Katrina Vanden Heuvel: Neocons Have a Hard Time With Democracies That Emerge From Within a Country
February 12, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Ed Schultz talked to The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel last night about the uprisings in Egypt and across the Middle East and the need for the United States to redefine our national security policies in the region. When Ed asked her about the many on the right who have been supportive of Mubarak and whether their labor’s role in the movement might have had anything to do with it. Vanden Heuvel reminded him that neocons have never had much use for real democracy, whether it be at home or abroad. SCHULTZ: How is in your opinion the president and his advisers and the State Department handling all of this now that we go to day number 18 and mixed signals from the president and really demeaning talk coming from the vice president telling these protesters to go home but—oh, by the way don‘t watch television. What do you make of all of this? VANDEN HEUVEL: You know, I think we all need to step back a little and speak with some humility. Egyptians are putting their lives on the line. Hundreds of thousands came out yesterday as you reported, Ed, across the country—labor, doctors, lawyers, across class, gender, religious lines. I think it is the Egyptians to sort out, and they will. They have shown the world, they have shown us what a democracy movement looks like. I believe that behind the scenes, because this country has over invested in, quote, “stability,” propping up dictators, intelligence, security, military apparatuses that we have to be using our leverage, that $1.5 billion a year we give the Egyptian military, to make sure that there is some process, some outcome that will resolve in a more democratic country. But as you pointed out, Ed, earlier, you know, the labor movement, others in Egypt, have been working toward this moment for years. And it is those people who in this country, human rights organizers and independent trade union organizers, were the ones who put a check on the repression, not our government. So, I hope that this is a moment to redefine U.S. national security thinking in this region. It is a beginning. It is a process just as democracy is a process. But we must begin to disinvest from security intelligence apparatuses which don‘t make us secure and reinvest in civic governance, and in economic development which Egypt as it emerges from this extraordinary moment will need desperately. SCHULTZ: Katrina, what do you make of some of the comments that are coming from conservatives in America? Almost endorsing Hosni Mubarak. And now, it‘s being reported that obviously labor has played a big role in these uprisings around the country. I mean, does labor‘s role in this suggest why some Republicans are supporting Mubarak? VANDEN HEUVEL: No, I think conservatives—I think these neocons have a very hard time with democracies that emerge from within a country. The great failure of this last decade was the belief you could bring democracy at the tip of a bayonet, with bombs in President Bush‘s case. That is a disastrous fraud. So, I think neoconservatives are very uncomfortable when they see real democracy in the streets and, of course, labor is something they wish to repress at home. And they don‘t love dissidents at home and they don‘t love dissidents abroad. So, to me, it‘s a kind of coherent whole I‘m witnessing.
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Critics say Obama didn’t lead, he followed. This was appropriate: Egypt is on a path to democracy and no one got invaded • Obama’s speech, on CNN My God, what a moving day this is . To think that just 18 days of largely peaceful protests can accomplish this. Remarkable. President Obama’s remarks on Friday afternoon were appropriate and powerful: the people of Egypt have inspired the world. For all the understandable frustration on the part of Egyptian protesters over the fact the the US wouldn’t commit to them more fully earlier, I think Obama and his people ended up playing this rather well. They turned up the heat incrementally, and but for one or two missteps, the timing was actually pretty good. Critics, neocons especially, will say he didn’t lead, he followed. That’s true. And that was appropriate. It was up to the Egyptian people to lead this, not the United States. And the Egyptian military. Someday, we’ll get the back story on how, in just 24 hours, the military went from evidently backing Mubarak to ditching him. This was crucial, and I doubt very much the US played no role in this. I’d wager that Pentagon chief Robert Gates and Mike Mullen, the heads of the joint chiefs of staff, had quite a lot to do with that. With the Egyptian army relying on US military aid basically to exist, their words surely carried weight. Maybe all that aid over years, excessive as it has been in many ways, paid important dividends in the last two weeks. The army behaved professionally, not like some tinhorn’s personal secret security service. That was one of the most breathtaking things about this, and could stand as one of the most hopeful in terms of serving as a model for future situations like this. There’s a long way to go from here, of course. This is a happy beginning, not a happy ending. But now, the US can and should start playing the less ambiguous role it took on, as of Thursday night. We need to be on the side of democracy and rights and freedoms, and stay on that side, and we do need to continue to be concerned with the positive aspects of regional stability to which Egypt has contributed. There are more needles to thread. Finally: no, I will not say that Obama deserves much credit for this. At the same time, I have no doubt in my mind that if President McCain had given a speech on democracy in Cairo 20 months ago and now this happened, the neocons and Fox News and the usual suspects would be calling it “the McCain Revolution” and baying about how it proved that a bold stance by an American president had made all the difference. I won’t parrot that kind of inanity. I’ll simply say that, from his Cairo speech until today, Obama has helped this process more than he’s hindered it. And we didn’t have to invade two countries, either. That’s the right side – for him, and for us, the people of the United States. Now, we need to stay there. This is a great opportunity for the US, and all of the west, to help a people learn the habits of freedom, and for those habits to spread. Egypt Barack Obama Obama administration United States US politics US foreign policy John McCain Republicans Protest Middle East Michael Tomasky guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Networks Continue Chris Lee Scandal Coverage, Gave Little to Disgraced Florida Dem Who Replaced Mark Foley
February 11, 2011 No CommentWhile NBC, ABC, and CBS all pushed the scandal involving New York Republican Congressman Christopher Lee into a second day of coverage, the networks made little or no mention of Florida Democratic Congressman Tim Mahoney admitting to numerous affairs in 2008.
