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Common Core Standards Aligned

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Common Core Standards Aligned Bell Ringers

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2. Assume that you write an advice column for a newspaper or magazine.

A modern day Romeo (or Juliet) writes to you asking for your

advice. He or she explains what happened at the party and also

mentions the family feud. First write his or her letter and then

write your response.

You may want to provide students with examples of modern day advice

columns from different sources. Additionally, you might want them to write

the letters as one assignment and then exchange the letters with each other

to complete the response component of the assignment.

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To assign once we have the computer cart

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ReadTheory | Reading Comprehension Exercises

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Reading comprehension exercises — online, free, & adaptive. Fits K-12, ESL and adult students. Easily track progress for the entire class.

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Reading Worksheets, Spelling, Grammar, Comprehension, Lesson Plans

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9th - 10th Grade Reading Comprehension Worksheets

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Free, Printable 9th and 10th grade appropriate reading passages and related questions. Cross-curricular focus on earth science, physical science, history, social sciences, or life sciences.

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Grammar Worksheets

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A leading website for English education. High quality English worksheets on reading comprehension, parts of speech, spelling, matching, vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms, phonics, verb tenses, educational games, and more. We're sure you'll find our materials useful. Come learn with us!

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Five years ago the Guardian asked me to evaluate the effects of the Tunisian uprising on the rest of the Arab world, and specifically Syria. I recognised the country was "by no means exempt from the pan-Arab crisis of unemployment, low wages and the stifling of civil society", but nevertheless argued that "in the short to medium term, it seems highly unlikely that the Syrian regime will face a Tunisia-style challenge".

After Tunisia: Robin Yassin-Kassab on Syria in 2011

Five years ago the Guardian asked me to evaluate the effects of the Tunisian uprising on the rest of the Arab world, and specifically Syria. I recognised the country was "by no means exempt from the pan-Arab crisis of unemployment, low wages and the stifling of civil society", but nevertheless argued that "in the short to medium term, it seems highly unlikely that the Syrian regime will face a Tunisia-style challenge".

That was published on 28 January 2011. On the same day a Syrian called Hasan Ali Akleh set himself alight in protest against the Assad regime in imitation of Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in Tunisia. Akleh's act went largely unremarked, but on 17 February tradesmen at Hareeqa in Damascus responded to police brutality by gathering in their thousands to chant "The Syrian people won't be humiliated". This was unprecedented. Soon afterwards, the Deraa schoolboys were arrested and tortured for writing anti-regime graffiti. When their relatives protested on 18 March, and at least four were killed, the spiralling cycle of funerals, protests and gunfire was unleashed. In 2011, I wrote that Assad personally was popular, and so he remained until his 30 March speech to the ill-named People's Assembly. Very many had suspended judgment until that moment, expecting an apology for the killings and an announcement of serious reforms. Instead, Assad threatened, indulged in conspiracy theories, and, worse, giggled repeatedly.

I underestimated the disastrous effects of Assad's neo-liberal/crony-capitalist restructuring during the previous decade. I was soon to be wrong about many other things too. In April the regime made conciliatory gestures to Islamists and Kurds. At first I thought this showed how hopelessly out of touch it was - the protest movement at this stage was pan‑Syrian and non-sectarian. Then I understood its misinterpretation was deliberate. In the following years the regime would stick to reading the revolution through ethnic and sectarian lenses; and largely due to its own efforts, these eventually came to dominate the field.

"Bashar al-Assad is the leader of the revolution," one young Damascene told me. "Every time he kills someone, every time he tortures, he creates 10 more men determined to destroy him." At first the regime's resort to the "security solution" made me think I had overestimated its intelligence. Then I realised I had underestimated it. Knowing it couldn't survive a genuine reform process, it provoked a civil war.

First, the savage repression of peaceful, non-sectarian activists. Tens of thousands were rounded up, tortured, killed or disappeared. At the same time jihadists were released from prison. Then, in response to the revolution's inevitable militarisation, the regime applied a scorched earth policy. Soldiers burned crops and killed livestock. Civilian neighbourhoods were blasted by artillery, fighter jets, Scud missiles, barrel bombs and sarin gas. A string of regime-organised sectarian massacres in 2012 irretrievably hardened the mood.

The Syrian people's supposed "friends" failed to seriously arm the revolution, or to protect the people from slaughter. With Assad's indirect aid, foreign jihadists stepped into the vacuum. Until July 2014, the regime and Islamic State enjoyed an unstated non-aggression pact. Even today, when Isis is fighting the Free Army, the regime (and Russia) bombs the Free Army.

An arsonist posing as a fireman, Assad tells the world his survival is indispensable to defeating jihadism. Too many commentators agree with him, perhaps because commentary in general has tended to ignore the travails and achievements of the Syrian people in favour of the terrorism story and proxy-war chess. As a result, the general public in the west seems to think Syria's choice is between, as one man recently told me, "President Assad" and "the nutters".

Since 2011 I have learned to distrust the grand pre-existent narratives of both left and right, to fear the dead(ly) ends of identity politics and to focus instead on the human facts. Like the 300,000 dead and 11 million displaced (the worst refugee crisis since the second world war) - the vast majority at his hand. Plus the more positive realities, such as the revolutionary local councils, usually democratically elected, which do their best to keep life going and which should be part of any settlement. Or like the revolution in culture that has produced groundbreaking music, poetry, critical radio stations and newspapers.

The people practised democracy where they could. Yet by August 2013, counter-revolution seemed to have won, both regionally and globally. In Egypt, that month's Rabaa massacre began the liquidation of the Muslim Brotherhood, then the repression of everyone else. In Syria, as Barack Obama's chemical "red line" vanished, Assad killed 1,400 people with chemical weapons. Assad continued to receive Russian weapons; the Egyptian army received theirs from America.

Iran and then Russia rescued the Assad regime from military collapse, although in a way it has collapsed already, subcontracting its powers to foreign states and local warlords. And it has lost four-fifths of the country. Some of "liberated Syria" is held by beleaguered democratic nationalists, Arab or Kurdish, and a lot is strangled by transnational jihadists.

The crisis increases exponentially. The only thing sure about Russia's invasion is that it is expanding the war in space and time.

So, a five-year accounting: friends and relatives have lost homes, witnessed atrocities, been forced into clandestine migration. Nothing unusual - every Syrian family, from whatever side, has trauma tales to tell. Most are mourning their dead. I will never show Palmyra's temples or Aleppo's Umawi mosque minaret to my children - these monuments that survived earthquakes and Mongol invasions are now razed, and the complex social fabric of the country irreparably torn.

Syria has witnessed the depths of human depravity. Syrians have also demonstrated the most inspiring creativity and resilience in the most terrible of circumstances.

Change in Syria and the wider region is running at breakneck pace, and heading in contradictory directions. As to the final results, this time I'll say it is far, far too early to tell.

Robin Yassin-Kassab's book Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War, co‑written with Leila al-Shami, is published by Pluto.

Alaa Abd El Fattah
Egyptian blogger
Alaa Abd El Fattah is serving a five-year sentence in Tora prison, Cairo, under the protest law
After Tunisia: Alaa Abd El Fatah on Egypt in 2011

The only words I can write are about losing my words.

Five years ago, on what would turn out to be the last normal day of my life, I sat down at my desk in a small IT firm in Pretoria and pretended to be working while I was writing a short article for the Guardian. It was about why the Egyptian revolution should be taken seriously. Or at least that's how I remember it. I can't get back to that article now; it's been more than a year since I had access to the internet. In Egypt, prisoners aren't even allowed a phone call. But I shouldn't complain: at least I get to see my family two or three times a month. Other political prisoners (mostly Islamists) are not allowed visits at all.

On that day five years ago I first engaged in the battle over the narrative of the revolution, a battle that would consume me completely for four years. But on that day I wasn't even sure a revolution was happening in Egypt; I feared it would fizzle out even as I wrote about a new form of youthful pan‑Arabism.

It would take me another day to fully accept that it was for real and three more before I could fly back to Cairo and join Tahrir. I moved from doubting the depth of the uprising to worrying about arriving too late and missing out on all the action.

After the fall of Hosni Mubarak the battle over narrative grew in importance. The state was forced to compromise with the revolution while trying to contain it by appropriating its story. We articulated why we continued to protest and indeed why we ever protested at all. Are the kids who threw stones at the police revolutionaries or saboteurs? Should the prisoners who died in prison riots be counted among the martyrs of the revolution or not? What is the role of the military in the Mubarak regime? Should education continue to be free in public universities? Do we need a new constitution? If so, who should write it? And so on. I wrote and wrote and wrote, mostly in Arabic, mostly on social media, but sometimes for a national daily. Mainly, I was talking to fellow revolutionaries and, increasingly, my voice became cautionary: how fragile the revolutionary moment was and how precarious our situation were my main themes. And yet I couldn't shake off the sheer sense of hope and possibility: despite setbacks our dreams continued to soar.

