Articles and Pictures Commenting on Mubarak's Overthrow - February 11, 2011

All Egypt is Free! (Child on Tank), Cairo, Egypt, January 29, 2011. Photo: 3arabawy - صَحـَـفي مِصـْـري Hossam el-Hamalawy, creative commons BY-NC-SA, Jan 25 Intifada.

Many sites are featuring instant analyses of the past few days dramatic, almost entirely nonviolent overthrow of Mubarak. This post mostly links to insightful coverage on other blogs, interspersed with some of the wonderful photos of the Egyptian photographer, Hossam el-Hamalawy. Whether Mubarak's regime has been overthrown is of course to soon to say. If the emergency decress isn't lifted soon and politicial space opened up for all contenders, this will have been just phase one.

This was a victory against violent repression and militarism everywhere, yes, and against terrorism, sure. See Cynthia Boaz's post, Why Egypt's Nonviolent Victory is a Win for Us All. But this victory against terrorism was foremost a victory against state terrorism, especially the state terrorism of the torturers in the Egyptian regime (including the new Vice President) and their torturing allies in the US government, who used the Egyptians to torture people for the CIA. It's both thrilling and sickening to hear Obama invoking and trying to coopt the legacy of nonviolent struggles, even as the US government was consistently behind the curve of this nonviolent insurrection and just a few days ago was championing the Vice President as Egypt's new leader. See also Stephen Zunes' article on Egypt's uprising in the context of the dynamics of nonviolent insurrections, "Why Egypt Will Not Turn Into Another Iran," from Foreign Policy in Focus.

No to Mubarak: US Puppet (On Kentucky Fried Chicken Sign), Cairo, Egypt, January 29, 2011. Photo: Hossam el-Hamalawy, creative commons BY-NC-SA

Two of the most historically and sociologically insightful pieces I've read in the past few days come from Paul Amar, a professor at UCSB, in his analysis of "Why Egypt's Progressives Win," from Al Jazeera English, and "Why Mubarak is Out," from Jaddaliya.

We are Free! Cairo, Egypt, January 30, 2011. Photo: 3arabawy - صَحـَـفي مِصـْـري Hossam el-Hamalawy, creative commons BY-NC-SA

Mark Engler analyzes the planning necessary to organize nonviolent insurrections along these lines, in his post on Dissent, "Organizing the Egyptian Rebellion."

Turn on internet, NOW!, Cairo, Egypt, February 1, 2011. Photo: 3arabawy - صَحـَـفي مِصـْـري Hossam el-Hamalawy, creative commons BY-NC-SA

Nadine Naber focuses on the role of Egyptian women and the importance of solidarity feminism in her article, "Imperial Feminism, Islamophobia, and the Egyptian Revolution," also from Jaddaliya.

University professors organized a march from Mayal, in Giza, to Tahrir Square in solidarity with the revolution, Cairo, Egypt, February 8, 2011, Photo: 3arabawy - صَحـَـفي مِصـْـري Hossam el-Hamalawy, creative commons BY-NC-SA.

Finally (for now), Ethan Zuckerman from Global Voices analyzes media coverage of the insurrections in Tunisia, Egypt, and Gabon. What's that you say, Gabon? You hadn't heard? That's Zuckerman's point, in his article, "Tunisia, Egypt, Gabon: Our Responsibility to Witness."

Protest in Meyo-Kyé, a small city in northern Gabon, 2 February, 2011. The banner reads: “In Tunisia, Ben Ali left. In Gabon, Ali Ben out.” from Global Voices coverage of Gabon