Harper to Canadians: “Some citizens matter, some don’t”

By Zidane Mohamed

Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-Canadian, remains in prison  

On June 23rd, the Egyptian high court sentenced three reporters for Al-Jazeera to 7 years in prison, advancing the ongoing campaign of censorship of journalists and activists by the current military dictatorship, which has the support of the United States and Israel. One of them is a Canadian-Egyptian journalist, Mohamed Fahmy, who was arrested in December in Cairo as he was covering the aftermath of the army's removal of Mohamed Morsi from the presidency in July 2013.

The Canadian government, which prides itself as a champion of human rights, should do its best to intervene in aiding its citizens from the crimes of military dictatorships. But after the Omar Khadr fiasco, and a decade of “war on terror” jingoism, they passed a pernicious bill that would legally absolve the Canadian government of any responsibility to intervene. Bill C-24 reiterates the Harper government’s commitment in continuing institutionalized racism, which discriminates against migrant peoples, who are often racialized. Bill C-24 gives the immigration minister expanded powers over citizenship rights, which include revoking the citizenship of dual-citizens who have “engaged in certain actions contrary to the national interest of Canada”.

Interview with a security certificate defendant

People's Voices' Saleh Waziruddin recently interviewed Mohammed Mahjoub, the "security certificate" detainee who was finally freed from having to wear a GPS bracelet. Mohammed Mahjoub, a refugee from Egypt, was arrested in 2000, without being charged with a crime or given access to evidence against him. Mahjoub has been on a speaking tour about his case after being released from having to wear a GPS. He claims he has found evidence that Canada has spent over $1 billion on all security certificate cases, and that CSIS had used criminal records of five people with his name in Egypt who were convicted of various crimes to confuse the justice system.

     Although cleared of any charges in Egypt, Mahjoub has been unable to find out why he was arrested in Canada, other than the possibility that another security certificate arrestee, unknown to him, may have mentioned his name in a phone call. His house arrest conditions were so onerous and invasive that he initially went back to prison on his own, and his wife divorced him in 2011 when he was going to be released back into house arrest. His defense committee's website is www.supportmahjoub.org/.

People's Voice: What would you say to someone who thinks what happened to you could never happen to them?

Mahjoub: I have never thought it will happen to me, but it happened.  It can happen to anybody here in Canada. My advice to them is: don't take everything granted forever. It happened to me today, it can happen to anyone else, especially minority people.


What have you found was most effective for the victories you've won in your struggle, such as being free from the GPS bracelet?
     The most thing effective in my case is speaking out, raising my voice, sharing my story with Canadians. Find other Canadians who have hope in their life to assist you.


What are things people in Canada can do to help win justice for you?

     They can do a lot of things. They can share the story in the internet, they can write to their MPs, they can share this information with human rights organizations. There are many, many things they can do, not only one thing. (They) can make events such as what happened today for instance here in St. Catharines.

What changed in your opinion about Canada after your experience?

     Again, the law is (supposed to) apply to every individual, whether they are citizen or non‑citizen. If someone commits a crime, he or she should face a fair trial, but in the security certificate cases there are no charges laid on me or any other security certificate individual. We didn't have a fair trial in the first place. We have to fight hard. Why there is (such a situation in) Canada? I am not angry, but I have to fight hard to clear my name. The individual who put me in this position, should be held accountable for what they did to me and my family as well.


Do you have advice to anyone facing a similar situation?

     My advice to them (is) to be patient, to fight through legal avenues, not do anything to make their case more miserable or more difficult. There are many ways to fight through the law, to hire a good lawyer to speak out, to have contacts with organizations (which) can raise your voice. They can share your story with other organizations - human rights groups, parliament, media.

Stay classy, Republicans!

Getty images

WFDY statement on the developments in Egypt

The recent developments in Egypt have attracted much attention from the progressive youth around
the world.

