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by DevilYouKnow » Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:08 pm
by vanlose kid » Sun Mar 13, 2011 1:14 am
by vanlose kid » Sun Mar 13, 2011 9:22 pm
Philosophy Football T-shirt to raise funds for Egypt speaker tour
23 February 2011: It quotes one of the great Arab poets of the modern era, Nizar Qabbani: "You are the generation that will overcome defeat"
For eighteen days so many of us were glued to the TV screens as a revolt unfolded that shook the Arab world , and beyond. When Mubarak finally resigned the T-shirt company Philosophy Football was inspired to produce a fundraising solidarity T-shirt by an article Tariq Ali wrote in the Guardian.
The article quotes one of the great Arab poets of the modern era, Nizar Qabbani. Writing in the aftermath of the 1967 six-day war and the coming to power in Egypt of the US-backed dictators, first Sadat, then Mubarak, the poem's prophecy was finally fulfilled in 2011: " You are the Generation that will overcome defeat."
Philosophy Football's T- shirt is produced in association with the publishers Verso. It will raise funds to bring over speakers from Egypt for a nationwide Stop the War tour to promote solidarity with their revolt. Your generosity is rewarded with the offer of The Verso Book of Dissent at half-price, usual price £12.99, when bought with the shirt.
Available from http://www.philosophyfootball.com.
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/philosophy- ... aker-tour/
"You are the generation that will overcome defeat" Arab poet Nizar Qabbani (English translation on back of shirt) Egypt2011
T-SHIRT TO RAISE FUNDS FOR DEMOCRACY GROUPS IN EGYPT!. For eighteen days many of us were glued to the TV screens as a revolt unfolded that shook the Arab world , and beyond. When Mubarak finally resigned we were inspired by an article Tariq Ali wrote in the Guardian. You can read it here. The article quotes one of the great Arab poets of the modern era, Nizar Qabbani. Writing in the aftermath of the 1967 six-day war and the coming to power in Egypt of the US-backed dictators, first Sadat, then Mubarak, the poem's prophecy was finaly fulfilled in 2011 " You are the Generation that will overcome defeat." Our shirt is produced in association with the publishers Verso. It will raise funds for Egypt's pro-democracy campaign groups. We will raise as much as we can, with the help of you buying this shirt. We are asking groups already active in solidarity with Egypt, Stop the War and others, as well as Verso authors who know the protest movement very well, including Tariq Ali, to nominate recipients who will make the most effective use of the resources. PLUS! REWARD YOUR SOLIDARITY. ORDER THE SHIRT AND GET THE VERSO BOOK OF DISSENT ANTHOLOGY HALF-PRICE AND POSTAGE-FREE! Usual price £12.99, see details of this superb book here.
http://www.philosophyfootball.com/view_item.php?pid=683
by vanlose kid » Sun Mar 13, 2011 10:35 pm
Saudi Arabian forces prepare to enter Bahrain after day of clashes
Crown Prince of Bahrain expected to invite Saudi support following anti-government demonstrations in capital
* Ben Quinn
* The Guardian, Monday 14 March 2011
* Article history
Saudi forces are preparing to intervene in neighbouring Bahrain, after a day of clashes between police and protesters who mounted the most serious challenge to the island's royal family since demonstrations began a month ago.
The Crown Prince of Bahrain is expected to formally invite security forces from Saudi Arabia into his country today, as part of a request for support from other members of the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council.
Thousands of demonstrators on Sunday cut off Bahrain's financial centre and drove back police trying to eject them from the capital's central square, while protesters also clashed with government supporters on the campus of the main university.
Amid the revolt Bahrain also faces a potential sectarian conflict between the ruling minority of Sunnis Muslims and a majority of Shia Muslims, around 70% of the kingdom's 525,000 residents.
The crown prince, Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, said in a televised statement that Bahrain had "witnessed tragic events" during a month of unprecedented political unrest.
Warning that "the right to security and safety is above all else", he added: "Any legitimate claims must not be made at the expanse of security and stability."
The crown prince has also promised that national dialogue would look at increasing the power of Bahrain's parliament, and that any deal could be put to nationwide referendum.
However, some protesters have pressed their demands further to call for the toppling of the Sunni dynasty.
The unrest is being closely watched in Saudi Arabia, where Shia are some 15% of the population.
The secretary general of the Gulf Co-operation Council, Abdulrahman bin Hamad al-Attiya, expressed the "full solidarity with Bahrain's leadership and people", adding that "safeguarding security and stability in one country is a collective responsibility".
In an apparent reference to Iran, which Gulf Arab ruling elites fear may capitalise on an uprising by Shiites in Bahrain, he also expresssed "strong rejection of any foreign interference in the kingdom's internal affairs, asserting that any acts aiming to destabilise the kingdom and sow dissension between its citizens represent a dangerous encroachment on the whole GCC security and stability." Reports that the Saudi National Guard was poised to enter Bahrain were cited by the Foreign Office, alongside a recent increase in protests, as it changed its advice to advise British citizens against all travel to Bahrain.