Continue reading …Where next for Hosni Mubarak? Wealth and fears of prosecution will dictate future
February 11, 2011 No Comment
Former ruler insists on staying in homeland but charges of corruption and human rights abuses may force relocation Switzerland has frozen all assets belonging to Hosni Mubarak and his family, which could run into hundreds of millions, the government announced. The move came as the former president was reported to have flown to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he has previously chaired summits, received guests and enjoyed the winter sunshine well away from the crowds. Mubarak said in his first speech during the uprising on 1 February that he would not leave his homeland, pledging to “die on the soil of Egypt and be judged by history”. But exploratory discussions involving the Saudis, the US and the UAE have reportedly taken place about him moving to Dubai. One important issue is immunity from any prosecution he might face on charges of crimes against humanity after 300 deaths and documented abuses by the security forces. According to the London-based paper al-Quds al-Arabi, revelations about the Mubarak family fortune and possible legal action over that are also a factor in planning for a post-presidential future. Experts have estimated that the Mubaraks could be worth £43.5bn, with much of the wealth from investment deals in British and Swiss banks or tied up in upmarket real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast. In Britain, sources say the Bank of England cannot act against Mubarak’s UK assets, which are thought to be considerable, unless it receives a formal request from either the EU, UN or a new Egyptian government. No requests have, as yet, been forthcoming. The president’s half-Welsh wife, Suzanne and their sons, Gamal and Alaa, were able to accumulate wealth through partnerships with foreign investors and companies, dating back to when he was in the military and in a position to benefit from corporate corruption. It had been thought that Mubarak might be persuaded to again seek urgent medical treatment in Germany, where he spent three weeks convalescing after surgery last March. But Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, denied on Wednesday that this option was under consideration. Germany has also denied offering him hospitality. A peaceful retirement in Sharm el-Sheikh would be an unusual outcome for an Arab president in the post-second world war era. Several Lebanese presidents retired after serving their terms in office, but otherwise Arab leaders have mostly either died in office or been murdered. In Tunisia, human rights campaigners are attempting to unravel the former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s web of assets, believed to spread from Canada and South America to the Gulf, and draw a “blacklist” of misappropriated assets. A Tunis prosecutor opened an investigation into the overseas assets of the ousted leader and his family. Much of the fortune, allegedly made from pillaging the economy, is believed to be held in property and secret bank accounts. A number of countries, including France, are examining requests to identify and block any movement of funds belonging to members of the Ben Ali regime, including relatives of his second wife, Leila Trabelsi. She was reported to have fled last week to Saudi Arabia with 1.5
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News of Egyptian president’s departure spread rapidly through region, where other authoritarian rulers are in power Algeria In another military dominated north African state with a long-term authoritarian ruler, the Egyptian drama came on the eve of pro-democracy protests that could turn violent. “Even with Mubarak’s departure, it’s not certain that everything will be immediately resolved,” said historian Daho Djerbal. “But a shockwave is running through all the societies of this region, and other despots will go. There is an idea of the birth of a new republic in which sovereignty is being returned to the people. The people are becoming aware of their power. In Algeria it’s slower than elsewhere because we only have a very young new middle class, after it was destroyed under colonialism.” Tunisia Four weeks after Tunisia’s own revolution, the news from Egypt was received with joy. “There has been an explosion of joy on the streets of Tunis. People are gathering outside the Egyptian embassy to express their happiness,” said Abdelraham Hedidhi, a trade unionist. “There has been a great breath of revolution blowing on the wind across the region and Tunisians are very proud to have played their part in starting it. Mubarak’s departure will help us in our efforts to set up our own democracy. Because of the power and importance of Egypt in the Arab world, other countries will follow: Yemen, Jordan, Algeria. There is a new power to the people.” Jordan Six weeks of calls for political change have led to a tense truce between Jordan’s monarchy and a restless opposition. Central Amman, which has played host to waves of protests in recent weeks, was alive with talk of Egypt and the rapid success of the region’s rage against the regimes. Former deputy prime minister Ayman al-Safidi was confident that the people’s demands could be addressed through reform rather than revolution. “The old guard has been forceful in protecting their interests,” he said. “We have to be much more assertive in pushing