Without your help, the collective-run Laughing Horse books in Portland, Oregan may soon be forced to close its doors.
Laughing Horse books is a independent bookstore, music venue and meeting space for radicals and activists with a history that goes back a quarter of a century. To lose Laughing Horse Books would be the equivalent of losing a limb for the activists in the area.
Shawn Wilbur, Anarchist and Mutualist who has worked hard to translate and research early Mutualist thought writes:
The people and projects who stand to lose, in terms of finances, time, morale, etc., are primarily allied, radical projects who can’t afford losses and activists in exactly the same position.
It doesn’t matter where you are in this crazy world, if you count yourself an Anarchist, this is your chance to act in solidarity and live up to all the talk of mutual aid that goes on within these circles.
Whether it’s a 10, 5 or a few dollars, anything will help keep the creditors from the door.
Donate by heading over to Shawn’s blog and using the “ChipIn” widget in the far-right column or head directly to the ChipIn website and
spread the word on Facebook, on Blogs, on Forums, on Twitter.
If you haven’t checked out this great news program from submediaTV, do so. Has a insurrectionist flavour. Covers labour movements in North America, uprisings in Africa and the Middle East and continuing resistance organised by Greek Anarchists.
Libcom.org has published an interview with an Egyptian Anarchist that provides a different perspective on the unrest. Well worth a read.
2) The world is watching Egypt, and even moving in solidarity. However, due to the internet being cut, information was difficult to find. Can you tell me about what has happened in Egypt in the past week? What did it look like from your perspective?
The situation in Egypt is so crucial right now. It began with an invitation to the day of rage against Mubarak regime on January 25th. No one expected an invitation to a day of rage from a loose group, a Facebook page, not really organized, called “we are all Khalid Said”.
Khalid Said was an Egyptian youth who was killed by Mubarak police in Alexandria last summer. It was that Tuesday which started everything, it was the spark for the whole fire. On Tuesday big demonstrations were in streets in every Egyptian town, on Wednesday began the massacre. It began with trying to finish the sit-in in Tahrir square on Tuesday late night, and continued in the following days, especially in Suez town. Suez has special value in every Egyptian heart. It was the centre for resistance against Zionists in 1956 and 1967. In the same district that fought Sharon’s troops back in Egyptian-Israeli wars, Mubarak police carried out a massacre, at least four people killed, 100 injured, gas bombs, rubber bullets, fire guns, a strange yellow substance thrown above people (maybe mustard gas). Friday was called the Jumu’ah of Rage. Jumu’ah is Arabic for Friday, it’s the national weekend in Egypt, in many Islamic countries also, it’s the sacred day in Islam, because there are the big prayers on this day, called Jumu’ah prayer. It was planned for demonstrators to go on a march after this prayer, at noon. The police tried to prevent the marchers, with all of their power and violence. There were many clashes in Cairo (downtown, in Mattareyah (east of Cairo)), and all over Egypt, especially in Suez, Alexandria, Mahalla (in the delta, one of the centres of the working class). From noon to sunset people marched in Cairo downtown, to a sit-in in Tahrir till the removal of the Mubarak regime, chanting one slogan, “The people demand the removal of the regime”.
At sunset, 5pm CLT, Mubarak declared a curfew and brought the army into Egyptian towns. This curfew was followed by a planned escape by police, letting out the criminals and thugs which called Baltagayyah, and police planned a great escape of criminals in many Egyptian prisons to scare people in Egypt. With no police, many army troops couldn’t control the street. It scared people, and it was followed by a news jam on Egyptian TV channels, radio and newspapers, about Luddites in many towns, about thieves firing at people. People organized “people committees” to secure every street. It was welcomed by the regime to make people more scared about instability in the country, but it was also a point we could start from to build workers’ councils.
3) As of Wednesday, there have been clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak people. Is that the correct way to describe it? Who are the “Mubarak supporters”? How are these clashes affecting the attitudes of average working class Egyptians?
It’s absolutely wrong to call it clashes between anti- and pro-Mubarak. The pro-Mubarak demonstration consisted of many Baltagayyah and secret police to attack the protesters in Tahrir. It only began after Mubarak’s speech yesterday, after Obama’s speech too. Personally I think Mubarak feels like a slaughtered ox that tries to throw its blood over its slaughterers; he feels like Nero, who wants to burn Egypt before his removal, trying to make people believe he’s a synonym for stability, safety and security. In this way he has really made some progress. The holy national alliance now has been formed against Tahrirites (Tahrir protesters) and Commune de Tahrir.
Many people are saying, especially middle class people, that the demonstrations must end because Egypt has been burned, famine has begun, and it’s not true at all. It’s only an exaggeration. Every revolution has its difficulties, and Mubarak is using fear and terror to stay longer. Personally I’m saying even if the protesters were responsible for this situation, even if this is so, Mubarak must
American Rosa Novarro talks about her arrest and how she and her friends were pressured by the military to confess to being journalists or spies. It seems the latest tactic of the regime is to circulate conspiracy theories reagrding foreigners and spies infiltrating the protests.
Check out the terrible BBC coverage of the latest protests which put the numbers of demonstrators at “more than 100,000″ which is rather underestimating the turnout. Additionally, preference and emphasis was given to Obama’s repeated speech instead of the continuing protests. I wonder if the BBC haved decided enough is enough.
So while Mubarak has sworn in his new cabinet, it looks like Egypt has been taken completely offline but activists are finding means and methods to work around the government crackdown on communications and get the word out.
@Jan25 Voices is a Twitter feed that gives regular updates based on phone calls made by people on the street.
Even though Western media have largely scaled back their reporting on Egypt, you can access reports given by individuals on the ground.
One recorded audio phone call painted the scene in Tahrir Square on January 30th.
This, no doubt, will hopefully be used to get the word out as a General Strike has been called with huge numbers of people expected to converge on the capital.
Although revolutions like that which have taken place in Tunisia and Egypt are not Anarchist, every little step towards counts. The movements have been largely leaderless, spontaneous and widespread, having utilised New Media and workarounds to continue to communicate and get the word out.
Harsh, authoritarian regimes have been challenged, head on and if an entire country of people wish to throw off a 30-year-old regime that crushes dissent, expression and tortures individuals as a matter of course, then that movement must be supported from the outside whereever possible.
See here for more background regarding Egypt and the efforts of Egypt’s elite to maintain the status quo.
Video showing Egyptian security forces trying to run down protesters (1:09) before unleashing a water cannon on people attempting to pray directly in front of the security forces.
Update 2:
Phillip Weiss of Salon.com writes what I’ve been thinking for a while now,
…Racism against Arabs is shutting down the American mind once again. And all my friends must turn to Al Jazeera English to get the soul of the story: that these events are electrifying to Arabs everywhere, a heroic mobilization. And not only to Arabs. When ElBaradei says, I salute the youth for overturning a pharaonic power, lovers of human freedom everywhere must be thrilled. We are seeing a dictator dissolve before our eyes. These are the events we cherished in history books; let us embrace the Egyptian movement.
Why is America so afraid?
However, while his analyses of the American administration’s attitude and approach to Israel is correct and the response by prominent commentators in both Israeli and American media has both been less than supportive of an Egyptian pro-democracy movement, Weiss transitions into a credible analysis of media coverage to, seemingly, hating on “the Jews”. While I agree with some thoughts, such as the quote above, I disagree with and repudiate much of the rest.
"In modern states, the citizen is politically impotent. A citizen, it is true, may complain, make suggestions, or cause disruptions, but in the ancient world these were privileges that belonged to any slave." - Mark Mirabello
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