Earlier on Sunday, police moved in on Pearl Square, a site of occupation by members of Bahrain's Shia majority, who are calling for an elected government and equality with Bahrain's Sunnis.
Witnesses said security forces surrounded the protesters' tent compound, shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at the activists in the largest effort to clear the square since a crackdown last month that left four dead after live ammunition was fired.
Activists tried to stand their ground yesterday and chanted "Peaceful, peaceful" as the crowd swelled into thousands, with protesters streaming to the square to reinforce the activists' lines, forcing the police to pull back by the early afternoon.
At Bahrain University, Shia demonstrators and government supporters held competing protests that descended into violence when plainclothes pro-government backers and security forces forced students blocking the campus main gate to seek refuge in classrooms and lecture halls, the Associated Press reported.
The latest demonstrations took place a day after the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, visited Bahrain and said that the Khalifa family must go beyond "baby steps" reform and enact substantial economic and political change.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ma ... CMP=twt_fd
by vanlose kid » Tue Mar 15, 2011 6:49 pm
U.S.-Saudi Tensions Intensify With Mideast Turmoil
By DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: March 14, 2011
WASHINGTON — Even before Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain on Monday to quell an uprising it fears might spill across its own borders, American officials were increasingly concerned that the kingdom’s stability could ultimately be threatened by regional unrest, succession politics and its resistance to reform.
Last week, in Qatif, Saudi Arabia, the police dispersed protesters urging the release of prisoners said to be held without trial.
So far, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has successfully stifled public protests with a combination of billions of dollars in new jobs programs and an overwhelming police presence, backed by warnings last week from the foreign minister to “cut any finger that crosses into the kingdom.”
Monday’s action, in which more than 2,000 Saudi-led troops from gulf states crossed the narrow causeway into Bahrain, demonstrated that the Saudis were willing to back their threats with firepower.
The move created another quandary for the Obama administration, which obliquely criticized the Saudi action without explicitly condemning the kingdom, its most important Arab ally. The criticism was another sign of strains in the historically close relationship with Riyadh, as the United States pushes the country to make greater reforms to avert unrest.
Other symptoms of stress seem to be cropping up everywhere.
Saudi officials have made no secret of their deep displeasure with how President Obama handled the ouster of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, charging Washington with abandoning a longtime ally. They show little patience with American messages about embracing what Mr. Obama calls “universal values,” including peaceful protests.
When Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were forced to cancel visits to the kingdom in recent days, American officials were left wondering whether the cause was King Abdullah’s frail health — or his pique at the United States.
“They’re not in a mode for listening,” said one senior administration official, referring to the American exchanges with Saudi officials over the past two months about the need to get ahead of the protests that have engulfed other Arab states, including two of Saudi Arabia’s neighbors, Bahrain and Yemen. In recent days, Washington has tried to focus on the areas where its strategic interests and those of Saudi Arabia intersect most crucially: counterterrorism, containing Iran and keeping oil flowing.
The Americans fear that the unrest sweeping the Middle East is coming at a bad time for the Saudis, and their concerns have increased in recent weeks, partly because of the continued tumult in Bahrain. Many of the issues driving the protests elsewhere are similar to those in Riyadh: an autocratic ruling family resistant to sharing power, surrounded by countries in the midst of upheaval. At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s leadership is in question. King Abdullah, 87, is, by all accounts, quite ill, as is the crown prince.
The latest tensions between Washington and Riyadh began early in the crisis when King Abdullah told President Obama that it was vital for the United States to support Mr. Mubarak, even if he began shooting protesters. Mr. Obama ignored that counsel. “They’ve taken it personally,” said one senior American familiar with the conversations, “because they question what we’d do if they are next.”
Since then, the American message to the Saudis, the official said, is that “no one can be immune,” and that the glacial pace of reforms that Saudi Arabia has been engaged in since 2003 must speed up.
But the Saudi effort to defuse serious protests appears to take a different approach: a huge police presence, which smothered relatively small demonstrations in Riyadh and the Eastern Province last Friday; an appeal to the innate religious conservatism of the country; and an effort to throw more cash at Saudi citizens, who have become accustomed to the ultimate welfare state.
This month, Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, the interior minister and No. 2 in the line of succession, publicly underscored the kingdom’s ban on demonstrations. The government called in top Saudi newspaper editors to dictate how to report on protests foreign and domestic. The country’s senior religious clerics condemned public protests for not conforming to Islamic law. These steps built on $36 billion in pay raises, housing support, unemployment benefits and other subsidies that King Abdullah promised to keep the peace.
“All this is about social control in Saudi Arabia,” said Christopher Boucek, who studies the Middle East at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “People have been forecasting the fall of Saudi for a long time, and they’ve always been proved wrong. It’s a pretty resilient place.”
One of President Obama’s top advisers described the moves as more in a series of “safety valves” the Saudis open when pressure builds; another called the subsidies “stimulus funds motivated by self-preservation.”
