Tag: jan25

Angry Arab om Søren Pind som taler til Mellemøsten-demo

Den ubegribelige opportunisme, der har fået arrangørerne af en stor demo for demokrati i Mellemøsten til at lade den nationalkonservative integrationsminister Søren Pind tale, har nu vakt opmærksomhed også uden for landets grænser.

Angry Arab News Service, der drives af den libanesisk-amerikanske forfatter og akademiker As’ad Abukhalil, skriver således:

On friday 11th, there will be a large demo in Copenhagen in favour of democracy in the Middle East. Unbelievably, Søren Pind, the current Danish minister of “integration” (foreigners) and “devolopment” (humanitarian aid, development programmes) will be among the speakers.  Mr. Pind is an unapologetic racist who has supported the Danish Hells Angels’ “Jackal Manifesto” which said Arabs “squeal when they are beaten”. I kid you not. He has also said there will be no more “integration” – foreigners must assimilate completely or leave. And he is in charge! I kid you not. I don’t know what the other speakers are thinking, but I know I’d only go for one reason: To protest again that man’s presence. I can only hope he will meet his one little slice of Tahrir on Friday. The Facebook page of the demo is here – it’s in Danish, but you can easily see his name.

Link: Soren Pind

Arabisk revolution – next stop Palestine?

Faktisk kunne en regulær palæstinensisk opstand som dem, vi har set i Libyen, Tunesien og Egypten måske være det, der skal til for at bryde den israelske besættelse og få såvel israelerne som Abbas’ Quislingestyre til at trække sig helt tilbage, spekulerer Larry Derfner i Jerusalem Post:

Something’s going to blow, I figured, and my guess was that Israel would start one war too many, maybe against Iran, or Lebanon, or Gaza, and masses of Israelis as well as foreigners would die, and when the smoke cleared it would be recalled that we started it, and the world would finally run out of patience with us and we would get out of the West Bank in a lather to avoid being ostracized, to save ourselves from becoming a Jewish North Korea.

Again, not my preferred way of ending the occupation. But no “good” way was presenting itself.

And then came Tunisia. And Egypt. And Iran, and Yemen, and Bahrain, and Libya, and no one knows where this is going to stop.

And it became pretty clear to me that this is how Israeli rule in the West Bank is going to end – through Palestinian people power. Masses of Palestinians, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, marching to IDF checkpoints and outposts, marching to Israeli-only roads, to settlements, to the security fence – to the nearest Israeli presence and screaming, “Out! Out!”

And refusing to leave.

WHAT THE hell is the IDF going to do then? Shoot them? Arrest them? With the whole world not only watching but, for the first time, already won over by other unarmed Arab masses facing down their oppressors? What will the IDF do under the eyes of a world that, for the first time, is seeing Arabs as people like themselves who want freedom, who deserve it and who are earning it, to say the least, with their courage?

How will the IDF and the Palestinian Authority police – those who don’t defect – get all these people to go back home and stay there?

I don’t see it. I think we’re going to have grand-scale anarchy on our hands – and we won’t be able to solve it by force, and the world will be on the side of the anarchists.

Impossible? If you say this is impossible, you’ve been on Mars for the last month. If you’ve been on Earth, the idea of the Arab revolt not reaching the West Bank is what seems impossible. To me, it’s inevitable. I’m only surprised it hasn’t started already.

After all, the Palestinians’ “war of the stones,” the first intifada in the late 1980s, was close to being a model for what’s happening in the Middle East now. The Egyptians and other Arab rebels have even adopted the term intifada, which means “shaking off.”

True, the first intifada (not to mention the second one) wasn’t nonviolent – the Palestinians threw stones and Molotov cocktails. But they certainly played David to the IDF’s Goliath. And in recent years, the “popular resistance” – the marches on the security fence in Bil’in and other West Bank villages – has been all but nonviolent, with only a few teenagers throwing stones at IDF troops, usually from far distances.

The Palestinians are the Arab world’s masters at political judo – at turning the enemy’s superior power against him. This is how civil disobedience works, and it’s working wonders in the Middle East, so why on earth shouldn’t it come to the West Bank, too?

It’s a matter of time. Maybe it’ll start Friday with the Palestinians’ “Day of Rage” against the US veto of the UN resolution against settlements. If not Friday, it’ll start soon. Something will set it off.

And yes, I’m hoping it happens. If the only other options are occupation forever or peace following catastrophe – and I think those are the only other options – I prefer people power.

Link: People get ready – there’s a train a-comin’ (via Angry Arab).

