Revolt in the Middle East

Ricky · Jan 31, 2011

The fuck is going on? Is this really the end of the world type shit?

I'm not religious so I guess I'm going to hell (whatever the heck that is)

But damn, too much stuff going on.

Thousands of protesters on Thursday took to the streets of Yemen, one of the Middle Eastâ€™s most impoverished countries, and secular and Islamist Egyptian opposition leaders vowed to join large protests expected Friday as calls for change rang across the Arab world.
Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate who is now an outspoken critic of Egyptâ€™s government, arrived in Cairo on Thursday.
The Yemeni protests were another moment of tumult in a region whose aging order of American-backed governments appears to be staggering. In a span of just weeks, Tunisiaâ€™s government has fallen, Egyptâ€™s appears shaken and countries like Jordan and Yemen are bracing against demands of movements with divergent goals but similar means.

Protests led by young people entered a third day in Egypt, where Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate who has become an outspoken opponent of President Hosni Mubarak, returned in hopes of galvanizing the campaign. The Muslim Brotherhood, long Egyptâ€™s largest organized opposition, ended days of official inaction and said it would join the Friday protests, declaring â€œa day of rage for the Egyptian nation.â€

Dr. ElBaradei called on Mr. Mubarak to step down. â€œHe has served the country for 30 years, and it is about time for him to retire,â€ he told Reuters. â€œTomorrow is going to be, I think, a major demonstration all over Egypt and I will be there with them.â€

Though a relative calm settled on Cairo, smoke rose over the city of Suez, as sometimes violent protests continued there.

In Yemen, organizers vowed to continue protests on Friday and for weeks to come until the 32-year-old American-backed government of Ali Abdullah Saleh either fell or consented to reforms.

At least visually, the scenes broadcast across the region from Yemen were reminiscent of the events in Egypt and the month of protests that brought down the government in Tunisia. But as they climaxed by midday, they appeared to be carefully organized and mostly peaceful, save for some arrests. Pink â€” be it in the form of headbands, sashes or banners â€” was the dominant color; organizers described it as the symbol of the dayâ€™s protests.

â€œTo Jidda, oh Ali!â€ some shouted, in reference to the city in Saudi Arabia where Tunisiaâ€™s president fled this month. â€œThe peopleâ€™s demand is the fall of the government!â€

â€œWe are telling them either he delivers real political reforms or weâ€™re going to deliver him out of power,â€ said Shawki al-Qadi, an opposition lawmaker and organizer of the Yemeni protests. â€œHeâ€™s closed all the doors of hope. The only glimmer is in the streets.â€

Unlike in Egypt, the peaceful protests in Yemen were not led by young people, but by the traditional opposition, largely Islamists. And the opposition remained divided over whether to topple the Saleh government or simply push for reforms.

But the potential for strife in the country is difficult to overstate. Yemen is troubled by a rebellion in the north and a struggle for secession in the once independent, Marxist south. In recent years, an affiliate of Al Qaeda has turned parts of the country, a rugged, often lawless region on the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, into a refuge beyond the stateâ€™s reach. Added to the mix is a remarkably high proportion of armed citizens, some of whom treat Kalashnikovs as a fashion accessory.

â€œI fear Yemen is going to be ripped apart,â€ said Mohammed Naji Allaw, coordinator of the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedom, which was one of the protestsâ€™ organizers. â€œThe situation in Yemen is a lot more dangerous than in any other Arab country. It would be foolish for the regime to ignore our demands.â€

He said a phrase often heard these days was that Yemen faced â€œsawmalaâ€ â€” the Somalization of a country that witnessed a civil war in the mid-1990s.

A portion of Mr. Allawâ€™s worries sprang from the inability of the opposition to forge a unified message. Some are calling for secession for the south, he said, while others are looking to oust the president. Yet the mainstream, he said, simply wanted Mr. Saleh to agree not to run for another term after 2013 and to guarantee that his son would not succeed him.

â€œThe opposition is afraid of what would happen if the regime falls,â€ said Khaled Alanesi, who also works with the human rights group in Sana, the capital. â€œAfraid of the militant groups, Al Qaeda, the tribes and all the arms here.â€
Click to expand...

By Yasmine Saleh and Sherine El Madany

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian demonstrators fought security forces into the early hours of Friday in the city of Suez, and the Internet was blocked ahead of the biggest protests yet planned against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

Emboldened by this month's revolt that toppled the authoritarian leader of Tunisia, Egyptians have staged mass protests since Tuesday. The biggest demonstrations yet are planned for Friday afternoon after weekly prayers.

"This is a revolution," one 16-year-old protester said in Suez late on Thursday. "Every day we're coming back here."

Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, who returned to Egypt from Vienna on Thursday, has called for Mubarak to resign and said he would join the protests on Friday.

Internet access was shut down across the country shortly after midnight. Mobile phone text messaging services also appeared to be partially disabled, working only sporadically.

Activists have relied on the Internet, especially social media services like ******* and Facebook, to organize.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in a "tweet" message on *******: "We are concerned that communications services, including the Internet, social media, and even this tweet are being blocked in Egypt."

A page on Facebook social networking site listed more than 30 mosques and churches where protesters were expected gather.

"Egypt's Muslims and Christians will go out to fight against corruption, unemployment and oppression and absence of freedom."

In Suez, which has been ground zero for some of the most violent demonstrations, police fired tear gas at protesters who hurled stones and petrol bombs into the early hours of Friday. Fires burned in the street, filling the air with smoke.

The city fire station was ablaze. Waves of protesters charged toward a police station deep into the night. Demonstrators dragged away their wounded comrades into alleys.

Security forces shot dead a protester in the north of the Sinai region on Thursday, bringing the death toll to five.

Video images obtained by Reuters showed the man among a small group of protesters some distance from the security forces when he suddenly collapsed with a gunshot wound and was dragged away by other demonstrators. The video circulated widely on the Internet, galvanizing anger.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood, including at least eight senior officials of the opposition group and its main spokesmen, were rounded up overnight. A security source said authorities had ordered a crackdown on the group.
Click to expand...

Nypm · Jan 31, 2011

Im happy that they are revolting.

BTW, Im from Yemen

bambino_91 · Jan 31, 2011

it's not the end it's the beginning of a new world

good things are happening

Log in or Sign up

Revolt in the Middle East

Ricky Formerly Panic

Nypm Forum Addict

bambino_91 Guru

Log in or Sign up

Revolt in the Middle East

Thread Tools

Ricky Formerly Panic

Nypm Forum Addict

bambino_91 Guru