In common with journalists and human rights workers, Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey was beaten by regime thugs today, and his blog closed down. Fotunately his last post was reposted at War in Context. And here it is below, a depressing (I hope against hope he’s being overly pessimistic) account of the last days.
“The End is near,” Sandmonkey writes. “I have no illusions about this regime or its leader, and how he will pluck us and hunt us down one by one till we are over and done with and 8 months from now will pay people to stage fake protests urging him not to leave power, and he will stay “because he has to acquiesce to the voice of the people”. This is a losing battle and they have all the weapons, but we will continue fighting until we can’t.”
I don’t know how to start writing this. I have been battling fatigue for not sleeping properly for the past 10 days, moving from one’s friend house to another friend’s house, almost never spending a night in my home, facing a very well funded and well organized ruthless regime that views me as nothing but an annoying bug that its time to squash will come. The situation here is bleak to say the least.
It didn’t start out that way. On Tuesday Jan 25 it all started peacefully, and against all odds, we succeeded to gather hundreds of thousands and get them into Tahrir Square, despite being attacked by Anti-Riot Police who are using sticks, tear gas and rubber bullets against us. We managed to break all of their barricades and situated ourselves in Tahrir. The government responded by shutting down all cell communication in Tahrir square, a move which purpose was understood later when after midnight they went in with all of their might and attacked the protesters and evacuated the Square. The next day we were back at it again, and the day after. Then came Friday and we braved their communication blackout, their thugs, their tear gas and their bullets and we retook the square.
We have been fighting to keep it ever since.
That night the government announced a military curfew, which kept getting shorter by the day, until it became from 8 am to 3 pm. People couldn’t go to work, gas was running out quickly and so were essential goods and money, since the banks were not allowed to operate and people were not able to collect their salary. The internet continued to be blocked, which affected all businesses in Egypt and will cause an economic meltdown the moment they allow the banks to operate again. We were being collectively punished for daring to say that we deserve democracy and rights, and to keep it up, they withdrew the police, and then sent them out dressed as civilians to terrorize our neighborhoods. I was shot at twice that day, one of which with a semi-automatic by a dude in a car that we the people took joy in pummeling. The government announced that all prisons were breached, and that the prisoners somehow managed to get weapons and do nothing but randomly attack people. One day we had organized thugs in uniforms firing at us and the next day they disappeared and were replaced by organized thugs without uniforms firing at us. Somehow the people never made the connection.
Despite it all, we braved it. We believed we are doing what’s right and were encouraged by all those around us who couldn’t believe what was happening to their country. What he did galvanized the people, and on Tuesday, despite shutting down all major roads leading into Cairo, we managed to get over 2 million protesters in Cairo alone and 3 million all over Egypt to come out and demand Mubarak’s departure. Those are people who stood up to the regime’s ruthlessness and anger and declared that they were free, and were refusing to live in the Mubarak dictatorship for one more day. That night, he showed up on TV, and gave a very emotional speech about how he intends to step down at the end of his term and how he wants to die in Egypt, the country he loved and served. To me, and to everyone else at the protests this wasn’t nearly enough, for we wanted him gone now. Others started asking that we give him a chance, and that change takes time and other such poppycock. Hell, some people and family members cried when they saw his speech. People felt sorry for him for failing to be our dictator for the rest of his life and inheriting us to his Son. It was an amalgam of Stockholm syndrome coupled with slave mentality in a malevolent combination that we never saw before. And the Regime capitalized on it today.
Today, they brought back the internet, and started having people calling on TV and writing on facebook on how they support Mubarak and his call for stability and peacefull change in 8 months. They hung on to the words of the newly appointed government would never harm the protesters, whom they believe to be good patriotic youth who have a few bad apples amongst them. We started getting calls asking people to stop protesting because “we got what we wanted” and “we need the country to start working again”. People were complaining that they miss their lives. That they miss going out at night, and ordering Home Delivery. That they need us to stop so they can resume whatever existence they had before all of this. All was forgiven, the past week never happened and it’s time for Unity under Mubarak’s rule right now.
