Net Briefs

The Internet was alive this past month with emails, press releases, and articles on the "revolution" in Egypt. Here's a sampling of two written after Mubarak resigned and two written before it happened.

  Egypt Uprising

Juan Cole (www.juancole.com) in "Scenarios for Egypt's Future: How Democratic Will it Be?" at zcommunications.org writes that "Hosni Mubarak is gone to the wild elation of Egyptian crowds. The country is now being run by a council of military officers. They say that they want a transition to a civilian elected government this fall. What do the people who made the revolution want?" Cole goes on to reference a communique issued by the "January 25" leadership:

·      Repeal of the state of emergency, which suspends constitutional protections for human rights, immediately

·      Immediate release of all political prisoners

·      Setting aside of the present constitution and its amendments

·      Dissolution of the federal parliament, as well as of provincial councils

·      Creation of a transitional, collective governing council

·      Formation of an interim government comprising independent nationalist trends, which would oversee free and fair elections

·      Formation of a working group to draft a new and democratic constitution that resembles the older of the democratic constitutions, on which the Egyptian people would vote in a referendum

·      Removal of any restriction on the free formation of political parties, on civil, democratic and peaceful bases

·      Freedom of the press

·      Freedom to form unions and non-governmental organizations without government permission

·      Abolition of all military courts and abrogation of their rulings with regard to civilian accused

Cole suggests three possible major outcomes:

1. The old elite of officers and businesspeople around Mubarak survives him to remain more or less in power and further protests, over time, are repressed.

2. There are new presidential and parliamentary elections, but the Mubarak cronies take advantage of their experience in organizing and the wealth they have gained to dominate these institutions, while the officer corps remains a power behind the scenes

3. There is a genuine social and political revolution, wherein substantial amounts of wealth and power are redistributed to new actors

Cole concludes: "While a thoroughgoing social revolution may or may not take place in Egypt with regard to property and capital (such events are rare in modern history)...if the demands released by the protesters are even partially met, especially with regard to freedom of expression unionizing, and party formation, Egypt will certainly be a very different and far more democratic place. Moreover, its example may well prove crucial in spreading these freedoms elsewhere in the region...."

Ramzy Baroud emailed his comments on the western media's views on the uprising and the current outcome saying that, "combined with serious doubts regarding the Arabs' readiness for democracy, the media conclusion offered is that Israel is the only democracy in the Mideast, that Israel carries similar values to the U.S., the West, the First World, the civilized hemisphere, and that Arabs epitomize all the ailments of the world." Baroud points out that to the media it matters little that Arab regimes were made "powerful" by the backing of their western benefactor or that oppression in the name of fighting the enemies of peace and progress was urged, financed, and orchestrated with western interests in mind. The fact that the bullets and canisters of teargas that killed and wounded numerous Egyptians had the words "suni'a fi alwilayat al-mutahida al-amrikyia/ made in the United States" on them was also deemed entirely irrelevant to any discussion on how and why Egyptians were being suppressed.

     Senator Dianne Feinstein, who heads the Intelligence Committee, accused the intelligence community of "lacking" performance. "The CIA should have monitored Facebook more closely," she suggested. But most of the chanting multitudes had no Facebook accounts. They don't tweet either. In Tahrir Square, a man carried a cardboard sign on which he had written, rather hurriedly: "I want to eat. My monthly salary is 267 (Egyptian) pounds and I have 4 children."

     Baround concludes with: "Others want to breathe the air of freedom. Others want justice. Dignity. Equality. Democracy. Hope. How can such values be measured or safeguarded against? "

Alternet.org provided the following information by Nomi Prins in "The Egyptian Uprising Is a Direct Response to Ruthless Global Capitalism." Prins writes that in March 2010, in an effort to keep foreign capital coming in, Egypt presented the country's virtues in a glossy "Invest in Egypt" brochure. The document proudly cited Egypt as being one of the world's top 10 "reformers," as reported by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation. The World Bank's definition of "reformer" has nothing to do with conditions for citizens and everything to do with the degree and speed to which "hot" international money can zoom in and out of a country.