The insistence of the Egyptian youth on the continuation of their uprising against the prevailing regime of Mubarak and the new leadership of the Military council is a brilliant example on how the youth can continue the struggle until the full achievement of the demands rather than accepting middle solutions that were just a continuation of the previous policies. It is still the same regime,with the same oppressive policies and same connection and dependence on USA and countries of NATO. This is why the people continue their struggle against  the regime as well as against the reactionary forces of the Islamic political currents that prevail in Egypt now.

Solidarity Brigade Mission with the Egyptian Youth

As the Egyptian people and youth could achieve a great victory through their mass movement, they succeeded in ousting the former president Moubarak, who was a puppet of imperialism in the region. The brave people continue their fight right now to continue the process of change and have constitutional reforms that guarantee the fulfillment of the aims of the uprising.In this regard, WFDY organizes a solidarity brigade mission to Egypt, in cooperation with our member organization Union of Progressive Youth of Egypt from April 13-19, 2011.

The mission will include meetings and seminars in Cairo, visits to Alexandria and Suez which are 2 cities that played a role in the revolution, and also include a tour in the main places where the big events of the revolution occurred. Also international organizations as the World Peace Council and the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organization will be participating in this important activity.

The arrival should be on April 12 evening or April 13 morning, while the departure shall be on 18 evening or 19 morning.

This mission comes as a part of WFDY campaign in solidarity with the uprising of the Arab Youth which will be organized throughout this year.

Workers demand dissolution of state-run trade union federation

From Al Masry Al Youm.

Around 500 workers and labor activists congregated outside the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) on Monday to demand the federation’s dissolution. Protesters gathered at 4 PM and chanted slogans calling for the right to conduct peaceful labor strikes, the trial of ETUF leaders, and the right to establish independent unions.

"The federation is a den of thieves; the federation is a group of thugs," protesters chanted. Dozens attempted to storm and occupy the ETUF headquarters at around 5 PM. ETUF security responded by beating protesters out of the building, which led to rocks being thrown back and forth. ETUF employees and security began to hurl bottles, sticks and rocks from the floors above, injuring a number of protesters and journalists.

An army jeep drove up to the shattered gates of the ETUF headquarters, and a soldier and officer brandishing guns stepped out and pushed the opposing factions away from each other. Three ETUF employees involved in the melee were detained for questioning.

The officer called on three representatives from among the protesters to spell out their demands. Meanwhile, protesters chanted, "The people demand the removal of the federation," while others held up signs reading, "Put on trial those responsible for profiteering from privatization." The largest number of workers in attendance were those from the independent Union of Real Estate Tax Authority Employees (RETA Union.)

RETA Union President Kamal Abu Eita grabbed a megaphone and spelled out the demands. "We demand the dissolution of the federation. We call on general prosecutor to freeze the accounts of [ETUF President] Hussein Megawer and all other federation officials. We demand the right to establish independent trade unions and official recognition of these free unions."

Megawer and his finances are currently being investigated by the general prosecutor's office. The ETUF president has been prevented from leaving the country until these investigations are concluded.

On February 6, the independent Center for Trade Union and Workers' Services (CTUWS) filed a lawsuit against Megawer on charges of misappropriating funds and misrepresenting workers and unions. CTUWS Director Kamal Abbas told protesters outside the ETUF that "this Federation no longer represents Egypt's workers or unions." He demanded the swift investigation of Megawer's finances and those of other ETUF officials.

Abbas added: "On January 30, a new independent federation was established including the Unions of the Real Estate Tax Authority, the Egyptian Health Technologists' Syndicate, the independent Teachers' Syndicate, and the Pensioners' Syndicate. This is the only legitimate trade union federation in Egypt."

All of the aforementioned unions and syndicates were established over the course of the last two years, independent of the ETUF. Egypt's trade unions have been under state control since 1957. Since then, only two labor strikes have been authorized, while independent trade unions have been harassed and their activities obstructed. The federation has 24 general unions, 22 of which are presided over by members of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party.

The ETUF had planned to postpone its elections this year in orderto support the re-election of President Mubarak, and so as not to overlap with presidential elections slated for later this year.

