Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Refuses to Stand Down

Earlier today Gigi and Mahmoud, two young Egyptian street activists and Change.org members, called on all of us to re-up the international pressure and join their campaign for democracy in Egypt.

Many of you answered their call, along with tens of thousands of others from more than 120 countries.

As the day progressed, we started to hear rumors that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was going to resign within hours.

“The people are celebrating everywhere,” Mahmoud told us over the phone. “They’re chanting, they’re jumping up and down, we’re just ecstatic!”

When he appeared on state TV, though, the Egyptian leader was defiant, and refused to step down. Mubarak pledged to hand some powers over to his vice president, to punish those responsible for the violence and to amend six articles of the constitution. But to the great disappointment of Gigi, Mahmoud and “The January 25 Movement”, he remains president of Egypt.

This will not end here. In just 17 days, a broad coalition of street activists, students, pensioners, professionals and peasants have come together to fight for democracy and bring down a 30-year-old dictatorship. If you haven’t already, please sign and share Gigi and Mahmoud’s petition.

Activists are expecting millions of demonstrators to descend on Cairo tomorrow, and in the coming days our solidarity with Gigi, Mahmoud and other Change.org members in Egypt is going to be more important than ever. That depends on our ability to quickly call on thousands of supportive folks like you. So, If you can, please follow us on Facebook - just click ‘Like’ at the top of the page.

Thanks again so much for taking action!