<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[The Egyptian Uprising: Facts and&nbsp;Fiction]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<table border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="100%" align="center">
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<td class="normal_text" style="padding-left:15px;" align="right">11:58 02/07/2011</td>
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<td class="caption_text" align="center">Keep the faith &#8211; freedom is being born.</td>
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<td class="normal_text" style="padding-top:10px;"><strong>By Ahmed Amr – Cairo</strong></p>
<p>As  hundreds of thousands of Egyptians entered Tahrir Square on Friday,  they were welcomed by a human corridor of young men clapping and  chanting &#8216;keep the faith countrymen &#8211; freedom is being born.&#8217;  The  protest was billed as &#8216;Yom El Raheel&#8217; &#8211; a farewell party for Hosni  Mubarak.</p>
<p>There was something obviously different about the crowd  that showed up to participate in what turned out to be the largest  demonstration since the uprising began. For one thing, they came without  their children and there were fewer women in the crowd. That was to be  expected. Fear of violent attacks by the hired thugs of the Mubarak’s  ruling party haunted the event and the square was littered with stones  and debris from the battles on Wednesday. Many of the veterans of those  attacks were limping or walking around with blood soaked bandages.</p>
<p>The  few foreign journalists who came to cover the event were edgy and  visibly concerned for their own personal safety. In a desperate effort  to reduce coverage of the demonstrations, Mubarak’s goons had attacked  them in their hotels and stolen or damaged their equipment. According to  the Committee to Protect Journalists, 114 foreign journalists have been  attacked or arrested in the last two days. The government blamed the  intimidation campaign on unidentified rogue elements in the security  forces but the harassment continues.</p>
<p>Neutering the foreign press  was an essential tactic for a propaganda campaign by the organs of the  State owned media which has been shameless in distorting the realities  on the ground. The employees of Egyptian government newspapers and  television stations are nothing more than ruling party hacks but they  are not without their talents. While some of the rumors they were  circulating were marginally plausible, others were off the wall.</p>
<p>Perhaps  the most entertaining rumor was the “Kentucky Fried” allegation.  According to one story circulated by the ‘national press,’ the million  plus protestors came to the square in expectation of a platter of spicy  chicken and 50 Euros. The fictional foreign agents serving the crowd  came armed with tons of cash and the Colonel’s secret recipe. Whoever  dreamed up that rumor forgot to mention that there is only one Kentucky  Fried outlet in Tahrir Square and it’s been closed since the uprising  began.</p>
<p>The general theme of the government’s propaganda assault  has revolved around foreign agents organizing and deceiving the naïve  anti-regime protestors. One concocted report in Al-Akhbar had 300  foreign saboteurs caught red handed in Suez. In government media  accounts, alien provocateurs were everywhere to be found. The source of  the mischief all depended on which hallucination you were reading. The  agitators are apparently Israeli spies sponsored by Americans and Hamas  activists financed by Iranians on a joint mission to turn Egypt into a  striptease club ruled by a Shiite theocracy.</p>
<p>To give you an idea  of how disgraceful Egyptian state journalism can be; it took ten days  for Al-Ahram to notice that the demonstrator’s essential demand was for  Mubarak to abdicate his throne. Until yesterday, the flagship of the  government’s propaganda machine portrayed the demonstrations as rallies  against high food prices and unemployment and in support of unspecified  ‘reforms.’ The day after the slaughter at Tahrir Square, Al-Ahram  boasted this headline “Millions demonstrate in support of Mubarak.” The  reporting is so scandalous that many government employed journalists  have quit in protest and others are simply refusing to write.</p>
<p>The  regime’s efforts at damage control were not ineffective. The campaign  hit a chord with the argument that Mubarak had already resigned and was  just waiting for his term to expire in September. Egyptians are a  sentimental people and the appeal to treat Mubarak as the father of the  nation had some resonance. They failed to mention that Mubarak was the  kind of father who devours his own children. So far, over 300 hundred  have died because of his stubborn refusal to accept early retirement.</p>
