theatlantic:

In Focus: Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution: Two Years Later

Twenty-four months have passed since the start of the uprising that led to the overthrow of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak. In that time, much has changed, but many of the most vocal revolutionaries are not yet satisfied. President Mohamed Morsi, who assumed office last summer, has frustrated the opposition within the new government. Morsi has sought to expand his powers by decree and has been accused of heavily favoring the wishes of his own political party, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is promoting a new Islamist constitution for Egypt. In the midst of all this, many of the same activists who set things in motion in 2011 took to the streets again this past weekend, feeling that their voices had been drowned out once again. At least 50 are now reported to have been killed in clashes between demonstrators and government (and pro-government) groups, and a state of emergency has been declared in three provinces. 

See more. [Images: AP, Reuters, Getty]

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thedailywhat:

Impending S**tstorm of the Day: Egyptians Protest President Mohamed Morsi’s Power Grab

As many as 200,000 Egyptians assembled in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and other major cities across the country to protest against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi’s self-issued edict that grants him sweeping powers, including what his critics say is immunity of his office and his Muslim Brotherhood-controlled assembly from judicial oversight. Since President Morsi’s declaration of the decree last Thursday, a 15-year-old member of the Muslim Brotherhood has been killed, more than 500 people injured and a dozen of his supporters’ offices ransacked or set ablaze.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Rashad via Flickr

this-flesh:

A protester carries away a tear gas cannister during clashes with Egyptian riot policemen near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. November 2011.

(via myheadisweak)

(Source: myjetpack, via avoca2)

fotojournalismus:

Anti government protesters shout slogans as they try to enter al-Eker village, south of Manama, October 22, 2012. Seven people have been detained over the killing of a policeman last week in al-Eker, which police has blocked off since Friday. Wefaq, the main opposition group in Bahrain, said on Sunday that clashes had broken out near al-Eker, south of Manama, after some rights activists and medics tried to enter the village.

[Credit : Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters]

(via other-stuff)

Excerpt from The Revolution in Spain by Kevin Doyle.

There’s plenty of better works out there, but one of my favourite anecdotal pieces primed for the “yeah but anarchism would never work lol” accusations that float around.

(via kqedequalsvolvo)

(via class-struggle-anarchism)

thepeoplesrecord:

Bahrain continues the revolution: Bahraini anti-government protesters run for cover from tear gas fired by riot police during a demonstration in the capital Manama on September 7, 2012.

(via other-stuff)

newstatesman:

The Myth of the Islamist Winter

In December, Olivier Roy debunked the myth of an “Islamist winter” in the Middle East. In a bilateral discussion of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the al-Nahda government in Tunisia, Roy asserts that the spirit of protest which gripped the two nations throughout the Arab spring “is not about to be extinguished”:

In Tunisia, as in Egypt, the Islamists who came to power through the ballot box are seeing their popularity erode and are tempted to hold on to power by recourse to authoritarian measures. But they have to deal with the legacy of the Arab spring. They face a new political culture: now, one where people who disagree with the government take to the streets; where there is no reverence for established power and the army and the police no longer inspire fear.

It is interesting to consider the precise nature of this authoritarian turn because it bears little resemblance to the “Islamic revolution” often associated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and al-Nahda, the Renaissance Party, in Tunisia. It is, on the contrary, a conservative and paradoxically pro-western “counter-revolution”. Consider Egypt. If the president, Mohamed Morsi, is denounced in Tahrir Square as the new Mubarak (and not the new Khomeini), it is because his opponents have grasped that his aim is to establish an authoritarian regime using classical means (appealing to the army and controlling the apparatus of the state).

 Morsi’s success on the international stage has encouraged him to flex his muscles at home. But Morsi has gone too far too fast in his attempt to reinforce the power of the presidency at the expense of a judicial apparatus that was able to retain a degree of autonomy under Hosni Mubarak. And his failure to anticipate and understand the strength of public opinion has made things worse.

What is more, society [in Tunisia] has absorbed the culture of protest more deeply than in Egypt. At the local level, demonstrations and riots against the government are common currency.

Read this piece in full on the NS website.

newyorker:

As we near the end of another year marked by the revolutions that continue to roil the Middle East, punctuated at this year-end with the recent conflagration in Gaza, Magnum has published “Magnum Revolution: 65 Years of Fighting for Freedom,” a collection of some of the most powerful photographs of the convulsions of conflict by the agency’s renowned photographers.  Click-through for a selection.

thepeoplesrecord:

This is Tahrir Square in Cairo right now: occupied, lively & packed with protesters. 

Anti-Morsi demonstrators filled the Square last night after a decree issued on Thursday expanded his powers and shielded his decisions from any sort of judicial review until the election of a new parliament expected in the first half of 2013.

