I am not moving.

From The Galloping Beaver.

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The Revolution Will Not Be Gender-Specific

When the Arab Spring began, I started following on Twitter several reporters and journalists -- many of them Arabs of various nations -- covering the news.

I've continued following most of them, including the wonderful Egyptian-American writer Mona Eltahawy. She retweets a lot and today she is retweeting a series from Leil-Zahra Mortada, who witnessed an outrageous act of, sadly, not at all unusual sexual street harassment of women in Egypt. Here's the story from another source.

The outrage stems from the occasion and the victim's identity. She is iconic actress Sherihan, who has been a part of the uprising all along. (Photos here if you're curious.)

The occasion was another demonstration in Tahrir Square yesterday. Islamists had said they would not participate, so people were anticipating a secular, progressive event.

Ha.

If you haven't been following events in Egypt, you might think things are all rosy there. They're not. The army has turned out to be not such great fans of revolution. People are being arrested and detained for demonstrating and speaking up. 'Thugs' beat and harass people.

Progressives and the young people who started all this are pissed. Women in particular are pissed.

Hence, further demonstrations. Which the authorities are obviously trying to quell.

The assault did not happen in Tahrir Square but after Sherihan left. Leil-Zahra:

@monaeltahawy Plz spread, most Egyptian media is trying to taint Tahrir saying all happened in the square during the protest.

Tweeps are saying it was not the 'usual' sexual street harassment. Sherihan says she doesn't know who the men were, but calls them 'thugs'.

When Lara Logan was assaulted, the western media was alllll over it. And, of course, the usual nutbars got all shrieeky with their knee-jerk Muslim bashing and simultaneous 'Where are the feminists?' schtick. With the added frisson of victim-blaming, as in 'Well, what did a good looking blonde broad expect?'

I just searched for 'Sherihan' at Google News. This is what I got: *crickets*. (BTW, Sherihan is a pretty stunning looking brunette, i.e. media fodder.)

So, I'm a feminist and I'm here and I'm pissed. This reminds me of my young feminist/anti-war activist self. Just as now in Egypt and elsewhere, women were being told: 'Let's just get this war stopped/democracy going and then we'll get to your [teensy] concerns.'

Egyptian women are being targetted and used. They bloody well know it and are not going to stand for it. Here's Eltahawy again in a recent interview with Amy Goodman discussing Logan's experience.

You know, myself and every Egyptian woman I know have been subjected to groping or other kinds of street sexual harassment.
. . .
And, you know, what happened when Tahrir Square was opened was, those who didn’t join the revolution came out to Tahrir Square. So this kind of utopian atmosphere we had in Tahrir Square, you know, was ruined by people who came either from the Mubarak regime supporters or others who were not part of the revolution. So, women in Egypt and their male allies recognize that the revolution must continue not just politically, but also culturally and socially, as a way of ensuring that women’s rights do not disappear just because the Mubarak regime has been toppled and that women must continue this fight, along with their male allies.

Gonna be a long fight. But I'm counting on the courage and persistence of the people of the Arab Spring to get it done.

ADDED: Info (mostly Arabic) is being pooled on this Facebook page.

Spanish Revolution Update

Protest is growing in La Puerta del Sol in Madrid despite being told by an electoral commission that such activities are banned on the eve of an election.

There is an election looming between two main parties. The mainly young, mainly unemployed people don't care for either of them.

Does this sound familiar?

There is much talk on the plaza of electoral reform - to prevent power simply switching back and forth between two parties. Many also demand a ban on all candidates implicated in corruption.

Proposals for debate are posted in a suggestions box.

As at other people protests like Cairo's Tahrir Square and Madison, Wisconsin, things are being organized by the protesters themselves.

The camp in Sol now has its own tv station, called soltv.tv, which is live-streaming right now. (Warning: vuvuzelas.)

On twitter, one of the hashtags is #spanishrevolution. Some English, but mostly Spanish, natch.

As global corpocracy runs riot, we must get better at this. Watch and learn, fellow and sister Canucks.

ADDED: More insight. It's not as simple as it's being portrayed.

Meet Some Brave Egyptian Protesters

I was supposed to get a new project today, but I'm glad I didn't. I'm again rivetted by events in Egypt.

I thought I'd pop in to share a few links about the amazing courage, resilience, and resourcefulness of the people at Tahrir Square.

First, What happens if you take a bunch of engineers to a protest?

Next, I double-dog-dare you to get past three of the ten portraits in What I'm fighting for without choking up.

Finally, meet a couple of very brave women in this piece by Nick Kristof, Watching Thugs With Razors and Clubs at Tahrir Sq.

EXTRA BONUS: Fabulous new search tool, heapr. You're welcome.