     The Ministry's brochure touted the large college graduate population entering the job market each year—25,000. Ironically, the same graduates are the core of the current revolution. They are faced with an official unemployment rate just below 10 percent (though similar to the U.S., that figure doesn't account for underemployment, poor job quality, or long-term prospects).

     Meanwhile, 20 percent of Egypt lives in poverty (compared to 14 percent and growing in the U.S.) and 10 percent of the population controls 28 percent of household income (compared to 30 percent in the U.S.).

     Prins notes that "citizens protesting in the streets from Greece to England and from Tunisia to Egypt may be revolting for national reasons and against individual governments, but they share a common bond. They are revolting against a world that lines the pockets of rich deal-makers while sticking the tab to ordinary people. That bond is global. Related protests could reach Colombia and Ghana—and maybe someday, the United States."

From www.jadaliyya.com comes this article: "Suleiman: The CIA's Man in Cairo" by Lisa Hajjar. On January 29, Omar Suleiman, Egypt's top spy chief, was anointed vice president by Hosni Mubarak. By appointing Suleiman in an attempt to appease the protesters and retain his own grip on the presidency, Mubarak has shown his knack for devilish shrewdness. Suleiman has long been favored by the U.S. for his ardent anti-Islamism and his willingness to talk tough on Iran. He has long been the CIA's main man in Cairo. Mubarak knew that Suleiman would command an instant lobby of supporters at Langley and among "Iran nexters" in Washington, not to mention among other authoritarian Mukhabarat-dependent regimes in the region. Suleiman is a favorite of Israel, too. He directed Egypt's efforts to crush Hamas by demolishing the tunnels that have functioned as a smuggling conduit for weapons and foodstuffs into Gaza.

  World Social Forum

News.ph.msn.com reports that at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, former Brazilian President Lula urged Africa to become "aware of its own power amid rising hopes of a new world order in the wake of the popular revolts sweeping the Arab world." Lula told the gathering of leftists seeking an alternative to globalization and capitalism that liberal dogmas had failed. "In South America, but especially in the streets of Tunis and Cairo and many other African cities, hopes for a new world are being revived.... Millions of people are protesting against the poverty to which they are subjected, against the rule of tyrants, against the submission of their country to world powers.... Rich countries who saw us as peripheral and dangerous...those who arrogantly gave lessons on how we should manage our economy, have not been able to avoid the crises which reached their own countries and all humanity."

  WikiLeaking

Msmith@americanprogressaction.org sent a press release with news of recently leaked emails detailing a proposed campaign to smear political opponents of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Apparently, a law firm representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the big business trade association representing ExxonMobil, AIG, and other major international corporations, is working with a set of "private security" companies and lobbying firms to undermine their political opponents with a sabotage campaign. These private security firms (collectively called Team Themis) developed tactics for damaging progressive groups and labor unions, in particular the labor coalition called Change to Win, the SEIU, U.S. Chamber Watch, and StopTheChamber.com.

     According to one document prepared by Team Themis, the campaign included an entrapment project. The proposal called for first creating a "false document, perhaps highlighting periodical financial information," to give to a progressive group opposing the Chamber, and then to subsequently expose the document as a fake to undermine the credibility of the Chamber's opponents. In addition, the group proposed creating a "fake insider persona" to "generate communications" with Change to Win.

     The security firms hoped to obtain $200,000 for initial background research, then charge up to $2 million for a larger disinformation campaign against progressives. The e-mails are available widely on the web. They were posted by members of "Anonymous," the activist community responsible for taking down websites for oppressive regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and American corporations that have censored WikiLeaks.

