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The Antidote to 9/11?

Posted February 16th, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton

There’s been a ton of punditry about what the Tunisia and Egypt revolutions mean for America, and you can bet there’ll be several tons more.  But I suspect its biggest effect is yet to register, and that is psychological.  Because these two revolutions – achieved through determinedly non-violent action – constitute a radical, positive challenge to the politically manipulated atmosphere of fear and paranoia about Islam.   In fact, as New York Times columnist Roger Cohen put it, 2/11 may be the perfect antidote to 9/11.

Too optimistic?  I think not.  There’s a very good chance that we’re due for a major paradigm shift here in the United States — one that seemed unimaginable just a few weeks ago (and one even a congressman like Peter King, head of the HUAC-like committee due to start ‘examining’ the supposed radicalization of American Muslims (“are you now or have you ever been an American Muslim?”), might have to take into account).

What’s happening all over the Middle East challenges the crude stereotypes of “Arabs = riots.”  Of “Islam = terrorism.”  And above all, of Islam as somehow fundamentally anti-democratic.

These stereotypes run deep.  Think of the scenes shown in the American media from the first week of the Egypt uprising.   A close-up of 200 people prostrated in prayer, excluding the tens of thousands who stood behind them, not praying.   A protestor holding a poster of Mubarak with horns and a Star of David drawn on his forehead – the only one of its kind, it turned out, in the whole square.  Or a few days later,  the replay after replay of Molotov cocktails – “flames lead” being the mantra of TV news – reinforcing the image of rioting Muslims out of control, “the Arab street.”  It was exactly the image Mubarak was aiming for.

Thus the pumping up of the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat by both the Mubarak regime and conservative western pundits, as though the Egyptian protesters were extraordinarily dumb and naïve.  As though they were not highly aware of  how the 1979 Iran revolution was hijacked and perverted.  As though they couldn’t see the fundamentalist regime in Saudi Arabia or the Hamas regime in Gaza.   As though the Brotherhood itself were unanimously stuck in the 1950s mindset of ideologue Sayyid Qutb.  As though the only way to be Muslim was to be a radical fundamentalist.

Thus the surprise in the west at the sophistication of the Tahriris, when “the Arab street” turned out to include doctors and lawyers and women and IT executives (you could practically hear the astonishment:  “you mean there’s Muslim Google executives?”).

Thus the continually stated fear, stoked by the regime and by conservative pundits, that the protestors would shift from nonviolence to violence – that the nonviolence was merely a cover for some assumed innate propensity to violence.

Thus the slowness to realize that the old anti-West sloganism had been superseded, and that this wasn’t about resentment of the west;  in fact that it was about the very things President Obama had talked about in his speech right there in Cairo in June 2009 – about democracy and freedom.

In short, what we heard and saw in those first few days was the modern version of Orientalism:   The idea that the ‘Orient’ – that is, the Middle East (it should come as no surprise here that the geography is as weird as the idea itself) — is an inherently violent, primitive, medieval kind of place.  Or as right-wing Israeli politicians have been endlessly repeating for decades, “a bad neighborhood.”   And that the responsibility of ‘enlightened’ westerners and despotic leaders alike was to keep these benighted people under control.

But as the uprising went on into the second week, something began to change. Nobody at the blog of Seattle’s alternative newspaper The Stranger, for example, which one would have thought the first to support any kind of uprising, even bothered to comment on it at first.  When they began to, it was with their usual weary stance of pseudo-sophisticated cynicism.   But by the day after Mubarak unleashed his goons in Tahrir Square, when the protestors’ response was to turn out in larger numbers than ever, even The Stranger gave in to excited support.   How not, when millions of people stood up to repression and dictatorship in the full knowledge of what they faced if they failed – arrest, torture, and death?   Would you have such courage?  Such determination?

So here’s what I saw here in the States:   more and more Americans abandoning their unconscious Orientalism in favor of stunned admiration.

And that’s the beginning of something new, the very thing Obama declared twenty months ago in Cairo:  respect.

Finally.

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File under: Islam, Middle East | Tagged: Tags: Cairo, Egypt, Google, HUAC, Islamophobia, media images, Mubarak, Muslim Brotherhood, Obama, Orientalism, Peter King, respect, Roger Cohen, Sayyid Qutb, The Stranger, Tunisia, Wael Ghonim | 10 Comments
  1. Sana says:
    February 16, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    There’s hope in the air…. Thanks Egypt!