Statusmeddelelse

TUNISIA —->████████████████ : 100% done

EGYPT ——>████████████████ : 100% done

LIBYA ——->██████████████░░ : in progress

ALGERIA —->████░░░░░░░░░░░░ : in progress

YEMEN ——>██████░░░░░░░░░░ : in progress

BAHRAIN —>██████████░░░░░░ : in progress

IRAQ——–> █████░░░░░░░░░░░ : in progress

PALESTINE ->░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ : not yet!

Set på nettet …

Egyptens synagoger og bomberne i Alexandria

Kristne egyptere slår ring om bedende muslimer på Tahrir-pladsen
Kristne egyptere slår ring om bedende muslimer på Tahrir-pladsen for at beskytte dem mod angreb fra Mubarak-regimets bøller.

Jeg har tidligere fortalt, hvordan Egyptens koptiske kristne nu forventer bedre og mere tolerante tider, efter Mubaraks fald. De allestedsnærværende vagtlokaler uden for kristne kirke er ikke længere bemandede, for folk er ikke længere bange for angreb.

Det samme gælder for jøderne og deres synagoger, skriver Egyptian Chronicles:

Do you know that during the last 18 or even 20 days in Egypt there has not been a single guard from the police force protecting the Jewish synagogues in the country !!?

Do you know that there has not been a single attack against a single synagogue recorded in the country ?

Do you know that the synagogues in Down town were not attacked or harmed from any kind ?

Men: Hvis folk i Egypten ikke har noget særligt imod kristne og jøder og det i en sådan grad, at minoriteterne slet ikke har brug for Mubarak-tidens beskyttelse, nu hvor politiet er som sunket i jorden, hvem stod så bag de sidste mange års forfølgelse af kopterne? Hvem stod bag bomben mod en kirke i Alexandria, som dræbte 21 mennesker omkring nytår og fik tusinder af egyptiske muslimer til at slå kreds om de kristne og stille sig op som menneskelige skjolde til kristne gudstjenester rundt omkring?

Sagen er endnu ikke opklaret, men de foreliggende oplysninger tyder særdeles stærkt på, at det var Mubaraks indenrigsminister Habib El Adly, der stod bag. Daily Kos citerede 7/2 “britiske efterretningskilder” for, at man efter de store fangeflugter i den egyptiske revolutions første dage kom i kontakt med flygtede fanger, der forbandt El Adny med bomberne:

A British diplomat revealed before the Chambers of the French Palace, Elysee, the reason for the insistence of England to demand the departure of the Egyptian President and his team, especially the Ministry of Interior, which was administered by the Minister Habib Al-Adli, the reason is that British intelligence confirmed, from audio and paper Egyptian official documents , that the sacked Egyptian Interior Minister Habib Al-Adli had formed six years ago, a special body run by 22 officers, and consists of some members of Islamic groups, which spent years in the prisons of the Interior ministry, number of drug dealers, teams of security companies, and number of registered risk of ex-offenders, who were divided into groups according to geographical regions and political affiliation, this body is able to be a comprehensive sabotage all over Egypt in case the regime is subjected to any threat.

The British intelligence also revealed that Major Fathi Abdel Wahed, who is close to the former Minister Habib Al-Adli, started on 11 December to prepare “Ahmed Mohamed Khaled” (who spent eleven years in the prisons of the Egyptian Interior Ministry) for the connect to a radical Egyptian group, as to push it to hit Saints Church in Alexandria. Ahmed al-Khalid succeeded in making contacts to a radical movement in Egypt, its name (Jundullah), and told her that he has equipment which he got from Gaza, that could explode the Church in order to “discipline the Copts”. Muhammad Abd al-Hadi (leader of Jundullah) liked the idea, and recruited an element named Abdul Rahman Ahmed Ali. Abdul Rahman was told that he will park the car, which will explode on its own later, but Major Fathi Abdul Wahid himself was the one who exploded the car remotely, by wireless device, and before Abdel-Rahman Ahmed Ali the victim could step out of the car.

Thus happened the horrific crime that shook Egypt and the world last year’s new Eve.

Daily News Egypt fortæller, at anklagemyndigheden er i færd med at undersøge beskyldningerne mod El Adly. Al Arabiya har også historien. Der har endnu ikke været nogen retssag om bomberne i Alexandria, men El Adly er i forvejen anholdt, anklaget for korruption, bedrageri og for at beordre sine sikkerhedsstyrker til at åbne ild mod demonstranter. Det kan i hvert fald forklare, hvorfor Egyptens kirker og synagoger pludselig ikke længere har brug for vagter: Fordi de folk, som havde en interesse i at sætte befolkningsgrupperne op mod hinanden, nu er sat fra bestillingen.

Link: Even the Synagogues

Egyptens kristne venter bedre tider efter Mubaraks fald

Meget af de senere års forfølgelse og uro i forbindelse med Egyptens koptere var i virkeligheden anstiftet af Mubarak-regimet, der således håbede på at sikre sit eget styre ved at problematisere mindretallene og spille de etniske og religiøse grupper ud mod hinanden.

