On #Maspero and the Revolution Against Ourselves

This is midterm week for me, and since I have been woefully not on top of my academic game this semester, it was supposed to be lockdown for study week. But then out of left field came yesterday’s events at #Maspero and downtown Cairo. At first I was viciously angry. While my rage has subsided [...]

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Youth Revolution – demographics

A non-amendments post: With everyone calling this a youth revolution, I took some time to look up and make an image of Egypt’s demographic info. I used info from CAPMAS for 2008 (which must be estimates since there wasnt a census that year). The image makes the youth pyramid clear. Some stats: 38% are aged [...]

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#jan25 – Antecedents to the Uprising

This was written a few weeks ago as the first part of a much larger project. I have yet to get around to addressing the third part. So I am publishing this for the most part as it was written. The material and some of the links may seem dated at this point, but I [...]

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(Re)Enter Sandman ..err.. -monkey

Enter Sandman ..err.. -monkey Sandmonkey says that as all the familiar old faces emerge to start their activism at square one again, he’s back too. I have to agree, at least partially, with the sentiment. We’re back to 2004 with all the political “actors” and activists beginning to reemerge and feel each other and the [...]

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TOGAZA – إلى غَـــــزة

The Egyptian Popular Committee in Solidarity with The Palestinian People is calling for a global MARCH TO GAZA.

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Assistance to Gaza

I just received two emails announcing efforts to aid gaza. See below. Also check the popular committee’s site for more updates: http://gaza.katib.org/ بيان صحفي اللجنة الشعبية لدعم الشعب الفلسطيني تعلن اللجنة الشعبية لدعم الشعب الفلسطيني عن بدء استقبال التبرعات العينية (مواد دوائية وطبية) تحضيراً لقافلة إغاثة طبية للشعب الفلسطيني . تستقبل اللجنة التبرعات بمقرها المؤقت [...]

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Gaza Activist Arrests in Cairo

I just heard that Salma Said, Khaled AbdelHamid, Malek, Sabri El Sammak and at least 3 journalists have been arrested outside of the Arab League building in  Tahrir.  The activists were protesting in support of Gaza UPDATE 1:05pm The number i am getting is 13-15 arrests. Apparently they have been shoved into micobuses. The few [...]

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AUC food poisoned workers, protest

It’s good to know that even AUC is not immune to the spread of labor strikes. When some 500 workers at the new campus work site got food poisoning, they were apparently supported by hundreds who protested at the campus (Arabic). This led to AUC promising to take action. Naturally, State Security was there to [...]

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Wael account reopened, not “restored”

I’d heard late last week that Wael Abbas’ shut-down YouTube account had been reactivated. Apparently, according to Wael, that’s all that has been done – as opposed to “restored”, as they claim in their statement. Everything on the account has, it seems, disappeared. If that’s the case, then what a lame, meaningless, empty, face-saving gesture!

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Property Tax workers protest

I’m not in really in tune with what’s going on, but it would seem that the property tax employees have become active again. [ap; horeyetna in arabic]

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YouTube bans torture videos, closes Wael’s account

Yep.

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Egyptian academics step up activism

Speaking of Egypt; I dont really follow university politics, but it seems university professors are escalating their activism: “Demonstrations staged by workers and teachers demanding the government honour their financial rights have proved successful, demonstrating that the state will respond when confronted with a strong stance,” Adel Abdel-Gawwad, chairman of the Cairo University Teaching Staff [...]

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Kareem Amer Tortured in Prison

I just received a statement from the Arab Network for HR Information announcing a communique they (along with Hisham Mubarak) sent to the prosecutor general claiming that prisoner of conscience, blogger Kareem Amer (see FreeKareem for info) has recently been beaten in prison by a guard and inmate under the orders and supervision of an [...]

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“Dubai construction workers strike”

Jazeera reports on labor strikes in Dubai on Sunday: [O]n Sunday, labourers ignored threats of deportation and refused to go to work, demanding pay increases, improved housing and better transportation services to construction sites. [..] Ali bin Abdullah al-Kaabi, Dubai’s minister of labour, described workers’ behaviour as “uncivilised”, saying they were tampering with national security [...]

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Labor Strikes spread to public sector

It seems there are reports of 3,000 tax officers demonstrating in Nasr City at the Ministry of Finance headquarters and of up to 55,000 possibly joining in a nation-wide strike. I’m too short on time to look into it further. Here‘s Hossam’s post on 3arabawy. Also check out his article in the October edition of [...]

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