It may have been naive to believe our dream could come true, but not to believe another world was possible

People talk of a barrier of fear but to me it always felt like a barrier of despair and, once removed, even fear, massacres and prisons couldn't bring it back. I did all the silly things over-optimistic revolutionaries do: I moved back to Egypt permanently, had a child, founded a startup, engaged in a series of progressive initiatives aiming at more popular, decentralised and participatory democracy, broke every draconian law and outdated taboo, walked into prison smiling and walked out of it triumphant.

In 2013 we started to lose the battle for narrative to a poisonous polarisation between a rabidly militarised pseudo-secular statism and a viciously sectarian-paranoid form of Islamism. All I remember about 2013 is how shrill I sounded screaming "A plague on both your houses", how whiny and melodramatic it felt to complain about the curse of Cassandra warning of an all-consuming fire when no one would listen. As the streets were taken over by rallies that raised the photos of policemen instead of their victims, sit‑ins were filled with chants against the Shia, and Coptic conspiracies flourished, my words lost any power - and yet they continued to pour out of me. I still had a voice, even if only a handful would listen.

But then the state decided to end the conflict by committing the first crime against humanity in the history of the republic. The barriers of fear and despair would return after the Rabaa massacre. Another battle of narrative would start: getting non-Islamists to accept that a massacre had happened at all, to reject the violence committed in their name.

Three months after the massacre I was back in prison, and my prose took on a strange new role. I called on revolutionaries to admit defeat, to give up the optimism that had become dangerous in its encouragement to choose sides: a military triumphalism or an unpopular and impractical insistence on complete regime change. What we needed was all the strength we could muster to maintain some basic defence of human rights.

I narrated defeat because the very language of revolution was lost to us, replaced by a dangerous cocktail of nationalist, nativist, collectivist and post-colonialist language appropriated by both sides of the conflict and used to spin convoluted conspiracy theories and spread paranoia.

In early 2014 it was still controversial to ask revolutionaries to engage in a human rights campaign limited to revoking the protest law and the release of political prisoners. Most still believed the revolution was winning (defining winning as either the demise or the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood) - the idea that the state of emergency was the new normal was rejected by most.

Today it seems like we won that final battle for narrative. While the state still has its supporters their numbers are shrinking rapidly, especially among the young. Most people are no longer debating the nature of the events of summer 2013. The coup versus revolution debate is passé. Even Sisi supporters don't really believe that prosperity is coming soon. It is harder to gauge the sentiment among supporters of the Islamists: sympathy with their plight is certainly increasing but faith in their ability to organise an effective unified front against the regime is probably scant. Despair prevails.

I spent most of 2014 in prison, yet I still had lots of words. My audience was much diminished, my message not one of hope, and yet it felt important to remind people that even after admitting defeat we can still resist; that going back to the margins we fought from during Mubarak's time was acceptable as long as we continued to fight for basic human rights. But by early 2015 as I heard my sentence I had nothing left to say to any public. I could only write personal letters. The revolution, and indeed Egypt itself, would slowly fade out even from those letters, and by autumn 2015 even my personal words dried up. It has been months since I wrote a letter and more than a year since I've written an article. I have nothing to say: no hopes, no dreams, no fears, no warnings, no insights; nothing, absolutely nothing. I try to remember what I wrote for the Guardian five years ago on the last normal day of my life. I try to imagine who read that article and what impact it had on them, I try to remember what it was like when tomorrow seemed so full of possibility and my words seemed to have the power to influence (if only slightly) what that tomorrow would look like.

I can't really remember that. Now tomorrow will be exactly like today and yesterday and all the days preceding and all the days following, I have no influence over anything.

But one thing I do remember, one thing I know: the sense of possibility was real. It may have been naive to believe our dream could come true, but it was not foolish to believe that another world was possible. It really was. Or at least that's how I remember it.

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Destroyed buldings in the Khaldiyeh district of Syria's central city of Homs, July 2013. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images

Ahdaf Soueif
Egyptian novelist and commentator

* After Tunisia: Ahdaf Soueif on Egypt in 2011

I'm by the river on a sunny, gentle morning in January. All taken for granted, utterly dependable for thousands of years. The Nile, running south to north, opening up into the delta, the sun sailing across it, east to west. Together, they make the sign of the Ankh: the symbol of life.

Now the river is polluted with everything from sewage to factory chemicals, and, soon, we shall see the effects of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: the river will run low, maybe it will dry out. Our rich land, the black soil that gave Egypt its first name of Kemet, is being degraded, no longer replenished by the silt of the river, encroached and built on. We refuse to treat the sun as our friend and draw energy from it, instead we sign deals to import coal and deals to build a nuclear energy plant while our basic infrastructure is collapsing with lack of care and maintenance.

In the surge of action and optimism that came with the revolution in January 2011, people's delegations headed south to mend relations eroded by three decades of prideful neglect, to explore common development with the countries of the Nile Valley. All this is now gone - as has so much else of January 2011: lives and livelihoods, ideas and energy and hope.

Meanwhile, the ruling regime is trying to have it every which way. It affiliates itself with "The Glorious Revolution of 25 January" but pincers it between Police Day - also on 25 January - and the "Revolution of 30 June" when the people came out against the Muslim Brotherhood and the door was opened for the general to seize power. It sings the praises of "Egypt's youth", but wages a lethal war against every one of them identified with the revolution. Hundreds of them are behind bars. Dozens are disappeared. And, in an escalation last month, one was stabbed and left for dead in a central Cairo metro station. And these young people are virtually invisible; world governments and media insist on the old dichotomies: the military/business regime versus various Islamists.

Three Basic Facts.

One: the people came out in January 2011 under a straightforward banner: "Bread. Freedom. Social Justice".

Two: despite all claims to the contrary, no one made the people come out. Yes, activists articulated and politicised their demands; facilitated the protests and the sit-ins; tried to protect and save individuals from Mubarak, the police and the military; but the people - under a certain confluence of circumstances - came out of their own accord. And they knew what they wanted.

Three: the people are realising that they are further than ever from their aims. The killings they suffered, the fascist phase when they colluded in the killing of others - all count for nothing. The grand projects touted by the government - even if they are real - will have no effect on the lives of the poor. The number of ordinary citizens detained and ill-treated by the security services is higher than ever. Even in its chosen war, the "war on terror", the regime fails: our soldiers and citizens are killed in Sinai every day. The infrastructure of people's daily lives - hospitals, schools, transport, employment - is getting worse. The reasons people came out in 2011 are still there - are more acute.

But there are also differences between now and then. The euphoric hope generated by Ben Ali's swift departure from Tunis has been replaced by horror at the spectacle of Libya, Syria and Yemen. People feel they have tried what is available - revolution, political Islam - and nothing has worked. Where is the alternative, they ask.

The regime is trying to ensure that there is no alternative: associations are outlawed; student elections are cancelled; cultural spaces closed. Journalists and photographers and students and doctors and engineers endure harsh conditions in jail.

And so the eruption, when it comes, will be born of despair rather than hope. It will be the eruption of people who have borne witness to or averted their eyes from murder for five years - people who are no longer innocent. It will not be amenable to calls for non-violence, and anyway the most effective of the non-violent activists are dead or in prison or have left the country. As our fifth anniversary draws near, the dread in which the ruling regime holds it becomes more palpable by the day.

Personally, all I want for the revolution's fifth anniversary is that it should end without more young people murdered, detained or disappeared; that on 26 January the Nile and the sun are still in place. Then we will simmer along like this for a while and see what we look like when we come, once again, to the boil.
Ahdaf Soueif's Cairo: Memoir of a City Transformed is published by Bloomsbury.

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Egyptians stage a protest at the Palestinian embassy in Cairo in support of the Palestinians, October 2015. Photograph: Mohamed El-Raai/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Mourid Barghouti
Palestinian poet

After Tunisia: Mourid Barghouti on Palestine in 2011

In 2012 I wrote:"The setbacks are numerous. The revolutionary forces are still being demonised, killed, tortured or kidnapped, and sent to military trials. Justice is still far away and has not been done yet. Killers of the demonstrators are still at large and are being protected; the official media is still the same box of lies; misinformation and disinformation and the threat of conservative forces taking over have materialised. Revolution might be seen as a total failure and a sad event. But a revolution is not an event. Revolution is a process - a lengthy, laborious and demanding one. It has its ups and downs and its many surprises too."

That was the situation in Egypt under the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) and then the Muslim Brotherhood. It is still the same under the military rule of General Sisi.