  2. Lana says:
    February 17, 2011 at 1:42 am

    Thanks Lesley … i do wish there is hope …

  3. Mary Sherhart says:
    February 17, 2011 at 1:57 pm

    Hope is a rare commodity these days. Thank you Egyptian people!

  4. Adila says:
    February 18, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    Wonderfully written. Exciting times indeed.

  5. Shishir says:
    March 14, 2011 at 6:41 am

    I am sorry I don’t agree. The long term effects of these revolutions are still not known. It remains to be seen if Muslim Brotherhood will not form a parallel government or at least have extra constitutional authority. It remains to be seen if these countries will demonstrate same eagerness in throwing out religious fundamentalists. It also remains to be seen if a truly secular democratic country would arise out of Egypt.

    The evidence from the past suggests that secularism
    and Islam don’t gel. Even with the charter of Medina.
    I believe you are a scholar of Quran, or at least you’ve studied it, I’d suggest you also study the history of Islamic kingdoms and Islamic republics.
    Lets have a look at Iran and Pakistan, these are two
    countries which are “democracies”, but have you ever looked at their blasphemy laws or their constant
    persecution of religious minorities. I wouldn’t say that
    it doesn’t exist in India, and we claim India is a secular democracy (I laugh every time I say that). But at least we are not sponsors of international terrorists, may be because we are poor but yet. I also don’t understand how one can suggest that Islam is
    tolerant especially given that it doesn’t make any distinction between state and religion. If a believer
    and non-believer are not same in the eye of religion
    they can’t be same in the eyes of the state either, under such circumstances if the Islamic forces come to attain majority and it is indeed a distinct possibility in Egypt or Yemen or Bahrain etc do you think they’d
    transform these places into true secular democracies ? Do you think the support for Al-Queda or Hamas etc would reduce if pro-Islamic groups came to power?

    Yes, the revolution was by people oppressed, yes it was about respect but what will it end in? Russian revolution was not about socialism or Marxism it was
    about a set of people oppressed – where did it end up ..in Stalin and 50 years of cold war, countless lives lost in Vietnam, Afghanistan, India/Pakistan, Iran/Iraq.

    I am not an Islamophobe, I love what Islam and Islamic culture has done for my country for the world. I just think that time has come for all of us to reexamine these religions (hiduism/islam/christianity/judaism) and their tenets and if required throw them out.

    • hossam says:
      March 19, 2011 at 11:08 am

      @Shishir

      you are right the long the term effects of the egyptian revolution is not yet known, and whether or not the Muslim Brotherhood will “take over” like many people are afraid (noting that they are not running for presidency) but what does that have to do with Islam itself?

      The point is not to judge a religion by what people do;
      Islam is not what Muslim people do
      Judaism is not what Jewish people do
      Christianity is not what Christian people do

      do not judge Islam by what fundamentals or extremist or terrorists do
      do not judge Judaism by what the IDF does and what Israel does
      do not judge Christianity by what George bush did

      Even though i would prefer a secular egyptian state, who’s to say that secularism is a test of a religion?

      there are many states with christianity as a state religion (e.g. Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland) and there are also secular, muslim majority states (e.g. Azerbaijan, Gambia, Kosovo, Mali, Senegal, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan)

      can you let me know what evidence suggests that islam and secularism do not “gel”?

      as for blasphemy laws, they are always controversial, they are still being debated even in highly democratic european countries, some of which do have laws against blasphemy, of course the penalty there is not as tough as in pakistan, but again are we judging a religion based on what is the penalty on blasphemy? i don’t think you can post a cartoon in a german or danish newspaper with of a big nosed man with a star of david on his forehead and his armed wrapped around the world. so where is the freedom then?

      • Shishir says:
        March 24, 2011 at 3:27 pm

        I beg to differ.

        Would you disassociate communism from what Lenin, Stalin, Mao etc did you would not? If you read Marx, and he makes a very interesting read, you’d realize that his communism differs a great deal from what was actually practiced but do you make the difference?

        Religion is what majority of religious people do, nothing more nothing less. Because if you take away that and get down to essential core of it you’d find almost all religions are essentially the same.

        I think secularism is a test of a religion because it tells me whether or not this religion shows signs of growth (not in number of people of that faith but in true growth) in its philosophy via debate via exchange of ideas. I would say my definition of secularism is a secularism of ideas with absolutely no space for public god/religion.

