Egypt Monday: The Son of the Shah and Dan Rathers

Monday was a day of violence.  There are videos of some military units firing into the crowd to keep them under control.  As of yet, there has not been widescale clashes with the army, who the people still believe to be on their side.  Tanks have been deployed to the pyramids and the soldiers there claim that they are still open to tourists.  A "Million-Man March" is planned for Cairo tomorrow, solidifying support for the protesters there.  Soldiers had a much more noticeable presence in the streets, closing off certain routes into the city.  This may cause trouble for the march tomorrow. 

Prince Reza Pahlavi, son of the exiled Shah of Iran, appeared on CNN to give his thoughts on Egypt.

He is very sympathetic to the Egyptian people, who offered his family asylum after they fled Iran.  He also respects President Mubarak, who made it easy for his family to visit his father’s tomb, who is interred in Egypt.  He hopes that Mubarak will use this as an opportunity to move his country forward with democratization by giving power to his people.

He said what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia is the beginning of a new era.  “If there was an era of rule by a foreign policy and an era where one man ruled the country, then shouldn’t there be an era with rule by the people?”

“To avoid a situation where the radicals take power, one must provide aid to the people and assist them.  This way, the radicals will be pushed to the outside.  If you do not do this, however, then they will turn to the radicals for results.”

Pahlavi also praised the strength of internet media like Facebook and Twitter for allowing the youth of the world under oppressive regimes access to the rest of the global community.  Even in places like China, where there is extensive government methods to block access, the youth find ways around the filters, using American and European proxy-servers to get out and make their voices known.

Following the exiled-Prince on CNN was senior newsman Dan Rathers.

When asked if there was a chance of tomorrow’s Million-Man March becoming a Tianneman Square massacre, Rathers said it was not expected. Egypt’s army is the pride of the Egyptian people.  It is a conscript army, so the soldiers in it are normal people.  It wouldn’t turn this into a bloodbath.  He was quick to add the disclaimer: no one can know what is going to happen at this point.

Rather’s went on to say that Mubarak has been great for the US and Israel, but he hasn’t been great for his people.  This is a grass roots movement, from the bottom.  He said the uprising is the cumulative effect of the daily insults to the young people: the police officer looking for a bribe that kicks over a fruit stand.

Mabarak came in to power as a very modest, almost humble, “believing he could do the right thing for Egypt, and for the early part he did.”  But, power seems to have corrupted.  He became a dictator as time went along. “There are different kinds of dictators. We have had all kinds of dictators that we have supported over the years,” he said.  “The US wants to stand by their friends, but at the same time we want to do what is right for the Egyptian people.”

Rathers said he does not envy the position that President Obama is in, but if he was in his shoes, he would quietly tell Mubarak that it is over, but the US would do what they could to do right by him.

Egypt: Sunday

            Demonstrators took to the streets, yet again, with signs calling on the Western powers to “end their hypocrisy” and come to the aid of a people who want democracy. 

Later in the morning, France, Great Britain, and Germany released a joint statement calling on Egypt to implement major reforms and hold free elections.  Up until this point, most Western powers had remained very ambiguous as to picking a side.

All day, neighborhood vigilante militias apprehended, beat, and then turned over looters to the army soldiers on standby around important government buildings.  The biggest problem with the militias was their lack of coordination.  Remarkably, the same group of young men, intellectuals and lawyers, who organized the initial protests so successfully over Twitter and Facebook, worked with the army to coordinate the militias.  

Violent protests in Port Said and in Suez have caused turmoil on the stock market.  The two port cities lie on each end of the Suez Canal, through which a vast majority of the West oil supply passes.  Disruption of the traffic on the Suez Canal would have dramatic consequences on the price of fuel and on Western economies.

Egypt: Saturday

          A crowd of protesters attempted multiple times to take the Interior Ministry. Snipers and others at the ministry opened fire on the crowd with rubber and plastic bullets. At least 5 dead, but there were many, many wounded. A makeshift hospital was set up at a nearby mosque, with pleas going out for any doctors in the area to go there to help.Top of Form

Early in the day, the death toll was at 38 for the week. There were reports of the crowd praying next to army tanks and riding around on them, embracing the soldiers.  At this point, the army had made no attempts to quell the demonstrators, only attempting to stop some of the worst looting.

There were numerous reports of violent gangs of looters attacking stores, buildings, and even private homes.  Vigilantes took to the streets to cut down on some of the looting. Citizens armed themselves with whatever they could to defend themselves from the chaos, and have barricaded themselves within their homes.

Hospital emergency rooms in Egypt are being swamped with injured protesters. They are understaffed, as not all of their employees are showing up to work. Some protesters eye the doctors suspiciously as members of the institution.

