Tear gas and bullets are still being fiercely used by police against protesters around the ministry of interior for the third day in a row following the deadly football massacre in Port Said that resulted in more than 70 dead. The clashes in Cairo have intensified as police refusing to end the violence and the protesters determined to hold SCAF & police accountable for the deaths and injures of Egyptians. on the front line of battles, revolutionaries are never hesitant or afraid, they resist, they fight back with courage and bravery. Long live our glorious Egyptian revolution

After deadly clashes at Port said stadium resulting in 79 deaths of Ahly Ultras members, revolutionaries battle the police once again on Mohamed Mahmoud & Mansour st near Ministry of Interior.

The battle with police entered its second day with no sign of unrest on both sides. Protesters were resisting the police bullets and tear gas. All revolutionaries are holding SCAF & police responsible of these deadly clashes that is resulting in 1000s of injuries and at least 6 dead (Suez & Cairo) so far.

Many people have the misconception about how “peaceful” is the Egyptian revolution, but i bet you, these people have not been at the front lines of battles. Every time revolutionaries clash with police, the most militant youth are right there resisting and never backing down. Over the past few months, we even got better at it. Tear gas gets thrown, and we throw it right back at the police. This video just gives you a glimpse of what revolution looks like. Revolution = resistance = victory

On the first anniversary of the revolution, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians take to the streets echoing the same chants and demands from last year as if nothing have changed because nothing have changed. The only difference is that today was a record breaking numbers of protesters on the streets demanding end of military rule. More people took to the streets today all over Egypt than even Feb 11. The message was clear; we demand change, we demand the downfall of regime, we are continuing revolution until victory

These days last year, we were running from city to city protesting sectarian strife post the deadly bombing of Alexandria church 20 minutes into the new year. We chanted death to Habib El Adly, we demanded justice and to hold those in power accountable for not protecting churches, and repressing us for asking for our dignity and equality. While crackdowns on Tunisian revolutionaries were taking place, activists in Egypt were watching closely hoping for victory for what was known then as the #Sidibouzid up-rise. As fellow Arabs calling for freedom, we stood in solidarity with Tunisians in their fight hoping the domino effect would hit us soon and save us from our dictatorship misery. On January 2nd, we called for a stand with candles in Talaat Harb sq in solidarity with Tunisians that soon enough turned into a protest against police and sectarianism. The stand was held by only tens of supporters and was shortly raided by state police, telling us no one can stand here, four of my friends got arrested while Ramy Raoof and I ran down on Talaat Harb st escaping police after my phone was almost broken by a police officer when I was trying to take a video.

We regrouped with more supporters on the way, and we marched down the streets of Talaat Harb chanting “To Mohamed tell Bolus, tomorrow Egypt will be Tunisia,” a chant that combined Muslim and Christian unity in the face of sectarianism for a better free Egypt in support of the Tunisian revolution. We marched down Ramsis st and immediately we were met by hundreds of riot police, and finally cordoned for nearly 8 hours without anyone allowed in or out of the cordon for any reason.

Along with Mona Seif, Ramy Raoof, Haitham Mohamedain, Aida Seif, and many other brave souls, we stood there chanting, tweeting, never giving up, and telling those officers, “Tomorrow when the revolution comes, it will put you in prison.” The night ended, we went home, and protested again in Shubra in solidarity with our Christian brothers & sisters at El Massara church sit-in, where I also was cordoned for nearly 10 hours by riot police while thousands clashed with police on Shubra st.

January 7^th, the Coptic Christian holiday, was spent differently. Muslims and non-Muslims went to form human chains around churches on midnight for Christians to have a safe mass. Later that day, we stood in black with candles on Kasr El Nile bridge mourning the loss of our Christian brothers and sisters from the Alexandria church bombing.