        Why do I say Islam and secularism don’t gel? Well simply because it makes no distinction between borders of state and religion in public/private sphere. If you are going to quote me the charter of medina, I’m going to point to you that Mohammed created it only to ensure he had sufficient force and followers. It was a political treaty, and as such had nothing to do with religion of Islam. You realize it almost immediately when you look at the subsequent 10 years.

        As to your point about blasphemy laws, I don’t think in European country someone is going to issue a fatwa against you if you drew anything ..but in an islamic republic..??

  6. Shishir says:
    March 14, 2011 at 9:05 am

    Ms. Hazleton, I am not sure I said anything in my comment which could be construed as offensive, but my comment seems to have been censored/deleted.

    I’ve no issues with that really, I just wish to know what
    is the commenting policy.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      March 14, 2011 at 10:57 am

      First-time commenters need to be approved by me, and I’m deliberately not online 24/7, thus the delay. Re commenting policy: I’m fine with all points of view, no matter if they directly oppose my own, so long as they do not denigrate others. If that happens, I will ask the commenter to stop doing this. If they then do not stop, I will, however unwillingly, deny access.

  7. The Antidote to 9/11? | IslamiCity says:
    September 26, 2012 at 6:39 am

    […] The Accidental Theologist – Lesley […]

Thank You, Egypt!

Posted February 11th, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton

Oh my God…

It’s hard to type through the tears.

Egypt, you did it! Egypt, I love you!

You are celebrating right now.  And so are all of us all over the world who’ve been glued to Al Jazeera‘s livestream and to protesters’ Twitter feeds for the past three weeks in stunned admiration, in anxiety and exhilaration, our hearts in our mouths, humbled by the sheer courage and determination of every single Egyptian who risked imprisonment, torture, and (for over 300 people) death.

Thank you, Egypt.  We needed to be reminded of this.  We needed to see that the desire for freedom and justice cannot be squelched.  That it can prevail against the most horrendous odds.  That it can stand up to guns and tanks, to thugs and torturers.  That the power of ideas is stronger than the power of weapons.  That democracy really is the will of the people.

I have no more idea than anyone else what happens from here on.  No idea if the ‘Supreme Military Council’ really does intend to hand over power to an interim civilian government.

But I do suspect that the generals may not have a choice.   Faced with such huge numbers of protesters —  even if accounts of 20 million Egyptians demonstrating in the streets today were exaggerated, even if it was “only” 10 million —  those numbers are doubling, even tripling, as people flood outside in jubilation.   In the face of such numbers, and such widespread support for genuine, total reform, I very much doubt that the military would even dare try to pull a double-cross.

All that is for the usual pundits, however.  For today, Egyptians celebrate.  And most of the world celebrates with them and for them.   Bravo Tunisia!  Bravo Egypt!  You have given notice to all dictatorial regimes — in the Middle East, and indeed worldwide.   You’ve renewed our faith in our own principles.  You have, literally, encouraged us — filled us with the courage so often lacking in our wavering liberal convictions.

Egyptians, there is only one word for what you have done:  magnificent!

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File under: Middle East | Tagged: Tags: celebration, Egypt, January 25, Mubarak, Omar Suleiman, revolution, Supreme Military Council, Tunisia | 22 Comments
  1. Elisa Sparks says:
    February 11, 2011 at 9:21 am

    One of my friends posted her facebook status today as “walking like an Egyptian.” I want to start a trend of posting status of the Egyptian equivalent of “I too am an Egyptian” Do you have the words?

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      February 11, 2011 at 9:41 am

      ‘Walking like an Egyptian’ does it for me, Elisa. Beautiful.

  2. Labrys says:
    February 11, 2011 at 9:24 am

    Yes, I kept getting up thru the night (as Egyptian morning began) to check news on the computer. I was too worried to sleep, and this morning here…the jubilation in Cairo’s streets is intoxicating.
    Oh, that it stays so uplifting!

  3. Lana says:
    February 11, 2011 at 12:19 pm

    You put it elequantly … I LOVE EGYPT 🙂

  4. Anita says:
    February 11, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    God Bless Egypt

  5. Sana says:
    February 11, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    Unity is a rarity in this day in age. Im so proud of them… They showed them, they showed the world. Thank you for giving us hope egypt! Definitely walk like an Egyptian! in more than one way…..

  6. Lynn Rosen says:
    February 12, 2011 at 12:18 am

    Today, we are all Egyptians.

