► egypt now: educate yourself.
As caring, intelligent, free citizens of countries that, I assume, are mostly democratic and not autocratic and repressive, it's our duty to know and care about what's going on in the world in those areas that aren't.
That being said, educate yourselves about Egypt.
► A comprehensive, extremely readable overview of what's going on: here.
Absolutely no reason not to read it. It will take 5 minutes of your time and give you a working knowledge of what is going on.
► A live blog of the protests that are happening in Egypt today: here.
► Live blog, courtesy of the New York Times if you're a fan: here.
► An up-to-date timeline of today, including pictures of violence: here.
► An appeal to Obama from an Egyptian-American: here.
► Live feed from Al-Jazeera: here.
► More on the Internet shut down & how it's extensive and coordinated: here.
As Internet users, I think this graph is haunting:
Egypt has literally fallen off the Internet. Isn't that terrifying?
Currently, the Egyptian government has shut down the Internet & suspended phone service in certain areas to "contain" the protests. AKA repress freedom of speech and the chance that images and video will be leaked while the government cracks down on these protests against them.
The Democratic Party's headquarters also caught on fire earlier today and violent clashes have broken out all over Cairo and Egypt proper where the Egyptian military and police have been using extensive force (tear gas, guns, etc.) to quell the protest.
And in case you are severely misinformed and think that, somehow, Muslims or Islam or Arabs are naturally okay with authoritarian, autocratic regimes just bc we're backwards and obviously hate freedom. The statuses all over my Facebook newsfeed read similar:
To all my NON-EGYPTIAN FRIENDS, PLEASE READ: The Egyptian people are fighting for their future today. We are revolting against a dictatorship. The government is shutting down wireless connections to mute today's historic protest and revolution. Please dedicate your status in solidarity with the Egyptian people. Please spread the word. Thank you!
A quote from Abdulrahman's article which is absolutely relevant & necessary:
I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose.
This is just completely, horrifically, absolutely unacceptable. Good on the people for standing up for their rights against conditions unbefitting any modern country. We can't be there with them and maybe you won't call your Reps or email Obama to pressure him to pressure Egypt, but the least you (and me and the rest of us sitting at our laptops, peacefully, with all of our rights intact) can do is educate yourself.