Mubarak Sends Disrupting Camel-Jockeys

Ghazwit Uhud: Down with you infidels!

Around two thirty pm, I received a text from my mother, who texts in both languages: سلمات هجموا البلطجية, the thugs came out. My initial reaction was, Shit. I was in class, and still had an hour left. Mubarak's speech last night was fatuous at best. But it was also ominous. I had a feeling that there was going to be some bloodshed tomorrow, no matter on what scale it was on. After millions of people protesting peacefully with only verbal vitriol aimed at the regime, Mubarak's "I will die on Egypt's soil" rah-rah foreshadowed that events would unfold differently the next day. I was itching to get back home. The university has been completely apathetic to the ongoing changes in Egypt ever since the first Day of Anger. You can't even find students discussing the situation in either surreptitious or enthusiastic groups. The Palestinian Authority backed television (it seems incongruous to say "state" television) has been pretty quiet too, bringing silly soap operas instead of news coverage. I've been coming straight home after classes since last week or so, plopping myself down in front of Al Jazeera, absorbing the inflamed masses with exhilaration, with my laptop on my knees. This position would be kept for hours. I don't think I've opened a book since, because James Joyce and Robert Burns are so trivial, so extraneous.

One shouldn't call those pro-Mubarak supporters demonstrators. They came with one mission and that was to disrupt the peaceful protests, to incite fear and acts of violence, and to disperse the protesters away from Tahrir square. They're to be called thugs, or baltagia in Arabic. The West Bank has its own fair share of thuggery too. Beefy jerks with one track minds who when given the green light, know no mercy whether their victims be women and children or the elderly. It's obvious, from the tactics used, that they were both trained and supplied by the same system-thank you Uncle Sam. In Egypt, there are rumors that these pro-Mubarak supporters were bribed, and that shouldn't surprise anyone. One old lady, shriveled and dressed in black, shouted "Long Live Mubarak!" displaying her one yellow tooth. People like her, conspicuous by their tattered shoes-if they had any- and ragged clothing, most likely came from the Ashwa'iyat areas in Cairo, the most destitute neighborhoods in the country, where those lucky to have houses are furnished with corrugated tin roofs. Seventeen dollars must have felt like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow for them.

I have no idea who Mubarak is trying to fool. For the first time in Egypt's history, there is a true people's revolution going on. They want the tyrant OUT, and they want a democratic government chosen by the people, for the people. The US can learn a thing or two about this concentrated people power. And that's the beautiful thing about it all, the revolution is comprised from human beings from all walks of life who want to overthrow the despotic system and create a new constitution, a new government that best serves their interests. No more hogging up of power, no to hereditary rule, and no to foreign dabbling. The protests have not witnessed any burning of Israeli or USA flags. Islamists (what a stupid made up word) are not pulling the strings here. A future democratic Egypt has no reason to war with Israel. It might give the Israelis an incentive to war with them, but Israel's known for its barbaric distortions of peace. The siege on Gaza will no longer be, but wait--weapons are being smuggled in! Bibi has thrown his weight behind Mubarak, and small wonder since the Nazi ideologue is apparent here: The brutal repressive and oppressive tyranny over 80 million people in order to secure the lives of the 6 million Israeli Jews, because they're better than everyone else. That the 80 million should even dare to think of protesting is unthinkable, unwanted. That protests have actually gone on in full force is disastrous. The Israeli government has always been the Israelis' worst enemy. They resort to fear-mongering tactics instead of promoting genuine peace with the first neighboring Arab country to recognize its existence.

Back to the thugs aka the secret popo. They came in droves, riding Lawrence of Arabia style on camels and horses, armed with machetes and sticks and knives, yelling out their cries of undying loyalty to Mubarak. They set buildings on fire, and climbed up on the roofs to throw petrol bombs and Molotov cocktails down onto the crowd. Close fighting took place between the thugs and protesters, rocks were raining down. They caused mayhem and chaos, which is Mubarak's way of saying, "I am the stabilizing force. Without me, chaos is only the beginning." No one is falling for that. He needs to change his strategies. Obama needs to come up with new ones.

Protesters have seized police ID's from some of those thugs and presented them to cameras, for the whole world to see. Hundreds are reported wounded, with the make shift clinics around Tahrir square overwhelmed. I'm not sure how many people died, the official number isn't out yet. The peaceful, carnival like atmosphere changed into a war zone for a few hours today. And all of this just to buy Mubarak some time to properly "transition" power to a government that will agree and abide to the US's demands and policies. al Baradei who? I don't trust him at all. He seems like another US puppet waiting in the wings. The opposition groups have already met and agreed to a coalition government.

I don't think I've necessarily said anything new here. Powerful images are seared in my mind, particularly the one with Egyptians wrapped in white burial shrouds, symbolizing their willingness to die for freedom. The chants of the peaceful crowd are tattooed to my brain, yearning to yell them out outside my home. But I can't even do that, thanks to the sulta. Before I launch into the usual harangue about that idiotic failure, enjoy these links.

More from Ahmed Moor about today's events.

Freakin amazing pictures. Here's a teaser:

Palestinian poet Tamim al Barghouthi

Don't you ever make those mistakes...ever!

Twitter Revolution? Oh you fools. Great Interview.

Reaction from Gaza youth.

It is not the most amazing video on the internet, but it comes close.

Robert Fisk on the Million(s!) People March

Seems like Hosni Mubarak is determined to leave Egypt humiliated. Today marked the point where it was too late for him to make a gracious humble exit.