecticut on January 15 for Fort Benning, for further training and validation, a Press TV correspondent reported on Monday.
Fort Benning is a United States Army base located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama.
The unit, which has been deployed to the Middle East three times in the past seven years, has provided support for US and international forces stationed in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan.
The unit operates C-23C Sherpa aircraft and will provide aviation support for the MFO commander.
The MFO is an international peacekeeping force overseeing the terms of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
Egyptians protesting President Hosni Mubarak's regime took to the streets for the seventh day of demonstrations on Monday despite the warnings and the presence of the army.
The uprising in the North African country is inspired by Tunisia's protests, which forced former President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country.
More than 150 people have so far been killed and thousands others injured since the protests erupted on January 25, shaking Egypt to its core.
Embattled Mubarak has reportedly given his armed forces orders to shoot-to-kill anti-government protesters.
Military helicopters and F-16 fighter jets made low passes over Cairo's Tahrir Square, which is one of the epicenters of the uprising, as the number of protesters kept rising on Sunday.
A column of tanks also rumbled into the vicinity in a show of strength, as Egyptian army snipers began targeting protesters in the capital Cairo.
RZS/TG/HRF
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10) The Syrians are watching
In the tea shops and internet cafes of Damascus, Syrians are asking what events in Egypt may mean for them.
By Hugh Macleod
30 Jan 2011 12:47 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/01/2011129132243891877.html
In one of Old Damascus' new cafes, text messages buzzed between mobiles in quick succession, drawing woops of joy and thumbs up from astonished Syrians.
Suzan Mubarak, the wife of the Egyptian president, had flown into exile with her son - so the rumours went - driven out of the country by days of unprecedented protest against the 30-year rule of her husband.
The news from Cairo brought a flutter of excitement to this country, founded on principles so similar to Egypt that the two nations were once joined as one.
Like Egypt, Syria has been ruled for decades by a single party, with a security service that maintains an iron grip on its citizens. Both countries have been struggling to reform economies stifled for generations by central control in an effort to curb unemployment among a ballooning youth demographic.
Could the domino effect that spread from the streets of Tunis to Cairo soon hit Damascus?
"Perhaps the Saudis will have to build a whole village for Arab presidents once they run out of villas," joked a taxi driver, wondering if Hosni Mubarak would go the same way as Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian president who flew into exile in Saudi Arabia after street protests brought down his regime.
Through the haze
In a smoky tea shop in central Damascus, the usual babble of conversation was subdued as customers sat quietly but intently watching the TV broadcasting images of flames pouring from Egypt's ruling party's head office, a Soviet-era building much like many of those that house the state institutions in their own capital.
The young waiter, though, was sceptical that real change would come to Egypt. "Mubarak won't go. Why did the Egyptian people wait until now? It's only because of Tunisia. I'd like him to go, but he won't."
Others, though, said the genie was already out of the bottle.
"The most important message is that people can make the change. Before it was always army officers that lead a coup," said Mazen Darwich, whose Syrian Centre for Media, which campaigns for press freedoms in Syria, was closed by authorities soon after opening.
"It may not be tomorrow or a few months but I'm sure it is like dominoes. Before there was always an ideology - pan-Arabism or being an enemy of Israel. But now people are simply looking for their personal freedom, for food, education, a good life. The days of ideology are over."
On Friday evening, as protests in Cairo reached a crescendo, the streets of Damascus were unusually quiet, with many people staying at home to watch the news. Syria's state-run media quoted some news reports from Cairo, but offered no comment or analysis on the situation.
By Saturday morning life had returned to normal with few signs, on the surface at least, that the authorities were concerned about potential unrest.
Socialising by proxy
Online, however, it was a different story. Internet users reported a significant slowdown in the web, with searches for news on Egypt often crashing browsers.
Heavy user traffic could be an explanation but in Syria, where thousands of websites deemed opposed to state interests are blocked and where Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media are banned, authorities denied accusations they had restricted the service to prevent citizens hearing about events in Cairo.
Earlier this week, though, authorities banned programmes that allow access to Facebook Chat from mobile phones, a cheap and easy means of staying in touch that had exploded in popularity among young Syrians.
"People here are suffering much more than Egypt or Tunisia but you don't see it. They keep their mouths shut because they don't want to be locked up for 10 years," said a graduate medical student, surfing the web at an internet cafe.
Sitting next to him, a young lady finished updating her Facebook page and chatting with friends online - one of thousands of young Syrians adept at using proxy servers to get around the official ban on Facebook.
Although internet users must register their names with the cafe on a list that can be collected by the police, when asked if she had any concerns over breaking the ban on Facebook the young woman said all her friends do the same thing.
Indeed, President Bashar al-Assad, who opened Syria up to the internet when he succeeded his late father in 2000, has his own Facebook page.
As much as possible, as much as necessary
Al-Assad has weathered five years of intense US-led pressure against his regime, was driven out of Lebanon over accusations of having killed Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, and, as the memoirs of George W Bush, the former US president, revealed, was considered next on America's list for regime change, after the toppling of Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
Today, however, the Iraq war will be remembered as a strategic disaster for the US, it is Syria's ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, rather than Damascus itself which is set to be accused of involvement in al-Hariri's killing and Syria's allies are back in power in Lebanon.
"What happened in Tunisia and Egypt was not just about hunger, it was about national pride," said Mazen Bilal, the editor of Suria al-Ghad, a political news website familiar with government thinking.
"Syria is another story. Through all the problems it maintained its national stances and its sovereignty and so people are proud of their nation."
Crucially, as well, the government's reform of the economy is maintaining a system of support to alleviate the worst effects of poverty.
"Egypt and Tunisia applied the free market principles, but Syria has not. The government still controls the strategic keys to the economy," said Bilal. "It's even opening up new jobs in the public sector to absorb more workers."
Abdullah Dardari, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said five years of reforms had increased incomes above the increase in inflation, with the relative spending power of the poor growing faster than the rich.
One in 10 Syrians live in poverty - but this figure is far below Egypt's rate of some 40 per cent. Official figures in Syria show unemployment fell from over 12 per cent in 2005 to 8.1 per cent in 2009, one per cent lower than the official rate in Egypt, where some analysts put it as high as 25 per cent. Average salaries in Syria have risen to $200 over the past few years, more than double the rate in Egypt.
The government has promised increased spending on social security and training for the out-of-work and aims to curb rapid population growth of 2.45 per cent by raising the minimum age of marriage.
Economist Bassel Kaghadou, writing in the English-language monthly Syria Today, spelled out Syria's cautious approach to reforms: "As much market economy as possible with as much state intervention as necessary."
In recent months, Al-Assad has been criss-crossing eastern Europe, meeting leaders there to outline his vision for a 'Six Seas' Trade bloc, linking the Gulf to the Mediterranean and the Caspian, Black, Adriatic and Red seas, putting Syria at the centre of the regional energy and transportation network.
All across Damascus, symbols of a burgeoning middle class are spreading, from a sleek sandstone shopping mall, home to Costa Coffee and a bright new art gallery, to the Lebanese banks opening sparkling new branches for the first time.
But as the young doctor put it, looking up at the cameras inside the internet cafe: "Everything here is under control, even if it looks open."
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11) Protesters flood Egypt streets
More than a million rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square as massive countrywide protests are held against President Mubarak.
Last Modified: 01 Feb 2011 14:43 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112113115442982.html
More than a million protesters flooded into central Cairo, turning Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital, into a sea of humanity as massive protests against President Hosni Mubarak swept across Middle East's most populous nation.
Packed shoulder to shoulder in and around the famed Tahrir Square, the mass of people on Tuesday held aloft posters denouncing the president, and chanted slogans "Go Mubarak Go" and "Leave! Leave! Leave!"
Similar demonstrations calling on Mubarak to step down were also witnessed across other cities, including Sinai, Alexandria, Suez, Mansoura, Damnhour, Arish, Tanta and El-Mahalla el-Kubra.
Tens of thousands marched in Alexandria while the number of those protesting in Sinai was estimated to be around 250,000.
Tuesday's protests were by far the biggest since street demonstrations broke out against Mubarak's rule last week.
"The crowd is very diverse - young, old, religious, men, women - and growing by the minute," Al Jazeera's online producer said from Tahrir Square.
"They're chanting the same slogans they've been chanting all week. Someone actually hung an effigy of Mubarak from a streetlight."
Organisers had called for a march by a million people on the day, but the turnout surpassed all expectations.
Soldiers deployed at the square did nothing to stop the crowds from entering.
They have formed a human chain around protesters, and are checking people for weapons as they enter. Tanks have been positioned near the square, and officers have been checking identity papers.
According to reports, the military police have placed barbed wire around Mubarak's residence in Masr el-Gedidah, a suburb east of Cairo.
'Gaining momentum'
Al Jazeera correspondents said the mood at the Tahrir Square was "festival-like".
"It is peaceful, people power that has united here in the heart of Egypt's historic square," reported one correspondent.
People power
An Al Jazeera correspondent in Cairo said that there were reports that "thugs in certain parts of the city have been trying to stop people from driving into Cairo".