To all of those people I say: NEVER! I am sorry that your lives and businesses are disrupted, but this wasn’t caused by the Protesters. The Protesters aren’t the ones who shut down the internet that has paralyzed your businesses and banks: The government did. The Protesters weren’t the ones who initiated the military curfew that limited your movement and allowed goods to disappear off market shelves and gas to disappear: The government did. The Protesters weren’t the ones who ordered the police to withdraw and claimed the prisons were breached and unleashed thugs that terrorized your neighborhoods: The government did. The same government that you wish to give a second chance to, as if 30 years of dictatorship and utter failure in every sector of government wasn’t enough for you. The Slaves were ready to forgive their master, and blame his cruelty on those who dared to defy him in order to ensure a better Egypt for all of its citizens and their children.
After all, he gave us his word, and it’s not like he ever broke his promises for reform before or anything.
Then Mubarak made his move and showed them what useful idiots they all were.
You watched on TV as “Pro-Mubarak Protesters” – thugs who were paid money by NDP members by admission of High NDP officials- started attacking the peaceful unarmed protesters in Tahrir square. They attacked them with sticks, threw stones at them, brought in men riding horses and camels- in what must be the most surreal scene ever shown on TV- and carrying whips to beat up the protesters. And then the Bullets started getting fired and Molotov cocktails started getting thrown at the Anti-Mubarak Protesters as the Army standing idly by, allowing it all to happen and not doing anything about it. Dozens were killed, hundreds injured, and there was no help sent by ambulances. The Police never showed up to stop those attacking because the ones who were captured by the Anti-mubarak people had police ID’s on them. They were the police and they were there to shoot and kill people and even tried to set the Egyptian Museum on Fire. The Aim was clear: Use the clashes as pretext to ban such demonstrations under pretexts of concern for public safety and order, and to prevent disunity amongst the people of Egypt. But their plans ultimately failed, by those resilient brave souls who wouldn’t give up the ground they freed of Egypt, no matter how many live bullets or firebombs were hurled at them. They know, like we all do, that this regime no longer cares to put on a moderate mask. That they have shown their true nature. That Mubarak will never step down, and that he would rather burn Egypt to the ground than even contemplate that possibility.
In the meantime, State-owned and affiliated TV channels were showing coverage of Peaceful Mubarak Protests all over Egypt and showing recorded footage of Tahrir Square protest from the night before and claiming it’s the situation there at the moment. Hundreds of calls by public figures and actors started calling the channels saying that they are with Mubarak, and that he is our Father and we should support him on the road to democracy. A veiled girl with a blurred face went on Mehwer TV claiming to have received funding by Americans to go to the US and took courses on how to bring down the Egyptian government through protests which were taught by Jews. She claimed that AlJazeera is lying, and that the only people in Tahrir square now were Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. State TV started issuing statements on how the people arrested Israelis all over Cairo engaged in creating mayhem and causing chaos. For those of you who are counting this is an American-Israeli-Qatari-Muslim Brotherhood-Iranian-Hamas conspiracy. Imagine that. And MANY PEOPLE BOUGHT IT. I recall telling a friend of mine that the only good thing about what happened today was that it made clear to us who were the idiots amongst our friends. Now we know.
Now, just in case this isn’t clear: This protest is not one made or sustained by the Muslim Brotherhood, it’s one that had people from all social classes and religious background in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood only showed up on Tuesday, and even then they were not the majority of people there by a long shot. We tolerated them there since we won’t say no to fellow Egyptians who wanted to stand with us, but neither the Muslims Brotherhood not any of the Opposition leaders have the ability to turn out one tenth of the numbers of Protesters that were in Tahrir on Tuesday. This is a revolution without leaders. Three Million individuals choosing hope instead of fear and braving death on hourly basis to keep their dream of freedom alive. Imagine that.
The End is near. I have no illusions about this regime or its leader, and how he will pluck us and hunt us down one by one till we are over and done with and 8 months from now will pay people to stage fake protests urging him not to leave power, and he will stay “because he has to acquiesce to the voice of the people”. This is a losing battle and they have all the weapons, but we will continue fighting until we can’t. I am heading to Tahrir right now with supplies for the hundreds injured, knowing that today the attacks will intensify, because they can’t allow us to stay there come Friday, which is supposed to be the game changer. We are bringing everybody out, and we will refuse to be anything else than peaceful. If you are in Egypt, I am calling on all of you to head down to Tahrir today and Friday. It is imperative to show them that the battle for the soul of Egypt isn’t over and done with. I am calling you to bring your friends, to bring medical supplies, to go and see what Mubarak’s gurantees look like in real life. Egypt needs you. Be Heroes.