for the type of reforms that we are going to have. We cannot stand still in the face of time.” Israel Israel will now be uncertain about future relations with Egypt. The peace treaty between the two countries that has been in place for more than 30 years has not exactly made them warm allies, but the peace has held. Israeli ministers have been warning for almost three weeks that regime change in Egypt could end the “cold peace” between the nations. Their worst fears are that the Muslim Brotherhood will gain in power and influence and Egypt will adopt a hostile attitude towards the Jewish state. There was no immediate reaction to Mubarak’s resignation from the prime minister’s office. Binyamin Netanyahu has been telling international counterparts that Israel expects any future Egyptian government to honour the peace treaty and that the international community should be making that clear. Gaza Hamas called on people to rally all over Gaza on Friday night to celebrate Mubarak’s resignation. People were raising Egyptian flags, and some Hamas fighters have fired weapons into the air since the announcement. Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, said Hamas hoped to benefit from the developments, calling for improved relations between Egypt and the Islamic movement. The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’s close allies, “are present everywhere”, he said. He would not be drawn on whether a new Egyptian regime may wish to review the peace treaty it signed with Israel more than 30 years ago. “There is no clear picture about the new government, but it will be controlled by the army to begin with,” he said. “We are hoping to benefit.” Lebanon Guns were fired into the air in the Shia Muslim stronghold suburbs of south Beirut last night as residents celebrated the news. Mubarak had been the subject of regular taunts from Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, particularly over Egypt’s strict control of the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza, which was rarely opened to allow Palestinians to cross. In the predominantly Sunni Muslim west Beirut, the public reaction was muted, although there was keen interest in cafes and bars where television coverage of the momentous events in Cairo was screening continuously. Middle East Egypt Hosni Mubarak Algeria Tunisia Jordan Israel Gaza Palestinian territories Lebanon Harriet Sherwood Angelique Chrisafis Martin Chulov Hazem Balousha guardian.co.uk
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Jubilant Egyptians celebrate Hosni Mubarak’s resignation Cairo, in Arabic, means “victorious”. Last night the Egyptian capital lived up to its name. The crowds that had been steadily gathering outside the presidential palace all afternoon were swaying with their normal rhythm of quietly controlled passion, pockets of singing here, flags waved there. Word spread that an important announcement was expected, but few held out much hope. They had anticipated triumph the night before and seen it snatched from their hands. This time, though, it would be different. At 6pm, beneath the Belle Époque domes of the building from which President Hosni Mubarak had ruled for so long, a cry went out that he was gone. In an instant the street was convulsed with a wild, directionless surge of energy. For a few moments it was simply a wall of sound, and Egypt’s national colours blurred through the sky from every angle. And then the world came back into focus. “Freedom,” roared a jubilant crush of humanity, as the party got under way. Families and friends were torn apart in the throng, but it didn’t matter; hugs and kisses and dances were being thrown out indiscriminately. People bounced from one circle of cheering youths to another; some put their Egyptian flags down on the floor and began to pray, others fainted – quite overcome with the emotion. “For 18 days we have withstood tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition, molotov cocktails, thugs on horseback, the scepticism and fear of our loved ones, and the worst sort of ambivalence from an international community that claims to care about democracy,” said Karim Medhat Ennarah, a protester with tears in his eyes. “But we held our ground. We did it. “My late father was part of a sit-in at the faculty of engineering in Cairo University in 1968 – the first protest seen in Egypt since Nasser took over in 1952,” he added. “His generation tell me that they were not as brave as us, but they started something and played their part. Today, we finished the job for them.” Soon the march back to Tahrir Square, in the centre of Cairo, was under way, serenaded by car horns, onlookers on their balconies punching the air, and a blast of amateur fireworks that shot through the crowd at just above head height and exploded to cheers. Tariq Ashri, a 42-year-old administrative assistant, had spent the morning walking the 10 miles down the road to the palace in a mood of defiance. Now he was walking back in joy. “I feel free at last,” he told the Guardian. “We’ve had 30 years of dreaming about democracy, now tomorrow the dreaming is over and the real work begins.” Around him, a chant went up in memory of the 300 people who have died at the hands of Mubarak’s forces since the protests began 18 days ago, as the 82-year-old president tried to cling on to power. “Be happy martyrs, for today we feast at your victory,” they sang. Military police in red berets