Demand for change rocks Arab world

[Jigs]

Thursday, January 27, 2011
ISTANBUL – Daily News with wires

Protests continue to shake the Middle East and North Africa as thousands rally against autocratic regimes that have held power for years, if not decades. The wave of unrest that began in Tunisia in December continues sparking demonstrations in that country, as well as Gaza, Yemen and Egypt, where the anti-government protests are the largest and most serious in 30 years


Protesters across the Middle East and North Africa have taken to the streets in mass rallies, demanding an end to years of repression by autocratic leaders and calling for serious governmental shake-ups.

Top reformist to return to Egypt, join protesters
Tens of thousands of people have participated over the last three days in Egypt’s largest and most serious anti-government protests in three decades. Momentum behind the movement is expected to grow further with the return to the country of prominent dissident Mohamed ElBaradei, seen as a key challenger to longtime president Hosni Mubarak.

Protests in Egypt have led to clashes with security forces, leaving at least six people dead and hundreds wounded. Nearly 1,000 people are known to have been detained so far.

Thousands march in anti-Abbas protests in Gaza
Thousands of Hamas-led demonstrators meanwhile marched in the Gaza Strip in protest of leaked documents that allegedly show Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas secretly collaborated with Israel and the United States, and made far-reaching concessions on Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Tunisians rally as country awaits new cabinet
In Tunisia, protesters rallied for a fifth day outside the prime minister’s offices, calling for a clean break with the old regime. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in the Arab world’s first popular revolt in recent history, but members of his government still hold leadership posts in the country.

Thousands of Yemenis call on president to quit
The wave of protest started in Tunisia last month has also swept Yemen, where thousands demanded longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down. Similar demonstrations have also been held in Algeria, where five days of violent protests against high prices left five people dead and more than 800 injured in early January, as well as Jordan, Mauritania, Oman and Sudan.

 

[apophenia]

a miracle in my life time Tunisia to light the flame - Power to the people.

 

[fida jan]

first came iran, then, turkey in recent years, and now comes the north africa

pakistanis zara sharam karo, jaago!!!!

 

[AUz]

May Allah bless Egyptions.
Throw out all fcuking goons out of M.E..!!!

 

[jayron]

first came iran, then, turkey in recent years, and now comes the north africa

pakistanis zara sharam karo, jaago!!!!

So you think Iranian revolution is good?

 

[fida jan]

So you think Iranian revolution is good?

why its not good, iranians threw the long standing dictatorship away

 

[jayron]

why its not goos, oranoans threw the long standing dictatorship away

They overthrew the king and brought in something more brutal and repressive. I think Iranians are very progressive people. They are oppressed by the government.

 

[fida jan]

They overthrew the king and brought in something more brutal and repressive. I think Iranians are very progressive people. They are oppressed by the government.

the iranian king was more harmful for iranians, it recieved CIA backing?? why, why mussadiq was removed and king was restored, americans were taking advantage of iranian slavery.. now americans cant harm them or steal their wealth..

american oppression or slavery is the worst thing

husnai mubarak the american puppet will evetually be thrown out..

we also need to burn those presidential palaces and make a common pakistani our representative

 

[AUz]

They overthrew the king and brought in something more brutal and repressive. I think Iranians are very progressive people. They are oppressed by the government.

Huh...have you EVER been to Iran?? or just made your opinion by seeing comments of some 'persions' on internet

Every revolution has negative effects dude.Iran do need improvement but c'mon ..shah was worse.Today Iran is sending satellites in the space.Firing missiles of long ranges.Cloning artificial cows etc

Today Iran is the fastest growing country scientifically

 

[jayron]

Huh...have you EVER been to Iran?? or just made your opinion by seeing comments of some 'persions' on internet

Every revolution has negative effects dude.Iran do need improvement but c'mon ..shah was worse.Today Iran is sending satellites in the space.Firing missiles of long ranges.Cloning artificial cows etc

Today Iran is the fastest growing country scientifically

Yes I agree. But it would have done better without that government. Just my opinion from what I read.

 

[AUz]

Yes I agree. But it would have done better without that government. Just my opinion from what I read.

And I am sure that you have 'read' this on any youtube video's comment section
What 'better' are you expecting???
Yes Iran would've done tremendously better IF there were no western sanctions. Shah has nothing to do with it. ONLY Iranian Millitary would've been stronger if shah was still in power. A country under tons of sanctions is sending indigineous (Russian help ?) satellites in the space ..

 

[CardSharp]

Can someone shed some light on the background of these protests.

1) why
2) what history
3) goals of the protests

 

[huzihaidao12]

Can someone shed some light on the background of these protests.

