According to a report from Al Jazeera, some 250,000 gathered at Tahrir Square today – by far the largest estimate of protesters since they came out seven days ago.

A coalition of opposition groups has also called for a million people on the streets tomorrow, which would signify another dramatic escalation in the size of this nonviolent uprising if they are able to mobilize that many people.

In addition, at a press conference, the April 6 Movement, one of the main organizers of the ongoing protests, called on Egyptians to engage in an indefinite general strike starting yesterday. This is a positive step, however, its unclear as of yet to what extent this call is being heeded by workers throughout the country.

If Mubarak somehow decides to try to outlast the street protests, Egyptians will have to seriously explore other nonviolent tactics, like the general strike, that could ratchet up the pressure on the regime.

At 7pm EST tonight, Bryan Farrell and I will be discussing the latest from on the ground from Egypt with Jaisal Noor on his new radio show Bang on the System. Also on the program to talk about how Israel fits into this picture will be our friend and fellow blogger Alex Kane. To catch the interview live, tune in at Radiohive.org.

Over at UN Dispatch, Mark Leon Goldberg has an interesting post on how world food prices, which reached an all-time high in December and could be at a similar level for January, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), are a contributing factor in the protests in Tunisia, Egypt and beyond. As Goldberg explains:

So what does this chart have to do with the riots in Egypt?  Several commentators have noted that the high price of food staples contributed to the overall feeling of discontent in Tunisia.  There have already been protests over the sharp increase in food prices in Jordan earlier this month.  Reading the writing on the wall, the Algerian government even put in a huge rush order of wheat.This is not to say this is the cause of the civil unrest in Egypt today. But these questions of political economy really cannot be ignored when trying to understand the protests across the Middle East and North Africa.  If this trend in the Food Prices Index continues, it is not unreasonable to expect that civil unrest will spread to several other countries.

And at Climate Progress, Joe Romm has an interesting piece looking at how this rise in food prices is connected to climate change.

Journalist and photographer Matthew Cassel took this powerful picture of a 4-year old girl leading chants at the protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo today.

And this message from eight-year old girl in Saudi Arabia to Egyptian President Mubarak reveals a wisdom far beyond her years:

All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.   – Henry David Thoreau (Walden and Civil Disobedience)

Like so many people around the world, it has been difficult to pull myself away from the television and internet over the past three days. The events that unfolded in Tunisia, and now in Egypt, are what many of us in the field of civil resistance have long anticipated – a nonviolent uprising of people against their corrupt and repressive rulers in the Middle East and beyond. I am elated and also nervous.

The unity evident in Egypt’s struggle is inspiring.  News reports, Facebook updates and Tweets offer clear signs of mass representation – middle class, young, old, Christians and Muslims, men and women, increasingly defecting soldiers, and most recently, members of the judiciary.  I have been encouraged by the active participation of women, although that aspect is widely unreported by the media. Essentially, people are united in the desire to see their 30-year president leave, and see a more democratic and transparent form of government for their country.

Also encouraging is the involvement of women bloggers, journalists, educators, civil society leaders, and Egyptian diaspora spokeswomen. They are making it known that their action and commitment is greater or equal to men’s. I particularly appreciate the views offered by Mona Eltahaway, an Egyptian journalist who challenged CNN’s reporting recently, and Noha Atef, an Egyptian blogger who runs the Torture in Egypt site (access currently forbidden). Noha candidly discussed recent events and helped set the record straight on women’s participation:

The women have been in this struggle from its beginning, I don’t mean just on the 25th of January 2011, but even before this, since 2005, when the chant, “Down with Mubarak” was first heard. And in the hundreds of strikes that took place between 2007 and 2010, women were both organizers and participants.

Recent reports offer evidence of another success of this popular struggle – an adherence to nonviolent discipline.  Although mainstream media are reporting looting and crime, street reports and citizen interviews offer another picture — a series of local, alternative institutions being established by citizens in the absence of a functioning police force. Egyptians have put together neighborhood watches and protection committees to guard homes and neighborhoods and prevent street crime and vandalism of historic sites.  Where government institutions are absent, ordinary people are stepping in.

Another form of creative social intervention being employed is the alternative communications systems that Egyptian citizens have developed.  When internet access was abruptly interrupted by the regime, citizens resorted to word-of-mouth organizing, paper pamphlets, and good old-fashioned landlines. Egyptians continue to overcome the news and communications blackout by creating their own grassroots mechanisms for passing information.

