I am following the uprising in #Egypt on Twitter and other social networks.
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When I was a USAID contractor in Cairo, I used to walk across the Qasr al-Nil Bridge to Tahrir -- or Liberation -- Square on my way to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. There was some looting early on; fortunately, the museum is now guarded by the military and concerned civilians.
Hosni Mubarak, the last pharaoh, has enjoyed a 30-year run but the jig is up. The people say they will not move from Liberation Square until Mubarak steps down.
Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei has joined the chorus of voices saying it's time for Mubarak to leave:
Our essential demand is the departure of the regime and the beginning of a new Egypt in which each Egyptian lives in virtue, freedom and dignity. You can call this a revolution, you can call this uprising, you can call it anything.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the rounds of Sunday talk shows. Although Clinton called for an an orderly transition to a democratic government, she stopped short of calling for Mubarak to get to stepping.
Clinton told ABC News' Christiane Amanpour:
And we have been consistent across those three decades in arguing that real stability only comes from the kind of democratic participation that gives people a chance to feel that they are being heard. And by that I mean real democracy, not a democracy for six months or a year and then evolving into essentially a military dictatorship or a so-called democracy that then leads to what we saw in Iran.[…]
We believe that democracy, human rights, economic reform are in the best interests of the Egyptian people. Any government that does not try to move in that direction cannot meet the legitimate needs of the people. And in the 21st century, it is highly vulnerable to what we have seen in the region and beyond. People are not going to stand by any longer and not be given the opportunity to fulfill their own God-given potential.
Mubarak pulled the kill switch on the Internet. Show your support for the Egyptian people by signing the petition calling on ISPs to break the blackout of 21st century communications tools.
A change is gonna come.
UPDATE: Google has teamed up with Twitter to provide the people of Egypt with a speak2tweet service.