I still got some time to write my remarks about the Draft Constitution , already my voting turn will be on December 22,2012 as I am from Giza.
Anyhow I would like to share with you these videos on why many Egyptians including me refuse this draft constitution.
This video is from Mosireen with English captions speaks about the neglect the right to the city despite we face a huge problem when it comes to shanty towns in almost all over the country and in its major cities.
By the way Strong Egypt Party also refused this constitution for neglecting this right as part of the social justice.
This video is about the freedom of press. It is not translated unfortunately. The speakers are Ahram Online’s editor in chief Hany Shukrallah and journalists syndicate’s board member Alaa El Attar
Now when it comes to freedom of Press , well this is the most unfriendly constitution I would imagine when it comes to freedom of press after #Jan25 revolution.
According to article No.48 Newspapers, channels and websites can be closed by a court orders so easily. Already the article is too vague.
Ironically in Constitution 1971 newspapers can not be closed by court orders !!
Also this draft constitution did not ban the imprisonment of journalists in publishing related crimes. I remember that Mohamed Mahsoob once promised to include this article in the constitution but you know !! The MB leading members already said that journalists should not have any privileges compared to other professions.
Moving to Al Azhar’s position
Here is Ibrahim El Houdaiby speaking about his concerns considering Al Azhar's posiiton in the draft constitutionArticle No.4 states the supreme scholars committee of Al-Azhar, the country's highest Islamic institution, should be consulted on all matters relating to Sharia. Many expressed their fear that this gives the religious institution the right to meddle in the law-making process as well a complete control over religion. You must think in the future that Al Azhar could be controlled by radicals.
You can read more about the religious aspects of the draft constitution in that report by Nada Rashwan in Ahram Online.
To Article No.62 related to the right of healthcare , here is a video from No for the Constitution campaign that is translated to French.
The State obliges to provide healthcare and health insurance according to a high quality fair system and to be free for those who are incapable to afford it !!
How can the state determine who is capable to afford this healthcare and who is not !? Are we going back again to the infamous poverty certificate !? What kind of logic is that !?
Already Egyptian doctors like Mona Mina who are struggling to have some National health insurance system like in UK fear that this constitution will open the door to private the health insurance.
Now this video from Strong Egypt Party and it presents why it refuses the draft constitution.
There are more to raise and I know we got no time.
Wouldn't it have been great if these concerns were raised in the constitutional committee. Liberals were selected in it but just wanted to ruin it so they did not contribute and many didn't attend any sessions after the first one. Then they all decide to withdraw two weeks before it ends. Once they see that the constitution is going through despite their efforts ti wreck it, they talk about all the issues they have with it. Perhaps if they had brought these concerns uo when it was appropriate (ie during the writing of the draft) instead of after it they wouldn't be facing this problem. They're getting what they deserve- they put their own interests ahead of Egypt's and wanted to make the ikhwan look bad even if it meant ruining the constitution. Now they must deal with the fact that they had the chance to contribute, chose not to do so, and the constitution is not to their liking. Toz...
ReplyDeleteAmr Mousa stayed right up to the last moment and was continually telling the petulant El Baradei to join it but he like a child refused all offers.
DeleteAmr Moussa played a big role in the drafts formation.
I am sick to death of hearing all this crap from the opposition.
They are not in any way thinking about the country and about the economy which is flatlining.
Egypt is in the middle of a heart attack and it might not recover from this one if there is a NO vote and Egyptians don't wake up and smell the coffee.
Let me go through these reasons you say you will vote No
ReplyDeleteArt 48
Take a look at UK and France who have very strict media laws. You will find for example the most recent case the Murdoch scandal and phone hacking which managed to close down one of the most famous newspapers in the UK and has a few of it's top employees in jail awaiting trial. Look back at France and the Princess Diana case. 39 journalists all arrested and take to court with offices ransacked and media taken to court. Article 48 is just like any other country and is NO sensible reason to vote NO.
Art 4
You know as well as I do that to think of something that MIGHT happen in the future is very immature. Imagine IF WE ALL thought of things that MIGHT happen in the future! Al Azhar is a reference only. It has been the reference for thousand plus years. Egypt will only become radical if you continue to close your eyes to Saudi influence and wahabism. That my dear is the biggest threat to Egypt. How many Nikaby women have you sat down with and said Nikab is not Islamic for instance? How many relatives have you confronted with that which Al Azhar agreed was not Islamic? Not a good reason to vote NO.
art 62
I seriously cannot believe you quoted this one as a reason!!!
In case you did not notice Egypt is on it's knees and with every protest soon it will be on it's belly! It does not have the resources to offer an NHS type system!!! Even IF it did!!! tell me would you be queueing up to use a government hospital!!! I think not!
