Egypt’s youth tweeted out the 18-day ouster of Hosni Mubarak, and are still reporting the unfinished revolution.
Take a good look at those Egyptian youths as they talk in the video. With such unhesitant voices, bold and shiny eyes, educated minds and fearless souls how could the revolution not eventually win?
Despite all the marches, the long sit-ins and even the harsh crackdown and the killing this whole thing that kicked off in Tahrir square on January 25, 2011 is definitely far from over.
Protesters chant anti-government slogans during a protest condemning the death of soccer fans at Port Said stadium, near the Interior Ministry in Cairo, Feb. 2
For the third day in a row, Deadly clashes continue to rage in Egypt over football riots leaving 12 killed and more than 2500 wounded in street clashes over authorities’ failure to stop Port Said football violence.
State media reported renewed scuffles between members of the security forces encircling the building of the ministry of interior and demonstrators who included hardcore soccer fans, aka Ultras, known for confronting the police and who were on the frontlines of protests against the military throughout the last year.
The Ultras played a prominent role with anti-government activists in the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak a year ago, and a spokesman on their behalf has suggested pro-Mubarak forces were behind the soccer incident, or at least complicit.
The soccer violence will likely strike news followers as most unfortunate and tragic accident, but for the supreme military council of armed forces of Egypt (SCAF), a council reluctant to relinquish power, it will definitely strike a different chord.
For a military institution that is supposed to hand over power to civilians by next July, after a monopoly of power for more than six decades, any incident that would allow chaos and insecurity to prevail will certainly be welcomed.
A stampede is an act of mass impulse among a crowd of people in which the crowd collectively begins running with no clear direction or purpose. But last Wednesday’s soccer violence that left 74 killed and at least 1,000 people injured in the Egyptian coastal city of Port Said when soccer fans invaded the pitch after local team al-Masry beat Cairo-based Al Ahli, has been no accidental stampede.
The fingers are once again pointing at the police’s complicity in the bloody incident as well as the overall instability and insecurity that has been afflicting the country since the fall of Mubarak.
The scenes and initial investigations proved all the gates to the football pitch were deliberately ordered open minutes before the end of the match, and also showed the police forces stood still and did almost nothing to prevent the disaster.
“It seems the whole thing had been planned beforehand.” said Mahmoud el-Sayed, one of the football players at Al-Ahly club (the most famous football club in Africa)
While the violence escalated in Port Said stadium, the police forces practically did nothing to prevent it.
While a whole year has lapsed since the Egyptian revolution erupted, it is getting more and more obvious every day that toppling Mubarak was the easy part of the revolt and the real battle, if you like, that has been raging throughout the last year is between the will of the people and the mighty apparatus of the police and the military, who have practically been running the show in Egypt since 1952.
What happened in the stadium of Port Said, a continuation of the security vacuum policy, could only be explained as part of a plan by the military council and the interior ministry to push the country into chaos and force Egyptians to embrace military rule.
That fact that SCAF succeeded in securing parliamentary elections (completed in January 2012) across nine different governorates but were incapable of securing a football match where clashes were possible raises few legitimate doubts about the hidden motivations behind the soccer riots and the seriousness of the military to cede power to a civilian government as well.
Egypt’s ruling generals have put themselves on a collision course with the country’s new parliament after declaring that MPs will not have the final say over the drafting of a fresh constitution. Being referred to as “the guardian of constitutional legitimacy”, SCAF is pushing for a constitution draft that includes guiding principles for Egypt’s new constitution, but also, and most importantly, introduces amendments that would shield the military from civilian oversight.
SCAF is being pressured to hand over power to a civilian administration and a civilian president as soon as possible. But the top brass, refusing to get out of the scene empty handed, suggest the armed forces should have the final word on major policies even after a new president is elected.
But that is not likely to resonate well among the revolutionaries and political activists and will be the more reason for protests and violence to escalate on the Egyptian street, for the Arab spring has confirmed one thing: the army is not fit to govern – neither in Egypt nor in Syria or Yemen.
Fox News
CAIRO – He’s hanging up the hat.
Zahi Hawass
After decades of popularizing Egyptology — from exploring the pyramids to studying mummies to digging for buried treasure — Egypt’s top archaeologist has lost his post, fired Sunday under pressure from critics who attacked his credibility and accused him of being too close to the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Zahi Hawass, long chided as publicity loving and short on scientific knowledge, was well known for his trademark Indiana Jones hat, an icon that made him one the country’s best known figures around the world. He and about a dozen other ministers were fired in a Cabinet reshuffle meant to ease pressure from protesters seeking to purge remnants of Mubarak’s regime
“He was the Mubarak of antiquities,” said Nora Shalaby, an activist and archaeologist. “He acted as if he owned Egypt’s antiquities, and not that they belonged to the people of Egypt.”
Despite the criticism, Hawass has been widely credited with helping boost interest in archaeology in Egypt and tourism, a pillar of the country’s economy.
But after Mubarak’s ouster on Feb. 11 in a popular uprising, pressure began to build for him to step down.
Hawass was among a list of Cabinet ministers protesters wanted to see gone because they were associated with the former regime.
And archaeology students and professors blasted him for what they saw as his lack of serious research.
Shalaby said Hawass didn’t tolerate criticism. She said most his finds were about self-promotion, with many “rediscoveries” in search of the limelight.
Hawass prided himself in being the “keeper and guardian” of Egypt’s heritage. He told an Egyptian lifestyle magazine, Enigma, in 2009 that George Lucas, the maker of the “Indian Jones” films, had come to visit him in Egypt “to meet the real Indiana Jones.”
Hawass, 64, started out as an inspector of antiquities in 1969 and rose to become one of the most recognizable names in Egyptology. He became the general director of antiquities at the Giza plateau in the late 1980s, before being named Egypt’s top archaeologist in 2002.
In one of Mubarak’s final official acts as president, Hawass’ position was elevated to that of a Cabinet minister. After Mubarak’s ouster, Hawass submitted his resignation but he was reinstated before finally being removed Sunday.
His name has been associated with most new archaeological digs in Egypt, with grand discoveries such as the excavation of the Valley of the Golden Mummies in Bahariya Oasis in 1999 and the discovery of the mummy of Egypt’s Queen Hatshepsut almost a decade later.
He was also a staple on the Discovery Channel, which accompanied him on the find of Hatshepsut’s mummy. He started his own reality show on the History Channel called “Chasing the Mummies.” The channel introduces him as “the man behind the mummies.”
Hawass was replaced by Abdel-Fattah el-Banna, an associate professor in restoration. He was frequently present in Tahrir Square during the protests.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Tahrir Square as the Tiananmen square in china will be a memorial place for the noble and courageous struggle of young generation for FREEDOM.
via Dr. Ashraf Ezzat Reporting from Egypt; Free And Proud at Last.
Only a criminal regime could allow such criminal acts to dominate and terrorize innocent people with impunity.
Dr. Ashraf Ezzat Reporting from Egypt: The Uprising, the Treason and Israel.
The dictator- people relationship is primarily of fear and submission. You take that fear and submission out of the equation and the relation is redefined again and so disturbed to the verge of uprising