The Collective Evolution III: The Shift. Could Egypt be Headed for Civil Conflict? Egypt is poised for a major confrontation as the president and his supporters hunker down in the face of hundreds of thousands jamming city squares and streets demanding the government step down and as the military waits in the wings, ready to step in and impose its own solution to the ongoing dispute.
President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood supporters have rejected an army ultimatum giving him two days to come to an agreement with the opposition demonstrators. Mohamed Al-Beltagy, the general secretary for the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, is urging supporters into the streets to prevent what they are saying amounts to a military coup, adding, “We’re ready to give our lives for the country and the people.” And the Brotherhood’s media spokesman, Gehad El-Haddad, sent this message to the opposition via the social media site Twitter: “We can't keep running elections until #MB [Muslim Brotherhood] loses. So what happens next in Egypt? Turkey's Civil Revolt: Istanbul Rising. Police Retreat in Istanbul as Protests Expand Through Turkey. Spain: 4th Eviction-Motivated Suicide Rocks Indebted Spain; Protesters Shout Eviction Is 'Murder'
Another struggling tenant in Spain committed suicide this week, rather than be evicted from his home.
This is the fourth eviction-motivated suicide in the European nation since Monday. As Spanish-language news site Informacion reports, police confirmed the 46-year-old man hung himself on Feb. 13 in the Spanish city of Alicante. The man had allegedly not paid his rent for the past five years, according to the site. Police reportedly found his body when they arrived to evict him. Friends told Informacion they were not surprised, and that the deceased tenant had previously threatened to commit suicide if eviction papers were served. On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that an elderly couple overdosed on prescription medications rather than be forced to leave their home in Mallorca. These suicides are part of a much larger trend in a country stricken by its own housing crisis, which began in 2008.
Spanish suicides point to worsening crisis of recession, foreclosures. Police Brutality in Greece: The Hidden Face of the Crisis. As startling images of Greeks struggling to get bags of free distributed vegetables make the headlines in the international media, it's becoming evident that the crisis in the country has now overpassed vulnerable groups of people and is taking over the once thriving middle class.
Almost every family has been hit by the crisis and everyone has a story to tell about a relative or a friend who has lost a job and struggles to survive. Greek GDP has shrunk by 6.5 per cent in 2012 and Greece's economy is expected to contract further in 2013 under the weight of the next round of austerity measures demanded by international creditors. And while much has been said over the economic figures, on the fate of Greek democracy there is silence. With Greeks suffering under austerity measures with no end, and the country paralyzed by nationwide strikes, accusations of torture and ill-treatment by Greek police have multiplied. As society's crisis deepens in Greece, police brutality is on the rise. Police Weapons Pepper-spray.