Suppport imprisoned Egyptian blog evanglelist and netactivist Alaa Abd El-Fatah
During the time I was researching burqas, islamic traditions and feminism in the Middle East for Don't hate her because she's beautiful ... and wears a burqa, I had stumbled upon Alaa Abd El-Fatah through the Drupal developer's e-list and had a peek at his incredible labor of love, Manalaaa.net, a community site dedicated to civil rights, free culture, citizen journalism and open source technology.
Alaa was arrested with 49 other people during a demonstration in support for an independent Egyptian judiciary and against the extension of the Emergency Law that has turned Egypt into a police state.
[via Egyptians in the states protest demanding release of jailed egyptians | Manal and Alaa's bit bucket]:
Dozens of opponents of Egypt's authoritarian government were assaulted and arrested after riot police attacked a demonstration in support of reformist judges who are challenging election fraud. Journalists covering the protests have been attacked and threatened by police, and in a separate incident, the chief of the Al Jazeera TV bureau has also been arrested.The largest protests took place April 27 as two judges, Hesham al-Bastawissi and Mahmoud Mekky, were due to be brought before a disciplinary panel after they accused the government of fraud in parliamentary elections late last year�and charged fellow judges with complicity. President Hosni Mubarak's government put a massive number of cops on the street in Cairo�estimated at 10,000 by the New York Times, much larger than the force deployed in the Sinai after three bombing attacks earlier in the week.
One of the judges' supporters, Mohammed Sayed Said, told Al Jazeera, "This display of force is a return to the policies of oppression and to a police state. But all this will not succeed in reimposing a culture of fear. The people have already defeated it and they are ready to pay with their blood for democratic change," At least 50 activists were jailed and are expected to be held for 15 days, according to reports.
The Drupal development community has mobilized to lend their support to Alaa and his fellow activists. FreeAlaa is fast becoming a test case for using free social software online to organize activists from around the world. From lending bandwith and mirroring Manalaa.net, to googlebombing, to creating a Drupal filter to advance the googlebombing, people are mobilizing all over the world to put the word out there and keep pressure on the Egyptian government for all the detainees release. Developers have even created an automated petition system that the Egyptian government and ambassadors all around the world. Go sign the petition now!
It seems to be slowly working because Alaa was able to blog from prison.
[via Alaa blogging from his Prison | Manal and Alaa's bit bucket]:
I could go like this, give a list of observations about my cellmates and the prison itself, like the fact that there are hundreds of cats here, but that's all it is. A list of observations, nothing sinking in, no feelings or emotions, no real impressions. Anyways it's a good cell.
When you read Manalaa you get the sense that you're in the middle of what the 60's might have looked like here in the United States. This is not just an ideological movement. These are people who want to be able to see which ever movie they have the money to see. These are people who want to be able to hang out and start a party, just like that, without being suspect of plotting against the government. They're people who want to be able to write their hearts, publish their souls, make some art and some money too and live the kind of First Amendment and "Constitutionally Penumbrated" lives we take for granted in this country; yet are losing every day a new piece of legislation is enacted to weaken reproductive rights and every single day we continue to do nothing about George Bush's wiretapping of civilians.
AROUND THE WEB
Slashdot | Alaa Has Been Detained
NOTA BENE :
We are using Ber Kessel's FreeAlaa filtering module. It rocks!
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I would seriously recommend that you get your blog ads changed... you are currently running an ad by an astroturf campaign that is trying to destroy net neutrality. The genuine public interest organizations are all on the side of Net Neutrality, please see SaveTheInternet.com for more information. The few supposed public interest orgs that oppose net neutrality have most likely been subverted by self-interested corporations... read this post where Howard Dean declares his support for net neutrality.