For Gods sake be realistic! ONLY the poor should have free health care TILL such times as Egypt has a stronger economy. To insist on free for everyone is very selfish. Why? because you will have people who can afford taking advantage of a system and depriving the poor of the limited resources. I mean this is not rocket science is it! The state will determine the exact same way other 3rd world countries determine who is eligible. The same way they SHOULD determine who is eligible for subsidized benzine and electricity and gas!
This is a really bad example of why someone would vote NO.
If you have more to raise please come back with something a bit more sensible because these are not good reasons at all not to vote NO.
The draft constitution is more of a constitution for the MB. But then only they have had input into it. Al Azhar does not need to be a reference for a costitution that is to serve Muslim, Christian & Secular citizens. Look at (Islamic) Turkeys constitution it has no such reference.
DeletePeople didn't risk their lives so that Mullahs with fat bellies and briefcases could take over. Face it the MB is uninspired and uninspiring. Egypt is more dynamic & diverse than that. Thats exactly why they are facing such difficulty bringing people with them.
Al Azhar is NOT a reference for the constitution! It is a reference for the Egyptian interpretation of Sharia! Muslims from all over the world study there. Would Egyptians prefer the Saudi Mufti to be the reference for interpretation?
DeleteThe choice is between Saudi Wahabbism and the MB. What a choice! A false choice.
DeleteYou do realise that if Egyptian followed you and voted no that Qatar has said it will stop the 10 billion investments.................
ReplyDeleteSo will Turkey and China and the rest........................
Think very carefully before marking that ballot whether your vote is about your love for Egypt or just hate for the MB.
You vote has major economic implications and ElB and Co are wealthy enough to move to Europe. Most Egyptians are not when the shit hits the fan! which it will big time if the vote is no. No country will invest in such turmoil and no tourist will visit.
so you're suggesting people should vote yes to become enslaved by Qatar?
DeleteOh really,check this :
ReplyDelete1- the granting of enormous, dictatorial powers to the president, which produces a tyrant no matter how legitimate the intentions are. The president, according to the draft, appoints a vice president, prime minister, governors, prosecutor general, heads of the censorship authorities and members of the Supreme Constitutional Court. He also heads the National Defense Council and enters into international treaties. It is as if the draft is not conscious of the lessons learned regarding the concentration of power in an authoritarian regime like that which the revolution rose up to overthrow. It would have been more appropriate democratically for the elected authorities to share the powers to make appointments to these sensitive positions or for the official to be directly elected, such as in the case of the vice president and the governors.
2- Article 76 states the following:
Penalty shall be personalized. There shall be no crime or penalty except by virtue of a constitutional text or of the law. No penalty shall be inflicted except by a judicial sentence. Penalty shall be inflicted only for acts committed subsequent to the promulgation of the law prescribing it.
Now please pay attention to the words “by the virtue of a constitutional text” here. The constitution doesn’t include penalties for crimes, that’s the law’s job. Even crimes that are listed in the constitution do not have the punishments in them as much as a reference to the law that regulates such punishment. So, if it was simply the law, why would anyone put in the words “constitutional text” instead of referring directly to a crime punishable by an existing law? The only reference is then for punishments for crimes that don’t exist in the law. So, how would that work exactly?
Simple, really: In this case, the search for a legislation that doesn’t exist in civil law will refer directly to article 2 , which states that “Principles of Islamic Sharia are the principal source of legislation” . Those Principles of Islamic Sharia are in turn explained by article 219 “The principles of Islamic Sharia include general evidence, foundational rules, rules of jurisprudence, and credible sources accepted in Sunni doctrines and by the larger community” , which means that if there is any Sharia-based judgment that exists in the 1600 years of Islamic jurisprudence or stated by a “credible source”, then it shall be found to be in accordance of this constitution. This includes anything from the famous punishments for theft , adultery, idolatry or murder (cutting hands, whipping, stoning to death, paying your way out, respectively) to less famous ones that include social crimes that no functioning moderate Muslim today knows to be crimes. It is the constitutional equivalent of allowing the punishment for witchcraft set by the Catholic Church in the middle ages, since it is part of historic Catholic jurisprudence.Do you recognize that these are enough reasons,the constitution is being tossed with ?
I got as far as line 3 and knew you had not read the constitution.
DeleteFirst clue: no mention at all of Vice President!
