It's a trial that has caused outrage all over the world. The sentencing of three Al Jazeera journalists, including a Canadian citizen Mohamed Fahmy, to long prison terms in Egypt. For the crime of committing journalism. But even though world leaders have been lining up to condemn that travesty of justice. Even though journalists all over the world have been muzzling themselves in solidarity with their jailed colleagues....
And even though the trial was an absolute farce. Stephen Harper has remained shamefully silent. And his government's actions have been totally PATHETIC.
I guess we should have known. The old toad will not be moved.
To the horror of Egyptians and the world, President Hosni Mubarak – haggard and apparently disoriented – appeared on state television last night to refuse every demand of his opponents by staying in power for at least another five months.
But sooner or later he will. He will.
Too many have been murdered, firebombed, and bloodied...
For them to give up now.
But how much will their freedom cost them?
History may later decide that the army's lack of faith in Mubarak effectively lost his presidency after three decades of dictatorship, secret police torture and government corruption. Confronted by even greater demonstrations on the streets of Egypt today, even the army could not guarantee the safety of the nation. Yet for Mubarak's opponents, today will not be a day of joy and rejoicing and victory but a potential bloodbath.
Which is why now more than ever we are ALL Egyptians.
They have been stoned and firebombed. Some of them have been killed and thousands injured. They are scared, they are exhausted, but still they are there.
Already, there are dark reports of demonstrators who dared to return home and disappeared. The Egyptian writer Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, who is involved in the committee discussions, is fearful for himself. "We're safe as long as we have the square," he said to me yesterday, urging me to publish his name as a symbol of the freedom he demands. "If we lose the square, Mubarak will arrest all the opposition groups – and there will be police rule as never before. That's why we are fighting for our lives."
And now at least, after the horror the old dictator unleashed against them.
The lion-hearted Egyptians I met on Tahrir Square are risking their lives to stand up for democracy and liberty, and they deserve our strongest support — and, frankly, they should inspire us as well. A quick lesson in colloquial Egyptian Arabic: Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen! Today, we are all Egyptians!
Or are we?
Even Mubarak's American pimps are urging him to go. But not the grubby Con Stephen Harper.
Harper delivered a more ambiguous message when asked whether he believes Mubarak should resign.
"I don't think there is any doubt from anyone who is watching this situation that transition is occurring and will occur in Egypt. The question is what kind of transition this will be and how it will lead," Harper said.
Because he'll do what the right-wing government in Israel, Mubarak's good buddies, and his rabid Christianist base, tell him to do.
And one power hungry fascist toad recognizes another...
OMG. What a stooge. Is that a Prime Minister? Can we even call them a Canadian government?
But of course, I don't care. Everything Hosni Harper says goes in one ear and out the other.
"They are on our side," the cry went up from the crowds. Somehow, I didn't think so. And those tanks, new to the square, 14 in all that arrived with no slogans painted on them, their soldiers sullen and apprehensive, had not come – as the protesters fondly believed – to protect them.
And wonders whose side the Americans are really on.
I noticed the lead tank's hull bore markings beginning "MFR" – at this point a soldier with a rifle and bayonet fixed was ordered to arrest me so I ran into the crowd and he retreated – but could "MFR" stand for the US Mobile Force Reserve, which keeps its tanks in Egypt? Was this tank column on loan from the Americans?
An eight-year-old Saudi girl has a message for Mubarak.