1) why
2) what history
3) goals of the protests

1, food prices, inflation. This is fundamental. The Egyptians want a change for the long-term strongman rule. Compete for political rights. Western aid to reduce because the economic crisis, Egypt has no oil, can not support the economy.

not as a black hand behind, because evenEurope and the United States, it also is a problem.


3, people simply want a better life. Other, have their own plans.

 

[CardSharp]

1, food prices, inflation. This is fundamental. The Egyptians want a change for the long-term strongman rule. Compete for political rights. Western aid to reduce because the economic crisis, Egypt has no oil, can not support the economy.

not as a black hand behind, because evenEurope and the United States, it also is a problem.


3, people simply want a better life. Other, have their own plans.

With situations like this there is bound to a political side. I guess that's what I'm asking. Who is organizing? who will take power if the government falls?

 

[Elmo]

The scent of jasmine spreads


As protests erupt in Egypt, Arab leaders everywhere should take heed

Jan 27th 2011 | from PRINT EDITION


TUNISIA has a mere 10m-plus people and Egypt around 84m. But as the yearning for democracy stirs in the Arab world, a wave set off in tiny Tunisia, travelling east through the Maghreb, is now rocking giant Egypt. The past few days have seen angry demonstrations in at least a score of Egyptian towns. Some 30,000 people have jammed Cairo’s most famous square. Such astonishing events, in the heart of the Arab world’s most populous country, have not been witnessed in the 30 years since Hosni Mubarak, its ailing 82-year-old dictator, took power (see article).

First Tunisia, next Egypt? The scent of the jasmine revolution, as Tunisians are calling their national upheaval, has certainly spread. Satellite television, mobile telephones, the internet and Twitter continue to relay the giddy news across the Maghreb, along the Mediterranean’s southern coast, and on even through Saudi Arabia to the Gulf and Yemen. Plainly, the dictators are nervous. But that does not mean that they are about to fall like dominoes.

No one can be sure even how events in Tunisia will unfold. The country has a long way to go before calm can resume or a stable new order emerge. A unity government could take the country along an evolutionary path towards democracy, pluralism and tolerance. Or more radical elements, so far secular rather than Islamist, could drive it in a harsher direction, ridding it of every vestige of the old regime, including those of its number in the fragile new government (see article). Or the army might step in. The hope is that, with its educated people and its moderation, Tunisia could yet provide a hopeful beacon for Arabs looking for democracy.

But Egypt would be a far bigger prize. It is the most populous country in the Arab world, Cairo its biggest city. Egypt is a strategic pivot. America sees it as a vital ally in the war against international jihadism and in the search for peace between Arabs and Jews. Its 32-year-old peace treaty with Israel remains the main bulwark against a wider war between the Jewish state and the Arab world. Egypt’s leading Muslim institutions are generally a force for moderation.

Yet the country is also often considered a powder keg. Nearly half of its people live on less than $2 a day. Most of them are under 30. The mood is often resentful and sour. The ruling party is arrogant, nepotistic and corrupt. It allows other parties to exist only provided they do not pose a real threat. The press is afforded a measure of freedom, as a safety-valve, but is quickly choked off if it steps out of line. A general election late last year was blatantly rigged, even by the low standards of the past. Open politics is paralysed. Mr Mubarak’s son Gamal is often tipped as the old man’s successor.

The main opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, lost all its seats in parliament in the general election. Hundreds of its members are in prison, detained under widely abused emergency laws that have been in force for more than 40 years. In the recent turmoil in the streets, the Brothers kept a noticeably low profile, perhaps waiting to see how things would unfold. If there were fair elections, they would probably do well, perhaps even win. Yet many secular-minded, democratic and liberal Egyptians feel queasy about letting the Brotherhood have its head, fearing that if it won power at the ballot box it would never let it go. Others worry that the Brothers would rescind the peace treaty with Israel. The fiercer of the Palestinian movements, Hamas, is an offshoot of the Brotherhood.

Jump before you are pushed

Mr Mubarak, like the rest of the Arab world’s autocrats, will be pondering the despot’s eternal dilemma. Is it better to loosen controls in order to satisfy their people with a whiff of freedom, or to tighten them in an effort to ensure their docility?

The fate of Tunisia’s strongman, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, suggests that an angry people will be satisfied with neither. If Mr Mubarak truly put his country’s interests first, he would immediately promise to retire before the next presidential election, due in September. At the very least he would ensure that the contest is a genuinely open one, not another farce.

The latest unrest may yet die down. The security services and police may manage to contain it. But it is sure to bubble up again before too long. And one day the powder keg may explode. In the long run, the real question for Mr Mubarak is whether he wants to leave his country with a chance of peaceful change, or to leave it ablaze.

from PRINT EDITION | Leaders


Protests in Egypt: The scent of jasmine spreads | The Economist