MENA UPDATE February 26th 2011

by Siri Vita


MENA UPDATE February 26th 2011
Events in the Middle East & North Africa region (MENA) are unfolding quickly as protesters across the region, calling for regime changes, freedom and democracy refuse to back down, even  in the face of ruling regime brutality.

Libya
Calls for action against Gaddafi  by the US and the United Nations escalated as evacuations were completed and the danger of a hostage crisis receded. However, Gaddafi appears to be holding the entire city of Tripoli hostage as fighting escalates around the capital. Cities all around Libya has come under control of the opposition with the entire eastern half of the country celebrating freedom from his 41 year dictatorial rule.

Gaddafi’s forces are made up of Special Forces loyal to his two sons, about 5,000 regular army soldiers and mercenaries brought in from Chad and Niger. Army, Navy and airforce personnel have defected and  come out in support of the opposition forces after being ordered to attack civilians. Reports of mass killings by Gaddafi loyalists of soldiers who refused orders have surfaced over the last few days with video evidence supporting the claims.

Opposition forces are reluctant to enter Tripoli without a no fly zone being enforced. They fear bringing on an aerial bombing attack that would destroy the city and cause extreme civilian casualties.  A no-fly zone over Libya would also halt the importation of the foreign mercenaries bolstering Gaddafi’s dwindling loyal forces. The U.N. security council is meeting in special session today (Saturday) amidst calls from all quarters to establish this no-fly zone.

Estimates are that thousands have died in the conflict to date with thousands more wounded, arrested or missing. In Tripoli, snipers opened fire yesterday on worshipers leaving Friday prayers and roving bands of armed mercenaries cruised the streets.  Gaddafi called his own rally, attended by about 200 loyalists, in which he gave yet another rambling speech in which he stated he would throw open the armament stores for his loyalists to use against the opposition. There are grave concerns that as he sees his chances of regaining control of the country dwindling, he will commit mass murder within the capital. Defectors from his inner circle state that he is quite capable of such action and the current focus of everyone is looking for a way to avoid a bloodbath in Tripoli.

An  interim government has been formed in Benghazi until#Tripoli is liberated.  The former Justice Minister, Abdul Jalil Mustafa, who resigned in protest of the crackdown, has been named interim president.

Bahrain
Tens of thousands gathered in Manama, Bahrain Friday on the official day of mourning for the 7 dead since protests began there on February 14th..  The government called security forces off the streets a week after protests began and things have been relatively peaceful since. Thousands marched in Pearl Square chanting “Leave Hamad” & “Down Hamad” referring to King  Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa

The King has fired 3 ministers in an attempt to appease the protesters.

Yemen
Demonstrators protesting the rule of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh were attacked in brutal crack down in Aden on Friday with reports of up to 19 dead.  Other protests taking place in the capital of  Sanaa and Taez have also seen violence since protests began.

From EA Newsfeed:  “More on the difficulties for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh from the apparent defection of two of Yemen's most important tribes to the anti-regime movement.

Powerful tribal leaders, including those of the Hashid and Baqil, pledged at a gathering north of the capital Sanaa to join protests against Saleh.
"I have announced my resignation from the General People's Congress in protest at the repression of peaceful demonstrators in Sanaa, Taez and Aden," Hashid tribal chief Sheikh Hussein bin Abdullah al-Ahmar was quoted as saying.
The Hashids are considered Yemen's most powerful tribal confederation and include nine clans, among them the Sanhan, long a bulwark of Saleh's regime”

Egypt
Protesters in Tahrir square and at the Parliament building had gathered to mark the two weeks since Mubarak has stepped down. Protesters have vowed to come out every Friday till the military cedes power to a civilian government.

In a move which has now angered many and may prove extremely counter-productive for the Egyptian military, forces moved in on the protesters last night dispersing them with tasers and whips while chasing them through the streets.  There were reports of many arrests and beatings amid the ensuing chaos.

The Egyptian military apologized today on it’s facebook page!  All those who were detained last night have been released.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/6450/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-military-attacks-Tahrir-sitin,-army-apologis.aspx

Tunisia
From EA News Feed: “As more than 100,000 people demonstrated in Tunis, Tunisia's interim Government said Friday that elections will be held by mid-July.

Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi's Government also announced that it had seized financial and real estate assets belonging to 110 more members of the entourage of former President Ben Ali. Similar action had already been taken against 46 people, and arrest warrants had been issued for Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi.”

Iran
A march from Azadi square  is being planned for March 1st.

Iraq
PM of Iraq said: we are a democracy we don't fear demonstrations. He then  imposed curfew and sent police to shoot at protesters. Reportedly at least 7 dead.

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Tempests, Tea Pots, Death Threats, and Commie Parasites

Many of you have, I know, been participating in the in-world demonstrations in support of the Egyptian anti-Mubarak protesters, first at the Egypt sim, and later at Terra Egypta. Much of the impetus for and organization for these virtual demonstrations has come from SLLU member Czarny Zsun; he and others have done a great deal to raise awareness in-world about the ongoing struggles of the Egyptian people, efforts that have been rewarded by extensive coverage in a number of Second Life news sources, including New World Notes.