     It is widely believed that Wikileaks also has sensitive information about Bank of America and plans to expose it later this year. This revelation prompted Bank of America to hire the law/lobbying firm Hunton and Williams, which in turn, according to the e-mails posted online by Anonymous, hired HB Gary Federal and other firms to go after Anonymous and supporters of Wikileaks. For instance, one proposal from HB Gary Federal and its associates proposed targeting Salon reporter and Wikileaks-supporter Glenn Greenwald with "actions to sabotage or discredit" him.

  Protests in Tel Aviv

Maki.org writes that 20,000 Jews and Arabs from left-wing movements, parties, and human rights organizations marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday, January 15 to protest the Knesset's decision to set up a committee of inquiry to probe the funding sources of human rights groups. Protesters chanted in support of democracy and free speech and against racism and fascism and carried hundreds of flags and signs with slogans. One activist voiced the sentiment that, "The victory of the people in Tunis over cruel dictatorship teaches us that oppression is not the fate of mankind [sic] and the people can win."

  Georgia Prison Revolt

Mumia Abu-Jamal sends word of the largest prison protest in years. Prisoners throughout Georgia, using smuggled cell phones, coordinated self-initiated lock-ins where they refused to leave their cells to work or recreate. On December 9, prisoners began their actions, with demands for such reforms as:

·      access to educational opportunities

·      fair parole procedures

·      decent medical care

·      nutritional meals

·      pay for their labor

·      an end to cruel and unusual treatment by staff

Thousands of men at Georgia's Augusta, Baldwin, Calhoun, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Rogers, Telfair, Valdosta, and Ware state prisons joined in this nonviolent protest. No staff members or prison property has been either threatened, damaged, or harmed. Elaine Brown, former head of the Black Panther Party, has helped these men through the newly-formed Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners' Rights and has spoken out in their support, as have Georgia's NAACP, the Nation of Islam, and a host of other groups. At last report, despite government repression, the strike was spreading, "as it should," says Mumia.

  ROTC Returns

Algilber@du.edu reports that, after many years, the Harvard University administration has decided to allow ROTC back on campus. It had been stopped as a result of the Harvard strike of 1969. In a petition, critics of Harvard's recent decision state that "at the time [of the 1960's anti-ROTC struggle], the U.S. military was carrying out a war based on a flagrant lie (the Bay of Tonkin 'incident' which was soon revealed never to have happened). This war resulted in the loss of three million Vietnamese lives, poisoning of large tracts of land through use of toxic defoliants, uncountable casualties, tens of thousands killed in Laos and Cambodia, as well as tens of thousands of American soldiers, many of whom were sent to Vietnam against their will. In doing so, the U.S. government committed a series of horrendous war crimes, including rape, murder of civilians, ecocide, and torture. These crimes occurred in the context of a war of aggression, considered at Nuremberg to be the supreme war crime.... Since the war in Vietnam, the U.S. military has continued a pattern of invasion (Grenada, Afghanistan, Iraq), covert overthrow of elected governments (e.g., Chile), torture, and other belligerent and criminal interferences abroad.... Harvard University, by accepting ROTC back on campus, not only subverts its own claims to political neutrality and intellectual freedom, since ROTC's curriculum is dictated and overseen, not by the university, but by the military. It also gives aid and comfort to a military...which commits war crimes and wreaks havoc abroad. We invite all members of the community to protest this turn of events."

  Cuban Medics

Independent.co.uk sent this tidbit: "Cuban Medics in Haiti Put the World to Shame" by Nina Lakhani. The article provides information about a medical brigade of 1,200 Cubans, which operated all over earthquake-torn and cholera-infected Haiti. In fact, Cuban health-care workers have been in Haiti since 1998, at which time they began training 550 Haitian doctors for free at the Escuela Latino-Americana de Medicina en Cuba, one of the country's most progressive medical ventures. Another 400 medics are currently being trained at the school, which offers free education—including books and a little spending money—to anyone sufficiently qualified who cannot afford to study medicine in their own country.

     A third of Cuba's 75,000 doctors, along with 10,000 other health workers, are currently working in 77 poor countries, including El Salvador, Mali, and East Timor. This still leaves one doctor for every 220 people at home, one of the highest ratios in the world, compared with one for every 370 in England.

