11th of 9/11: V for Vengeance

by Loren Coleman ©2012

The 11th anniversary of 9/11 was dangerous and tragic. The symbolism of 11s has been significant to terrorists for years (which I detailed in The Copycat Effect). Thus, I was upset to see what unfolded, but I was not startled.

The sign reads, "Remember Your Black Day 11 September," 

placed during protests in Cairo, Egypt, on September 11, 2012.

That the Guy Fawkes mask should show up in the middle of the new Arab protests is synchromystically surprising, as well. (I am pondering, again, what I wrote in my exchange with Guy Edwards about these Guy Fawkes/V for Vendetta masks, see here, under #1.)

Egyptian protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks pose for a photo 

in front of graffiti on a wall of the U.S. embassy during a protest 

in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, September 11, 2012. Photo Nasser Nasser.

By the end of September 12, 2012, the official Obama administration position was that an allegedly spontaneous mob in Libya, said to be angry over an YouTube video criticizing Islam, was used as a cover. A coordinated, planned terrorist attack on the Libyan diplomatic mission on the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks allegedly occurred. (On September 12th, protests in the Muslim world had spread to Tunisia, Morocco, and Sudan, with upcoming worldwide gatherings planned for Friday, September 14, 2012. The embassies in Armenia, Burundi, Kuwait, Sudan, Tunisia and Zambia, along with the embassy in Egypt, which was hit by a protest on Tuesday, all issued warnings on Wednesday advising Americans to be particularly vigilant.)

Sadly, the American ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, 52, was killed when he died from smoke inhalation in the fire begun by rocket attacks causing the burning of the embassy. Two (as yet) unidentified U.S. Marines and a Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, 34, were apparently shot and died.

The timing of the attack appears to happened after, first, a protest occurred at the US embassy in Egypt. Although four were photographed together, at least one Guy Fawkes masked individual appears in various photos of that event (below).

Clearly the Guy Fawkes mask was part of these 9/11 Egyptian protests.

Protesters destroy an American flag pulled down from the U.S. embassy in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, September 11, 2012. Egyptian protesters, largely ultra conservative Islamists, have climbed the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo, went into the courtyard and brought down the flag, replacing it with a black flag with Islamic inscription, in protest of a film deemed offensive of Islam, according to the Associated Press. 

Photo: Mohammed Abu Zaid.

Were any demonstrators seen with Guy Fawkes masks in Libya?

A protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask during an anti-war demonstration on March 13, 2012, in Beirut, Lebanon. The sign reads: "War again? Are you serious?" 

Photo: Marwan Tahtah.

A protester, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, stands in front of Egyptian military police standing guard near the Ministry of Defense in the Abbassiya district of Cairo on April 20, 2012. 

Photo: Mohamed Abd El Ghan.

A Palestinian protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask gestures as he stands near a burning effigy of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad during a demonstration against the high cost of living on Tuesday, September 4, 2012, in Hebron, Palestine. 

Photo: Mussa Qawasma.

The Guy Fawkes masks have come into use since 

the 2006 film, V for Vendetta, was released. 

Little imitation of the "V" character occurred after the Alan Moore graphic novel began appearing in 1982. It was the movie adaption V for Vendetta's mass-produced masks that began the copycats. "V" was portrayed as a mysterious masked revolutionary who worked to destroy the totalitarian government, profoundly affecting the people he encountered.

The "vendetta" has merged into vengeance, revenge, and anarchy protests of all kinds. The masks have been used to hide the identities of Occupy Wall Street protesters, as well as people representing Anonymous at Scientology demonstrations in Los Angeles, London, and other locations. Now it has moved into the Arab Fall protests.

The first Guy Fawkes masks were employed to depict the best-known member of the Gunpowder Plot who attempted to blow up London’s Palace of Westminster in 1605. Although the original plotters were unsuccessful, Fawkes has remained infamous due to the yearly festivals in the United Kingdom, where effigies of Guy Fawkes (often with homemade masks) are burnt on fires across the nation. 

The famed children's rhyme, along with the yearly November 5th bonfires, was an official government attempt to have the population realize that terrorism and treason would be harshly punished. But in recent years, Guy Fawkes has become a folk anti-hero.

Don't you Remember,

The Fifth of November,

'Twas Gunpowder Treason Day,

I let off my gun,

And made'em all run.

And Stole all their Bonfire away. 

(1742)

Thanks to CLK for the initial idea for this sync photo essay.