What is happening?
J/K.
I always knew this would happen. This kind of oppression was never going to last, and it was a matter of time before the people revolted.
The real surprise, to be honest, was Tunis. They were a very potent catalyst which no one saw coming.
I cannot help but think that this kind of change has been massively overdue. In Western Europe, the last dictatorships (in Spain and Portugal) lasted into the early 1970s, and their overthrow was a relief to their neighbours, who saw them as atavistic throwbacks to the time of Hitler and Mussolini. Dictatorships have frequently been the form of government in parts of Latin America, where they have largely drawn support from oligarchies and the military.
What will make the transition to a more representative form of government more difficult is the lack of any overt form of political organisation aside from the ruling party. I’m not sure how many underground political organisations exist in Egypt, or their ideological direction. In Eastern Europe, the move from single-party states to pluralistic democracy took a number of stages in some places, While in others, particularly those within the old Soviet Union, the process of change stalled because a new dictatorship emerged with a local strongman in charge.
I think the use of cyberspace has been, to some extent, a catalyst for change, as views can be expressed in these environments that might never be accessible in print media.
I wish the people of Egypt, and elsewhere in the region good luck in establishing more representative forms of government, with as little violence and bloodshed as possible.
A more representative form of government is what we all want for the whole region with minimum interference (if at all) from outsiders who claim to know what is good for us.
Throwing off the imperialist yoke has been long overdue
If there’s one good thing borne of social media is its potential to mobilize the masses.
A phrase we are hearing all too often these days: Wind of change
Interesting bits of pieces on Col. Gadhafi of Libya.
“I remember when, shortly after the Reagan had bombed Libya in 1986, Gaddafi insisted he would only be interviewed by female journalists, more than one of whom claimed that the Libyan leader…..came over all amorous and proposed doing a lot more than talking about the state of Libya’s military infrastructure while they were locked away in his tent….. And then, when he agreed to be interviewed by male reporters again, he displayed the rather unnerving habit of breaking wind loudly – and for extended periods – in the middle of the interview.” LINK
“That evening, as I began to writer [sic] my account of the interview, Bob knocked on my door. I know him well, and love him dearly, and could see that something was up.
‘There’s something funny about the interview,’ he said. He’d been watching it on the portable monitor in his room.
Oh Christ, I thought: he means there’s tape damage, or electronic interference. I remembered an interview I once did in a military base in Iraq, which was so crackling with electronic gadgets of different kinds that the material we shot was unusable.
‘Nothing like that,’ Bob said. ‘Gadhafi was making noises, that’s all.’
‘Whatever are you on about? What kind of noises?’
‘Kind of personal ones.’ He looked away.
As I say, I know Bob. He is a very modest man, especially where bodily functions are concerned.
‘What, stomach rumblings?’
Borborygmi can be a nuisance in a television interview.
‘No, worse than that.’
‘What, farting?’
Now I’d embarrassed him. He nodded, wordlessly.
‘Look, that’s absolutely stupid, Bob. I was sitting opposite him. If he’d been farting I’d have heard it. You’re imagining it.’
‘Well, listen to the tape.’
I listened. There was absolutely no doubt about it. The personal microphone which Bob had pinned on Gadhafi had picked it up very clearly. The wind passage lasted for about ten minutes of our half-hour interview. Gadhafi would rise up a little in his seat, the thunder would roll for fifteen or twenty seconds at a time, and then he would sink back into his seat with a pleased expression on his face. It may have happened to me before without my knowledge, but never, I think, in so concentrated and elaborate a fashion.
We ran the interview in a truncated form on the Nine O’Clock News, and in full on Simpson’s World. The wind-breaking was audible in both versions, but I thought it best not to draw attention to it in my script. With the Sunday Telegraph, though, I felt I could let rip.
During part of our interview, Col. Gadhafi broke wind audibly and at length.
The foreign editor, a particular friend of mine called Con Coughlin, headlined the article ‘Warm Wind of Compromise Blows from Gadhafi’.
What is happening?
J/K.
I always knew this would happen. This kind of oppression was never going to last, and it was a matter of time before the people revolted.
The real surprise, to be honest, was Tunis. They were a very potent catalyst which no one saw coming.
It will be interesting to see how events unfold
Frankly we’ve become news zombies now
What’s a news zombie?
do you like zombie movies Jewaira?
snr
No I don’t
A news zombie is a person hungry for news 24/7
let’s hope good things come out of this.
that’s what we’re hoping for …positive change
twitter and facebook used to mobilize people
It is not my intention quote you an everyday twin star sign, So …
‘January 31
A rush of intense love and romantic passion for a special someone might turn your mind toward marriage, Gemini.’
…forget it.
(the marriage I mean)
I agree. If you’ve married more than once, then a third go won’t ensure success
You may end up like Elizabeth Tailor
http://twitpic.com/3vjpfs
http://bit.ly/hWIUbb
I cannot help but think that this kind of change has been massively overdue. In Western Europe, the last dictatorships (in Spain and Portugal) lasted into the early 1970s, and their overthrow was a relief to their neighbours, who saw them as atavistic throwbacks to the time of Hitler and Mussolini. Dictatorships have frequently been the form of government in parts of Latin America, where they have largely drawn support from oligarchies and the military.
