Coptic Christian Mass with Muslims in Tahrir (Liberation) Square. The Coptic crosses are visible behind the crowd, but you have to pay attention. There are lots of people in the way!

As Juan Cole reports, it closely parallels the mass demonstrations against the British in 1919, which eventually led to the modern Egyptian state. A phony independence was granted to Egypt in 1922, much like that given to Iraq about the same time. Real independence for Egypt came in the Free Officers coup in 1952, and for Iraq in the July 14, 1958 coup that replaced the puppet monarchy with an independent state under General Abdel Karim Qassem.

Now that Egypt under Hosni Mubarak has become a satellite of Israel and the United States in exchange for a $2 billion annual bribe from the American taxpayers - who have all sorts of extra money to contribute to Hosni Mubarak's $70 billion personal fortune - the Egyptians are united in seeking real independence, just as they were in 1919, and with the same unity between Christians and Muslims that they had then.