30th June, "Revolt", Egypt

[RFQ 110]

ya Rabb

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Breaking: An American Citizen has been killed in Alexandria.

He ignored the US Embassy warnings to not go near large protests that may turn on you. He was out taking pictures of the burning of the MB headquarters. He died a brutal and vicious death.

[Mithra 1,185]

Just awful and tragic.

Yeah it's getting bad. My husband is there now visiting his family. My daughter and I were supposed to go with but luckily I ended up pregnant right when plans were being made so thankfully the two of us are not there. I would not want my 20 month old to be there in this mess. He's supposed to return July 16 but who knows if that will happen now. I'm really hoping things die down some during Ramadan so he can get back on the 16th. I feel for everyone living/visiting there now. This is awful.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Oh no Mirtha! I hope they remain safe and that things die down at Ramadan as well.

A few hours after the confirmations of the 21 year old American teacher and budding journalist died from stab wounds in Alexandria the US Embassy in Cairo issued a Travel Warning and authorized the departure of non-essential personnel and their family.

Travel Warning for Egypt

June 28, 2013

United States Department of State

Bureau of Consular Affairs

The U.S. Department of State warns U.S. citizens traveling to or living in Egypt to defer non-essential travel to Egypt at this time due to the continuing possibility of political and social unrest. On June 28, 2013, the Department of State authorized the departure of a limited number of non-emergency employees and family members. U.S. citizens are urged to remain alert to local security developments and to be vigilant regarding their personal security. This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Alert issued for Egypt dated May 15, 2013.

On June 28, the Department of State authorized the departure of a limited number of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members from Egypt due to the ongoing political and social unrest.

Political unrest, which intensified prior to the constitutional referendum in December 2012 and the anniversary in 2013 of Egypt's 25th January Revolution, is likely to continue in the near future due to unrest focused on the first anniversary of the President's assumption of office. Demonstrations have, on occasion, degenerated into violent clashes between police and protesters, resulting in deaths, injuries, and extensive property damage. Participants have thrown rocks and Molotov cocktails and security forces have used tear gas and other crowd control measures against demonstrators. There are numerous reports of the use of firearms as well. While violent protests have occurred in major metropolitan areas, including downtown Cairo, Alexandria, and Port Said, the security situation in most tourist centers, including Luxor, Aswan, and Red Sea resorts such as Sharm el Sheikh, continues to be calm. Of specific concern is a rise in gender-based violence in and around protest areas where women have been the specific targets of sexual assault.

On May 9, a private U.S. citizen was attacked with a knife outside of the Embassy after being asked whether he was an American. Additionally, Westerners and U.S. citizens have occasionally been caught in the middle of clashes and demonstrations. U.S. citizens are urged to remain alert to local security developments and to be vigilant regarding their personal security by knowing the locations of police and fire stations, hospitals, and the U.S. Embassy.

The U.S. Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid all demonstrations in Egypt, as even peaceful ones can quickly become violent, and a foreigner could become a target of harassment or worse. Because of the proximity of the U.S. Embassy to Tahrir Square in Cairo, the U.S. Embassy has sometimes been closed to the public on short notice due to violent protests. The Embassy will notify U.S. citizens as quickly as possible of any closing and the types of emergency consular services that will be available. Should security forces block off the area around the U.S. Embassy during demonstrations, U.S. citizens should contact the American Citizens Services section before attempting to come to the U.S. Embassy during that time. U.S. citizens are urged to remain alert to local security developments and to carry identification and, if moving about alone, a cell phone or other means of communication that works in Egypt.

The U.S. Embassy restricts its employees and their family members from traveling to specific areas listed in the Country Specific Information Sheet and advises all U.S. citizens to do the same. We continue to urge U.S. citizens to stay current with media coverage of local events and be aware of their surroundings at all times. Please check our Country Specific Information Sheet for further security guidance.

Unless otherwise indicated in a public announcement, the U.S. Embassy is open for all routine American Citizens Services by appointment. U.S. citizens needing emergency assistance do not need an appointment. Visit the Embassy website to check the latest changes to Embassy hours or services. U.S. citizens with routine phone inquiries may call the Embassy's American Citizens Services section at 2797-2301, Sunday to Thursday from 9:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. For emergencies after business hours and on weekends and holidays, U.S. citizens can contact the Embassy Duty Officer via the Embassy switchboard on 2797-3300. The U.S. Embassy is closed on U.S. federal holidays. U.S. citizens in Egypt are encouraged to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). By enrolling, U.S. citizens make it easier for the Embassy to contact them in case of emergency.