“We don’t want a dictatorship again. The Mubarak regime was a dictatorship. We had a revolution to have justice and freedom,” 32-year-old Ahmed Husseini said in Cairo.

Click here to watch a livestream of Tahrir.

The western world has a lot to learn from Egyptians.

nathoyt:

kiltcladjakeenglish:

indygogo:

tom-aiac:

thesongwhispers:

peskytimepirate:

 world-realities:

‘Christian or Muslim, We Are All Egyptians’ - Christians form a human chain around Muslims to protect them from disruptions during Friday prayer in Alexandria, Egypt.

Jesus told us to love people. It’s what we do.

Now THIS is what faith is really all about! That’s beautiful.

you see mom, christians aren’t so bad 

It’s sad that this is one of the first things I’ve seen that don’t totally put us in bad light just because we believe what we believe.

Thanks, Tumblr. .u.

Muslims did the same thing outside churches in their neighborhoods when Christians were worried about being attacked during their Christmas services.

This is goddamn beautiful.

(via onomatopoeinis)

thepeoplesrecord:

Bahrain government bans protests amid violence
October 30, 2012

Bahrain banned all protest gatherings on Tuesday and threatened legal action against groups said to be backing escalating demonstrations and clashes.

The interior ministry order is the most sweeping attempt to quash the anti-government uprising in the Sunni-ruled kingdom since martial law was imposed during the early months of unrest last year.

It sharply increases pressure on political groups from Bahrain’s Shia majority, which has led the protests in support of a greater political voice.

A crackdown on opposition groups could raise complications for Washington and other western allies that have stood by Bahrain’s monarchy during more than 20 months of unrest. The US has important military ties with Bahrain, which hosts the US navy’s 5th Fleet, but it also has called for increased dialogue to ease the tensions.

Shias make up around 70% of Bahrain’s 525,000 citizens, and claim they face systematic discrimination such as being denied top political and security posts. The Sunni monarchy has made a series of concessions – including giving more powers to the elected parliament – but opposition groups say the reforms do little to loosen the ruling family’s grip on power.

More than 50 people have been killed in Bahrain’s unrest since February 2011. Among them were two policemen who died this month from injuries suffered in attacks in which firebombs and explosives were used.

An interior ministry statement said Bahraini society was fed up with near nonstop demonstrations and clashes and that “there was a need to put an end to them”. Bahrain’s government has permitted limited protests and marches, but much of the violence occurs away from the authorised gatherings.

It added that any “illegal rally or gathering would be tackled through legal actions against those calling for and participating in it”.

The warning appeared aimed particularly at the largest Shia political bloc, al-Wefaq, which has organised many opposition marches. Another rally is planned for Friday.

An al-Wefaq official, Hadi al-Musawi, struck a defiant tone, saying the interior ministry order was against international human rights.

Other Gulf states have placed limits on political expression amid worries that movements inspired by last year’s Arab spring could threaten their ruling systems. Last week, Kuwait banned all public gatherings of more than 20 people following opposition protests ahead of parliamentary elections on 1 December.

Source

This is a regime that receives a supply of arms from western governments that pontificate about human rights on the international stage. 

(via other-stuff)

class-struggle-anarchism:

picturesofwar:

This day in history:

Amid protests across Soviet-dominated Hungary, violence erupts, sparking the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

Soon after the revolution began the Soviet Union planned to give in to demands and withdraw forces from the country.  However they quickly changed plans and sent in a large military force to quash the rebellion and regain control.

Revolutionaries made quick and large gains up to the end of October, but stood no chance against the superior Soviet military.  The rebellion eventually ended on November 10, two and a half weeks after it began.

Despite calls for help to western countries (especially the USA), the revolutionaries received no support during the conflict, and Hungary was dominated by Soviet oppression until 1989.

October 23, 1956 - 56 years ago today

“We shall drag the blood-soaked Hungarian mud on to the carpets of your drawing rooms.

In vain do you take us into your homes - we still remain homeless. In vain do you dress us in new clothes - we remain in rags. From now on a hundred thousand question marks confront you.

If you wish to live in the illusion of a false peace, do not heed us. In our streets there are still cobble-stones from which to build barricades. From our woods we can still get stout sticks. We still have clear consciences with which to face the guns.

But if you will heed us, listen. And at long last understand. We not only want to bear witness to the sufferings of the Hungarian people in their fight for freedom. We want to draw the attention of all people to the simple truth that freedom can only be achieved through struggle.

Peace is not simply an absence of war. No people have longed more passionately for peace than we. But it must not be the peace of quiescence. This involves complicity in oppression. We promise the world that we shall remain the apostles of freedom.

All workers, socialists, even communists, must at last understand that a bureaucratic state has nothing to do with socialism.”

Nemsetör, 15 January, 1957.

Remember Hungary!

headlinehelper:

Revolutionary street art in downtown Cairo.

(via myheadisweak)