Labor unrest grows after revolution

By Ben Hubbard and Tarek El-Tablawy /AP
February 15, 2011, 1:07 am
From The Daily News Egypt

CAIRO: Egypt's military rulers called for an end to strikes and protests Monday as thousands of state employees, from ambulance drivers to police and transport workers, demonstrated to demand better pay in a growing wave of labor unrest unleashed by the democracy uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak's regime.

The statement by the ruling military council that took power from Mubarak appeared to be a final warning to protest organizers in labor and professional unions before the army intervenes and imposes an outright ban on gatherings, strikes and sit-ins.

About 300 workers from different sectors and governorates demonstrated Monday in front of the Egyptian Trade Unions Federation (ETUF) building in Cairo. They said the federation board was illegitimate and thus wanted to secure its funds and documents.

They were attacked by men in the building who threw glass bottles and rocks at the protesters. Two soldiers from the military police arrive and arrested the men at the building who were seen with wounded faces.

The two soldiers didn’t disperse the demonstration but asked them to open the road for traffic. Protesters divided themselves into two groups to protest on either side of the road.

Soldiers cleared out almost all the remaining demonstrators from Cairo's Tahrir Square, the giant traffic circle that was turned into a protest camp headquarters for the 18-day revolt. During more than two weeks of round-the-clock demonstrations at the square, protesters set up tents, brought in blankets, operated medical clinics and festooned the entire plaza with giant banners demanding removal of the regime.

At the height of the uprising, hundreds of thousands packed the downtown crossroads.
Several huge trucks piled high with protesters' blankets left the square Tuesday. All the tents were gone, as were other signs of permanent camps. By early afternoon, a few dozen stalwarts remained, standing in one corner of the square and yelling for the release of political prisoners.

The remaining protesters say they won't leave until all those detained during the revolt are released.

Egypt's ambassador to the United States, Sameh Shoukry, said Mubarak, 82, was "possibly in somewhat of bad health," providing the first word about him since being ousted Friday.

Two Cairo newspapers said Mubarak was refusing to take medication, depressed and repeatedly passing out at his residence in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. There was no immediate confirmation of the reports.

The latest communiqué by the ruling military council was read on state television by a military spokesman. It said Egypt needed a quieter climate so the military can run the nation's affairs at this "critical stage" and eventually hand over the reins of power to an elected and civilian administration.

The statement also warned that strikes and protests hurt the country's security and economy and gave a chance to what it called "irresponsible parties" to commit "illegal acts." It did not elaborate.

Amid the efforts to build a new system, Egypt's upheaval has splintered into a host of smaller grievances, the inevitable outcome of emboldened citizens feeling free to speak up, most of them for the first time.

Outside the Nile-side TV and state radio building, hundreds of public transportation workers demonstrated to demand better pay. Several hundred protesters from the state Youth and Sports Organization also protested Monday with similar demands in Tahrir after the military had moved the long-term protesters out.

Across the Nile River in the Giza district, hundreds of ambulance drivers demonstrated, also to demand better pay and permanent jobs. They parked at least 70 ambulances on a roadside along the river, but did not block the main road.

In downtown Cairo, hundreds of police demonstrated for a second day for better pay. They also want to clear their reputation, further tarnished by the deadly clashes between protesters and security forces. Some carried portraits of policemen killed in the clashes.
"These are victims of the regime too," declared one placard.

"It's hard for us to go back to work because people hate us," said one protester, a captain who was among the demonstrators. "An official funeral must be held for our martyrs."

Several hundred unemployed archaeology graduates demonstrated outside the Supreme Council for Antiquities in the upscale district of Zamalek, demanding jobs.

Alaa Ashour, head of the country's national carrier, EgyptAir, was removed by the civil aviation minister after workers went on strike at Cairo International Airport. Ashour, also described by airport officials as Mubarak's pilot on international trips, was removed late Sunday after workers called for more perks and pay.

Even so, the protests continued Monday in other subsidiaries of EgyptAir's parent company, as well as workers at companies that provide support services to the airline.

Reflecting the continuing downturn in travel from Egypt, EgyptAir said it had organized only 31 international flights and 12 domestic flights for Monday. The carrier generally has about 145 scheduled flights per day.