The catastrophe goes back to the moment when the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists maliciously imposed the issue of "identity" on the people's revolution. "Vote for Islam" was the order of the day, thus shifting the conflict; it was no longer the people against the regime, but rather the people against one another. The battle line of the revolution, which was about the people's "physical" needs, was replaced with a "metaphysical" one. The Muslim Brotherhood took the new presidency and the new parliament and Mohamed Morsi chose Saudi Arabia of all countries for his first visit as the revolution's president!

The Muslim Brotherhood connived with Scaf against all secular revolutionary powers. This caused a detrimental split among the anti-Mubarak opposition front. The split allowed the military and the old regime to survive and win by allying themselves with one side then with the other, before getting rid of both. Morsi crowned the military and security generals with medals and praise but this did not prevent them from toppling him, making use of the real popular outrage against his performance.

I was very wrong, however, when I stated: "Arabs are leaving behind a repeated practice of coups that tainted their modern history with illegitimate and ruthless military rulers."

I did not expect the trajectory of the revolution to reach these lows and to take us back full circle to a triumphant and vengeful counter-revolution. I never had any trust in the Muslim Brotherhood nor believed their slogans, but I did not expect them to choose political suicide.

Today, many see "hope" and "optimism" as obscene words. But there are two reasons to feel encouraged. One: the physical causes of the revolution on 25 January 2011 - corruption, tyranny and poverty - still exist, and have an uglier face. The situation is so dire that it is not sustainable; the revolution is still possible because nothing else is. Two: for the millions of Egyptians who experienced that glorious moment and passed through its pain and joy, the discovery of their potential, self-esteem and courage will not be easily lost - the fact that they did it once is proof that they can do it again.

Laila Lalami
Moroccan writer

After Tunisia: Laila Lalami on Morocco in 2011

Morocco is often touted as the exception to the turbulence that the Arab spring has brought to North Africa and the Middle East. While the region was plunged into political unrest, sectarian infighting and even civil war, Morocco remained relatively calm. This is because, only a few weeks after popular protests took place in the kingdom, a new constitution was drafted and legislative elections were held.

But what do these reforms mean for Moroccans? Little, if one measures change by how the state - in the form of a police officer or a government official - interacts with the average citizen. Earlier this month, for example, trainee teachers took to the streets in Casablanca, Tangier, Fes, Marrakesh and Inezgane to protest new government measures that drastically cut their scholarships and take away job guarantees. They were met by police forces, and were brutally beaten. Later, the interior ministry released a statement suggesting that some of them had faked their injuries.

Furthermore, the Moroccan government continues to harass independent journalists who dare to cross its famous red lines: Islam, the king and the nation. Criticism of any part of this trinity is liable to land reporters in jail, often on charges that have nothing to do with journalism. Take, for instance, the case of Ali Anouzla, who had previously written critically about the monarchy, and who was accused in September 2013 of providing assistance to terrorists when he posted a link to an El País story about a propaganda video by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. He spent five weeks in prison before he was granted a conditional release. In this context, it is perhaps no surprise that the 2015 world press freedom index ranks Morocco at 130, below Afghanistan, South Sudan and Colombia.

The Makhzen (as the Moroccan state apparatus is traditionally referred to inside the country) is also particularly sensitive to criticism when it comes in the form of arts and culture. Last year, Nabil Ayouch 's movie , which takes a close look at prostitution in Marrakech, was censored in the kingdom. This was certainly not the first film to touch on the subject of prostitution, and it seems likely that at least some part of the reaction to the movie has its roots in its depiction of wealthy Gulf tourists as the principal customers of Moroccan sex workers. But for daring to show international audiences at Cannes and elsewhere what everyone in Morocco well knows, Ayouch was accused of damaging Morocco's image, and his movie was banned. Could there be anything more damaging to Morocco than people who prefer to live with their eyes closed, their ears stuffed and their mouths endlessly repeating that Morocco is "the exception"?

There are signs, however, that the "20 February movement" has served a larger purpose: it has demonstrated that popular pressure can force political change. In March 2012, 16-year-old Amina Filali killed herself after being pressured by her parents and a local judge into marrying her rapist. The marriage was made possible because of Article 475, a remnant of the French colonial code, which allows men to avoid statutory rape charges if they marry the minor with whom they are involved. The death of Filali sparked street demonstrations that ultimately led the Moroccan parliament, in a unanimous vote, to repeal Article 475 of the penal code.

So the 20 February movement may have failed in its immediate goals, but in showing Moroccans that sustained popular pressure can work its legacy cannot be discounted.

Laila Lalami's most recent novel, The Moor's Account, is published by Periscope.

Raja Shehadeh
Palestinian lawyer and writer

After Tunisia: Raja Shehadeh on Palestine in 2011

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'Syria now is a cruel battleground of contending forces with almost 3 million refugees and an unimaginable quarter of a million dead' ... Raja Shehadeh. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Five years ago I watched the inspiring and creative ways in which the Syrian people expressed their rebellion against the Assad regime, sometimes with dance, songs, graffiti and cartoons. I thought then that when a people rise up against oppression they are bound ultimately to win. I was wrong. In today's world, no people, certainly not in the contemporary Middle East region, can act independently, however creative the means they employ. The conflicting interests of the various powers surrounding and beyond the region all played their part in thwarting what began as a peaceful revolution against the longstanding oppressive and anti-democratic regime of the Assad dynasty. This was also true of Egypt, where the most oppressive and rich country in the region, Saudi Arabia, rallied with others to restore the ancien régime. In the case of Palestine it was the unflinching US support of Israel that enabled an increasingly rightwing government to thwart the enduring struggle of the Palestinian people for self-determination. And Syria now is a cruel battleground of contending forces with almost 3 million refugees and an unimaginable quarter of a million dead.

There has long been talk, especially by the neoconservatives, of a new Middle East fragmented not into the multi-confessional states that arose after the first world war but rather reduced to fragments on ethno/religious grounds. Instead of an Iraq there would be three statelets: one Sunni, one Shia and one Kurdish. And likewise with Syria and Lebanon. In this exclusivist Middle East, Israel as a Jewish state would not stand out as the only state organised on religious grounds.

There is no doubt that many among those now fighting in the Middle East deploy terror with devastating consequences for civilians. But the failure to distinguish between the freedom fighter, with a legitimate cause who should be supported by those countries claiming to support democracy, and the criminal terrorist has resulted in deepening the chaos in the region. US law gives terrorism too wide a definition, rendering legitimate resistance to occupation and oppression illegal. The same goes for many other western powers whose laws also prejudice the cause of law whether municipal or international, as a vehicle for peaceful change and transformation. The criminalisation of any contact with groups incorrectly described as terrorists often made potentially useful negotiations illegal.

Paying lip service to democracy yet failing to support those who seek it, as the west has repeatedly been guilty of doing, has encouraged many among the disenfranchised to become cynical and desperate, and encouraged some to rally behind those who are the true terrorists.

If those who failed to support the legitimate struggle of the Arab masses that began five years ago believed that this would bring about peace in the region, time has only shown how mistaken they were. The need for a resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is recognised by most countries and could serve as a catalyst for the pacification of the Middle East region. The question is: why is no one is doing it?

As I watch the region fall into greater chaos and the people's suffering worsening, only one thing gives me hope. After the first world war when the European powers fashioned the Middle East region in the manner they thought served their best interests, the woes of the people of the region did not spread to western countries. The Middle East suffered as Europe prospered from cheap oil and an unrivalled market for its military and other products. This time it is different. Not only are large numbers of refugees seeking asylum in Europe but terrorism is no longer a plight that only disrupts the life of the people of the region. The theatre of conflict has no borders, it is spreading into Europe. Perhaps this might motivate western powers who directly or through their surrogates have the means to take positive action to begin to work diligently and honestly to help bring an end to the wars raging in the Middle East, and enable democracy to take root.

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Libyan army forces form a checkpoint outside the city of Bani Walid, October 2012. Photograph: Ismail Zetouni/Reuters

Khaled Mattawa
Libyan poet and translator

The road to Benghazi begins at Labraq airport with its drafty barracks where luggage is delivered on a train of carts that passengers have to rummage through to retrieve their belongings. The 230km ride is interrupted by numerous checkpoints, which provide a sense of security, and dozens of vigilantes' speed bumps that make the ride twice as long as it should be. This time of year the Green Mountains of Cyrenaica are extravagantly beautiful with lush grass plains and dramatic skies.

My companion on the trip home is Ashraf Khalil, assistant professor and head of the electric engineering department at the University of Benghazi. He is a displaced refugee, having fled his house near the university back in October 2014 when the fighting forced it to close and made the western half of the city, controlled by Ansar al-Sharia and Isis, beyond the reach of its citizens.

Taking several shortcuts through bumpy side roads, we finally make it to the Al-Noor elementary school. We stand in a parking area that has huge engine oil-stains waiting for the children to clear out. At 1pm, Al-Noor becomes the University of Benghazi's College of Engineering. Inside, young men and women gather in groups chatting and sipping macchiatos as they wait for class. We hear a warplane flying over, and the students tell me that the explosions are probably from the Al-Sabri and Souk al-Hout front.

