Almost one and a half years after the fall of Husni Mubarak a very crucial question lies upon this weekends' Egyptian presidential elections. Will the outcome make the people of Tahrir square feel like something has actually changed, or will they immediately take the streets again?
I visited Egypt a little bit before the revolution, and the feeling that I got was that this country is full of poor young people who have no future, while a very small elit is enjoying the privileges of being close to Mubarak. Cairo was totally chaotic, really hot, dirty and unorganised, and don't get me started about the driving... More or less I felt the same in Alexandria. So much beauty was put under heavy ugly constructions, so that nobody could have a view of the Mediterranean from their appartment. It's like the Egyptians, or their rulers rather, did whatever they could to hide/change the beauty of this country. The only beauty that was allowed was connected to their ancient past and to the glorious Nile, which is a mesmerising river that definitely has a soul of its own.
I felt deeply that the situation was terrible, and nothing could be done to change it. And then, the unexpected happened. After Tunisia's revolution, people started gathering in Tahrir square everyday in order to revolt against the regime. They kept coming back, even though the repression forces were killing them and were torturing them constantly. I was so proud for these people. They made me feel that there is hope in this world. And in the end they won. That Friday night that Mubarak fell and hundreds of thousand of flags, if not millions were waving in Tahrir I felt that the Arab spring had succeeded its biggest victory. It changed the establishment peacefully in a country that nobody expected it.
The proof for this was how uncomfortably the US and Israel felt with the Egyptian revolution, as they did not know how to react at all, especially at the beginning. Of course since the 25th of January 2011, things have evolved. Many non-Egyptians were expecting that someone like Mohamed El Baradei, former Head of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), or Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League would take over for a small period of time. Better late than never though, we reached the Presidentail elections at the end of May 2012.
During the first round, held on the 23rd and the 24th of May, Mohamed Morsi the chosen one by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, and Ahmed Shafiq, the former Prime minister of the Mubarak era won the majority of the votes, with 26% and 23% respectively. The candidate who was more close to the Tahrir Square movement, left-wing Hamdeen Sabahi came 3rd with over 21% , in a total turnout of more than 40% throughout the country.
Morsi and Shafik will take part in the 2nd round on the 16th and the 17th of June, in elections that are totally unpredictable. On the one hand Morsi is the pacifist conservative Islamist, who was involved to an extent to the rebelion that brought down Mubarak after more than 30 years in power, and on the other we have Shafiq, a candidate of the former regime.
The Muslim Brotherhood candidate is supported by people who wanted a change in the largest Arab country, without though going to the extreme, in a non-violent way. They want a government that would keep the Muslim traditions in the country, which will bring freedom but stability, justice but tranquility, changes but slowly. They want a government where the woman's position would remain the same, and human rights would..."co-exist" with the Islamic law. They want to be something like Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey...
The other candidate belongs to those against who the people revolted. Shafiq is the candidate of the Army and the police, who do not want to go on trial for their crimes before and during the revolution. He is the candidate of the corrupt judicial system, that uses Mubarak as a scapegoat, freeing his sons, his colleagues and his generals. And finally he is the leader of the extreme capitalists, the owners of all the private monopolies, and the 5-star hotels that do not pay taxes. Shafiq's supporters are the people that want nothing to change, and if he wins, they would have democratic legitimation as well. A possible victory by Shafiq, would be like Tony Blair stepping down, and Gordon Brown taking over - more of the same, if not worse!
Now the question is what to chose? It is normal that Morsi and Sabahi did not go on the 1st round of the elections together, since the mix between the left wing and the Islamist candidate could be an explosive one. But now, the Egyptian people who faught for a change for their country have a dilemma. They can either choose the candidate of oppression corruption and luck of democracy, or for the pacifist Islamist, that is partly on the 2nd round as a result of the revolution, even if he doesn't meet all it's demands whatsoever.
If I was Egyptian, I would definitely vote for Morsi now, even if I would have to wash my hands clean afterwards, as I would like to see some changes towards democracy in the country, as well as people like Shafiq in prison! I urge all Egyptians to go and vote for Morsi as he is the candidate that can bring the country and the revolution a bit forward or else all the people that were killed in Tahrir, died for nothing...
I hope that more Egyptians will go to the polls this weekend both in and out of the country. As for the Egyptians living abroad I have a message for them: Don't worry - Nobody will tke away your privileges and visas if you don't support the corruption. Have a bit of dignity and vote towards change in your historical beautiful country. If Shafiq wins, I am afraid that chaos will come, as the majority of the people don't want him and his regime - a chaos that could bring the country into a painful, long civil war...