She said that "increasingly large pockets of pro-government protests" are also taking place at various locations in the city. There are fears that if the two sets of protesters meet, a violent clash could erupt.
Gigi Ibrahim, a political activist, told Al Jazeera the protesters will not be satisfied until Mubarak steps down.
"... Every day there are more numbers on the street than the day before. I think the protests are gaining momentum. The people ... will literally not leave until Mubarak steps down," she said.
In turning out at Tahrir Square and elsewhere, the protesters overcame various odds. Authorities had stopped all train traffic from Monday afternoon in a bid to deter people from joining the protests, but they came out in very large numbers nevertheless.
State TV has started showing footage of the protests in Tahrir Square, though it continues to delve on how the protests are hurting Egypt's economy.
Protest organisers had called for an indefinite strike to be observed across the country on Tuesday, the eighth day of an uprising that has claimed at least 150 lives.
Army promise
The protesters have been emboldened by the army's statement on Monday, in which they said that force would not be used against them.
"To the great people of Egypt, your armed forces, acknowledging the legitimate rights of the people," stress that "they have not and will not use force against the Egyptian people," said the statement.
It was the first such explicit confirmation by the army that it would not fire at demonstrators.
It urged people not to resort to acts of sabotage that violate security and destroy public and private property. It warned that it would not allow outlaws to loot, attack and "terrorise citizens".
Mubarak swore in a new cabinet on Monday, in an attempt to defuse ongoing demonstrations, but the move has done little to douse public anger.
Panic and chaos
On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund said it was ready to put in a place an economic rebuilding policy for the country.
"The IMF is ready to help in defining the kind of economic policy that could be put in place," IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.
Meanwhile, chaos has been reported at Cairo's international airport, where thousands of foreigners are attempting to be evacuated by their home countries.
Our correspondent reported on Tuesday that about 1,000 US citizens have been evacuated to Cyprus or Turkey, from where they are expected to make their own way home.
She also said that China is sending two additional planes to evacuate its citizens.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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12) Largest Crowds Yet Demand Change in Egypt
By ANTHONY SHADID and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
February 1, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/world/middleeast/02egypt.html?hp
CAIRO - Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians poured into Tahrir Square on Tuesday in scenes of jubilation and protest that cut across Egypt's entrenched lines of piety, class and ideology, marking the largest demonstration yet against the nearly 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak and energizing a country that feels on the cusp of change.
"We're a million now!" protesters cried, as crowds kept surging to the landmark square, shadowed by the burned headquarters of Mr. Mubarak's ruling party and a vast complex housing a bureaucracy many Egyptians accuse of endlessly humiliating them.
While the numbers fell short, the protest rivaled some of the most epic moments in Egypt's tumultuous modern history, from the wars with Israel to a coup that sent a corpulent monarch packing on his yacht in 1952. With little regard, protesters defied a curfew that has become a joke to residents here and overcame attempts by the government to keep protesters away by closing roads, suspending train service and shutting down public transportation to Cairo. Some walked miles to the square, whose name means "liberation." Others woke up there in the muddy patches where they had slept for days.
"No one would have imagined a week before that this would happen in Egypt," said Bassem Ramsis, a 37-year-old director who returned from Spain for the uprising.
The momentous events in Egypt, the most populous Arab country and once the axis on which the Arab world revolved, have reverberated across the region. King Abdullah II of Jordan fired his Cabinet after protests there Tuesday, and organizers in Yemen and Syria, with their own authoritarian rulers, have called for protests.
In scale and message, the protests in Egypt were a remarkable moment of unity in a country that once represented the Arab world's nexus but has stagnated under the withering authoritarianism of Mr. Mubarak's regime. Peasants from southern Egypt joined Islamists from the Nile Delta, businessmen from upper-class suburbs rubbed shoulders with street-smart youths from gritty Boulaq in a square that served as a vast tapestry of a country's diversity joined in the bluntest of message: Mr. Mubarak must surrender power.
"Go already," read one sign held aloft. "My arm's starting to hurt."
Tens of thousands of people also took to the streets of Alexandria, Egypt's second-largest city, north of Cairo on the Mediterranean coast.
As the uprising has spread here, culminating with Tuesday's demonstration, thousands of foreigners have sought to flee the country in chaotic scenes at the Cairo airport. The United States ordered all nonemergency embassy and other American government personnel to leave the country, fearing unrest as the protests continue.
The breadth of the uprising, organized by youthful activists and driven by the legions of poor and dispossessed in the country of 80 million, stunned even the most critical of Mr. Mubarak's government. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful opposition movement, has so far stayed in the background, and other opposition leaders - the Nobel laureate, Mohammed ElBaradei among them - have struggled to cultivate support among the protesters, whose demands seem to grow as the uprising gathers force.
Margaret Scobey, the American ambassador to Egypt, spoke by telephone to Mr. ElBaradei on Tuesday, as American officials have sought to navigate an uprising that has not only challenged their most loyal ally in the region but also posed a threat to a broader American-backed order in Jordan, Yemen and the oil-rich Persian Gulf.
At the same time, a Western diplomat said Tuesday that there were preliminary reports that Egypt's top military and political leaders were working on a plan to usher Mr. Mubarak from power.
The diplomat, who spoke anonymously because of the extraordinary sensitivity of the situation, said that the newly appointed vice president, Omar Suleiman, was in discussions with military officials to ease Mr. Mubarak from office and begin the transition to an interim government.
It was not immediately clear what role the newly appointed United States envoy, Frank G. Wisner, was playing in the discussions.
But even if the possibility of a transition is borne out by events, it remains to be seen whether protesters will be satisfied or will demand more far-reaching change, as demonstrators in Tunisia did after its strongman president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, fled in mid-January.
In Tahrir Square, the chants of the huge crowd suggested that the demonstrators would not stop at Mr. Mubarak's departure. "The people of Egypt want the president on trial," some chanted for the first time, while others chorused: "The people of Egypt want the government to fall."
"Nobody wants him, nobody," said El-Mahdy Mohamed, one of the demonstrators. "Can't he see on the TV what's happening?"
As opposition groups sought to stake out positions, Mr. ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency who has emerged as a potential rallying point for opposition, said Tuesday that Mr. Mubarak must leave the country before any dialogue could start between the opposition and the government, Reuters reported.
"There can be dialogue but it has to come after the demands of the people are met and the first of those is that President Mubarak leaves," Mr. ElBaradei told Al Arabiya television. "I hope to see Egypt peaceful and that's going to require as a first step the departure of President Mubarak. If President Mubarak leaves, then everything will progress correctly."
His words were apparently a first response to an offer of talks on Monday night by Omar Suleiman, Mr. Mubarak's right-hand man and newly appointed vice president.
By Tuesday morning, as a formal curfew that many have ignored was lifted, vast crowds flooded into Tahrir Square - a plaza that for some has assumed some of the symbolic importance of Tiananmen Square in Beijing during pro-democracy demonstrations there in 1989.
But, in marked contrast to those events, the military's promise not to use force has emboldened demonstrators sensing that the political landscape of the country has shifted as decisively as at any moment in Mr. Mubarak's tenure. The military seemed to aggressively assert itself as an arbiter between two irreconcilable forces: a popular uprising demanding Mr. Mubarak's fall and his tenacious refusal to relinquish power.
And even as the square itself filled up, rivers of protesters flowed from side streets. Crowd size is notoriously difficult to calculate. However, given that Tahrir Square has an area of about 560,000 square feet, and that each person in a tightly packed crowd takes up about 2.5 square feet, the upper limit for the crowd in the square itself, not counting the surrounding streets, is around 225,000 people.
Overnight, soldiers boosted their presence around the square, with tanks and armored personnel carriers guarding some of its entrances and stringing concertina wire to block off some streets. The black-clad police - reviled by many protesters as a tool of the regime - also seemed to have been deployed in larger numbers, though not on the same scale as when the protests started a week ago.
News reports said the authorities had sought to isolate Cairo from the rest of the country, throwing up roadblocks on main highways and canceling train and bus services to prevent demonstrators from reaching the city. There was no official confirmation of the report but witnesses said many people who had been stopped at roadblocks simply walked into the center of Cairo.
In a further token of the paralysis of normal business, news reports said, the Cairo stock exchange announced that it would remain closed for a fourth successive day on Wednesday.
In what seemed a new display of alarm in Washington, the State Department said that it was ordering the departure of "all nonemergency United States government personnel and their families." Previously the American Embassy in Cairo had offered voluntary evacuation flights to those diplomats, their families and private citizens. Some 1,200 Americans took the chartered flights on Monday.
By midafternoon on Tuesday, two more flights chartered by the State Department had left Cairo for Istanbul, while passengers were boarding other planes for Athens and Cyprus, embassy officials said. Many more flights were likely on Wednesday.
In a further diplomatic twist, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey - whose country is often held up as a model of Western-style democracy within a predominantly Islamic nation - canceled a visit to Egypt planned for next week, urging Mr. Mubarak to "listen to people's outcries and extremely humanistic demands" and to "meet the freedom demands of people without a doubt," Reuters reported.
