Today I read a piece by Mahmoud Salem (Sandmonkey) in his clear style and with well expressed thoughts, which basically calls upon the intelligent and clear sighted of the former shafiqistas and kanaba to join in changing the realities and fighting the threats which Egypt is facing now. He further calls upon them to stop putting their faith in SCAF as their saviour, and instead take things into their own hands, and join forces with other players.
While I agree with what Mahmoud says, I think he should have not just addressed the Shafiqistas and the kanabas, but rather calling everyone to come to their senses and to understand what is at stake. The problem and the threats, existential at this point, are far beyond allowing any of the sides in Egypt to assume righteousness. Unfortunately many revolutionaries have a lot of blame to take.
While all the foregone conclusions about the kanaba and the shafiqistas may very well be true, the article doesn't touch upon the repeated failures or shortcoming of those who set out to change anything in this country - and here I am applying some self-criticsm as well. The failures on this side have been due to a number of reasons, including misalignment, wrong priorities, and a lot of ego, amongst many other things. To set it straight, we should really work to highlight and identify the main issues that will get people's buy-in and support. Unfortunately, the issues are plenty:
- a Constitution that threatens to be completely skewed toward a sector of society and ignoring all the others
- A social setup threatening to be changed completely with uncontrolled social dynamics that the authorities don't want any role in curbing, for whatever reason
- Personal freedoms and liberties, quite often underrated in the name of the revolution, are also under heavy threat without any of us doing anything about them
and the list goes on, but what I think I am trying to say is: move on, protect Egypt from a plethora of existential threats, and don't assume righteousness. Also, while we are at it, let's also pledge not to go stand in front of embassies and endless other useless endeavours to weaken our case even further ..
Z
P.S: The link to the original article can be found here : http://thedailynewsegypt.com/2012/07/10/the-message/
While I agree with what Mahmoud says, I think he should have not just addressed the Shafiqistas and the kanabas, but rather calling everyone to come to their senses and to understand what is at stake. The problem and the threats, existential at this point, are far beyond allowing any of the sides in Egypt to assume righteousness. Unfortunately many revolutionaries have a lot of blame to take.
While all the foregone conclusions about the kanaba and the shafiqistas may very well be true, the article doesn't touch upon the repeated failures or shortcoming of those who set out to change anything in this country - and here I am applying some self-criticsm as well. The failures on this side have been due to a number of reasons, including misalignment, wrong priorities, and a lot of ego, amongst many other things. To set it straight, we should really work to highlight and identify the main issues that will get people's buy-in and support. Unfortunately, the issues are plenty:
- a Constitution that threatens to be completely skewed toward a sector of society and ignoring all the others
- A social setup threatening to be changed completely with uncontrolled social dynamics that the authorities don't want any role in curbing, for whatever reason
- Personal freedoms and liberties, quite often underrated in the name of the revolution, are also under heavy threat without any of us doing anything about them
and the list goes on, but what I think I am trying to say is: move on, protect Egypt from a plethora of existential threats, and don't assume righteousness. Also, while we are at it, let's also pledge not to go stand in front of embassies and endless other useless endeavours to weaken our case even further ..
Z
P.S: The link to the original article can be found here : http://thedailynewsegypt.com/2012/07/10/the-message/
