Thousands of people in Jordan have taken to the streets in protests, demanding the country’s prime minister step down, and the government curb rising prices, inflation and unemployment.
In the third consecutive Friday of protests, about 3,500 opposition activists from Jordan’s main Islamist opposition group, trade unions and leftist organisations gathered in the capital, waving colourful banners reading: “Send the corrupt guys to court”.
At the CNN site, video shot by American tourists close to the Al Nile bridge show the police clashing with protestors:
With Tunesia having overthrown one decades long strong man and Egypt doing its best to oust another one, will these revolutions spread is the question Marc Lynch asks, as he acknowledges that there are reasons to be skeptical about this possibility, and yet…
Tunisia has manifestly inspired people across the region and galvanized their willingness to take risks to push for change, even without any clear leadership from political parties, Islamist movements, or even civil society. The Tunisian example has offered the possibility of success, and models for sustained action by a decentralized network, after a long and dispiriting period of authoritarian retrenchment. Al-Jazeera and the new media have played their role in reshaping political opportunities and narratives, but it is people who have seized those opportunities. And the core weaknesses of these Arab states — fierce but feeble, as Nazih Ayubi might have said — have been exposed. They have massively failed to meet the needs of their people, with awesome problems of unemployment, inflation, youth frustration and inequality combined with the near-complete absence of viable formal political institutions.
And, as the Wayback Machine shows, so used to be Tunesia’s ruling party, until a few days after Ben Ali had fled the country. Will the National Democratic Party be kicked out too when Mubarak fled, or will the Socialist International take its responsibility sooner this time. And which other parties led by dictators are still on the membership list? Look for yourself…
Let’s hope Cairo 2011 will be more like the Eastern European revolutions in 1989 than the failed revolution of ’68. So far even calling in tharmy hasn’t stopped the protests and now the headquarters of the “National Democratic Party” is on fire and helicopters and tanks are entering Cairo. Well over eight hundred people have been wounded, with god knows how many murdered like the poor sod in the video below:
For some reason the BBC thought people would want to know what Tony “mass murderer” Blair had to say about the Egyptian revolution; if you can stomach it, the audio is here — watching the video is liable to cost you your computer. Reactions from people with actual power, like Hillary Clinton is not much better: much finger wagging, little support for the demonstrators.
Better mainstream coverage is at The Guardian. At (ugh) The Atlantic an alleged Egyptian activists’ action plan has been translated into English and it’s a must read.