Andrew Kolin writes in a guest column for Informed Comment To understand how the U.S. government became a police state, look no further than how it freed itself from colonial rule. For the American Revolution was, by and large, the result of a mobilization of the masses by the elites to liberate the colonized from […]
Egypt’s Class Conflict
On Sunday morning there was some sign of the Egyptian military taking on some security duties. Soldiers started arresting suspected looters, rounding up 450 of them. The disappearance of the police from the streets had led to a threat of widespread looting is now being redressed by the regular military. Other control methods were on […]
Zewail’s 4 point Plan for Egypt
Nobelist in chemistry, Dr. Ahmed Zewail of the California Institute of Technology, is an Egyptian-American who has sometimes been mentioned as a candidate for president of Egypt. He has served as a science envoy to the Arab world of President Obama. In an interview on Aljazeera Arabic, Zewail called for fundamental change in Egypt, not […]
Mubarak’s Response to Demand for end of Military Rule
Gen. Hosni Mubarak’s response to a mass uprising demanding an end to military rule in Egypt? He appoints the former head of Egyptian military intelligence (Omar Suleiman) his vice president (and therefore likely successor). He appoints the Air Force Chief of Staff (Ahmad Shafiq) as prime minister. Can you spell TONE DEAF? Meanwhile, crowds in […]
Mubarak Turns to Military for Support
After a dramatic day in which hundreds of thousands of Egyptians came out in all the major towns and cities of the country to challenge the police and the ruling party, President Hosni Mubarak finally appeared on Egyptian television Friday evening to read a speech in which he announced that he would dismiss his cabinet. […]
“Egypt is a Praetorian State:” Cole on Democracy Now!
My interview on Democracy Now on the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 is available on the Web. A text transcript follows at that link. and here it is mirrored on YouTube:
Thousands of Protesters Challenge Police Crackdown in Egypt
Thousands of protesters came out into the streets of Cairo on Friday, to be met with concerted opposition from the security police, who kept them away from Maidan al-Tahrir (Liberation Square) with crowd control vehicles, police phalanxes, and barriers. People massed on bridges and overpasses beyond the grasp of the police below, and sometimes threw […]
Egyptian Demonstrators Rev up for Big Friday as Regime Cracks Down
As of Friday Egypt began being cut off from text messaging and internet access was disrupted ahead of planned mass protests. At 12:30 am Egyptian time, according to an email sent around by activists, the internet went down completely. The government is attempting to interfere in dissidents’ ability to organize. Similar techniques were used by […]
Egyptians Defy Protest Ban, Plan big Rallies for Friday; Death toll Rises to 6
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton backed away from her unqualified support of the Egyptian government on Wednesday, saying, “We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.” The Obama […]