enlarge Take nothing for granted Click here to view this media If you haven’t already heard about it repeatedly, today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Shuttle Challenger disaster. January 28, 1986 – routine by all accounts and then shocking. Shocking I suppose because like most everyone, I took the Shuttle program somewhat for granted. We had such a success rate over the years that the idea of one blowing up seemed remote. But that assumption is what gets us in trouble every time, taking things for granted. After the first several Shuttle launches, I admit to not paying a whole lot of attention when another one went up. It all settled into routine. So of course, it would never occur to me that one would actually blow up – and blow up the way it did. So on that day, that January 28th it was time for a reality check. Like everyone else I knew, I stood frozen over the TV as the footage of the explosion was played over and over again. Horrifying and spectacular by the surrealism of it all. Reminded of the Hindenburg disaster and the footage from that – the enormous dirigible exploding in the sky and the terror-stricken reporter screaming “Oh, the humanity!” Yes indeed. . . the humanity. So here is a clip from that day as a reminder.
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Robert Gibbs calls on President Hosni Mubarak to address ‘legitimate grievances’ of protesters Barack Obama has warned the Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak, that he must reform his regime and refrain from violence against protesters. But the US president’s message suggested that Washington will go on supporting its longstanding ally for now. Obama said that he spoke to Mubarak and asked him to turn “a moment of volatility in to a moment of promise,” after the Egyptian leader addressed his nation to say he would replace his government but not tolerate what he called a continued threat to the security of the country from protesters demanding his resignation. “When President Mubarak addressed the Egyptian people tonight he pledged a better democracy and greater economic opportunity,” said Obama. “I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words. To take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise. Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people and suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. “What’s needed right now are concrete steps that advance the rights of the Egyptian people; a meaningful dialogue between the government and its citizens and a path of political change that leads to a future of greater freedom and greater opportunity and justice for the Egyptian people.” Obama demanded an end to violence against the protesters after a day of clashes on the streets of Cairo, Suez and other cities left 25 people dead and hundreds wounded. The US president also called on the Egyptian government to restore mobile phone and internet connections it has severed apparently in an attempt to hinder the protesters from organising. But Obama, while pressing for political reform, held back from a call for legitimate elections amid fears in the US and among its allies in other parts of the Middle East, including Israel and Jordan, of political power shifting to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Instead, the White House appears to be looking for reform that will keep the present power structure in place. But it has added to the pressure on Mubarak by saying it is reviewing its $1.5bn (£946m) in annual aid to Egypt, most of it military. The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said continued assistance would in part depend on how the military behaves in the face of the protests. “We will be reviewing our assistance posture based on the outcome of events, now and in the coming days,” he said. Asked if the US government had condemned the placing of the opposition activist, Mohamed ElBaradei, under house arrest, Gibbs said: “Obviously, this goes in to our concern about expression, association and assembly.” Gibbs was also asked about reports that the British company, Vodafone, was responsible for cutting mobile phone access in Egypt on government orders. He said repeated a call for mobile and internet services to be restored but would not be drawn on whether the US would pressure Vodafone directly. “I don’t want to speak about the specific company because I want a little more information,” he said. Egypt US foreign policy Protest Middle East United States Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk
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Egyptian army appears on streets of Cairo in attempt to quell uprising after curfew imposed by Hosni Mubarak is ignored
Continue reading …Mohamed ElBaradei must be free to give political leadership It was the day on which Egyptians lost their fear: of green armoured personnel carriers, which swayed and toppled before the unstoppable tide of human wrath; of plainclothes thugs who had plagued their lives; of the ruling party’s headquarters, from where elections were rigged and parliamentary seats managed – it too went up in flames; of military curfews; of the entire apparatus of a regime which had crushed all political dissent for nearly three decades. “Even if the dogs could speak,” one of the hundreds of thousands who flocked the streets told our reporter, “they would tell you that they are fed up with [Hosni] Mubarak. We have to have change.” This was a transformative day. The Arab world’s largest power had just lost control of the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, Giza, Suez. The regime shut down the internet and unplugged the mobile phone network, a desperate move to stop the protests. It only propelled thousands more on to the streets. As darkness fell, shots were heard in Cairo and tanks were seen in Suez. And still the roar of protest continued. The revolution threatens not only Hosni Mubarak’s regime but the strategy the US and Britain have constructed in the Middle East. The hesitancy with which President Mubarak reacted last night was matched only by the perceptible shift in the emphasis of the statements by the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. Only two days ago she