Here is my poetic contribution dedicated to one of the young instigators of this beautiful uprising:

Asmaa Mahfouz
26 years old
she looks straight at the camera
the beauty of her face an insurrection in the making
the force of her words feed the spark
Asmaa Mahfouz
you are courageous
and you are dangerous
the West is scared of you
and fundamentalists are scared of you
because you have helped your brothers and sisters
abandon their fear to fill Tahrir Square
and without fear their grip on power
sputters and flashes its belly
and without fear
the iron fist trained in the dark arts of torture
can be overwhelmed
and pried free from the necks of the people
Asmaa Mahfouz
they call the flames your words are fanning a virus
as they yank the imperial fist from the rump of Mubarak
and quickly jam it in Suleiman
Asmaa Mahfouz
it is your hour
the clock of old men is winding down
their scrotums, comfortably sheathed in expensive fabrics,
are suffering sweat stains
and forced retirements
in the emirates?
now is the time for caution
the wolves of empire won’t let their influence wane
for the wolves of empire are insane for global dominance
but for now your template of resistance has won the day
so let the empire scramble and connive
trying to figure out why
the dignity of human life they seek always to subjugate
is, today, victorious

Posted by: lizard | Feb 12 2011 13:39 utc | 3

Wow… what a day. What a day! (yesterday)
Thanks to b and all the posters, for being there. here. wherever.
I’m very confident. Extremely optimistic. The caution and suspicious in the previous thread, yes, but…
Rotten structures (regime in this case) when a part is seriously damaged, the whole thing collapses, it can’t survive with a missing or malfunctioning branch. The whole system implodes rapidly, and it can’t be rebuilt, ever.
That is also the reason the defense implemented was so misguided and in a way even weirdly hapless, out of phase.. dull and sadistic. As these regimes are so rigid, monolithic, they can’t react creatively – they are left at sea, can’t see much less implement alternative paths. The only part that can survive alone for a while is the army, as it always has a strong internal and mechanistic structure, moreover geared to ‘response’ at the top…and that is surely what the army figured out.
(The Egyptian ppl eventually worked from the top down, cutting off the head, as going from the bottom up – labor unrest, strikes, protesting the last elections, etc. since 2005 for only recent history – had no real success.)
The same applies to the ideology, it is just swept away, and even the nostalgic or frightened or the profiteers cannot hang onto it any more, ..realism, social pressure, new positioning.
The army will honor their promises, more or less, there is no other way forward, and they have little to lose from a new ‘democratic’ structure, free expression, and end to repression, some sort of civil gvmt, which are the main demands. That aspect has a flavor of inevitability to it.
However, how industry, labor issues, land ownership (?), corruption etc., all that on the ground stuff are worked out is a different matter.
The danger of a new class – democratic, internationalist, globalist, modernist, capitalist, etc. all in quotes – exists. Specially if melded with the arm of internal power – the army.

Posted by: Noirette | Feb 12 2011 16:48 utc | 5

mobama @ 4 “I can’t put my finger on it, but something isn’t quite right. As I mentioned in other threads, the PEOPLE should not let the army lead this….and yet, that is exactly what is happening.”
I also have an unease wrt this… Military seem awfully prepared with their communique 4… here’s some analysis from the ‘Angry Arab’ … do note his mention of sullied-man.
“Communique Number 4
The role of the Egyptian military command is certainly temporary: but the US/Israel/Saudi Arabia would want to make it permanent and to pick a reliable bribable tool from among them to take over power to preserve the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and to extend the life of the Sadat-Mubarak regime. That is not possible: the reign of Mubarak-Sadat required a high degree of fear and intimidation in the hand of the regime. That is gone, and for good and the regional situation is such that no resumption of the terror tactics can be possible without a high public price. The reference to the regional and international treaties is now interpreted–rightly–to refer to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. The communique–this one–was written by the US for Israel. The role of `Umar Sulayman is not clear in this phase: the opposition will press on change and it is fair to assume that the ruling junta will maintain minimum adherence to the foreign policy of the previous regime. Don’t expect Netanyaho to be invited to Cairo, for example, and even if Abu Al-Ghayt remains as foreign minister, don’t expect him to hold hands with Livni. I still believe that the opposition placed wrong trust in the Egyptian military and that they should have assigned a temporary opposition board or body to take charge of he country while preparing for free elections. But the anti-democratic machinations of US/Israel/Saudi Arabia would continue before AND during the parliamentary elections. If Prince Muqrin spent $1 billion in the last parliamentary election in Lebanon, expect him to spend ten times that amount in Egyptian elections. This is why I argue that free elections and capitalism are not compatible in the region.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/02/communique-number-4.html

Posted by: crone | Feb 12 2011 19:03 utc | 7

lizard @ 3
LUV the poem, thanks for sharing…

Posted by: crone | Feb 12 2011 19:26 utc | 9

a fatally weakened u s imperialism
You’re like a crack smoking Minah bird. Squawk. For eight years. Last time I heard, the U.S. Army was supposed to be surrounded by angry Iraqis committed to national sovereignty and the destruction of US empire. oh well.
But a great moment for Egyptians. It seems hardly possible they would go the way of iran and intentionally exclude themselves from the global economy and neoliberal expansion. One would expect Egyptian support for free trade and financialization as a means to address the global problem of declining profit rates, under consumption, and underinvestment– all problems, of course, they don’t have a fucking thing to do with “Empire.” If you want to find the American empire, you’ll find it at night sleeping under r’giap’s bed.

