Tag: usa

US anti-Mubarak protests

Posted on By 3arabawy

Today, activists demonstrated in DC and NYC on behalf of the detainees in Egypt, and to express their opposition to Mubarak’s dictatorial constitutional amendments.

Here’s a report about the NYC demo, from activist and friend Shehab Ismail…

Around 20 people gathered today in front of the Egyptian consulate in New York to protest the proposed constitutional amendments. Rime Nagib and I arrived in front of the Egyptian consulate at noon. We spent the morning making banners. On the banners we wrote “No to constitutional amendments”, “Proposed constitutional amendments greatest erosion of human rights in 26 years-Amnesty International”, “Goodbye Mubarak”, and in Arabic
“يسقط لا مؤاخذه السيد الرئيس المبجل حسني مبارك”, “لا للتعديلات الدستورية المقترحة، لا لنظام مبارك القمعي، يسقط “سيادة”الرئيس” “لا لتقنين تزوير الانتخابات، لا لتقنين قمع الأجهزة الأمنية للمعارضة”
The banners also had inverted Egyptian flags and a No Mubarak signs.
The protest was not led by any specific political organization, rather it was planned by a group of activists who first met each other in the protest in solidarity with Egyptian judges last year, which also took place in front of the Egyptian consulate. For many of the protesters, this was their first experience at a demonstration.
The protest was for the most part silent, but there were so many fruitful discussions among the protests about the significance of the proposed amendments and their impact on political rights and the opposition in Egypt. We agreed that the amendments is a huge step backward for democracy in Egypt, and that they pave the way for more rigged elections, military tribunals, as well as human rights abuses such as infinite detentions by national security forces.
Towards the end of the protest, an Egyptian woman came out of the consulate and she started commenting about how “unpatriotic” the protest is. We suspect that she works at the consulate. Her argument, which was for the most part confused, is that Mubarak is our best option. She also said that what Egyptian society needs is an “ethical” change, not a political one. She said Egyptians live in a blissful state under Mubarak and that he knows Egypt best. In short, her argument was that Egyptian people are the problem not the government. She was quite angry. Protesters gathered around her trying to discuss her claims, but she dismissed most of our arguments as misguided.
The protests started talking to Egyptians who were entering the consulate. In fact one man who was waiting for his family inside decided to join the demonstration. Later he even encouraged his wife to join but she hesitated.
People in the protest were from very different backgrounds, including grad students, professionals, human rights consultants. Most of the protesters were Egyptians or Egyptian Americans.

UPDATE: Here’s a video of the NYC sit-in…

Rice in Egypt to rally Arab autocrats

Posted on By 3arabawy

In the midst of our country’s constitutional massacre, and as we embrace a “September 1981”-style crackdown on dissent, Condi has arrived in Egypt to meet Arab Foreign Ministers and Mubarak–part of her plan to “rally Arab moderate states for regional peace,” as Western news reports say.

Moderates?! Regimes with security services that sodomize detainees, lock up secularists for their beliefs, imprison liberals on fabricated charges, brutalize leftists in street demos, try Islamists in martial courts, turn their countries into constitutional Gestapo states–and Condi still regards them as moderates?

GoodbyeMubarak.Com

Posted on By 3arabawy

The campaign website is up now.

Press Release
Egyptians Against Mubarak*
Washington D.C. – 23/3/2007
‘Egyptians Against Mubarak’ group in Washington D.C. calls upon all expatriate Egyptians; students, professionals, NGOs, politicians, and defenders of democracy and Human Rights in USA to gather in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Washington D.C. on Monday 26 March 2007 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. to protest against the constitutional amendments put forth by Mubarak’s authoritarian regime, and against the referendum that will be held on these amendments on Monday.
The group is protesting against Mubarak’s repressive regime’s imposition of such amendments (the second of its kind in less than two years) in a unilateral and oppressive way. Mubarak’s regime, along with its puppet representatives in both the People’s Assembly and Shura Council, marathon-passed 34 constitutional amendments without responding to any of the demands of opposition parties and movements in Egypt. This escalation only aims at consolidating the power of this autocratic regime and curbing whatever little was left of political freedoms. Furthermore, the amendments come as a manifestation of Egyptian economic dependency on the United States.
Egyptian opposition groups and individuals have raised their voices in the past few years calling for amending the constitution to open the door for political parties establishment, limit presidential terms, abolish emergency laws, lift the state security’s iron-grip off citizens, give more political rights to women, Christian Copts, and all other religious and ethnic groups, stop privatization processes that are fraught with corruption and exploitation, and return ownership rights to farmers over their lands. Nevertheless, the regime did not respond to any of these demands. On the contrary, it rushed distorted amendments that will only benefit a minority of corrupt officials in power – be it members from the old guard of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), or members of the businessmen government who are also members of the NDP’s Policies Committee headed by Mubarak junior.
For example, articles 1 and 4 have been amended to transform the economic system of the Egyptian state into a market-led one. Economic restructuring programs spearheaded in Egypt by the World Bank and the IMF during the last 15 years have only succeeded in the rise of few businessmen or crony capitalists to power, and a significant increase in poverty, unemployment, as well as internal and external immigration of labor. On another front, the proposed constitutional amendments have added more restrictions on political freedoms for Egyptians: it did not remove any of the present restrictions on establishing political parties, it did not respond to any of the pressing demands put forth for women and Copts. It rather granted a freehand to security forces to execute more detentions, oppression, and systematic torture against political activists and citizens.
Unfortunately, the U.S. government that continuously preaches for democracy in the Middle East remained silent on all these constitutional amendments as they serve its own interests. This silence yet again reveals the insincerity of their claims on supporting democracy in the region, and their lack of genuine interest in real democracies in the Middle East. It further shows the U.S. perpetual propping up of authoritarian regimes that have been oppressing their citizens for decades.
Organizing Committee of the Demonstration in Washington D.C.
23/3/07


* Egyptians Against Mubarak is a group of Egyptian graduate students, fellows and interns in Washington D.C. coming from different political backgrounds. It has no relation to any other Egyptian organizations abroad.