Cuba has free healthcare for all and it provides doctors for Africa. Cuba has among the beast health outcomes in the world. Is Cuba a "strong economy"? Unfortunately it has a ridiculous dictatorial system of government, but these facts are not necessarily related. While the MB are busy forcing this Constitution through Morsi is abdicating power and handing it to the IMF and the criminal cartel of American financial interests that created them. It will make no difference who you vote for or what Constitution you adopt, American interests now rule you. Morsi has American children, I believe. Look at Greece over the water. The only political force in Egypt that I can see capable of resisting this is the liberal Opposition. Certainly not those who bang on about "For God's sake be realistic". "Realistic" is often the first plea of a slavish mentality. The Western globalised banks care nothing for your people. They want to colonise you. Morsi is their man.
ReplyDeleteRoger, Cuba's excellent healthcare is a myth. In fact it's shitty. The lying commie government provides the statistics. Why would you believe them? Just to give one example, their infant mortality rate is low because any time a pregnancy is judged high-risk, the baby is aborted, and the death is not counted. Something like 60% of Cuban pregnancies end in abortion.
DeleteA PS to my main response....Of course the IMF will be called the IMBF in the new Egypt. Christine Legarde in a Niqab.
ReplyDeleteExcellent, Roger. I dont know why this seems to concur with what you are saying. Quote : "They are literal bodies of history, living texts that rewrite the present and returning the German homeland to its volkisch roots and heroic past. Barriers that separate past and present are torn down through the dressing – or undressing – of living bodies, while a whole new future based on myth becomes the new reality. the thoroughness with which the metamorphosis of reality was achieved. (18)
ReplyDeleteThousands of human beings are amassed into a collection of uniformed blocks on the Nuremberg courtyard; they are a concentric stream of densely conglomerated nobodies obediently trimming the pathway of the Fuhrer’s motorcade; they are an epic gathering of millions of extended arms; they are the legs of a schoolboy in his knee-high socks standing on tiptoe to get a better view through the crush of bodies; they are hands of the Jugund beating their drums in synch with one another like perfect marionettes; they become the empty face of Youth staring straight ahead, the only presence of life hinted at by beauty. Like a Dantean vortex, the process of deconstruction breaks the symbolic body down piece-by-piece, economizing, funneling it through a procedure that gets narrower and narrower. The Face becomes the most intimate and most frighteningly absent present representation of Nazi deconstruction, made more haunting because it returns the place of recreation to the Beginning as held by Youth. Beautifully blank, chosen, and immortal, the face of youth is fictionalized through its marbleized flesh, its enameled eyes, and its effervescent blond hair to be a poem of purity. Occasionally, a smile will form upon its smooth surface, but because it is shaped by the encouraging words of its sculptor, it is lifeless. They are meant to be monuments of hope, of a heroic future that justifies the blood spilled in the present to regain past glory, but behind the art is truth, for they are chilling reminders of the fragments of sculpted facial traits displayed as ‘typical Jewish features’ in anti-Jewish art exhibitions.
Triumph of the Will transcends one kind of reality – the colonization of consciousness by Nazi vision - Olympiadtranscends another: the colonization of the unconscious. It asks for the complete surrender of bodily earthiness. It offers, like the beautiful Aryan body sculpture, “a body of language people could identify with and on which they could model themselves.” (16) It demands the individual to want to be sculpturized. Hitler’s superior race was Nazi Germany’s first greatest lies, an aestheticized vision of the Perfect State that was a mask for its theatre of death. Peter Adam writes, “One can only look at the art of the Third Reich through the lens of Auschwitz,” (12) as if to state that the horrors of the camps are in the end the most powerful aesthetic statement the Nazi-as-artist has contributed to history.it can create an ideal, shaped by the impossible mythology that is as frightening and fascinating as Nazi action, and through the sculpted form of a gigantic Superman and Flawless woman, reality is redefined, truth recreated and the Political Aesthetic officialized ". Do you recognize yourselves ?.
A tiny bit off topic there, don't you think? A good summary of the genesis of the 3rd Reich though.
DeleteI don't believe the MB resemble the National Socialist Party at all. I'm more worried that they resemble Christian, fundamentalist, Republican, businessmen in the US.
In other words, a group of people who will pray for the poor, workers and other unfortunates but will do everything in their power to enrich themselves and do nothing to help the others.
They will pray(as in Texas) while incarcerating more of their people and executing more of their people than most places.Pious people.
@pirooz, I disagree with you. Both MB and NAZI use cultural hegemony to control the society. Hegemony is the dominance of one group over another through force or ideology. The means through which one group calls “all the shots” in terms of both Material/Economic relations and beliefs.
DeleteForce is the control of the body through the use or threat of physical coercion.Ideology is the control of the mind through the control of knowledge ("propaganda") or culture (belief).
The NAZI party used the national origin and race as the domineering factor to control the society and the MB uses religion to the do the same.