Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, January 28, 2011
According to AP, thousands of protesters are defying the curfew and are trying to occupy the ministry of foreign affairs and the building of Egypt's official television. Clinton's tone was stronger today in denouncing the violence but it didn't add anything new at this point. I'm sure that Mubarak will now say that he's willing to negotiate power (not in these terms) and he will announce some reform measures much like Ben Ali did in Tunisia at the height of the unrest there. This could be too late because people want real change. What's surprising about these protests is that they are organic and include people who are not represented through any party or political entity. These are young people of all walks of like, women, educated, not so educated, etc. This is maybe why the authorities can't fight these protests as effectively as they often did when they were organized by the Muslim Brotherhood. They knew then where to go and who to arrest. Egyptians are still waiting to hear what Mubarak will say, but it's not clear when he will speak.
Aljazeera does not have any live footage of what's going on in Egypt and is relying on the phone to talk to its correspondents and witnesses in 3-4 cities.
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.