The Central Bank of Egypt ordered banks across the country closed following a strike by employees of the National Bank, the largest state bank, and several other financial institutions. Tuesday is a national holiday in Egypt to mark the birth of Islam's 7th century Prophet Mohamed. The banks are scheduled to reopen Wednesday.

The stock market, however, will stay closed Wednesday and Thursday, the final weekday in Egypt. A previous announcement had said it would reopen Wednesday, ending a three-week closure that began after the market lost almost 17 percent of its value in two days of trading in late January.

The ruling military council that took over power from Mubarak on Friday has said that security and a return to normal are among its top priorities. It has urged Egyptians to return to work to save the economy after the 18 days of protests sent hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists fleeing in hurried evacuation flights — a major blow to the country's biggest economic sector.

Monday's protests came a day after the ruling military rulers took sweeping action to dismantle Mubarak's autocratic legacy, dissolving parliament, suspending the constitution and promising elections.

The wave of post-Mubarak strikes and protests spread to the community of refugees too.

Several thousand refugees from East African countries, including Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, gathered outside the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, on the outskirts of Cairo, demanding to be allowed to leave Egypt to resettle elsewhere. Several helmeted riot police officers blocked the entrance, as many in the crowd tried to get into the building. They banged on the gates and threatened to storm the building before they calmed down and representatives went inside to meet with UNHCR officials, who gave them assistance with their daily hardships. There were no clashes and the numbers dwindled to a few hundred by evening.

The refugees complained they have been stuck in Egypt for several years, some as long as a decade. They said the UN has made no effort to move them elsewhere, and that they live in difficult conditions in Egypt. The refugees said that with the country in turmoil, there is even greater urgency to move them.

–Associated Press correspondents Karin Laub and Sarah El Deeb and Daily News Egypt reporter Tamim Elyan contributed to this report.

THE REVOLUTIONARY REBELLION IN EGYPT

Reflections by Comrade Fidel

THE REVOLUTIONARY REBELLION IN EGYPT

Several days ago I said that Mubarak’s fate was sealed and that not even Obama was able to save him.

The world knows about what is happening in the Middle East. News spreads at mind-boggling speed. Politicians barely have enough time to read the dispatches arriving hour after hour. Everyone is aware of the importance of what is happening over there.

After 18 days of tough struggle, the Egyptian people achieved an important objective: overthrowing the main United States ally in the heart of the Arab nations. Mubarak was oppressing and pillaging his own people, he was an enemy to the Palestinians and an accomplice of Israel, the sixth nuclear power on the planet, associated with the war-mongering NATO group.

The Armed Forces of Egypt, under the command of Gamal Abdel Nasser, had thrown overboard a submissive King and created a Republic which, with the support of the USSR, defended its Homeland from the Franco-British and Israeli invasion of 1956 and preserved its ownership of the Suez Canal and the independence of its ancient nation.

For that reason, Egypt had a high degree of prestige in the Third World. Nasser was well-known as one of the most outstanding leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement, in whose creation he took part along with other well-known leaders of Asia, Africa and Oceania who were struggling for national liberation and for the political and economic independence of the former colonies.

Egypt always enjoyed the support and respect of that international organization which brings together more than one hundred countries. At this precise time, that sister country is chairing NAM for a corresponding three-year period; and the support of many of its members for the struggle its people are engaged in today is a given.

What was the significance of the Camp David Agreements, and why do the heroic Palestinian people so arduously defend their most essential rights?

At Camp David ―with the mediation of then-President of the United States Jimmy Carter―, Egyptian leader Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin signed the famous treaties between Egypt and Israel.

It is said that secret talks went on for 12 days and on September 17th of 1978 they signed two important treaties: one in reference to peace between Egypt and Israel; the other having to do with the creation of the autonomous territory in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank where, el-Sadat was thinking – and Israel was aware of and sharing the idea –the capital of the State of Palestine would be, and whose existence, as well as that of the State of Israel, was agreed to by the United Nations on November 29, 1947, in the British protectorate of Palestine.