And in an Op-Ed in The New York Times on Tuesday, Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for Mr. Mubarak to step aside.
The week-old uprising here entered a new stage about 9 p.m. on Monday when a uniformed military spokesman declared on state television that "the armed forces will not resort to use of force against our great people." Addressing the throngs who took to the streets, he declared that the military understood "the legitimacy of your demands" and "affirms that freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed to everybody."
A roar of celebration rose up immediately from the crowd of thousands of protesters still lingering in Tahrir Square, where a television displayed the news. Opposition leaders argued that the phrase "the legitimacy of your demands" could only refer to the protests' central request - Mr. Mubarak's departure to make way for free elections.
About an hour later, Mr. Suleiman, the vice president, delivered another address, lasting just two minutes.
"I was assigned by the president today to contact all the political forces to start a dialogue about all the raised issues concerning constitutional and legislative reform," he said, "and to find a way to clearly identify the proposed amendments and specific timings for implementing them."
The protesters in the streets took Mr. Suleiman's speech as a capitulation to the army's refusal to use force against them. "The army and the people want the collapse of the government," they chanted in celebration. Even some supporters of Mr. Mubarak acknowledged that events may have turned decisively against him after the military indicated its refusal to confront the protesters.
Reporting was contributed by Alan Cowell from London; Mona El-Naggar, Kareem Fahim, and Robert F. Worth from Cairo; and Nicholas Kulish from Alexandria.
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13) Haiti Agrees to Issue Passport for Aristide, Lawyer Says
By GINGER THOMPSON
January 31, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/world/americas/01haiti.html?ref=world
WASHINGTON - The Haitian government has agreed to issue a diplomatic passport to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, his lawyer said Monday, potentially dropping a major hurdle that has prevented Mr. Aristide from returning home after seven years in exile.
The lawyer, Ira Kurzban, said he was notified of Haiti's decision last week. He said he sent a letter to Haitian authorities on Monday requesting that Mr. Aristide's passport be "issued immediately, and that plans for his return commence immediately."
A senior Haitian official told Reuters that Haiti's Council of Ministers, under the direction of President René Préval, agreed to issue Mr. Aristide a passport if he asked for one. That decision was a significant reversal for Mr. Préval, who had refused Mr. Aristide's request for a passport for years, partly in response to international pressure.
Mr. Aristide, the firebrand slum priest who became this country's first democratically elected president in 1990, was ousted from power twice. The last time was in 2004, under intense pressure by the United States and the threat of invasion by armed insurgents.
Since then, Mr. Aristide and his supporters have made numerous public appeals asking officials to allow him to return to Haiti. Those appeals intensified two weeks ago when the former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier managed a surprise return home, ending 25 years in exile.
Last week, Mr. Aristide's supporters took out a full-page ad in The Miami Herald demanding his return. The ad was signed by prominent supporters including Dr. Paul Farmer, the deputy United Nations envoy to Haiti. Since then, rumors have swirled across Haiti that Mr. Aristide had flown to Cuba or Venezuela to plot his own surprise return. Mr. Kurzban said that Mr. Aristide remained in South Africa, where he has lived in exile.
The State Department did not comment Monday on Haiti's decision.
The United States and several other countries, including France and Canada, which provide millions of dollars in support to Haiti, the Western hemisphere's poorest country, have expressed concern that Mr. Aristide's return could destabilize the country as it struggles to resolve a hotly contested presidential election.
Asked why Mr. Aristide wanted to return, Mr. Kurzban said, "He wants to return as a private citizen, to help his country."
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14) Clashes rage in Tahrir Square
At least one dead and hundreds injured as pro-Mubarak supporters attack protesters seeking his ouster in central Cairo.
February 2, 2011
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122124446797789.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122124446797789.html________________________________________________
Clashes have broken out between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
Protesters from both sides threw stones at each other in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of ongoing opposition demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak for the past nine days
The health ministry said at least one person had been killed and another 400 injured in Wednesday's violence.
Al Jazeera correspondents, reporting from the scene, said clashes were still raging and that petrol bombs were being hurled.
Earlier, witnesses said the military allowed thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters, armed with sticks and knives, to enter the square. Opposition groups said Mubarak had sent in thugs to suppress anti-government protests.
One of our correspondents said the army seemed to be standing by and facilitating the clashes. Latest reports suggest that the centre of the square is still in control of the protesters, despite the pro-Mubarak supporters gaining ground.
'Absolute mayhem'
Witnesses also said that pro-Mubarak supporters were dragging away protesters they had managed to grab and handing them over to security forces.
Salma Eltarzi, an anti-government protester, told Al Jazeera there were hundreds of wounded people.
"There are no ambulances in sight, and all we are using is Dettol," she said. "We are all so scared."
Aisha Hussein, a nurse, said dozens of people were being treated at a makeshift clinic in a mosque near the square.
She described a scene of "absolute mayhem", as protesters first began to flood into the clinic.
"People are coming in with multiple wounds. All kinds of contusions. We had one guy who needed stitches in two places on his face. Some have broken bones."
Meanwhile, another Al Jazeera correspondent said men on horseback and camels had ploughed into the crowds, as army personnel stood by.
At least six riders were dragged from their beasts, beaten with sticks by the protesters and taken away with blood streaming down their faces.
One of them was dragged away unconscious, with large blood stains on the ground at the site of the clash.
The worst of the fighting was just outside the world famous Egyptian Museum, which was targeted by looters last week.
Al Jazeera's correspondent added that several a group of pro-government protesters took over army vehicles. They also took control of a nearby building and used the rooftop to throw concrete blocks, stones, and other objects.
Soldiers surrounding the square took cover from flying stones, and the windows of at least one army truck were broken. Some troops stood on tanks and appealed for calm but did not otherwise intervene.
Many of the pro-Mubarak supporters raised slogans like "Thirty Years of Stability, Nine Days of Anarchy".
Al Jazeera's online producer in Cairo said rocks were continously being thrown from both sides. He said that though the army had put up barricades around the square, they let the pro-Mubarak supporters through.
"The people on horses are pro-Mubarak supporters, they are a very angry crowd looking for anyone working for Al Jazeera and for Americans. They are trying to get on the other side of the army tanks to get to the anti-Mubarak supporters. More and more pro-Mubarak supporters are coming in."
Violence
Al Jazeera's Jane Dutton, also in Cairo, said that security guards have also been seen amongst the pro-Mubarak supporters, and it may be a precursor to the feared riot police arriving on the scene.
Dutton added that a journalist with the Al-Arabiya channel was stabbed during the clashes.
Fighting took place around army tanks deployed around the square, with stones bouncing off the armoured vehicles.
Several groups were involved in fist fights, and some were using clubs. The opposition also said many among the pro-Mubarak crowd were policemen in plain clothes.
"But we will not leave ... Everybody stay put"
Khalil, anti-government protester
"Members of security forces dressed in plain clothes and a number of thugs have stormed Tahrir Square," three opposition groups said in a statement.
Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent opposition figure, accused Mubarak of resorting to scare tactics. Opposition groups have reportedly also seized police identification cards amongst the pro-Mubarak demonstrators.
"I'm extremely concerned, I mean this is yet another symptom, or another indication, of a criminal regime using criminal acts," ElBaradei said.
"My fear is that it will turn into a bloodbath," he added, calling the pro-Mubarak supporters a "bunch of thugs".
But according to state television, the minister of interior denied that plain clothes police had joined pro-Mubarak demonstrations.
Elbaradei has also urged the army to intervene.
"I ask the army to intervene to protect Egyptian lives," he told Al Jazeera, adding he said it should intervene "today" and not remain neutral.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme, told Al Jazeera that the clashes look to be orchestrated.
"It is not the first time the Mubarak government has provoked clashes to quell protests, but if it truly is orchestrated, this is a cynical and bloody approach," she said.
"The army look to be not intervening at all, and the question remains as to whether they have been ordered not to step in."
The army has told state television that citizens should arrest those who have stolen military clothing, and to hand them over.
Determined protesters
Despite the clashes, anti-government protesters seeking Mubarak's immediate resignation said they would not give up until Mubarak steps down.
Pro-Mubarak supporters came riding on camels and horses [Al Jazeera/online producer]
Khalil, in his 60s and holding a stick, blamed Mubarak supporters and undercover security for the clashes.
"But we will not leave," he told Reuters. "Everybody stay put."
Mohammed el-Belgaty, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, told Al Jazeera the "peaceful demonstrations in Tahrir Square have been turned into chaos".
"The speech delivered by President Mubarak was very provocative as he used very sentimental words.
"Since morning, hundreds of these paid thugs started to demonstrate pretending to be supporting the President. Now they came to charge inside Tahrir Square armed with batons, sticks and some knives.
"Mubarak is asking the people to choose between him or chaos."
Ahead of Wednesday's clashes, supporters of the president staged a number of rallies around Cairo, saying Mubarak represented stability amid growing insecurity, and calling those who want his departure "traitors."
"Yes to Mubarak, to protect stability," read one banner in a crowd of 500 gathered near state television headquarters, about 1km from Tahrir Square.