From the college I head to the Huna Benghazi (Here Is Benghazi!) festival. I arrive during the lunch break and find hundreds of people milling about waiting for the closing session, with dozen more streaming in as I talk to the organizers and catch up with friends. The weeklong celebration includes new plays, several concerts, poetry and fiction readings, a book fair and an arts exhibition. The mood is jubilant, but the chaos is palpable. Explosions again, probably from the Al‑Lethe front. Cigarette butts are everywhere; the wastebaskets are filled with discarded paper cups and spilling.

I leave the festival to visit the group of artists who run Tanarout, a new arts organisation. Tanarout screen European films almost exclusively in their tiny hall where they also hold creative writing and visual arts workshops for children and young artists. The power goes out as we talk. They turn on the generator briefly to make coffee. Briefly because gas and gas canisters are in short supply. The group is working with very little support and facing tremendous challenges for their selective approach. I salute them and we make plans to work together in the future.

It is early evening when I leave Tanarout. As I walk to the house where my displaced relatives are staying, I have to skip over piles of garbage oozing their now familiar smell. A nearby gas station has a long line of cars waiting to fill up. I hear explosions again, further away, perhaps from Beloun or El‑Hawwari.

Benghazi is a besieged, traumatised city fighting terrorism with a beleaguered military and a total lack of local leadership. My fellow Benghazians are also fighting a legacy of brutality, corruption and ineptitude, always with great spirit and too often with the same habits and tools. I have no doubt that Benghazi, seat of the Libyan revolution, will defeat terrorism and extremism, but it will take even more effort and numerous changes to undo all the damage the Gaddafi regime and the effort to replace him have wrought on the city's body and spirit. The revolution is not finished, and perhaps it has just begun.

Tamim al-Barghouti
Palestinian poet

After Tunisia: Tamim Al-Barghouti on Palestine in 2011

Reading what we all wrote in 2011 and 2012, one cannot but feel pain and anger, yet surprisingly, not despair. Due to a series of fatal mistakes, the route just got longer, but the destination remained unchanged, and the journey inevitable.

Like all major revolutions in modern history, 2011 can perhaps be described as a conflict between two ideas, two very different views of human freedom and forms of political organisation; Arab states; colonially imposed hierarchical centralised structures based on coercion and obedience, adorned with flags, anthems, borders, barbed wire and all the other trinkets of nationalism, were challenged by non-hierarchical network-based, narrative-led movements. For a moment in 2011, narrative replaced structure, conviction overcame coercion, volunteers defeated conscripts, massive decentralised leaderless networks of protesters following an idea, overwhelmed centralised hierarchies of soldiers, policemen or bureaucrats following orders.

In 2011, the narrative was anti-state, anti-police, anti-colonial, anti-Zionist and anti-capitalist. It was also pro-regional unity, be it Arab or Islamic, pro-democracy or pro‑social justice. Disagreements were manageable, because there was no hierarchy and, therefore, no coercion.

This narrative was betrayed by the Egyptian political elite, first by the Islamists then by the secularists. They agreed to a two-pronged unwritten compromise with the old regime. First, domestically, power was to be shared with the US's main client in Egypt, the American-armed, American-trained and American-funded Egyptian military. Second, regionally, there was to be no breakup of the strategic alliance with the US, no rethinking of the peace terms with Israel, relations were to remain very friendly with Saudi Arabia and hostile to Iran. The use of sectarianism to sustain such a policy was allowed, and even encouraged. Those who rejected the deal while in opposition agreed to it once in power.

This caused the consensus-generating narrative whose mobilising ability was evident in Tahrir Square to be replaced with warring identities: Islamic versus secular in Egypt and Sunni versus Shia in the region. The US's interests, Israel and oil, were thus preserved, and the major pan-Arab revolution(s) of 2011 turned into a series of civil conflicts with varying degrees of devastation.

The Egyptian military played both sides of the domestic divide and it now rules alone. In August 2013 the massacre it committed was the largest in the history of Cairo since the French invasion of 1798. The undead Draculas that are the Arab regimes knew they could not face a large mass of unarmed individuals, so they chose to kill children in order to turn large peaceful masses into small armed cells, and then cry terrorism. This, of course, only created a large mass of small armed cells that tore the whole system down. We are now witnessing a meltdown in the political order south of the Mediterranean and, in places, a meltdown of the social order as well.

Yet there is no room for despair. It got violent, but the demographic bulge that produced these unprecedented numbers of Arab youth, and the technological advancement that gave them an unprecedented ability to intercommunicate has made them uncontainable. States are failing and societies will have to manage without them. But societies are better equipped now to do so than ever before.

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Tunisian protesters at independence day celebrations, March 2015 . Photograph: Anis Mili/Reuters

Nouri Gana
Tunisian writer

After Tunisia: Nouri Gana on Tunisia in 2011

Over the last five years, Tunisia's image in national and international media has changed dramatically from being the cradle of the Arab spring to becoming the Arab spring's last hope. The disastrous degeneration of the popular uprisings into civil war (in Syria and Libya) or military rule (in Egypt) gradually consolidated Tunisia's positioning at the centre of an emerging narrative of exception. Yet, while this may point to the nonviolent achievements of the Tunisian revolution, it simultaneously sharpens the awareness of the enormity of the country's ongoing hardships.

No wonder the successive post-revolutionary governments have routinely pointed to the catastrophic turmoil in neighbouring Libya, not to mention the wars in Syria and Yemen, to distract from their leadership failures.

The failures of Tunisia's democratically elected officials are too numerous to enumerate - suffice it to mention their overall failure to fulfil the central promises of the revolution as summed up in its defining slogan: " Shughl, hurriya, karama wataniyya", that is, "Employment, freedom and citizenly dignity". The two terrorist attacks that targeted tourists inside the Bardo National Museum on 18 March 2015 and on the sandy beach of a Sousse hotel on 26 June 2015 have decimated the tourism industry, and left thousands of families without income. The clampdown on irregular migration to Europe and the ongoing civil war in Libya further exacerbated job losses and made an already bad situation even worse.

Tunisia's successive post-revolutionary governments have failed more drastically when it comes to the issues of freedom and dignity, even though Tunisia boasts one of the more progressive constitutions in the world, adopted on 26 January 2014. Nonviolent demonstrations have routinely been curbed violently, while police brutality and torture of detainees continue to be practised widely in prisons across the country, fuelling endless debates about the return of the authoritarian state. Civil liberties were dealt their worst blow, though, on 25 July 2015 when the Tunisian parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of an anti-terrorism law that endorses capital punishment, and so vaguely defines terrorism that ordinary protesters such as those who once brought down Ben Ali's regime could now face terrorist charges. Meanwhile, the Islamist-secularist polarisation of the public sphere resulted in so many seductive but unproductive debates about Tunisia's national identity, the future of Islam and the Arabic language, all of which exerted an increasing pressure on religious, linguistic, racial and sexual minorities.

Ironically, the very engineers of those debates - namely, the leaders and supporters of the Ennahda (Renaissance) and Nidaa Tounes (The Call of Tunisia) parties - formed a coalition government after the 2014 parliamentary and presidential elections. The marriage of convenience between these two old foes has been seen by some as another example of the politics of concession, moderation and consensus building, which has recently earned the Tunisian Quartet the 2015 Nobel prize for peace; but others are less than enthralled, given that such an alliance practically ends with the system of checks and balances, and reduces to irrelevance the role of the opposition.

It may be hard in the end to speculate on the future of the Tunisian revolution, especially with a widening narrative of national dissatisfaction that goes as far as to call for the return of Ben Ali, on the one hand, and, on the other, the continued global perception of Tunisia as a country capable of containing its internal political disputes peacefully. A lot needs to be done lest the future of the Tunisian exception should quickly become synonymous with the future of an illusion.

Nouri Gana is the editor of The Making of the Tunisian Revolution: Contexts, Architects, Prospect s, published by Edinburgh UP.

Joumana Haddad
Lebanese writer

After Tunisia: Joumana Haddad on Lebanon in 2011

What do you say to foreign friends who ask you if it is safe to visit Lebanon these days? Do you enlighten them about the exciting nightlife in Beirut, or do you discuss the dangerous implications of Hezbollah's involvement in Syria? Do you tell them that Chanel and Louboutin are on sale here, or that we are drowning in dumps (literally)? Do you inform them that they can "swim in the morning and ski in the afternoon", or that our deputies still haven't been able to elect a president? Do you go into raptures about how proud you are to be Lebanese, or do you tell them that you always spend your mornings preparing a plan B in case war breaks out all over again?

