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Title: Code Pink(o)'s Medea Benjamin reports from Cairo's Tahrir Square: "It turned ..into a war zone"
Source:
San Fransicko Chronicle
URL Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs ... election/detail?entry_id=82287
Published: Feb 3, 2011
Author: Carla Marinucci
Post Date: 2011-02-03 21:32:52 by Hondo68
Keywords: Code Pink in Cairo, keep pressuring the U.S., Bay Area progessive activist
Views: 3397
Comments: 5
Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin Wednesday headed up a dozen Code Pink banner-bearing activists in Cairo's Tahrir Square -- a scene she said descended into a bloody "war zone" as "government thugs" battled pro-democracy demonstrators. But Benjamin told us by cell phone just minutes also that while the government of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak government has now signalled it will "go down kicking and screaming,'' pro-democracy protesters are fully determined and "ready to die here." We caught Benjamin just after midnight Egyptian time as she retreated from the embattled square in Cairo -- in a country where Internet coverage is just returning after days of blackout. Benjamin, a longtime Bay Area progessive activist, has been in the region since Monday with Code Pink and said the lack of Internet connection has been frustrating. But she noted it couldn't stop her and the Code Pinkers who took to the square Wednesday, parading a large banner in both Engligh and Arabic, reading: "The World Says It's Time For Mubarak to Go." Medea Benjamin in Cairo The reaction from Egyptians, she reported, was both heart-breaking and uplifting. "They cheered and cried, and they were so excited to see it,'' she said. "They said they were so cut off from the world, they didn't know what the media was saying. So to see that kind of solidarity was important." Benjamin told us events in Cairo over the last 24 hours have been eye-opening and frightening -- but she said that it's clear the youth-driven movement to end the reign of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak is energized, and determined to succeed. You can see photos of her and Code Pink in Cairo today here. And here's her account: "I just walked out of the square minutes ago....and what I saw today was a beautiful gathering of people from all over Egypt into Tahrir Square...Everyone was helping each other and proud for the first time." "Today it turned very ugly with government thugs who came armed with rocks and sticks; they're charging in and they created chaos,'' she told us. "We were running down the street where our hotel is, and it was like war zone. We saw molotov cocktails, and government people were grabbing any construction materials that were around, and...throwing things off the roof." "There are so many people wounded and they were so brave. They say they won't leave and they're ready to die here. It's very serious, and very ugly...the government is showing it's willing to go down kicking and screaming.'' Benjamin's message to Americans watching the fledgling pro-democracy Egyptian political movement back home on TV: "We're telling them to keep pressuring the U.S. government. Obama is moving in a better and better direction. We should be cutting off all aide to this government. We should be saying that it is government people who started the violence...and cutting off funds would send a huge message."
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
#1. To: hondo68 (#0)
Mubarak will probably stepdown fully soon,....with Sulieman opening the door for Muslim Brotherhood to have more seats in some Sulieman/Military goob which over times becomes more Islamic.
Endorsement by Code Pinko is usually the kiss of death. Mubarak forces may rally and behead them. Let's hope for the best.
Good place for that box to be....maybe she'll catch a round.
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Egypts relationship with Israel can now be used as the hero theme where Egypt slaps Israel down and overturns aspects ofthe former peace process.
Egypt moving armored divisions into Sinai.
The Egyptian street would be happy with that,...and it would be seen as payback to America aswell.
#2. To: Parrot with speed dial (#1)
(Edited)
#3. To: hondo68 (#2)
Medea Benjamin in Cairo
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