were all smiles and thumbs-up to the crowd. Apprehension about what might happen next in a country now under army control was being pushed aside to allow for celebrations, but as the procession reached the high-walled ministry of defence, Egyptians could not resist reminding their new overlords of who now held the balance of power in the Arab world’s most populous nation. “Here, here, the Egyptians are here,” they shouted up at the darkened windows. From one, a senior officer responded with a V-sign peace salute. And so, at last, they reached Tahrir Square, the spiritual home of this revolution that showed the world not just how a western-backed strongman could be brought down by his own people, but how broad-based, non-sectarian and all-inclusive that population could be when doing it. With flares in one corner, an impromptu concert in another, and sheer exhilaration in between, the party was as leaderless as the uprising it celebrated. Haisam Abu-Sabra was in the thick of it. He said: “For the first time in my life tonight, I say proudly: I am Egyptian.” Egypt Middle East Hosni Mubarak Protest Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Egyptian army calls the shots as nation embarks on democratic transition
February 11, 2011 No Comment
• Veteran commander will steer Egyptian political reforms • Uncertainty over military’s role following years of control Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the 75-year-old commander of Egypt’s armed forces and head of the Supreme Military Council, is the new face of power in Cairo now that Hosni Mubarak has finally stepped down. Tantawi is in charge of steering the country through political reforms that should change the way Egypt has been ruled for nearly 60 years – a prospect that is already sending shockwaves across the Arab world. It is a task which is also likely to pose problems for an institution that is keen on preserving its own power, privileges and status. The military council is expected to quickly suspend both houses of parliament and rule with the civilian head of the supreme constitutional court for a transitional period of just a few months. A free and fair presidential election has been promised for September. If Tantawi and the generals are still in charge at the end of this year, then the great hopes of the uprising will have been dashed. Last night, Egypt’s military said it would not act as a substitute for a “legitimate” government. A military spokesman, in a brief televised statement, said the armed forces would later announce measures and arrangements to introduce the changes Egyptians want. He also praised Mubarak for his contribution to the nation. It always seemed likely that the army, the most powerful player in Egyptian politics since the 1952 revolution, would step in as the guardian of stability once the unprecedented unrest began. The US, Israel and other Arab regimes will most likely welcome it, keeping their qualms to themselves. And so, for the moment, will many ordinary Egyptians – but only if it is the prelude to far-reaching change. Rule by the military can only be temporary. Mubarak’s exit, the dissolution of what is seen as an illegitimate parliament dominated by the ruling party, key constitutional reforms and abolition of the hated emergency laws are all non-negotiable demands. If those reforms are achieved then Egypt will have witnessed a real, transformative revolution – far beyond the removal of a stubborn 82-year-old president long past his sell-by date. It had seemed clear from the events of recent days – especially the contradictory messages before Mubarak’s last defiant TV address to the nation on Thursday – that the army is divided. Tantawi, privately scorned by younger officers as Mubarak’s “poodle,” is a conservative figure and like his old boss a veteran of wars with Israel. But as the dust cleared, the newspaper al-Ahram reported that the addresses by Mubarak and his vice-president and former spy chief, Omar Suleiman, were in defiance of the wishes of the armed forces. If the military now moves solely to protect its own position, and that of the big businessmen who have done so well out of their links with the regime – then the system will not open up, at least not without repression and bloodshed. Mubarak’s replacement by the military council will mean a resumption of talks that began earlier this week on constitutional and other changes, though they were pronounced dead by opposition groups almost before they began. But with goodwill it should now be possible to amend or rewrite the constitution to allow the election of a new parliament and president. It could, however, all still take months to agree, risking impatience in the streets and new unrest. Egyptian and foreign commentators are sharply aware of how difficult it will be for the military to accept a democratic transition that includes the legalisation of its bugbear, the banned Muslim Brotherhood, the most powerful opposition force in the country. “This is just the end of the beginning,” said Jon Alterman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. “Egypt isn’t moving toward democracy, it’s moved into martial law and where it goes is now subject to debate.” Analysts also see risks for the army in the new situation, exposed to demands for a civilian transitional government that could challenge or dilute its own authority or launch investigations into corruption or human rights abuses. The