17 people were shot dead by police as they attacked two police stations south of Cairo.  Other police stations were looted of weapons and burned to the ground as the police withdrew from Cairo, Alexandria, and other major cities.  Close to 1,000 prisoners escaped from a prison south of Cairo.  

A group of vandals broke into the Museum of Antiquities and caused much damage to displays, mummies, and a statue of King Tut.  Many priceless archeological finds were stolen.  They were eventually driven off by a vigilante militia and the army has since stood guard outside.

 Death Toll as of Saturday Night: 102.

First American Response

President Obama comments on the crisis in Egypt (Late Friday Evening)

  

             Over an hour after Egyptian president Mubarak addressed his nation, President Obama delivered a response from the White House.  He started by saying that his first concern was to prevent injury and the loss of life in Egypt.  He called on Egyptian authorities to refrain from using violence on peaceful demonstrators, and also that the Egyptian people possessed the universal rights of assembly, free speech, and to determine their own government.  

 Next, president Obama called on Mubarak to restore internet and cell phone service, which had been disrupted on the government’s order.  He told the protesters that they must demonstrate peacefully.

Thirdly, the president said that the Egyptians must use this as a moment of promise.  He said that, yes, Egypt was an important U.S. ally, but that the United States has long told them that they needed reforms.

           

The president said that he had spoken with Mubarak and had told him that he needed to “give meaning” to his promises and that violence will not help with his people.  He told Mubarak that there needed to be a dialogue between the parties and also political change resulting in greater liberty. 

“The Future of Egypt is determined by her people,” the president said, going on to say that the U.S. was committed to working with both the government and the Egyptian people.  “Around the world, governments have the responsibility to respond to the will of their people… all governments must maintain power through consent, not coercion.”

The Begginings of the Trouble

Seeing the effectiveness of the internet in coordinating the demonstrations, the Egyptian government ordered the four Internet Service Providers in the nation to shut down, effectively cutting off the internet in the country.  Cellphone and land-line connections soon followed.

On Friday, protesters clashed violently with police.

Egypt in Turmoil (Early Friday evening)

Source: CNN

         Egyptian president Mubarak addressed his people via television around midnight, local time.  He asked the parliament to resign. He expressed no inclination that he himself would resign or leave the country, despite the demands of the people that he do so. He went on to say that he would lead the new government in reforms.  Mubarak also expressed that he was angry with the violent crackdown on the protesters by his police force. 

            The people were extremely angered by his refusal to step down.  Throughout the day on Friday, the police had been using rubber bullets and live ammunition, as well as teargas, to control the crowd.  Shortly after midnight, the police force disappeared from Cairo and Alexandria, being replaced by the army, which is much respected by the people.  The army maintained a large presence in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, which was the central gathering place for the protests.

Egypt: Intro to a Problem

Egypt:

Population: 84,500,000

Capital: Cairo;

Area: 1,002,000 square kilometers

Religious Breakdown: about 90% Sunni Muslim, about 10% Coptic Christian

ECONOMY

• Industry: Textiles, food processing, tourism, chemicals
• Agriculture: Cotton, rice, corn, wheat; cattle
• Exports: Crude oil and petroleum products, cotton, textiles, metal products, chemicals

—Text From National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition

24 million Egyptians live on less than $2 US per day.

~Wallstreet Journal

Egypt has a colorful history of ancient empires, epic battles, and fantastic monuments.  Despite long being a regional super power, it was taken over by foreign powers, starting with Alexander the Great.  Changing hands a few times over the millennium, Egypt eventually won its independence from the British Empire in 1953.

In the 1970s, President Anwar al-Sadat signed an historic peace agreement with Israel, becoming the first Arab state to officially recognize Israel's existence.  Ever since then, Egypt has been important in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, as well as an important partner in the United States-Middle Eastern diplomacy.

President Sadat was assassinated in 1981 and was replaced by President Hosni Mubarak, who has remained in power ever since.  At first, Mubarak helped to modernize his state, but as decades passed, there arose growing corruption in the government.

 

Extremely high poverty and economic stagnation in recent years lead to an extreme discontent among the populace towards Mubarak and his regime.  In early 2011, neighboring Tunisia rose up against their government, causing a completely new government to be formed.  A week or so later, demonstrations in Egypt, organized with the aid of Facebook and Twitter, escalated into demands for Mubarak's resignation.

First Post - Introductions

I am setting up a blog in response to the current turmoil in Egypt.  I plan to use this blog as a way of summing up news of major happenings in the world.  My hope is that users will use this as a quick way to catch up on important situations in world politics without having to wade through television news sources.

I myself am a university student of the French language and of political science: international relations and comparative politics.

To begin, I will recap the situation in Egypt and move on to updating the blog as the situation changes.