When CODEPINK was in Cairo for the Gaza Freedom March last year, we led and participated in small, peaceful protests that were set upon by hundreds of riot police at the behest of repressive Mubarak regime.

But now there has been a seismic shift. There are not 50 people rallying in Cairo, but hundreds of thousands protesting across the nation. Dozens have been killed; hundreds have been wounded.

But the Egyptian people will not be turned back. They feel their power and are determined to seize the moment.

The US has given Egypt $68 billion since 1948, and since 1979, Egypt has been the second-biggest recipient of US aid after Israel. Our government currently gives $1.3 billion a year of our tax dollars in military aid to the Mubarak regime.

Join us in telling President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U.S. Congress to stop funding the Mubarak regime now, to call on Mubarak to resign, and to expressly say that our government stands with the Egyptian people. After all, in his recent State of the Union Address, President Obama declared: “The United States stands with the people of Tunisia.” Shouldn’t we also stand with the Egyptians?

Sign here to stand in solidarity with people who are giving their government, our government and the world a lesson in democracy.

Mubarak is refusing to leave. But our government can—and must—break its ties to this dictator. As courageous Egyptian citizens are being assaulted with U.S. tear gas and other Made-in-the-USA weapons, we must say: Enough.

Solidarity with Egyptians

• Add your events and ralllies for Egypt to our calendar here!
• Find an Embassy of Egypt near you
• Women of Egypt: protest photos on Facebook

News

• Al Jazeera English Live Stream
• Washington Post list of Twitter feeds that are live in Egypt
• Follow the following hashtags on Twitter for more news: #Egypt, #Jan 25, #Jan 28, and more listed here:
  A Primer On Following Egyptian Protests On Twitter, NPR, Jan 30, 2011
• Ahdaf Soueif piece from The Guardian
• Factbox: Most U.S. aid to Egypt goes to military, Reuters, Jan 29, 2011

Van Jones is the voice of justice in the environmental movement, and since resigning from the White House Council on Environmental Quality last fall, Van is really turning up the heat on cooling the planet while ensuring jobs and justice for those who need it most. This past week Van appeared on the Tavis Smiley show and was the keynote speaker at The Dream in Action, a launch event for the brand-new Green Youth Media & Arts Center in Oakland, CA (check it out here). The center is one of the first arts and multimedia centers dedicated to both ecological awareness, as well as artistic and professional development for underserved youth in the nation. What better way to counter the predatory tactics of military recruiters and violence at home than to provide youth resources and tools for action at home?! This month the organization Van founded, Green for All, will go on tour with the Black Eyed Peas! Give peas a chance and green jobs too.  And this week Van received top honors at the NAACP Image Awards!

CODEPINK cofounder Jodie Evans said after a recent meeting with Van, “Van Jones continues to model the leadership we need in America – to stop creating enemies of each other and instead have a common purpose and responsibility. To us at CODEPINK Van is the embodiment of justice and peace!”

Tim Carpenter, the National Director at Progressive Democrats of America, captured our hearts (and stomachs) with the creation of Brown Bag Lunch Vigils, the latest and greatest in PDA’s Healthcare not Warfare campaign. The idea is simple: bring your lunch to your Congressperson’s office and hold vigil with a clear message – redirect our financial resources away from wars and occupation and into healthcare for all instead. Or put it this way: Conserve our tax dollars and bag the war. On February 17 over 60 vigils occurred around the country. Check out Tim’s “lunchtime” photo gallery which includes CODEPINKer Kelly from Mississippi and CODEPINKers in Detroit, where the vigil has doubled from month to month in size – way to go Detroit. Rock on Tim.

Ali Abunimah is not only a brilliant analyst, but is committed to building the movement for Justice for Palestine and promoting strategies that work. Journalist, author and co-founder of Electronic Intifada, Ali was one of the 1,400 activists from around the world who gathered in Cairo last month for the Gaza Freedom March. Though the march was blocked by Egyptian authorities (at the request of Israel and the US) activists managed to organize many powerful solidarity actions in Egypt.

In October, 2009, Ali and his team at EI! put together a youtube video of a San Francisco action to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert overnight – this month we’re excited to report that the video has been seen by over 100,000 people!

Hear Ali speak on “How We Can Complete the Gaza Freedom March” this Sunday night, 2/28, in Berkeley at an event organized by the Middle East Children’s Alliance.

Update on a man we love from last week:
Last week we shared with you our ♥ for CODEPINK activist and all around awesome guy, Tighe Barry. This week Tighe spoke out in a Senate Armed Services hearing about Blackwater and a former Blackwater employee threatened to kill him! Holy smoke. Read the whole story and watch the video here.

Have a man for peace you love? Post it in the comments section below! Who knows…they may show up in our next edition!

♥♥♥,

Rae & Dana