A witness said organisers were paying people $17, to take part in the pro-Mubarak rally, a claim that could not be confirmed.
Other pro-Mubarak demonstrations occurred in the Mohandeseen district, as well as near Ramses Square.
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15) Violence in Egypt: Pro-Mubarak Thugs Attacking Protesters, Cracking Down on Journalists, Anderson Cooper Beaten
Update: The Times' Lede blog reports that pro-Mubarak demonstrators are "hunting down" journalists in Egypt:
February 2, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/458821/violence_in_egypt%3A_pro-mubarak_thugs_attacking_protesters%2C_cracking_down_on_journalists%2C_anderson_cooper_beaten/#paragraph4
"Protesters are hunting down Al Jazeera journos," wrote Abbas Al Lawati of Gulf News in Dubai. "I keep having to clarify that I'm not one of them.".... An Australian television reporter, Hamish Macdonald, wrote that a colleague had seen one reporter badly beaten, and that their crew is unable to leave its hotel.... Two reporters for The New York Times, David Kirkpatrick and Mona el-Naggar, said they had been cornered by pro-Mubarak demonstrators who tried to prevent them from reporting just as clashes began..... Ben Wedeman of CNN also reports via Twitter that he was "harassed." "Appears the pro-government 'demonstrators' have been given instructions to target press."
Among the journalists being targeted is CNN's Anderson Cooper, who was repeatedly punched in the head by pro-Mubarak thugs. His crew was also surrounded, punched and kicked by the mob, Cooper told CNN this morning.
Cooper reports that "automatic weapon fire has been heard and fires are burning near the Egyptian Museum, which would make it impossible for opposition protesters inside Tahrir Square to leave along that road."
Original post: After Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's announcement yesterday that he would not step down but would also not seek re-election (or rather, "re-election") in September, the situation on the ground in Egypt has become increasingly violent. Mubarak supporters have come out in force and are clashing with anti-Mubarak protesters, who have now been out on the street, calling for the president's ouster for nine days.
The New York Times reports that calls from the Egyptian military to "restore normal life" have gone un-heeded today:
The mayhem and chaos - with riders on horses and camels thundering through the central square - offered a complete contrast to the scenes only 24 hours earlier when hundreds of thousands of antigovernment protesters turned it into a place of jubilant celebration, believing that they were close to overthrowing a leader who has survived longer than any other in modern Egypt....
The two sides traded volleys of rocks, and engaged in hand-to-hand fighting. many were led or carried away with bleeding head wounds. Antigovernment protesters organized themselves into groups, smashing chunks of concrete into smaller projectiles to be hurled at their adversaries. The violence was the most serious since the antigovernment protesters laid claim to Tahrir, or Liberation, Square days ago as they pursued what seemed to be a largely peaceful campaign for Mr. Mubarak's ouster.
Hours before the violence erupted in the square, antigovernment protesters had been chanting: "We are not going to go; we are not going to go."
In counterpoint, demonstrators supporting Mr. Mubarak chorused back: "He's not going to go; he's not going to go."
Al Jazeera's gripping live blog from Egypt notes that "more than 100 people" were injured in just one hour "after suspected government supporters, including plain clothed policemen, entered Tahrir Square and attacked anti-Mubarak demonstrators." Gun shots are said to be ringing out, as reports come in of Mubarak supporters taking over army vehicles.
The network also reports that Internet service has finally been restored to the region after a week-long outage.
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16) Longtime activist welcomes thousands of Egyptians to his cause
By Leila Fadel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 1, 2011; 5:37 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/01/AR2011020105033.html
CAIRO - From the center of Tahrir Square, Hossam el-Hamalawy surveyed the sea of people around him.
He could feel it, he said. Victory was close.
"I've dreamed of this for a very long time, and it's finally happening," the well-known blogger and activist said. He stood completely still in the center of the hundreds of thousands of people who flooded into this downtown square from every direction. "No words can describe it."
For so many, this fight had started just eight days ago. But Hamalawy, 33, has been fighting against a feared ruler for 13 years.
Hamalawy, a socialist, began his political activism in the late 1990s. No one dared to speak out when the Egyptian regime was brutally cracking down on Islamists, arresting men with long beards and often torturing them in prison, Hamalawy said. Sometimes at small demonstrations, Hamalawy would chant against the iron-fisted rule of President Hosni Mubarak - and behind him people would scatter in fear.
"The people were not courageous enough," he said, dressed in a pin-striped blazer and jeans. "They were not confident enough to chant against the government, and they would never open their mouth against Mubarak,"
But that didn't stop him. On Oct. 8, 2000, he was detained after pulling down a U.S. flag from the top of a building at the American University of Cairo, where he was a student. It was a protest against what he calls the hypocritical policies of the United States, which has supported Mubarak despite his autocratic rule.
Hamalawy was stripped naked, his hands were tied behind his back, and he was beaten for days, he said. State security interrogated him and threatened him with rape. After four days, he was released.
The flag was not replaced.
"I'm still proud of that," he said.
In the past decade, Hamalawy has participated in demonstrations that sometimes drew thousands and sometimes hundreds. Mubarak was denounced and, in some cases, his picture was burned. All of those actions raised the ceiling and created the space to maneuver, he said.
"We've seen many glimpses of what's happening today before, but this is like an accumulated explosion," he exclaimed, his handsome face creasing with a wide smile.
"On Friday, we fought street battles with the police when we walked here," he said, recalling how security forces fired teargas and shot at some protesters before retreating from the streets. "We took control at 6:35 p.m. I checked my watch."
He walked through the crowds Tuesday kissing and congratulating friends and strangers.
"So finally we lived the day, we will see it," a friend told him.
"Indeed, indeed," Hamalawy replied. "Today is like a wedding."
He snapped pictures of banners and protesters sharing water and food to sustain each other. On the first days of these demonstrations, he used the Twitter to transmit minute-by-minute accounts of the growing popular movement.
"I would love to think I was a drip in this big ocean," he sighed as he walked through the unprecedented crowds. "We feel so close now, so close. Mubarak is stubborn, though, and he won't go in silence."
Army tanks surrounded the demonstrations as helicopters buzzed above. Many people trust the military as their protectors, but Hamalawy does not.
"The leadership is loyal to the Mubarak regime," he said. Mubarak will fight to stay, he added. "You can expect anything from him."
He asked a friend to take his picture. "I need a picture of myself in the revolution," Hamalawy said. He is unmarried and has no children, but says someday he will, and he will show them this day, this moment.
On Tuesday night, Hamalawy watched in fury as Mubarak addressed the nation, announcing that he would not seek re-election.
"It's too late to make these concessions," Hamalawy said. "He needs to step down, and not only to step down. His entire regime has to go."
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17) How Was Egypt's Internet Access Shut Off?
Preliminary investigations indicate that most of the country's ISPs cut Internet access within a 20-minute period, likely at the government's behest
By Larry Greenemeier
Friday, January 28, 2011
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=egypt-internet-mubarak
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=egypt-internet-mubarak&WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20110202
Egyptians earlier this week took to the Web-Facebook and Twitter, in particular-as a means of organizing their protests against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade-old government. As of Friday morning, however, there no longer was much of a Web to take to-at least not in Egypt. In an unprecedented turn of events, at 12:34 A.M. local time in Cairo five of the country's major Internet service providers (ISPs) shut down their connections to the Internet.
Speculation is rampant as to what happened, but the most credible reports point to a government-ordered shutdown of nearly all Internet access within Egypt with about 93 percent of Egyptian networks out of service. One of the only connections to the Internet that has not been blocked belongs Noor Data Network, the ISP used by the Egyptian (stock) Exchange.
The shutdown does not appear to be a spontaneous event, given that the Telecom Egypt, Raya, Link Egypt, Etisalat Misr and Internet Egypt ISPs each shut down its part of Egypt's Internet in sequence an average of about three minutes apart, according to Manchester, N.H.-based network security firm Renesys Corp. This sequencing indicates that each of the ISPs may have received a phone call telling them to drop Internet access to their subscribers, as opposed to an automated system that kicked in to take down all of the providers at once, Jim Cowie, Renesys chief technology officer and co-founder, blogged on Friday.
If this analysis is correct, it indicates a level of governmental Internet control unseen to this point, not even in China, Iran and Tunisia, which have been accused of manipulating Internet access to quell government opposition. Scientific American spoke with Cowie, whose company monitors global Internet infrastructure, to better understand how it works under both normal and, in this instance, abnormal conditions.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
What exactly happened in Egypt, and how did it come to your attention?
This is certainly one of the strangest abnormal conditions that we've witnessed in a long time. We study what is known as the global routing table, essentially all of the address prefixes that make up the Internet. ISPs keep this information in their routers. When they need to send traffic to a place, they look up the address to figure out where to send it. We gather those tables from hundreds of providers, and we watch them in real time to figure out what's going on. On January 27, we observed hundreds of providers all over the world suddenly telling us that most of the network addresses in Egypt no longer existed. It's not that their paths were changing a little bit to get better value out of their connection or engineering around a little cable break or something. It was really a matter of just disappearing. And it was just Egypt-you didn't see networks in the Gulf, India or China go down, as you might if a submerged cable in that region had been damaged.