At the end of arduous and complicated talks, Israel agreed to withdraw their troops from Egyptian territory in the Sinai, even though it categorically rejected Palestinian participation in those peace negotiations.

As a product of the first treaty, in the term of one year, Israel reinstated Sinai territory occupied during one of the Arab-Israeli wars back to Egypt.

By virtue of the second agreement, both parties committed to negotiate the creation of the autonomous regime in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The first of these included 5 640 square kilometres of territory and 2.1 million inhabitants; and the second one, 360 square kilometres and 1.5 million inhabitants.

The Arab countries were offended by that treaty where, in their opinion, Egypt had not defended with sufficient energy and resolution a Palestinian State whose right to exist had been the focal point of the battle fought for decades by the Arab States.

Their reactions reached such a level of indignation that many of them broke off their relations with Egypt. Thus, the United Nations Resolution of November 1947 was erased from the map. The autonomous body was never created and thus the Palestinians were deprived of their right to exist as an independent state; that is the origin of the never-ending tragedy they are living in and which should have been resolved more than three decades ago.

The Arab population of Palestine are victims of genocidal actions; their lands are confiscated or deprived of water supplies in the semi-desert areas and their homes are destroyed with heavy wrecking equipment. In the Gaza Strip a million and a half people are regularly being attacked with explosive projectiles, live phosphorus and booby-trap bombs. The Gaza Strip lands are being blockaded by land and by sea. Why are the Camp David agreements being talked about to such a degree while nobody mentions Palestine?

The United States is supplying the most modern and sophisticated weaponry to Israel to the tune of billions of dollars every year. Egypt, an Arab country, was turned into the second receiver of US weapons. To fight against whom? Another Arab country? Against the very Egyptian people?

When the population was asking for respect for their most basic rights and the resignation of a president whose policy consisted of exploiting and pillaging his own people, the repressive forces trained by the US did not hesitate for a second in shooting at them, killing hundreds and wounding thousands.

When the Egyptian people were awaiting explanations from the government of their own country, the answers were coming from senior officials of the United States intelligence or government bodies, without any respect for Egyptian officials.

Could it possibly be that the leaders of the United States and their intelligence agencies knew nothing at all about the colossal thefts perpetrated by the Mubarak government?

Before the people were to protest en masse from Tahrir Square, neither the government officials nor the United States intelligence bodies were uttering one single word about the privileges and outrageous thefts of billions of dollars.

It would be a mistake to imagine that the people’s revolutionary movement in Egypt theoretically obeys a reaction to violations on their most elementary rights. Peoples do not defy repression and death, nor do they remain for nights on end protesting energetically, just because of merely formal matters. They do this when their legal and material rights are being mercilessly sacrificed to the insatiable demands of corrupt politicians and the national and international circles looting the country.

The poverty rate was now affecting the vast majority of a militant people, young and patriotic, with their dignity, culture and beliefs being trampled.

How was the unstoppable increase of food prices to be reconciled with the dozens of billions of dollars that were being attributed to President Mubarak and to the privileged sectors of the government and society?

It’s not enough now that we find out how much these come to; we must demand they be returned to the country.

Obama is being affected by the events in Egypt; he acts, or seems to act, as if he were the master of the planet. The Egyptian affair seems to be his business. He is constantly on the telephone, talking to the leaders of other countries.

The EFE Agency, for example, states: “…I spoke to the British Prime Minister David Cameron; King Abdala II of Jordan, and with the Turkish prime minister, the moderate Muslim Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”

“…the president of the United States assessed the ‘historical changes’ that the Egyptians have been promoting and he reaffirmed his admiration for their efforts …”.

The principal US news agency, AP, is broadcasting some reasoning that we should pay attention to:

“The US is asking Middle Eastern leaders leaning towards the West, who are friendly with Israel and willing to cooperate in the fight against Islamic extremism at the same time they are protecting human rights.”

“…Barack Obama has put forward a list of ideal requisites that are impossible to satisfy after the fall of two allies of Washington in Egypt and Tunisia in popular revolts that, according to experts, shall sweep the region.”

