Egyptian Revolution 2.0?

[pampango]

http://www.juancole.com/2011/07/egyptian-revolution-2-0.html

Thousands of protesters came back to Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday. Despite the sometimes dark depictions of continuing unrest in the Western press, from all accounts the atmosphere was light and carnivalesque.

Crowds chanted, “No parties, no Muslim Brotherhood! The Egyptian people are in the square!” (La ahzab, la Ikhwan! Al-Sha’b al-Misri fi al-Maydan!” according to al-Ahram. That is, these activists were worried about the revolution being coopted by the parties and fundamentalists active before January.

Sympathy demonstrations were held in Alexandria, Suez, Sohag Kafr Shaikh and Aswan, according to al-Ahram–i.e. up and down the Nile Valley.

The huge demonstrations show that the sentiments and spirit that animated the revolution last winter against Hosni Mubarak yet survive, and now challenge the Tantawi caretaker government. If you compare this moment to the changes in Tunisia, it is clear that the Tunisia elite is further ahead than the Egyptian one. They brought in a prime minister who is widely respected and was not close to the old regime and have already tried the former dictator, Zine El Dine Bin Ali, and convicted him in absentia. Similar processes in Egypt are taking so long that many Egyptians are infuriated with the transitional government in a way that most Tunisians are not.

In Egypt, the trade unions are essential actors and potential partners for the other revolutionaries.

[blindpig]

1. The part played by labor in rev 1.0 was downplayed in the press

This revolution has but begun.

k&r