Dutch ISP provider XS4ALL has set up an internet dial-up service for Libya. Use your modem to dial +31205350535 username: xs4all password: xs4all
Real Life Revolutions
Revolution is global
Libya in full revolt
Lenny thinks Libya is the next Middle East domino to fall:
But it seems that Libya is the surer bet for an overthrow in very near future. All of the ingredients are there. The state is cracking down with extreme brutality. In Benghazi, mercenaries shipped in by Gaddafi are carrying out random killings, with dozens reportedly dead so far. The regime is intent on terrorising the population into submission and has even, predictably, shut down the internet. The electricity has been shut off in insurgent areas. Yet it says a lot that Gaddafi is so lacking in authority over his own state structure that he’s having to hire mercenaries to come in and put down the revolt.
AlJazeera reports that the security forces are cracking down and have fired on funerals of demonstrators killed earlier in Benghazi, murdering at least nineteen more people. But they also report that in turn, the protestors have managed to take over the military security headquarters in that city, finding “African mercenaries” within. If Khadaffi has had to bring in foreign mercenaries, the end might be near for him…
Mass protest topples another “dictator” …. in Ealing!
From Socialist Worker:
Headteacher Juliet Strang has been removed from Villiers High School after a student strike and mass protests.
It is a great victory. To the joyous relief of everyone, her reign ended with an announcement to the teachers by the chair of governors on Tuesday morning.
Hundreds of students protested twice outside the school against the sacking of the school’s NUT union rep, Amerjit Virdee.
Amerjit has taught at the school for 28 years and is head of maths. Many see his sacking as an attack on the union.
A magnificent 4-hour strike by students on Tuesday of last week closed the school and was the key moment in the dispute.
Strang’s response was incredible. She locked out whole years of students. The police backed her up, refusing them access to the school.
Won’t somebody please think about the Egyptian cats?
What The Times thinks is important about the Egyptian revolution:
While the world has focused on the many troubles faced by humans during the 18-day uprising, the four-legged residents of Cairo have been left to fend for themselves. Many Egyptians, expats, and tourists have been forced by authorities to flee the country without their pets; zoos and pet shops were also abandoned. The chaos of the uprising put a tremendous strain on the nation’s largest animal rights organization, the Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals (ESMA), of which Khalil serves as treasurer. “It’s very common to see stray cats and dogs on the street, but not for us to see [abandoned] Persians and Siamese,” she says.
Reminds me of that (apocryptic?) prewar newspaper headling: “Earthquake hits Japan: two Americans feared lost”. Taking care of stray cats and other animals is a noble cause, sure, but somewhat less important than what’s also been happening in Egypt this past month, no?