Graffiti in Cairo depicting a television with the text "Go down to the streets" Sep 05 2014 The 2011 revolutionary uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa abruptly captured global attention as the world was drawn breathlessly into the tumult with a profusion of media content, from Tweets to amateur video footage. Amidst the media blitz, analyses yielded two conflated and reactionary narratives of events. One contended that the popular protests of the so-called “Arab Spring” were wholly unexpected, a shocking diversion from the familiar politics of the Middle East in a seeming contravention of the reigning global political apathy at the turn of the millennium.
By Omar Robert Hamilton Wednesday, August 20, 2014 - 07:33 After three spells of imprisonment since the start of the revolution, Alaa Abd El Fattah has declared that he is starting a hunger strike. Alaa is one of 25 people who were sentenced to 15 years in prison for attending/organizing a protest in November. A protest in which a policeman who was filmed strangling a young woman fell over and lost his walkie talkie.
By Ahmed Maher June 4 2014 The Washington Post Ahmed Maher founded the April 6 Youth Movement that advocated democracy in Egypt and an end to the regime of Hosni Mubarak. He is in Egypt’s Tora prison. John Kerry’s widely quoted statement about Egypt’s Jan. 25, 2011, revolution — that it was sparked by the youth and “ stolen ” by the Muslim Brotherhood — is infuriating. Not because it’s not true but because it ignores the more recent fact that many of the young people who kindled the revolution are now jailed for defending democracy and human rights.
Shadee Ashtari Posted: 01/07/2014 5:04 pm EST Updated: 01/23/2014 10:53 am EST "It is forbidden to read or write, and entering a pen and paper to the political prisoners is more difficult than smuggling in drugs, and whoever is caught with a pen or paper is tortured along with all those with him," reads the Dec. 3 letter, smuggled out of Egypt’s notorious Tora Prison. "I met with some of the most famous and important figures of Europe, America, India, Korea and Turkey .
