REVOLUTIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST - A HISTORIC MOMENT

compiled by Sheila Musaji

This resource collection will be regularly updated

The people of Tunisia were the first to stand up to a dictator and demand democracy.  Now Egypt and Yemen have joined them.  This is a moment of hope for real change and justice.  Pray for the people of these countries that they may have success.

The Table of Contents has now been organized so that you only need to click on any of the highlighted topics to go directly to that section.  Thank you to Javed “Hijabman” Memon for showing me how to do this.

TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS
ARE THESE ONLY WORDS?
SPREADING DEMANDS FOR DEMOCRACY LISTED BY COUNTRY
.....  Albania
.....  Algeria
.....  Arab World - Middle East & North Africa generally
.....  Egypt
..........  Christians & Muslims
..........  Mohamed El Baradei
..........  Media coverage
..........  Military
..........  Hosni Mubarak
..........  Omar Suleiman
.......... Women’s participation in protests
.....  Iran
.....  Israel
..........  Israel & the M.E. -  Palestine Papers
.....  Jordan
.....  Lebanon
.....  Libya
.....  Morocco
.....  Pakistan
.....  Palestine
.....  Russia
.....  Saudi Arabia
.....  Sudan
.....  Syria
.....  Tunisia
.....  Yemen
SATIRE & HUMOR ON CURRENT SITUATION
U.S. & EUROPEAN POLICY ON ARAB WORLD AND MIDDLE EAST
THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD/ISLAMIST/RELIGION FEAR
GLOBAL REPERCUSSIONS & UNIVERSAL MESSAGES
INTERFAITH RESPONSES
NORTH AMERICAN & EUROPEAN MUSLIM & ARAB ORGANIZATIONS RESPONSES
NORTH AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN MUSLIM AND ARAB COMMUNITY LEADERS RESPONSES
US REPRESENTATIVES & GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS RESPOND
EUROPEAN LEADERS RESPOND
THOSE WHO DON’T SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC CHANGE -  ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY
THINGS YOU CAN DO
A FEW QUOTES
SOME OLDER ARTICLES WORTH READING - LEADERS SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING

This section has now been moved to a separate article due to length please see here

NOTE:  For PC users - If you are looking for articles by a particular individual, or for a particular topic, doing a “CTRL-F” search for your keyword will help you quickly find what you are looking for.

—The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.  Thomas Jefferson
— Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will be America’s heart, her benedictions and her prayers. But she does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.  John Quincy Adams
—The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered.  Edmund Burke
— “Once social change begins it can not be reversed. You can not un-educate the person that has learned to read. You can not humiliate the person who feels pride. You can not oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.”  Cesar Chavez
— No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.  Frederick Douglass
— “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”  Frederick Douglass
— Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.  Dwight D. Eisenhower
— They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.  Benjamin Franklin
— In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.  Alexander Hamilton
— “Give me liberty or give me death.”  Patrick Henry
— Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none should be our motto. Thomas Jefferson  
— We certainly cannot deny to other nations that principle whereon our own government is founded, that every nation has a right to govern itself internally under what forms it pleases, and to change these forms at its own will. Thomas Jefferson
— “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”  John F. Kennedy
— Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.  Martin Luther King, Jr.
— Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere. Martin Luther King, Jr.
— Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. Abraham Lincoln
— Indulging no passions which trespass on the rights or the repose of other nations, it has been the true glory of the United States to cultivate peace by observing justice, and to entitle themselves to the respect of the nations at war by fulfilling their neutral obligations with the most scrupulous impartiality.  James Madison
— He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself.  Thomas Paine
— Remember, that in all countries where the freedom of the poor has been taken away, in whole or in part, that the freedom of the rich lost its defence. The circle has ever continued to constrict, till lessening to a point it became absolute. Thomas Paine
— Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.  Eleanor Roosevelt
— “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”  Bishop Desmond Tutu
— “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”  Elie Wiesel
— “The seed of revolution is repression.”   Woodrow Wilson

“None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”  - Hadith
“What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary.”  - Talmud
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” - Matthew 7:12

ALBANIA
anti-government protests http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/world/europe/29briefs-Albania.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

ALGERIA
anti-government protests http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iZS5LUIm9s22lV2sYXu1rKSYWhzQ?docId=CNG.4f79fd54def547db7a5c9f08426c8b87.d51
Algerian President says he will lift emergency powers http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/20112315364175524.html

