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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Grade 7 Weekly Article, Due Tuesday, March 1

Libya: Pro-government forces fire on mourners

AP
A Libyan hospital official says snipers have killed at least one person and injured a dozen more after they opened fire on mourners at a mass funeral for 35 protesters who had demonstrated to demand the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi.
Saturday's shootings occurred in the eastern city of Benghazi, which has been a focal point of five days of unrest and where government forces wiped out a protest encampment earlier in the day.
The hospital official, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said snipers were firing from the top of the security headquarters in the city.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
CAIRO (AP) - Libyans set up neighborhood patrols in the shaken eastern city of Benghazi on Saturday as police disappeared from the streets following an attack by government forces on a two-day-old encampment of protesters demanding an end to Moammar Gadhafi's regime, eyewitnesses said.
The situation in the North African nation has become increasingly chaotic, with a human rights group estimating 84 people have died in a harsh crackdown on anti-Gadhafi demonstrations and the U.S.-based Arbor Networks security company saying Internet service was cut off around 2 a.m. Saturday, eliminating a critical link to the outside world.
"We don't see a single policeman in the streets, not even traffic police," a lawyer in Benghazi said. People feared that pro-government forces would soon follow up the encampment raid with house-to-house attacks.
"Residents formed neighborhood watches ... guarding their houses and neighborhoods," the lawyer said. He and other people inside Libya spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Switzerland-based Libyan activist Fathi al-Warfali said that several other activists had been detained including Abdel Hafez Gougha, a well-known organizer who was being held after security forces stormed his house in a night raid.
According to Human Rights Watch, an estimated 84 people have died in the Libyan protests, which have escalated dramatically since they began on Tuesday. Tolls given to the Associated Press on Friday largely tally with those announced by the rights group.
About 5:00 a.m. Saturday, special forces attacked hundreds of protesters, including lawyers and judges, camped out in front of the courthouse in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city and a focus for the anti-government unrest.
"They fired tear gas on protesters in tents and cleared the areas after many fled carrying the dead and the injured," one protester said over the phone from Benghazi.
Doctors in Benghazi said Friday that 35 bodies had been brought to the hospital following attacks by security forces backed by militias, on top of more than a dozen killed the day before. Standing in front of Jalaa Hospital morgue, an eyewitness said that the bodies bore wounds from being shot "directly at the head and the chests."
About 20 coffins were brought to the square outside the Benghazi courthouse later Saturday as part of a mass funeral for the shooting victims, another witness said. Thousands of mourners were at the scene.
Gadhafi is facing the biggest popular uprising of his 42-year autocratic reign, with Libyans taking to the streets and much of the action in the country's impoverished east.
The nation has huge oil reserves but poverty is a significant problem. U.S. diplomats have said in newly leaked memos that Gadhafi's regime seems to neglect the east intentionally, letting unemployment and poverty rise to weaken opponents there.
At least five cities in eastern Libya have seen protests and clashes in recent days.
Forces from the military's elite Khamis Brigade moved into Benghazi, Beyida and several other cities, residents said. They were accompanied by militias that seemed to include foreign mercenaries, they added. Several witnesses reported French-speaking fighters, believed to be Tunisians or sub-Saharan Africans, among militiamen wearing blue uniforms and yellow helmets.
The Khamis Brigade is led by Gadhafi's youngest son Khamis Gadhafi, and U.S. diplomats in leaked memos have called it "the most well-trained and well-equipped force in the Libyan military." The witnesses' reports that it had been deployed could not be independently confirmed.
During the popular revolt in Egypt, authorities cut off the Internet for several days, though it did not quell the uprising that eventually brought down the president.
Information is tightly controlled in Libya, where journalists cannot work freely and many citizens fear the powerful security and intelligence services. The Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information released a report back in 2004 that said nearly 1 million people among Libya's population of about 6 million had Internet access at the time. That was just three years after Internet service had been extended to the public.
There have been few anti-government protests in the capital Tripoli, in the west of the country, where the government has staged large pro-Gadhafi rallies.

Question:

How does the situation in Egypt connect to "The Glory Field"?  Use this article, and any other background information you have, as well as details from the novel, to comment below.

22 comments:

  1. Before I say any thing I would like to say that this is the most tragic thing I have heard of (foreign wise)since 9-11. I am seriously disappointed in Libya's country.And to me it seems that President Obama would say something.And to think that (in my opinion) that the only reason this is not stopped is for oil.(I heard this story on channel one.)This is crazy.Anyway the answer to the Question:I think this coonects to an earlier part of the book when the Lewis family were still slaves. This is how the government is treating their people.If I am correct if Libyia was under our control they would have the freedom of assembly. But scince they are not the police have tried to keep protesters out of the street because they know they are wrong and they know it. If the people stop protesting on the street they will protest online. They will not give up untill they get their rights. And personally I totally agree with them.

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  2. Sultan Benson
    This can connect to the Glory Field because it is showing how in Lybia the government is holding back the People. This is a connection because it also tells how slaves were treated in the beginning of the book. And in the middle when blacks were treated as outcast by whit people because of segregation.

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  3. I agree with Kasen and Sultan that this connects with Glory Field because of the treatment of these Egyptians. These people do not deserve to be treated this way because they disagree with the people they're being governed by. I think this connects to when the black community was having their march and the white people were yelling hateful things at them and throwing rocks at them. I think that nothing in Glory Field however can compare to the pain the Egyptians are going through right now.

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  4. This relates to Glory Field because of how they are standing up for what they believe in. They also have determination like in Glory field. They will not stop until they have got their message across.

