Two-Hour Special Video on Egypt from DN!

NB: There's a reference for Feb. 7th reports at the end of this post.

www.democracynow.org

That provides a full description of the two-hour piece and there is a two-part Web exclusive interview of Feb. 2nd with Noam Chomsky (2 clips), as well as a "Video Report on the Battle for Tahrir: An Inside Look at How Pro-Democracy Activists Reclaimed Tahrir Square After Attacks by Mubarak Forces" of Feb. 4th that's very good. I'm watching the latter report video right now and it's of generous length and good reporting.

I'll quote some information for each of the three videos and provide the direct links.

"Uprising in Egypt: A Two-Hour Special on the Revolt Against the U.S.-Backed Mubarak Regime"

Feb. 5, 2011

www.democracynow.org/2011/2/5/uprising_in_egypt_a_two_hour

In a special Saturday edition, Democracy Now! airs a two-hour broadcast. Highlights include:

# Live Reports from Cairo with Democracy Now! senior producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Democracy Now! correspondent Anjali Kamat.

# Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif on how life in Tahrir Square "is truly democracy in action."

# Columbia professor Rashid Khalidi on the impact of the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings on the Middle East.

# Mohamed Abdel Dayem of the Committee to Protect Journalists on the continued attacks on journalists by supporters of the Mubarak regime.

# Khaled Fahmy, professor at the American University in Cairo, on reports that Hosni Mubarak has resigned as head of the ruling NDP party.

# University of California-Santa Barbara professor Paul Amar on the military’s role in a post-Mubarak Egypt.

# Stanford Professor Joel Beinin on the Egyptian labor movement and the historical roots of the Jan. 25 uprising.

# Egyptian American activist Mostafa Omar on the role of Egyptian youth in the protests.

# And we play the "video that started the revolution"–Asmaa Mahfouz’s Jan. 18th message calling for protests in Tahrir Square on Jan. 25.

[includes rush transcript–partial]

(snip)

Paul Amar, Professor of Global & International Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara

Joel Beinin, Professor of Middle East History, Stanford University

Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists

Khaled Fahmy, Professor and Chair of the Department of History, American University in Cairo

Anjali Kamat, Correspondent, Democracy Now!
Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies in the Department of History, Columbia University

Sharif Abdel Khouddous, Senior Producer, Democracy Now!

Mostafa Omar, Egyptian-American activist and writer

"Noam Chomsky: “This is the Most Remarkable Regional Uprising that I Can Remember”" (Part 1 of 2, approx. 13 minutes)

Feb. 2, 2011

www.democracynow.org/2011/2/2/noam_chomsky_this_is_the_most

In recent weeks, popular uprisings in the Arab world have led to the ouster of Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the imminent end of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime, a new Jordanian government, and a pledge by Yemen’s longtime dictator to leave office at the end of his term. We speak to MIT Professor Noam Chomsky about what this means for the future of the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy in the region. When asked about President Obama’s remarks last night on Mubarak, Chomsky said: "Obama very carefully didn’t say anything... He’s doing what U.S. leaders regularly do. As I said, there is a playbook: whenever a favored dictator is in trouble, try to sustain him, hold on; if at some point it becomes impossible, switch sides." We continued the interview with Chomsky for 50 minutes after the live show. [includes rush transcript]

Part 2

www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/2/2/part_2_noam_chomsky_this_is_the_most_...

"Video Report on the Battle for Tahrir: An Inside Look at How Pro-Democracy Activists Reclaimed Tahrir Square After Attacks by Mubarak Forces" (approx. 15 minutes)

Feb. 4, 2011

www.democracynow.org/2011/2/4/video_report_on_the_battle_for

On Thursday, pro-democracy activists ventured back to Tahrir Square, to reclaim the downtown Cairo public space, which had become a battleground in the effort to oust President Hosni Mubarak. Democracy Now! producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Hany Massoud walked through the streets, talking with Cairo residents — many who were injured from the attacks the day before — and witnessed the efforts to clean up the trash and rock-filled square while also organizing a system of grassroots resistance and community care programs to defend the square from pro-Mubarak forces who threatened to return. [includes rush transcript]

(snip)

Sharif Abdel Kouddous, senior producer, Democracy Now!

Hany Massoud, TV producer, Democracy Now!

Definitely check DN! I just did again, now, and there are Feb. 7th updates, reports anyway.

