Letter From Paris: The Revolution Comes to Paris

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I am a cultural anthropologist, an early adaptor, an antennae that feels the energy of the people and world around me, which gives me insight and a knowing I cannot explain (and also presents some problems).  To this, add my intense curiosity and joy of discovery, my belief in human dignity as well as human rights, along with my insistent need to be creative and to express myself.  Not to mention, I am a child of the social and cultural revolutions that scorched through America in the 1970's--Civil and Women's Rights--along with our opposition to the Vietnam War and the disgust we felt toward our government's (and societal) hypocrisy, Richard Nixon and his cronies' Watergate.

So this will explain why I am compelled to write this Letter From Paris about how the revolution that is currently exploding in Egypt--and will certainly grow--is touching us and being reflected in Paris as it certainly is in every cranny of the rest of the world.

A reminder of what ignited the revolutionary flame:  The Jasmine Revolution started in Tunisia when a 26 year old university graduate, working as a street vendor, set himself on fire after the police shut down his fruit stand saying it was illegal.  The people took to the streets to protest the corrupt government and lack of employment in this country, which also happened to be one of Reporters Without Borders listed Enemies of the Internet (with Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam).  Google "reporters without borders enemies of the internet" to get their full report.

FYI:  PRI's The World--Technology had a good podcast about the beginnings of the revolution here.

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It is with deep regret that I report that my friend Joelle Diderich lost her friend photojournalist Lucas Mebrouk Dolega in Tunisia.  He was covering the protests--and hit in the head by a teargas canister. The kind and generous photographer Dolega was 32 years old and passionate about his craft.  From an article in the Guardian..."It said a police officer standing near Mebrouk Dolega during a street riot had fired the teargas canister."

The question is was he fired on purposefully.  And I'm wondering, did you in the U.S. hear about his death?

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Here is amazing footage of the protests in Egypt that my twitter friend @olithechef sent to me and others ... 

 

 

We can feel the sheer force of the intention of the protestors to change their country and to rid themselves of President Hosni Mubarak. 

Nicholas Kristof is in Egypt covering this story.  He wrote a terriffic piece called "We Are All Egyptians."  I would like to second his emotion.

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Now today in Paris...

From Reporters Without Borders:

Members and supporters of the international press freedom NGO Reporters Without Borders demonstrated outside the Egyptian embassy in Paris at midday today to express their outrage at the systematic use of violence against journalists in Egypt since 2 February.

 

And coming tomorrow...

Monument at the center of the Place de la République (Photo by Beth Arnold)

To express their support for the revolution in Egypt, the Committee for Solidarity to the Egyptian struggle have planned a mass demonstration in Paris.

Demonstration: Saturday 5th of February, 14.30pm, Place de la Republique

 

---Beth Arnold in Paris