army may also want to avoid an armed clash with the Republican Guards that would seriously destabilise the country and further rob the regime of legitimacy. Another danger, commented the Arabist blogger Issandr Amrani, is that the army could become a target of the protesters. “There’s always been a core of activists who want to see the end of military dominance over Egypt,” he wrote. “It’s not clear whether it’s the majority, or even if this sentiment is echoed in the wider, silent Egyptian public. The army’s key problem … is that they suck at communicating. Their battle to retain public legitimacy may be lost because of bad PR and tone-deafness.” Egypt Hosni Mubarak Middle East Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Opposition protest blocks streets around pro-Mubarak symbol of power in bid to stop journalists inside ‘spreading more deception’ Egypt’s anti-government protesters have laid siege to the state television headquarters, surrounding army barricades and blocking access to the building. “These people are presenting an alternative reality; even as the country is swept by revolution, they remain inside telling lies,” said Samir Abbas, a 37-year-old former tour guide who had joined the crowds outside the Maspero building. “Just as the presidential palace is a symbol of regime power, so is Maspero. We will stay peaceful, but we won’t let their deception continue.” For the state media, the blockade is merely the latest chapter in a revolution that has brought out the best and the worst of the pro-government press. The state media has been accused of inciting violence against demonstrators by labelling them as foreign agents and refusing to air pro-reform views, yet in recent days hundreds of journalists working for loyalist newspapers have walked out on strike and state TV channels have been rocked by a series of high-profile resignations. “We see this in every revolution; state media employees see which way the wind is blowing and suddenly get a conscience,” said Lawrence Pintak, founding dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication and an expert on the Arab media. “In Egypt though it’s part of a longer trend. In recent years, media power has been shifting from the old state mouthpieces to regional satellite channels, private Cairo-based TV stations and the nascent privately owned newspapers. That’s led to a tendency for even government-owned media outlets to begin pushing the envelope as well.” In the early days of Egypt’s anti-government uprising, state television channels refused to broadcast images of the ongoing occupation of Cairo’s Tahrir square, instead accusing an unlikely alliance of Israel, Hamas, the US and Iran of fomenting the unrest. When pro-Mubarak baltagiyya (thugs) began attacking demonstrators, killing some and leaving thousands injured, many anti-Mubarak activists held the information ministry and the state media apparatus responsible. With back-to-back coverage of pro-Mubarak protests dominating the state airwaves, it appeared the “Cairo spring” – a degree of media liberalisation that allowed a number of independent Egyptian outlets to flourish over the past five years – was being brought to an end. “The state media has acted as a tool of the security services to strike at the protests,” Gamal Fahmy, a senior member of the Journalists’ Syndicate, told local news outlet Ahram Online. According to Shahira Amin, deputy head of the state-run Nile TV channel and a senior state TV anchor, the moment protests erupted on 25 January Egypt’s government immediately began ramping up editorial control. The atmosphere inside Maspero became more reminiscent of the 1960s, when Nasser’s state media complex was an unabashed government mouthpiece. “Broadcasting as we do in English and French, we always enjoyed a higher degree of freedom than our Arabic-language colleagues and I was able to express myself as I wished,” she told the Guardian. “That day though press releases began arriving from the interior ministry that were questionable, suggesting that the Muslim Brotherhood was behind the protests. I had a talk-show that night, and my boss told me to talk about the ‘foreign elements’ fomenting unrest.” In the absence of live TV images from Tahrir, Amin decided to go down to the square and see for herself what the situation was. “There weren’t any foreign agents, there weren’t any dollars being distributed, there weren’t any of the lies we were being told through the press releases,” she said. “Instead I found a cross-section of Egyptian society, an all-inclusive movement from old to young and rich to poor.” Amin refused to come into work for several days as the protests escalated; in that time her channel broadcast pre-recorded travel programmes about Red Sea holiday towns and made only occasional references to the massive anti-government uprising sweeping the country, normally by focusing on isolated pro-Mubarak supporters. “You can’t have a revolution in your own country and air a story about a beach resort,” she said. “It was ridiculous. Then I saw the Molotov cocktails being thrown at pro-change demonstrators, the violence of the horsemen, the trucks that were running protesters over. For me, that was the breaking point.” Amin tendered her resignation, the first of many inside the state media apparatus who would follow suit as the protests continued. “I realised then that I had to choose which side I was on. And I