Tag: Activism

Campaign of civil resistance in Lebanon

Have received this:

Lebanon: An Open Country for Civil Resistance Beirut August 7, 2006

On August 12, at 7 am, Lebanese from throughout the country and international supporters who have come to Lebanon to express solidarity will gather in Martyr’s Square in Beirut to form a civilian convoy to the south of Lebanon. Hundreds of Lebanese and international civilians will express their solidarity with the inhabitants of the heavily destroyed south who have been bravely withstanding the assault of the Israeli military. This campaign is endorsed by more than 200 Lebanese and international organizations. This growing coalition of national and international non-governmental organizations hereby launches a campaign of civil resistance for the purpose of challenging the cruel and ruthless use of massive military force by Israel, the regional superpower, upon the people of Lebanon.

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A message from Shirin Ebadi

This is going around, from the well-known Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi:

There is a very important matter I would like to discuss with you. I conduct my human rights activities through the Defender of Human Rights Center (DHRC). I am the president of this center and we have three important responsibilities:

a. We report the violations of human rights that take place in Iran.

b. We defend political prisoners pro bono — about 70% of the political prisoners in Iran are clients of our center and we do not charge them for our services.

c. We support the families of these prisoners both financially — if they require financial aid — and spiritually.

This center is a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and has been registered there. It has also been awarded a human rights prize by the Human Rights National Commission in France. This center is very well known and credible in Iran. Two days ago the government of Iran announced that this center is illegal and provided we continue our activities, they shall arrest us. Of course me and the other members of the center do not intend to shut down the center and we shall continue our activities. However, there is a high possibility that that they will arrest us. The government’s action in this regard is illegal.

Therefore, I kindly request that you broadcast this message by all mean and gather spiritual support for our center. This center has been established and working for more than four years now. I believe this decision of the government has been triggered by my memoir being published. In any case, I am happy that my memoir has been published, for the truth must be told.

Many thanks,

Shirin Ebadi

Downtown under siege again…

I won’t be posting a report on today’s Kefaya pro-resistance demo, as I couldn’t go. But you can check some demo pix here.
Jano Charbel of dpa who attended the protest told me he was punched and beaten by batton-wielding CSF, who took his bag, and returned it later without his mobile phone nor the money that was in it. Others were also assaulted including blogger Alaa Seif who was beaten so much that his shirt was shredded, and activist Ahmad Droubi was beaten on the head, shoulders, and his eyeglasses were smashed by plainclothes thugs. Droubi told me shortly before the crackdown, he saw and overheard one of the plainclothes thugs eagerly asking a CSF Lt Colonel, “When are we going to get some action ya basha?” I was also told several female protestors were manhandled by the plainclothes thugs.
CSF attacking demonstrators in downtown Cairo
Al-Jazeera reported there were similar pro-resistance protests that took place in Tanta and Bani Suweif.
On another note, I won’t be blogging for the coming ten days at least, as I have some urgent personal errands I have to take care of.

See you soon…

Actors and Artists demonstrate for Lebanon today

The Actor’s Guild and the Artists’ Syndicate have called for a sit-in at the UN office in Cairo, today Monday, to protest the Qana massacre.
The actors and artists will assemble in front of the Guild, located in el-Bahr el-A3zam Street in Giza, at noon, and will move in buses and cars to Garden City, where the UN office is located.

Several actors and artists have joined the ranks of dissent since the launching of Kefaya, in addition to others who’ve known to come into the art scene from activism background. The most outspoken actor/activist has been Khaled el-Sawy, the star from the box office hit The Yaacoubian Building. He together with the novel author, Alaa el-Aswani, had helped launch Artists For Change last year, as one of Kefaya’s offshoots.

Pro-resistance protest in Talaat Harb

I uploaded pix of today’s protests here.
Will be posting a report soon…

UPDATE: Here’s the report….
I arrived in Talaat Harb Sq. few minutes after 7pm, and there were only 20 leftist activists standing in the square, with Palestinian and Lebanese flags, and no security presence.
Earlier in the day, there had been confusion about the protest’s location.
There was a demo and a prayer organized at the Press Syndicate, that had been agreed up on by different political groups, but with the news trickling early morning on the Qana massacre, others felt there had to be some street action, and I learned from activist sources there was something to happen in Talaat Harb Sq.
I wasn’t optimistic on my way to the demo. This space activists had in the “street,� in 2005 and up till March 2006, has been constantly under attack, and it’s just an “achievement� nowadays in itself to get few dozens to show up somewhere outside the “liberated zone� called Press Syndicate stairs.

Continue reading Pro-resistance protest in Talaat Harb

Parliamentarians demonstrate against Israel

More than a 100 (independent and opposition) Members of Parliament marched in the streets today to protest the Israeli military operations in Lebanon, and demanded the expulsion of the Israeli and US ambassadors to Egypt. The MPs left the parliament shortly after noon, chanting “We are all with the resistance,” and marched towards the US embassy before they were stopped by security forces in Simon Bolivar Square.

According to someone present in the scene, none of the MPs belonged to Mubarak’s National Democratic Party. When the independent and opposition MPs took the streets, they were joined by another 200 activists and ordinary citizens. (Correction: Nora reports two NDP MPs took part)
When barred, the MPs decided to head towards the Arab League, and met with Amr Moussa, the League’s secretary general, to demand stronger action by the Arab states, and the expulsion of the Israeli and US ambassadors.

You can find pix of the demo here.

State Security arrests 4 Kefaya activists in Port Said

Four Kefaya activists have been detained by State Security Police in the northern city of Port Said last night, Kefaya’s website reported. The four were picked up after they took part in a march to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the nationalization of the Suez Canal.

The detainees are: Youth for Change coordinator Mohamed Hegazi, Fathi Farid, and two other activsts whose names were not available.

UPDATE: The four activists spent the night in a police station, and were referred to a prosecutor on the following day, Kefaya’s website reports. Prosecutor Khaled el-Shami interrogated them on charges of “disturbing public order,” and then ordered their release.