As long overdue popular uprisings for justice and against tyranny spread across the Middle East, not just the brutal violence, but also the false political realignments, manipulations, deceptions and co-optations by the respective entrenched reactionary regimes continue to spread like festering growths.
Egypt is no exception. In the ongoing struggle to wrestle the framing of the discourse over recent events in Egypt away from the regime's mouthpieces -national and international-, it becomes critical that every media forum at our disposal is made open to present and advance the voices of the revolution. In that spirit, this update presents two distinct and unique Arab voices expressing their own revolutionary perspectives about what has and continues to happen in Egypt since the uprising.
In the following interview and analysis, Mona Seif an organizer in the January 25th movement, and the Afro-Asian People's Democratic Islamic Congress (APIC-{APICONG}) an international organization revived by the Egyptian revolution and active in a number of countries in Africa and the Middle East, separately address many of the critical issues and challenges leading up to the uprising and presently facing the people of Egypt and the future of the revolution.
Interview with Mona Seif
On 11th February, 2011, on the 18th day of protesting, The Egyptian people forced their dictator to stand down, after 30 years of oppressive rule. Mona Seif was at the heart of the uprising.
(February 12th interview by Chris Crowstaff)
Voice Interview with Mona Seif (click here),
Or
Read the interview's transcript (click here)
"Different folks different quotes" tweets section
Mona Seif:
"We want a free government that doesn't receive orders from outside, Today we thank our martyrs, we celebrate with our people, we breathe in Tahrir, & we shout out our demands, ة we want a free government, life became bitter.
Wael Ghonim:
This is Revolution 2.0: No one was a hero because everyone was a hero, Can anyone help connecting me with Muhammad Yunus the founder of Grameen Bank?
Mainstream Media Article on yesterday's mobilization
Next is an article which appeared in the Empire's leading official mouthpiece, Voice of America. Similar, if not identical in tone and content, to nearly all mainstream media reports on yesterday's mass rally in Tahrir.
(Following the article is a critical analysis of the piece by APIC (APICONG) bringing attention, not only to what was said in the article and why, but also to what was not said...This analysis is the only reason I am reproducing this, so please read on)
A Week After Mubarak's Ouster, Most Egyptians Are Jubilant
Suzanne Presto | Cairo February 18, 2011
Egyptians packed Tahrir Square yet again Friday to listen to popular cleric Yusuf Qaradawi, one week to the day after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned.
There was certainly joy at what many Egyptians consider to be a political victory, but people quickly reflected on those who died during the protests that began January 25.
Sheikh Qaradawi led Friday prayers, honoring those who died or went missing during the 18 days of protests and praying for the future of the country. He praised the military, which has promised to safeguard a peaceful transition, and called for the prompt release all political detainees.
The popular cleric, who had been banned from public speaking in Egypt for decades, called on all Egyptians to support the revolution by devoting themselves to work - a request apparently aimed at the series of strikes that began when Mr. Mubarak stepped down.
Qaradawi praised Egypt's young people for their role in the revolution, and he called on all Egyptians to demonstrate patience during these transitional times.
Ahmad Shamseldin, a 30-year-old physician in Cairo, was in the crowd listening to the sheikh's message.
"He expressed what we all Egyptians needed to hear today," said Shamseldin. "We are thinking that the army is doing enough, but it istoo slow."
Shamseldin wants to see a new Cabinet in place, because he detests the old regime.
"They represent to us the stealing of the money of the Egyptian people, the taxes, the selling of the Egyptian people's industry and putting the money into their bank accounts," he said.
Sherifa Saleh, in her mid 30s, says she thinks things are progressing well in Egypt.
"I think things have been going smooth so far, and people trust the military," said Saleh. "They trust them, and I'm sure it's going to be a smooth process, not just during the coming few days but the coming months."
Saleh says her main purpose for going to Tahrir Square is to honor the martyrs - the people, as she says, "who gave their lives for this revolution to succeed." Even with her eyes shielded behind her dark sunglasses, Saleh's emotion is evident.
"They will never be forgotten. That's all I can say," she said.
Some in Tahrir Square wore laminated tags with the colors of the flag on one side and photos of those who died on the other.
But the gathering also included the celebratory fanfare of a sporting event- Some had their faces painted in red, white and black. Vuvuzelas blared. Flags in all sizes were held aloft. Young women wearing scarves over their hair hawked "I heart Egypt" t-shirts.
A mother named Salwa took in the joyful atmosphere with her children. Wearing a dark peacoat and a flowing denim skirt down to her toes, a white scarf covering her hair, she smiled as she surveyed the massive crowd.
"Just to celebrate with everyone, because the kids didn't have a chance to come during those hard days, so I wanted them to celebrate and enjoy," said Salwa.