realised I couldn’t be the mouthpiece of a regime that massacres its own people; that was a line I couldn’t cross.” This week state TV channels have begun to shift the tone of their coverage, offering air time to protesters and in some cases hailing the occupation of Tahrir square as a positive step. On Monday state-run Al-Ahram – the Middle East’s biggest daily newspaper – carried a frontpage editorial praising the “nobility” of the revolution, though it stopped short of calling for the president to step down. “There’s domestic pressure from protesters and outside pressure from Washington to liberalise editorial control, and that’s what we’re now seeing,” claimed Amin. “Nobody inside Maspero is really happy about the government’s response to the protests, they’re just following orders.” Pintak agrees that there is little ideological backing for Mubarak within the ranks of state media employees. “The change in tone and staff resignations do underscore the degree to which the regime is losing support. But it’s also a sign that the majority of Arab journalists, no matter who they work for and what professional compromises they have made, at root support the idea of political and social change. We did a survey a couple of years ago and asked journalists across the region what they saw as the mission of Arab journalism: 75% said political and social change.” Egypt Middle East Protest Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk
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High-school hunger-strikers, Ivory Coast and Egypt stir debate and action among delegates A hunger strike by highschool graduates outside the library at Cheikh Anta Diop University greeted World Social Forum delegates on the final day of the event in Senegal. Around two dozen students, who lay on the ground under blankets, are understood to be angry about not getting places at the university. Judging by the signs stuck to nearby posts, the strike was clearly timed to send a message to a forum gathered to discuss ways to create a fairer world. One read: “Why [a] place for foreigners and not for children of the country?” Another said: “Our place is not on the street but in the lecture halls.” By lunchtime the Red Cross had arrived to check the health of the young people. One protester was taken away in an ambulance. Holding the forum at the university has been a bone of contention to some students, who have been removed from classrooms and the library to make way for delegates and the press. It seems classes were going to be cancelled to allow for the forum to go ahead, and to allow students to attend, but the plan was changed. Amy Faye, 22, a third-year economics student, said she didn’t mind the conference taking place, but would have liked time off to attend. “We’ve had to attend class. There’s been no time to attend the forum. It would have been good for us to discover things.” Faye didn’t give her full backing to the hunger strikers, suggesting instead that the whole student body could have been mobilised to take action. Another student said on Thursday that overcrowding is a major problem at the university, with packed halls of residence and classrooms. The cost of university is also believed to be causing simmering tension. A group opposed to military intervention in Ivory Coast set up tents and circulated a petition this morning calling on the international community – including the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States and the West African Monetary Union – to end the threat of sanctions following the outcome of last November’s presidential election. In a manifesto distributed on Friday, the group, calling itself the Civil Society Group Against Aggression, says there is “no legally defensible basis for the positions taken and for the threats of sanctions brandished against the government of Ivory Coast by the self-proclaimed ‘international community’ since the beginning of the crisis”. The group challenges the international community to “produce a single legal justification that is not an offence against international law or the dignity of Africa” for its actions in the wake of the disputed results. The group says the international community had no right to announce a provisional result by the independent electoral commission as definitive. It says a peaceful solution needs to be found, and advocates negotiations between Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Outtara or a fresh election. The group is holding a press conference later today. Meanwhile, following Thursday’s rumours about the resignation of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, a march from the forum to the Egyptian embassy took place on Friday afternoon. It is clear from talking to people at the forum that there is a strong belief that what has happened in Tunisia and Egypt could happen in Senegal and elsewhere in Africa. At a press conference on Thursday, a local organiser of the forum, Demba Moussa Dembele, said if people “moved and did something”, change could come. Elsewhere around the university campus, groups have been putting together their final presentations to the assembly of assemblies – the final meeting of the forum to showcase what the week-long discussions have achieved and to announce any plans of action. The final assembly begins at 4pm. World Social Forum Ivory Coast Egypt Liz Ford guardian.co.uk
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