A Lebanese revolution, you say? We urgently need one, that's for sure. But it's not going to happen any time soon, because we are the heroes of denial: many Lebanese praise this as a survival instinct, but it is actually killing us, step by step, lie after lie. People who criticise this country's decay are seen as discouraging the tourists with their pessimism. But this has nothing to do with pessimism: it is called facing the ugly truth.

How many more times will people in the Arab world be forced to choose between one monster and another?

We are the collateral damage of the so-called revolutions nearby. Specifically, the Syrian revolution. It is enough to read some of the graffiti on Beirut's walls, which varies between anti-regime and pro-Assad slogans, in order to assess the weight of the situation in Syria on Lebanon's destiny. Almost all Lebanese know that the war could at any moment be imported to Beirut. The real disaster in Syria today is humanitarian: washing blood off the streets has become routine. The smell of death is everywhere, and Syrians die by the second. People are being murdered like worthless flies because, on one hand, a criminal dictator doesn't want to relinquish power and is committing mass murder because of that; while on the other hand, religious extremists, who are taking us 500 years backwards, are being heavily armed by regional allies who are willing to destroy the world in the name of Islam. How many more times must this pattern be repeated in the Arab world? How many more times will the people be forced to choose between one monster and another? And who are the real victims of this mayhem?

We all know them: the real victims are the civilians. We had them here, in Lebanon, not long ago. They are mere "casualties" who cease to have names, identities, dreams or lovers. They are simply a "necessary price" that has to be paid in order to nourish the "holy cause". And the dead all look alike in the painful, deafening silence of their bodies.

In case you are wondering, what I said above was not a figure of speech; I do indeed spend my mornings preparing a plan B in case war breaks out in Lebanon all over again; a plan that involves a foreign country, a little bit of luck and a great deal of adaptability. Because I know that in Lebanon, as the French writer Jean Giraudoux so intelligently put it, peace is "just an interval between two wars". How is that for a revolution?

Joumana Haddad's books include I Killed Scheherazade, Superman Is an Arab and The Third Sex. You can follow her on twitter @joumana333.

* Libyan novelist Hisham Matar, who wrote for the 2011 feature, was unavailable to contribute this time.

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'I was terribly wrong' - writers look back at the Arab spring five years on

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In January 2011, days after the first uprising in Tunisia and the protests in Tahrir Square, the Guardian invited leading writers from across the Arab world to reflect on the revolutionary fervour sweeping the region. Then, they expressed great optimism for the future. Here, they revisit their responses and ask, is there still room for hope?

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A look at turmoil in Egypt since the 2011 revolution

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CNN's Becky Anderson looks at how events have unfolded in Egypt since the revolution began in January 2011.

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Protesters gather at Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo [EPA]

January 2011: Activists in Egypt call for an uprising in their own country, to protest against poverty, unemployment, government corruption and the rule of president Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for three decades.
January 25:
On a national holiday to commemorate the police forces, Egyptians take to the streets in large numbers, calling it a "day of rage".

Thousands march in downtown Cairo, heading towards the offices of the ruling National Democratic Party, as well as the foreign ministry and the state television. Similar protests are reported in other towns across the country.

After a few hours of relative calm, police and demonstrators clash; police fire tear gas and use water cannons against demonstrators crying out "Down with Mubarak'' in Cairo's main Tahrir Square.

Protests break out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the Nile Delta cities of Mansura and Tanta and in the southern cities of Aswan and Assiut, witnesses say.

Hours after the countrywide protests begin, the interior ministry issues a statement blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's technically banned but largest opposition party, for fomenting the unrest - a claim that the Muslim Brotherhood denies.

Protest organisers heavily relied on social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.

The interior minister says three protesters and a police officer have been killed during the anti-government demonstrations.

January 26: A protester and a police officer are killed in central Cairo as anti-government demonstrators pelt security forces with rocks and firebombs for a second day, according to witnesses.

Tahrir Square in central Cairo became
the focal point of the protests [AFP]

Police use tear gas, water cannons and batons to disperse protesters in Cairo. Witnesses say that live ammunition is also fired into the air.

In Suez, the scene of bloody clashes the previous day, police and protesters clash again.

Medical personnel in Suez say 55 protesters and 15 police officers have been injured.

Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Barack Obama, the US president, tells reporters that the government should "demonstrate its responsiveness to the people of Egypt" by recognising their "universal rights".

Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, says he believes "the Arab citizen is angry, is frustrated".

January 27: Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog turned democracy advocate, arrives in Egypt to join the protests.

ElBaradei says he is ready to "lead the transition" in Egypt if asked.

Meanwhile, protests continue across several cities. Hundreds have been arrested, but the protesters say they will not give up until their demand is met.

Protesters clash with police in Cairo neighbourhoods. Violence also erupts in the city of Suez again, while in the northern Sinai area of Sheikh Zuweid, several hundred bedouins and police exchange live gunfire, killing a 17-year-old man.

In Ismailia, hundreds of protesters clash with police.

Lawyers stage protests in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta town of Toukh, north of Cairo.

Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry Messenger services are disrupted.

January 28: Internet and mobile phone text message users in Egypt report major disruption to services as the country prepares for a new wave of protests after Friday prayers.

The Associated Press news agency says an elite special counterterrorism force has been deployed at strategic points around Cairo in the hours before the planned protests.

Egypt's interior ministry also warns of "decisive measures".

Meanwhile, a lawyer for the opposition Muslim Brotherhood says that 20 members of the officially banned group have been detained overnight.

Egypt remains on edge, as police and protesters clash throughout the country.

Eleven civilians are killed in Suez and 170 injured. No deaths are reported in Cairo. At least 1,030 people get injured countrywide.

Troops are ordered onto the streets in Cairo, Suez and Alexandria, but does not interfere in the confrontations between police and protesters.

The riots continue throughout the night, even as Mubarak announces that he dismisses his government.

January 29: In a speech delivered shortly after midnight, Mubarak announces that he has sacked the cabinet, but he himself refuses to step down. His whereabouts are unknown.

Egyptian soldiers secure Cairo's famed antiquities museum, protecting thousands of priceless artifacts, including the gold mask of King Tutankhamun, from looters, but some lo.

People cheered and welcomed troops when the army was deployed on January 28

The greatest threat to the Egyptian Museum, which draws millions of tourists a year, appears to come from the fire engulfing the ruling party headquarters next door the night before, set ablaze by anti-government protesters.

Thousands of anti-government protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square stand their ground, despite troops firing into the air in a bid to disperse them.

Mubarak appoints a vice-president for the first time during his three decades in power. The man now second-in-command is Omar Suleiman, the country's former spy chief, who has been working closely with Mubarak during most of his reign.

Al Jazeera's sources indicate that the military has now also been deployed to the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Al Jazeera's correspondent in the city of Suez says the city jad witnessed a "completely chaotic night", but that the streets were quiet as day broke.

In a statement released in Berlin, the leaders of Britain, France and Germany say they are "deeply worried about the events in Egypt".

The Gulf Co-operation Council, a loose economic and political bloc of states in the Gulf, says it wants a "stable Egypt".

The US embassy in Cairo has advised all Americans currently in Egypt to consider leaving as soon as possible, given the unrest. The UK authorities have advised against all but essential travel to the country for its citizens.

January 30: Thousands of protesters remain in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

The crowds are cheering when ElBaradei addresses protesters in the square, saying "What we started can never be pushed back".

Turkey has announces that it is sending aircraft to evacuate its citizens, after the US embassy in Cairo has advised all Americans currently in Egypt to consider leaving as soon as possible.

January 31: Mubarak still refuses to step down, amid growing calls for his resignation. Protesters continue to defy the military-imposed curfew. About 250,000 people gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square and hundreds march through Alexandria.

Internet access across Egypt is still shoddy according to most reports.

Egypt's new vice-president promises dialogue with opposition parties in order to push through constitutional reforms.

Protesters remain camped out in Tahrir Square from a variety of political and demographic groups.

The White House says the Egyptian government must engage with its people to resolve current unrest. Obama's spokesperson, Robert Gibbs, says the crisis in Egypt "is not about appointments, it's about actions ... They have to address freedoms that the people of Egypt seek".

Opposition groups continue to call for a "million man march" and a general strike on Tuesday to commemorate one week since the protests began. Meanwhile, the military reiterates that it will not attempt to hurt protesters.

The EU calls for free and fair elections in Egypt.

Worldwide investors continue withdrawing significant capital from Egypt amid rising unrest.

Mubarak names his new cabinet on state television, among them, Mahmoud Wagdi, sworn in as the new interior minister.

Egypt releases the six Al Jazeera journalists who were arrested in Cairo.

Egyptian film star Omar Sharif, known for his role in Lawrence of Arabia, has added his voice to those calling for Hosni Mubarak to step down, Reuters reports.