said the US assessment was that the Egyptian government was stable and was looking for ways to respond to the legitimate interests of the Egyptian people. The primary importance of keeping a key Arab ally and Middle East interlocutor stable was also emphasised yesterday by Tony Blair, the Quartet’s envoy. Faced with the conflicting needs to keep an Arab partner of Israel afloat and to respond to demands for democratic reform, the US would choose the first every time. After yesterday’s events, Ms Clinton’s calls to lift internet controls and respond to the grievances of Egyptians became more strident. But it was too little, too late. Ms Clinton’s initial support for the Mubarak regime had not been lost on Egyptians battling for their freedoms. This is not to say that a post-Mubarak regime would tear up Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel or in the short term be any less cordial in its official relations with its neighbour. But in the longer term a government which reflected the popular will of the people of Egypt would surely open the country’s land border with Gaza and not block unity talks between Fatah and Hamas. If Mubarak’s regime fell, the Palestinian Authority would also lose a vital backer and ally. The domino that toppled Egypt could also topple less secure regimes like Jordan and Yemen, in which smaller but no less significant demonstrations were taking place yesterday. As Mr Mubarak last night imposed a nationwide curfew, the biggest question hung over what role, if any, the army would play. Compared to the interior ministry, it is popular. Protesters initially cheered the arrival of troops on the streets, in the hope that they would be protected from the police. This is the world’s 10th largest army, from which all four Egyptian presidents since the fall of the monarchy have come. It has formed the core of the elite that has sustained the president’s rule. Will it enforce an increasingly bloody security crackdown or act as an invaluable mediator between the people and a regime they are demanding must go? It is impossible to predict. What the president has to do now is to announce that he will release the people he has locked up. Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, who was briefly detained yesterday, must be free to give political leadership. Mr Mubarak must rule out a sixth term as president, and set up a council to rewrite the constitution. Even those measures might not be sufficient to stop the crowds. This revolt has a momentum of its own. Egypt Middle East Protest US foreign policy Foreign policy guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Chaos as Egyptian police fire teargas to control demonstrators in mass protests in Cairo and Suez following Friday prayers. This Guardian video tells the story of how events unfolded and escalated today. Locals pray in the street in front of The l-Istiqama Mosque watched by riot police in Giza on January 28, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Internet in Egypt , as far as we can tell, has now been disabled for a full 24 hours. Arbor Networks, which has been monitoring traffic in and out of the country over 80 service providers, has released an updated graphic:
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• At least 25 killed on day of violent protest • Mubarak stays but dismisses government • Demonstrators defy nationwide curfew Tanks moved on to the streets of Cairo and Alexandria as protesters in Egypt defied a nationwide curfew ordered by President Hosni Mubarak in an effort to quell the fourth and most violent day of demonstrations against his 30-year rule. In a late-night TV address, Mubarak refused to relinquish power, but dismissed his government, promising a new administration to tackle unemployment and promote democracy. But his call for stability appeared to cut little ice with many protesters, who surged on to the streets as soon as he finished speaking, defying a curfew. Protesters who had earlier been forced into nearby side streets by the military could be heard chanting “People want to change the regime” immediately after Mubarak’s broadcast to the nation finished. One eyewitness said that a small fire had been set at the Mogama building, housing several government offices in the central Tahrir square, which was shrouded by clouds of smoke and teargas. Mubarak, in his first public appearance since unrest broke out four days ago, said on state television: “It is not by setting fire and by attacking private and public property that we achieve the aspirations of Egypt and its sons, but they will be achieved through dialogue, awareness and effort.” Two weeks to the day after Tunisia saw its veteran president flee into exile, the capital of the Arab world’s largest country witnessed extraordinary scenes as tens of thousands of demonstrators braved teargas, rubber bullets and baton charges to vent their fury at repression, poverty, unemployment and corruption. Medical sources said at least five protesters had been killed and 1,030 wounded in Cairo. Thirteen were killed in Suez, and six in Alexandria. A teenager was shot dead in Port Said, al-Jazeera reported. The toll of wounded from other towns and cities was not immediately available. Demonstrators were reported to have stormed the Egyptian state television building in the centre of Cairo. During the day, protesters all over the capital, many of who wrapped themselves in Egyptian flags to show their protest is patriotic, chanted “Mubarak out, Mubarak out” and waved signs proclaiming “game over”. Barack Obama last night warned Mubarak that he must reform his regime and refrain from violence against protesters. But the US president’s message suggested Washington would go on supporting its longstanding ally for now. “When President Mubarak addressed the Egyptian people tonight he pledged a better democracy and greater economic opportunity,” said Obama. “I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words. To take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise. Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people, and suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.” In another significant development, Mohamed ElBaradei, the former UN weapons chief who may stand in presidential elections later this year, was placed under house arrest for “his own protection” after returning from abroad. The appearance of the army on the streets of Cairo last night was met with a mixed response in different areas of the city. In Tahrir square, the Guardian saw an angry crowd torch two army scout cars after seizing control of them and dragging the soldiers out. Other members of the crowd attempted to protect the injured soldiers, one of them shouting “we salute you”. There were conflicting reports as to whether the army had been firing on the crowd. “The soldiers were overpowered after they arrived in the square. The people don’t know if they are on the people’s side, or the side of the police,” said Sabri al-Ahmed. “But we’re looking after them now. We’re not ignorant people. We Egyptians are kind people.” In the square, the sound of continued fighting was still clearly audible in the area of the American University, near the ministry of the interior, while vehicles were burning in front of the parliament building. From the headquarters of Mubarak’s National Democratic party, flames were billowing from every window. Events accelerated after Friday prayers, with disciplined crowds moving from mosques shouting and raising their hands in an outburst of anger and energy in response to leaflets advising on tactics, slogans and targets. “No one has the right to control you but God,” was the message of one sermon relayed by loudspeaker. “You have the right to speak out, only do it peacefully.” There was little sign of an organised involvement by the Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest opposition force in Egypt, perhaps because it is biding its time to see how things develop. Mass protests were also staged in Suez, where tanks were reportedly deployed, and Alexandria. Al-Jazeera said 80,000 people were demonstrating in Port Said. The unrest has widened to include Egyptians from all walks of life, old and young, the middle classes and the urban poor. Those who did not take to the streets waved from their balconies or threw water bottles and onions to people in the crowd below to be used against teargas. Others handed out paper facemasks. Soumaya Ghannoushi, page 32 Leader comment, page 34 Egypt Protest Middle East Peter Beaumont Jack Shenker Ian Black guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The BBC is to make an official protest to the Egyptian authorities after one of its journalists was assaulted by police in Cairo today. Assad Sawey , the BBC’s Cairo correspondent, was deliberately assaulted by police while reporting on a baton charge during the street protests. When surrounded by men who appeared to be plain clothes security men, he identified himself as a BBC journalist. He was repeatedly hit, taking blows to the head. He reported that they beat him with steel bars , “the ones used here for slaughtering animals.” His camera was confiscated and he was arrested. After being released without charge, he received medical attention for a head wound, and then continued reporting. The BBC’s global news director Peter Horrocks said: “The BBC condemns this assault on one of our correspondents by the authorities. We shall be forcefully protesting this brutal action directly to the Egyptian authorities. “It is vital that all journalists, whether from the BBC or elsewhere, are allowed to do their job of bringing accurate, impartial eye witness reports to audiences around the world without fear.” Source: BBC World Service Journalist safety Egypt Press freedom BBC World Service Middle East Roy Greenslade guardian.co.uk
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Reporting on the creation of a Senate Tea Party Caucus on Thursday's CBS Evening News, congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes declared that while “Conservative crusader Jim Demint, and the freshmen Senators he worked to elect, planted their Tea Party flag,” the movement's “assertiveness has caused some heartburn for GOP leaders.” As evidence of the supposed indigestion, Cordes cited favorite media targets, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin: “Bachmann insisted on delivering a separate Tea Party response to the State of the Union….Tea Party enthusiast Sarah Palin invoked a vulgar acronym to describe the President's speech.” Cordes was referring to Palin's comment that “There were a lot of WTF moments throughout that speech.” Cordes explained how “friction between the Republican Party and the Tea Party doesn't trouble supporters,” followed by sound bite of Kansas Congressman Jerry Moran: “It's my goal to see that Republicans listen to Tea Party activists and others about what government should be like.” However, Cordes quickly touted possible divisions: “Senator Marco Rubio of Florida is one of a couple of new senators who won big in November with Tea Party support, but who steered clear of the meeting today, indicating they're not completely comfortable with taking on the Tea Party mantle.” Anchor Katie Couric wondered: “So where does this new Tea Party Caucus go from here? It is gaining or losing steam at this point, do you think, Nancy?” Cordes skeptically replied: “I think they could make a credible case that they are gaining steam…they say it doesn't really matter that some of their figureheads are lightning rods, when it's their supporters who are so energized.” Prior to the President's State of the Union address Tuesday night, Couric and a panel of CBS analysts fretted over the “militant” Tea Party members of Congress creating a “chasm” within the Republican Party. Here is a full transcript of Cordes' January 27 report: 6:38PM ET KATIE COURIC: To politics now and the growing power of the Tea Party movement. Congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes reports five Republican senators today attended the first-ever meeting of the Senate Tea Party caucus. JIM DEMINT [SEN. R-SC]: Thank you for sending me some help. NANCY CORDES: Conservative crusader Jim Demint, and the freshmen Senators he worked to elect, planted their Tea Party flag today. MIKE LEE [SEN. R-UT]: We'll do everything we can to fight on your behalf to restore constitutionally limited government.