  Guns in Church

An email sent to members of the media notes that Georgia gun owners received a short video from Pastor Joe Morecraft of Chalcedon Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia. In it, Morecraft expresses his support for HB 54, a bill in the Georgia legislature which would return the right to individuals in Georgia to defend themselves in places of worship.

  Trafficking at the Super Bowl

Rutherford.org emailed the following article, "Sex Trafficking: There's More to the Super Bowl Than Sports" by John W. Whitehead. According to the Miami Herald, the scale of prostitution at the last few Super Bowls was described by government agents as "incredible," according to Joseph Ullmann, an FBI special agent who handles cases involving crimes against children.

     The Florida Commission Against Human Trafficking estimated that "tens of thousands of women and minors were trafficked into the Miami area during the 2010 Super Bowl." With the majority of its clients in the U.S. being married men, sex trafficking—especially the trafficking of young girls—has become a lucrative business, raking in $9.5 billion a year in the U.S. alone and $32 billion worldwide. It is also a highly mobile enterprise, with trafficked women constantly being moved from city to city, state to state, and country to country in order to avoid detection by police and to cater to male buyers' demand.

     It is estimated that there are 100,000 to 150,000 under-aged sex workers in the U.S. (the average age those who enter into street prostitution is between 12 and 14 years old, with some as young as 9). Rarely do these girls enter into prostitution voluntarily. Many started as runaways or throwaways, only to be snatched up by pimps or larger sex rings. Others, persuaded to meet up with a stranger after interacting on one of the many social websites, find themselves quickly initiated into a new life as a sex slave.

  FDA

J. Jonik emailed news about the FDA and its arbitrariness when it comes to pesticides. For example, nothing in the FDA's "Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act" addresses the problem of chlorine-bleached cigarette paper, which, along with the chlorine pesticide residues, puts high levels of dioxin into smoke from typical contaminated products. Also, nothing in the Act addresses the once widely-publicized matter of cancer-causing radiation (Polonium 210) levels in smoke from tobacco grown with certain phosphate fertilizers. Some researchers estimated that over 90 percent of upper respiratory "smoking related" cancers were caused by this radiation, not by smoke from tobacco plants.

     Nothing in the Act addresses the matter of fake tobacco made in patented ways from many kinds of industrial waste cellulose, none of it likely to be organic. There is no tobacco in such products for the FDA to "control" and the agency has not been given the job of regulating smoke from such items as peanut shells, corncobs, coffee bean hulls, carbon-filled paper, and other things covered by the fake tobacco patents. No studies have been presented to demonstrate a public health concern relating to non-tobacco products.

     For that matter, no studies have yet been presented that make clear what was researched. Was it plain tobacco, fake tobacco, or typical highly-adulterated, dioxin-delivering, pesticide-contaminated, radiation-contaminated smoking products? The term "tobacco" is never qualified to make those crucial distinctions.

  Posada Carilles

Karenlee726@gmail.com forwarded the news from Peter Kornbluh at the Nation Magazine that at the perjury trial of the Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, for the first time in a long dramatic history dominated by hostility and aggression, "U.S. government prosecutors formally presented evidence of terrorism committed against Cuba in a court of law—against one of its own former CIA operatives. Even more extraordinary, the evidence comes in the form of a Cuban Ministry of Interior investigator." The godfather of anti-Castro Cuban violence over four decades, Posada is being prosecuted for immigration fraud in 2005. But the Obama Justice Department added three counts of perjury relating to a far more important crime: Posada's role in a series of seven bombings that rocked Havana hotels and other tourist sites between April and September 1997. This marks the first time that concrete evidence is being presented to the jury on how those bombings took place and the damage they wrought. By prosecuting him on charges related to his acts of terrorism, even if they are only perjury charges, the United States is effectively repudiating a dark past that its Cold War officials and covert operatives set in motion.

Z

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