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  5. Jeremiah Jones

    I agree with Sultan that this connects to Glory Field because I think the government was holding the Black society and the Libya society back as well. They did not really give them what they wanted so they tried to get what they wanted. I don't like the way they did it by using violence, but at least they are fighting for what they want in their country. I also don't think that whoever the snipers are have the right to kill the protesters for fighting for what they want to happen, they should talk it out like a real government should.

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  6. I agree with Sultan when he was sharing how he felt about the real life situation. I think this connects to the story from when Shep and many others were protesting to integrate school, to show that separate is not equal. I think this connects with the march because both events show many people getting hurt while protesting for something they believe in. i don't think the charectors is the book nor the people in Libya fighting regret the choice they made to fight instead of sitting back and letting others to the work and pay the price for them. i think this because when they do win and the president does step down the freedom will feel much more real and rich and free knowing that all the fighting you did and the lives lost were not in vein, that they those who died helped achieve wonderful freedom. Compared to never really fighting for freedom to begin with. I'm not saying that those you do not march do not want freedom it just means they are not willing to sacrifice for freedom. they are not willing to not only fight for their own freedom but for their fellow people as well. I think this applies for both events.



    TAYLOR GIBSON

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  7. This situation relates to the Glory Field because the government is trying to harm the people and aren't giving them a right to speak. The people of Libya like the Blacks in the Glory Field don't and didn't really have a say in the government. I see that both situations used and uses violence as a way to fix the problems. This will just create more. I think eventually over a long time and lots if trials and tribulations that Libya will eventually get some peace like the people in the Glory Field.

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  8. I agree with Sultan, and Arena because this do connect with Glory Field because how the people were treated and how the government was holding Libya society back too. I thought that the people did not deserve to be treated like this because the government and the society did not come to the some agreement. I don't think they should use violence that is another reason this connects to Glory Field by the way the whites were treating the slaves

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  9. This article relates to The Glory Field because of how determined and strong the Libyans were. They wanted something, and they fought for it. The Lewis family was the same way. They did not like the way they were treated by the whites. By marching, and protesting both people fought for what they believed in.

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  10. Before I start I just want to say that tomorrow March 1st is my birthday.Yah! okay now down to the business. The situation in Egypt connects to the Glory Field because black people around the time of the 50's and the 60's were very timid and scared for their lives and also in slavery because white people threatened them day night and night. Not because they had done something wrong to them, but because of their skin color. Also how Libya had limited internet resources black people way back when were also treated the same way. Which was very sad and cruel in many ways.

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  11. I think I most of my opinion was already said by each person who has already commented ,but this article relates to The Glory Field because it talks about how these people were really treated unfairy to a point where some were even killed. I the story for example the were to be contrued as demonstrations which were illegal. The protesters were attacked, injured,some even sniped down. Skeeter was beaten to a pulp for assossiating with African Americans and the Egyptians were attacked for protesting and trying to force there point of view in the the opposing sides ear.

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  12. The situation in Egypt has a connection to the glory field by when Skeeter was beaten up just because he was marching for the blacks.And also when the blacks marched and some of the whites were throwing items at the crowd, but they stilled marched on.This sort of has a relationship with Egypt because they had to fight for there freedom and had harsh times when either the military or the militia would cause damage to the Egyptians and either sabotage there people difference between these two were the time periods these two amazing events happened (which is less important now that I've reached my point to the relationships between the Glory Field and Egypt).

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  13. Anton believes tha Arena and Sultan are correct because the treatement of the Egyptians was out of line being treated this way for no apparent reason. Same with the slaves. They could have wen to anyother continent to get there slaves but they just had to pick Africa. Or at least when slavery was over, they could of treated us with the respect that we have earned during our generations and ancestors. So this does connect to the Glory Feild by government tacking away freedom of speach.

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  14. This situation relates to the Glory Field because people are being treated unfairly. Yhe people in Lybia have to practice survival like the people in Glory Field because the government isn't treating them fairly.

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  15. I agree with skylar because I think that it is important that the people of Lybia stick together and try to work out their problems

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  16. This article connects to the Glory Field in many different ways. It tells about the bad conditions thats the slaves had to deal with. It also talks about how the Lybian government isnt treating their people right. This part connects to how Black people were treated unfairly when compared to white people a bit later on in the book.

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  17. I agree with Lauryn and Trent. I agree with Trent because in both the article and the book, authority didn't like demonstrations and had punishments for people that decided to ignore the rules of demonstration. I agree with Lauryn because the protesters and characters in the book appied determination by folling through with what they believed him.

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  18. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  19. Sania, I did get your comment. The red dot means it is awaiting approval from me. When you post, check back about an hour later to see if it was approved. If it hasn't been posted yet, I might be busy, so look to see when the last comment was posted. If it was before you tried to submit, I am probably busy (and I go to bed early, so if it is after 10 p.m., I will post in the morning). If you see another classmate's comment posted after yours, it could be that your comment did not go through. It is a good idea to check on your comments.

    Keep up the great work!

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  20. The article connects to the glory field because in the book the government didn’t give blacks fare rights. also in the book at march Skil got beat up, just like people got killed and beat up in the article at the other country protest.


    AARON MCDONALD

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  21. Tehsuan Foster

    This story has to do with tommy making an illegal protest/demonstration by locking himself up to sherriff. This also is related to the Glory Field because Sketter was jumped/ beaten up by others. The only thing that was not done with the protest in libya was that no one came to help them such as Tommy did to Skeeter.

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  22. Well into my perspectie this is simmilar to the marches that MLK and tommy when on. Many people died just for hving an opion to their society and felt the need for change. Compared to the approx. 85 people who died in a multitude of marches that`s not many but that is still lives lost. But, whats worst is there were people targeted to kill.

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