I voted against the amendments , yet most reports show the result would be between a 65-75% "Yes" vote. We fought for our rights to choose and decide our own future without intervention or dictation from any party what so ever, and part of that democratic process we endured a lot to achieve is to accept the majority's decision, so yes we have to live with that "temporary constitutional announcement" that is due to be announced by Tuesday.
We -the No voters- lost the battle but not the war, the next battle will be the parliament elections which will probably be within 60 days of the announcement. What went wrong this time? A lot.
First,the Muslim Brotherhood (who proved they deviate miles away from the doctrine of Islam and they are not our "brothers" at the end of the day), played some dirty tactics, from deliberately rephrasing certain interpretations of the religion for their own interest to bribing the needy, a practice copyrighted to their long time rival and superior the National Democratic Party.
Second, most of the No campaigning started late,quite late actually, or at least it started reaching the mainstream at a late stage.
Third and the most important, the battle field was the wrong one, most "No" campaigning took place online through social media and forums,whereas the real battlefield was the street where the NDP remnants and MB succeeded in luring people to their ideologies.
Bottom line: next battle is a decisive one, the parliament to be will phrase a new constitution, so it has to reflect our needs and demands, so we have to reach to more people.We all have to leave our sofas and cubicles and talk to real people -average Mo's- , the online community represents only a small portion of the population, most illiterates and uneducated are unaware of our ideas, we need to change their culture. We have to spread awareness; that their vote is not for sale, that the cleric and the devout do not always know best and they have to be aware of their duties as well as their rights.
The last point applies to ElBaradei campaigners too, he is sweeping most online polls and gained lots of support and endorsement from the intellects , but what happened today in Mokatam is a very strong alarm, the average citizen still hasn't changed his perception of him drawn by the NDP and the state media.
Its never too late for them though, but everything should start now before its too late.
Fight fire with fire, thats what they say for situations like these.
We -the No voters- lost the battle but not the war, the next battle will be the parliament elections which will probably be within 60 days of the announcement. What went wrong this time? A lot.
First,the Muslim Brotherhood (who proved they deviate miles away from the doctrine of Islam and they are not our "brothers" at the end of the day), played some dirty tactics, from deliberately rephrasing certain interpretations of the religion for their own interest to bribing the needy, a practice copyrighted to their long time rival and superior the National Democratic Party.
Second, most of the No campaigning started late,quite late actually, or at least it started reaching the mainstream at a late stage.
Third and the most important, the battle field was the wrong one, most "No" campaigning took place online through social media and forums,whereas the real battlefield was the street where the NDP remnants and MB succeeded in luring people to their ideologies.
Bottom line: next battle is a decisive one, the parliament to be will phrase a new constitution, so it has to reflect our needs and demands, so we have to reach to more people.We all have to leave our sofas and cubicles and talk to real people -average Mo's- , the online community represents only a small portion of the population, most illiterates and uneducated are unaware of our ideas, we need to change their culture. We have to spread awareness; that their vote is not for sale, that the cleric and the devout do not always know best and they have to be aware of their duties as well as their rights.
The last point applies to ElBaradei campaigners too, he is sweeping most online polls and gained lots of support and endorsement from the intellects , but what happened today in Mokatam is a very strong alarm, the average citizen still hasn't changed his perception of him drawn by the NDP and the state media.
Its never too late for them though, but everything should start now before its too late.
Fight fire with fire, thats what they say for situations like these.
Very good. You should translate this quickly, i know that you know why :)
ReplyDeleteIn 60 days, as unfair as it is, we CAN sweep the streets and we CAN make ourselves heard as long as we STAY that united front of Egyptians who were fought against badly by that other united front of MB & NDP.
I think that our UNITY is our strength, and that being in the streets, yes, should be our strategy. We are not less capable, on the contrary, we have truth on our side. And if we've learnt one thing from the past 2 month, is that truth is power. In 2 months, the streets should be ours!
Yes, we the "No voters " lost one battle but not the War!
ReplyDeleteamr , i think the third point is the one u n ur's need to hit with, coz really a lot of people do not have a good or any idea about what the constitution is or what it does . about barad3i i think or u can say i am sure that the security institution in egypt doesn't want him to be next president . it is sooo clear that they didn;t give him any security today even they knew that he is coming to this voting place . ( i am talking army n police ). n i think brad3y people have a lot of work ahead same as u n ur's youg guys. love u n hope n wish the best for Egypt,, salah abdalla.dallas tx
ReplyDeleteAmr,
ReplyDeleteThe message is clear you need to inform the people, in the street, so they can chose correctly what is best for them, so I agree you need to engage face to face not through Facebook if you want to reach them.
What I am not aligned with is your positioning of Muslim Brotherhood, and to be honest they are doing well what many of the groups in the field are not able to do while they wish they can do, so why complain, besides it is too early to judge them, they must be able to participate in order to learn and in order that we have social peace.
The whole issue is about selecting someone that has a program to restore the country, address its problems, and be able to deliver and making sure that the process of change work..... I do not think it is too late.
i totally agree with u amr about the field of the battle were its obvios that most egyptians specially in the countryside and villages dont have that much of political understanding in this period......
ReplyDeletebut i also disagree wiz u on the opponents of the battle bcz u showed them as "Muslim brotherhood" and "NON-Muslim brotherhood" which is a total ofense for all the ppl that voted for YES.... the "NO" voters created a virtual opponent "islamists" and concentrated their compaign on them instead of telling the ppl really y shouldnt they vote 4 no.... and it seams that u urself were effected by that compaign discribing them in a bad way..
if we want democracy we have to learn how to respect our opponents and instead of trying to weakness them we should try to strength our position and educating the majority of ppl...
and at last intead a would like to discibe yesterday as a lesson in the long way of progress of democracy.. where we should learn from each lesson and do our homework... so lets start doing our homework :D