Former US president Jimmy Carter calls the unrest in Egypt an "earth-shaking event", and says he guesses Hosni Mubarak "will have to leave", the US Ledger-Enquirer reports.

Israel urges the world to tone down Mubarak criticism amid Egypt unrest to preserve stability in the region, the Haaretz newspaper reports, citing senior Israeli officials.

President Mubarak tells his new prime minister, Ahmad Shafiq, to keep government subsidies and cut prices.

Al Jazeera says its broadcast signal across the Arab region is facing interference on a scale it has not experienced before.

February 1: Hosni Mubarak announces in a televised address that he will not run for re-election but refuses to step down from office - the central demand of the protesters.

Mubarak promises reforms to the constitution, particularly Article 76, which makes it virtually impossible for independent candidates to run for office. He says his government will focus on improving the economy and providing jobs.

The official unemployment rate in Egypt is about 10%
but the real rate is believed to be much higher [Reuters]

Mohamed ElBaradei, the Egyptian opposition figure who returned to Cairo to take part in the protests, says Mubarak's pledge not to stand again for the presidency was an act of deception.

Abdelhalim Kandil, leader of Egypt's Kifaya (Enough) opposition movement, says Mubarak's offer not to serve a sixth term as Head of State is not enough.

US President Barack Obama praises the Egyptian military for their patriotism and for allowing peaceful demonstrations. He says only the Egyptian people can determine their leaders.

Shortly after his speech, clashes break out between pro-Mubarak and anti-government protesters in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Al Jazeera's correspondent reports.

Khalid Abdel Nasser, son of the former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, joins the protest in Tahrir Square.

Motaz Salah Al Deen, spokesman for Egypt's opposition Al Wafd Party, says a self-described "new national coalition for change" has been formed.

Number of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square are revised to more than a million people. Thousands more take to the streets throughout Egypt, including in Alexandria and Suez.

February 2: Preparations begin for another day of demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak's regime. The army is still deployed with tanks throughout different positions in and around Tahrir Square.

Google improves its speak2tweet technology for the people in Egypt.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Boston entrepreneur Hadid Habbab has called for volunteers to help find his missing friend, Google executive Wael Ghonim, who went missing during the protests of the past week.

Clashes between anti-government and pro-Mubarak protesters break out in Alexandria.

Internet services are at least partially restored in Cairo after a five-day blackout aimed at stymieing protests.

Egypt's newly appointed vice-president says anti-government protests must stop before dialogue can begin with opposition groups.

Violent clashes rage for much of the day around Tahrir Square in central Cairo. Up to 1,500 people are injured, some of them seriously, and by the day's end at least three deaths are reported by the Reuters news agency quoting officials.

Pro-democracy protesters say the military allowed thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters, armed with sticks and knives, to enter the square.

February 3: Bursts of heavy gunfire early aimed at anti-government demonstrators in Tahrir [Liberation] Square, leave at least five people dead and several more wounded, according to reports from Cairo.

Sustained bursts of automatic weapons fire and powerful single shots begin at around around 4am local time (02:00GMT) and continue for more than an hour.

February 4: Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square for what they have termed the "Day of Departure".

Scores were injured in clashes between Mubarak supporters and pro-democracy protesters [Reuters]

Chants urging Hosni Mubarak to leave reverberate across the square, as the country enters its eleventh day of unrest and mass demonstrations.

February 5: Thousands who remain inside Tahrir Square fear an approaching attempt by the military to evacuate the square.

Differing reports of how many have died in the last 11 days of protests and clashes surface.

The Egyptian health minister says 11 people have died, while the United Nations says 300 people may have been killed across the country since protests began. News agencies have counted more than 150 dead in morgues in Alexandria, Suez and Cairo.

Reuters quotes Egyptian state TV as saying "terrorists" have targeted an Israel-Egypt gas pipeline in northern Sinai.

The leadership of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party resigns, including Gamal Mubarak, the son of Hosni Mubarak. The new secretary-general of the party is Hossam Badrawi, seen as a member of the liberal wing of the party.

February 6: The Muslim Brotherhood says in a statement that it "has decided to participate in a dialogue round in order to understand how serious the officials are in dealing with the demands of the people".

Banks officially re-open for 3.5 hours, and traffic police are back on the streets in Cairo, in attempts to get the capital to start returning to normal.

Al Jazeera correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin is detained by the Egyptian military. He is released seven hours later, following a concerted appeal by the network and Mohyeldin's supporters.

Protests continue in Tahrir Square; there are reports of gunshots fired by the army into the air near the cordon set up inside the barricades, near the Egyptian museum.

Leaked US diplomatic cables suggest Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, long sought to demonise the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in his contacts with skeptical US officials.

Reports say Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, spoke with Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafiq (on February 5), emphasising the need to ensure the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people are met, also stressing that incidents of harassment and detention of activists and journalists must stop.

February 7: Thousands are camping out in Tahrir Square, refusing to budge. While banks have reopened, schools and the stock exhange remain closed.

A symbolic funeral procession is held for journalist Ahmed Mahmoud, shot as he filmed the clashes between protesters and riot police from his Cairo office. Protesters are demanding an investigation into the cause of his death.

Egypt's government approve a 15 per cent raise in salaries and pensions in a bid to appease the angry masses.

Wael Ghonim, a Google executive and political activist arrested by state authorities, is released; some see him as a potential figurehead for the pro-democracy camp.

February 8: Protesters continue to gather at Tahrir Square, which now resembles a tented camp. Protesters in the capital also gather to protest outside parliament.

The city sees possibly the biggest crowd of demonstrators, including Egyptians who have returned from abroad and other newcomers mobilised by the release of activist Wael Ghonim.

Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, warns that his government "can't put up with continued protests" for a long time.

Separately, Suleiman also announces a slew of constitutional and legislative reforms, to be undertaken by yet to be formed committees.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief, says genuine dialogue is needed to end the current crisis, adding that a peaceful transition is crucial.

February 9: Labour unions join protesters in the street, with some of them calling for Mubarak to step down while others simply call for better pay. Masssive strikes start rolling throughout the country.

Famous Arab pop star Tamer Hosni visits Tahrir Square, but protesters are unimpressed and angered. Hosni previously made statements telling the demonstrators to leave the square, saying that Mubarak had offered them concessions.

Thirty-four political prisoners, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, were released on Tuesday, according to Egyptian state television.

Human Rights Watch says that 302 people have been killed since the start of Egypt's pro-democracy uprising. Based on visits to a number of hospitals in Egypt, the organisation says that records show the death toll has reached 232 in Cairo, 52 in Alexandria and 18 in Suez.

Attributing the information to Egyptian security officials, Reuters reports that several protesters suffered gunshot wounds and one was killed when 3,000 protesters took to the streets in Wadi al-Jadid, where clashes from the previous nights carried over to the early hours.

Citing medics, AFP news agency reports five were dead and 100 are wounded in the clashes that have been going on for two days.

Ahmed Aboul Ghiet, Egypt's foreign minister, tells al-Arabiya network on Wednesday that the Egyptian army could step in to "protect the country from an attempt by some adventurers to take power".

And in an interview with American public broadcaster PBS, Aboul Ghiet says that he is "infuriated" by the US's initial response to the unrest in the country, and that he finds the Obama administration's advice on political transition "not at all" helpful."

February 10: The newly appointed Culture Minister, Gaber Asfour, quits. His family says it's due to health reasons but Egypt's main daily newspaper al-Ahram says Asfour, who is also a writer, was criticised by his literary colleagues for taking the post. He was the only new face in the new cabinet.

Protesters in Tahrir Square waved their shoes in dismay as Mubarak said he was staying in power [Reuters]

The Egyptian prime minister forms a committee that will gather evidence on "the illegitimate practices" that resulted from the events of recent weeks. The committee will receive reports from citizens and civil society organisations and then present a report to the public prosecutor.

The criminal court in Egypt has endorsed the decision of banning three former ministers from leaving the country and the government has also frozen their assets.

The security chief for the Egyptian city of Wadi al-Jadid (New Valley) is sacked and the police captain who ordered police to shoot at protesters is arrested and will be tried.

Amid rumours that he will be stepping down tonight, Mubarak gives a televised speech which he says is "from the heart". He repeats his promise to not run in the next presidential elections and to "continue to shoulder" his responsibilties in the "peaceful transition" that he says will take place in September.

Protesters in Tahrir Square react with fury when Mubarak says he's remaining in power until September. Protesters wave their shoes in the air, and demand the army join them in revolt.

February 11: After tens of thousands people take to the streets across Egypt in angry protests, Hosni Mubarak resigns as president and hands over power to the army
The announcement is made by Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, just after 16:00 GMT.

Earlier in the day, masses of protesters had descended on the state television building in Cairo and the presidential palace in Heliopolis, as well as in Tahrir Square.