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We have come together to stop the looting of our country by this regime, writes Ahdaf Soueif in Cairo This is the scene that took place in every district of every city in Egypt today. The one I saw: we started off as about 20 activists, after Friday prayers in a small mosque in the interior of the popular Cairo district of Imbaba. “The peo ple – dem and – the fall of this reg ime !” Again and again the call went out. We started to walk: ” Your se cur ity. Your pol ice – killed our bro thers in Suez .” The numbers grew. Every balcony was full of people: women smiling, waving, dangling babies to the tune of the chants: “Bread! Freedom! Social justice!” Old women called: “God give you victory.” For more than an hour the protest wound through the narrow lanes. Kids ran alongside. A woman picking through garbage and loading scraps into plastic bags paused and raised her hand in a salute. By the time we wound on to a flyover to head for downtown we were easily 3,000 people. The government had closed the internet down in the whole country at 2am. By 9am, half the mobile phones were down. By 11, not a single mobile was working. Post offices said the international lines had been taken down. This is a regime fighting for its life. And fighting for its ability to carry on looting this country. As the protesters walk through Imbaba, we note the new emergency hospital where building has been stopped because of a government decision to turn it into a luxury block of flats. The latest scandal of this kind is the Madinti project. The chant goes up: “A pound of lentils for ten pounds – a Madinti share for 50p.” Now, as I write, the president has announced a curfew from an hour ago. And the army has started to deploy. If I were not writing this, I would still be out on the street. Every single person I know is out there; people who have never been on protests are wrapping scarves round their faces and learning that sniffing vinegar helps you get through teargas. Teargas! This is a gas that makes you feel the skin is peeling off your face. For several minutes I could not even open my eyes to see what was going on. And when I did, I saw that one of my nieces had stopped in the middle of the road, her eyes streaming. One of her shoes lost, she was holding out her arms: “I can’t, I can’t.” “You have to. Run.” We all held arms and ran. This was on 6 October Bridge, just under the Rameses Hilton, and the air was thick with smoke. The thud of the guns was unceasing. We were trying to get to Tahrir Square, the main square of Cairo, the traditional destination of protests. But ahead of us was a wall of teargas. We ran down the slope of the bridge and straight into a line of central security soldiers. They were meant to block the way. We were three women, dishevelled, eyes streaming. We came right up to them and they made way. “Run,” they urged us, “Run!” “How can you do this?” I reproached them, eye to eye. “What can we do? We want to take off this uniform and join you!” We jumped into a boat and asked the boatman to take us closer to Qasr el-Nil bridge, which would bring us near Tahrir. From the river, you could see people running across the bridges. Some young men caught the gas canisters and threw them into the river, where they burned and fizzed on the water. We scrambled on shore under Qasr el-Nil bridge and joined the massive protest that had broken the security cordon and was heading to Tahrir. I cannot tell how many thousands were there. People were handing out tissues to soak in vinegar for your nose, Pepsi to bathe your eyes. Water to drink. People were helping others who were hurt. The way ahead of us was invisible behind the smoke – except for bursts of flame. The great hotels had darkened their ground floors and locked their doors. The guns thudded continuously and there was a new rattling sound. The people would pause and then a great cry would go up and they would press on. We sang the national anthem. Once, a long time ago, my then young son, watching a young man run to help an old man who had dropped a bag in the middle of the street, said: “The thing about Egypt is that everyone is very individual, but also part of a great co-operative project.” Today, we are doing what we do best, and what this regime has tried to destroy: we have come together, as individuals, in a great co-operative effort to reclaim our country. Egypt Protest Middle East Ahdaf Soueif guardian.co.uk