Predictably, these demonstrations also caught the eye of the ever-bellicose and reactionary Prokofy Neva, who blogged about them on Saturday under the eye-catching headline "SL Commies Parasite Off the Egyptian Revolution." Prok's basic thesis is that the SLLU and associated Left groups in Second Life are exploiting the crisis in Egypt to score points. Castigating the SLLU (and me personally) as "a bunch of hard-left opportunistic sectarians," Prok notes:

[At the Egypt sim] I saw the commies' rent-a-crowd -- various unemployed furries pressed into service with big boxes on their heads (so that they didn't have to try to rez a sign object on the ground). They were all *non* Egyptians -- the usual British, Australian, etc. socialists and outright communists who make up SL Unity, which is..."united for unity" like the old parody song has it.

All of this is to be expected from Prok, who tends to assume that anyone to the left of John McCain or David Cameron is secretly a card-carrying operative of the Comintern. Attempting to debate with him is, as I have discovered in the past, a largely futile exercise; after posting a couple of responses, I decided to leave well enough alone. Czarny Zsun, however, took up the slack, responding more aggressively, and at times very effectively, to Prok's attempts to paint Second Life leftists as unredeemed Stalinists.

Trouble arose however, when the rhetoric became more heated. Czarny, unfortunately, seems to have lost his temper and, in response to a comment by Prok supporter Laetizia Coronet to the effect that she would be associated with communists "over my dead body," Czarny responded "We can arrange that."

This was, we will most of us agree, a stupid, ill-considered, and frankly distasteful thing to say. It isn't necessary to take this seriously as a death threat (which clearly it is not) to feel that it is a highly inappropriate response.

Still, a tempest in a teapot, you may say -- and I'd agree, but for one thing: because of the context created by Prok's attack upon the SLLU, it seems to have been assumed that Czarny was speaking on behalf of, or in his capacity as a member of this group. Czarny himself makes no such claim, and would (I am guessing) probably feel more comfortably associating himself with the SL Marxists group in any case. Nonetheless, the impression created has been that a member of the SLLU is now issuing "death threats." One commenter responds to Czarny's post with the suggestion that "if Czarny is an officer of SLLU I'll be leaving this group ASAP," and the expressed hope that "some of the officers of SLLU post in this comment section a strong denunciation of what Czarny said, because it was reprehensible."

Well, one officer of the SLLU -- yours truly -- attempted to do just this, but without success: my comment is either awaiting moderation (which has never happened before when I have posted on Prok's blog), or I have been blocked from posting. If the latter is the case, then Prok will have, in effect, created the impression that the SLLU endorses Czarny's comment by preventing us from repudiating it. [*Note: My comment has since appeared on Prok's blog.]

What follows below is the comment that I attempted to post on Prok's blog. I need to emphasize, for the reasons given within the comment, that this is not in any way an "official" response of the SLLU: it is very much an expression of my personal feelings (as, of course, is this entire post).

A couple of points:

First, Czarny Zsun is not (so far as I am aware) an officer of the SLLU, although he is a member of the group (along with nearly 400 other residents).

No one posting here -- not Czarny, and not me (and I am not merely an officer, but an owner of the SLLU) -- speaks "for" the SLLU. That (despite Prok's portrait of us as a highly organized and centralized "party") is simply not the way we work. We don't produce "official" communiques or have "official" spokespeople: the diversity of the perspectives held by our membership would likely make that unworkable. Czarny and I are cases in point: he is a Marxist, I am not. And that's fine: the SLLU comprehends many shades and varieties of "Left."

The SLLU is, by its charter, explicitly and entirely nonviolent: we don't "do" violence, nor do we threaten it, even in a "jokey" manner. Czarny's comment is not only incompatible with the SLLU's own charter, it represents, I regret to say, the very opposite of what our group is striving for: "a creative, non violent means to foster revolutionary social dialogue." There is, in this sense, no need for the SLLU to "repudiate" Czarny's comment, as it does not in fact emanate from the SLLU, nor does it in any way represent what the group stands for.

On a personal level, I am disappointed that Czarny has expressed himself in this way, precisely because I know him to be a tireless activist on behalf of social justice. He also happens to be one of the prime organizers of the SL protests in support of the Egyptian people, a task for which, I know, many in the SLLU would want to thank him. As ill-judged and highly regrettable as his comment here is, it does not erase the good that he DOES do.

I would like to suggest that maybe the rhetoric on all sides of this debate should be toned down -- a lot. Yes, it is reprehensible to appear to threaten someone with death. But it is not a great deal better to imply, as Prok does here, that anyone on the Left is, de facto, complicit with the murder of millions of people under Stalin. Nor does the crude labelling of anyone on the Left as "commies" assist in establishing civil and constructive debate.

Perhaps we should ALL chill out a bit?

As a sort of addendum to what I say above, I'd like to affirm and emphasize three things, drawn from the SLLU's own charter, that seem terribly important to me.

The first is that the SLLU draws its greatest strength from its diversity. "Party discipline" or the enforcement of a single "party line" would rob us of the insights that come from hosting a great many different perspectives and approaches.

The second is that, despite or perhaps, in an odd way, even because of this diversity, we are ultimately bound together by our determination to seek social and political justice everywhere, through alternatives to an appallingly unjust system built upon capitalism.

And the third is that we do stand for nonviolent action and resistance. Perhaps the only thing really left to "learn" from this whole absurd little imbroglio is that we must be mindful, always, to ensure that our language reflects this absolutely central tenet. It is, in my view, not merely as important as our principled pursuit of social justice, but an actual precondition of it.

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