Hundreds rally in support of Egyptian revolution outside Dearborn City Hall Jan. 29
Express solidarity with the poor of Detroit, U.S.
By Diane Bukowski
DEARBORN, MI – As the 30-year regime of Hosni Mubarak teetered on the verge of collapse, hundreds rallied in front of the Dearborn City Hall Jan. 29 to support the millions who have taken to the streets in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and other Arab nations. The crowd here demanded an end to poverty and repression in their homelands, and to the U.S. military aid which has fostered it.
Essam Mohamed and Tarek Baydoun
“The youth led this in Egypt because they have no jobs,” said Essam Mohamed. “There is 50 percent unemployment and no social justice. There is no other way for change. President [Barack] Obama must stop choosing both sides. There is only the people’s side. Mubarak has been a dictator in Egypt for over 30 years. He must resign and the people must take over with a new constitution and new elected parliament. The police are Mubarak’s dogs, but the people are counting on the military to move to support their side.”
Mohamed expressed solidarity with the people of Detroit and other poor communities in the U.S. who face conditions similar to those of impoverished Egyptians.
The crowd carried Egyptian flags and signs calling on Obama to end support for Mubarak, chanting in Arabic and in English, “Mubarak, out, out we don’t want you.” They also condemned Suleiman, who Mubarak has installed as vice-president in the hope of maintaining control of the reins of power.
Nour Saker (center) and youth from Existence is Resistance carried Palestinian flags in support of Egyptian uprising
Nour Saker and other Palestinian-American youth from “Existence is Resistance” carried Palestinian flags in support of the uprisings in the Arab world.
“The PEOPLE of Egypt have always stood by the Palestinians,” Saker said. “Mubarak’s politics are not their fault. Their struggle affects Gaza, because as in Gaza, 90 percent of the people make only two dollars a day if they are working. There have been 30 years of Mubarak and 62 years of occupation in Palestine. The leaders are nothing but puppets put in place to oppress the people, and millions of our people are dying. The people’s battle in Egypt is the same as those in Palestine, Yemen, Africa and Haiti. It is a humanitarian issue.”
Saker said Existence is Resistance is a national grassroots organization that was founded in New York City.
“You can compare the ghettoes in New York City and in Detroit to the ghettoes in Palestine,” she said. “We all have so much in common and we all must stand up for our rights.”
Family carries photo of Khaled Said, murdered by Egyptian police who bashed his head into a wall; this photo circulated on the internet throughout Egypt and helped give rise to the current rebellion
Aly Lela rallied the crowd from the steps of city hall.
“Egyptian students, farmers and professionals are united, because 80 percent of them live in poverty,” Lela said. “Egypt is not Mubarak and is not the ruling party, it is the people who are in the streets right now. Instead of building alliances with dictatorships, the U.S. should build alliances with the people. The people are fed up, they want to choose their own leaders and build a brighter future.”
Lela denied contentions that the alternative to Mubarak is a regime like that led by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“Egypt is full of very qualified people who know how to run the country, especially the youth who have stood up to say enough is enough,” Lela said. “It is time for the White House to act.”
Tarek Baydoun of the Arab-American Political Action Committee said that further support actions here are being planned as the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen proceed.
“We are contacting the White House and everyone else in Congress and elsewhere to tell them that we want justice,” Baydoun said. “If Mubarak is out, other dictators will be out.”
Thousands also turned out to support the Egyptian revolution in the streets of dozens of other cities across the U.S., from New York to San Francisco.
Speakers with their children gathered on the steps of the Dearborn City Hall
Egypt’s Struggle against US Funded Repression
Tales of US Sponsorship of Repressive Regimes
By Solomon Comissiong Daily Journal (Opinion), Media, War and Peace, World News
Jan 29, 2011
On January 25th, 2011 scores of Egyptians decided they were no longer going to tolerate widespread repression from the hands of their own government. This longstanding Egyptian government, headed by Hosni Mubarak, has ruled with a heavy hand for three decades. Throughout this regime thousands have been killed, unjustly imprisoned, or tortured. Starting in Tunisia, a wave of revolution built momentum; soon it became a tsunami of radical change.
Thousands still fill Egyptian streets
People throughout the Maghreb have reached their social Rubicon, vowing to no longer succumb to widespread suppression, hunger and poverty; meanwhile their elected leaders live like fat cats. This truly is a historical moment in recent history, and perhaps longer. Few media outlets have comprehensively covered this ongoing event—none were US corporate media outlets. We should seldom be shocked at the blatant omission of critical facts, regarding geopolitical events, that the US media has become rather adept at. For that matter, they also practice the same type of “journalism” with regards to critical domestic issues.
The US corporate media has followed the lead of Al Jazeera in terms of actually reporting the mass protests in Egypt (well, kinda sorta); however that is where the similarities begin and end. Instead of showing the story from multiple angles the US corporate media has chosen to focus from primarily the “US perspective” and the possible ramifications to American interests if the protests go a certain way.