Does this shutdown of Internet access into and out of Egypt resemble attempts by countries such as China, Iran or Tunisia to control the flow of online traffic?
No, it's a completely different class of problem. Typically what happens in countries like Tunisia or Iran or China is people exert very surgical control over information, they will block particular domain names, or they'll block particular Web sites or particular small networks that host content that they don't like. When Iran had its problems after its elections, they slowed down their Internet so they could use it more effectively to control protestors but they didn't take it down. Normally, when someone has a problem on the Internet, it's a single provider, a single organization, that gets in trouble or loses a piece of equipment or runs out of power for their generator after a blackout or something. In this case, within the space of about 20 minutes, all of the largest service providers in Egypt mysteriously and with no apparent coordination all left the Internet. It's a completely different signature.
How could something like Egypt's current situation have happened?
Clearly there was some behind-the-scenes coordination. The most plausible scenario that I could think of is that somebody from the government calls up all their license-holders-all of these regulated ISPs, telecommunications companies, mobile service providers-and just has a conversation with them that says, "Turn it off." The managers of those companies go to their engineers, point to their Internet routers and relay the message, "Turn it off." The engineers log into those routers, make one or two lines of configuration change and hit "return" on the keyboard. Thirty seconds later, it's done.
Although there is no single switch that shuts down the Internet as a whole, does the incident in Egypt indicate that the Net can be turned off in small segments?
Think of the Internet infrastructure within any particular country as being an ecosystem. There are a bunch of coordinating organizations-legal, financial, contractual-that work together within this ecosystem. If you look at a complex system such as those in the United States or Canada, you might ask, "How many phone calls would I have to make to shut it down?" It probably wouldn't be possible. Most of the people you would call operate independent of the government and wouldn't even listen to you. In a place like Egypt there's a lot less diversity in that ecosystem. There were just a few key providers, they're all licensed by the government. They have to do what the government says, and they have to operate within the law of the local telecommunications regulatory framework. And so in this case they did what they were asked to.
So the sheer size of the U.S.'s infrastructure works to the Internet's advantage, and a shutdown such as the one in Egypt could not happen here?
I'll speculate. There is no standing legal authority to be exercised and no kill switch. Probably, the government would make a request, and an ISP would say, "That's interesting," and send it to legal. Legal would send it upstairs, there would be consultation, there would be calls back and forth, there would be injunctions levied, there would be lawsuits, and the ISP wouldn't get shut down. This process would take a long time.
If the laws were changed so that there were a clear-cut legal authority and a plan to control the Internet, then anything is possible. But I certainly don't think that the industry in most countries on Earth would stand to have that kind of power dangled over their heads. It would do incredible violence to the companies economically, and it would do even greater economic violence to the country.
The network that handles the stock exchange in Egypt was not affected. What does that mean?
My team is studying exceptions to the Internet blockage; there are a few. We're trying to figure out what they have in common. This was the obvious pattern-the Noor Group did come out basically unscathed. One speculation is that they got the phone call from the government, and they chose not to listen. Another speculation says that they didn't receive the phone call, because there was an agreement to let them stay online because they host the stock exchange, among other things. There's no way to know at this time really.
What else are you and your team keeping an eye on as you monitor the situation?
We're watching very closely to find out what will happen when, in effect, the whole country has to be rebooted, something that has never happened at this scale before. We'll see whether the relationships and networking routes that existed before the problem are resumed afterward or there are structural changes. I suspect they could bring it back up pretty much the way it was when it went down. Existing contractual relations-who pays whom and how much-are all pretty much in place. One significant change could be that companies operating on the Web start looking for ways to diversify how they access the Web. This could mean creating relationships with international carriers and even purchasing additional satellite Internet bandwidth, figuring that they should have one service provider that is not immediately under government control.
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18) Clashes Erupt in Cairo Between Mubarak's Allies and Foes
"Some protesters reported that they had been approached with offers of 50 Egyptian pounds, about $8.50, to carry pro-Mubarak placards. 'Fifty pounds for my country?' one woman said, in apparent disbelief."
By ANTHONY SHADID, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and KAREEM FAHIM
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03egypt.html?hp
CAIRO - The Egyptian government struck back at its opponents on Wednesday, unleashing waves of pro-government provocateurs armed with clubs, stones, rocks and knives in and around Tahrir Square in a concerted effort to rout the protesters who have called for an end to President Hosni Mubarak's near-30-year rule.
After first trying to respond peacefully, the protesters fought back with rocks and Molotov cocktails as battles broke out around the square. A makeshift medical clinic staffed by dozens of doctors tended to a steady stream of antigovernment protesters, many bleeding from head wounds.
As the two sides exchanged volleys, the military restricted itself mostly to guarding the Egyptian Museum and using water cannons to extinguish flames stoked by the firebombs. And on Wednesday night, state media broadcast an order from the government for all protesters to leave the square.
Signs that the pro-Mubarak forces were organized and possibly professional were abundant. When the melee broke out, a group of them tried to corner a couple of journalists in an alley to halt their reporting. Their assaults on the protesters seemed to come in well-timed waves.
Some protesters reported that they had been approached with offers of 50 Egyptian pounds, about $8.50, to carry pro-Mubarak placards. "Fifty pounds for my country?" one woman said, in apparent disbelief.
The counterattack was undertaken in the face of calls from leaders in Washington and Europe for peaceful and rapid political change, with the Foreign Ministry releasing a defiant statement in the state news media saying that such calls from "foreign parties" had been "rejected and aimed to incite the internal situation in Egypt."
It followed Mr. Mubarak's 10-minute television address on Tuesday, in which he pledged to step down within months - an offer that was rejected by his opponents, who have demanded his immediate resignation - and was met with a call by President Obama for a political transition "now" that infuriated Cairo.
"There is a contradiction between calling on the transition to begin now, and the calls which President Mubarak himself has made for an orderly transition," an Egyptian official said Wednesday. "Mubarak's primary responsibility is to ensure an orderly and peaceful transfer of power. We can't do that if we have a vacuum of power."
The official said that the Egyptian government had "a serious issue with how the White House is spinning this."
The White House kept up the pressure on the Mubarak government, however, with the presidential spokesman, Robert Gibbs, telling reporters in Washington that "now means yesterday."
He added: "There are reforms that need to be undertaken. There are opposition entities that need to be in the conversation."
Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain issued a strong statement deploring the violence, adding what appeared to be a veiled threat. "If it turns out that the regime is any way has been sponsoring and tolerating this violence, that would be completely and utterly unacceptable," he said. "These are despicable scenes that we are seeing, and they should not be repeated."
Meanwhile, a leading opposition leader in Cairo, Mohamed ElBaradei, issued a statement calling on the military to "intervene decisively to stop this massacre."
The Egyptian health minister, Ahmed Sameh Farid, said that 596 people had been injured in the battles in Tahrir Square and that one man was killed when he fell off a bridge, The Associated Press reported.
The mayhem and chaos - with riders on horses and camels thundering through the central square - offered a complete contrast to the scenes only 24 hours earlier when hundreds of thousands of antigovernment protesters turned it into a place of jubilant celebration, believing that they were close to overthrowing a leader who has survived longer than any other in modern Egypt.
Such was the nervousness across the Arab world, spreading from its traditional heart in Egypt, that the leader of Yemen offered on Wednesday to step down by 2013 and offered assurances his son would not succeed him - the latest in a series of autocratic leaders bending to the wave of anger engulfing the region.
On Wednesday, the enduring standoff between Mr. Mubarak and his adversaries took an explosive and perilous turn, offering further proof that Mr. Mubarak had no intention of exiting earlier than he had announced. Hours after a call from Egypt's powerful military for the president's opponents to "restore normal life," thousands of men, some carrying fresh flags and newly printed signs supporting Mr. Mubarak, surged into Tahrir Square.
For several hours in the afternoon, from a base in Talaat Harb Square, northeast of Tahrir Square, pro-Mubarak supporters wielding rebar, knives, pliers, long sticks and even a meat cleaver surged toward the antigovernment protesters, under cover of rocks thrown by their confederates in the rear and from a roof of a nearby building.
At regular intervals, men were carried away from the fight bleeding.
A red car and a motorcycle traveled to the front, by the historic Groppi's café, and shuttled the injured men away to a makeshift medical clinic staffed by dozens of doctors. At about 4 p.m., agitated young men started throwing rocks at the windows of residents, without explanation. Men also threw rocks at the offices of an opposition figure, Ayman Nour, that overlooks the square.
A block away, at Champollion Street, a similar battle raged. Several people tried to stop two young men as they hauled a case of empty Pepsi bottles to their car and tore rags, apparently attempting to make Molotov cocktails. The young men brushed those efforts off.
Throughout the afternoon, the president's supporters emerged in a throng dragging men, presumably from the other side, away. In one case, it was a man in a colorful sweater who was held by a large man who pressed a knife to his captive's throat. Another time, a mob surrounded a terrified man with a long beard, as soldiers tried to intervene. "God is great!" yelled the man with the beard, as the mob pressed forward.
