Egypt Uprising 2013: One Last Push
June 29, 2013
Tamarod
Tamarod (Rebel), the public movement that has been collecting signatures for the past two months to call for early presidential elections with the aim of finding a legal way to topple President Mohamed Morsi, announced the final signature count in a press conference this morning. The number announced was 22,134,465 signatures. Mahmoud Badr, the movement's founder, made a call for more than 22 million people to join the protests tomorrow and stay in the streets until they bring Morsi down. He also announced that the president's legitimacy has fallen after they've collected a number of signatures that is more than 85% of the number of voters in the presidential elections. Badr answered those who question the number by demanding early elections, saying that this was the only way to prove the accuracy of either of their numbers.
The announcement was met with celebratory reactions among many Egyptians...
Support
Since April 6 movement called for their strike in 2008, there were calls of hanging a flag/a piece of black cloth in people's balconies to show support for the event, but never was there a big response. The idea continued as the calls for a revolution emerged in 2011, and during the next waves in 2011 and 2012. During these times it would have been a very rare coincidence if you were to find more than one flag in the same street.
This time things are different though; not only it became normal to find at least a building out of three with more than one apartment hanging flags, it is now easy to find banners with the word "LEAVE" hanging from a balcony here or there if you roam the streets of Egypt. It's now become normal to find at least a car in every street with a sticker calling for people to join the protests.
One day before the date of the uprising, and Cairo squares are full of protesters many of which are joining for the first time. The square is now prepared for the uprising with people's committees securing the entrances, just like it was during the infamous 18 days of the revolution. While in the vicinity of the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis the warm up still continues with a sit-in of around 20 tents and people distributing Tamarod stickers who are met with cheers from the majority of passers-by. The case is no different in other governorates where protests haven't stopped in the past 24 hours.
On the political level, all secular members of the Shura Council (Parliament's Upper House) have finally resigned today.
All this shows great unprecedented support from a good percentage of Egyptians who are fed up with the current situation....
In Search for help
Morsi met with ministers of Defense and Interior again this morning to discuss the expected implications of the uprising happening in a few hours. He also met with a delegation from the Islamic parties for the same reason.
The Islamists gave statements on television and Twitter threatening and insulting revolutionaries. An example of this is Essam El Erian's, Freedom and Justice Party leader and vice chairman, statements to Al Jazeera Egypt. He emphasized that Tamarod's members are responsible for killing and raping women in Tahrir.
Threats also came from their youth, Abd El Rahman Ezz, a popular Islamist who is known for continuous hatred speech and threatening to anyone and everyone against Morsi has tweeted saying that "in hours, the ex-president's gang will see its end"
This came after videos of weapons belonging to Freedom and Justice Party and Tagarod have been leaked.
Meanwhile in Rabaa sit-in, that has grown bigger after Hazemoon joined in last night, a press conference was held by the Muslim Brotherhood inside the mosque. The conference was basically to declare "war" and to announce that the mobilization of their youth in Rabaa sit-in (AR).
Tagarod, an Islamist movement that collected signatures declaring that they support legitimacy, held their press conference after Tamarod announced their count. They announced that they collected 26 million signatures.
While the regime is trying to look in control, all these acts show nothing but great fear...
Terrorism
One day before Egypt revolts against the Islamist fascist rule, terrorizing citizens starts with the hopes of scaring people in order to stay home. In just one day:
The Rest of the World
By the beginning of last week, it became known that Ann Patterson, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt met with Khairat El Shater, deputy supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood. The meeting with a non-governmental-official was never explained by the embassy, but it has become clear that the U.S. Administration still supports the Muslim Brotherhood rule, and President Morsi as part of it. The U.S. Administration that has always claimed to encourage democratic change in developing countries, proved itself wrong after the Arab Spring. It is now understood that the American support is always given to a group whom they believe will give them the most benefit regardless of the group's view on people's freedom.
President Obama called on Egyptians this morning to engage in a constructive dialogue and avoid bloodshed. He also expressed his concern regarding how the situation in the street is developing. This came after the U.S. Embassy has evacuated 45 families of its diplomats to protect them from "tensions" happening in the country.
For this reason, a new addition to the revolution's banners was ones against President Obama, Ambassador Patterson and the U.S. Administration in general....