For the latest security information, U.S. citizens traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department of State's Internet website at travel.state.gov where the Worldwide Caution , Country Specific Information for Egypt, Travel Warnings, and Travel Alerts can be found. Follow us on Twitter and the Bureau of Consular Affairs page on Facebook as well. Download our free Smart Traveler app, available through iTunes or Google Play, to have travel information at your fingertips.

Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the United States and Canada, or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).

The U.S. Embassy in Egypt is located at 5 Tawfik Diab Street (formerly known as Latin America Street), Garden City, Cairo. For emergencies after business hours and on weekends and holidays, U.S. citizens can contact the Embassy Duty Officer via the Embassy switchboard on 2797-3300.

Also the Marines have been placed on ready as a precaution encase violence against Americans broke out. With Egypt unrest growing, U.S. Marines placed on ready as precaution

U.S. Marines stationed in southern Europe have been put on alert as a precaution in advance of expected large demonstrations and potential unrest in Egypt this weekend, CNN has learned.

About 200 combat capable Marines in Sigonella, Italy, and Moron, Spain, have been told to be ready to be airborne within 60 minutes of getting orders to deploy, according to two administration officials.

The units have several V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft that would carry troops and infantry weapons to Egypt to protect the U.S. Embassy and American government personnel and citizens if violence broke out against Americans

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

From CNN

In the event Americans had to be evacuated from Egypt and could not get to the airport due to the unrest, there are about 2,000 additional Marines on board three Navy warships in the Red Sea, officials said.

From New York Times

Early Saturday, officials of Kenyon College in Ohio identified the American who was killed as Andrew Pochter, 21, a Kenyon student from Chevy Chase, Md. United States Embassy officials said he died during clashes between supporters and opponents of Mr. Morsi.

Mr. Pochter was an intern at AMIDEAST a nonprofit American group engaged in international education, training and development activities in the Middle East and North Africa. The internship was not a Kenyon program, the college said on its Web site.

From the Kenyon College page.

Andrew Pochter '15, of Chevy Chase, MD, was killed in Alexandria, Egypt yesterday during clashes between supporters and opponents of the country's president, according to a statement released by the College. He was 21. Pochter was in Egypt as an intern at AMIDEAST, an American non-profit with operations in the region.

A FB page with photo started in memorial to him. LINK

Edited June 29, 2013 by ॐ

[oldahmed 38]

It all comes together now. I'd been puzzled for awhile over the description of the opposition being fractured. This opinion article written for the Christian Science Monitor by a law professor at Georgetown University is the missing puzzle piece I've been looking for. Now I can see fully the larger picture and it solidifies in my mind the dilemma that was faced and why the revolution wasn't over yet.

Those who fought for the revolution were fractured in the elections because the military cracked down on them for bringing the instability in the country and thus put the leaders and the organizers in jail so they couldn't continue to participate; which left the majority of people with only two options to choose from and neither of which they really wanted.

Be inclusive, Morsi, or you may face a second Egyptian revolution

Also massive demonstrations are going on today, June 28th. Many news reports and social media activity show Egypt is burning and blood is being shed. The boiling point has been reached.

The article ascribes whatever the court decides to the MB, assuming that they control it. If you rely on facts this article doesn't make sense. Recently, the Egyptian court has ruled many times against the MB in major cases. The MB is not in control of the Egyptian institutions neither the government does. The author also suggests that MB won the elections because the former regime imprisoned the author political opponents, but going back to history you'll see that the MB has always won parliament seats wherever they run but then their representatives get jailed. That is why they've always entered the elections with a minimum number of representatives to avoid greater backlash from Mubarak's regime.

I don't understand when people state that their revolution has been hijacked but never explain what they mean. If the revolution was to give people the right to chose then the people have spoken.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I'm confused by some of what you're saying oldahmed. My understanding from the article is that there are three groups being the military, the Islamists and everyone else. The article explains that when the Military took control after Mubarak stepped down there was a crack down on the leaders of the revolution. Which is a fact. Wael Gonim and other revolutionary leaders were captured, imprisoned and tortured for the unrest that resulted in their actions. Many of the protesters where tried in military courts instead of civil courts, which is the difference that the article made and should be made here in your first statement. To go back prior to the revolution to make a point about the MB's political history seems rather irrelevant to the discussion. When the MB won the Presidency and dominated the Parliment they had it within their power to restore civil court actions for the protesters but instead they opted to leave it very much in the military courts hands. In addition to that the new government has cracked down on everything that the revolutionaries stood for such as basic human dignity, rights, freedom of speech and expression, and a laundry list of things that I have described at length in the posts of this thread. For a better understanding of why people claim the revolution was highjacked I'd suggest that you read more than one article posted in this thread. Perhaps try your attempt at the very first post I made in starting this thread as I source much of the reasons why we are seeing today the culmination of events.