<p>To  date, the government owned papers have yet to raise or answer questions  regarding the virtual disappearance of the police force. On the one  hand, their editorials paint the soon to be deposed president as the  only man on the planet who can insure internal security and prevent  chaos. On the other hand, they can’t explain where or why his police  vanished, who gave the orders to disband them or why Egypt even needs a  police force. For over a week, the people have managed quite nicely  without them and crime stats are probably at an all time low. Thanks to  the citizen security committees that were set up to confront the  criminal elements, no burglar in his right mind would brave the gauntlet  of checkpoints set up on virtually every block. It’s always been safe  to walk Cairo’s streets. It’s even safer now. After we toss the dictator  out, the costs of Mubarak’s bloated security forces obviously needs to  be addressed.</p>
<p>Another part of the propaganda campaign is to  portray the uprising as an organized plot by the Muslim Brotherhood. The  truth is that the uprising was spontaneous and unorganized. While the  fuse was lit by a group of liberal-minded internet-savvy activists, it  has evolved into a nationalist movement dominated by citizens  unaffiliated with any group or party. They have all rallied around a  single cause &#8211; bringing down the regime. All you have to do is walk  around Tahrir Square and read the home-made signs. “The people demand  the removal of the regime,” “He Goes &#8211; We Stay”  “Go already, Have some  self-respect, I’m tired of holding up this sign.” What you won’t find  are “Death to America” signs or anyone burning an American flag. When  the demonstrators in Tahrir square got the badly translated message that  Obama had asked Mubarak to step down &#8211; they were ecstatic. Of course,  Obama had done nothing of the sort. It’s now clear that the United  States has decided to throw its weight behind Mubarak’s regime. With or  without Mubarak, America wants a compliant dictator to rule over Egypt.</p>
<p>If  history repeats itself in Egypt, it will lead to a new polity in the  Turkish mold not a replay of the Iranian Revolution. Unfortunately,  Hillary and Obama have apparently fallen victim to the canard that this  uprising will lead to a power grab by mullahs. Egypt doesn’t have  mullahs and Egyptians don’t do theocracy. Win or lose, the American  betrayal of the Egyptian revolt against tyranny will not be soon  forgotten.</p>
<p>Another bit of slander against the young rebels is  that they are agents of chaos. Nothing could be further from the truth.  It wasn’t the rebels who resorted to violence &#8211; it was Mubarak’s goons.  The rebels didn’t throw open the prison gates &#8211; that was a chore left to  Mubarak’s security forces who then abandoned their stations and  betrayed their duty to maintain law and order. Had the regime allowed  peaceful demonstrations, the tourists in Sharm, Luxor and Hurghada would  have stayed put.</p>
<p>It wasn’t the rebels who turned off the  internet and cell phones. Again, that was Mubarak. It wasn’t the rebels  who enforced the curfew that paralyzed economic activity; that was  Mubarak. To extend his thirty year dictatorship, the strongman canceled  train service, blocked highway travel, closed the banks and brought the  country to a virtual standstill. So aside from being a ruthless  dictator, the man is an economic arsonist.</p>
<p>The last time Mubarak  bothered to speak to his subjects was last Tuesday night. To say that he  has a tin ear would be the understatement of the year. He’s always  treated Egyptians with utter disdain and he’s most likely in a vengeful  mood. If he prevails, Egyptians will pay dearly for daring to rise up  against his regime.</p>
<p>There is really only one story here and it  is ever so uncomplicated. This is an uprising against an octogenarian  dictator who could have done us all a favor by retiring two decades ago.  After he goes, the remaining 84 million Egyptians can sort things out  among themselves. Everything else is fiction.</p>
<p>Keep the faith &#8211; freedom is being born.</p>
<p><em>&#8211;  Ahmed Amr is an Egyptian-American and the former editor of  Nilemedia.com. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.</em></td>
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<p><a href="http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16625">The Egyptian Uprising: Facts and Fiction</a>.</p>
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