February 12: People celebrate in Tahrir Square until early morning. Pro-democracy protesters start to clean the square.

The country's new military rulers promise to hand power to an elected, civilian government and pledged that Egypt will remain committed to all international treaties - in an apparent nod to its 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

State television says travel bans are being imposed on several of the country's former ministers, including the former prime minister Ahmed Nazif, who was sacked by Mubarak before he stepped down.

February 13: Soldiers try to remove the remaining protesters in Tahrir Square and their tents are dismantled. Traffic flows through the square for the first time since the protests began.

The cabinet spokesman says the cabinet, appointed when Mubarak was still in office, will not undergo a major reshuffle and will stay to oversee a political transformation in the coming months.

About 2,000 policemen hold a protest outside the interior ministry, demanding better wages and trying to clear the bad reputation they have.

Some other public sector workers and bank employees are also protesting in Alexandria and other cities.

February 14: Protesters leave Tahrir Square in the morning but a few thousands return later, most of them protesting against the police.

Police, ambulance drivers and other workers are holding separate demonstrations.

The military leadership issues "Communique No 5", calling for national solidarity and criticising strike action. it urges workers to play their role in reviving the economy.

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Protesters gather at Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo [EPA] January 2011: Activists in Egypt call for an uprising in their own country, to protest against poverty, unemployment, government corruption and the rule of president Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for three decades.

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Egypt

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

Beginning in December 2010, unprecedented mass demonstrations against poverty, corruption, and political repression broke out in several Arab countries, challenging the authority of some of the most entrenched regimes in the Middle East and North Africa. Such was the case in Egypt, where in 2011 a popular uprising forced one of the region's longest-serving and most influential leaders, Pres. Ḥosnī Mubārak, from power.

The first demonstrations occurred in Tunisia in December 2010, triggered by the self-immolation of a young man frustrated by Tunisia's high unemployment rate and rampant police corruption. Rallies calling for Pres. Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to step down spread throughout the country, with police often resorting to violence to control the crowds. As clashes between police and protesters escalated, Ben Ali announced a series of economic and political reforms in an unsuccessful attempt to end the unrest. Demonstrations continued, forcing Ben Ali to flee the country. The apparent success of the popular uprising in Tunisia, by then dubbed the Jasmine Revolution, inspired similar movements in other countries, including Egypt, Yemen, and Libya. ( See also Libya Revolt of 2011.)

In Egypt, demonstrations organized by youth groups, largely independent of Egypt's established opposition parties, took hold in the capital and in cities around the country. Protesters called for Mubārak to step down immediately, clearing the way for free elections and democracy. As the demonstrations gathered strength, the Mubārak regime resorted to increasingly violent tactics against protesters, resulting in hundreds of injuries and deaths. Mubārak's attempts to placate the protesters with concessions, including a pledge to step down at the end of his term in 2011 and naming Omar Suleiman as vice president-the first person to serve as such in Mubārak's nearly three-decade presidency-did little to quell the unrest. After almost three weeks of mass protests in Egypt, Mubārak stepped down as president, leaving the Egyptian military in control of the country.

Although protesters in Egypt focused most of their anger on domestic issues such as poverty and government oppression, many observers noted that political change in Egypt could impact the country's foreign affairs, affecting long-standing policies. Central elements of Egypt's foreign policy under Mubārak and his predecessor as president, Anwar el-Sādāt, such as Egypt's political-military alignment with the United States and the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, embraced by Egypt's leaders but unpopular with the Egyptian public, could be weakened or rejected under a new regime.

In this special feature, Britannica provides background and context for the events unfolding in Egypt-shedding light on the political, economic, and social tensions that simmered for decades and erupted early in 2011.

Egypt facts and figures

Background

Additional information on Egypt can be found in the following articles:

Timelines of events

1952

Angered by the continuing domination of Egyptian affairs by former colonial ruler Great Britain and by economic inequalities in Egypt, a group of junior Egyptian military officers calling themselves the Free Officers stages a coup, forcing King Farouk into exile. Following the coup, Egypt is governed by the Revolutionary Command Council, a newly formed executive body led by a figurehead president, Gen. Muḥammad Naguib. The RCC institutes popular reforms including a land reform law that redistributes land held by Egypt's elite.

1956

The United States, Britain, and the World Bank withdraw support for the construction of the Aswan High Dam, the centerpiece of Nasser's economic development program. In response, Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal, previously controlled by British and French interests. Britain, France, and Israel launch an invasion to reestablish control over the canal zone but are forced by the United States and the Soviet Union to withdraw. Following nationalization of the Suez Canal, a number of foreign-owned companies in Egypt are nationalized.

1967

The June War begins when Israel reacts to an apparent Arab mobilization with preemptive air strikes against Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. Israel quickly wins a decisive victory in the subsequent ground fighting, gaining control of the Sinai Peninsula along with the West Bank and the Golan Heights. The defeat, a national humiliation for Egypt, damages the credibility of the Nasser regime and increases Egypt's dependence on Soviet military aid.

1974

Sādāt's program of economic liberalization, meant to attract foreign investment, is officially announced. Known as infitāḥ (Arabic: "opening"), the effort is hampered by Egypt's complicated bureaucracy, which makes doing business in Egypt difficult.

January 25, 2011

Thousands gather in Cairo and several other Egyptian cities to demonstrate against poverty and political repression. Protesters chanting anti-Mubārak slogans clash with police, who use water cannons and tear gas against the crowds.

November 24, 2011

As clashes begin to subside, the government issues an apology for the deaths of about 40 protesters.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces announces the appointment of Kamal al-Ganzouri as prime minister. Ganzouri, an economist, previously served as prime minister under Mubārak from 1996 to 1999.

John M. Cunningham.

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Egypt Uprising of 2011 | Causes, Impact & Legacy

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Beginning in December 2010, unprecedented mass demonstrations against poverty, corruption, and political repression broke out in several Arab countries, challenging the authority of some of the most entrenched regimes in the Middle East and North Africa. Such was the case in Egypt, where in 2011 a

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Having trouble digesting the Egypt revolution? Not sure about the latest events and why they matter? Or just curious to learn more about Egypt in general?

You've come to the right place. The Huffington Post is aggregating our comprehensive coverage into easily-digestible nuggets below to help those who feel overwhelmed. This page is 100% human-curated. It will be fluid and changing as major developments happen, so please keep checking back. And please share it with your friends, family and colleagues.

You can find our latest live blog here and get all the context you need below! Have a tip to share? Call 00-1-315-636-0962 or email us at egypt@huffingtonpost.com.

What's Going On In Egypt?: Protests started on Tuesday, January 25, when -- inspired by the successful revolution in Tunisia -- thousands began taking to the streets to protest poverty, rampant unemployment, government corruption and autocratic governance of President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled the country for 30 years. These were the first protests on such a large scale in Egypt since the 1970s. Read more here.

Why Egypt Matters: Why is the story gaining traction? There are a number of factors that make Egypt's unrest important, in both that country, the Middle East, and the world. Click here to see the top reasons why Egypt should matter to you.

What It's Being Called: The Egyptian revolution is also referred to as the Egyptian Protests, Days of Rage, the Papyrus Revolution and the Lotus Revolution.

Quick Facts About Egypt: Established in 3100 B.C., Egypt today has a population of approximately 79 million. Its people speak Arabic and 99% are Egyptian. The country staged its first modern revolution in 1919 and established independence in 1922. Continued instability due to remaining British influence led to a second revolution in 1952 and the creation of the Egyptian Republic in 1953.

TIMELINE OF KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Tuesday, 1/25: First Day Of Demonstrations

Wednesday, 1/26: Protests Resume For Second Day

Thursday, 1/27: Egypt Shuts Down The Internet

Friday, 1/28: Mubarak Speaks, Says He'll Form A New Government

Saturday, 1/29: Anonymous Internet Users Help Egypt Communicate

Sunday, 1/30: Hillary Clinton: Egypt Must Transition To Democracy

Monday, 1/31: Egypt's New Government Is Announced, Sworn In

Tuesday, 2/1: President Mubarak Says He Won't Run For Re-Election

Wednesday, 2/2: Internet Service Returns In Egypt

Thursday, 2/3: Foreign Journalists Rounded Up

Friday, 2/4: "Day of Departure" Protests Held Across Egypt

Saturday, 2/5: Members Of Ruling Party Leadership Resign

Sunday, 2/6: Government Agrees On Concessions

Monday, 2/7: Google Executive Released In Egypt

Tuesday, 2/8: Freed Activist Energizes Protests

Wednesday, 2/9: Widespread Labor Strikes Throughout Egypt

Thursday, 2/10: Despite Rumors, Mubarak Refuses To Step Down

Friday, 2/11: Mubarak Resigns As President, Leaves Cairo

ON THE GROUND

Award-Winning Egyptian Actor Mahmoud Kabil :

"[T]hat feeling of being uncertain, it's a lousy feeling. When you don't have anybody to protect you, no police, no army, no nothing, and you have to rely on yourself." Full Q&A here.

