bLOGOS/HA HA: Egypt : Day 18

David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.

12 February 2011

Egypt : Day 18

"All the world over, so easy to see
People everywhere just wanna be free"

People Got to Be Free
The Rascals (1968)

After 18 days of mass street protests in Egypt, centered on Tahrir Square in Cairo, today the people have achieved first demand. President Mubarak has finally stood down and the Egyptian Army leadership has announced they will oversee free democratic elections.

How did these protests begin, given that the feared Egyptian Police usually crushed any such gatherings as they arose? The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting article about this. How, by a clever Facebook ruse, a base of protest was able to be established:

The Secret Rally That Sparked an Uprising
click here to read article

Here are some HAND SPACE exhibitions of the last eighteen days, in Cairo and elsewhere.

above_Jordan

The sub-title of this blog shown at the base of each page is
le bLOG qui rit.
This derives from the famous design by Benjamin Rabier for the famous French cheese known as
La vache qui rit

bLOGOS/HA HA has always imagined the cow is laughing because, as the repeating design on its earings shows, it appears to have an expansive self-awareness.

In this Cairo protester's revision, the people of Egypt, represented by the laughing cow, have their reflexive expansive capacity stopped by locks. Indeed, in the first few days of these protests Mubarak shut down all of Egypts internet connections. Thus constrained, the cow now mocks with its MUUH the name of its limitation (President Mu)BARAK.