Posted by: slothrop | Feb 12 2011 20:47 utc | 11

egypt is obliged to return to its role as the conscience of the arab people
You mean Nasserite totalitarianism and/or Qutbist misanthropy?
you always speak from the heart of the people, I’ll give you that.

Posted by: slothrop | Feb 12 2011 21:00 utc | 13

i presume, & have done, for some time – that you are locked in a room with books that you keep on mixing up, the grundrisse with your old records of gary numan, marx with norman mailer, fanon with fat freddy – if i had the time i would try help you out with your filing system & your applied misreading (as with the steve coll book) but i fear it has gone too far for that.
i imagine you would be better served by a tenured chair at the american enterprise institute where you could devote your time to glue i the wig on to john bolton’s barren skull

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Feb 12 2011 21:10 utc | 15

I wrote an analysis of the army last night for you, but it seems I didn’t post it, probably because I fell asleep at the computer. Happily my view still seems valid today.
The army being considered the crucial element for Egypt’s future, I think that it is split, and not in a position to impose a single point of view.
The army is divided into three strata:
1) The High Command. They are certainly with Mubarak and the old regime. We are hearing their point of view in the public communiqués.
2) The lower officers are drawn from the same educated classes as the demonstrators. The photos of demonstrators sleeping on the wheels of M60 tanks (not merely M113 armoured personnel carriers) show very well their attitudes.
3) The private soldiers are conscripts from the Egyptian peasantry. They have gone with their officers rather than the High Command. This is important as there is no other indication of the views of the lower classes (other, that is, than the views of the Egyptian vegetable sellers here in the market in Nanterre, a Paris suburb, which goes in the same sense).
So… In fact, the army are subject to the views of the demonstrators, whatever they may say, until the army can be restructured to be loyal. Not very easy.
So, I don’t find the declarations of the Army High Command to be very convincing. What we hear today may be different tomorrow.

Posted by: alexno | Feb 12 2011 22:01 utc | 17

One of the reasons the ideology of the left has had so littele real success in Arabic speaking countries can be traced to the confusion western leftists have about class as it applies in the ME.
And the left has not had much success in Arab nations, ever. The Arabic ‘leftist’ political movements which have claimed success (that is have stayed in power for substantial periods and implemented their policies) would be regarded as social democrat rather that socialist if their achievements were equated with european leftist political movements. Yet they have only maintained control by using tactics similar to the ‘state capitalist’ soviet model. Why is that?
For too long the west has claimed this is because Arabs are somehow backwards that they only understand power delivered from the barrel of a gun or from the electrode of a torturer’s toolkit. This lie was a convenient way of excusing western collusion with regimes that are the enemies of the citizens they claimed to be governing. As the events in Tahrir Square, Alexandria, Suez and the undereported protests in the countryside of the Nile Delta have shown, Arabs do not prefer tyranny to freedom.
Just as the west explains away the reality of modern Russia where economic liberalism replaced state capitalism yet personal freedom is more restricted now than ever, by telling its people that Russians only understand ‘strong leadership’ (meaning oppression, injustice, poverty and no real say in their governance) with easy lies rather than the type of robust examination that would reveal flaws in Western political structures, Arabs’ post colonial oppression has been dismissed using racist stereotypes.
Those stereotypes ignored the differences between Arab societies and western/european societies.
That simple transfer of leftist programs into ME societies doomed them from inception.
How do you sell egalitarianism to people who are largely free of class distinctions?
The claim in this thread that the Egypt military can be divided into the aristocrat/bourgois/proletariat paradigm that leftists use when considering Western societies is an example of the problem of seeing Egypt in terms of a western society.
One of the things which those who read Zaeef’s excellent portrait of pre invasion Afghani society, “My Life with the Taliban” should have understood was that Afghanistan was largely free of the class boundaries which are common in the west.
Zaeer’s father was a highly respected Islamic intellectual, whose opinions were considered important by regional leaders and the citizens alike. Despite this Zaeef’s childhood was exactly the same as that of the other village children. He had no more food, or money or better accomodation than any of the other village children. The only difference was that he was expected to take his studies more seriously.
In Islam religious leaders don’t belong to a rigid hierarchy. There is no ‘church’ of islam in the way that western organised religion has formal institutions.
Obviously Afghani social structures and Egyptian strutures are not identical, yet they do share similarities. For example Hosni Mubarek, the former ‘Pharoah’ of Egypt did not come from a monied or even what westerners would consider to be a middle class background.
He was born in a rural village in the Nile delta, Kafr el-Meselha, just north of Cairo. His father was a minor bureaucrat, who just like his son, had managed to take advantage of the highly regarded Shibin El-Kom public secondary school near to his village. That one secondary school has produced 4 cabinet ministers. Some of whom proceeded Mubarak into the stratosphere of Egyptian politics. So it cannot be said that their success was a result of knowing Mubarak.
Islamic society which has an emphasis on clan loyalty, considering the view of religious leaders in social decision making, and placing the long term needs of the community ahead of the immediate needs of any individual within the society, has created a structure where there is less obvious and extreme difference between citizens.
One of the most destabilising aspects of neo-liberalism on long established Arabic speaking communities has been the introduction of capitalist customs such as the obvious flaunting of wealth. Even in Kuwait one of the worst offenders in the “look at me I’m rich” the leadership is belatedly realising the problems caused by the introduction of obvious class differentiation to it citizens. Everyone (every citizen ‘guest workers’ don’t count) is going to be given US$3500 immediately and free food for the next 14 months.
A uniquely Kuwaiti method of attempting to over-ride the class distinctions that developed over 50 years and have become much worse since Gulf War 1.