PS: I never expected that I would support an Islamist in my life, but I think it is for the best...
I visited Egypt a little bit before the revolution, and the feeling that I got was that this country is full of poor young people who have no future, while a very small elit is enjoying the privileges of being close to Mubarak. Cairo was totally chaotic, really hot, dirty and unorganised, and don't get me started about the driving... More or less I felt the same in Alexandria. So much beauty was put under heavy ugly constructions, so that nobody could have a view of the Mediterranean from their appartment. It's like the Egyptians, or their rulers rather, did whatever they could to hide/change the beauty of this country. The only beauty that was allowed was connected to their ancient past and to the glorious Nile, which is a mesmerising river that definitely has a soul of its own.
I felt deeply that the situation was terrible, and nothing could be done to change it. And then, the unexpected happened. After Tunisia's revolution, people started gathering in Tahrir square everyday in order to revolt against the regime. They kept coming back, even though the repression forces were killing them and were torturing them constantly. I was so proud for these people. They made me feel that there is hope in this world. And in the end they won. That Friday night that Mubarak fell and hundreds of thousand of flags, if not millions were waving in Tahrir I felt that the Arab spring had succeeded its biggest victory. It changed the establishment peacefully in a country that nobody expected it.
The proof for this was how uncomfortably the US and Israel felt with the Egyptian revolution, as they did not know how to react at all, especially at the beginning. Of course since the 25th of January 2011, things have evolved. Many non-Egyptians were expecting that someone like Mohamed El Baradei, former Head of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), or Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League would take over for a small period of time. Better late than never though, we reached the Presidentail elections at the end of May 2012.
During the first round, held on the 23rd and the 24th of May, Mohamed Morsi the chosen one by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, and Ahmed Shafiq, the former Prime minister of the Mubarak era won the majority of the votes, with 26% and 23% respectively. The candidate who was more close to the Tahrir Square movement, left-wing Hamdeen Sabahi came 3rd with over 21% , in a total turnout of more than 40% throughout the country.
Morsi and Shafik will take part in the 2nd round on the 16th and the 17th of June, in elections that are totally unpredictable. On the one hand Morsi is the pacifist conservative Islamist, who was involved to an extent to the rebelion that brought down Mubarak after more than 30 years in power, and on the other we have Shafiq, a candidate of the former regime.
The Muslim Brotherhood candidate is supported by people who wanted a change in the largest Arab country, without though going to the extreme, in a non-violent way. They want a government that would keep the Muslim traditions in the country, which will bring freedom but stability, justice but tranquility, changes but slowly. They want a government where the woman's position would remain the same, and human rights would..."co-exist" with the Islamic law. They want to be something like Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey...
The other candidate belongs to those against who the people revolted. Shafiq is the candidate of the Army and the police, who do not want to go on trial for their crimes before and during the revolution. He is the candidate of the corrupt judicial system, that uses Mubarak as a scapegoat, freeing his sons, his colleagues and his generals. And finally he is the leader of the extreme capitalists, the owners of all the private monopolies, and the 5-star hotels that do not pay taxes. Shafiq's supporters are the people that want nothing to change, and if he wins, they would have democratic legitimation as well. A possible victory by Shafiq, would be like Tony Blair stepping down, and Gordon Brown taking over - more of the same, if not worse!
Now the question is what to chose? It is normal that Morsi and Sabahi did not go on the 1st round of the elections together, since the mix between the left wing and the Islamist candidate could be an explosive one. But now, the Egyptian people who faught for a change for their country have a dilemma. They can either choose the candidate of oppression corruption and luck of democracy, or for the pacifist Islamist, that is partly on the 2nd round as a result of the revolution, even if he doesn't meet all it's demands whatsoever.
If I was Egyptian, I would definitely vote for Morsi now, even if I would have to wash my hands clean afterwards, as I would like to see some changes towards democracy in the country, as well as people like Shafiq in prison! I urge all Egyptians to go and vote for Morsi as he is the candidate that can bring the country and the revolution a bit forward or else all the people that were killed in Tahrir, died for nothing...
I hope that more Egyptians will go to the polls this weekend both in and out of the country. As for the Egyptians living abroad I have a message for them: Don't worry - Nobody will tke away your privileges and visas if you don't support the corruption. Have a bit of dignity and vote towards change in your historical beautiful country. If Shafiq wins, I am afraid that chaos will come, as the majority of the people don't want him and his regime - a chaos that could bring the country into a painful, long civil war...
PS: I never expected that I would support an Islamist in my life, but I think it is for the best...
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