You can’t make a sweet drink out of a rotten fish

Real Life Revolutions, US Foreign Policy
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The LBR‘s Adam Shatz on Egypt’s anti-Mubarak protests and its reception abroad:

Despite the Mubarak regime’s efforts to invoke the spectre of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptians aren’t demonstrating for an Islamic government any more than the Tunisians were; they’re demonstrating for an honest government – one that will improve education and infrastructure, reduce poverty and inflation, end the Emergency Law, stop torturing people in police stations, stop doing the bidding of the US and Israel in Palestine, stop rigging elections, and, above all, stop lying to them. And whatever their differences, they are united in the conviction that neither Mubarak nor his son Gamal, who is being groomed to succeed him, is capable of meeting these demands. As one young activist said to me last year, ‘We need a radical shake-up. We have a saying in Egypt that you can’t make a sweet drink out of a rotten fish.’

[…] And so, as police were dispersing protesters in Tahrir Square, Hillary Clinton did her best to scatter seasoning on the rotten fish: ‘The Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.’ Later that day in his State of the Union address, Barack Obama hailed the people of Tunisia, but said nothing about the Egyptians who hoped to repeat their example, and in whose capital city he had delivered a grand speech full of promises yet to be fulfilled.

Once again, it’s the supposedly democracy-loving EU and US that put themselves firmly in the way of actual democratic progress. Imagine my surprise.

Tunesia 2: Mubarak’s family flees Egypt

Real Life Revolutions
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According to the Times of India, Mubarak’s family has fled Egypt:

CAIRO: Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s son, who is considered as his successor, has fled to Britain along with his family, a US-based Arabic website reported.

The plane with Gamal Mubarak, his wife and daughter on board left for London Tuesday from an airport in western Cairo, the website Akhbar al-Arab said.

The report came as violent unrest broke out in Cairo and other Egyptian cities and hundreds of thousands of people reportedly took to the streets in a Tunisia-inspired day of revolt.

If this report is true, things are moving much faster in Egypt than I thought possible even yesterday. No guarantees the protests will unseat Mubarak even so, but it’s a good sign.

Empty gestures

New Labour
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Potlach dissects the politics of New Labour hand movements:

Ed Milliband and his thumbed fist

The thumb-press is a straight-forward mode of manual expression, in which the user makes a traditional fist, but then manoeuvres the thumb from its position clasped over (or under the fingers) and lays it gently on top of the index finger as a hint of diplomacy. So easy is the thumb-press, in fact, that lay-members of the public are welcome to use it in every day convesations – but they will experience the bizarre sensation of having morphed into a New Labour politician. Used at a dinner party, it may result in shoulders being turned and mutterings to the effect that “I prefer not to talk about politics, thankyou very much”. As Wittgenstein would have been keen to note, were one to say the words “look – the bus is coming”, while gesturing with the thumb-press, the listener would assume that one were claiming credit for having invested more money in public transport.

Where liberals go to feel good

liberalism
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At Truthdig Chris Hedges looks at liberal political conferences. His opening is brilliant:

Barack Obama is another stock character in the cyclical political theater embraced by the liberal class. Act I is the burst of enthusiasm for a Democratic candidate who, through clever branding and public relations, appears finally to stand up for the interests of citizens rather than corporations. Act II is the flurry of euphoria and excitement. Act III begins with befuddled confusion and gnawing disappointment, humiliating appeals to the elected official to correct “mistakes,” and pleading with the officeholder to return to his or her true self. Act IV is the thunder and lightning scene. Liberals strut across the stage in faux moral outrage, delivering empty threats of vengeance. And then there is Act V. This act is the most pathetic. It is as much farce as tragedy. Liberals—frightened back into submission by the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party or the call to be practical—begin the drama all over again.

The spectre of Tunesia

Real Life Revolutions
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Mubarak poster torn in Cairo

It seems the other strong men and dictators in North Africa had good reason to fear the revolution in Tunesia, as it does seem to have inspired and reinvigorated the opposition in other countries, especially in Egypt, where Mubarak has been a loyal American ally and dictator since 1981. Economically and politically Mubarak has been a disaster for ordinary Egyptian workers, but he has been good as gold to the US and Europe, supporting Israel, taking part in the War of Terror and being a good customer of the large western weapon manufactorers. Any opposition to Mubarak has been repressed, often with violence. The police and security services have long managed to keep a lid on public anger, but as seen below and at 3arabawy it is still there and the example of Tunesia has brought it back to the surface again:



Today’s protests won’t bring Mubarak down, but his position looks much less stable than it was before the Tunesian revolution and if Mubarak’s position is getting less safe, if there’s some danger of him being brought down, how much less save will the dictators of Morocco, Jordan, Syria, Algeria and Lybia feel? There’s a spectre haunting the Middle East, the spectre of Tunesia….