Friday is a day of resistance across the Middle East and North Africa. Protesters in Egypt plan to take to the streets today (Friday 4th march) calling for an end to the State Emergency (de facto martial law) and the release of political prisoners. On Friday 4th March we plan to demonstrate in solidarity with their struggle and with the uprisings raing across the Middle East.

Uprisings are ongoing across the Middle East and North Africa. In Libya a popular uprising against Gaddafi's regime is ongoing with thousands reported dead. In Omman protests have broken out, with the burning of police stations and government buildings, the blocking of oil exports from Sohar port and a sit-in outside the Sultanate. In Yemen hundreds have taken to the streets this week, facing tear gas and bullets, against the thirty year rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh, a US ally.Protesters have called a 'Friday of Warning' demonstration aimed at ousting Saleh.

In Palestine, Friday has long been a day of popular resistance against the Israeli occupation. Israel occupies Palestinian land and operates an entrenched system of racial apartheid against its non-Jewish inhabitants. Today, residents of the vilages of Bil In, Nabi Saleh, Nil In and Walaja will face the Israeli army in protest against the seizure of their lands

In Egypt, recipient of $1.5 billion annually of US funding and armed by the UK, the people have toppled the thirty year regime of Hosni Mubarak through a popular revolution. Their struggle for liberation was not only against the Mubarak regime but against US imperialism. The Egyptian military has now taken control, appointed a new prime minister and called for an end to strikes and protests.

The uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa are united by a demand for freedom. However, as Egypt illustrates, the revolutions are in danger of co-option by local elites and by US imperialism. These uprisings, against state repression and for liberation, deserve our solidarity.

Against Imperialism
Toward Freedom...