Bloodthirsty Killers

If you listen to the rantings of the radical right in the US, Muslims are a bloodthirsty lot. Their religion is built upon the edifice of violence. Each and every Muslim has the potential to become a terrorist or suicide bomber. They want to take over the world and stomp Christianity into the ground.

Yet, for all their blather, what has been happening in Egypt these past two weeks has been the opposite. The Egyptian citizenry have demanded their independence from dictatorship through PEACEFUL and NONVIOLENT protest. These so-called bloodthirsty killers have, by and large, shunned violence, even in the face of violence being used against them.

What I find most remarkable is that if we had a similar sort of uprising here and it was led by the Tea Party, I can almost guarantee there would be violence and bloodshed. Second Amendment advocates would show up at the big DC rallies toting all sorts of firearms and itchy trigger fingers. Far too many of the protesters would be looking for a fight and, if one didn't materialize, they would create one themselves.

The Egyptians stuck to the principle of nonviolence and today they claimed their first substantive victory as Dictator Mubarak resigned.

It Happens Here All the Time!

As the nasty spectacle in the streets of Cairo has continued to unfold, I've noticed how indignant the American mainstream press and government has become. Report after report talks about the Egyptian police hiring thugs, the military standing by rarely lifting a finger and the fact that journalists are being attacked and detained. Though it has not been explicitly stated, the various commentators act as if these sorts of things only happen in desperate situations like that of Egypt.

I'm here to tell you that these sorts of shenanigans take place in the US quite frequently. All of these tactics occurred during the WTO protests in Seattle, Portland and across the country. They happened at the most recent Republican Convention in Minnesota. They routinely happen at anti-war protests. I've read about the testimony of other activists and I've witnessed some of this with my own eyes!

These strategies are not specifically tactics employed ONLY by dictators and despotic regimes; this is the general playbook that governments of all hues utilize in today's world. If you don't like the message of whomever is protesting for whatever reason, you try to a) shut them up, b) clamp down on independent reporting, and c) do your best to paint the protesters as violent, out-of-control, angry mobs.

This is not to suggest that I, in any way, support the overt suppression going on in Egypt right now. I merely want to point out that our government and mainstream media's holier-than-thou stance is quite ironic when one considers that these same tactics are employed in this nation routinely with little comment and a great lack of fanfare.

On the Line

As I continue to watch the drama unfold in Cairo, I can feel the hair on my spine raise up. While I certainly have never been in the position of demanding that a dictator stand down, I HAVE been on the line. Some were picket lines in support of striking workers. Some were protest marches in defense of Latino rights or the environment. Some were rallies and vigils promoting peace and nonviolence in conjunction to an opposition to our various military efforts in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Most of these efforts were uneventful, but a few were anything but. I know what it's like to be fearful that counter demonstrators might attack the peaceful throng. I know what it's like to be scared that the police would move in to address nonviolent protesters in a not-so-peaceful manner. And I know what it's like to be anxious that any minute chaos might ensue.

It takes a lot of courage to stand against the powers that be and it takes even more courage to do so nonviolently.

So, I hope for the best for the peaceful protesters in Cairo and though out Egypt, but I fear for the worst.

Democracy...Sort Of

We want democracy for the people of Egypt and other Arab lands...well, democracy that falls in line with US and Israeli interests, that is!! This is the kind of message I'm seeing and reading from most of the American mainstream media.

Today I have been sampling the reporting from many different news organizations -- including (cough, puke) Fox News -- just to see the usual elitist spin. Almost without fail, the chief focus seems to be on how the situation impacts a) US "national interests"; b) global financial markets; and c) Israeli "national interests" which, of course, somehow (?) coincide with ours.

If a person wants to know how the situation might impact the Egyptian people themselves, you have to visit alternative media sites like AlterNet, CommonDreams, Truthout, Salon or Global Research.

That's really sad, don't ya think?

Why Is Egypt on Fire?

If you flip on the news to see the unrest gripping Egypt, you'll be told that the Egyptian people want democracy and that is the fuel for the widespread protests. However, as Danny Schechter pointed out yesterday on AlterNet, the people have been oppressed for nearly 30 years. Why has the fuse been lit now?

This is an upstairs/downstairs story that takes us from the peak of a Western mountaintop for the wealthy to spreading mass despair in the valleys of the Third World poor.

It is about how the solutions for the world financial crisis that the Ceos and Big pols are massaging in a posh conference center in snowy Davos Switzerland have turned into a global economic catastrophe in the streets of Cairo, the current ground zero of a certain to spread wave of international unrest.

Yes, the tens of thousands in the streets demanding the ouster of the cruel Mubarek regime are there now pressing for their right to make a political choice but they are being driven by an economic disaster that has sent unemployment skyrocketing and food prices climbing.

People are out in the streets not just to meet but by their need to eat.

As Nouriel Roubini who was among the first to predict the financial crisis while others were pooh-poohing him as “Dr Doom” says, don’t just look at the crowds in Cairo but what is motivating them now, after years of silence and repression.

He says that the dramatic rise in energy and food prices has become a major global threat and a leading factor that has gone largely unreported in the coverage of events in Egypt.

"What has happened in Tunisia, is happening right now in Egypt, but also riots in Morocco, Algeria and Pakistan, are related not only to high unemployment rates and to income and wealth inequality, but also to this very sharp rise in food and commodity prices," Roubini said.

Prices in Egypt are up 17% because of a worldwide surge in commodity prices that has many factors but speculation on Wall Street and big banks is a key one...

I urge you to read the entire article. It is very enlightening -- particularly since the mainstream American media is loathe to point out what is truly going on here.