Below are two examples of the Feb. 7th reports that I'm almost finished listening to. The first one is very good and is favorable for the work or purpose of Wikileaks, and it also tells us how uninformed Egyptians generally were about fascist Omar Suleiman, as well as reporting that the Egyptian army has been acting against journalists.

"Protests Demanding Mubarak to Resign Grow Stronger, Despite Some Government Concessions" (approx. 24 minutes)

www.democracynow.org/2011/2/7/protests_demanding_mubarak_to_resign_grow

Newly appointed Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman held talks on Sunday with opposition groups in Cairo in an attempt to stem the anti-government protests that continue across the country. Suleiman agreed to several major concessions, including ending the country’s decades-old emergency laws (he did not say when), allowing a free press (even as another Al Jazeera reporter was arrested), and creating a constitutional reform committee. The top demand of demonstrators--the immediate removal of President Hosni Mubarak from power--was not addressed. Protests continue today across Egypt, and tens of thousands of demonstrators have held their ground in Tahrir Square amidst a heavy military presence. To further explain these developments, we are joined by Democracy Now! senior producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Hossam Bahgat, an Egyptian human rights activist live from Cairo. [includes rush transcript]

(snip)

Guests:

Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Democracy Now! senior producer, who is reporting from Cairo, Egypt.

Hossam Bahgat, Egyptian human rights activist and the founder and executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

The Web Exclusive with Noam Chomsky should be complementary to the above Feb. 7th report; based on the DN! description of the interview with him anyway. And that interview should be complementary with respect to articles posted since this morning here, the articles about Palestinians joining in support of the Egyptians, f.e.

The following Feb. 7th report briefly interviews, among others, two European, one is of Denmark anyway, journalists and they cause me to question their authenticity, but the one of Denmark clearly does when saying that he understands and agrees with some of the so-called grievances of pro-Mubarak people there. The other journalist seems too much like elitist in character, but the guy from Denmark strikes me as clearly being a quack. He says he was beaten by the pro-Mubarak counter-protesters or actors when trying to interview or report about them, but there's clearly no evidence that he was harmed by anyone. He isn't an authentic, true, honest journalist. He's a tragic clown. Anyone who thinks that pro-Mubarak actors have any legitimate grievances is sick or retarded.

"Media Crackdown: Democracy Now!’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous Reports from Tahrir Square on the Systematic Targeting of Journalists in Egypt" (approx. 5 minutes)

www.democracynow.org/2011/2/7/media_crackdown_democracy_now_s_sharif

The following non-Egyptian, European I guess, journalist sounds certainly honest, though doesn't mention what his political views are. He just describes having been with another journalist on January 25th around 150m away from the nearest protesters and standing on a bridge, where they were shot at with a shotgun or shotguns.

"Photojournalist Shot by Egyptian Police Recounts Experience" (1:33, audio)

www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/2/7/photojournalist_shot_by_egyptian_poli...

And here's an apparently special piece from Feb. 7th related to Washington and financial elite empire.

""The Empire’s Bagman:" Obama Egypt Envoy Frank Wisner Says Mubarak Should Stay" (approx. 12 minutes)

www.democracynow.org/2011/2/7/the_empires_bagman_us_ambassador_frank

The official U.S. response to events unfolding in Egypt remains mixed. Over the weekend, the Obama administration distanced itself from U.S. “crisis envoy” to Egypt Frank Wisner after he issued a statement in support of President Hosni Mubarak. Revealing a possible conflict of interest, British journalist Robert Fisk recently reported Wisner works for the law firm Patton Boggs, which openly boasts that it advises "the Egyptian military, the Egyptian Economic Development Agency, and has handled arbitrations and litigation on the [Mubarak] government’s behalf in Europe and the U.S." We are joined by Trinity College Professor Vijay Prashad, who has written about Wisner’s history with the U.S. Department of State and his close relationship with Mubarak. [includes rush transcript]

(snip)

Guest:

Vijay Prashad, Vijay Prashad is a professor of international studies at Trinity College. His most recent book is The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World.

Viva Washington's and Wall Street's definition of democracy, top and trickle down? I don't think so.

Frank Wisner should be committed to an insanity asylum. I was going to say insane asylum, but then that could be understood as meaning that the asylum, in whole, or administratively anyway, is insane. No, he needs to be committed to a place where insane people are placed in order to keep society safe, safer anyway