Posted by: UreKismet | Feb 12 2011 23:59 utc | 19

Egypt: The camp that toppled a president
Cairo’s central Tahrir Square was the focal point for anti-Mubarak protesters during 18 days of demonstrations. As the protest neared its peak, the BBC’s Yolande Knell took a tour of the area. Explore the protesters’ camp by clicking on the links.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12434787

Posted by: crone | Feb 13 2011 1:07 utc | 21

The First Wonder of the Millennium
I am brought to a point of high emotion, optimism and wonder when I read from Bernhard’s link above.
Good morning revolution: A to do list

… This process, however, needs to be closely monitored, and intervened in, by the various bodies set up by the revolution, particularly the youth movements. Radical changes of government open up a great many appetites, and as wondrous as our revolution has been, it has not transformed us into a nation of angels. We must expect a lot of grabbing and grappling on all levels of the state in the coming weeks and months, and we need to both take it in our stride, as well as try to create as many guarantees as possible that the process will be as clean, transparent and accountable as possible. …
This is a wholly new entrant on the nation’s political stage, most likely evolved in cyber space, and I fully admit; it has taken old-guys such as myself completely by surprise. It is an Egyptian nationalist discourse, almost intrinsically liberal, showing a deep commitment to fundamental human right, but spreading out to include secular, religious, leftist and Islamist leanings, all in happy coexistence, and continuous dialogue. I see no reason why this new discourse should not find organizational expression. The idea of creating a new political party, the 25 January Revolution has been floated during the past couple of days. I fully support this initiative, and can only hope that the revolution’s youth will not allow the old geezers to sabotage, or usurp a refreshing new entrant on the Egyptian political stage that is most uniquely theirs. …
Egyptian labor … [a] new actor … the truly vibrant and representative democracy we have long aspired for, and which during the past 18 days we proved to ourselves and to the whole world, that we truly deserve. …

My sense is that amazing things are happening, first Julian Assange’s carefully plotted launch and nurturing of of Wikileaks, which although it has him as spokesman and target continues and will do so; and the glimpse of the “organized chaos” of the Egyptian revolution.
Simple and wise. Effective.
Breathtaking.
Echoing Noirette/Blackie, thanks to Bernhard and all you fellow moonies.

Posted by: jonku | Feb 13 2011 3:11 utc | 23

The graphic is amazing, annie. It shows the Twitter communication network, I suppose filtered by the Egypt politics topic or whatever, and the close connection between Arabic and English tweets over some recent period of time.
Twitter is an interesting and useful technology after all!
The focus on networks is found in the leaks guy’s philosophy as well, although he speaks in terms of how to disrupt the other guys’ one.
The Egyptians were an example of a working version, anonymous, inscrutable, private. The pen is mightier. Again I’m reminded of John Brunner’s novel, The Shockwave Rider.

“1. That this is a rich planet. Therefore poverty and hunger are unworthy of it, and since we can abolish them, we must.
2. That we are a civilized species. Therefore none shall henceforth gain illicit advantage by reason of the fact that we together know more than one of us can know.”

Posted by: jonku | Feb 13 2011 8:30 utc | 25

love this place!

Posted by: melo | Feb 13 2011 10:50 utc | 27

I wonder how the people managed to coordinate their efforts to successfully assault the Bastille in 1789, without twitter, facebook, telephones, satellite tv … maybe they had telepathy back then?