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As always, Fox News is the place to turn if you’re looking for insightful coverage of the most important stories of the day – including the ongoing protests in Egypt.  Too bad they can’t locate the country on the map. I think I’ll be sticking with Al Jazeera. (h/t Brent Martin)

UPDATE: Omar Chatriwala at Boing Boing says this image is a couple years old. Still funny nonetheless.

Waseem Wagdi, an Egyptian protester at the Egyptian embassy in London:

Early Friday morning, the Egyptian government cut the internet and cell service to the entire country. Above is an amazing graph of how suddenly traffic ground to a halt. As the AP reports:

Renesys’ network sensors showed that Egypt’s four primary Internet providers – Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat Misr – and all went dark at 12:34 a.m. Those companies shuttle all Internet traffic into and out of Egypt, though many people get their service through additional local providers with different names.

This means that proxies, which are often used to subvert censorship, will not work. While the internet still not back up – cell service partially resumed yesterday – there is at least one way that Egyptians can still connect. As Lifehacker explains:

Unless the Egyptian government kills all of the phone lines as well, you might remember one means of getting online that broadband has since relegated to obsolescence: dial-up. While there’s no Egyptian ISP that will allow internet access to Egyptian citizens, other countries will, meaning any Egyptian citizen with long-distance calling capabilities can break out their old school 56k modem and dial-up an ISP in another country. (Sure it’s going to be a slow connection, but you can survive.)

The Movements.org blog has a helpful list of way that you can help Egyptians connect both to the internet and through other mediums. Here’s an excerpt:

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If you’re interested in getting a better geographical understanding of where the protests are happening in Cairo and around Egypt, iRevolution’s Patrick Meier has compiled a series of interesting maps that can be viewed in more detail here.

For the sixth day in a row, protesters are out in force across Egypt. Democracy Now!’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous just tweeted that: “Today has the most people I have seen yet in Tahrir Sq. Packed.”

F-16 fighter jets recently buzzed over Tahrir Square. While commentators on Al Jazeera are saying that the use of jets was seen by people on the ground as a sign of intimidation, the news agency recently tweeted that the: “army has just told the crowd gathering at Tahrir Square that military will not go against the people.” Again, it’s still not clear which way the military and other security forces will go, but if their loyalty towards the regime crumbles so too will the regime.

While their has been widespread looting and vandalism, the Washington Post’s Melissa Bell blogged that: “demonstrators claimed it was police in plainclothes who were sowing anarchy to discredit the protests.”

CNN’s Ben Wedeman tweeted yesterday that: “Widely believed hated #Egypt police force playing pt in chaos&looting. theyve abandoned their posts in civilianclothes.”

Al Jazeera’s Ayman Mohyeldin noted last night:

…that eyewitnesses have said “party thugs” associated with the Egyptian regime’s Central Security Services – in plainclothes but bearing government-issued weapons – have been looting in Cairo.

To what extent this is true simply cannot be confirmed yet. It’s also unclear how widespread this belief is among the people who are out on the streets of Egypt. If most do see the government as behind the looting, then it’s unlikely it will dampen the protests. More hard evidence that the looting is being led by the security apparatus itself could go a long way to further discrediting the regime.

UPDATE: Al Jazeera is reporting that opposition leader and a potential transitional president Mohamed ElBaradei “has joined the protesters at Tahrir Square in central Cairo. The Muslim Brotherhood has said that ElBaradei is to negotiate for the opposition.“ He is expected to deliver speech any time now that could be very significant. If you want to catch it I recommend tuning in to Al Jazeera’s live stream here.

UPDATE II: ElBaradei has made these “bold remarks” to the protesters:

You have taken back your rights and what we have begun cannot go back…We have one main demand — the end of the regime and the beginning of a new stage, a new Egypt…I bow to the people of Egypt in respect. I ask of you patience, change is coming in the next few days…

Al Jazeera is reporting that he is about to make longer speech. He doesn’t apparently have a mic, so hopefully the media will be able to make out his words.

Sharif Abdel Kouddous is tweeting that: “Baradei seen as non-corrupt, is respected. But he lived away too long, didn’t join earlier protests & this revolt was done w/o his help,” and “Some want Baradei to be in type of transitional gov’t. Feelings are mixed. His rep is untarnished but some question his ability to lead.”