Army on Alert
While the Egyptian youth have spent most of their lives not imagining to see army tanks parked in the streets, it has become the norm in the past two and a half years. But like the case of almost everything happening these days, this time the army movements are much more than it was in the past. Places like the Media City have a great concentration of both personnel and armored vehicles.
There could be many explanations for this, in all cases the people shall wait and see, in the streets....
How a president should talk
While Morsi spoke for almost three hours just a few days ago, Dr. Mohamed El Baradei, chairman of El Dostoor Party spoke for less than five minutes today calling upon people to join the protests to "bring back the revolution and dream of a better Egypt, for equality among different genders, religions, creeds and groups. For a better economy, safety and food, for a national conciliation with those who haven't committed crimes in order to have a better future". Baradei stated that Morsi has failed to rule the country and so should resign, "He has to leave, not because he belongs to a certain group, but because he failed to take the country forward. We gave him a driver's license and he failed to drive, it's time to take it back".
And this, is how a president should talk....
Egyptians and Islamists "don't mix"....
** Pictures courtesy of Mahmoud Gamal El-Din
Tamarod
Tamarod (Rebel), the public movement that has been collecting signatures for the past two months to call for early presidential elections with the aim of finding a legal way to topple President Mohamed Morsi, announced the final signature count in a press conference this morning. The number announced was 22,134,465 signatures. Mahmoud Badr, the movement's founder, made a call for more than 22 million people to join the protests tomorrow and stay in the streets until they bring Morsi down. He also announced that the president's legitimacy has fallen after they've collected a number of signatures that is more than 85% of the number of voters in the presidential elections. Badr answered those who question the number by demanding early elections, saying that this was the only way to prove the accuracy of either of their numbers.
The announcement was met with celebratory reactions among many Egyptians...
Support
Since April 6 movement called for their strike in 2008, there were calls of hanging a flag/a piece of black cloth in people's balconies to show support for the event, but never was there a big response. The idea continued as the calls for a revolution emerged in 2011, and during the next waves in 2011 and 2012. During these times it would have been a very rare coincidence if you were to find more than one flag in the same street.
This time things are different though; not only it became normal to find at least a building out of three with more than one apartment hanging flags, it is now easy to find banners with the word "LEAVE" hanging from a balcony here or there if you roam the streets of Egypt. It's now become normal to find at least a car in every street with a sticker calling for people to join the protests.
One day before the date of the uprising, and Cairo squares are full of protesters many of which are joining for the first time. The square is now prepared for the uprising with people's committees securing the entrances, just like it was during the infamous 18 days of the revolution. While in the vicinity of the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis the warm up still continues with a sit-in of around 20 tents and people distributing Tamarod stickers who are met with cheers from the majority of passers-by. The case is no different in other governorates where protests haven't stopped in the past 24 hours.
On the political level, all secular members of the Shura Council (Parliament's Upper House) have finally resigned today.
All this shows great unprecedented support from a good percentage of Egyptians who are fed up with the current situation....
In Search for help
Morsi met with ministers of Defense and Interior again this morning to discuss the expected implications of the uprising happening in a few hours. He also met with a delegation from the Islamic parties for the same reason.
The Islamists gave statements on television and Twitter threatening and insulting revolutionaries. An example of this is Essam El Erian's, Freedom and Justice Party leader and vice chairman, statements to Al Jazeera Egypt. He emphasized that Tamarod's members are responsible for killing and raping women in Tahrir.
Threats also came from their youth, Abd El Rahman Ezz, a popular Islamist who is known for continuous hatred speech and threatening to anyone and everyone against Morsi has tweeted saying that "in hours, the ex-president's gang will see its end"
This came after videos of weapons belonging to Freedom and Justice Party and Tagarod have been leaked.
Meanwhile in Rabaa sit-in, that has grown bigger after Hazemoon joined in last night, a press conference was held by the Muslim Brotherhood inside the mosque. The conference was basically to declare "war" and to announce that the mobilization of their youth in Rabaa sit-in (AR).
Tagarod, an Islamist movement that collected signatures declaring that they support legitimacy, held their press conference after Tamarod announced their count. They announced that they collected 26 million signatures.
While the regime is trying to look in control, all these acts show nothing but great fear...
Terrorism
One day before Egypt revolts against the Islamist fascist rule, terrorizing citizens starts with the hopes of scaring people in order to stay home. In just one day:
- A police officer was killed in a militant attack in the city of Arish, North Sinai at midday.
