Dear friends,
Tomorrow, Friday February 25, has been declared the Day of Insistence, the continuation of the revolution with an open-ended sit-in at Tahrir Square until the revolution is complete with all of its demands irreversibly implemented. These demands are:
- The formation of a Presidential Council made of reputable civilian, justice and military authorities.
- The dissolution of the government of Ahmed Shafik.
- The formation of a transition government of competent and reputable members.
- The abolition of the State Security Service and the restructuring of the Interior Ministry.
- Bring to justice all symbols of corruption, starting with Mubarak and current government.
- The immediate release of all political prisoners from before and after the January 25 revolution.
- Bring to justice those responsible for the martyrs of the revolution.
- The freedom to form political parties.
- The abolition of the State of Emergency law.
- The dissolution of the National Democratic Party.
In my opinion, tomorrow will be a critical day for the revolution. The Egyptian people have decided to stay in the streets until all their demands are achieved. This would amount to a test of will between the Supreme Military Council and the Egyptian people. If the people take to the streets by the millions and stay there until power is transferred to the Presidential Council, then the revolution is on its way forward, with freedom and legitimacy to put together the blueprint and timetable for a national plan for the all-important period ahead.
It is good that the leaders of the revolution rather quickly realized the danger of the ongoing counter-revolution and are acting with determination and resolve. We must never forget that the revolution is an Egyptian affair through and through. Egypt has to forget about the United States, Europe and Israel, their interests not only diverge sharply with Egypt's interests, it also make them comfortable with autocracies and demands of them to engage, conciliate and deal with dictators. Egypt has to focus solely on the collective dream of its people, their desperate hope and desire for a better future, a future that will allow them to catch up with history and join the league of modern nations.
If anyone has the slightest hesitation about this, then consider this: Yesterday, Feb. 23, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer of CNN, Yehud Barak, Israel Defense Minister, said with earnest conviction that Mubarak is a good man, that he did a lot for Egypt and he should be respected. Anyone who cares to know and strives to understand what happened to Egypt in all facets of its life over the last 30 years would differ strongly with Barak, starting with Thomas Friedman, who wrote in his New York Times column on Feb. 22 that Egypt lost 30 years of development time under Mubarak's regime! That tells you that comments from afar, from governments and people alike, believing that they are being realistic, imply the low expectations with which such a people's movement is regarded, the message here is that without a dictator running the country, it will descend into danger and chaos.
Again and again, Egypt now has to quit railing against external powers and foreign conspiracies, and focus strictly on making their own history, and in the process catching up and claiming their place in world history.
Hussein
© Dr Hussein A Amin 2011
