'Le Juste Libre!' (quotation is a statement of intent to French News 'Le Journal' from a woman demonstrating on streets of Cairo). 30 January. watching the events in Egypt on SBS French News, and have been following blow by blow on Twitter (especially Al Jazeera < @AJEnglish, Crisis Group Communications director Andrew Strohlein < @astrohlein, and LA Times world service < @LATimesworld). Of course the early fear has been a repetition of Tienanem Square - first joy, then horror - but Egypt is not China (though Mubarak's regime has been similarly authoritarian and brutal) and the moment for that fear seems to have passed. this is an event Not created by social media, of course, but certainly demonstrating the power of social media to disseminate information and to challenge political lies. and the later fascination - what will Israel do if it loses this significant ally in its oppression of Palestine, for example as in the blockade?
And - as this continues there are ways we can send solidarity with the Egyptian people: Avaaz for example has a statement for signing http://j.mp/standwithegypt .