"Liberation Square" = People Power 101, your reflections please.

What are your reflections on what we are witnessing today in Egypt?

If the people are in the streets, they shut down a country, hence
the political powers have no option except to yield to the demands
or suppress them violently with force, as happened in China.

It is that simple. What is difficult is people taking to the streets.
What we see today is social networks enabling person-to-persons communications.
The real revolution may well be people having access to broadcasting on social media.

Egypt shut down the Internet for a reason, the people power it represents.
China has blocked the word "Egypt" on their tweeter service for a reason,
they understand the power of social communications today.

Are you glued to the live feed from "Liberation Square" on Al Jazeera?
http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Is "Liberation Square" a cyberspace?
How important is Al Jazeera in this revolution?
What if we only had M$M coverage of these events?
State television in Egypt is showing a few hundred pro-Mubarak protesters,
and not covering the real,m historical events the world sees.
How does media control suppress People power?

On edit: I realize "Liberation Square" sounds like an oxymoron :rofl:

if everyone had an xbox and cable tv..

at all the people who don't have clue one that something significant is happening in the world today?

important this knowledge is to overcome the fear that media was instilling in the people regarding gathering.

A giant projection screen is now being erected in the square and they are broadcasting Al Jazeera.

Some people have been there for days, cut off from media.

People are joking Mubarak cannot leave until he finds a country willing to let him in!

Even though the Egyptian govt. has tried to supress Al Jazeera's reporting by shutting their Cairo television bureau, you can see we still have streaming live feed via the internet. Likewise, the shutdown of social network media within Egypt has spawned work-arounds and alternative routes to log on to keep Tweeting and emailing news from the scenes in Egypt.

In other words, the attempts at repression of communications was somewhat futile. Kind of like the empty gestures of having planes/helicopters buzz the crowds. The crowds simply jeer them and increase their furor when that happens. They have televisions in the square tuned into state news. They are hoping to witness a historic change on their national channels. They are dismissive of reports of Mubarek supporters sighted on the streets, or that the government is gaining any traction in these events. The crowds are not intimidated.

Another observation, is that usually I log in to the local news sites that are fed US news via AP, etc., and have noticed the glaring bias in that when there are 2+ million gathering, it is reported as 250K. When the crowds reject the futile flyover intimdation gestures, the AP reports that the crowds were intimidated by it.

They never fail to mention the Muslim Brotherhood and portray that as the most feared outcome of the protests, even though it has been well-established that they have thus far taken a backseat and have expressed support for ElBaradei as their putative leader and have come out in support of the Egyptian military. The crowds are united in supporting the military, now being reported the irony of such support in light of Mubarek still clinging to power.

Likewise, many other subtle propagandistic differences exist within the US reporting.

What they cannot supress is the message of the crowds. That is still, Mubarek must step down. AlJazeera now reporting on the change within Egypt on the reporting. They claim there is a subtle change to the side of the crowds. This is huge as the national media is STILL under government control. The facts that things are still somewhat orderly throughout all this upheaval is beginning to sink into the national psyche of the people of Egypt. They can do this!

Those are my current reflections.


Dear SOS Clinton and President Obama:


Thanks for 30 years of repression

The People of Egypt


rdb

at least the implications are. They are not only finally acknowledging the protests, but they are reporting that the protest is peaceful. That is the biggest change, in my view, allaying fear instead of promulgating it. Perhaps they realize who is manning the barricades protecting their stations, or those protecting them have gained sway over the broadcasters more so than the top echelon of the once-command, Mubarak.

He will leave, We won't leave.

Mubarek hanging in effigy around the square, fires lit for the long night, Mubarek and his generals are watching this live feed.

A real standoff, a contest of wills. There will soon be no exit for him except a bad one. All of the governemnt's responses to the upheaval have been met with even more protestors turning out. In direct defiance the crowd is now chanting:

"Illegitimate"

Gotta love it.


rdb

they have to realize that protester demands must be met or the country can not run.
The only other alternative is violence against the people. That will not happen because
the military will not undertake such orders. So, it is over for Mubarak's regime.
Looks like the new cabinet will get a one week pay check!