  7. Meg says:
    February 12, 2011 at 10:29 am

    Shows the power of the internet, of the people, and of the ripple effects of the U.S. and other world superpowers taking a stand against malevolent heads of organizations, countries, etc. (aka, Iraq was poorly done, but it removed Saddam and was huge in leading to this, and in leading to this done so quickly and without huge outlays of armed intervention).

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      February 12, 2011 at 10:48 am

      Meg — The power of the Internet as an organizing tool, yes. The power of people finding their courage and their voice, most definitely. But the power of the US? I think not. If the US took a stand against dictatorship, this is news to me. Iraq is still a disaster thanks to the US, and the current Egyptian revolution took place entirely without US awareness. In other words, the US is not relevant here. This is about Egypt, not us.

      • Meg says:
        February 12, 2011 at 11:03 am

        Yes, it is about Egypt. But Egypt did not do this alone. As someone deeply involved in Islam, I can attest to the power that the people of the Middle East (and Iraq) now feel, due to the removal of Saddam and having the right to vote. Poorly handled events teach the world how to better handle things the next round. Egypt is the result of the ripple effects of such events (insha’allah, Egypt will be able to ‘right’ its government more quickly than other regions, as it does not have huge damage accompanying an overthrow). Right time, right place, power of the people and the internet … THIS is what “armed forces” and global leaders are, at their best, supposed to do – stand publicly in harm’s way to protect peaceful requests for freedom.

  8. Robert Corbett says:
    February 12, 2011 at 11:17 am

    Hallejuhah! Now for the hard part.

  9. Egyptian and proud says:
    February 12, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    @Elisa
    I too am an Egyptian=”Ana Kaman Masry” for guys
    “Ana Kaman Masrya” for ladies

    and again I’m deeply thankful to u all, wanna c u soon in Egypt 😉
    Today we were celebrating/cleaning & redecorating the square,it’s now spotless 😀

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1706788482899&set=a.1706779082664.88377.1633656741&pid=1526405&id=1633656741

  10. Sunny says:
    February 12, 2011 at 11:39 pm

    Lesley Hazleton,

    Would you have also been equally joyful and supportive of anti-government demonstrators in Iran?

    And why is that Islamic countries – whether a dictatorship or a democracy, cannot have a non-muslim as a head of state? For instance, what will it take for a country like Pakistan to have a situation where a Pakistani Hindu can openly compete for the post of the country’s President? Or is it that an “Islamic democracy” does not allow this situation?

    • dh says:
      February 13, 2011 at 3:02 am

      Dear Sunny,

      There’s never been a Muslim president of India. For starters.

      Please… um… read newspapers and “suchlike”.

  11. Sunny says:
    February 13, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    dh,

    Unless both of us live in different Universes, your statement “for starters” is plain wrong.

    India has had more than one Muslim president. However, for a Pakistani Hindu to even run for the country’s Presidency, we all have to move to a different Universe. Please read my previous comment for reference.

  12. Lavrans says:
    February 16, 2011 at 10:25 am

    Why can’t the US have a Muslim President? Heck, the idea of allowing a Catholic was pretty radical not that long ago.

    Which points to my hope- that the US doesn’t do what it did when Iran had their revolution (that, from my understanding, was hijacked by the fundamentalists; it wasn’t created or supported by them until after it was in swing).

    I hope the current administration supports the demonstrators and their wishes and doesn’t cow to our generals and politicians who will call for the support of some oligarch or “strong man” who only supports US interests.

    Let Egypt be Egypt, and let the Egyptians have what they want and need- not what we desire.

  13. Sunny says:
    February 16, 2011 at 8:57 pm

    Lavrans,

    “Why cant the US have a muslim president?”. The answer is that there is no constitutional obstacle if an American muslim citizen choose to run for the presidency. However, in most “muslim countries”, a non-muslim cannot run for the president’s office. Pakistan is one example, Iran is another. Malaysia is yet another. A Pakistani Sikh or a Pakistani Christian or a Pakistani Hindu cannot certainly run for the top job, as per the constitution. I wonder if this is a characteristic of an “Islamic democracy” or is it a misinterpretation of Islam?

    There was another word used in the South African context – “Apartheid”. Isnt this the apt term to be used when a country’s constitution uses religion as a basis to disqualify certain people from certain jobs?

  14. Fatima says:
    February 17, 2011 at 8:59 am

    A Muslim country is, by definition, governed under Islam. Having a requirement that the leader be Muslim not only makes perfect sense but is necessary for governing the country according to Islamic practices (you cannot know and value Islam on the level necessary if you are not a practicing Muslim).

