Paris Parfait

Au revoir Paris!

Wild roses in the city.

 

Au revoir Paris. Merci d'enrichir ma vie. Vous serez toujours à mon coeur.

Les nouvelles aventures en la Hollande bas attendent. Donc on y va!

Revolution.

Reales Alcázares de Sevilla, Spain.

 

A revolution is brewing in Egypt, as Hosni Mubarak stubbornly refuses pro-democracy calls to step down.

Update Feb. 11th: At last, Mubarak has resigned!

Congratulations to the people of Egypt, enjoying their long-awaited taste of freedom!

Sanctuary

Islamic symbols on a decorative grillwork door, Reales Alcázares de Sevilla, Spain.

 

Excerpts from Dave Barry's column in the Miami Herald, Feb. 24, 1997:

"No one is hand-to-mouth shocked anymore. No one makes a fuss. Maybe that's what's wrong.

"I'm reminded of the 'Broken Windows' theory advanced by criminologists James Wilson and George Kelling. They argued that minor infractions left unattended - a broken window in an abandoned factory, for instance - set the stage for more serious transgressions. The idea is that in places where it's perceived that no one cares, criminals are emboldened, crime more brazen. But where people are willing to make a fuss, even about the small things, there is relative order...

"...If the awful has become the ordinary, we must remember that it happened in increments, not all at once. It happened when we accepted graffiti on our walls, broken bottles in our streets, trash in our schoolyard. Happened when we stopped talking to strangers, stopped going out, ceded whole city blocks to lowlifes...

"Each time, the line in the sand moved further...Each time it became easier to yield. The surrenders were getting bigger, but we didn't notice.

"So that now it has come to this, to the very knife's edge of crisis. And decision. Our children are dying. We cannot accept this."

Today my thoughts and prayers are with the brave pro-democracy protesters of Egypt, in the hope their peaceful quest for freedom is successful. Go here to see the vlog of a courageous woman who helped instigate the January 25th protest movement in Egypt.

A brighter day

Flowers at a monastery in the Himalayas, Nepal.

 

Hoping for a brighter day for Egypt.

On Wednesday in Tahrir Square, Cairo, days of peaceful anti-government protests were disrupted by weapon-wielding thugs and plainclothes police, riding into the crowd on horseback and camels. As darkness fell, they threw burning furniture and molotov cocktails from rooftops.

These agent provocateurs were paid by Hosni Mubarak's government in a cynical ploy to wreak havoc and undermine anti-government protesters.  By the end of the day, 3 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries were reported, victims of state-sponsored terrorism. Such cold-blooded brutality demonstrates it's well past time for Mubarak and his corrupt regime to go.

The Egyptian people deserve better than a stubborn old egotist who cares more about clinging to power than the safety and well-being of ordinary citizens.

Update: Overnight, several people were shot and killed by Mubarak's police, who were disguised as civilians. At least 17 police ids were confiscated from those arrested.

Live updates here and here and a comprehensive update from Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey, after he was arrested and later released.