Month: February 2011

Arabisk revolution: Next stop Libya?

As’ad Abukhalil, også kendt som Angry Arab, videregiver budskabet om 17. februar fra en libysk bekendt:

Also for some background information on why the 17th of Feb. copied from a news group that i belong to: 3. The Feb. 17th date comemmorates the following, so make sure you talk
about it in your tweets.

– In 1987 a group of shabab were executed–their bodies dragged through the
streets of Benghazi and left outside for days–for killing Ahmed Mufda’ Werfelli. Werfelli was one of Gaddafi’s executionners. He was known to smile and laugh when he put nooses around the people’s neck he executed. He was also known for going through the markets, bullying people and gnerally being a jerk. A group of young men followed him and killed him. They were executed for their role. – In 2006 the government called people into the streets, in front of the Italian embassy, to protest the Italian ambassador wearing a t-shirt with the infamous cartoon of the prophet.

When people went to the embassy they began to riot…quickly the security forces turned against the people–beating them, etc. The chants then transformed into chants against the regime and gaddafi himself. 18 people were confirmed dead…more were probably killed, they were all young people with one being 15 years old. And 700 were imprisoned, many of which are still in jail. The protests spread through the region–reaching Tobruk. We are commemorating these brutal attacks on the people. 4. Gaddafi yesterday gathered a bunch of people, activists, bloggers, etc…to tell them, among other things, that if anybody joins these protests that their tribes will be punished. In hopes that the tribes will keep people quiet.

He also said that all of these things were CIA and Mossad conspiracies to tear down Libya. He said that Mubarak wasn’t a rich man…he borrowed his clothes from people. He said a lot of delusional things, but mostly he wanted to scare people and to get the tribes to restrain people. 5. One of the Revolutionary committees (Gaddafi’s vanguard) called people to the streets to protest on 17th…as if Gaddafi was going to join them and demand his rights too. Today they organized a protest in Tripoli in front of the Main building of the People’s committee in Tripoli. They were blaming AlBaghdadi, the secretary of the committee, for everything in Libya….so you can see where this is all going.

Venstre indrømmer de løj for vælgerne i 2001 og frem

Det er et helt uskønt syn at se regeringen rulle sig i pløret for tiden. Det går drastisk ned af bakke, og køen ved håndvasken kan næsten ikke blive længere.

Thor Pedersen, den tidligere finansminister går nu til pressen og udtaler at det ikke var regeringens skyld at økonomien i de sidste 10 år har været en fiasko uden grænser. Næh det var skam demokratiets skyld!

Thor mener at når regeringen i 2001 og fremefter til hvert eneste valg hævdede at skattestoppet var fuldt foreneligt med højere udgifter til krige, privathospitaler, medicinfirmaer og tiltagende bureaukratiske regler, så var det ikke deres fejl. Nej det var demokratiet der tvang dem til at lyve og bedrage!

Jeg formoder det er korrekt observeret at det er demokratiets skyld – for hvis V og K ikke havde bildt vælgerne ovenstående ind, ja så ville de ikke være kommet til magten.

Kære Thor – demokratiet er ikke til for at Venstre kan få ministerbiler – og hvis man lover noget til vælgerne der ikke er holdbart, så er det dem der lover der har ansvaret – ikke demokratiet eller vælgerne.

link til Venstre ved håndvasken

Torture in Egypt – to journalisters øjenvidneberetning

Souad Mekhenet og Nicholas Kulish er to journalister fra New York Times, der blev taget til fange af Mubaraks frygtede hemmelige politi, Mukhabarat.

De led ikke selv nogen overlast under deres fangenskab, men de fik et uhyggeligt indtryk af, hvordan regimet i disse dage slår ned på almindelige mennesker, der vover at udtrykke deres utilfredshed i de store demonstrationer:

Our discomfort paled in comparison to the dull whacks and the screams of pain by Egyptian people that broke the stillness of the night. In one instance, between the cries of suffering, an officer said in Arabic, “You are talking to journalists? You are talking badly about your country?”

Captivity was terrible. We felt powerless — uncertain about where and how long we would be held. But the worst part had nothing to do with our treatment. It was seeing — and in particular hearing through the walls of this dreadful facility — the abuse of Egyptians at the hands of their own government.

For one day, we were trapped in the brutal maze where Egyptians are lost for months or even years. Our detainment threw into haunting relief the abuses of security services, the police, the secret police and the intelligence service, and explained why they were at the forefront of complaints made by the protesters.

The Mukhabarat has had a working relationship with American intelligence, including the C.I.A.’s so-called rendition program of prison transfers. During our questioning, a man nearby was being beaten — the sickening sound somewhere between a thud and a thwack. Between his screams someone yelled in Arabic, “You’re a traitor working with foreigners.”

Egyptian journalists had a freer hand than many in the region’s police states, but the secret police kept a close eye on both journalists and their sources. As the protests became more violent, a campaign of intimidation against journalists and the Egyptians speaking to them became apparent. We appeared to have stumbled into the middle of it.

Ms. Mekhennet asked her interrogator, “Where are we?” The interrogator answered, “You are nowhere.”

Link: 2 Detained Reporters Saw Secret Police’s Methods Firsthand

Som Nicholas D. Kristof, som også er i Cairo for New York Times, udtrykker det: I dag er vi alle ægyptere.

A divided Egypt

Karim Sabet lagde dette på Facebook i morges og sluttede med ordene: Share if you care. Hans beretning er værd at høre.

I have not been able to sleep from what I think may be a day I hope I will never get to see again. I need to make one thing very very clear to all of you guys watching what is happening from your TV screens. Having spent 8 hours in Tahrir square yesterday, I can say that the majority of the people throwing rocks from the anti-Mubarak demonstrators were not the people I want representing me. Yes i am asking for the president to go, yes I am asking for changes to be made, and yes I will continue to go back there every day for the same cause but I will NOT accept that religious groups hijack what we have been doing for their own agenda.

A large group of the ones organizing them yesterday were people in galabeyas and long beards shouting “Al Jihad fe Sabeel Allah (Jihad in the name of Allah), you have to continue fighting, we will win this war, if you die here today, you will be a martyr and go straight to heaven, don’t stop, fight, fight, fight”.

NO! This is NOT why we werein the streets on Friday being tear gassed and dodging rubber bullets and it is not why we have been going to Tahrir everyday to be heard. The reason why this revolt went through and became successful was because it was not religiously or politically charged. Don’t let the ones who have been watching this unfold in the shadows ride this wave and hijack what you have been fighting for. I saw on Monday Taalat El Sadat (a dodgy fame hungry politician) ask people in the square to get aggressive. He was met with one loud message by everyone, “Selmeya, Selmeya” (Peaceful, Peaceful) – which is how all of us want it.

This President (who needs to go because enough is enough) has lost all credibility with every single person on this planet. After coming out on Monday night promising swift reform, he sends thugs and under cover cops (I took a pic of one of the IDs, posted on my wall last night) to provoke the ones in Tahrir. For every action, you will always get a reaction ya zift and probably this is what he  is looking for – to divide his own people. If you send them to Tahrir, you will get a war (especially since the police have been in hiding since Friday night) however I do NOT want this country to fall in the darkness of the abyss. I am hoping that the Muslim Brotherhood stay out of this although I know that this is impossible at this point.

The above is just to get you guys thinking… and only time can tell us what will really happen. What is happening to my Egypt right now is heartbreaking.

For the time being, only one message is clear…. Mubarak, please leave – how much more blood are you looking for?