During the last two years we have seen that the nations of Egypt and Tunis are having almost the same destiny. Events take place in Tunis always happen again in Egypt with slight changes and this was seen recently in the domination of Islamic parties on the political scene in Tunis and the same thing happened in Egypt, noting that both nations are now living slight revolutions against Islamists.

 Tunis started its revolution on December 18 2010 when a young man called Bou Azizi burned himself because he couldn’t find work or any way to live through, so he decided to protest against the economic and political conditions in his country by burning himself in front of the Parliament. This was followed by protests of thousands in the following days, and then millions went to the streets, which forced the Police to try to stop them, and the result was thousands of victims.

 Things in Tunis continued to get complicated and the speeches of President Ben Ali failed to calm the people down, but it caused more anger in the streets. In the end the power of the people forced Ben Ali to escape to Saudi Arabia and he never appeared again.

 After Ben Ali escaped, the road was open for Islamists to enter the political life and they were well organized. Islamists benefited from the people’s passion towards their religion, besides giving the people fake promises that was never seen on the ground. Al Nahda party was established in Tunis to invade the political life and control everything, and now the people of Tunis realized that they were deceived with fake faces, fake promises and fake agenda. We can see now that Al Nahda party’s offices in Tunis are being attacked by the people everywhere, along with chasing the leaders of the party wherever they go.

 The same scenario happened in Egypt. The revolution that started in January 25 2011 to ask for improvements in the economic conditions, and then the Police killed young men in the streets, which encouraged millions of Egyptians to go out and force President Hosni Mubarak’s regime to step down. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces ruled the country after Mubarak and it allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to enter the political life.

 The brotherhood established the Freedom and Justice Party and it started to prepare for the Parliament elections. Everyone knows that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is well organized and it has sources of money coming from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other places, so they were able to control the first Parliament after the revolution. The performance of the new parliament didn’t satisfy Egyptians and conditions were getting worse. The brotherhood lied and said it won’t compete in the Presidential elections; however, it nominated two for the race. Khayrat Al Shater and Mohamed Morsi, but Kahyrat Al Shater was disqualified, and Mohamed Morsi completed the race and he won to become the President of Egypt.

 Two months after he won the presidential elections, the people of Egypt started calling for demonstrations against Morsi’s regime, and this is increasing everyday, especially after more people were killed, while Morsi is ignoring this and he insisted to impose the new constitution wrote by Islamists. The economic situation in Egypt is the worse since 30 years and the people are facing very tough social conditions, which is forcing thousands to go out in the streets since November 2012 demanding the regime to step down. The people insist on this demand, especially after Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood killed tens of young men protesting against the president in front of the presidential palace, while the president himself ignored what happened.

 It seems that both Tunis and Egypt will have the same revolution against Islamists soon, but this time Egypt will have the start, knowing that millions of Egyptians are preparing to go to the streets and in Tahrir square on January 25 2013, to force Mohamed Morsi to step down. If Egyptians made it, then we can see the people of Tunis in the streets forcing Islamists to run away like Ben Ali.

About the author

View the Original article

 Egyptians are living in a revolution against injustice and tyranny since January 25 2011, when the youth started a revolution and forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Egyptians didn’t realize any of their revolution’s objectives, as the killers of the protesters are still out of prison, while corrupt still exists everywhere and social justice not yet seen. All what happened is that the people lived for a while under the Military regime and then under the regime of the Muslim Brotherhood in very tough and unacceptable social and economic situations.

 All what happened after the presidential elections, is that Egyptians now have Mohamed Morsi as a President of Egypt, but in fact he is a President for the brotherhood and its members only. It can be noticed that only the Muslim Brotherhood members and their allies, are the only people who benefit from the new regime, while the rest of Egyptians are still living in very tough situations. The economic situation in Egypt is getting worse, and the government is attempting to borrow 4.8 billion dollars from the International Bank, hoping to cover the expenses. Yet, the Egyptian pound continue to decline against major currencies and unemployment increased to 12% in November 2012, which means that the youth are now fed up.

 The poor in Egypt said “Yes” for the new constitution that was written by Islamists, because the Islamists are good at convincing poor people that this constitution will come with stability in the country and their sons will find jobs that make them have good lives. All this is untrue and will never happen under a fake constitution approved with fraud and violating referendum rules.

 Egypt’s Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, is considered the worst Prime Minister in the history of Egypt. He was picked for this position because of a very important feature, which is “obeying the orders” and this is very important to be found in any person working with the Muslim Brotherhood. Hisham Kandil’s government is working to convince the International Bank to give a 4.8 billion dollars loan to Egypt; however, it seems that the bank is refusing because of the instability in the country.

 Moreover, the people’s freedom is being taken gradually. The media is being attacked all the time by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and there are a number of cases for closing T.V channels or news papers, besides putting journalists in prison for a charge called “insulting the President”. Journalists who mention President Mohamed Morsi in their articles with a funny way, or using his character in the drawings are always attacked with no mercy. All this came with a new law “protests organizing law” and it is being prepared by the brotherhood and expected to be imposed before January 25 2013. Such law will put the governments hand on any demonstrations that might take place against the regime of the Muslim Brotherhood.

