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Ed Webb

Egypt: Rage against the Mubaraks | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...egypt-mubaraks-dictatorship

Egypt protests Tunisia sidibouzid tunisie opinion

shared by Ed Webb on 27 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • There is a reason why a national unity government which includes the opposition has been so difficult to stitch together in Tunisia. It is because remnants of the old regime are trying to ride a tidal wave over which they have no control. It is only when they all go, and fresh elections held, that political calm will be restored.
  • If nothing else happens, the idea that the Arab world needs ageing dictators as a bulwark against the rising tide of Islamism has been holed below the water line.
  • only free elections will begin to address Egypt's political problems
Ed Webb

The Mess we made » Nawaat de Tunisie - Tunisia - 0 views

nawaat.org/...the-mess-we-made

revolutions Tunisia opinion uncertainty Sidibouzid

shared by Ed Webb on 25 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • The Islamic threat is always a foolproof mean to spread confusion especially when targeted toward the younger population. The threat of the communist unbelievers will irritate even the moderate Muslims. Add to all that the ongoing refugee crisis on the border and you’ve got a very confused Tunisian who just wants to get over with this whole mess.
  • The chain reaction that started in Sidi Bouzid and spread around the country (and later throughout the whole region), will mark the beginning of a new era of global politics. The imperial forces are watching with awe their mighty shepherds being defied, chased away and trampled underfoot by the angry mobs of people who simply hit rock bottom and didn’t have much to lose but their balls and chains. A true grassroot movement, with no leadership to be held accountable, left the imperial forces puzzled by the situation. With no one to antagonize (as in the case of Cuba, Venezuela, El Salvador, Iraq…), they had no choice but play along the “Revolution” game while trying to implement a damage control strategy behind the scene.
  • no role model to aspire to
Ed Webb

Rapping the Revolution | The Middle East Channel - 0 views

mideast.foreignpolicy.com/...rapping_the_revolution

Tunisia revolution hiphop

shared by Ed Webb on 22 Jul 11 - No Cached
  • Do you see yourself mobilizing through a specific political party? HBA: Absolutely not. I say to these parties: where were you before the 14 of January? What were you doing? They just came up after the revolution. They're stealing it for their political interests. And I'm Muslim, but El-Nahda doesn't represent me. I'm against people who use religion to realize their political goals. Politics has a lot of dirty games. Religion needs to be away from these games. I'm very scared that Islam will be manipulated by El-Nahda. So, I'm not participating in elections in November. No one is convincing me. And I will not participate because I want to criticize all the mistakes of the people in power. If I vote, then I will not be able to criticize them. Right now my main political activity is working on a song about the Palestinian peace process. Many young men in Sfax want to rap now. So I'm working with my friends.
  • I'm normal Tunisian youth. But, you can tell the American people, I'm dangerous to governments. So if they need my service, I'm ready
Ed Webb

Egypt's Unfinished Revolution | FRONTLINE | PBS - 0 views

www.pbs.org/...pts-unfinished-revolution.html

Egypt revolution revolutions tahrir

shared by Ed Webb on 17 Aug 11 - No Cached
  • Abbas, from a working class family loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood, now has friends who are Marxists, Christians, Nasserists, Salafists, liberals and Socialists. Some are rich kids from the posh enclave of Zamalek, a small island just across the Nile. Others are from the sprawling districts like Shoubra and Imbaba that envelop the capital. Back in January and February, these relationships were part of what Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch called the "Tahrir moment:" a collective revelry over the gentle belief that a diverse movement had toppled a dictator and was ushering in a new Egypt
  • Despite the unified cries for justice, the protest movement has largely splintered along lines of political parties and factions. All are competing for a spot in elections scheduled for November -- and to shape events in Egypt after Mubarak. The country of 82 million is still far short of the goals of its first free and fair elections, the writing of a new constitution and the reform of the police force.
  • Maher bristles at the notion that what happened in Egypt was the first "Facebook revolution."
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  • you could see the strain of the movement. He looked tired and stressed and he spoke of a growing sense that the movement is struggling to affect change, not play politics. Maher was criticized when it was learned that he hired a Beverly Hills public relations firm to represent the movement. He and his wife have a newborn who arrived just after the revolution, their second child, and he said he was struggling to balance his family, his work as an engineer with his dedication to being an activist
  • The Brotherhood clearly has wide appeal in Egypt's largely traditional society. But there is a youth movement within the Muslim Brotherhood that has grown impatient with the old guard, like El-Erian. The Egyptian Current Party is a small faction that includes maverick youth leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, including Abbas. The parliamentary candidate they plan to field is Islam Lotfi
  • I think I feel like a lot of Egyptians that we are going through dramatic change and we are unsettled by it and we are trying to cope in our own ways ... It is like the whole country is experiencing trauma. "We were so elated by the fact that Mubarak had to step down, but we all get pretty quiet and even a bit down when you think about how long it is going to take to bring real change, and how much real hard work there is ahead," she said. "How do we do that?" she asked, as protesters left the square in the fading light to get home before nightfall. "I think it is the question we are all asking ourselves."
Ed Webb

Bringing the Economy Back Into Tunisian Politics - Carnegie Endowment for International... - 0 views

carnegieendowment.org/78345

Tunisia politics economy youth UGTT unions IMF G7 development unemployment

shared by Ed Webb on 24 Jun 19 - Cached
  • Observers have often summarized the situation in Tunisia, and the Arab world in general, as a conflict between Islamists and secularists. While the framework of an Islamist–secularist divide is not completely inaccurate, it frequently ignores more nuanced analysis and perpetuates the orientalist premise that Middle East politics should be explained by historical religious norms. In Tunisia, political Islam was marginal until the fall of dictatorship in January 2011.
  • The main demands of the sporadic protest movements before 2011 were not ideological, but called for more political liberties or an improved socioeconomic situation, as in the 2008 Gafsa uprising
  • a growing sense among disenchanted voters, youth in particular, that their standards of living would not improve no matter which party they voted for.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • The discourse of the union’s leadership—which calls for nationalization of major sectors and includes elements of pan-Arabism and anti-imperialist nationalism—is finding appeal among a population disenchanted with the leading parties’ ability to improve their economic situation. The union has also found natural partners in the Popular Front, a political coalition of leftists and pan-Arabists, and in remnants of the old regime, whose hybrid ideology incorporates nationalism, socialism, and pan-Arabism
  • As a structured political party with large parliamentary representation but little influence inside state institutions, Ennahda in particular has aimed to change the status quo, as its new elite within the Tunisian interior remains largely excluded from the established economic circles in the coastal cities.
  • seek the political backing of the IMF and G7 countries, who are demanding that Tunisia speed up ongoing structural reforms to the economy. However, these measures are very unpopular, reawakening old grievances and notably sparking widespread anti-austerity protests in January 2018
  • as UGTT leaders accuse Chahed and Ennahda of being manipulated by the IMF and foreign countries, the camp in power is going on the defensive. They have alternately called for negotiations, stalemate, and compromise with the UGTT, ultimately capitulating to the UGTT’s primary demand on February 7 to increase wages in order to avert the planned February 20 strike
  • The more Tunisia’s foreign partners demand substantial structural reforms, the more the current coalition will confront popular anger that puts these reforms on hold, lest the coalition provoke a larger upheaval that could topple it. This will in turn make it harder for the government to abide by Tunisia’s commitments to its international donors, at a time when it needs their support to keep a grip on power
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