“There is no hope within this dream scenario and it’s very difficult for one to appear soon. Partially this is due to the fact that in the last 40 years, the US has sacrificed the noble ideals of human rights, that it so espouses, for stability, continuity and oil in one of the most volatile regions of the world.”

“‘Egypt will never be the same’, Obama said on Friday after praising the departure of Hosni Mubarak.”

“In the midst of their peaceful protests, Obama stated, the Egyptians ‘will change their country and the world’.

“Even as restlessness persists among the various Arab governments, the elite entrenched in Egypt and Tunisia has not shown signs of being willing to hand over the power or their vast economic influence that they have been holding.”

“The Obama government has insisted that the change should not be one of ‘personalities’. The US government set this position since President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled Tunis in January, one day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned the Arab rulers in a speech in Qatar that without reform the foundations of their countries ‘would sink in the sand’.”

People don’t appear to be very docile in Tahrir Square.

Europe Press recounts:

“Thousands of demonstrators have arrived in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of mobilizations that caused the resignation of the president of the country, Hosni Mubarak, to reinforce those continuing in that location, despite the efforts of the military police to remove them, according to information from the BBC.

“The BBC correspondent stationed in the downtown square of Cairo has assured us that the army is appearing to be indecisive in the face of the arrival of new demonstrators …”

“The ‘hard core’ […] is located on one of the corners of the square. […] they have decided to stay in Tahrir […] in order to make certain all their claims are being met.”

Despite what is happening in Egypt, one of the most serious problems being faced by imperialism at this time is the lack of grain as I analyzed in my Reflection on January 19th.

The US uses an important part of the corn it grows and a large percentage of the soy harvest for the production of biofuels. As for Europe, it uses millions of hectares of land for that purpose.

On the other hand, as a consequence of the climate change originated basically by the developed and wealthy countries, a shortage of fresh water and foods compatible with population growth at a pace that would lead to 9 billion inhabitants in a mere 30 years is being created, without the United Nations and the most influential governments on the planet, after the disappointing meeting at Copenhagen and Cancun warning and informing the world about that situation.

We support the Egyptian people and their courageous struggle for their political rights and social justice.

We are not opposed to the people of Israel; we are against the genocide of the Palestinian people and we are for their right to an independent State.

We are not in favour of war, but in favour of peace among all the peoples.


Fidel Castro Ruz

February 13, 2011

9:14 p.m.

WFDY statement on the victory in Egypt

It is a great historical moment of pride and dignity, of enthusiasm and persistence. It is the time when the people rose up for their inalienable rights, when they fought, revolted and won.The great Egyptian people have achieved a big victory that can reshape the future of their country and also of the region. After 30 years of tyranny from the Mubarak regime, the puppet of imperialism in the region that worked day and night to protect the interests of USA and Israel in the region was ousted by the people, even if, in total show of hypocrisy, now all the former supporters of Mubarak regime come to the media to salute the achievements of the Egyptian people by overthrowing their ally of yesterday.

In this regard, WFDY highly praises the victory of the people and their organization, and expresses its solidarity with all the demands of the Egyptian people in constitutional amendments, dismantling the parliament and electing a new one and organizing new, free and open presidential elections open for the people to have their choices. WFDY also supports the demands calling for restoring the civil system as soon as possible accompanied by the constitutional amendments and political reforms.

WFDY calls for the continuation of the struggle until the full achievement of all the rights of the Egyptian people, and also for making the Egyptian revolution as an example for all the youth of the region and the world that change is possible and that the power only lies in the hands of the masses.

The spirit of revolution is spreading in the region, after Tunisia came Egypt and after Egypt the people will continue the struggle for further victories.

Let’s reinforce the struggle and continue the way!

Let’s fight for a democratic progressive Middle East fighting against imperialism!

Let’s support the Egyptian youth and people!

Hosni Mubarak resigns as president

From Aljazeera.net

Egyptian president stands down and hands over power to the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces.

Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, has resigned from his post, handing over power to the armed forces.

Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, announced in a televised address that the president was "waiving" his office, and had handed over authority to the Supreme Council of the armed forces.

Suleiman's short statement was received with a roar of approval and by celebratory chanting and flag-waving from a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square, as well by pro-democracy campaigners who attended protests across the country on Friday.

The crowd in Tahrir chanted "We have brought down the regime", while many were seen crying, cheering and embracing one another.

Mohamed ElBaradei, an opposition leader, hailed the moment as being the "greatest day of my life", in comments to the Associated Press news agency.

"The country has been liberated after decades of repression,'' he said.

"Tonight, after all of these weeks of frustration, of violence, of intimidation ... today the people of Egypt undoubtedly [feel they] have been heard, not only by the president, but by people all around the world," our correspondent at Tahrir Square reported, following the announcement.

"The sense of euphoria is simply indescribable," our correspondent at Mubarak's Heliopolis presidential palace, where at least ten thousand pro-democracy activists had gathered, said.

"I have waited, I have worked all my adult life to see the power of the people come to the fore and show itself. I am speechless." Dina Magdi, a pro-democracy campaigner in Tahrir Square told Al Jazeera.

"The moment is not only about Mubarak stepping down, it is also about people's power to bring about the change that no-one ... thought possible."

In Alexandria, Egypt's second city, our correspondent described an "explosion of emotion". He said that hundreds of thousands were celebrating in the streets.

Pro-democracy activists in the Egyptian capital and elsewhere had earlier marched on presidential palaces, state television buildings and other government installations on Friday, the 18th consecutive day of protests.

Anger at state television

At the state television building earlier in the day, thousands had blocked people from entering or leaving, accusing the broadcaster of supporting the current government and of not truthfully reporting on the protests.

"The military has stood aside and people are flooding through [a gap where barbed wire has been moved aside]," Al Jazeera's correspondent at the state television building reported.

He said that "a lot of anger [was] generated" after Mubarak's speech last night, where he repeated his vow to complete his term as president.

'Gaining momentum'

Outside the palace in Heliopolis, where at least ten thousand protesters had gathered in Cairo, another Al Jazeera correspondent reported that there was a strong military presence, but that there was "no indication that the military want[ed] to crack down on protesters".

She said that army officers had engaged in dialogue with protesters, and that remarks had been largely "friendly".

Tanks and military personnel had been deployed to bolster barricades around the palace.

Our correspondent said the crowd in Heliopolis was "gaining momentum by the moment", and that the crowd had gone into a frenzy when two helicopters were seen in the air around the palace grounds.

"By all accounts this is a highly civilized gathering. people are separated from the palace by merely a barbed wire ... but nobody has even attempted to cross that wire," she said.

As crowds grew outside the palace, Mubarak left Cairo on Friday for the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Shaikh, according to sources who spoke to Al Jazeera.

In Tahrir Square, hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered, chanting slogans against Mubarak and calling for the military to join them in their demands.

Our correspondent at the square said the "masses" of pro-democracy campaigners there appeared to have "clear resolution" and "bigger resolve" to achieve their goals than ever before.

However, he also said that protesters were "confused by mixed messages" coming from the army, which has at times told them that their demands will be met, yet in communiques and other statements supported Mubarak's staying in power until at least September.

Army statement

In a statement read out on state television at midday on Friday, the military announced that it would lift a 30-year-old emergency law but only "as soon as the current circumstances end".

Thousands are laying siege to state television's office

The military said it would also guarantee changes to the constitution as well as a free and fair election, and it called for normal business activity to resume.

Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tahrir Square said people there were hugely disappointed with that army statement, and had vowed to take the protests to "a last and final stage".

"They're frustrated, they're angry, and they say protests need to go beyond Liberation [Tahrir] Square, to the doorstep of political institutions," she said.

Protest organisers have called for 20 million people to come out on "Farewell Friday" in a final attempt to force Mubarak to step down.

Alexandria protests

Hossam El Hamalawy, a pro-democracy organizer and member of the Socialist Studies Centre, said protesters were heading towards the presidential palace from multiple directions, calling on the army to side with them and remove Mubarak.

