Egypt Strikes Continue, as Doctors, Lawyers, Join Protests

Doctors in white lab coats and lawyers in black robes streamed into Cairo's Tahrir Square on Thursday as labor unrest across the country gave powerful momentum to Egypt's wave of anti-government protests. With its efforts to manage the crisis failing, the government threatened the army could crack down by imposing martial law. The protests in their 17th day - which have focused on demanding President Hosni Mubarak's ouster and the end of his regime's heavy hand on power - have tapped into the even deeper well of anger over economic woes, including inflation, unemployment, corruption, low wages and wide economic disparities between rich and poor. The whole world has been inspired by the pro-democracy revolution underway in Egypt. But here in America, we're also worried about further government escalation and crack downs against the non-violent opposition. We should be. We've already seen a scary preview of what that would look like, when Egypt's brutal police forces used "Made in America" tear gas on protesters. You see, the US gives Egypt over $1.3 billion every year to buy tanks and guns. We even REQUIRE them to buy those weapons from American gun merchants, in a huge backdoor subsidy of the US weapons industry.