Siden revolutionen er der slet ikke de samme sikkerhedsforanstaltninger omkring de kristne kirker som under Mubarak, og alligevel har der endnu ikke været et eneste angreb eller optræk til uro mellem kristne og muslimer. Nu er der jo ikke længere en diktator, der kan profitere af at skabe sådanne spændinger, kunne man fristes til at sige. Ingen af os ved endnu, hvad fremtiden vil bringe, men Egyptens kristne har mere håb for fremtiden, end de havde tidligere. Reportage ved Al Jazeera.

Bahrain – næste store urocenter?

Demonstration i Bahrain.
Demonstranter i Bahrain tirsdag d. 15. februar. Fotografi: Mahmood Al-Yousif.

Bahrain er som en lille og ganske velhavende østat i Golfen en helt anden slags land end Egypten. Men tag ikke fejl: Det ulmer, og utilfredsheden med det indspiste og korrupte kongedømme er, som andre steder i den arabiske verden, kraftigt forstærker af inspirationen fra Egypten og Tunesien.

Mandag angreb myndighederne en demonstration med tåregas og hagl, og en demonstrant blev dræbt. Da omkring ti tusind mennesker i går ville begrave ham, angreb politiet igen og dræbte endnu en demonstrant. Folk er vrede, og tusindvis af mennesker har nu slået sig ned i Manamas centrale “Pearl Roundabout”, som de har omdøbt til “Tahrir Roundabout”. Oprindelig krævede de blot reformer og en ny regering, men efter de to drab lyder kravet: “The People Want to Overthrow the Regime“, som Mahmood fortæller:

Arriving at the Salmaniya Medical Complex – the main health facility in the island and in which the mortuary is located, I noticed three police jeeps with some ten or so riot police milling about just opposite one of the entrances of the hospital nearest to the mortuary. I paid them no heed as I thought that they must’ve been there as a token force and they won’t dare do anything when the funeral cortege passes by in an hour or so. I carried on and went in to the mortuary and joined the several hundred mourners already present there, with a lot more pouring in as time went by. The atmosphere, though tense, remained peaceful with occasional political and religious chants. Once the body was brought out, the crowd galvanised and started moving in an orderly and peaceful fashion to the main exit. The plan was to bury Ali Abdulhadi Mushaimi in the nearby village of Jiddhaffs’ cemetery, just a few kilometers away.

But as we arrived at the gate to exit – and I was almost at the front of the mourners – the tear gas was fired at us and live bird-shot too was fired into the crowd, the latter was the ammunition whcih was used to kill Ali Mushaimi, the person we were carrying to his final resting place. I didn’t know it at the time, but another martyr was mowed down not more than ten meters ahead of me. Fadhel Almatrouk now joins the pantheon of fallen Bahraini martyrs. I suspect that he won’t be the last. The people of Bahrain have paid dear with their lives over decades fighting for their rights and will continue to do so until their rightful demands are met.

Unable to breath and faced with an inordinate use of force against unarmed civilians, the cortège driver decided to drive away from that exit and attempt to get out another exit on the other side of the hospital. People were scrambling about trying to protect themselves and show respect to the deceased at the same time; however, even that was not to be. The so called security forces encircled the protestors between the original exit and the one at the far end and started shooting tear gas at us inside the hospital grounds. Some protestors out of anger and frustration started lobbing stones at the police, but when I shouted at them to keep it peaceful with another phrase taken from our brothers in Tunisia and Egypt (سلميه سلميه) others took up the cry and prevented demonstrators from resorting to violence.

Tåregas mod demonstranter i Bahrain. Foto: Mahmood Al-Yousif.

The tear gas was choking us. With eyes streaming and lungs on fire, we sped off after the cortege to continue to be faced by the riot police and their liberal use of tear gas. The avenues and lanes around the hospital were saturated with people walking away in the direction of the chosen grave yard, but coughing and trying to cope as much as possible with the poisonous atmosphere. People, though, were stopping and helping each other. Some producing tissues to help wipe away eyes and others sharing their water or offering a helping hand when needed. The atmosphere, though charged, was still determined. We are going to do good by the fallen martyr.

Several international journalists were in attendance, from Reuters to the New York Times – both of which interviewed me along with several people in the crowd. Wa’ad’s Ebrahim Sharif and MPs from the main Al-Wefaq political party were in attendance and they too were interviewed by probably all journalists present. The common denominator to most of the answers were the need for real reform of the government, the constitution, addressing corruption and attending to the people’s needs.