 The victims killed by the Muslim Brotherhood members in front of Egypt’s presidential palace, besides young men who died in Tahrir square in the beginning of the revolution and other dead people will be the reason for a new revolution against President Mohamed Morsi. Morsi seems to be unable to control the situation and his colleagues in the Muslim Brotherhood continue to fall in mistakes which are forcing Egyptians to start a new revolution next January 25 2013.

About the author

View the Original article

About the situation in Egypt from the beginning of the revolution till now
I can classify the situation to four factions controlling and influential in the scene in Egypt the revolution.

The first faction and in my opinion it’s the most influential faction in the situation it’s the faction who is seeking on the application of Islamic law and this faction sees that it’s normal because his culture and history and this faction sees that it’s the only way to get rid of the corruption and injustice of the other systems like the socialist system and the capitalism and the current elected president came from this faction after the presidential election in 2012.

The second faction it’s called (felol) after the success of the revolution in overthrow the Mubarak system and although it’s the faction that the revolution blew because of it, this faction still has the ability to influence in the scene in Egypt through his previous power in the media and all the establishments especially when this faction could compete in the presidential election after the fragmentation of the revolution factions.

The third faction is one from the revolution factions and this faction refuse the concept of the application of Islamic law but this faction can’t get the enough admission between the people in the streets because of the far distance between them and the people in the streets and the big difference between the views of the leaders of this faction.

The fourth faction who is watching the situation and couldn’t make an opinion or a view about what is happening and it’s a very big segment in the Egyptian people and all of the other factions try to get attention of this segment to gain it’s support in all the legitimacy events as the presidential and parliamentary elections…etc.

Finally the scene of distrust and fighting for the power is the most obvious scene in Egypt these days because of the lack of the serious patriotic conversation between all the factions and the Egyptian citizen still confused and suffering.

                                   Magdy Yahya

About the author

View the Original article

As of yesterday, Mohammed Morsi has been declared the President of Egypt by way of democratic vote. Morsi was a controversial candidate whose ties with the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood lead many to believe he would pass strict policies imposing Islamic values on Egypt’s citizens, a concern especially to Christian and Secularist citizens. Likewise, Morsi’s running opponent, Ahmed Shafik ran a significant deficit of trust because of his status of Prime Minister under the hated and recently ousted Mubarak regime.

From listening to several Egyptian citizens opine on their choice of the two leading candidates, one may have been hard pressed to find anyone who trusted either candidate entirely. This brand of ‘voting for the lesser of two evils’ democracy, compounded by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces seeming efforts to marginalize presidential power as much as possible, have born a sentiment that the year old Egyptian revolution may have been a waste.

So, was the revolution wasted? That may depend upon who you ask. Certainly, for Islamists and Muslim Brotherhood supporters, it has not. Their candidate won the pivotal election, and even if his power is diminished there is still the hope that this may be one step closer towards the Egypt they want to see. Fatigued revolutionaries may agree, though they may not support Morsi fully, that he is a more hopeful alternative to the Mubarak associated Shafik.

But what about everyone else? Those who are not seeing the dramatic progress they had hoped for after one year of fighting for it?

Those who fought so hard only to feel marginalized under the majority rule of democracy?

And of course, those who still worry that the SCAF has simply been pulling the strings all along? To these people, their faith in the revolution may be waning, if indeed they do no already consider it to be a waste.

To them, I beg, don’t let it be.

It’s easier said than done to stand up for your beliefs and your convictions in the face of all adversity. As an American, for whom it easy to take free speech for granted, I know I cannot truly understand the fear that one faces in the turbulent regime and post-regime of Mubarak. I do understand, however, the feeling of frustration that comes with not having your voice heard by those in power, and the insecurity that comes with wanting to stand up without knowing your fellow countrymen will be behind you or not. The hard truth is that this will be a regular fact of life for just about any person living in a democratic society, and understanding that is understanding that the path to true progress is an arduous one that requires a great deal of discipline and patience.

Always remember that, when all those people converged on Tahrir Square all those times in unity, that though their ideas and ideals may not have aligned so perfectly, that together they managed to break through a wall of silence and make their dissatisfaction known. The powers that be came down violently upon them, and instead of letting this deter them, the crowds swelled more and their conviction became stronger. It was because we, as humans, all know there is an inherent wrongness in tyranny, and once it realized for what it is we stand hand-to-hand to fight it no matter what.

After the dust of the elections settle, will the status quo in Egypt drift back to another de facto tyranny perpetrated against the people by the SCAF? Right now, no one can truly say. What the revolution has proved is that the people know what that tyranny looks like, and are willing to fight it when it see they see it. The people have confidence in their own voices now, and they must cling to it if the progress they hope for is ever to be made. Democracy is an imperfect system, and no one ever gets everything that they want, but the moment people give up on their voice is when democracy becomes voluntary totalitarianism.

View the Original article