I have been trying to hold myself from falling into this pit of depression. I tried to listen to the various tweeps who desperately called on Egyptian revolutionaries inside and outside (and yes I consider myself one and if you disagree I honestly don't give a rat's ass) not to give up, not to lose hope that change is still possible.. I tried.. but I am human and this is my breaking point.
Today.. Essam Sharaf the Egyptian PM met with his Cabinet and issued a law the.. wait for it... criminalizes anyone who plans/stages sits in that "halt work" as long as the emergency law is in effect and the penalty for those who break the law is a full year in prison or paying a 500,000 LE fine. Ok! Let's back up 4 a second here..
1st: This is a very vague law, there is business going in Egypt seven days a week! There is no dedicated space for protests/sit ins so what if people want to object to something.. what do they do? Bump their heads against the wall? This leaves it open to the army, gives them absolute power over determining what constitutes a work halting protest and an "acceptable one". Also from our experience, the Emergency law has been in effect for like 28 years? I for one do not believe it's going to end at any time soon.
2nd: Some people will say this is aimed to put an end to the individual demands or union demands or worker demands...
A- According to article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Egypt has signed each human is guaranteed the right to peaceful assembly. So all these people regardless how "ridiculous" or "pointless" (not my words) their demands are, have every right to demonstrate and ask for their "rights" as long as they maintain peaceful assembly.
B- Let us assume that these small numbers calling out for whatever it is they want are the main reason behind this law being issued.. does this mean u take away a basic human right from the MAJORITY? Is this fair?
C- There have been endless reports of violations on part of the army.. how can we (alazeen kafaro bel geesh - the ones who do not believe in the holiness of the army) protest to these violations and OBVIOUS abuse of power (in the eyes of alazeen kafaro bel geesh)? Where can we show our discontent with the fact that power has been taken from a dictator called Hosni Mubarak and handed to a COUNCIL of dictators?
Is this even normal? Could this ever happen in France? Germany? USA? Italy? NEVER! This is absolutely outrageous and unacceptable..
From the 25th of Jan until the 11th of Feb, Egyptians were calling for Mubarak to step down, to be replaced with a CIVILIAN COUNCIL, for the corrupt figures to go to TRIAL and for the end of Emergency law and a new democratic constitution.
Please take a minute to think what exactly from these objectives has ACTUALLY happened other than Mubarak being sacrifices so that the rest of the regime can continue to cling into power. I fail to understand how on earth did we trust the army and allow Tantawi who is Mubarak FREAKIN BEST FRIEND become our "ruler". The same argument used against Shafik should've been used against him.
Mubarak has NO LEGAL RIGHT to put Tantawi/Military council in charge.. but he did, they gladly accepted and now we are stuck with them.
The constitution LOST ALL VALIDITY once the president stepped down.. it should have been thrown INTO THE POOPER the minute Mubarak stepped down but the Military council chose to keep it and have us go through the ordeal of the referendum that seems to have been nothing more than method of agenda setting through the way it was turned into a Muslim/Christian struggle of power.
All the corrupt figures are being "questioned" although I am DEAD SURE that DA has all the proof he needs to press charges and have them go to trial.
WHERE IS MUBARAK?
I am sorry to say this but the way I see it.. we are back at square one. The revolution is on the verge of failure (I just can't bring myself to say it failed). During the height of the secret service's power there was no such thing as BAN of protests.. These protests are what got the military council into power. Essam Sharaf said he gained his legitimacy FROM TAHRIR SQUARE and now he signs this law??
I will say one last thing... I know this will cost me a lot, possibly many arguments that will not end well I am sure.. But I have to say this..
The only solution I see fit in this current situation is to go back to the streets, to call for new Million Man Marches... To take things into our own hands once again and to fight as ferociously as we can to ensure that all our demands are met.
Today.. Essam Sharaf the Egyptian PM met with his Cabinet and issued a law the.. wait for it... criminalizes anyone who plans/stages sits in that "halt work" as long as the emergency law is in effect and the penalty for those who break the law is a full year in prison or paying a 500,000 LE fine. Ok! Let's back up 4 a second here..
1st: This is a very vague law, there is business going in Egypt seven days a week! There is no dedicated space for protests/sit ins so what if people want to object to something.. what do they do? Bump their heads against the wall? This leaves it open to the army, gives them absolute power over determining what constitutes a work halting protest and an "acceptable one". Also from our experience, the Emergency law has been in effect for like 28 years? I for one do not believe it's going to end at any time soon.
