Demos All Around

A city of perpetual demonstrations (even though they are supposedly illegal.) Yesterday we passed a protest in a cab and asked the driver what it was all about and he said, "oh, everything!" Tonight was a demonstration commemorating the "April 6th Movement," essentially started on Facebook in Spring 2008 to support the textile workers in El-Mahalla El-Kubra--it was the first demonstration of the power of social media in Egypt. Tonight the movement unveiled its new slogan: "A New Era for Egypt." (A spokesman for the movement told us they learned some of the basics of using public relations and technology to promote their cause from the Serbs who developed the tools to fight Slobodan Milosevic.)

On the way out, someone asked us if we would be going tomorrow to the demonstration in front of the Libyan Embassy.

Later we passed a demonstration in solidarity with the the protesters in Yemen, conveniently located in front of our hotel.

This is a nation which after its long, long silence, is intoxicated with speech.