For instance CNBC contributor, Erin Burrnett, stated Friday January 28th, 2011 on the MSNBC “Morning Joe” program that, “If this spreads, the United States could take a huge hit because democracy in a place like Saudi Arabia, you’ve talked about who might come in power, what that means for oil prices. They’re going to go stratospheric.” She, like “Morning Joe” host, Joe Scarborough, who then replied, “No doubt about it.” was speaking from the point of view of the US elites’ interests.
Ongoing revolution in Egypt AP Photo
US elites, like the US government, could give a damn if the people of Egypt suffered another 30 years of brutal repression so long as their precious financial and imperialist interests go unscathed. Instead of featuring expert guests with a wide range of perspectives on the social climate in Egypt, as Al Jazeera has done throughout, the US corporate media has done the complete opposite. They have provided little broad based contextual perspective, made sure their guest “experts” did the same, and negated any comprehensive exposure regarding the US government’s relationship with the Mubarak regime.
Faithful and zombie-like US corporate media viewers will get no understanding regarding the fact that their government funds the repressive Egyptian military and riot police to the tune of 1.3 billion dollars per year. Even the tear gas canisters that were responsible in bashing in the heads of some protesters had “Made in USA’ written all over them. I guess the US corporate media did not want to trouble Americans with that valuable knowledge.
Acting Israeli President Ehud meets then Sen. Joe Biden in Jerusalem in 2006.
They also found no reason to explain to viewers how brutal and oppressive the Mubarak regime has been during his 30 year tenure as president. I guess if they did that they just might have to explain why the US government has politically and financially supported such an authoritarian government. Vice President Joe Biden pretty much summed up which side of history the US government has become accustomed to being on when he said, “Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with – with Israel. … I would not refer to him as a dictator.”
Any reputable professional media would have challenged Biden’s statement. Mubarak has been a faithful ally to the US; however whether or not Joe Biden refers to him as a dictator does not change the fact that Hosni Mubarak is in fact a dictator.
The US media system functions like a fourth branch of government and because of this they are compliant to their partners in Washington by providing as little perspective and information as possible. After all, too much information given to Americans would raise too many pesky questions. Americans are blindly obsequious to the US government due to their rather limited point of reference regarding America’s historically dubious role in global destabilization and support for some of the planet’s more repressive governments. The US government and their corporate media sycophants have masterminded the cultivation of a societal culture that has trained Americans to selectively defend the interests of ruthless oppressors all the while vilifying those being oppressed.
Financed by U.S., Colombian army terrorizes poor community
The US seldom predicates its allegiances with other countries on conscience, it bases them on convenience. The U.S. government’s own self-interest is at the top of their decision-making process regarding foreign policy. These decision rarely include justice, freedom or democracy. This is why American has long supported repressive regimes like that of Egypt, Colombia, and yes, Israel. Despite its horrendous record regarding the murder of trade union organizers and its use of the military to terrorize civilian, Colombia has received over seven billion dollars in military aid from the US since 2000. In exchange, the US has almost unfettered military access throughout Colombia so long as their military bases are built and maintained in the South American country. The U.S. has also funded Colombia’s indiscriminate rogue war on drugs, “Plan Colombia.” Colombia’s right-wing ex-President who oversaw much of the human carnage now teaches in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown University.
However, Colombia is outdone by Israel when it comes to receiving military aid from the U.S. Israel continues to serve as one of the most repressive states in recent history. The government of Israel’s outright suppression of Palestinians is deplorable by any human standards. Palestinians continue to live in some of the most oppressive conditions throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They cannot control their water system and electricity, and are subject to degrading checkpoints throughout the region. Brutal military force from the Israeli Defense Forces has taken the lives of scores of Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Those who were outrated at what the white minority apartheid regime did to Black South Africans prior to the early 1990’s should be equally incensed by what the state of Israel is currently doing to Palestinians. However, it seems as though the US government lacks a moral compass on this issue as they supply Israel with 8.2 million dollars a DAY in direct military aid. This comes by way of U.S. taxpayer dollars.
The US government has spoken with a forked tongue for a long, long time. Year after year after year, the US government masquerades around the globe as the self-proclaimed paragon for freedom, justice, equality and human rights. However, in the meantime they are engaged in bloody illegal wars and financially supporting destructive and repressive governments. As long as the American people allow themselves to be kept in the dark, as well as choosing to remain socially apathetic, there is no conceivable end in sight.
The American people have a choice. They can either speak out against the actions of their government in the name of the American people, or they can remain silent as their tax dollars continue to be used as “blood money.” As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in its as he who helps perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” How long will we continue to cooperate?
Solomon Commissiong is an educator, community activist, author, public speaker and the host of the YourWorld News media collective at www.blogtalkradio.com/Your-World-News and www.yourworldnews.blip.tv.