"People are extremely angry after yesterday's speech," he told Al Jazeera. "Anything can happen at the moment. There is self-restraint all over but at the same time I honestly can't tell you what the next step will be ... At this time, we don't trust them [the army commanders] at all."

An Al Jazeera reporter overlooking Tahrir said the side streets leading into the square were filling up with crowds.

"It's an incredible scene. From what I can judge, there are more people here today than yesterday night," she said.

"The military has not gone into the square except some top commanders, one asking people to go home ... I don't see any kind of tensions between the people and the army but all of this might change very soon if the army is seen as not being on the side of the people."

Hundreds of thousands were participating in Friday prayers outside a mosque in downtown Alexandria, Egypt's second biggest city.

Thousands of pro-democracy campaigners also gathered outside a presidential palace in Alexandria.

Egyptian television reported that large angry crowds were heading from Giza, adjacent to Cairo, towards Tahrir Square and some would march on the presidential palace.

Protests are also being held in the cities of Mansoura, Mahala, Tanta, Ismailia, and Suez, with thousands in attendance.

Violence was reported in the north Sinai town of el-Arish, where protesters attempted to storm a police station. At least one person was killed, and 20 wounded in that attack, our correspondent said.

Dismay at earlier statement

In a televised address to the nation on Thursday, Mubarak said he was handing "the functions of the president" to Vice-President Omar Suleiman. But the move means he retains his title of president.

Halfway through his much-awaited speech late at night, anticipation turned into anger among protesters camped in Tahrir Square who began taking off their shoes and waving them in the air.

Immediately after Mubarak's speech, Suleiman called on the protesters to "go home" and asked Egyptians to "unite and look to the future."

Union workers have joined the protests over the past few days, effectively crippling transportation and several industries, and dealing a sharper blow to Mubarak’s embattled regime.

In support of the intifada of the poor!

In support of the intifada of the poor!
YCL-LJC International Commission
February 2011

The Young Communist League of Canada expresses our solidarity with the intifada of the poor of the popular forces in Tunisia, as well as Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Sudan, Jordan, Yemen and other Arab countries. We urge youth to join the mobilizations by youth and students across Canada in support of these uprisings. The strength and will of the people is stronger than ever, and is a testament to what the militant and united struggle of the workers and youth can achieve in the current context the economic crisis and the capitalist offensive against the people.

In Tunisia, where the protests were sparked, demonstrations follow more than two decades of the highest level of political repression, corruption, the illegal privatization of public resources, and blatant theft of public funds. The people of Tunisia have demanded change from the staggering unemployment and crippling poverty caused by imperialism and the dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, his wealthiest allies and his political colleagues, including interim prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, former minister of International Co-operation and Foreign Investment and from Ben Ali's very own oligarchy. We condemn the continued arrests in Tunisia of progressive trade unionists and students and pay homage to all those protestors killed in the violence.

We alert Canadian youth and student organizations of the hypocritical aspect of Prime Minister Harper’s recent statement on supporting democracy, being made in the Kingdom of Morocco, occupier of the last colony in Africa, Western Sahara. The Harper Conservatives, who until a week ago strongly supported these governments, cannot re-write their history. In the context of the debate about extraditing Ben Ali’s family members, we note that this has exposed the contradictory two-tier racist immigration system which spends most time punishing and deporting immigrant and migrant workers yet allows in Canada super-rich human rights violators from US-backed puppet regimes from around the world.

We urge the youth of Canada to oppose any imperialist attempts to interfere with the sovereign people’s of north Africa and the Middle East and their right to make their own future. For the Arab people, these struggles are only the continuation of a long battle for much needed political and economic reform that must go further; we support the demands for the redistribution of wealth and resources, which previously sat in the private hands.

The uprising has been an inspiration to not only to the Arab National Liberation movement but to all political activists and working people across the globe. Regardless of its outcome, it sends a signal that the people make history. We too, can throw off our chains and fight towards a democratic system that represents our interests, rather than those of our elite oppressors.

Keep the momentum going: you will win!