    In order to be President of the United States, you have to be born in the U.S. This is for similar reason. People are tied to where they are from, it forms a base for who they are.

    Democracy and Islam are not at odds with one another. While I am not sure of this, it does seem unlikely that there would be a good practicing Muslim as President of the U.S., because he or she would probably have to violate Islam in order to hold the position (given how many laws protect the rights of people to drink, consume non-halal food, etc.).

    If someone does not want to live in a Muslim country, or in a non-Muslim country, then they should move to where they are comfortable. There is no perfect government, only imperfect people trying to establish systems by which to best govern and help other imperfect people.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      February 17, 2011 at 10:50 am

      Fatima — or maybe it would be better if we simply abandoned the very idea of “a Christian country” or “a Jewish country” or “a Muslim country,” none of which really make sense since “a country” is a national entity, not a religious one. When the US identifies as “a Christian country”, as it did under George W. with his Crusader flag-waving, it loses its founding principles. So too with Israel as “a Jewish country.” And so too with any “Muslim country” where religious law takes precedence over civil rights. It seems to me that the whole issue of whether Islam and democracy are “compatible” is an Islamophobic red herring, since Islam is no more or less “compatible” with democracy than Christianity or Judaism.

      • Fatima says:
        February 17, 2011 at 1:52 pm

        Big Brother need not determine the governmental structure of every country on the planet, need he?! Surely America, the Melting Pot, can value that other governmental systems bring strengths that democracy alone does not.

        America is very new country. When the U.S. system has been tried and true for a few thousand years, then perhaps there will be some well earned confidence in the superiority of this system over all others.

        Democracy (as in the right of people to vote; civil rights; free will; etc.) and Islam do not conflict (nor do Judaism or Christianity conflict with democracy).

        Muhammad gave women the right to vote thousands of years ago. The U.S. only gave that right in 1920.

        I value that there are Muslim countries. I would love to live in one that actually practices my religion, Islam, well. None at this time do. I also value voting, which, as you know, is very in keeping with Islam. The malevolent ruling powers of Islamic countries got there usually with the aid of other countries, for varying reasons of financial gain. These men call themselves Muslim but are not practicing the religion as Allah instructs.

  15. Adel says:
    February 26, 2011 at 8:24 am

    I am, for the first time in my life, happy to be Egyptian, proud, jubilant and hopeful. The road is long and hard, climbing always is. I thank you so much for supporting our cause, and for writing such a wonderful article, through your tears.

    Adel

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      February 26, 2011 at 9:10 am

      Adel — your comments make my heart feel huge. Thank you.

“Leave, Leave, Leave”

Posted February 7th, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton

The anthem of the uprising?  This song was recorded in Tahrir Square on Friday, and subtitled and posted over the weekend:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPhj5XnPjaU]

It should come as no surprise, however, that Husni Mubarak and Omar Suleiman are tone deaf.  Human Rights Watch lists 297 confirmed killed since January 28.

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File under: Middle East | Tagged: Tags: Egypt, Mubarak, song, Tahrir Square | 6 Comments
  1. Lana says:
    February 8, 2011 at 6:53 am

    Thanks for sharing … Egyptians are definately creative 🙂 🙂
    My heart aches when i see pictures of those who have been killed … what a shame

  2. Renata says:
    February 10, 2011 at 5:15 am

    Greetings from Brazil! Just luv your blog. Thanks for sharing such interesting infos and opinions. “Accept, appreciate, understand”, what a great challenge!!
    Looking forward to following your posts!
    Renata.

  3. Egyptian and proud says:
    February 10, 2011 at 12:10 pm

    Hey Lesley,
    can’t thank u enough for sharing this on ur blog,
    and thanks for everyone supporting Egypt now, even by his heart 🙂

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      February 10, 2011 at 5:47 pm

      Only someone without a heart could not support this courage.

  4. Mincka says:
    February 10, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    have you seen this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfX5skKmQMo&feature=player_embedded
    at 1:18 is a strange green horse

    Mincka

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      February 10, 2011 at 5:55 pm

      Am sure it’s led to messianic fantasies of El Khadr, ‘the green one’ (aka Elijah/Ilyis), come to free the people. In fact it looks a digital shadow from earlier taping that day, when thugs rode horses and camels into the crowd of protesters.

