We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt....

Now this is not the right place for this - I should be posting it on my Jerusalem (middle east) blog - but it is very satisfying to watch - nothing like smashing up a tyrant's statue (or poster). Plus, it is Passover next week, where we celebrate the emancipation of the Egyptian proleteriat through mass exodus and direct action. At least that's my take on it.

This is from the Mahalle, a big industrial centre north of Cairo, where workers have been taking industrial action and meeting with state violence. There are a number of underlying issues but the most urgent one is food prices inflation. We are going to see more images like this in 2008 and 2009, not only in Egypt.

Via Arabawy.

Notice how everybody takes the mobile phone out to get a good picture of the dethroned king.

Forty five words (the last paragraph of my abstract) are all that separates me from the completion of my phd. That, and an elaborate bureaucratic procedure as well as an oral examination some time this summer. For those who keep checking this blog, thank you for sticking in with me, I hope to be writing more soon.

Two nights ago somebody threw a big stone through the window of the Research Students room in college. Must have been a frustrated PhD student. It smashed the window and also damaged the screen of the computer I use, leaving a black blot where the Gmail chat window usually pops-up.

College IT are very efficient and they came today to replace the screen. I asked what's going to happen with the old one, after all it's only a small patch, and if they were throwing it away, I would be happy to take it home.

The IT woman was nice and asked her manager, who said, we can give equipment to students, but before that we have to test it. And this one is faulty, can't you see? Sorry we can't give it to you.

The invincible logic of the health-and-safety society.