A year later to think that we had multiple churches attacks, whether in Imbaba in April or Aswan in October, post a revolution that happened only weeks after the kind of solidarity & unity shown post Alexandria church bombing is incomprehensible, but explainable. It is explainable by one reason and one reason only because the regime is still alive and kicking. The people STILL demand the removal of regime. Sectarian strife has been one of the many tools used by the regime to divide and rule people, so it is not a surprise that attacks against minorities do still happen, but unfortunately, they happen at a greater loss and more viciously.

Who can ever forget that the same army who is supposed to protect its civilians could run-over Christians with military tanks? The loss of Mina Daniel and others makes you wonder at what cost will we win this revolution? The answer is clear and seen everyday and in every revolutionary’s eyes in Tahrir willing to die for Egypt to live.

I have no doubt that with this kind of support, courage, and bravery, we will free Egypt from SCAF, which is the same regime that killed and repressed us since 1952. This year, the year of freedom, as I am calling it, will be different and it already has since we started the year celebrating in Tahrir, Muslims & Christians, hand in hand against SCAF. Welcome 2012…

Pictures speak louder than words so instead of telling you all the events that made the Egyptian revolutionaries my heroes of 2011. Below is the year of the revolution in pictures highlighting the most powerful images I chose for 2011. This is why there is hope, as long as we are breathing, we will fight for our freedom, social equality, and dignity. We die for freedom, but we live on hope & resistance. May 2012 be the year of freedom. Revolution until victory.

NO MORE FEAR! – Jan28

NDP ON FIRE (for 3 days) – Jan29

The Bastard IS OUT – Feb11

WE RAIDED STATE SECURITY – March5

WE WON’T FORGET OUR MARTYRS – May6

THE BLOOD OF ATTEF YEHYIA – May15

KHALED SAID GRAFFITI ON MOI – Jun6

BATTLE FOR MARTYRS – June28

WE ARE BACK IN TAHRIR, WON’T GIVE UP! – July8 sit-in

ARMY RAID ON TAHRIR – Aug1: Ramadan 1st

FLAGMAN – Aug21

ONE DAY REV – Sept9

MASPERO MASSACRE – Oct9

NOVEMBER UPRISING – Nov19

OCCUPY CABINET – Dec16

There so much more ..but one video says it all. SCAF MUST BE EXECUTED IN 2012!!!

With all the painful images above, I am not depressed nor worried. I have seen the strength, courage, and bravery of the Egyptian revolutionaries. We never stop fighting, we never give up, we will continue until victory and I have no doubt that we will EXECUTE SCAF.

Revolutionary Socialists Press Conference @eSocialists

After a conference by the Revolutionary Socialists in Egypt on the future of the revolution that was held at the Center for Socialist Studies in Giza on 13 Dec 2011, the Revolutionary Socialists found their video (below) of the 20mins talk of Sameh Naguib being edited into 2 & 3 mins and re-posted with titles such as, “Revolutionary Socialists want to dismantle the State” or “The Revolutionary Socialists’ ruthless plan to burn and destroy Egypt.” As if we had raged war against the people of Egypt ignoring all our well established and credible resistance against oppressive regimes and systems from capitalism to Israel, and all in between, which is all very transparent on our website and in their files at State Security. I am not posting this to defend Revolutionary Socialists or convince how “awesome” and revolutionary we are, but simply to sum up what has been happening.

A media war directed by SCAF and led by Ikhwan & other political groups against revolutionaries and anyone who is challenging their interests to remain in power, has gone to the dirtiest tricks to protect their interests and kill the revolution.

Freedom & Justice Party newspaper 25 Dec 2011 "Revolutionary Socialists: Violence First!"

Why especially the Revolutionary Socialists? I think because Sameh Naguib hit the nail with a hammer on its head exposing SCAF & Islamists. The video gave them all the right “keywords” like “dismantling of state” to incite fear in the public even more and turn the public against the revolution while all the deadly clashes in the past few days were taking place. Another reason is the timing. SCAF chose to do this attack now & not before, since we have statements as early as February that give the same message as the video, simply because they are shifting the blame & the attention from their own crimes committed against revolutionaries onto revolutionary groups like the Revolutionary Socialists & others, who are gaining popularity on the ground for their radical stands against SCAF.  SCAF’s stupidity is gaining us more and more support because revolutionaries, with us or not, are against SCAF more than ever before.

