Adam Shatz names the elephant(s) in the (Egyptian) room: Israel, the US imperium

Invaluable article from the estimable Adam Shatz, in London Review of Books. Read it here. Key extract:

The men and women congregating in Tahrir Square have the misfortune to live in a country that shares a border with Israel, and to be fighting a regime that for the last three decades has provided indispensable services to the US. They are well aware of this. They know that if the West allows the Egyptian movement to be crushed, it will be, in part, because of the conviction that ‘we are not them,’ and that we can’t allow them to have what we have. Despite the enormous odds, they continue to fight.

Tweets from Gamal Eid

If you're on twitter and read Arabic, follow him. An old friend. He also puts out some tweets in English. He's a lawyer and a tireless democracy activist.

Elliott translates one of them: 'Scene from Tahrir: A small boy says, "I'm a poor street kid who doesn't know a lot of things, but I have my pride. My pants might be falling off me, but we just made a revolution. What have you done?"'

Here's what Gamal looked like almost 20 years ago.