Some of the Mubarak supporters were working-class men who had arrived in buses. Some headed to the battle with their sticks or their knives stuffed in their pants. One was a doctor who wore spectacles and held a club wrapped in electrical tape and armored with tacks.
Some were men like Mohamed Hassan, an accountant, who had actually attended Tuesday's antigovernment demonstration. "Of course we needed a change," said Mr. Hassan, standing on the Corniche not far from the Egyptian Museum. Mr. Mubarak's speech to the nation had changed his mind. "I think all of our demands were filled. We need change, but step by step."
Bystanders watched in shock and anger. One pointed to a bearded man calling people to prayer. "He did this to us," the man said. Another man, watching the battle in Talaat Harb, said: "Mubarak lit the world on fire." His friend told him to be quiet.
A 25-year-old who had just completed his compulsory military duty, Islam Hessomen, denounced the violence. "A few thousand people throwing rocks at each other is destroying the peaceful revolution of millions," he said. "Mubarak doesn't deserve to be president anymore."
The pro-Mubarak forces were outnumbered by the protesters, who have spent nine days in the square insisting on his ouster. Clashes erupted close to the Egyptian Museum housing a huge trove of priceless antiquities.
There, the two sides traded volleys of rocks and Molotov cocktails and engaged in hand-to-hand fighting. Many were led or carried away with bleeding head wounds. Antigovernment protesters organized themselves into groups, smashing chunks of concrete into smaller projectiles that they hurled at their adversaries. The violence was the most serious since the antigovernment protesters laid claim to Tahrir, or Liberation, Square days ago as they pursued what seemed to be a largely peaceful campaign for Mr. Mubarak's ouster.
Hours before the violence erupted in the square, antigovernment protesters had been chanting: "We are not going to go; we are not going to go."
In counterpoint, demonstrators supporting Mr. Mubarak chorused back: "He's not going to go; he's not going to go." But the mood changed as plumes of smoke, apparently from tear gas, rose above the rival crowds surging back and forth as the two sides fought for the upper hand.
"Where's the Egyptian army?" antigovernment demonstrators chanted.
"They are trying to create chaos," said Mohamed Ahmed, 30. "This is what Mubarak wants."
The army took no immediate action as the skirmishes intensified, leaving the competing demonstrators to press toward one another. But troops with bayonets fixed to their AK-47 assault rifles fanned out near the museum as antigovernment protesters sought to build makeshift barricades to keep their foes at bay. And eventually, several tanks maneuvered into position between the two clashing crowds, and soldiers tried to calm both.
Some antigovernment protesters used the shelter of the tanks to launch rocks, and others said they believed their foes were agents of the authorities. At one point, they began calling for the soldiers to fire into the air to disperse their opponents.
Mohamed Gamil, a 30-year-old dentist in the crowd of antigovernment protesters, said their enemies wanted to "take the revolution from us."
"Never, never, never," he cried. "We are ready to die for the revolution."
Pro-government demonstrators, too, vowed a fight to the end.
"With our blood, with our souls, we sacrifice for you, oh Mubarak," some of the president's supporters chanted, waving Egyptian flags. Among the pro-government demonstrators, 18 men on horseback and two on camels charged against their adversaries.
Earlier, on state television, a military spokesman had asked the government's foes: "Can we walk safely down the street? Can we go back to work regularly? Can we go out into the streets with our children to schools and universities? Can we open our stores, factories and clubs?"
"You are the ones able to restore normal life," he said.
"Your message was received and we know your demands," the spokesman said. "We are with you and for you."
The army's role and its ultimate game plan have remained opaque, with soldiers seeming to fraternize with protesters, without moving against the elite to which its officers belong. While the military has said it will not use force against peaceful protesters, the signs on Wednesday suggested that any gap between it and Mr. Mubarak was narrowing.
The announcement by a military spokesman appeared to be a call for demonstrators, who have turned out in hundreds of thousands in recent days, to leave the streets. Messages sent to Egyptian cellphone users on Wednesday seemed intended to reinforce the official line. "Youth of Egypt beware of the rumors and listen to the voice of reason," read one message. "Egypt is above all. Preserve it."
Hundreds of pro-Mubarak protesters converged on a square in the upscale Mohandiseen neighborhood on Wednesday morning, many of them carrying identical signs and banners praising the Egyptian president. Others carried a gold-framed portrait of him.
Reporting was contributed by Liam Stack and Kareem Fahim from Cairo; Nicholas Kulish from Alexandria, Egypt; Alan Cowell from Paris; John F. Burns from London; and Helene Cooper and David E. Sanger from Washington.
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19) Yemen's Leader Says He Will Step Down in 2013
By LAURA KASINOF and NADA BAKRI
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03yemen.html?hp
SANA, Yemen - In another reverberation of the popular anger rocking the region, the longtime president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, announced a series of concessions on Wednesday that included suspending his campaign for constitutional changes that would allow him to remain president for life and pledging that his son would not seek to be his successor.
"No extension, no inheritance, no resetting the clock," Mr. Saleh said Wednesday during a legislative session that was boycotted by the opposition. "I present these concessions in the interests of the country. The interests of the country come before our personal interests."
He ordered the creation of a fund to employ university graduates and to extend social security coverage, increased wages and lowered income taxes and offered to resume a political dialogue that collapsed last October over elections. In answer to opposition complaints that voter records are rife with fraud, he said he would delay the April parliamentary elections until better records could be compiled.
But it remained to be seen whether Mr. Saleh, whose current term ends in 2013, was simply trying to siphon vigor from the antigovernment protests planned for Thursday. Those demonstrations are intended to build on gatherings last week that turned into the largest protests against Mr. Saleh, who was ruled for 32 years. He promised in 2005 not to run again but changed his mind the next year.
"The president didn't say anything new," said Muhammad al-Qutabi, a spokesman for the opposition. "What he offered today didn't even meet he opposition's old demands."
Khaled al-Anesi, the leader of an opposition group called the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedom, said, "He is going to put the amendments in the freezer and take them out when he needs them."
Opposition lawmakers, an eclectic group dominated by Islamists, were likewise not impressed.
"He's been making promises for 32 years and never kept one," said one, Shawki al-Qadi. "When he promised to fight poverty, we got poorer. When he promised to leave office, he made amendments to stay forever."
Governments around the region have been shaken as momentum has gathered across North Africa and the Middle East for deep, even radical, change in countries with leaders long backed by the United States.
Tunisia's president has been ousted, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt remains embattled even after declaring that he would step down after finishing his term in September and King Abdullah II of Jordan has fired his government. And in Syria, calls for a "day of rage" this weekend against the government of President Bashar al-Assad were spreading on Facebook, which is formally banned in the country, and on Twitter.
Yemen's stability has been of increasing concern to the United States, which has provided $250 million in military aid in the past five years. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a visit to Sana, the capital, in January, urged Mr. Saleh to establish a new dialogue with the opposition, saying it would help to stabilize the country.
Mr. Saleh has been seeking to stave off unrest, recently promising to raise salaries for civil servants and the military, in a country where many people live on less than $2 a day. On Tuesday, the state news agency, Saba, reported that the president had ordered retailers to stop charging the military and security forces for food and gasoline.
The Yemeni opposition, which has promised to hold protests every Thursday for the next month, has not demanded Mr. Saleh's ouster thus far, but rather reforms and a smooth transition of power through elections. Fears of violence run high in this country, where the potential for strife is difficult to overstate.
The poorest of the Arab countries, Yemen is troubled by a rebellion in the north and a struggle for secession in the formerly independent south. In recent years, an affiliate of Al Qaeda has turned parts of the country into a refuge beyond the state's reach, from which it has launched terrorist attacks against the West. A remarkably high proportion of citizens are armed.
"It is still possible to make changes peacefully because the opposition is still leading the Yemeni street," said Mr. Qadi, the opposition lawmaker. "Once it starts leading itself, then the situation will be very difficult."
But there were signs that the government intended to make sure there was a significant counterforce to the opposition on Thursday. It has been helping transport hundreds of rural Yemenis from the outskirts of the capital, and from the pro-Saleh province of Khowlan, into the city. About 500 pro-government people gathered in a central square in Sana, setting up large white tents with the intention of holding the area through the night.
Dozens of protesters and antigovernment activists were arrested and beaten later in the day.
Some in Sana expressed cautious optimism that peaceful change might be possible.
"As long as we have started, we are on the right track for democracy," said Sheik Mohammed Abulahoum, a prominent tribal leader and politician. "This way, it will be a safe, secure and permanent transition of power, without casualties, and a low cost."
Ahmed Shelaly, 41, who works as a taxi driver and as the media director for a local nonprofit group, said: "When the next elections come, change is necessary. The president decided not to run out of fear. He's scared because of Egypt, and people here have weapons, much more so than Egypt."
Laura Kasinof reported from Sana and Nada Bakri from Beirut, Lebanon. Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, Muhammad al-Ahmadi from Sana and Alan Cowell from Paris.