This was our official response to the dirty organized campaign against the revolution & the Revolutionary Socialists. Statement in response to “accusations” in English & Arabic. We also held a press conference reaffirming our strong stand against SCAF and reassurance of the dismantling of the State of repression, inequality, and injustice in order to build a State based on freedom, social justice, and dignity for human rights.

Videos of statements and testimonies below.

Feel free to share this post in solidarity with the Revolutionary Socialists in Egypt. Add a Pic Badge on your twitter or facebook. Follow us on Twitter @eSocialists & Like our Facebook Page

Down with military rule! Long live the Egyptian Revolution !

BBC NewsNight chooses Kissinger as the "expert" on Arab Spring

I was invited to be on BBC NewsNight on Thursday, 15 December 2011, along with Henry Kissinger, Tawakul Karman, Simon Schama, and Jeremy Greenstock to speak on the prospects of the Arab Spring. They emailed me the following questions to answer before the show, and I gave them a brief on my position on each: (copied & paste from the email here:

My brief answers were as following:

When I got on the show, which will hopefully be uploaded to youtube so I can posted here, I was faced with the most western-centric, orientalist, and racist point of view on the Arab Spring. Comments about the Arab spring ranged from “a cry for western democracy,” calling the Middle East “the Muslim world,” “Islamist threat to democracy and prosecution of minorities,” to posing “western technology as what made these revolutions possible.” It was impossible enough to bare Henry Kissinger’s deep voice on the other end of the line being asked as an “expert” on the Middle East let alone the Arab spring & “Islamist scare” they portrayed. Henry Kissinger?! The one whose exact polices ruined our country and many others to the ground?!! unbelievably stupid. I was going to explode out of frustration for not getting ANY chance to address these comments (insults in my opinion). I hardly had a minute all together to express my point of view or have any questions directed to me except 2 compared to the other guests, who dominated the already dominated western/oriental point of view on the Arab spring. The least any professional media outlet would have done especially speaking on the topic of “democracy” was to give an equal time to all the different speakers or the different point of views.

I was able to get in 2 sentences about the western (US in particular) aid to SCAF, who is leading counter-revolution and acting on the “prosecution of minorities” that other speakers wanted to label it as the “Islamist threat,” but I linked it that it is SCAF who is prosecuting minorities alluring to the Maspero massacre. I also added that the west has NO positive impact what so ever on these revolutions in fact we are going exactly against it.

I sent them an email afterwards explaining my frustration, and requesting to never be invited again on NewsNight as a guest. I do expect an apology and a response to my email copied & pasted below.

“BBC News Night

When you invited me on the show, I was okay to arrange my own ride in

the middle of the night when streets are not safe and activists are

being kidnapped by state government & army everyday to fulfill your request

of being a guest on the show. Secondly, I requested to be introduced

as “a revolutionary socialist activist” and you said no problem, but

Kristy Wark did NOT. I was asked by Jake Morris to give my opinion about

possible questions on the show, and I had no problem responding on the

spot with my opinion.

As the show went on, I noticed that you had total of 5 different

guests including Henry Kissinger, who if you had done any kind of

research or simply took my answers to your questions seriously, you

would know that my point of view is the exact opposite. YET, your

presenter Kristy Wark completely cut me off, and never gave me the

chance to get an equal opportunity as the other guests to express my

point of view. Please review the tapes and actually calculate the

amount of seconds i was able to speak compared to the other guests

when I have a complete opposite opinion of this very orientalist,

western-centric, racist discussion of the Arab Spring. If you saw that

i was too much or too “radical” for your racist/discriminatory show to

cut me off like you did, why did you invite me & not give me enough

time to express my point of view like others? or is it because i

didn’t follow the western-based argument about the “Muslim world” or

the ignorant “western technology” comment from Greenstock, so you shut

me up? I felt very disrespected for bringing me there in the middle of

the night to only frustrate me by not giving me a chance to speak. I

would have been much more comfortable sitting at home and not getting

the few seconds I got on the most insulting show on the Arab Spring

that i have ever witnessed.