Deputy Middle East Director for Human Rights Watch Joe Stork :
"The atmosphere in Suez is tense; the big complaint is the absence of security. There is a lot of rubble in the streets from stone-throwing, street battles etc. The army is out in force." Read more.

Egyptian-born American Sahar Taman :
"[I]t is understandable why Egyptian citizens are on the streets today, braving tear gas and rubber bullets, defying curfews and enduring electronic blackouts. Quite simply, they have seen thirty years of suppression and intimidation, and they have had enough." Read more.

Follow our comprehensive Twitter list of more than 100 for on the ground reports in real-time. Sulia is also aggregating real-time updates from Egypt experts here.

WHO'S WHO

BIO: Pres. Hosni Mubarak

BIO: V.P. Omar Suleiman

BIO: Mohamad ElBaradei

BIO: Muslim Brotherhood

BIO: Egyptian Military

BIO: Egyptian Police

PHOTOS

Egypt Celebrates

On The Ground Pictures

First Day Of Protests

Second Day Of Protests

Tweets On The Ground

U.S. Protests In Support

VIDEOS

YouTube's CitizenTube

WATCH: The Most Dramatic

Protest Videos

WATCH: Protestor Shot By Authorities (GRAPHIC)

WATCH: 8-Year-Old Schools

President Mubarak

WATCH: President Mubarak

Spoofed On SNL

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Having trouble digesting the Egypt revolution? Not sure about the latest events and why they matter? Or just curious to learn more about Egypt in general? You've come to the right place. The Huffington Post is aggregating our comprehensive coverage into easily-digestible nuggets below to help those who feel overwhelmed.

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100 words every high school graduate should know

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100 words every high school graduate should know

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100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know

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100 words every high school freshman should know

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100 words every high school freshman should know

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As a word lover, I'm crazy about the produced by American Heritage Dictionary. I must not be alone either, since my previous two posts, on The 100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know and The 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know , are among my most visited. So, here's post #3, on their book titled 100 Words Every High School Freshman Should Know .

As with the other lists, these words are arbitrarily selected by the folks at American-Heritage. If you are, or have been, a high school freshman and don't know some of them, don't feel too bad. Just look at it as an opportunity to expand your vocabulary. Also as with the other lists, I've linked each word to its definition so you can check your knowledge.

If you'd like to take the free quiz (on all 100 words) click HERE .
***** Make a blogger's day. Leave a comment in the space below.

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100 Words Every High School Freshman Should Know

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As a word lover, I'm crazy about the produced by American Heritage Dictionary. I must not be alone either, since my previous two posts, on The 100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know and The 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know , are among my most visited.

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https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/137567

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http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/edit.shtml

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The four steps for making poetry accessible

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The four steps for making poetry accessible

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For students of all ages, discussing poetry can sometimes seem intimidating. Poetry often comes off as more abstract than prose, and students tend to get the impression that it will be more complicated than other types of literature. But that couldn't be further from the truth. This poetry month, I think it's time we open our minds to some new ways to make poetry more accessible for our students.

When I discuss poetry with my (sometimes resistant) undergrad students, I ask specific questions that pull intuitive insights from them. And even though I follow these steps for college-age students, this methodology makes poetry more approachable for students at all levels, especially middle and high school students who are more likely to have critical discussions about literature in the classroom.

Here's the question guide I use when discussing poetry with my students:

1. Open with a discussion about the title and form

To get your students' wheels turning about a new piece of poetry, start with questions they can answer without hesitation. These can be simple yes or no questions about their first impressions. Then, you can ask them to dive a little deeper into why they had those impressions.

These sorts of questions dust off the cobwebs and help students feel more comfortable speaking out loud about their ideas. Once they're at ease expressing their opinions about their surface-level observations of a piece, they'll be more willing to dive deeper.

Ask questions like:

Were you intrigued by the title of the piece?

Did the poem match your expectation after reading the title?

Do you notice anything interesting about the structure or form?

2. Encourage students to focus on an emotional, gut reaction

Ask students how a piece of poetry made them feel. If you find your students are hesitant to be a bit more vulnerable and discuss their own emotions, consider rephrasing your question to focus on the mood of the piece.

Once your students have articulated the mood and tone of a poem, encourage them to explore any emotions they felt while reading the piece and why they may have felt that way. The "whys" are the most important part of these discussions and encourage deeper levels of critical thinking from your students.

Ask questions like:

How did the piece make you feel?

Were you surprised by anything?

How would you describe the mood or tone of the piece?

If there were characters in the piece, how did they seem to feel?

3. Draw connections to other pieces or experiences

Make comparisons between other pieces of literature and real life. Students often make connections to songs, movies, and TV shows and sometimes to their own lives, and you can help them connect these dots.

In a recent discussion, some of my students had interesting interpretations of "Summer Solstice, New York City" by Sharon Olds. A scene in the poem where police officers are trying to save a suicidal man reminded some of them of a procedural drama like Law and Order. This comparison helped them better visualize the scene and dig into its meaning.

Then, at the end of the poem, in a moment of kindness and sympathy, the police officers offer the man a cigarette. The students were surprised by this and cited TV shows and media to show how their expectations were subverted, which helped the poem have an even deeper impact.

Ask questions like:

Did the piece remind you of any other literature?

Did it remind you of other popular culture like music, movies, or TV shows?

Were you reminded of any of your own life experiences?

Does anything about the poem's similarities or dissimilarities to those things surprise you?

4. Finally, ask the tough questions

Now that the group has fully warmed up, go into higher-level, open-ended questions. These questions encourage deeper thinking and help students consider the larger ideas at hand. Again, ask them "why." If students can express why they believe a poem is making an important observation about the world, their analytical skills will be improved.

For example, in the poem "This Is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams, the speaker describes how "delicious," "sweet" and "cold" plums he ate were, and he apologizes for eating them because the reader was likely saving them for breakfast. In this instance, you might ask your students why the speaker describes the plums the way he does, and what he might be saying beyond a strictly literal interpretation--about life and being human.

Exploring big picture topics, like the theme and message, is a strength developed with practice. So even if students struggle to find those deeper meanings in early discussions, don't give up. The more you discuss poetry with your students, the better they'll get at analyzing it.

Ask questions like:

What is it saying about the world as a whole?

What does it say about being human?

What is the theme of the piece?

Through my work with the Great Books Foundation and their Shared Inquiry method of discussing literature, I discovered the value of collaborative discussion. This method can and should be applied to every poetry discussion. Don't just ask the questions, but also encourage students to ask questions of one another, even questions they may not know the answer to. This will spark broader conversations and deeper thought from everyone in the classroom, pushing them to think about poetry through a lens of open-ended curiosity exploration instead of black-and-white analysis.

Article by Lindsay Tigue

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The Four Steps to Making Poetry Discussions Accessible for Every Student

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For students of all ages, discussing poetry can sometimes seem intimidating. Poetry often comes off as more abstract than prose, and students tend to get the impression that it will be more complicated than other types of literature. But that couldn't be further from the truth.

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Imagine that you were in the audience for King’s speech; write at least a one-page account of your experience.

·     write as either a short vignette that will appear in your autobiography

·     or write as a letter to someone describing your experience

vignette (noun)

-       a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or character and gives a trenchant impression about that character, an idea, setting, and/or object.[1]

-       It is a short, descriptive passage

Ø Gather information and impressions about the event from both the text and the video

Ø Be sure to include specific details that convey the atmosphere in the Mall that day

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EVERYDAY EDIT

Uncorrected Text

One World Trade Center was made to be the talest building in New York city in 2012. It is a monument to help us remember those who lost there lives on september 11 2001. One World Trade Center stands 1,776 feet high in honnor of the year America claimed it’s independence. People form all over the world visit the bilding every year

Answer Key

One World Trade Center was made to be the tallest building in New York City in 2012. It is a monument to help us remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. One World Trade Center stands 1,776 feet high in honor of the year America claimed itsindependence. People from all over the world visit the building every year.

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1.happiness. What is your own secret for happiness? If you had to sum up your ideas, what one sentence would you use to describe how to be truly happy?

2. History. What stories do you know about your ancestors? What traits do you admire in them? What do you want future generations to remember about you? What do you want to be known for when you leave this world?

3. Memories. What is one of your most cherished memories? Did it create a significant impact on your life today or is it just a warm, fuzzy moment in your life you like to look back on?

4. Enchantment. What is your favorite fairy tale, story, fable, or myth? What elements of the story enchant your mind?

5. Heroes. Outside of your family, who is your hero? Why do you idolize them? How do you perceive them differently from others?