Other items of general amusement:

It's just after 2 PM in Cairo on June 30th and the opposition rallies are scheduled to meet in the next hour to begin their march to the Presidential Palace. It's still early. The main protest will begin 6 PM.

Live Streaming Video: Protests Cairo Egypt Tahrir Square

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

There are around 17 anti-Morsi demonstrations being held today across Egypt. The ones being broadcasted in the live stream are Tahrir Square, the Presidential Palace, Alexandria, Mahalla, Mansoura, Port Saied and Monofeya.

Also there is a pro-Morsi demonstration that has been blocked off in their own area. It's estimated at 350,000 people from this picture circulating on twitter.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

The Egyptian Army says it was the biggest protest in Egyptian history and they estimate the number of protesters was in the millions. Source

Looking at the livestream this morning in Egypt it appears most everyone has gone and the scene is pretty empty. Of all the locations only a few hundred remained in Tahrir Square.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

The announcement has been made by the Egyptian military. It's a done deal. Clearly millions of Egyptians who are pro-Morsi are going to be upset. Some call it a military coup while others call it an Egyptian revolution.

• Constitution suspended
• Chief of Constitutional Court will be sworn in as President
• He will form a committee of all the people to revise the constitution
• He will call on the Supreme Constitutional Court to call for a law to pass Parliamentary elections
• Establish a code of ethics for the media for freedom of expression (Loud cheering erupts)
• Committee for the empowerment of the youth
• Establish a committee for the reconciliation committee for leaders that are credible

[Heather&Ramy 22]

Thanks for compiling all of those articles and videos... I've had a heck of a time trying to explain the situation to my family in the US. It's easy to say as an American that the protesters are un-democratic, they should just stick with the person they elected until they have another chance to change. When we don't like the current government, we use our voices, our laws, our lobbying rights, and the next election, not violence. And on US news Americans are being told that the "military coup" has been fraught with violence. But obviously the situation is NOT that simple, and they miss the part that I saw and that is seen on the video above of people collecting signatures, spreading the word peacefully, and protesting peacefully until they are attacked and need to defend themselves. They also don't realize how extreme the situation is...My parents are politically conservative and don't like Obama, so I tried to use the analogy that imagine Obama's administration was passing a million laws that we disagree with such as gay marriage, etc., and then not only passing the law but then outlawing heterosexual marriage. (I don't want to start a discussion about gay marriage.. just an example) The point is that it's not just disagreeable laws and leaders, it is laws and leaders who wish to impose and are imposing their own minority lifestyle on everyone else, and also turning a blind eye while basic needs such as food and shelter and electricity and water are not being met.

I was in Cairo from June 20th to July 3rd, (and my birthday was June 30th!) and I saw many protests outside our flat but my fiancé didn't participate due to me being there. It's a very complicated situation, but I am happy the Egyptian people are exercising their voices. Hope everything will resolve quickly and with the least amount of bloodshed, and hope Egypt will get some decent, moderate, inclusive people in office who will focus on reviving the economy. I'm proud to be associated with Egypt and I wish those intelligent, kind, generous, decent people the best. It's time they go up in the world like they deserve.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

What has happened is essentially this:

The Egyptian army has controlled the presidency since Nasser, who was followed by Sadat, then Mubarak - all career military guys.

Mubarak was there forever as a dictator and most of his people hated him. They had bogus elections, and each time Mubarak won with 99% of the vote. He enforced US/Israeli objectives, and so he was given the $1.5 billion every year in aid. Most of that money went into Mubarak's personal bank account and to the military, especially the elites, to perpetuate the regime. But he didn't really do anything to help Egyptian people make their lives better, and he ran a brutal and oppressive regime which shut down dissent and the free press.

This was all fine with the army generals. (Do not confuse the generals and other military elites with the rank-and-file soldiers, who are drafted from the mostly poor population of Egypt, are poorly paid, and are even used as a cheap labor force to work for various military-owned/quasi-private businesses, which account for up to 20% of the country's GDP.)

But then Mubarak made his fatal mistake - he tried to position his son, Gamal - who was not a military guy and who never served in the army - as his successor. This was intolerable to the elite in the military - they want one of their own in that president's chair. They don't want all that money going to anyone but their own.

When the popular protests against Mubarak started, inspired by the ones in Tunisia, it was quite convenient. The army stood down and let it happen - they allowed Mubarak to be removed.

Then there were elections, pitting an army general against a Muslim Brotherhood candidate. Everyone saw that the MB (the largest and most popular political party in Egypt) had a clear majority to win. So before election day, the military moved to strip the president's office of most of his powers, and made a few other changes to the government to try to keep power in the hands of their own supporters.