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20) Journalists Are Attacked in Cairo
"As chaos gripped central Tahrir Square in Cairo on Wednesday, journalists covering the scene on the ground found themselves the targets of violence and intimidation by demonstrators chanting slogans in favor of President Hosni Mubarak."
By J. DAVID GOODMAN
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03journalists.html?hp
As chaos gripped central Tahrir Square in Cairo on Wednesday, journalists covering the scene on the ground found themselves the targets of violence and intimidation by demonstrators chanting slogans in favor of President Hosni Mubarak. One prominent American television correspondent, Anderson Cooper of CNN, was struck in the head repeatedly.
Reporters Without Borders said it had received dozens of confirmed reports of violence against local and international journalists in Egypt. Tala Dowlatshahi, a spokeswoman for the group, said to "expect more foreign journalists to be targeted."
The attacks were reported by Al Jazeera, CNN and Twitter users almost as soon as violent clashes began in the square, also known as Liberation Square, eliciting a strong condemnation from the White House and the State Department.
"The United States denounces these attacks and calls on all engaged in demonstrations currently taking place in Egypt to do so peacefully," said Philip J. Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs. "The use of violence to intimidate the Egyptian people must stop."
The attacks on reporters came as Internet access was restored in Egypt for the first time since last week, and many Egyptian bloggers began posting in earnest.
Egyptian state television also began showing images from Tahrir Square for the first time, focusing on supporters of Mr. Mubarak and scenes of pitched street battles. It appeared likely that both moves by the government were directed at painting a violent image of the antigovernment protesters.
"It's clearly a media strategy that's being implemented," Ms. Dowlatshahi said. "State-controlled television has been broadcasting soap operas and cooking shows for the past few days until today."
The government has sought to control information since large-scale protests against Mr. Mubarak and his subordinates began last month, but overt harassment has been scattered and attempts to control the gripping images and narratives from Cairo have mostly failed. Wednesday's attacks appeared to represent the most coordinated and widespread effort to stop foreign reporters from doing their jobs.
"The Egyptian government is employing a strategy of eliminating witnesses to their actions" in a "series of deliberate attacks on journalists," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
A senior editor at CNN said Mr. Cooper and his crew had been attacked while in the square. Mr. Cooper, the network's marquee anchor, "was punched 10 times in the head as pro-Mubarak mob surrounded him and his crew trying to cover demonstration," Steve Brusk wrote on Twitter. Mr. Cooper later recounted the episode in a live report and did not appear hurt.
Another CNN correspondent, Hala Gorani, told television viewers of being threatened, apparently by supporters of the president.
At least one reporter was arrested, according to Reporters Without Borders. The journalist, a Belgian named Serge Dumont, said he had been hit in the face by men in plain clothes, accused of spying and taken to a military post.
"Protesters are hunting down Al Jazeera journos," wrote Abbas Al Lawati of Gulf News in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. "I keep having to clarify that I'm not one of them."
An Australian television reporter, Hamish Macdonald, wrote that a colleague had seen one reporter badly beaten, and that their crew was unable to leave their hotel.
Christiane Amanpour of ABC News wrote in a dispatch from Cairo that she and her crew had been surrounded by an angry mob as they tried to film on a bridge. "They kicked in the car doors and broke our windshield as we drove away," she said. The crew members were forced to return to their hotel for safety.
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21) E.P.A. Plans Limits on Toxic Chemicals in Water
By JOHN M. BRODER
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/science/earth/03epa.html?hp
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration said Wednesday that it would impose limits on permissible levels of a new set of toxic chemicals in drinking water, including the first standards for perchlorate, a dangerous compound found in rocket fuel and fireworks that contaminates water supplies in 26 states.
The move, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, is a major step toward updating the nation's clean water laws, which have lagged far behind environmental and health science.
Numerous studies have found that hundreds of industrial and agricultural chemicals, including several known carcinogens, are present in municipal water systems around the country. The nation's laws and enforcement programs have not kept pace with spreading contamination, posing significant health risks to millions.
Wednesday's decision to regulate perchlorate reversed a 2008 finding by the George W. Bush administration that a nationwide standard for the chemical was unnecessary and would do little to reduce risks to human health.
Ms. Jackson announced her intent to review the nation's drinking water standards a year ago, ordering an extensive review of the health effects of perchlorate and other toxic substances found in city water supplies. She announced on Wednesday that the E.P.A. would set standards for as many as 16 other toxic and carcinogenic chemicals.
The agency said it would take three or four years to finalize the regulations.
"While we've put in place standards to address more than 90 drinking water contaminants," Ms. Jackson said in testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday, "there are many more contaminants of emerging concern, which science has only recently allowed us to detect at very low levels."
"We need to keep pace with the increasing knowledge and potential public health implications from the growing number of chemicals that may be present in our products, our water and our bodies," she said.
Perchlorate can occur naturally, but high concentrations have been found near military installations where it was used rocket testing and around facilities where fireworks, flares and solid propellants are made. Health researchers have found that the chemical may impair the normal functioning of the thyroid, potentially stunting normal growth of fetuses, infants and children.
The military and defense contractors who use the chemical have balked at tighter regulation, saying that substitutes are more expensive. But environmentalists and officials of some municipal water services have been calling for years for tighter rules on perchlorate and a number of carcinogenic chemicals, including industrial and dry cleaning solvents.
The E.P.A. has found measurable amounts of perchlorate in 26 states and two United States territories that it says could contaminate the drinking water of anywhere from 5 million to 17 million Americans. The Food and Drug Administration found the substance in more than half the foods it tested, and health researchers have found traces of it in samples of breast milk.
The agency did not establish an actual limit on the amount of perchlorate allowable in drinking water, but set in motion a rulemaking process to set a standard.
Senator Barbara Boxer of California, chairman of the environment committee, and some environmental advocates welcomed the announcement as a strong step for public health and welfare.
But Rena Steinzor, a law professor at the University of Maryland and president of the Center for Progressive Reform, was critical of the E.P.A. for taking so long to decide to regulate perchlorate and for what she called a "leisurely" timetable for issuing a final rule. The agency said it would publish a proposed regulation within two years and issue a final rule 18 months after that.
"Regulating perchlorate should not be seen as a long-term, we'll get-around-to-it goal, but an urgent public health priority," she wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. "I can find no excuse for the long trajectory of behind-the-scenes consultations and hand-writing that sets the stage for such long delay on this crucial issue."
The environmental agency also said on Wednesday it would develop a single rule governing a group of volatile organic compounds used as solvents, including trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, and a number of other unregulated contaminants. By grouping them together, the E.P.A. can move more quickly and provide simpler guidance to officials responsible for overseeing water supplies, agency officials said.
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22) Jobs and Age Reign as Risk Factors for Mideast Uprisings
" 'Not every country with an employment rate above a certain figure will necessarily face a revolution as each society has its own dynamics, but there are shared and distinct factors driving the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia,' said Tristan Cooper, head analyst of Middle East Sovereigns for Moody's Investors Services. 'Contagion into the wider region is more likely in countries that have large numbers of frustrated, unemployed citizens who are eager for political change.' Algeria, Jordan and Morocco, countries with high jobless rates and growing young populations, are among the most vulnerable, according to the Standard and Poor's ratings agency."
By SARA HAMDAN
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03iht-m03job.html?ref=world
DUBAI - As demands for regime change sweep the Middle East and North Africa, leaving diplomats and geopolitical analysts struggling to keep abreast, financial analysts are turning to economic indicators to guide their bets on which countries will be most susceptible to contagion.
"Not every country with an employment rate above a certain figure will necessarily face a revolution as each society has its own dynamics, but there are shared and distinct factors driving the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia," said Tristan Cooper, head analyst of Middle East Sovereigns for Moody's Investors Services. "Contagion into the wider region is more likely in countries that have large numbers of frustrated, unemployed citizens who are eager for political change."
Algeria, Jordan and Morocco, countries with high jobless rates and growing young populations, are among the most vulnerable, according to the Standard and Poor's ratings agency.
A young population and very high unemployment rates - particularly among the young - are common characteristics of economies in a region where countries, on average, have 60 percent of their populations under the age of 30, according to data from S.&P. and the International Monetary Fund. In some countries, the figures are even more striking; in Jordan, nearly two-thirds of the population is under 30 years old. That compares with an average of one-third of the population under 30 in the developed industrial countries of the Group of Seven - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada.
While regional economies have grown in tandem with their populations, they have failed to generate sufficient overall employment to absorb a growing labor force, or enough demand for skilled labor to absorb the flow of educated graduates, according to an S.&P. report released last week that outlines how these structural problems have lead to the popular discontent witnessed in Tunisia and Egypt.
"It has been difficult to create jobs at a pace that can keep up with the growth of the labor force, and youth unemployment is thought to be nearly twice as high as official rates," said Kai Stukenbrock, director of S.&P.'s Middle East sovereign team, who co-authored the report. "The protests are driven by the young population, they are the first ones to go into the streets."