P U L S E 
The Mubarak regime is pulling every trick they can think of, and the US regime is probably helping behind the scenes. Are there any tricks available to the people?
a couple ideas:
Military suits up others (swelling their ranks) and organizes peaceful marches.
Military dresses “civilian” and/or arms the people, and they conduct stealth warfare on the thugs.
Well, Shell, good for you, offering a cpl creative ideas. Which may seem a bit farfetched at first, but give a place to start?
However, as Irwin Corey said, I don’t think much of any longterm significance will happen until more folks get a more accurate apprehension of what is going on. I think it will be proven vital to cut a little deeper into the Crackpot Reality concocted by the Puppet Masters, performed by our 21st Century Jackie Messer, aka B Obama and peddled by the Usual Punditutes.
TALK IS CHEAP. Forget what Barack and Moo-barack et al SAY; focus on what they DO. Realize that all these politicians & talking heads are Professional Liars. It’s what they do, and many of them are highly skilled. Obama in particular is extraordinarily talented, as well as trained by the masters of the art at Harvard Law.
But in the final analysis, he’s nothing but one more bullshit artist, one more con-man.
He’s slicker than his Egyptian counterpart, at least for a N American suckerlist, but they’re in the same business: bunco backed up by Applied Ruthless 101.
Just because Obama & Hillery say on TV out one side they moufs that they “Deplore” vilience, call for “change” etc, it is not proven that they say the same to Mubarak & Co in their private chats via secure phone lines.
You think Mubarak would be pulling this shit if he hadn’t got the go-ahead from Obama? Who got the go ahead from Netanyahoo/AIPAC/Council Prezzies of Major Jewish Orgs/CPMAJO?
Do not underestimate these people’s capacity for duplicity. At the risk of repeating myself, let me emphasize one mo time: TALK IS CHEAP.
BTW there was a good article on MERIP yesterday making many of these points better than I can. I have lots of reservations about the Gospel According to Dr Habash, but the PFLP statement I got from Uruknet today seemed very solid, at least at first read.
Okay, I see stuff is happening so back to the TV…
I support your movement and your critique of the anti-reform actions. This means thousands support me (statistically, as i am writing a letter) and probably millions upon millions of human beings on this planet. The bigger question is – do any reform groups – coalitions – have and are able to communicate a post Mubarek vision? It is vital that the reform movement is clear and straight about their vision of tranition and the future of political Egypt. With prayers for your well ebing and wisdom
Salaam-
Zorro
Zorro – the movement has been quite specific on the changes it wants to the constitution to allow for a powerful parliament, fixed terms for presidents, etc. Beyond that point, the various political forces – the Wafd, the Taggamu party, Ghad, the Brothers, and no doubt new parties that don’t yet exist, will announce their own programmes and put them to the people.
Thank you – where is some of this info available? This is under reported in the western media.
from the Guardian:
The Guardian has received a copy of four specific demands laid down by a loose coalition of 300 youth co-ordinators who helped plan the initial demonstrations last week against Mubarak and his regime. They include not just the removal of Mubarak but also the disassembling of the entire NDP elite around him, precluding a smooth transition should vice-president Omar Suleiman, a close Mubarak ally, take the helm once the president leaves.
The document also calls for the formation of a committee made up of judges, youth leaders and the military which will appoint a transitional government, plus a founding council of intellectuals and constitutional experts who will draw up a new constitution and put it to the Egyptian people in a referendum. Finally it demands free and fair elections at a local and national level once the new constitution has been implemented.
hmm– earlier today I posted a second comment, which is not visible now. I’m wondering why; did I do something wrong?
[rescued from spam, should be visible now]
Sorry but the recipe for a “transitional gov’t”, referendum followed by “free & fair elections” looks to me like a recipe for a hijacked revolution.
Keep eyes on the prize: Mubarak is a stooge; the NDP is a stooge org. Mubarak and NDP are symptoms; the cause is ZioImperialism, headquartered in NYC, Tel Aviv and DC/Langley VA.
Mubarak has become an embarrassment, but his removal could cause serious problems in the short term. They need to put him out to pasture, but they need to be sure that what replaces him is something they can manage, something that won’t get completely out of hand & do something like renounce Camp David.
You can bet that Izzy & Uncle Sugar have stooges positioned inside the peoples movement, among the ad hoc leadership of the movement. Some have been in contact with leaders of pro-Empire “color revolutions” and/or with Zionist operatives in the US, like Rep. Ros Lehtinen of Florida.