Morsi was never able to get back control of the military, or the security services, or the courts. But he took the blame for the inability to change the status quo.

Fast-forward to now. The military joined forces with the state security services and former Mubarak supporters to launch a coup to reinstate the military's control of the country.

Essentially, there was a revolution to remove the old regime and install a new one - which has now been overthrown by the military, and is now busy re-installing the old regime.

[zahrasalem 114]

Hope everything will resolve quickly and with the least amount of bloodshed, and hope Egypt will get some decent, moderate, inclusive people in office who will focus on reviving the economy.

I understand your good intentions when you say this, but "resolve quickly" is not going to happen. Not that things were peachy when Mubarak was still in office, but ever since he was kicked out, Egypt has been on fire and will never, ever be the same. It may never know normal again in our lifetimes.

My husband has been here three years and has watched his country unravel on tv everyday and says himself that the old Egypt is over and has to be rebuilt from the ground up...how? there's no good answer.... only time will tell...

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I agree Egypt will never be the same. According to what I learned in my political science studies when there is a military coup in a newly formed democracy the path to stability will take a much longer time. The research on this applies to revolutions throughout history and across the world. Before this happened Egypt was probably going to achieve stability in 10-15 years. Now after this has happened in an undemocratic way, unless Egypt can reconcile it's differences and move back onto the democratic path peacefully immediately, I'd say it will take a minimum of 25 years to achieve the stability it's seeking. Newly formed democracies can take 10-25 years to mature. Hubby and I will be in our 60's by then. There just is no telling how long the unrest and violence is going to last.

I was planning to go to Egypt next year with my Husband for my BIL's wedding. My Mom was going to make her first trip there and stay with us as we'd be there for several months. Now everything's off and their wedding possibly delayed for another three years. My husband hasn't been back to Egypt in over three years and might not be going back for several more years now. We had a small window when he could go and now it looks impossible to make it before his medical residency starts and he's pulled into 80-100 weeks for the next three years. He's really unhappy about this but also stressed about a lot of other things going on right now that's on his plate. If it's any testament to what's going on right now at home with studying for medical exams he's hardly paid attention to recent developments in Egypt while in 2011 it was the exact opposite with 24 hours of coverage of the revolution online in our upstairs office. This went on for weeks. Now I'm the one watching and reading the developments and he's the one not interested. I'm about ready to turn my attention elsewhere for good because like him I can hardly stand to watch it anymore at this point.

Edited July 7, 2013 by ॐ

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

One of the best in-depth reports on exactly what has happened in Egypt, by Esam al-Amin. For anyone interested in understanding what's going on and how exactly it unfolded, I recommend reading it in full, but some key excerpts:

...the Secular and liberal opposition and many youth groups and their supporters argued that their protests followed by the ouster of Morsi by the military was analogous to the overthrow of Mubarak. But this argument conveniently ignores the fact that Mubarak was not a legitimate president or elected by the will of the Egyptian people while Morsi, whether one supports or opposes him, loves or hates him, was duly elected in free, fair, and contested elections that the entire world observed and accepted. Furthermore, Mubarak killed hundreds of youth in order to stay in power, while dozens of youth were killed in the streets defending the legitimacy of Morsi’s presidency. In addition, most of the people and groups who oppose Morsi today after one year in power, never lifted a finger during Mubarak’s 30 year reign. Mubarak’s security apparatus used thugs to terrorize his opponents and oversee fraudulent elections, while the same thugs today attack and terrorize unarmed supporters of Morsi. While official and government media outlets and corrupt businesspeople and judges supported Mubarak for decades, the same government-supported media, businesspeople, and judges attacked Morsi from his first day in office.

...

...it is the height of irony that the ones who called for, encouraged, and cheered the military intervention to oust a democratically-elected president are the secular, liberal, and leftist parties and individuals such as ElBaradei, Amr Mousa, Naguib Sawiris, Ayman Noor, and Hamdein Sabbahi, as well as human and civil rights activists who frequently advocate for free media and freedom of political association.

....

It remains to be seen if the West will take a strong stand against the military’s latest attempt to prevent Islamists from holding power. It may indeed define the relationship between Islamist groups and Western governments for the foreseeable future. The message such stand would send to people around the world will be profound. Either the West stands for democratic principles and the rule of law or it does not. When President Obama called Morsi on June 30, he admonished him that “democracy is about more than elections.” But what is equally essential to recognize is that there is no democracy without respecting and protecting the legitimacy of its results regardless of its outcome.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/07/05/in-egypt-the-military-is-supreme/