What will make the transition to a more representative form of government more difficult is the lack of any overt form of political organisation aside from the ruling party. I’m not sure how many underground political organisations exist in Egypt, or their ideological direction. In Eastern Europe, the move from single-party states to pluralistic democracy took a number of stages in some places, While in others, particularly those within the old Soviet Union, the process of change stalled because a new dictatorship emerged with a local strongman in charge.
I think the use of cyberspace has been, to some extent, a catalyst for change, as views can be expressed in these environments that might never be accessible in print media.
I wish the people of Egypt, and elsewhere in the region good luck in establishing more representative forms of government, with as little violence and bloodshed as possible.
Hello Stephen
Good to see you again
A more representative form of government is what we all want for the whole region with minimum interference (if at all) from outsiders who claim to know what is good for us.
Throwing off the imperialist yoke has been long overdue
If there’s one good thing borne of social media is its potential to mobilize the masses.
Interesting trending topic
http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23SaudiWomenrevolution
http://twitter.com/#!/Ghonim
وائل غنيم – العاشرة مساء
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c82d846e46/president-mubarak-apologizes-through-song?rel=player
LOL tbh I kinda expected to be rick rolled instead
Nice song, though.
Here’s what I imagine to be the Egyptian people’s reply to Mubarak
OMG
the crowd in Tahrir Square is livid
as he goes on and on and on in his speech
he just doesn’t get it
hahaha rick rolled
. haven’t heard this for a while – Jesus you fellow geek
how chummy!
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/08/live-blog-feb-9-egypt-protests
http://www.worldpulse.com/magazine/articles/in-egypt-the-people-are-taking-control
In Egypt the People Are Taking Control
Noha Atef interview
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23ReasonsMubarakIsLate
http://imgur.com/NhC4m
Cleaning up Tahrir Square after the fall of the regime
http://www.masrawy.com/News/Egypt/Politics/2011/february/12/clean_square.aspx
الثورة الرّاقية تنتصر/ هشام نفّاع
http://kawdess.tumblr.com/post/3256527592/casablancasyndrome-long-live-egypt
love this clip
Bahrain
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/180066_201622356516358_193994620612465_787098_5687753_n.jpg
http://paper.li/mahmood/influentialbahrainis
The Influential Bahrainis Daily
Interesting read
ماذا لو قال السعوديون: الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام!!٠
Then it’s the end of the world!
A phrase we are hearing all too often these days: Wind of change
Interesting bits of pieces on Col. Gadhafi of Libya.
“I remember when, shortly after the Reagan had bombed Libya in 1986, Gaddafi insisted he would only be interviewed by female journalists, more than one of whom claimed that the Libyan leader…..came over all amorous and proposed doing a lot more than talking about the state of Libya’s military infrastructure while they were locked away in his tent….. And then, when he agreed to be interviewed by male reporters again, he displayed the rather unnerving habit of breaking wind loudly – and for extended periods – in the middle of the interview.” LINK
John Simpson did not report the breaking wind incident in his BBC account but did mention it in a Telegraph article entitled ‘Warm Wind of Compromise Blows from Gadhafi’. Here is an excerpt from John Simpson’s book from Amazon relating the incident:
“That evening, as I began to writer [sic] my account of the interview, Bob knocked on my door. I know him well, and love him dearly, and could see that something was up.
‘There’s something funny about the interview,’ he said. He’d been watching it on the portable monitor in his room.
Oh Christ, I thought: he means there’s tape damage, or electronic interference. I remembered an interview I once did in a military base in Iraq, which was so crackling with electronic gadgets of different kinds that the material we shot was unusable.
‘Nothing like that,’ Bob said. ‘Gadhafi was making noises, that’s all.’
‘Whatever are you on about? What kind of noises?’
‘Kind of personal ones.’ He looked away.
As I say, I know Bob. He is a very modest man, especially where bodily functions are concerned.
‘What, stomach rumblings?’
Borborygmi can be a nuisance in a television interview.
‘No, worse than that.’
‘What, farting?’
Now I’d embarrassed him. He nodded, wordlessly.
‘Look, that’s absolutely stupid, Bob. I was sitting opposite him. If he’d been farting I’d have heard it. You’re imagining it.’
‘Well, listen to the tape.’
I listened. There was absolutely no doubt about it. The personal microphone which Bob had pinned on Gadhafi had picked it up very clearly. The wind passage lasted for about ten minutes of our half-hour interview. Gadhafi would rise up a little in his seat, the thunder would roll for fifteen or twenty seconds at a time, and then he would sink back into his seat with a pleased expression on his face. It may have happened to me before without my knowledge, but never, I think, in so concentrated and elaborate a fashion.
We ran the interview in a truncated form on the Nine O’Clock News, and in full on Simpson’s World. The wind-breaking was audible in both versions, but I thought it best not to draw attention to it in my script. With the Sunday Telegraph, though, I felt I could let rip.
During part of our interview, Col. Gadhafi broke wind audibly and at length.
The foreign editor, a particular friend of mine called Con Coughlin, headlined the article ‘Warm Wind of Compromise Blows from Gadhafi’.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/gigis-revolution
Interesting video Gigi Ibrahim
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/24/egypt.women.optimism.harassment/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Revolution signals new dawn for Egypt’s women