Salwah's young daughter wore a headband across her forehead in the colors of the Egyptian flag and turned her face so that the flag painted on her cheek was plainly visible.
Salwa said her children, who range in age from 5 to 17, were plugged nto the revolution.
"Minute by minute, they didn't miss anything, watching TV and on Facebook and whatever newspapers on the internet," she said. "They were sharing everything, like, minute by minute."
Amid the celebration, Salwa says she is sorry that those who died are unable to celebrate the one-week anniversary of Mr. Mubarak's resignation.
"But we are so proud of them, and we know they are watching us from above and they are celebrating there, with each other, so that is enough for me," said Salwa.
There were a few solemn marches on the outskirts of the crowd, each consisting of a dozen or so people carrying posters of men who died.
While the emotions displayed in the square ranged from jubilation to sorrow, Shamelhedin, the physician, says the common theme is unity.
"The Egyptian people have been united in this square like they have never been united before," he said. "The Egyptian people here in this state, in this place, in this square... We have seen different types and different religions and different ages and different ideologies who are united right here in this square. Nobody thinks that he has has something to do over the others. No one thinks he is better than the others. It is just all the people united expressing their opinions."
A review committee has been appointed to redraft constitutional articles in a bid to pave the way for transparent elections.
Article Analysis by APIC (APICONG)
The reader of this article will understand why any fear of repression proved unfounded.
The army does not need to suppress the demonstrations. They firmly have them in their grip.
This demonstration, which was attended by over a million people, has with the help of an ex-dissident cleric full of praise for the so well trusted army, been turned into a "victory parade" in which critical voices are neutralized. The military junta supported by sycophantic media domestic and foreign, and by the ever-lukewarm middle class, is successfully manipulating the nation. The imperialist powers' interests in Egypt have come one big step closer to being secured. The junta honours all agreements signed by the Mubarak government, and Al Baradei, a toy of Western imperial aspirations is being groomed for presidency. Hence, even in case there should indeed be a transition to civil government, imperialist interests in the region would not be endangered.
There has, as announced beforehand, been a display of Mubarak supporters marching along the streets in black shirts (dishonouring a beautiful colour) as a sign of their grief over the departure of their commander-in-chief to the high class holiday resort Sharm al Sheikh. Their number, however, amounted to less than a hundred. But who needs them, anyway? The regime is where it has always been and all the glowing revolutionary rhetoric of the avantgarde is just that - rhetoric. There has been no repression because there has been no challenge. But there shall be one, soon enough, from a different angle.The army's high council, in the midst of ongoing labour actions, has announced that the continuation of strikes throughout the country shall not be tolerated. The strikes across Egypt are the true means by which pressure is mounting.
Middle class people may feel a serious concern about the miserable living conditions of the working classes, the peasants, the inhabitants of urban slums (which 13 million Egyptians are calling their homes). Their affection may be, and in most of them certainly is, sincere. But they do not understand the slums. The post-modern tweeter and the westernised graduate do not speak the language of the fellahin, nor do they relate to the code and customs of the black tent [bedouin culture]. This is their limitation. Their disposition has been their strength in outdoing the designs of the less technisised police force. But it is a weakness now, when people without illusions, hardened and wizened by the experiences of a life shaped by the sustained and merciless struggle for survival are needed to set the priorities of national reconstruction.
It is an open secret that intellectuals are the most manipulable class of all. Youth, in itself, is not sufficient as a capital. Empathy and zeal alone are not the answer to everything.
Yes, the task of social liberation cannot be tackled without raising the class question. And this question is: Who is the nation? Whose interests are the interests of the state? Whose priorities are the state's priorities, and whose law is the law? Will the millions that are silent and inarticulate now speak? Will they be governed by the effendiya (middle and upper classes, who, as a rule, are westernised) or participate in government? Will they understand that they are the country itself and its life vein?
It is the strikes and the question whether and if yes, by what means, the army will be able to end them that will determine the future of Egypt.
"Different folks different quotes" tweets section part II
Pakinam Amer:
Wrote an op-ed about the #Jan25 revolution -- managed to squeeze in a
'Lord of the Rings' quote in there! #CantHelpIt
Wael Ghonim:
I loved Sheikh Qaradawi Khutbah today. Was truly inspired when he said: Today I'm going to address both Muslims and Christians. Respect!
Prof. As'ad Abu Khalil:
I really believe that those who belong to the revolutionary left in Egypt should push for the ouster of the Egyptian military junta. The junta just announced that they will open the Rafah crossing to 1) those
who are stuck there; 2) to humanitarian cases. It sounds like the junta, like the Mubarak, still takes orders from Israel.
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