Thursday * February 10 * 7PM
UMass Campus Center Room 162
From the overthrow of the Tunisian dictator Ben Ali to the protests that have won concessions from the Mubarak dictatorship in Egypt and continue to call for its ouster, as well as protests in Algeria, Yemen, Sudan, Jordan, and Palestine, the revolt in the Arab world is growing and spreading.
For people who have suffered under decades of dictatorship, suffering from poverty and a lack of civil, political and human rights, these m...ovements represent a turning point and the return of hope to a region that has seen too little of it in recent years. The struggles of ordinary Arabs in Tunisia and Egypt has changed the political dynamics of the region qualitatively, and the outcome of these fights will shape the politics of the most geostrategically important region in the world for a generation at least.
Meanwhile, the United States government, which backed Ben Ali until he fled Tunisia, and which has provided Mubarak with tens of billions in military aid during his 30-year rule, continues to back Mubarak or support Omar Suleiman (a notorious torturer who recently said Egypt is not ready for democracy), the newly appointed Egyptian Vice President, against the wishes of the vast majority of Egyptians.
Come to a discussion about what has happened, where things are going, and why building a movement in solidarity with the people of North Africa and the Middle East is so important for those of us living in the US.
Check out Ahmed Shawki's eyewitness reporting for Socialist Worker from Cairo:
