Unrest & Egyptian Treasure: Protestors Guard Towns!

-DR. ABDUL RUFF

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With Egypt’s president Mubarak refusing to step down, the protesters have also intensified their struggle until they achieve their prime objective of removing him from power. Mubarak has appointed a Vice president and Premier for the first time in 30 years of his misrule. But people want Mubarak to quit and go away.

The Mideast region’s most populous Arab nation, Egypt, saw a massive uprising against President Hosni Mubarak that finally broke the people’s fear of his ruthless regime. Egypt’s rigged elections last November, combined with reports that Mubarak or his son might run again, helped break the regime’s facade of legitimacy. Egyptians finally connected Mubarak’s corrupt politics to high inflation and joblessness. And this volatile mix of bad economics and 30 years of political suppression only needed a spark. Protests give further hope for a huge shift among Arabs demonstrating that they need not put up with the corruption, poverty, and smothered liberties of the region’s autocrats.

The fact that these protests were led by huge numbers of young people – not the Muslim Brotherhood, not the Army, not the elite – possibly gives this nascent revolution the roots of legitimacy. No matter how events play out in coming days or weeks, Egyptians now realize they only had to shed their fears – as Tunisians did this month in ousting a dictator – and stand together for clean, representative government and a better way of life. The Arab world, once dominated by socialism and nationalism, may have turned a corner toward the truly Islamic, truly democratic ideals of the humanity.ONly future can assure us.

The breakouts added to the chaos engulfing the country as anti-government protests continue to demand the ouster of longtime (authoritarian) President Hosni Mubarak. Thousands of inmates escaped prisons across Egypt, including at least one jail that housed Muslim "militants" northwest of Cairo. The security officials said the prisoners escaped overnight from four jails after starting fires and clashing with guards. The inmates were helped by gangs of armed men who attacked the prisons, firing at guards in gun battles that lasted hours. Several inmates were killed and wounded during the escapes, but gave no specific figures.

Meanwhile, looting and arson continued overnight as the police totally disappeared from the streets of the capital and several major Egyptian cities. There has been no explanation for why the police have vanished. The army, meanwhile, is reinforcing its presence on the streets of Cairo, but entire neighborhoods remained without any troops two days after Mubarak called the army out on the streets to restore order. The vacuum left by the police has promoted residents to form neighborhood protection groups, armed with firearms, sticks and clubs to set up self-styled checkpoints and barricades to ward off looting gangs roaming Cairo and other cities. Looters had broken into Cairo's famed Egyptian Museum, damaging small artifacts before being caught and detained by army soldiers. The vandals did not manage to steal any of the museum's antiquities, and that the prized collection was now safe and under military guard.

Valuable treasure has been looted in Iraq by the occupying American terror forces and their local henchmen. With mass anti-government protests still roiling Egypt for days now and unleashing chaos on the streets, fears that looters could target other ancient treasures at sites across the country prompted the military to dispatch armored personnel carriers and troops to the Pyramids of Giza, the temple city of Luxor and other key archaeological monuments. The museum, which is home to the gold mask of King Tutankhamun that draws millions of tourists a year, also houses thousands of artifacts spanning the full sweep of Egypt's rich pharaonic history. If it is damaged through looting or fire, it would be a loss to all humankind. "It is the great repository of Egyptian art. Thomas Campbell, the director of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art said it is the treasure chest, the finest sculptures and treasures from literally 4,000 years of history. They're priceless. They're parts of the whole world heritage that can't be replaced.

The uprising the resultant tensed climate has encouraged them to plunge into plundering action. The prized King Tutankhamun exhibit had not been damaged and was safe. Before the army arrived, young Egyptians — some armed with truncheons grabbed off the police — created a human chain at the museum's front gate to prevent looters from making off with any of its priceless artifacts. Fears of looters have prompted authorities elsewhere to take precautions to secure antiquities at other sites. Rumors that attacks were planned against monuments prompted authorities to erect barriers and guard Karnak while tanks were positioned around Luxor's museum.

Anything can happen to a nation and people when crowds get out of control Anti-social elements and looters make maximum use of any troubled situation in any country. The museum is located near some of the most intense of the mass anti-government protests sweeping the capital, and Egyptian army commandoes secured the building and its grounds. The Egyptian Museum's collection is secure also from thieves; the greatest threat to the collection inside is posed by the torched ruling party headquarters building next door and if this building is destroyed, it will fall over the museum but fire trucks spray water on the still smoldering NDP headquarters.

It is revealing that the ongoing protests in Egypt are being driven by the April 6 youth movement, a group on Face book that has attracted mainly young and educated members opposed to Mubarak. The group has about 70,000 members and uses social networking sites to orchestrate protests and report on their activities. Reports suggest that USA offers secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising. Maybe so. But that should be the worry now but how to regulate the uprising so that people get what they desire and not what the Americans want. The US double speaks is not a state secret. US government has previously been a supporter of Mubarak’s regime; America was also offering support to pro-democracy activists in Egypt throughout 2008-2010, while publicly praising Mubarak as an important ally in the Middle East.

Only the future course of actions would determine the route the Mideast would take. The United States is not interested in democracy in this region or elsewhere. It advances its own interests globally and actively supports the actions fascist Israel, conveniently using a definition of democracy that says it is okay to oppress Arab citizens in countless ways, by denying them state services, building permits, equally funded schools and municipal services. And of course stealing land from those who are not citizens. The young Arab people believe in democracy but they also know that their enemy is the West, particularly the USA.

Oh, one fears entire free world is full of fascists. There are too many anti-Islamic terrorists occupying this space as the NATO terror syndicates led by the USA-UK terror twins occupying Muslim nations, killing the innocent Muslims m millions already have been slaughtered. These jokes still support state terrorism? There are over 60 terror nations under the NATO gang including democracies and terrocracies like India. Hopefully, the whole truth about Sept-11 as well as the turmoil in Arab world would come out sooner than later!

Jan 30, 2011