Raffi on what is happening in the city of his birth.
President Hosni Mubarak
Egypt: Days of Anger in the Age of Terror
On Friday afternoon, starting around 2 p.m., 175 people gathered in front of the Egyptian consulate in Montreal to show their solidarity with the Egyptian protesters who have been calling since Tuesday for the end of Hosni Mubarak's regime.
Montreal supporters chanted for three hours in French, Arabic, and English, calling for an end to rampant poverty, police brutality, torture, corruption, economic stagnation, and dictatorship. "The youth want liberty and dignity!" they cried. "Down with Mubarak and all dictators!" Their signs and banners showed solidarity with the Tunisian movement that was seen to have sparked the protests in Egypt.
Noam Chomsky on Egyptian protests: 'This is the most remarkable regional uprising that I can remember'
In recent weeks, popular uprisings in the Arab world have led to the oust of Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the imminent end of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime, a new Jordanian government, and a pledge by Yemen's long-time dictator to leave office at the end of his term. Democracy Now! speaks to MIT Professor Noam Chomsky about what this means for the future of the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy in the region. When asked about President Obama's remarks last night on Mubarak, Chomsky said: "Obama very carefully didn't say anything... He's doing what U.S. leaders regularly do. As I said, there is a playbook: whenever a favored dictator is in trouble, try to sustain him, hold on; if at some point it becomes impossible, switch sides."
Egyptian revolution January 25, 2011 -- Take what's yours!
This moving music video created by Tamer Shaaban, "another Egyptian who's had enough," has been featured on Huffington Post and in the blogospere and has received well over one million hits within four days.
