TEA for Tech-savvy youths?

People who think the Muslim Brotherhood is the driving force behind the protests in Egypt should read this USA Today report that the initial protests — and much of the enthusiasm — were generated by tech-savvy youths:

CAIRO — The uprising that threatens to topple Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and transform the Arab world started with tech-savvy young Egyptians who tapped into widespread discontent and spread the word about the protest through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

They didn’t expect the massive uprising that would paralyze the country and draw the world’s attention. “We thought police would come to the street and force us to go home,” said Assem Farrag, a 24-year-old protester.

“But when I came to the street, I found something else,” said Farrag, who was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and had been living in a tent along with a number of other young men and women at the center of Tahrir Square.

The initial protest was promoted on a Facebook page devoted to the memory of Khaled Said, a 28-year-old man who allegedly died at the hands of police in Alexandria. The government had said he suffocated after swallowing a package of drugs he was trying to hide from police.

Photos of Said’s corpse, showing his teeth broken and body badly bruised, circulated on the Internet, drawing widespread outrage. Two plainclothes police officers were later charged with excessive force and illegal arrest in connection with the incident.

Human Rights Watch says torture is regularly used by Egypt’s security forces and most victims are afraid to report abuses.

Fascinating to contemplate that the major unrest which threatens to topple a longstanding US ally might have been triggered by the War On Drugs.

The drug of choice in Egpyt is hashish, which Anwar Sadat was said to enjoy. But earlier this year a major hashish shortage occurred, with most users blaming the government:

The price rise is especially lamented by older users, who grew up under the rule of President Sadat — widely said to have been an enthusiast. His 11-year rule from 1970 to 1981 is fondly recalled as a golden age for hashish and its connoisseurs.

In modern times, usage is pervasive and classless. Cheap rolling papers are for sale at almost every kiosk and supermarket, even though rolling tobacco is expensive and available only at a handful of stores.

Most hash in Egypt comes from Morocco, with some from Lebanon. Moroccan shipments tend to come through Sudan, where the border is more porous than the western frontier with Libya. Lebanese shipments tend to arrive through the Sinai.

The shortage follows triumphant police announcements of a sweeping crackdown. In late March General Mostafa Amer, director of the Interior Ministry’s anti-narcotics bureau, announced that 7.5 tonnes of hashish and 25kg of heroin had been seized in raids over three months.

More than 300 distributors were detained, he said. Few are convinced that the raids could have caused the shortage, however. Many see a darker explanation.

“This proves the Government completely controls the hash trade,” said one smoker. “It’s not the result of a few strategic drug busts. They just turned off the tap.”

That belief has spawned a host of theories as to just why the authorities would tighten supplies. Among them: a desire to shift drug smokers to alcohol, heroin or illicit pharmaceuticals, or some internal struggle between large distributors and their “partners” in the police. Yasser’s favourite theory is to blame politicians jockeying for money, power and influence.

As to who is behind the sudden unprecedented crackdown this year (which is being called the “Egypt’s Great Hash Crisis of 2010“), conspiracy theories abound, but the autocratic Mubarak has been getting most of the blame. Ironically for a country in which hashish is so popular, drug trafficking can be punished by death.

Whether the crackdown earlier this year has anything to do with the current discontent, who knows? But it strikes me that if the initial protests were triggered over the death of a Muslim activist in custody, that would get a lot more media play than the death of a drug suspect.

Fascinatingly, right in the midst of the uproar an American citizen faces the death penalty on “drug” smuggling charges, for importing hemp oil:

WASHINGTON, DC – The Hemp Industries Association (HIA), the nation’s leading trade organization working to promote non-drug industrial hemp, learned last week of the plight of Mostafa Soliman, an America citizen who has lived in the U.S. for 40 years and was wrongly imprisoned by Egyptian authorities on December 30, 2010 for importing organic hemp seed oil used in salads, and other healthy recipes.    If convicted, he is potentially facing death by hanging.

After almost a month in jail, Mr. Soliman was finally granted bail as protests raged across Egypt.  Just as he was about to be released on January 28th, his jail  was attacked by protesters and set on fire.  Guards and police fled leaving the prisoners to die in the burning jail, many of whom were crammed in 8 by 8 foot cells with as many as 30 people.  Eventually the protesters entered the jail and smashed the locks on the prisoner’s cells amidst smoke and tear gas, releasing Mr. Soliman and others in a scene that can only be described as dangerously chaotic.

Over the next few days Mr. Soliman along with attorneys in the U.S. working with the HIA asked the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to help reissue Mr. Soliman a passport so he can return to the U.S.  However, the embassy has refused to issue the new passport so far for no apparent reason except that he is facing unfounded drug charges in Egypt.

The Egyptian born Mr. Soliman, 62, is owner of Health Harvest, the company which exported the hemp seed oil from Canada and operates in Egypt.  He lives in Aventura, Florida, but was spending time in Egypt to manage the arrival of products that he exports from the U.S. and Canada.

Again, I do not know to what extent to which the war on drugs might be implicated in the current crisis, but “Egypt’s Great Hash Crisis of 2010” certainly doesn’t seem to fit any of the popular narratives. (Were I a conspiracy theorist, I might even opine that this is being suppressed.)

Hash crisis aside, I do think it is vitally important to respect the fact that these demonstrations originated with tech-savvy, mostly secular young people, and that everything that can be done to offer them assistance and enncouragement should be done. In that respect, Richard Fernandez has a very thoughtful post, with concrete suggestions, irresistibly titled “The Egyptian Tea Party“:

Sandmonkey lays out his vision of the way forward in Egypt in his newest post. According to him, the best way forward is to adopt a strategy of getting the Internet-connected youth to take over existing parties and movements from online strongholds. Whether the strategy is workable or not, it is certainly innovative; it represents one of the first actual attempts to exploit the role of modern connectivity in a revolutionary process.

“One of the first” and not “the first” because that honor probably belongs to Tea Party USA, which has used online organizing tools to try and take over the Republican Party. Like Sandmonkey’s vision of a leaderless popular revolution, the Tea Party is an example of a political movement that has no rigid organizational structure, no big office building in a great metropolitan area, no television stations. Nancy Pelosi kept looking for the funders of the “Astroturf,” and yet there were none to be found.  She could not believe that a real grassroots movement could actually exist. Yet as the events of November 2010 showed her, the Tea Party really does exist. The question is whether a similar kind of force can operate within the Egyptian revolution. First of all, let’s see what Sandmonkey actually proposes.

 

First of all, he lays out with dismay the conventional alternative: keep on the current course and accept dwindling street protests or enter negotiations with Mubarak’s rear guard through conventional opposition authority figures. He has no appetite for either, probably because events either way will eventually be co-opted by the mustache Petes of the underground or the fixers in their Saville Row suits.

Read it all. Especially the bottom line:

If there is one single thing that the American political and developer community can do to affect the course, not only of the Egyptian revolution but of changes in the Third World to come, it will be to act in this sphere. What’s to be lost in trying? If anyone has any concrete ideas in this respect, don’t hesitate to post in comments or email me.

There are real freedom fighters over there and they need help.

Parenthetically, I do think it’s fair to point out that I’ve met a number of respectfully discreet pot smokers in the Tea Party movement around here, and it is not unreasonable to imagine that that might they have Egyptian counterparts. (BTW, I found repeated confirmation that the amiable Anwar Sadat was known as a “hashshash.”)

Freedom lovers here should support freedom lovers there. 

Freedom is a precious thing, and its enemies are always trying to stamp it out.