Please do not ask me for any news night interviews again. Your entity

incites and affirms the western agenda that our revolution stands

against and if you are professional journalists you would at least

give all sides an equal opportunity to present their view, but you

chose Henry Kissinger (with all his history) to be more of an “expert”

on the Arab Spring (given how much time you allowed him to speak) than

someone fighting there and knows more about what is happening (given

why you invited me in the first place). The least you would have done

is an equal time to each speaker but you proved to me how

unprofessional you are.

Thank you for a night of deep frustration.”

Following day I received this email from deputy producer of NewsNight, Liz Gibbons:

This was my response:

“I am not changing anything about my blog, and you can sue me. Just

because you kept inviting me to report on what was happening during

the 18 days of Tahrir doesn’t give you any right to insult me in

return on the show and expect me to be okay with it. I felt

disrespected, and violated by the condescending tone and the whole

orientation of the discussion. All the feedback I got from those who

saw the show, completely agreed that I was cut off by Kirst Wark, and

you can check twitter for that. I can hold whatever opinion I have and

I know that you will never accept it because you are unprofessional

and your righteous indignation is the proof of it.”

I have no comment.

All this was not enough for the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces, who held a press conference denying any of these vivid images blaming “infiltrators” and those “inciting violence” ensuring that there will be an investigation. About 28 “infiltrators” are facing military tribunals for the Maspero massacre, and they are all being charged with inciting violence and/or destroying military property. Out of those accused the first one accused and charged is ironically Mina Daniel, the first dead military trial victim and martyr. Others include the prominent blogger and revolutionary activist Alaa Abdel Fatah now facing 15 days detention for refusing to recognize the legal legitimacy of military courts when he was summoned today.

This is the face of counter revolution, SCAF; they kill you and accuse you for the crime they committed. The military headed by the dictator Tantawi is doing all they can to ensure the revolution is dead, but luckily dictators are always stupid and they are being exposed increasingly everyday. I salute Alaa for his stance in refusing to recognize SCAF as the legal power, but accuse it as part of the massacre. They can kill some of us, they can detained some of us, but they cannot stop all of us.

Thousands gathered in Tahrir to march to Maspero calling for the prosecution of Tantawi and the removal of SCAF from political power. The ultras joined the protest in front of Maspero, where they sang their special anthem to Habib el Adly and ministry of interior dogs. The CSF trucks that were parked there starting backing up fearing any confrontation from a full-angered crowd chanting strongly against the viciousness of the police following the death of martyr Essam Atta

On the same day Khaled Said murderers were sentenced to only 7 years in prison, another crime was being committed to another Khaled-said-like but in Torra prison. Meet Essam Atta , 23 year-old martyr tortured to death at the hands of police at Torra prison on 27 October 2011. Essam Atta was falsely sentenced to 2 years in prison after going through a military court post revolution. After being sexually abused to death according to eyewitnesses in prison and his own testimony to his sister on the phone minutes before his death, the officials at the morgue had the audacity to claim his death to “swallowing drugs.” It seems like any innocent man that gets tortured to death by police miraculously happen to have “drugs” stuck in his throat. Another Khaled Said after a revolution that was sparked on police day calling for an end to torture. What will it take? 1000s of Khaled Said?!! Even if it takes millions of martyrs for torture to end in Egypt, it still won’t stop us fighting for our rights! The blood of our brothers & sisters won’t die in vain. Either we live to avenge them or we die like them…