An addendum from Sam's Dad

"Skeptical about the parent pf Al-Hiwar (dialogue). It is based in London, catering to dialogue rather than news. Seems more dedicated to serving Arabs overseas. My original hunch of it being Lybian could be wrong."

From Sam's Dad

Todays Jordan Times carried the weekly article by Hassan Abu Nimeh, Ali's father, condemning the  Egyptian role re the rerouted Vein of Life convoy, about you guys [activists in Cairo] and whether Egypt will allow you to proceed to Gaza, and about the subterranean steel wall planned to seal the seige on Gaza. As usual he was very insightful and convincing.

So far no reference to you guys in the major outlets Al-Jazeera's two outlets, Al-Arabia,  Al-Manar, BBC Eng and BBC Arabic.

The satellite station I wrote you about, "Al-Hiwar", is leading a fantastic charge against the Egyptian regime highlighting its complicity in the seige, treason and being an accomplice to genocide. It is effectively responding to Mubarak's hypocritical speech yesterday calling on the world how it is everybody's duty to stand up for the national aspirations and future soverignty of Palestine. He has excelled in the hypocrite's role. No shame what so ever.

Worth noting that some of the calling audience joining in the Egyptian condemnation were a couple of very well known writers/commentators from the gulf states, Qatar and UAE .

Some Clearity About the Gaza Freedom March

* Contrary to the recent statement I posted, apparently 50 people got on a bus to Gaza. It's not clear why. I went to sleep with the understanding that the buses where going to be called off.
 
* The Gaza Freedom March will mostly consist of tens of thousands in Gaza. It would be nice to have hundreds of activists from around the world, but the point is to break the siege. It looks like tomorrow that will mean a march here in Cairo at the same time.

Codepink calls off token del - what now?

Codepink reverses themselves, official.

They had lost street cred.

They must regain it by organizing large protest/camp out outside the US embassy.

Simon Bolivar plaza is near the US embassy - that's the place to do it.

Also -
- start working with Egyptian activists in ernest
- call for more internationals to come to Cairo. (see previous entry at http://husseini.posterous.com )
- democratize the decision making structure so it doesn't take a rebellion to do the right thing.

Many US activists are now joining the French. That's good, they should join the French as a short step to doing what the French are doing at the US embassy.

-Sam Husseini
http://washingtonstakeout.com

Begin forwarded message:

From: Rae Abileah
Date: December 30, 2009 9:45:43 AM GMT+02:00
To: gaza-freedom-march@googlegroups.com
Subject: [GFM] Update: No Token Delegation
Reply-To: codepink.rae@gmail.com

Dear Gaza Freedom Marchers,

The GFM steering committee spent most of the night discussing the decision to accept the Egyptian proposal for a 100-person delegation to Gaza. Some of us felt that the restrictions demanded by the Egyptians were unfair and that due process (including full consultation with partners) was not followed. We all share a similar goal, we want to break the siege of Gaza. Allowing in a delegation of one hundred people into Gaza, while excluding everyone else for no apparent reason, seemed to many a strategy to divide us. Further deliberation has led us to believe that we made a mistake; we should not have been content with so little or contribute to whitewashing the misdeeds of the Egyptian government. Already most mainstream newspapers ran articles about GFM. Our message, even from Cairo, is reaching new audiences. We are determined to continue pressuring the authorities so that we all enter Gaza as we set out to do.

We apologize for the confusion and distress this may have caused. We are no longer sending a token delegation to Gaza. Let's renew the momentum we have created and show Egypt, Israel and our own governments that we will not be silent.

La lutte continue!

GFM Steering Committee

A call for more in Egypt #gfm

(Codepink will be wize I have reason to think)

More activists should come to Egypt.

Mubark should let 1,300 through
before they are 13,000
before they are 30,000
before...

Up the ante; create facts on the ground

Let civilization be truely born in Egypt
That we are our brothers keeper

It is Cairo, not Copenhagen where humanity may triumph

Here, it's Seattle meets Baghdad

More thoughts from my dad

Subject: Re: Game Change/Three

Missed noting that he also said: These bad groups have been trying hard to draw the Egyptians into joining their protests to no avail; because the Egyptians are very aware of their bad intentions and so they stayed isolated. DAD