625 The ‘Strike’
Headlines from Egyptian newspapers, May 4, 2008, President Hosni Mubarak’s 80th birthday. Left: Al-Karama, the newspaper of the Nasserist Al-Karama (Dignity) Party. The headline reads, “Stay at home.” Right: Al-Ahram, the government’s flagship daily. The headline reads, “The day Egypt was born anew.” I wish I had a scanner.
About 30 protesters gathered on the steps of the Lawyers’ Syndicate in Cairo, 4 May 2008, to mark President Mubarak’s 80th birthday. Calls for a general strike fizzled.
Early impressions: Just got back from two radio interviews. It looked like an ordinary Sunday on the streets between my house and the studio. People are going to work; the traffic is about what you’d expect for a Sunday morning. The taxi driver on the way back from the studio said that downtown was crowded, that there were more officers and soldiers around than usual, but that otherwise it looks like a normal day.
Mahalla, where there was talk of a silent march, is apparently an armed camp today. A photojournalist trying to get into the city reports police have blocked the roads into the city and are preventing cars with Cairo plates from entering.
I’m going to check out the situation downtown now, paying special attention to the mosques. The main difference between this “strike” and its April 6 predecessor is that the Muslim Brotherhood joined this one (though, so far, it doesn’t seem to have made much difference). A Facebook group called “On the 4th of May, Pray for Egypt,” is calling for people to assemble at specific mosques in several cities to, well, pray for Egypt. I’m not sure if the Facebook group is a Muslim Brotherhood initiative, but it sure sounds like one. People quietly praying won’t draw a security crackdown, but if the Brothers start with the call-and-response chants, things could get hairy.
A quick look at the Egyptian blogosphere shows it’s full of heart-felt birthday wishes for President Mubarak and banners proclaiming support for the strike.
I’ll update this post a bit later today, but so far no reports of arrests, or, indeed, anything beyond a reinforced police presence in downtown…
Update, 16:30 Local Time: Completely normal day downtown, perhaps even a bit more crowded than usual for a Sunday. About 30 protesters gathered on the steps of the Lawyers’ Syndicate to chant. There were almost as many photographers as protesters. The police presence was relatively light, and the cops on hand didn’t seem particularly bothered. I’ve posted a few photos on Flickr.
Once again, Mahalla was more interesting. The town was sealed off to Cairo traffic, and two foreign journalists (no names or nationalities available) were escorted out of town.
I suppose there are a few hours left to the day, and all hell might yet break loose. But I’m not holding my breath. The foreign press corps spent the day fanning out around the city, staying in touch by mobile, everyone asking each other if anything at all was going on where they were. By 3 p.m., they were calling it.
And for the moment, I’m happily eating crow after my dire predictions of nasty, zero-tolerance policing.
I think it’s safe to say this was an embarrassing failure for the opposition. Not a bad media stunt, I suppose, even if the stories written today all wind up leading with the headline “Strike Fizzles.”
Oh, and going forward, let’s not overestimate the power of Facebook and Twitter, or of “click-here” activism in general, however interesting a yarn that may be. It’s not often I agree with a member of the NDP’s Committee for Making People Cultured (???? ???????). But Magdi Al-Daqaq, the new editor of Al-Hilal, had reason to gloat when, speaking on BBC Arabic today, he called what happened today “a nonexistent, virtual, electronic strike.” Funny thing was, Al-Karama unwittingly mirrored his comments in their earnest article on “The Democratic Nation of Facebook” today.
Not quite as funny (in that way that makes you cry) as Al-Ahram‘s front-page praise-poem to Mubarak today, though. A Yemeni friend wrote in to say he liked the headline. So I’m posting rest of the article after the break…
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[…] photos of the downtown protest could be found on Elijah’s flickr account… Ahmad has some pix too of the Kefaya students’ demo at Assuit […]
Pingback by Egyptians ignore strike call by Facebook activists group at 3arabawy — May 5, 2008 #
[…] Al-Masri Al-Youm English and Arabic seem to concur as well as the Skeptic who has some great reporting from the trenches in Cairo. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)10 North Koreans […]
Pingback by Egyptian General Strike? Any News? « Arabic Media Shack — May 5, 2008 #
Using the wide angle with the 5D? A bit scary isn’t it?
Comment by Tara — May 11, 2008 #
Yes, it is. Actually a fisheye 15mm, which is even scarier.
I’m going to have to suck up the price difference and get the lenses in Europe. Ultimately decided on one wide-angle and one telephoto zoom, rather than the one monster 28-300mm.
Comment by The Skeptic — May 11, 2008 #
Yeah. A wide angle is a good thing. I’d either go for a 17-35mm or perhaps if you are just going to get a fixed, I’d go for a 24mm. You should talk to Scott about fixed lenses if you are interested. That’s all he uses (although I tend to disagree).
Comment by Tara — May 15, 2008 #