While regional employment statistics are often patchy or outdated, data from the I.M.F and S.&P. show that Tunisia had unemployment rates that ranged from 13.3 percent to 15.4 percent annually during the past two years. Egypt had a 9.4 percent jobless rate last year.
Mr. Stukenbrock believes that uprisings could take place in other countries with similar profiles, namely Algeria, Jordan and Morocco. Algeria, although it has ratcheted down unemployment from a high of 31 percent in 2003, still had a 12.5 percent unemployment level in 2009 and 10.2 percent in 2010. Jordan, with one of the highest unemployment rates in the region, had 12.6 percent of its labor force out of work in 2009 - a figure which rose to 12.9 percent last year.
On top of all this, the I.M.F. estimates that more than 100 million jobs will need to be created in the region by 2020.
"There is also a tendency to have underdeveloped private sectors to the benefit of sprawling public sectors," said Philippe Dauba-Pantanacce, senior economist covering the regional markets for Standard Chartered Bank, based in Dubai. "Add to this a mismatch between the education system and job market needs, and the main objective for aspiring graduates is that of a career as a civil servant."
Between high unemployment and low incomes, people have also struggled with rising food and fuel prices - historically a source of rioting in the region.
After a spike in commodities prices in 2007 and 2008, followed by a period of stabilization, food prices have been rising rapidly again since mid-2010, driven by rising demand from developing economies and supply constraints. Food prices rose more than 30 percent between June and December last year, to reach their highest level ever, Mr. Stukenbrock noted in the report.
John Sfakianakis - chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi, part of the Crédit Agricole group - said by telephone from Saudi Arabia that food inflation was particularly troubling in countries like Egypt, where nearly half of a typical income goes to food.
"There are nearly 40 percent of people below or barely above the poverty line in Egypt, living off of $2 a day, and if you add high double digit food inflation to that - it obviously doesn't bode well," said Mr. Sfakianakis, who taught Middle East economics at Harvard University for five years, with a special focus on business in Egypt.
"If people are unfed, unemployed, and see blatant corruption for 10 years, it leads to a dangerous combination," he said. "People are fed up and they don't have many options left."
In response to the rising prices of basic goods and growing discontent - particularly following the events in Tunisia and Egypt - governments in Jordan, Libya and Morocco have introduced measures aimed at lowering the prices of staple foods and fuels, according to Mr. Stukenbrock. Jordan also resumed public sector hiring in the middle of last month to stimulate job creation, ending a freeze introduced in December 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Yet, despite those measures, central Amman was roiled by rioters protesting against high prices for five days in the second half of January. And, in the long term, the measures will put an additional strain on public finances, particularly for countries that can not rely on oil exports like Jordan and Morocco.
"There is a tradeoff," Mr. Sfakianakis said. "Either you try to make people happy in the short term by subsidizing basic goods - which won't last and will ruin the fiscal situation - or you apply fiscal discipline, which is what the I.M.F. encourages, but won't exactly win people's hearts."
The uprisings - and underlying economic structural problems - meanwhile, are already hurting the credit quality of countries in the region. S.&P. lowered its rating for Tunisian long-term local currency debt to BBB+ from A- following the revolution, reflecting the potentially adverse impact on economic growth and public finances. It also placed the reduced rating on CreditWatch with negative implications - a warning of possible further downgrades in the pipeline - reflecting the continuing risk of a disorderly and disruptive transition, accompanied by lower economic growth and weaker liquidity, according to the note.
In the case of Egypt, the agency this week lowered its foreign currency long-term rating to BB from BB+, and the local currency long-term and short-term ratings to BB+/B from BBB-/A-3, saying that ongoing political instability and unrest would hamper Egypt's economic growth and adversely affect its public finances. Egypt has also been placed on CreditWatch negative, and other rating agencies are following suit.
The rise in political risk in Egypt prompted Moody's Investors Service to downgrade Egypt's debt to Ba2 from Ba1 with a negative outlook. Moody's also reduced the local and foreign currency of Tunisia's government bond ratings to Baa3 from Baa2, as well as changing the outlook to negative from stable.
Capital markets across the region have meanwhile shown varying degrees of nervousness. Last week, the Saudi equity market lost all the gains that it had accumulated since October, Mr. Dauba-Pantanacce of Standard Chartered Bank, noted. Most other stock markets in the Middle East also fell.
"Equity markets have been reacting negatively as investors reassess their judgment and find that the risk-reward profile has suddenly tilted toward the downside," he said. "Oil prices have also been pushed higher, especially with the Suez Canal identified as one of the 'seven choking points' on oil routes, as identified by the International Energy Agency."
He added that affected countries may see their credit ratings cut, while the cost of credit default swaps - the financial market instruments that offer insurance against sovereign debt default - has edged up to their highest point in 18 months for many of North African countries.
"Should the situation continue to prove unstable, a reduction of foreign capital flows will ensue," he warned.
Still, analysts are optimistic that regimes will find ways to manage orderly change, if only because it has become unavoidable. "The sustainability of growth of Middle East economies, its status quo, is now being challenged and we can no longer take at face value the fact that populations will remain docile, silent and unwilling to go out in the streets and die," Mr. Sfakianakis said.
"It's clear that the region will not remain the same. It is bound to change."
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23) Sudanese Start Protest Movement
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
February 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/africa/03sudan.html?ref=world
NAIROBI, Kenya - The messages starting going up on Facebook about two weeks ago, to any Sudanese who cared.
"The people of Sudan will not remain silent anymore," said a Facebook group called Youth for Change. "It is about time we demand our rights and take what's ours in a peaceful demonstration that will not involve any acts of sabotage."
"It is about time we show what we're really made of," the group said. "Our brothers in Tunisia did it and so did our brothers in Egypt. It is about time for us."
In the past week, in an unusual show of boldness, thousands of young Sudanese, many responding to the Facebook call, have braved beatings and arrests to protest against their government. The parallels to Egypt and Tunisia are obvious - Sudan is a notoriously repressive Arab country, ruled by the same strongman for more than 21 years, historically and culturally close to its big brother just up the Nile, Egypt. And it was already seething with economic and political discontent even before demonstrators started taking to the streets of Cairo.
Though the protests are often small - a few dozen to a few hundred young people - they seem to be well organized and widespread across northern Sudan, from Khartoum, the capital, to Omdurman and El Obeid to Kosti, a relatively quiet city on the banks of the Nile.
The grievances tend to be focused on Sudan's wounded economy and practical things, like the rapidly rising prices of sugar and fuel, though protesters have also shouted out against political repression. The police have cracked down hard, arresting dozens and beating countless others with batons and sticks. One student died this week from injuries that other protesters said had been caused by the police.
Still, many Sudanese students seem fired up, even if the masses have yet to fall in line behind them.
"There is a rising conscience in the region," said Issraa El-Kogali, 29, an amateur filmmaker who joined a recent protest in Khartoum. "So why not go for it?"
Despite its reputation as a tightly controlled police state, Sudan actually has a history of successful protests. Street-level uprisings brought down the government in 1964 and 1985. Those moments unfolded similarly to what is happening in Egypt, with people taking to the streets with specific economic and political complaints, the government initially trying to crack down and then the security services joining the masses and the government eventually caving to their demands. But most seasoned analysts doubt that this Sudanese government will buckle any time soon. The military is not simply loyal to the government - it is the government. Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, took power in a military coup in 1989 and has ruled ever since. The upper ranks of the military are said to be firmly behind him.
On top of that, the political opposition is weak, divided and widely discredited.
"There is certainly discontent with the regime, but it's unclear if enough of the right factors are present to complete the equation in Khartoum," said Zach Vertin, a Sudan analyst for the International Crisis Group. "Years of subjugation at the hands of the NCP," the ruling party, "have yielded both political apathy and a weak opposition. Likewise, the heavy and willing hand of security services and corresponding fears among the population act to inhibit such an uprising."
In sum, Mr. Vertin said, "Protests undertaken thus far have not taken root with a broad section of the population, but given what we've seen in Egypt, nothing can be ruled out."
Sudan is about to wade into a whirlpool of problems. The oil-producing southern third of the country, which has been the economic engine for the somewhat impressive growth in Khartoum, is preparing to split off. Last month southern Sudanese voters opted for secession by more than 99 percent in a long-awaited independence referendum and some northern Sudanese blame the government for this.
The economy is already beginning to reflect the strains and worries of the coming split, scheduled for July. The value of the Sudanese pound has plunged. The government recently started cutting back on food and fuel subsides, which set the first protests in motion. But the government is trying to project confidence.
"The situation in Egypt is different than the situation of Sudan," said Rabie A. Atti, a government spokesman. "We don't have one small group that controls everything. Wealth is distributed equally. We've given power to the states."
Many Sudanese, especially those in the war-torn and marginalized Darfur region, would probably argue with that. But few want to tangle with the police, who sometimes wear ski masks and commando-style uniforms and often smash civilians in the face with impunity.
"The Sudanese street is not yet prepared," said Mouysar Hassan, 22, a student who took part in a recent protest. "Many are scared."
Isma'il Kushkush contributed reporting from Khartoum, Sudan.
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