Thursday, November 17, 2011

#Nov18 : Will it be a real million man protest or show off or what ?

Tomorrow there will be a big protest at Tahrir square and hopefully other squares across the country insh Allah. It will be big according to the number of the participants but no one knows if it will be a true million man protest or not , if it will be a show off for certain political powers in the country specifically the Islamists.
Now before we go in to boring details , what are the demands of the protesters tomorrow ?
There is one clear demand which I think a lot of us support : To have the presidential elections after the parliamentary elections in the nearest time by April 2012.
We are demanding what was mentioned in the constitutional declaration issued in March and based on the referendum Egyptians voted on. 
Now there is other important demand in uniting the different political powers that is the complete rejection and objection to the supra-constitutional principles document aka El Salmi’s document. The Islamist parties and powers as well as all the other parties decided to return to use Tahrir square as a pressure tool in front of SCAF. 
It seems that the negotiations between political parties and El Salmi have reached to dead end as he is insisting on two articles and before you think they are not “9 & 10” but rather the articles on how we should choose and elect our provisional assembly. "50:50 or 1/3 from the parliament or vice versa”
I believe that El Salmi and company like Mamdouh Hamza are the true problem not SCAF. Already SCAF decided to delay the battle of the army’s position to beyond the elections which is a clever strategic move.
There was a big a list of demands I found in several Facebook pages but I think it is better to focus on one demand that almost all the political forces participating in the protest agree upon.
One of the lists with these demands
Now The Muslim brotherhood “Freedom and Justice” , the Salafists “Al Nor party” , El Adl party , El Wasat party , Ghad El Thawra party as well other movements like April 6th Youth movement with its two fronts , revolutionary socialists and Kafayeh movement are participating. Potential presidential candidates Abdel Manam Abu El Fatouh and Hazem Abu Isamil are going to participate in the protest as well as Bothiana Kamel and Ayman Nour.
The Muslim brotherhood and the Salafists are already urging their followers to stay in Tahrir from tonight. The MB says that it will not the last million man protest till El Salmi is downed.
According to MENA the Salafists will not have a sit in despite some Salafist groups said that they will not leave Tahrir square except they get what they want. “To be honest I do not get it clearly”
Al Masryeen Al Ahrar party , the Egyptian Social Democratic party , Hamdeen Sabhi Campaign and Al Karma party are not going to participate because despite they support the demand of having presidential elections as soon as possible , they fear that the Islamists will take over the protest to show off their power. In other powers the Islamists-phobia is there .
It is worth to mention and not to forget that No for military trials supporters will start a group hunger strike tomorrow headed by potential presidential candidate Bothiana Kamel in solidarity with Dr. Laila Soueif. Blogger Malek Mostafa also announced that he will start a hunger strike tomorrow along a group of activists. The demand of these strikers is simple to stop the military trials and to refer those who face military courts to civilian courts. 
Alaa Abdel Fatah Seif aka @Alaa’s birthday is tomorrow too.
Khaled Said page has announced that there will be rallies supporting the early presidential elections in April 2012 tomorrow that will head from different squares including Mustafa Mahmoud square to Tahrir square.
And of course #Nov18 is the hashtag.
Currently there are tents and panels being installed. According to my friends who are in Tarhrir square , there are panels already set up. There are protests now as well in parallel in Suez and in Sohag. 
I hope that tomorrow will be a start for unity and not the start of the usual division , I hope it is not a show off for the Islamists power in the street , I hope that it is not a return to Tahrir square addiction

1 comment:

  1. Marhaba!
    I didnt find your e-mail adresse anywhere, so i leave my message over here. First i would like to thank you. This blog is wonderful and i like poeple who dont scare to share theyr opinion. I just love this blog.
    I also live in egypt but im not egyptian. have my own opinion and write about it also, but in my main language, which is not english, so its pointless to share my blog.
    Anyway, was just wanna say HI and im glad to read your articles :)

    Salam

    ReplyDelete

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