Egypt Takes a Left Turn

“In Cairo alone today it will be millions. Yesterday’s speech has really angered people. We tell him to go, he tells us: ‘I won’t go, you love me.’ Either he is crazy or we are crazy.”
– Abdel Rahman Sabry, 24-year-old engineering student

Long story short, Pres-for-Life Mubarak was full of it all along and announced last night that he has no intentions of leaving.

Bloomberg reports:

Egyptians vowed to hold their biggest demonstrations so far during the crisis over the country’s leadership after President Hosni Mubarak went on national television to defy calls for his immediate resignation.

Where could he even go, anyway?  Like he’s gonna just take his looted $50 billion and move next door to Bobby De Niro and Jay-Z in Tribeca?

I haven’t decided if I’m on the side of the “common Egyptian protester” anymore or not – or whether or not I even care at all.  They’re wearing on me at this point and I’ll tell you why:

After 30 years of All Moob, All the Time – now they’re fed up?  So everything was cool in the late 90’s?  Or five years ago?  Or in 1989 when the Soviet Union was being toppled?

And now we’re seeing some of the Egyptian people’s true colors begin to come out in their uglier protest moments.  It’s unfortunate but so typical.  They’re using Mubarak’s moderate view toward Israel in their protests and the world’s media is trying to disregard that.  They are chanting “Leave” in Hebrew – the implication being that Mubarak is a Jew-Lover and hence is not welcome as president.

So in other words, the Egyptian people were willing to endure 30 years of secret police, torture, mass unemployment, government censorship, abject poverty, corruption, nepotism, looting and pillaging along with only god knows how much missed opportunity for quality of life improvement…and in the end, it’s all about Jew-Loving?

Why can’t it just be about democracy?  It always has to turn into an America-bash and a Jew-scapegoating.

Nice.  Keep protesting, I’m so over it.  Enjoy your next anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Western Strongman or Brutal Fundamentalist Theocracy or Military Dictator or Royal Sheik.

Source:

Egyptians Vow Biggest day of Demonstrations After Mubarak Stays (Bloomberg)

Quiet Acts of Protest on a Noisy Day (NYT)