2nd: Some people will say this is aimed to put an end to the individual demands or union demands or worker demands...
A- According to article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Egypt has signed each human is guaranteed the right to peaceful assembly. So all these people regardless how "ridiculous" or "pointless" (not my words) their demands are, have every right to demonstrate and ask for their "rights" as long as they maintain peaceful assembly.
B- Let us assume that these small numbers calling out for whatever it is they want are the main reason behind this law being issued.. does this mean u take away a basic human right from the MAJORITY? Is this fair?
C- There have been endless reports of violations on part of the army.. how can we (alazeen kafaro bel geesh - the ones who do not believe in the holiness of the army) protest to these violations and OBVIOUS abuse of power (in the eyes of alazeen kafaro bel geesh)? Where can we show our discontent with the fact that power has been taken from a dictator called Hosni Mubarak and handed to a COUNCIL of dictators?
Is this even normal? Could this ever happen in France? Germany? USA? Italy? NEVER! This is absolutely outrageous and unacceptable..
From the 25th of Jan until the 11th of Feb, Egyptians were calling for Mubarak to step down, to be replaced with a CIVILIAN COUNCIL, for the corrupt figures to go to TRIAL and for the end of Emergency law and a new democratic constitution.
Please take a minute to think what exactly from these objectives has ACTUALLY happened other than Mubarak being sacrifices so that the rest of the regime can continue to cling into power. I fail to understand how on earth did we trust the army and allow Tantawi who is Mubarak FREAKIN BEST FRIEND become our "ruler". The same argument used against Shafik should've been used against him.
Mubarak has NO LEGAL RIGHT to put Tantawi/Military council in charge.. but he did, they gladly accepted and now we are stuck with them.
The constitution LOST ALL VALIDITY once the president stepped down.. it should have been thrown INTO THE POOPER the minute Mubarak stepped down but the Military council chose to keep it and have us go through the ordeal of the referendum that seems to have been nothing more than method of agenda setting through the way it was turned into a Muslim/Christian struggle of power.
All the corrupt figures are being "questioned" although I am DEAD SURE that DA has all the proof he needs to press charges and have them go to trial.
WHERE IS MUBARAK?
I am sorry to say this but the way I see it.. we are back at square one. The revolution is on the verge of failure (I just can't bring myself to say it failed). During the height of the secret service's power there was no such thing as BAN of protests.. These protests are what got the military council into power. Essam Sharaf said he gained his legitimacy FROM TAHRIR SQUARE and now he signs this law??
I will say one last thing... I know this will cost me a lot, possibly many arguments that will not end well I am sure.. But I have to say this..
The only solution I see fit in this current situation is to go back to the streets, to call for new Million Man Marches... To take things into our own hands once again and to fight as ferociously as we can to ensure that all our demands are met.
يا ناس يا ناس يا مكبوتة هي دي الحدوتة... حدوتة مصرية
I wholeheartedly agree! I have been outraged by this all day and I have asked many who live in Egypt for an explanation that might calm me down about the issue. I have yet to get one that comes close.
ReplyDelete@Sword2Plowshare
We are learning as we go how to do this peacefully.
ReplyDeleteThe tenacity of the #Jan25 movement and the lessons learned here will be a beacon to freedom for the rest of the modern world.
@properFreedom
I totally agree with we should go again to el Tahrir but before when we were 2 million kona modaseen, could you imagine if you we go now even if a million! :) we'll be the baltageya! :D
ReplyDeleteanyways it is not pessimistic it is the truth and unfortunately truth is a bitch now but we have to accept it and deal with it rather than looking the other way ;)
but well said
I agree with you on taking a firm stand right now to send out the right message and revive the revolution again.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel we need to push for the minimum wages to win the hearts of the people mainstream, they don't care that much about politics and the right of demonstrating... they care about their daily life, this is why they went in the streets on the 28th.
We need to gain their support again. This opinion was originally raised by the sand monkey on his blog.
@Lahzy
I saw his blog post and he makes absolute sense of course but how will we do that? We have no parties fully formed so we can include the issue of minimum wages in its objectives and then lure them to join with it.. Now the unity which was the reason behind the revolution's success is no longer there... even between the "intellectuals" fa how can we get the mainstream grassroots join if that's the case. I would not mind actually forming a group that would solely focus on reaching out to the masses and educate them but I would need all the help in the world from everybody.. ppl willing to travel all around Egypt for this.
ReplyDelete