IT'S BECOME A GLOBAL REVOLUTION: "EGYPT SUPPORTS WISCONSIN WORKERS"

Via Mother Jones.

OBAMA'S ADVISORS ON EGYPT DON'T KNOW SQUAT*

"So now, in the Oval Office, we have the blind leading the blind and the blind advising the blind." - Helena Cobban on the absence of anyone in the White House who has any serious knowledge about either Egypt or the broader region. They're all full of AIPAC=lovin' yes men. (This is why I love reading Helena Cobban.)

*And neither do the western media pundits.

THE REVOLUTION IS BEING TELEVISED FOR THE WORLD

... on Al Jazeera.

However, in the USA,  "The revolution will not be televised because most Americans can't watch Al Jazeera English." - Max Blumenthal via Twitter
"

THE VEIL OF NORMALIZATION

Philip Rizk writes:- "At the police station this past week a few uniformed men returned my things to me. They pretended they had caught they had caught the thief who had stolen my things, he was locked away now, they laughed. The frenzy of my release has finally passed, things are meant to return to normal at this stage. But in Gaza- the reality of which had driven me to the street that Friday- nothing has changed.
...
"It is the mundane that reminds me of my abduction. Today on the bus i reset the settings of my ipod as they used to be after some employee of the Egyptian state security forces erased its content. I can’t express enough my gratitude to all those around me- far and near- who reached out, cooked a meal for my family, set up a site calling for my release, held a sign in the cold, brought me my class readings, uttered a prayer, welcomed me home. And these acts and voices somehow pulled me out of that cell and rescued me from beneath my shackles. But the voices for these others cry out into the void. Why are there not more, why can they not draw to freedom the bodies that deserve more than i do. Release them, release the bodies of those now in cells here calling out for their release, and release the ones so longing to breathe beyond the bounds of fear and death.

"I realized today that i too had forgotten Gaza. In these past days in the elation of freedom i forgot why i had marched, i forgot why i am- to live for the other. That other is still as is, kept from life and the gatekeeper retains her position at the gate and the world looks on.

"This cannot go on. No."

PHILIP RIZK RELEASED

"My four days of imprisonment are nothing compared to the months and years of siege on Gaza, which is nothing else than forced imprisonment. The Gaza Strip is a different form of concentration camp."

Philip Rizk 4 days Egypt imprisonment from philip rizk on Vimeo.


philip rizk Gaza Siege from philip rizk on Vimeo.

You can now read Philip Rizk's blog.

"[M]y interrogators stole all my old email addresses and blogs, my domain name..."

FREE PHILIP RIZK II

Philip Rizk's friend and fellow journalist, Ben White, has a Guardian CiF column today: Abducted in Egypt

Via the Facebook group for Philip:

Event: 2nd Free Philip Rizk Protest at the Egypt Embassy, Washington DC
"Make noise for Phil!"
What: Protest
Host: Support and Prayer for the Safe Release of Philip Rizk
Start Time: Friday, February 13 at 11:30am
End Time: Friday, February 13 at 1:00pm
Where: 3521 International Ct. Nw

To see more details and RSVP, follow this link.

FREE PHILIP RIZK

An Egyptian-German journalist/activist, Philip Rizk, has been kidnapped by Egyptian secret police.

He previously worked on aid projects with Canon Andrew White, special envoy to the Middle East for the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Eyewitnesses said he was bundled into a white van with no licence plates, which then sped off.

The German embassy has been informed of his detention and is trying to locate him.

Lenin's Tomb has more information and news update links. Helena Cobban knows Mr Rizk and has written

I don't know how much aid the German government gives the Egyptian government. But I imagine it's a lot. Egypt is the top recipient of US aid after Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Why should the governments of any democracies give aid to a government that treats nonviolent social activists like Philip or thousands of others also detained in Egypt without any hint of due process as harshly as this?

There is a Facebook group in support of Mr Rizk, which I've joined.