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• Reports of several killed in battles with authorities • Army sent in as police give up on Hosni Mubarak’s curfew Insurrectionary protests spread from the capital across Egypt today, convulsing the cities of Suez and Alexandria as protesters engaged in running battles with the police, setting fire to buildings and vehicles. Tonight the military moved into both cities as people defied a curfew imposed across the entire country. A number of people were reportedly killed, although no deaths have been confirmed. Eighty thousand people were said to be on the streets of Port Said, at the mouth of the Suez canal. There was fighting between protesters and the police, and a witness said a teenage girl had been killed. Echoes of the extraordinary protests were seen in Jordan, where thousands of people demanded political change in the capital, Amman. Trade unionists calling for political and economic reform joined a protest organised by an Islamic group. In the strategically important industrial Egyptian city of Suez, thousands of protesters demanding the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime overwhelmed police and set fire to a police station, Reuters reported. Police were forced to abandon eight trucks in the face of advancing demonstrators armed with stones and rocks. Tanks were reported to be on the streets after darkness fell. A witness told Reuters that dozens of protesters had climbed on at least five tanks to try to talk to soldiers, who opened fire. Molotov cocktails were thrown as hundreds of people remained on the streets despite the curfew, according to al-Jazeera. Protesters gained control of Suez’s central square by mid-afternoon, the TV station said. “The police have been quite comprehensively defeated by the power of the people,” said their reporter in the city, Jamal Elshayyal. Earlier, a 30-year-old protester, named by witnesses as Hamada Labib, was reportedly shot dead. At least one person was reported to have been killed in Alexandria. According to Rawya Rageh of al-Jazeera, a bloodstained body was carried aloft by protesters chanting: “There is no God but God.” As in Suez, police had lost the control of the city by mid-afternoon, the reporter said. But after dark Rageh reported that soldiers had arrived in armoured personnel carriers. She said she could hear the sound of gunfire. Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, sent a series of dispatches from Alexandria during the course of the day. Protesters left a mosque in the city calling for peaceful action, he said. “They were immediately attacked by police in an armoured car firing teargas. Fierce clashes started then, with exchanges of rock-throwing. About 200 police faced about 1,000 protesters. The clashes lasted for nearly two hours.” A larger crowd appeared from another direction, said Bouckaert. “Police tried to hold them back with teargas and rubber bullets, but they were finally overwhelmed. Then the police just gave up, at about the time of afternoon prayers. Protesters gave water to police and talked to them. It was all peaceful. Hundreds of protesters were praying in the street.” The centre of the city was packed “as far as we can see, people shouting slogans against Mubarak and his son Gamal … It is a very festive atmosphere. Women in veils, old men, children, I even saw a blind man being led. And there are no police anywhere.” The wave of protests also reached smaller cities in Egypt, the Egyptian Association for Change said, adding that offices of the ruling National Democratic party had been destroyed in Dumya/Daniette, 131 miles north-east of Cairo, and al-Mansoura, 90 miles north-east of the capital. The protesters included men, women and children, young and old, and from the middle classes as well as the urban poor. In Cairo, some waved from balconies or threw water bottles to the crowd, as well as onions, which can be used to protect against the effects of teargas. Horns blared in support from cars and motorbikes. Among the thousands who took part in the protests were doctors in white coats, students and professors, hotel workers and shopkeepers. “I’m here because I support it,” said Dr Muhamad Fakhri, a 52-year-old university professor outside the mosque where the march began. “I don’t support any of the opposition leaders. All I want is reform. I’m here because I can see Egyptian people have reached the moment when they must choose. Because people are crushed by the prices of food, because of unemployment, because people should have freedom and democracy. I came to express my opinion against what I believe this government is doing wrong.” A middle-aged employee of a large charity, who requested not to be identified, said: “The reason I am here is to join the revolution. I think the government will fall. I’m really hopeful.” The unrest in Egypt was fuelled by the overthrow two weeks ago of Tunisia’s president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Protests have continued there, and also spread to Yemen. Syria was reported to have imposed restrictions on internet access. Blogs and Twitter have played a key role in the organisation of protests in the Middle East over recent weeks. Despite Egypt’s limited internet penetration, Facebook has been “the main actor”, says Khalid al-Aman, a political analyst at Durham University. Egypt Middle East Protest Peter Beaumont Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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