Posted by: claudio | Feb 13 2011 11:21 utc | 29

annie, I know, my comment was ironic! (or are you being so, too?)

Posted by: claudio | Feb 13 2011 13:38 utc | 31

Wouldn’t it be nice if Burlesconi was the next one to go?!
Italy: day of protests in 200 cities against Berlusconi – Telegraph

Hundreds of women will take to the streets of Italy’s cities today calling on scandal hit Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign after prosecutors requested he be sent to trial for having sex with an underage prostitute.

Protesters say evidence leaked from the probe into Berlusconi, 74, allegedly paying for sex with then 17 year Moroccan belly dancer Karima El Mahroug, and show he has little respect for female dignity.

Wiretaps leaked from more than 600 pages of the prosecution file suggest he surrounded himself at parties at his home with starlets and other women hoping to use their looks to gain positions in politics or within his Mediaset TV empire.

Protests are scheduled to take place in 200 cities and towns across Italy as well as London and New York, with the largest due to be held in Rome and Milan and counter demonstrations by activists from Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party area also planned.

Posted by: Fran | Feb 13 2011 15:55 utc | 33

The protesters in Egypt are the same as the protesters in Iran: http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2011/02/12/revolution-post-islamiste_1478858_3232.html Roy in Lemonde

Posted by: slothrop | Feb 13 2011 16:48 utc | 35

as is his habitude, slothrop misreads oliver roy & in any case oliver roy’s opinions are of a questionable provenance. when there are buffoons who write about arab politics unfortunately you have sometimes to make do with what is available which is often very poor
angry arab has given a number of good reading lists
i await some commentary from gilles keppel

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Feb 13 2011 19:52 utc | 37

Good analysis of the situation right now: “Egyptian army moves to preserve its power”
http://leninology.blogspot.com/

Posted by: absinthe | Feb 13 2011 20:26 utc | 39

mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/amin030211.html Samir Amin.
Basically, what I said. He always rejects the childishly reductive move in which “America” is a vain abstraction replacing the true object of analysis: neoliberal globalization.

Posted by: slothrop | Feb 13 2011 21:31 utc | 41

jalelujah!
a bar going down is not uncommon
a bar coming back up it’s another matter
mr. bartender, if possible, i’d like to invite every barfly anew round
b, rgiap, debs, uncle, annie, b real, amissed, lyzard, mystah, noirette & every one and allll of you i forgot… even the resident troll, mind u’…: i’m truly happy to be around in such an illustrated company
a decade back, nine eleven: and all the way down dat road
a new decade bursts up: and there it is: tunis + egypt + (women against berzuzconi) + +
…. . . . . . . . . … . . .
and a toast to this pearl: “all problems, of course, they don’t have a fucking thing to do with Empire.”
– i remember realizing santa and god, beside being the same person, didn’t really exist…
– it took me almost my entire adulthood to recover
– and right now, just in front the breaking glass, i’ll try to grasp the meaning of this new revelation…
“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”
Woody Allen.
saravá, my friends
r.

Posted by: rudolf | Feb 14 2011 6:30 utc | 43

re Tantalus
It should not be forgotten that the demonstrators can only really come out en masse on Fridays. Last Friday worked quite well, however. It’s a disadvantage for them. I should think things will be quiet-ish until next Friday.

Posted by: alexno | Feb 14 2011 9:04 utc | 45

Hi Lizard! And hello to R’Giap, Annie, Jonku, Noisette and everyone else. Great commentary from b, as always.
I’ve been watching events mainly on the Guardian live blog and AJE but it’s been lovely to pop in here and hear your voices.

Posted by: Tantalus | Feb 14 2011 14:04 utc | 47

ilan pappe’s got an excellent wrap up titled Egypt’s revolution and Israel: “Bad for the Jews” over @ EI. it’s really funny so don’t miss it.

Spearheading the Israeli interpretation are the former Israeli ambassadors to Egypt. All their frustration from being locked in an apartment in a Cairean high-rise is now erupting like an unstoppable volcano. Their tirade can be summarized in the words of one of them, Zvi Mazael who told Israeli television’s Channel One on 28 January, “this is bad for the Jews; very bad.”
In Israel of course when you say “bad for the Jews,” you mean the Israelis — but you also mean that whatever is bad for Israel is bad for the Jews all around the world (despite the evidence to the contrary since the foundation of the state).

it’s jammed packed w/amusing reading.

Posted by: annie | Feb 14 2011 21:31 utc | 49

eh r’giap. loverly seeing you around.

Posted by: annie | Feb 15 2011 0:40 utc | 51

Thanks, Noirette! Have one yourself!

Posted by: Tantalus | Feb 15 2011 14:52 utc | 53