Yesterday’s result of the Egyptian referendum for constitutional changes is a classic example of a successful Amber’s Alert.
The Egyptians’ will has been kidnapped by the masses of the Tahrir square for a few weeks now. Despite the legitimacy of most of the demands expressed in the square, some of the demands were not necessarily representing the entire population.
There were several achievements along the way that were totally acceptable by the majority of the 85+ million people. However, the vocal minority in the square was able to voice their contradicting views and was the fortunate cast for the media, local and international, on a very dramatic stage. The Tahrir square was not always in line with the people convictions.
The first major milestone that reflects my theory (the missed opportunity as viewed by some) is the announcement of Mubarak, among a list of other concessions, to delegate his authorities to the VP till September. I would debate for this missed opportunity but this is not what I am trying to communicate here.
The second milestone was going overboard to ask for the removal of the freshly appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq. For most Egyptians, he was worth supporting. But the Tahrir square could not see that. Again, I would debate against this irrational move but this is not what I am trying to communicate here neither.
The main difference between the two view points (the masses’ and the square’s) was the level of trust. The square was not willing to show any level of trust in the process. It was calling for distrust all the way. And it could have stayed like that forever (and maybe some people will) and they do have their reasons for it, they also have their willing and (theoretically) able supporters.
But reason imposes the need to establish trust at some point. And the magic formula is actually trust, vigilance, and accountability rather than distrust and paranoia.
After all, a revolution is to replace ideologies through the elimination of “some” people and driving powers. A revolution should not be based on replacing everyone that had a function in a system. To some extent, every Egyptian had a function in the old system and had to “accept” and adopt some of its ideologies in order to survive.
Once we understand that, it is obvious that if you shift focus from eliminating the ideologies to eliminating people, you run the risk of eliminating:
a) All Egyptians
b) Every one with a political, logistical, or economical value
c) The “state” rather than the “regime”
d) All of the above…
And who exactly wins then?
Back to the Amber’s Alert and the successful freeing of a nation from a hostage situation, I salute the Egyptians who were capable of performing this recovery through the ballot box. I salute their ability to be trustful, vigilant, and to hold everyone accountable for their actions; government and all.
I trust the collective will of this people and hope it is always the driver of things. I salute the army and the current government for trusting the people as well. And I thank them for giving us the Amber’s Alert in Egypt ;)
1 comment:
well, i agree with some of your points here Badr, But i do not understand your reason to label this as an Amber's Alert. I quite see it totally the opposite way. We had unrest on the 6th of April in 2008, which produced a political party with that name and had widely spread at the time making its peak in Mahala. things were accumilating and brought the scene in Egypt to its boiling point on the 25th of Jan 2001. Remember well, there were no calls to over throw the whole regime right before the 25th. It was merely a call to remove Habib El Adly on the day of police celebrations. The real problem is that it was a minor action which grew into a snow ball effect that reached right to the top of the Regime. No Major incident had happened to drive people to march to the Square! Yet, when they got there things started escalating! On the night of the 25th no one thought that people would SPEND THE NIGHT in the square, and police was terrified by that thought and started using force, which provoked more anger and such things went on.
What happened next was even more dramatic! I agree that if a poll was placed for Mubarak to stay till September or not, The Real Majority would have kept him in power! Mubarak's Regime got so nervous and couldn't control the internal and external pressures, so it JUMPED!
I believe the will of the Egyptians was stolen not just once, but several times. The Majority of Egyptians would have Kept Mubarak and secondly, during this last poll, Religion was used to inflame and encourage religious believes, and called upon the people not to vote for constitutional changed but to avenge their religion!
The real problem that i see is to really apply a democracy, we have to first apply a sound educational system that educates people and makes them learn the truth about the world! For the Majority of Egyptians, Their Religion is their whole world. It's their blanket that covers them up from all what they fear, and they do not need more than that!
Sorry for the long comment!.. :)
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