I would guess that among the ad hoc leaders there are plenty who see the struggle as ultimately one of class vs class.
At this point it’s probably true that the bulk of the operative leadership is made up of people with no hidden agenda, but experience leads me to expect that such folks will eventually wind up in the camp of one or another of the more ideologically based trends.
I would suggest that everybody keep in mind recent examples of “limited revolution”, like “people power” in the Phillipines, Allende in Chile, just for a couple.
Thanks Editor, for finding and posting:)
I’ll try to get more directly to the point: Politics is a tricky business, and Revolution is even trickier. After a few decades of following and attempting to participate in anti-oppression political activities, one learns not to jump to conclusions.
Things and people often are not what they seem at first sight. So we often have no choice to enter into cooperation with people we have no reason to trust. We must act, strike while irons are hot, take at its flood that tide in the affairs of men etc, but never forget to keep our eyes open and our powder dry.
At the root of Egypt’s problems are the Camp David accords and Sadat’s treason. Anything that doesn’t undo Camp David is a farce, a betrayal.
After many years of study, political activity, and reflection, it is absolutely clear to me that the US political system, the US imperial state, has been completely hijacked by the Zionist Enterprise.
A deep acquaintance with the works of Marx and students of Marx is in my opinion indispensable to anyone who wants to understand and change current social conditions — but Marxist theorizing needs to be brought up to date by including analysis of current reality, which is that the “Empire” is now run by and for Zionist Jews.
Most of the “Marxism” and/or “Leninism” being promoted today is actually a form of hasbara, in that it never comes to grip with the role of Zionism in today’s concrete reality.
So you want a revolution to free yourself to oppress “Zionists”?
And here we thought the movement was to find creative ways for dispossessed young people to lead healthy prosperous fulfilling lives.
FYI – Try reading Derrida’s Specters of Marx.
The preferred method of crushing revolutions is to co-opt the leadership. Usually it’s enough to kill off a few leaders unwilling to sell themselves, and then buy off enough second echelon wannabe leaders to constitute a a reliably obedient “Revolutionary Regime” which will lead the movement down the primrose path and around the mulberry obama — er, bush.
Dear LAZed,
You seem to be jumping to unwarranted conclusions. It could be that you’re a bit paranoid, or it could be that you are really a hasbarist posing as a “progressive”.
What else are we to make of your insinuation that any criticism of Zionism amounts to a call for oppression of Jews? Not all Jews are Zionists.
Persons who find LAzed’s comment of interest will benefit from reading recent work by James Petras, Kathy Christison, Grant Smith, Jeff Blankfort and also by Walt and Mearsheimer.
And also by perusing the roster of top Federal Reserve, IMF/Worldbank and BIS executives.
I don’t operate on insinuations – just responding to your remarks. My only stake in this debate is to offer the perspectives of my limited personal learning and reflection in support of an opportunity for actual human beings’ daily lives to be improved. Your rhetoric is inflammatory – there are millions of human beings at stake here and name calling (“ZioImperialism”) is not helpful – the “forces” who may represent or actually be behind your expressed concerns are particular – and not to be confused with the citizens of a nation – USA/Israel/Eqypt – and the real work of “revolving” demands more careful analysis. The speech I am reacting to is at this point – no matter what your intentions and the degree to which there are reasonable arguments to be made in favour of them – propoganda. We have intelligence and restraint – more productive in the long run – for our grand children.
Salaam.
Zorro
The trouble with what ‘teafoe2’ writes is that it implies that, if not for the Zionists, U.S. imperialism would not be screwing the world. Try telling that to the Native Americans who were mostly exterminated, and the rest stuck on reservations, long before political Zionism was invented. Also try telling it to the Filipinos, Puerto Ricans, etc., whose countries were invaded and occupied by the United Snakes while Zionists still had very little influence.
If not for the heavy Zionist influence in the present-day U.S. regime, the U.S. empire would be just as murderous, though perhaps it would be killing more people in Latin America and fewer in the Middle East.
In any case, neither the U.S. nor IsraHell has any ‘right to exist’.
La Zed: The fact that you find the term “ZioImperialism” inflammatory proves that either you are a nice person lost in a dreamworld, or that you are a Zionist.
I don’t know what you hoped to prove by mentioning Derrida’s book, which argues that Marx is still relevant even if not the last word on everything, and is addressed to academics and similar folks who exist in an environment where a Francis Fukayama is considered worthy of discussion.