Courage Is Infectious

Posted February 4th, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton

The magnificence of it!

After two days of concerted attacks by plain-clothes security police and paid goons armed with guns, machetes, whips, batons, and nail-studded maces;  after the coordinated attempt of the Mubarak regime to intimidate protestors, to stop news coverage by arresting and roughing up journalists, and to create the appearance of chaos, this:

The largest protest crowds so far.

And not only in Cairo.  In every Egyptian city.  All calling for Mubarak to step down.  Now.  And all peaceful.

Courage, it turns out, is infectious:  One of the two lead anchors of a government TV station quit to join the protestors, as did the station’s manager, declaring themselves unable to keep up  the hypocrisy;  the head of the Arab League arrived in Tahrir Square to speak to protestors;  even the government turned up in person, when the minister of defense came to ‘review the troops’ and also spoke with protestors, signaling at least a degree of support.

The violence that was designed to keep people away from public protest seems instead to have reinforced their determination.  And here, halfway round the world in Seattle, I am amazed and humbled and inordinately grateful for their courage.

I’m aware that however much I’m feeling, it’s a tiny fraction of what the vast majority of Egyptians are feeling, both in Egypt and abroad — a fraction of what all those living under Middle Eastern dictatorships are feeling as they remain glued, as I am, to the live feeds of news organizations such as Al Jazeera and, amazingly, the most powerful and irrepressible news update of all, Twitter feeds — from rights organizations like Human Rights Watch (@hrw), from reporters like Nicolas Kristof (@NickKristof), and from Egyptian activists on the ground (check my RTs at @accidentaltheo for some of them).

I’m riding an emotional roller coaster of empathy and hope, but it’s the people in the squares and streets of Egypt who are, literally, placing their lives on the line.

Would you?  Would I?  Do we have any idea how much we take for granted what others are willing to die for?

Whatever happens in Egypt in the next few days, watch, follow it closely, spread the news, and be awed — and inspired — by the infectious power of courage.

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File under: Middle East | Tagged: Tags: Al Jazeera, courage, Egypt, freedom, Human Rights Watch, Mubarak, Nick Kristof, Tahrir Square, thugs, Twitter | 3 Comments
  1. Lana says:
    February 5, 2011 at 2:16 am

    I am glued to aljazeera … totally in an emotional roller coaster … hope is infectious … i just fear what this oppressive gonverment has in its sleeve … today we heard about gas pipes exploding … i fear a very well known senario that might drag the whole country into “real” chaos … they have many cards to play .. terrorism is one
    as noam chomsky said (my words) it’s not going to be easy there is so much instake in egypt

  2. Lynn Rosen says:
    February 7, 2011 at 10:38 pm

    Check out Aj Jazeera English for the real news from the Middle East at this link:

    http://www.livestation.com/channels/3-al_jazeera_english

  3. Lynn Rosen says:
    February 7, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    Check out Al Jazeera English for the real news from the Middle East at this link:

    http://www.livestation.com/channels/3-al_jazeera_english

And Now, The Thugs

Posted February 2nd, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton

It’s such a heady proposition:  an end to dictatorial regimes in the Middle East, a newly empowered citizenry, the prospect of real democracy.  As Nick Kristof tweeted early on, Innaharda, ehna kullina Misriyeen — “today, we are all Egyptians.”

El-Baradei says Mubarak has until Friday to get on the plane and leave Egypt.  But it seems he’s not going to fade gently into the good night.  “I wish it could be done so gently,” wrote one commenter on my previous post, rightly sceptical of my optimism.

And now, the thugs.  And the specter, after ten days of exhilarating hope, of heartbreak.

The thugs are in Cairo’s Tahrir Square as I write, described absurdly by the New York Times and other news organizations as “Mubarak supporters.”  The NYT should read its own The Lede blog, which reports that they are plain-clothes police and paid provocateurs, and that ten bucks a day is the going rate.

Nick Kristof details the menace of them:

I’ve been spending hours on Tahrir today, and it is absurd to think of this as simply “clashes” between two rival groups. The pro-democracy protesters are unarmed and have been peaceful at every step. But the pro-Mubarak thugs are arriving in buses and are armed — and they’re using their weapons.

