Protests Demanding Mubarak’s Resignation Grow Stronger + Media Crackdown

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Democracy Now!
Feb. 7, 2011

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Protests Demanding Mubarak’s Resignation Grow Stronger, Despite Some Government Concessions

Newly-appointed Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman held talks on Sunday with opposition groups in Cairo in an attempt to stem the anti-government protests that continue across the country. Suleiman agreed to several major concessions, including ending the country’s decades-old emergency laws he did not say when, allowing a free press even as another Al Jazeera reporter was arrested, and creating a constitutional reform committee. The top demand of demonstrators–the immediate removal of President Hosni Mubarak-was not addressed. Protests continue today across Egypt, and tens of thousands of demonstrators have held their ground in Tahrir Square amidst a heavy military presence. We go to Cairo to speak with Democracy Now! senior producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Hossam Bahgat, an Egyptian human rights activist. [includes rush transcript]

Time for Democracy in Egypt by Ralph Nader

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by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
Feb. 7, 2011

Those politically savvy people who thought strongman, Hosni Mubarak would be out before the end of the first week of the Egyptian uprising better rethink the odds. For thirty years Mubarak has developed what can be called a deeply rooted dictatorial regime with regular White House access and annual largesse of some $1.3 billion in military equipment and payroll.

Ralph Nader Rips Obama for his Sit-Down with Corporate Barons

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liamh2 | February 07, 2011

On Monday, Feb. 7, 2011, Peace and Justice activist Ralph Nader ripped President Barack Obama for his “anti-union stroll” across Lafayette Park to meet this morning with the “corporate barons” in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. His comments came at sidewalk rally hosted by the National Nurses United/California Nurses Association and “other friends of Labor.” The demonstration was staged just north of Lafayette Park, in Washington, D.C.

US Warships Signal Washington’s Intervention to Save its Egyptian Garrison by Finian Cunningham

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by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
7 February, 2011

Three US warships dispatched to Egypt signal that Washington is stepping up efforts to secure the embattled regime of Hosni Mubarak.

As millions of Egyptian people persist in nationwide protests against the US-backed regime, Washington’s envoy to the North African country, Frank Wisner, has said that Mubarak must remain in power to oversee an “orderly transition” that US president Barack Obama has urged.

Solomon, Nader, Cornel West and Chomsky: Building a Powerful Left in the U.S.

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Building A Powerful Left in the United States

February 4, 2011

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[…]

Ralph Nader brings to bear the wisdom of six decades of fighting the good fight as he summarizes strategies and policies he feels can revitalize American society.

[…]

Noam Chomsky reminds us that it can be done; though the powerful few aren’t going to make it easy – but with perseverance and organizing there’s a world to win.

Recognizing the Language of Tyranny, by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
February 7, 2011

Empires communicate in two languages. One language is expressed in imperatives. It is the language of command and force. This militarized language disdains human life and celebrates hypermasculinity. It demands. It makes no attempt to justify the flagrant theft of natural resources and wealth or the use of indiscriminate violence. When families are gunned down at a checkpoint in Iraq they are referred to as having been “lit up.” So it goes. The other language of empire is softer. It employs the vocabulary of ideals and lofty goals and insists that the power of empire is noble and benevolent. The language of beneficence is used to speak to those outside the centers of death and pillage, those who have not yet been totally broken, those who still must be seduced to hand over power to predators. The road traveled to total disempowerment, however, ends at the same place. It is the language used to get there that is different.

Reagan: Killer, Coward, Con-man by Greg Palast

by Greg Palast
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.gregpalast.com
originally published at The Observer London 2004
February 6, 2011

You’re not going to like this. You shouldn’t speak ill of the dead. But in this case, someone’s got to.

On the 100th Anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth, as we suffer a week of Reagan-kitcheria and pukey peons, let us remember:

Reagan was a con-man. Reagan was a coward. Reagan was a killer.

In 1987, I found myself stuck in a crappy little town in Nicaragua named Chaguitillo. The people were kind enough, though hungry, except for one surly young man. His wife had just died of tuberculosis.