By the time the body was interred, people streamed out of the area in the direction of the capital Manama, specifically to the Pearl Roundabout, a main landmark celebrating the unity of the Gulf Cooperation Council, but now rechristened by the protestors as “Bahrain’s Tahrir Roundabout” with people camping there under make-shift tents complete with their blankets and necessities fully intending to stay until their demands are met. From the latest pictures I’ve seen, there must be considerably more than ten thousand.

Bahrain er et lille land, og demonstranterne er oppe mod kolossale odds. Styret slår ned med jernhånd, og som overalt i regionen har regeringen forsøgt at bestikke borgerne med indrømmelser og økonomisk kompensation, og Bahrain har selv forsøgt sig med at sende en engangs-check på 2500 dollars til samtlige husstande.

Men det er ikke det, det handler om: Folk vil have deres frihed, også i Bahrain; eller, som Mahmood formulerer det: “They will not stop and they should not stop until basic demands are met: respect for human rights, better political and economic rights and proper freedoms of the press, expression and personal freedoms along with a representative government and parliament rather than the sham we currently have.” Måtte de få det snart.

Egypt rally, London 12.2.2011

Demonstration til støtte for oprøret i Egypten i hjertet af London. I videoens ledsagetekst læser vi:

Amnesty International’s rally in solidarity with the people of Egypt and the wider Middle East & North Africa. Was mostly a celebration of the fall of Mubarak which happened the day before. 45 other cities across the world had the same rally.

Desværre (eller selvfølgelig, kunne man næsten sige) ikke min hjemby Århus. Blandt talerne ser man Waseem Wagdi,
som vi tidligere (1. februar, faktisk) har set græde af lykke over, at folk i hans hjemland endelig havde fået nok af militærstyrets undertrykkelse og despoti.

Egypten – diktatoren faldt, men kampen er først begyndt

Den egyptiske hær har nu opløst parlamentet, meddelt, at der vil være valg til september og lægger nu op til at forbyde strejker, som 3arabawy skriver:

From Reuters…

Egypt’s new military rulers will issue a warning on Sunday against anyone who creates “chaos and disorder”, an army source said.
The Higher Military Council will also ban meetings by labour unions or professional syndicates, effectively forbidding strikes, and tell all Egyptians to get back to work after the unrest that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Remember, when the army took over in 1952, first thing they did was executing two strike leaders at Kafr el-Dawwar textile mill.

Militæret siger, at de vil give borgerne deres rettigheder tilbage og afholde valg, og det er svært at se, at de har andet valg – uden at gribe til vold i en skala, som selv Mubarak var ude af stand til at ty til. Men militæret har de sidste 60 år været mere eller mindre identisk med regimet. Det er svært at se deres halve års overgangsperiode som andet end en lejlighed til at bage store mængder af rævekager, der skal bevare deres egne og Mubarak-regimets velhavende klienters privilegier.

Ifølge førciterede Hossam el-Hawalawys twitterstrøm foregår der netop nu et intenst arbejde med at danne fagforeninger og organisere strejker, så revolutionen ikke bare bliver overtaget af militæret, men bliver fastholdt og kommer almindelige mennesker til gode:

we bloody need free labor unions to keep those strikes going and coordinate #egyworkers

Oil #egyworkers on strike – LIVE at http://bambuser.com/v/1412290

The militancy is impressive. The strikers attacked ministry officials for still putting up Mubarak’s photos on the wall.

Spoke with the oil strikers, put them in touch with labor lawyers to start forming free union.

Also more divers I’m in touch with r joining initiative for a free union of Egyptian divers, in Marsa Alam, Hurghada, Sharm and Alexandria.

Everyone should start forming unions & labor associations now. If we don’t build those now, we’ll be fucked by the regime soon.

Don’t trust the Generals! Don’t trust the Generals! Keep building your trade unions. That is the only thing that can protect our revolution.

Omar Suleimans og Mubaraks konstante forhandlen på skrømt, mens deres halve eller potentielle indrømmelser blev fulgt op af intense forsøg på at lade det hemmelige politi slå ned på demonstranterne med vold, kidnapninger og tortur, giver i hvert fald ikke i sig selv nogen grund til at stole på militærets velvilje – med mindre aktivisterne og folk nede på jorden bliver ved med at holde dem godt og grundigt i ørerne.

Og de vestlige regeringer? Vel, de står sikkert allerede på spring for at bestikke de spirende politiske partier med støtte for at sikre en “fornuftig” (læs: Mubarak-lignende) politik i fremtiden. Men de skal måske ikke forvente sig for meget af egypterne, især ikke taknemmelighed.

Wael Ghonim udtrykte det meget klart i én af sine mange tweets:

Dear Western Governments, You’ve been silent for 30 years supporting the regime that was oppressing us. Please don’t get involved now.

Here’s hoping they won’t.