In my area of Tahrir, the thugs were armed with machetes, straight razors, clubs and stones. And they all had the same chants, the same slogans and the same hostility to journalists. They clearly had been organized and briefed. So the idea that this is some spontaneous outpouring of pro-Mubarak supporters, both in Cairo and in Alexandria, who happen to end up clashing with other side — that is preposterous. It’s difficult to know what is happening, and I’m only one observer, but to me these seem to be organized thugs sent in to crack heads, chase out journalists, intimidate the pro-democracy forces and perhaps create a pretext for an even harsher crackdown.

Now Al-Jazeera‘s live feed shows them throwing Molotov cocktails at the anti-Mubarak protestors, and heavy rocks from the rooftops.  They’re beating up journalists, and on the hunt in particular for Al-Jazeera reporters.  There have been several more deaths, and many serious injuries.

Mubarak’s speech last night gave the option of chaos without him (the old apres-moi-le-déluge) or stability with him.  But the only chaos is with him.

I still hope against hope, but the memories I’ve been struggling against rise up threateningly:  Iran’s “green revolution” of 2009 brutally put down;  Tianenmen Square in 1989, brutally put down;  the ousting of the Shah in 1979, taken over by a theocracy and turned into yet another dictatorial regime.

As the call goes out for even larger demonstrations in Egypt on Friday, with a march on the presidential palace, it comes down, it seems, to the military.  Which way will they go?  If the march on the palace does take place, what will they do?

Will they fire on the marchers?  Or will there be a military coup, with the army openly taking over?  (And if so, would the generals assume power themselves, or hand over to a civilian interim government?)   Or will Mubarak — I’m sorry, I can’t help it, I insist on hoping — finally get on the damn plane?

I watch with tears in my eyes, battling the despair creeping up in my heart, wishing, hoping against hope…

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File under: Middle East | Tagged: Tags: Egypt, Egyptian military, El-Baradei, Mubarak, Nick Kristof, Tahrir Square, thugs | 4 Comments
  1. Michael Kimt says:
    February 2, 2011 at 10:00 am

    Mubarak must be an idiot for only this explains his actions. Just take shutting down internet. Didn’t it force more people going to streets? Or his decidedness now. He’s digging himself a grave!

  2. Lana says:
    February 2, 2011 at 11:07 am

    I too am watching with tears in my eyes and a heart that is aching … but there always should be hope as you said … and people there are determined ..

  3. sb says:
    February 2, 2011 at 2:15 pm

    Dictators are a case study in narcissisim writ extra large.

    Perhaps we can understand and have sympathy for people who live under these kinds of regimes and who, out of the need to preserve their families and the little stability they have, try to live with the status quo however awful and oppressive.

    Maybe we can see the day to day bravery of people in places like Iran who live with the beast and are try with all their might not to unleash it depravity on their loved ones. I don’t know what the answer is, but worldwide outcry from the mouths of leaders who say they value democracy and freedom could be a place to start.

  4. nuzhat says:
    February 2, 2011 at 9:37 pm

    all the same sentiments of despair are shared here too.
    May Allah show the right and peaceful way out of the turmoil.
    material and spiritual progress of mankind lies only in unity across all the people of the world.

Mubarak, Your Flight is Boarding

Posted January 31st, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton

It’s a photoshop job, of course, but a perfect one.

Mr Mubarak, your Ben Ali Airlines flight to Saudi Arabia is now boarding.   The ousted Tunisian dictator will meet you on arrival.   We regret that the first-class compartment is fully booked by members of your former regime, and wish you a pleasant and uneventful flight.

[Credit:  anonymous.]

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File under: Middle East | Tagged: Tags: Ben Ali, Egypt, Mubarak, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia | 4 Comments
  1. Christine says:
    January 31, 2011 at 11:56 am

    Great! All good wishes for the egyptean people.

  2. CJ says:
    January 31, 2011 at 11:57 am

    I wish it could be done so gently.

  3. Rasha says:
    January 31, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    I am proud to be Egyptian!

  4. Dr. Anwar Shah says:
    January 31, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    There is a time for every thing.

“I Am Proud To Be Egyptian Today”

Posted January 29th, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton

In admiration of the stunning courage of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, and with my heart in my mouth for their success:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hBV0ApIh_4]

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File under: Middle East | Tagged: Tags: Egypt, Mubarak, protests | 1 Comment
  1. Amna Khalid says:
    January 29, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    It is so touching to see how the dreams of so many Egyptians are on the verge of coming true on seeing a better Egypt for the future as a result of this revolution. As someone who loves her own country (Pakistan), I can relate to how such changes for the positive would feel like. God bless the Egyptians.

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