It happens that James Petras has just published and article on the Egypt/Middle East developments, which you can read at >petras.lahaine.org<
Aaron A: Your remarks, which evoke considerable sympathy here, seem to be based in an obsolete analysis. Yes the instances you cite originated in an era prior to the emergence of Zionism as a major political force, but in each case oppression and injustice is perpetuated today by the US State which is NOW controlled by the Zionist Power Configuration/ZPC. More recent war crimes/crimes vs humanity were initiated by ZPC operatives positioned within the US state apparatus, such as the PNAC crowd, and are being perpetuated by Zionist lickspittle Obama.
It is Obama and his ZPC controllers who are manuevering to derail the Egyptian revolution, which is the focus of this article.
Okay – I am a nice person – with a brain.
If you has read Specters of Marx, you would know than in it Derrida eviscerates Fukuyama and offers what you asked for – a revisioning of Marx.
Yes – Zionism (isms!) is a force – so is Imperialism – Islamicistism – etc – SIGH.
Yes – if you are on the ground you think strategically of foes – name them – “Uncle Sugar” “Izzy” et al. You reduce your own perspective to a caricature – just as your rhetoric caractures the very material forces of the military industrial complex. It is not going to go away because you or a million trillion of us are offended and pissed off. Focus your intelligence and energy 0- if Egyptians can effect a politcal and economic reality for their own good with the presently difficult to assail forces of global economic and military hegemony – than the children CAN grow up well fed educated etc and covertly subvert those forces for a country they can love to be in. Women may perceive themselves to have a great stake in that last
proposal – grandmothers and grandfathers more so. So far – this discussion sounds like a lot of dissatisfaction and anger looking for easy targets to hit. Think beyond yourself – your “views” – your time – think about those who may be.You have to engage with what is possible – realpolitik perhaps but lives are lives.
El Viejo Zorro
LA Zed, you’re lost. Your remark re Derrida just echoes what I said above. Perhaps you needed Derrida to eviscerate Fukuyame for you; I didn’t.
You seem to be recommending that the Egyptian people, and by implication, other oppressed people, should not aim to overturn the entire oppressive power structure but should be “realistic” and compromise with it, without even coming to a thorough understand of what it is, how it works, and who controls it.
History shows that it is possible for an aroused workingclass and its allies to force the oppressors to retreat, to grant concessions, to even acquiesce to a change in the form of the political state. But history also teaches, time after time, that all reforms and concessions granted by the imperialists are limited, partial and temporary.
If they are forced out of the seats of power, as soon as vigilance is relaxed, they come back.
If you are truly concerned about the welfare of future generations, you realize that it is necessary to suppress the oppressing class and its State Apparatus root and branch.
What is happening in Egypt now is a clash of powers. Mubarak & Co are part of a particular power configuration, which is controlled by a certain subset of political/financial/ideological decision makers.
Step one in liberation from this oppressive power center is to understand exactly what we are dealing with. We need to know who has the power, how they got it, and how they keep control of it.
Generalizations about “the military-industrial complex” or “material forces” don’t cut it. The Zionist Enterprise is the most powerful material force on the stage of history at the present time.
“Mil-Indust Complex” is an inadequate term to describe the problem, one that is favored by Liberals.
Good luck – hope your tendency to over simplify and name call not to mention the apparent penchant for domination doesn’t cloud your strategy.
Thank you for your good wishes, but nothing else you say makes any sense.
Where do you get the idea that I have a penchant for domination? What I did was offer a few thoughts for consideration. Readers including you were and are free to accept, reject, or tweak as the spirit moves you.
Where do you get “penchant for domination” out of that?
“Tendency to oversimplify”: of course there is much more that could be said about the points I mentioned, but this is a “comments” section. I could go on all day, but I’d be repeating what others have said already. Check out the sources I cited; then if you have something to offer, offer it.
“Namecalling”: I’m not sure what you mean. Try being more specific? What exactly did I say that you consider “namecallilng”? I’m not a mindreader, so I don’t want to put words in your mouth. But I have a hunch that you’re bent out of shape because I have the temerity to refer to the racist fascist warmongering terrorist zionist entity currently occupying historical Palestine and portions of Syria and Lebanon as “Izzy” — yes?
Well if it bothers you that much, I invite you to suggest another metaphor/metanym/synecdoche which conveys as much in as few keystrokes, and I’ll henceforth use that one:)
No