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| You vote won't make a difference in the Constitution "Keizer" |
From two days ago in the news : The governor of New Valley Governorate “A former army major general” says that anyone who dares to spread the “No for Constitution” posters in the governorate will be arrested in accordance with the law !!!!! Man I wonder if a governor in time of Morsi dared to say this , how the media reaction would be and I find myself saying that we are living in a world full of hypocrites.
Moatez Abdel Fatah, the famous political sciences professor turned in to a media celebrity says that even if the people vote “No” in the constitution , the state will make it “Yes” in some public lecture !! He added that some people may accept what used to happen in time of Mubarak just to make sure that the Muslim Brotherhood won’t return back.
Moatez Abdel Fatah : Even if people vote “No” , the state will make it “Yes”
Constitutions are not made to defeat nation’s enemies for God sake !!
Anyhow it seems that the government or rather regime won’t take NO for an answer for real !!
Government and ruling regimes of this country should know that there are “Yes” and “No” answers in referendums for a certain reason and that they should prepare specific scenarios. Of course I am speaking about real governments that believe in democracy and act according to it. Governments we have not seen so far in Egypt !!
During SCAF , we had to say yes to the constitution 71 amendments referendum otherwise we would be infidels “P.S the Felol voted Yes too because SCAF was marketing Yes strongly”. During Morsi , we had to say yes to the new constitution otherwise we will be infidels. Now in 2013 or rather 2014 we have to say yes to the newer constitution otherwise we are traitors.
Arresting people is a dictatorship. Saying people are (something bad) for not voting as you want is frankly democracy. If you think people in the US or other developed democracies are always perfectly reasonable and courteous when discussing politics, well, you don't listen to our political radio or TV shows, haha. If the SCAF or Ikhwan say voting against their consitution is kafir that's their prerogative and as long as your are free to argue they are wrong I don't really see the problem. If you are expecting the people who wrote a Constitution is say 'we don't care if you vote yes or no, do what you think in Egypt's best interest' is probably never going to happen. If we voted on a new Constitution it wouldn't work that way here, trust me.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that really matters is if you arrest or otherwise intimidate people for saying you should vote no, that's dictatorship and throws seriously doubt on the legitimacy of the referendum at all, since we can never now if people who have supported it without coercion. Westerns are going to assume if you had to use coercion, you are admitting you'd have lost without it. If this happens more than a few times expect Western papers to refer to this as something like "The military dominated Constitution passed in a referendum marred by accusations of voter intimidation and violence"
Well said!
DeleteAnd by the way, there were NO campaign on public TV/radio channels!
Thanks! I'm not sure when there were no campaigns on public channels. Here in the US public TV/Radio channels are few and not very important, the only two I can think of are PBS(TV) and NPR(radio). PBS is pretty much only used for things like documentaries and rarely speaks of politics. Also, nobody watches it. NPR is more political and is usually though of as being left-leaning. It is a bit more influential than PBS. However, it would never endorse a candidate or political position explicitly.
DeleteBoth of these are quite small compared to privately owned channels. These generally have editorial slants but there are few regulations on what they can put out, and putting political pressure on them is both against the law and culturally taboo.
Dear Zeinobia, I take this opportunity to wish you and the Egyptian people a peaceful and prosperous 2014
ReplyDeleteDo Egyptians actually support Sisi's genocidal hatred of
ReplyDeletePalestinians?
How can they hope to receive admiration or respect when they turn on allies in such a fashion and become a vassal of states supporting their suppression?
A constitution that is illegal to campaign against will protect freedom of speech? Yeah right.
ReplyDeleteThe Orwellian nature of the constitutional fraud parallels the ironic rhetoric of state terrorists employing baltageya terrorists to suppress dissent. Eventually, the escalating destruction of liberty in Egypt will become so extreme that it will destroy elements of the political establishment that have sold themselves to deep state totalitarians.
Real or effective leadership will never come from useless movements like most of the parties of the National Salvation Front or Tamarod. These guys support the political genocide of their political opponents and have nothing to contribute to a constructing a democratic discourse. Many of them are pathetic enough to actually support Sisi as a president, despite the intense contradiction in ideology between these movements' alleged belief in liberalism/social democracy and the totalitarianism of Sisi, the Defense Ministry, and the Interior Ministry. It is actually funny to see non-Maoist, non-North Korean communists giving full throttle support to fanatical ultranationalism and decidedly non-socialist economic policies. The word "clowns" is apt for this situation.
Real, genuine progress will have to come from the youth and those that actually created the revolution. The Road of the Revolution Front is one such start but more needs to be done. They need to create an alternative that can replace the current power structure once it inevitable fails beyond repair and tumbles down.
Is it any wonder that the Egyptian Mugabe (the deep state apparatus in this case) has imprisoned and vilified as "terrorists" the Egyptian Mandelas (Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma, Mohammed Adel, and many others)? The comparison may not be perfect, but is functionally close enough.
ReplyDeleteThe arrests and farcical indictments of the leading initiators of the 2011 revolution are clearly meant to try erase all sense of hope or progress, period. Why would a government be hell bent on the elimination of individuals who reflect an advanced and sophisticated degree of political consciousness and who were enormously successful at employing nonviolent civil resistance to topple a dictatorship?
The answer obviously is that the pose a threat which the parasitic, abusive elite can neither comprehend nor counter. It literally views their tactics as currently being the ultimate threat to their continued grip on society. Thus, in the mind of this dictatorial elite, the activists' physical destruction or silencing is an absolute necessity. The April 6 movement is essentially the antithesis of what the authoritarians stand for.
The Ikwan, the April 6 movement, Khaled Ali's supporters, and the Ultras are being targeted. The Revolutionary Socialists have also been to some degree. The next stage may those who still support the roadmap but are wavering and continue to express some pride in the 2011 revolution. Elements of the Constitution party perhaps. Or maybe the Popular Current once the power struggle over the presidency swings into full force. Kind of surprising that the Strong Egypt Party has not yet been heavily repressed as much as some other types of dissenters.
Hi Zeinobia,
ReplyDeleteSorry, you are not fair. During Morsi, no one was forced to say Yes or No. Though I still support Morsi (& before 30 June) but I didn't vote though I was not against the committee or against Morsi or Ikhwan but I had my reasons. It's very unfair comparing what happens now by time of Morsi. First, it never happened before in history of Egypt. Second, Morsi was really doing fine, not the best for sure & he has mistakes but he was fair with everyone. But the conspiracy was huge & many didn't believe this though it was obvious from my point of view & Now it's impossible that any reasonable person can deny it.