Democracy: A Work in Progress | The New Everyday

There is one thing which in my experience all those involved in the Occupation sign up to, and that is democracy. If there is to be one positive goal which unities the Occupy movement, it must be the desire to bring about true democracy: rule by the people rather than the powerful. Continue reading…

Tunisia arrests young rapper after online protest song | Nawaat de Tunisie – Tunisia

Anis Mrabti, (aka Volcanis le Roi), a 27-year-old Tunisian Rapper has been arrested on Wednesday january 25th, 2012 around 2 pm at his home in El Mourouj neighborhood in Tunis. According to his parents, 6 allegedly plain-clothes police officers broke into the house without showing their police badges or any warrant and asked the young Anis, who was at that time behind his computer, if he was the rapper behind the song “Shay Ma Tbaddel” (Nothing has Changed). When he confirmed, they took him and confiscated his computer and MP3 players without giving any further details to Anis’ parents who were choked by this brutal arrest. Continue reading…

The second Egyptian revolution: millions of Egyptians have left their homes | openDemocracy

The renowned Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician, and psychiatrist wrote from the eye of the storm on November 25, 2011. This text is published in cooperation with the Norwegian weekly Ny Tid and it’s “Voices without borders” project. Read more…

Hackers take down Egyptian government websites | Siliconrepublic.com

Hackers took down a dozen Egyptian government websites in what appears to be an orchestrated distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

The presidential website and the bureau for tourism are among the sites that had been affected by the cyber attack.

The hacktivist group Anonymous has claimed responsibility for the attack on at least one Brazilian operations page, saying the attacks are in response to the treatment of protesters in Egypt. Read more…

Thousands of Women Mass in Major March in Cairo | NYTimes.com

Several thousand women demanding the end of military rule marched through downtown Cairo on Tuesday evening in an extraordinary expression of anger over images of soldiers beating, stripping and kicking female demonstrators in Tahrir Square. Read more…

The Protester – Person of the Year 2011 – TIME

“Massive and effective street protest” was a global oxymoron until — suddenly, shockingly — starting exactly a year ago, it became the defining trope of our times. And the protester once again became a maker of history. Read more…

Tunisia: Neo-Liberalism the Issue, Not Islam | Global Issues

On the verge of officially forming a coalition government to run the country and rewrite the nation’s pre-revolution constitution, Tunisia’s dominant, Islamist political party Ennahda has come under fire for its economic neo-liberalism, both from opponents and from coalition partners.

A major reason for Ennahda’s popularity is its history of resistance against the old dictatorship. Its supporters see it as both the party of Islam and the party of revolution and change. However, when it comes to issues concerning economics and international finance, it generally advocates continuing the generally neo-liberal policies of the former dictatorship. Read more…

BlueCoat: US technology surveilling Syrian citizens online | Take The Square

In the context of repression in the Middle East and North Africa, surveillance technology has played a key role in providing authoritarian regimes with the tools necessary to track citizens online. Among these companies, BlueCoat has proved to be the most efficient in helping the Syrian regime control every movement of Syrians on the Internet. Read more…

Solidarity letter from Cairo | openDemocracy

A letter of solidarity to those in the United States currently participating in the ‘occupy’ protests. Citing a common struggle, the letter calls for continued occupations from a global youth that have grown weary with the ‘current order of things.’ Read more…

From Tahrir to Wall Street: Egyptian Revolutionary Asmaa Mahfouz Speaks at Occupy Wall Street | Democracy Now!

Occupy Wall Street received a surprise visit Monday from several leading Egyptian activists, including 26-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz. She is one of the founders of the April 6 Youth Movement, which is the group credited with helping to organize the January 25 protests that eventually toppled the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak. Prior to the protest in January, Mahfouz recorded a YouTube video urging people to fill Tahrir Square. Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman spoke to her at Occupy Wall Street. Watch/read more…