- Security point personnel in North Sinai were also victims of militant attacks, leaving one dead (Rayesa and Gorah)
- Two police departments where set on fire in Alexandria (Montazah and Tabya).
- In Port Said, a homemade bomb exploded in Shohadaa Square last night leaving one dead and five seriously injured. As usual, the funeral turned into a big protest.
The Rest of the World
By the beginning of last week, it became known that Ann Patterson, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt met with Khairat El Shater, deputy supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood. The meeting with a non-governmental-official was never explained by the embassy, but it has become clear that the U.S. Administration still supports the Muslim Brotherhood rule, and President Morsi as part of it. The U.S. Administration that has always claimed to encourage democratic change in developing countries, proved itself wrong after the Arab Spring. It is now understood that the American support is always given to a group whom they believe will give them the most benefit regardless of the group's view on people's freedom.
President Obama called on Egyptians this morning to engage in a constructive dialogue and avoid bloodshed. He also expressed his concern regarding how the situation in the street is developing. This came after the U.S. Embassy has evacuated 45 families of its diplomats to protect them from "tensions" happening in the country.
For this reason, a new addition to the revolution's banners was ones against President Obama, Ambassador Patterson and the U.S. Administration in general....
Army on Alert
While the Egyptian youth have spent most of their lives not imagining to see army tanks parked in the streets, it has become the norm in the past two and a half years. But like the case of almost everything happening these days, this time the army movements are much more than it was in the past. Places like the Media City have a great concentration of both personnel and armored vehicles.
There could be many explanations for this, in all cases the people shall wait and see, in the streets....
How a president should talk
While Morsi spoke for almost three hours just a few days ago, Dr. Mohamed El Baradei, chairman of El Dostoor Party spoke for less than five minutes today calling upon people to join the protests to "bring back the revolution and dream of a better Egypt, for equality among different genders, religions, creeds and groups. For a better economy, safety and food, for a national conciliation with those who haven't committed crimes in order to have a better future". Baradei stated that Morsi has failed to rule the country and so should resign, "He has to leave, not because he belongs to a certain group, but because he failed to take the country forward. We gave him a driver's license and he failed to drive, it's time to take it back".
And this, is how a president should talk....
Egyptians and Islamists "don't mix"....
** Pictures courtesy of Mahmoud Gamal El-Din
How can you tell that this is how a President should talk?
ReplyDeleteBecause I see presidents of other countries talk, and I'm not talking about Libya =)
DeleteAnd how can you tell that the way Presidents of other countries talk is correct?
DeleteWell simply because a human being's attention span is way less than three hours =)
DeleteSo you meant that this is how *long* a President should speak?
DeleteNot sure if you read the whole section, it's clear from the way I start it that I'm talking about the duration. Not that I see the content of Morsi's speech as that of a president, it's just that it's too much of nonsense to write about =)
DeleteIt's clear for you, not for me. But that's probably my attention span :)
DeleteSo, if I get you, a President should adjust his speech duration to the average attention span of those listening, msh kda?
If he's targeting the whole country then he should take this, and not wasting our time, into consideration =)
DeleteAnd how long is the average attention span of the people?
DeleteI'm sure Google will help you with this one more than I can =)
DeleteIf you have no idea of what is the average attention span of the people, then there is no way you can know how long should a speech last, hence your statement ('this is how -long- a President should talk') is groundless.
DeleteAnd that's only if we give that much importance to the duration...
Did I say that I had no idea what the attention span of an average human being is?
DeleteI'm sorry if you misunderstood my statement =).
I'm not sure how much you mean by "much", but for me it is important indeed. I've been taught that the Right Speech should be just to the listener. Speaking for three hours to the average human, and at night is unjust =).
As far as I know, I didn't misunderstand. I asked, 'And how long is the average attention span of the people?', to which you replied by suggesting that I google it. Why would you do that if you knew the answer?
DeleteMy last question is not quantitative but qualitative. I meant: there is most probably much more at stake here than the duration of the speech.
I didn't understand what you meant by "right speech".
Because I don't see a reason for the question when one get a very accurate answer on Google =).
DeleteAs I said, even if he was saying the best content, speaking for three hours is unjust to the listener. The result would be that they won't get the message he's trying to deliver.
Let's just say that a Right Speech is one that is fair to the listener.