ARAB WORLD - MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA REGION GENERALLY
Arab leaders must stop preying on fear of chaos, Issandr El Amrani http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/18/tunisia-arab-leaders-dictatorship 
Arab rulers only option is reform http://www.islamicity.com/m/news_frame.asp?Frame=1&referenceID=55458
‘The Arab World Is on Fire’,  Noam Chomsky http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6911/the_arab_world_is_on_fire/
A brand new Arab world, Wajahat Ali http://goatmilkblog.com/2011/01/30/a-brand-new-arab-world/
Cairo 2011 is not Tehran of 1979, Geneive Abdo http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/02/01/cairo_is_not_tehran_of_1979
Change in Egypt will change the region, Muqtedar Khan http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/4147
Could uprisings in Egypt and the Arab world produce a ‘Muslim Gandhi’?  (non-violence) http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Global-Viewpoint/2011/0131/Could-uprisings-in-Egypt-and-the-Arab-world-produce-a-Muslim-Gandhi?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fcsm+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+%7C+All+Stories%29
Egypt on the Brink: The Arab World at a Tipping Point?, Michael Hudson http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/518/egypt-on-the-brink_the-arab-world-at-a-tipping-point-
The West should celebrate, not fear, the upheaval in Egypt http://www.economist.com/node/18070190
The Evolving Populist Political Rebellion in the Arab World, Dave Lefcourt http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Evolving-Populist-Poli-by-Dave-Lefcourt-110128-221.html
Former Jordanian FM: Marwan Muasher writes in op-ed: “No leader is immune” from Tunisia’s fate if they don’t “take immediate steps to improve democratic rights.”  http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=206004
From Tahrir to Tel Aviv there are only two sides of the barricades – the side of freedom and the side of control, David Sheen http://mondoweiss.net/2011/02/from-tahrir-to-tel-aviv-there-are-only-two-sides-of-the-barricades-the-side-of-freedom-and-the-side-of-control.html
From Tunis to Amman to Sana’a, wave of protest spreads across the region, Sam Jones http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/amman-sana-protest-arab-world
Government’s Reactions expose gulf between leaders and the people, Abeer Allam http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d9a223c8-2bc1-11e0-a14f-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1CSOQ0vO4
Greater Middle East Initiative (GME), TAM article collection http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/greater_middle_east_initiative_gmei/
Guns Not Necessary In Tunisia or Egypt,  Rob Kall http://www.opednews.com/articles/Guns-Not-Necessary-In-Tuni-by-Rob-Kall-110130-567.html
How Tunisia’s revolution transforms politics of Egypt and region, Paul Salem http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/01/arab-world-how-tunisia-revolution-changed-politics-of-egypt-and-region-.html
In post-Mubarak Egypt, the rebirth of the Arab world, Hussein Agha http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/11/AR2011021102617.html?sid=ST2011021105055
Is True Change Really Possible, Ute Schaeffer http://en.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-476/_nr-1457/i.html
The Making of a New Narrative in the Middle East, Randa Slim http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randa-slim/the-making-of-a-new-narra_b_824156.html?ref=fb&src=sp
Moment of reckoning for Arabs, Aijaz Zaka http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article250608.ece
More Tunisia’s please, Mona Eltahawy http://www.monaeltahawy.com/blog/?p=374
The stability we have embraced and encouraged in the Arab world isn’t really stability—it’s repression, Anne Applebaum http://www.slate.com/id/2283108/
Teheran 2009: Precursor of Middle Eastern Revolutions, Richard Silverstein http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/01/29/teheran-2010-precursor-of-middle-eastern-revolutions/
These are secular popular revolts – yet everyone is blaming religion, Robert Fisk http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-these-are-secular-popular-revolts-ndash-yet-everyone-is-blaming-religion-2220134.html
Tunisia’s Spark & Egypt’s Flame: the Middle East is Rising, Phyllis Bennis http://www.fpif.org/articles/tunisias_spark_egypts_flame_the_middle_east_is_rising
Wave of protests in Arab world - an overview http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1616528.php/BACKGROUND-Wave-of-protests-in-Arab-world-an-overview
What impact do Egypt’s protests have beyond its’ borders, Tarek Masoud http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june11/egypt2_01-26.html
Why the Arab World Is Seething (with great visuals) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/06/weekinreview/06marsh.html?hp%3Fsrc=ISMR_AP_LI_LST_FB
Will there be a domino effect? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12204971
The Winds of Democratic Change in the Arab World,  Louay M. Safi http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/82480

BAHRAIN

Bahrain appoints an Arab Jewish woman to be the nation’s ambassador in Washington http://en.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-476/_nr-987/i.html
Bahrain: Forecasting the future, Dr. Robert D. Crane http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/bahrain_forecasting_the_future/0018390
Bahrain – an uprising on the verge of revolution, Robert Fiusk http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/robert-fisk-in-manama-bahrain-ndash-an—uprising-on-the-verge-of-revolution-2220639.html
Bahraini liberation is different, Dr. Robert D. Crane http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/bahraini_liberation_is_different/0018391
“We are all Bahrainis; Not Sunnis, Not Shiites!”  http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=476&wc_id=1477

EGYPT
10 lessons from our Tunisian brothers & sisters,  Mas’ood Cajee http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/d/4142/
A country by country outline of protests http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/012911_middle_east_upheaval
A Guide: How Not To Say Stupid Stuff About Egypt http://sarthanapalos.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/a-guide-how-not-to-say-stupid-stuff-about-egypt/
Arab Americans Call On US To Support Egyptian Protestors, Niraj Warikoo http://www.newstime.co.za/WorldNews/Arab_Americans_Call_On_US_To_Support__Egyptian_Protestors/19689/
A ‘democracy Renaissance?’, Arsalan If