///M
Well-Known Member
I haven't been posting much because of the shock and anger that I'm feeling because of the events of the past few days back home in Egypt. Just in case you haven't heard, here's a little rundown.
Around this time last year, the government, spearheaded by Mubarak himself, introduced a modification to the constitution which allowed for multi-party candidates to run against the NDP and Mubarak. This atmosphere of 'opening' up has revealed a desire for more freedoms from the citizens, and peaceful demonstrations organised by the Kefaya (Enough) movement began becoming a regular event. People were arrested every now and then, but the Liberal, Secular, Rational Kefaya movement was allowed to operate while the government dealt with the Brotherhood on the other side, since they were the biggest threat during the elections.
Fast forward to the one year anniversery of the new, "fair" elections. Two judges make their feelings public regarding the fairness of the elections, making strong claims that they were rigged and the judges were not truly independant. Salt was added to the wound when the Emergency Law was extended, to be replaced by a comprehensive 'terrorist' law. Clear dissatisfaction with the elections and this extension caused not only all of the opposition to rally around these two judges, but caused 300 more pro-reform judges to come out in silent protest.
Source: http://voanews.com/english/2006-05-25-voa40.cfm
All was fine and dandy, and the protest was for the most part peaceful. During the evening, however, several prominent activists, mainly bloggers, were picked up by secret police and their street thugs. Most notable were Karim al-Sha'ir and Mohamed al-Sharqawi. I'm just going to link up Sharqawi's testamony regarding the abuse he faced at the hands of State Security.
Source: http://arabist.net/archives/2006/05/28/a-letter-from-sharqawi/
Slowly now this is starting to get international coverage. This can be huge, and I'm sure these brave visionaries are on top of things back home. We, who live in the civilised world that is funding this oppressive regime, need to do something right now. Anything. STOP going to Egypt, tell your friends to not go to Egypt. This regime is not going to go anywere unless it is forced out, and sadly many sacrifices need to be made. I urge everyone here to write a letter to their congressmen, senators, MPs, WHOMEVER represents you in the truly democratic governments you enjoy. The State Department is aware of this, show them now that you care exactly where your tax money is going.
Do you really want to spread democracy in the middle east? This is the biggest chance we have. The Mubarak regime is deaf to complaints from every side except big western governments. Spread the word around, we can not have our voices fall on deaf ears. We can not sit back and let this chance slip from our hands like what happened in Lebanon. These people are mostly secular, Liberal, modern, rational thinking people. You are either going to stand behind the judges today, and allow the Mubarak regime to prosper. That will only cause the number of extreme Muslims to increase. Mubarak is not going to be around forever, and I'm sure most will agree that unless something is done, the vacuum of leadership will allow the Muslim Brotherhood to take power. Egyptians and non-Egyptians can NOT let that happen.
Links:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/05/31/egypt13482.htm
http://arabist.net/
http://www.sandmonkey.org/
http://www.manalaa.net/
I am going to follow through with this post if people are interested. I'm planning on starting a Kefaya chapter in my school. If not, I will surely have joined the Toronto chapter at the least. I'm getting in contact with some people and I should have more reading material and information. I'll try to get draft letters to send to your representatives in government. 'Till then, the best thing you can do is keep up on this matter and follow it closely.
Around this time last year, the government, spearheaded by Mubarak himself, introduced a modification to the constitution which allowed for multi-party candidates to run against the NDP and Mubarak. This atmosphere of 'opening' up has revealed a desire for more freedoms from the citizens, and peaceful demonstrations organised by the Kefaya (Enough) movement began becoming a regular event. People were arrested every now and then, but the Liberal, Secular, Rational Kefaya movement was allowed to operate while the government dealt with the Brotherhood on the other side, since they were the biggest threat during the elections.
Fast forward to the one year anniversery of the new, "fair" elections. Two judges make their feelings public regarding the fairness of the elections, making strong claims that they were rigged and the judges were not truly independant. Salt was added to the wound when the Emergency Law was extended, to be replaced by a comprehensive 'terrorist' law. Clear dissatisfaction with the elections and this extension caused not only all of the opposition to rally around these two judges, but caused 300 more pro-reform judges to come out in silent protest.
Source: http://voanews.com/english/2006-05-25-voa40.cfm
All was fine and dandy, and the protest was for the most part peaceful. During the evening, however, several prominent activists, mainly bloggers, were picked up by secret police and their street thugs. Most notable were Karim al-Sha'ir and Mohamed al-Sharqawi. I'm just going to link up Sharqawi's testamony regarding the abuse he faced at the hands of State Security.
Source: http://arabist.net/archives/2006/05/28/a-letter-from-sharqawi/
Slowly now this is starting to get international coverage. This can be huge, and I'm sure these brave visionaries are on top of things back home. We, who live in the civilised world that is funding this oppressive regime, need to do something right now. Anything. STOP going to Egypt, tell your friends to not go to Egypt. This regime is not going to go anywere unless it is forced out, and sadly many sacrifices need to be made. I urge everyone here to write a letter to their congressmen, senators, MPs, WHOMEVER represents you in the truly democratic governments you enjoy. The State Department is aware of this, show them now that you care exactly where your tax money is going.
Do you really want to spread democracy in the middle east? This is the biggest chance we have. The Mubarak regime is deaf to complaints from every side except big western governments. Spread the word around, we can not have our voices fall on deaf ears. We can not sit back and let this chance slip from our hands like what happened in Lebanon. These people are mostly secular, Liberal, modern, rational thinking people. You are either going to stand behind the judges today, and allow the Mubarak regime to prosper. That will only cause the number of extreme Muslims to increase. Mubarak is not going to be around forever, and I'm sure most will agree that unless something is done, the vacuum of leadership will allow the Muslim Brotherhood to take power. Egyptians and non-Egyptians can NOT let that happen.
Links:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/05/31/egypt13482.htm
http://arabist.net/
http://www.sandmonkey.org/
http://www.manalaa.net/
I am going to follow through with this post if people are interested. I'm planning on starting a Kefaya chapter in my school. If not, I will surely have joined the Toronto chapter at the least. I'm getting in contact with some people and I should have more reading material and information. I'll try to get draft letters to send to your representatives in government. 'Till then, the best thing you can do is keep up on this matter and follow it closely.