Saudi officials, who declined to comment for this article to avoid fueling talk of divisions between the allies, said that the tensions had been exaggerated and that Americans who criticized the pace of reforms did not fully appreciate the challenges of working in the kingdom’s ultraconservative society.
Even as Libya has occupied much of the public debate, White House officials have said they have been focused most intently on the two Arab allies whose fates are most tied to American strategic interests: Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In a briefing for reporters last Thursday, Thomas E. Donilon, the national security adviser, said that “the success of the democratic transformation under way in Egypt is absolutely critical,” and described his own conversations with its interim leadership. Mrs. Clinton will be visiting Cairo this week.
But Mr. Donilon, like other administration officials, said very little about the conversations they have held with Saudi leaders. Those have been strained in part by the slow-motion transition of power: King Abdullah, a popular monarch who just returned to the country after months of medical treatment in New York and Morocco, has been described by Saudi specialists as reform-minded but constrained by more conservative family members; the country’s next in line, Crown Prince Sultan, is also severely ill.
“We’ve focused on Nayef and a next generation, who seem to understand a lot better what’s got to happen,” said one American official, referring to the Saudi interior minister, whom some Saudi experts view as a conservative who would take the kingdom backward, while others say that is a misreading and that he is more aligned with members of the next generation of Saudi princes who favor reforms.
In a relationship where the United States hardly has the upper hand, so far the discussions have largely steered clear of democratization and focused on safer subjects: energy and foreign threats.
Saudi Arabia has helped stabilize world energy prices by increasing its crude-oil production to make up for the loss of Libya’s oil.
In the case of Bahrain, the senior official said, the administration’s goal has been to enlist the Saudis’ help to open up the Bahraini political system without overthrowing the government. Instead, the arrival of the Saudi-led troops underscored the approach advocated by Riyadh: Crack down and allow no room for dissent.
At a press briefing on Monday, the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, carefully avoided direct criticism of the Saudi-led entry of gulf forces into Bahrain, telling reporters that, in the view of the White House, “this is not an invasion of the a country.” But he added: “We’re calling on the Saudis, the other members of the G.C.C. countries, as well as the Bahraini government, to show restraint. And we believe that political dialogue is the way to address the unrest that has occurred in the region in Bahrain and in other countries, and not to, in any way, suppress it.”
Some officials say that in some ways the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia may grow closer, particularly on security and counterterrorism issues, where there has been increased cooperation in the months before the protests began in the Middle East.
John O. Brennan, President Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, speaks regularly with Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, his Saudi counterpart and the son of the interior minister, most recently last week about the political tumult in Yemen and the threat from Al Qaeda, an administration official said.
In the past several months, the Saudis have played a pivotal role in helping to thwart several terrorist plots. Prince Nayef alerted the Obama administration last October that bombs might be on cargo flights bound for the United States. A frantic search turned up two shipments containing printer cartridges packed with explosives, sent from Yemen by a Qaeda affiliate, and addressed to synagogues in Chicago.
The American military’s longstanding ties to the Saudi armed forces have also weathered the recent diplomatic tempest. More than 4,100 Saudi and American soldiers conducted a training exercise in northwestern Saudi Arabia last week.
Demonstrating to Iran that the Saudi-American alliance remains strong has emerged as a critical objective of the Obama administration. King Abdullah, who was widely quoted in the State Department cables released by WikiLeaks as warning that the United States had to “cut off the head of the snake” in Iran, has led the effort to contain Iran’s ambitions to become a major regional power. In the view of White House officials, any weakness or chaos inside Saudi Arabia would be exploited by Iran.
For that reason, several current and former senior American intelligence and regional experts warned that in the months ahead, the administration must proceed delicately when confronting the Saudis about social and political reforms.
”Over the years, the U.S.-Saudi relationship has been fraught with periods of tension over the strategic partnership,” said Ellen Laipson, president of the Stimson Center, a public policy organization. “Post-September 11 was one period, and the departure of Mubarak may be another, when they question whether we are fair-weather friends.”
Steven Lee Myers contributed reporting from Paris.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world ... wanted=all
by vanlose kid » Tue Mar 15, 2011 6:52 pm
Bahrain imposes state of emergency
Two killed and many wounded in violent clashes as king authorises "all necessary measures to protect safety of country".
Last Modified: 15 Mar 2011 22:03 GMT
The king of Bahrain has declared a state of emergency for three months on the island following weeks of anti-government protests, as deadly clashes continued across the country.
An order by the king "authorised the commander of Bahrain's defence forces to take all necessary measures to protect the safety of the country and its citizens," a statement read out on television on Tuesday said.
The development comes a day after Saudi-led military forces arrived to support the government, which is facing pressure from the Shia majority to implement reforms.
Al Jazeera's correspondent in the capital, Manama, who we are not naming for security reasons, said the declaration of a state of emergency appeared to have been deliberated upon for some time now.
"The last few days Manama has effectively been shut down. So there was a sense that something was going to happen. Then yesterday we had the GCC troops come in," he said.
"I'm standing now in and amongst a demonstration. There are tens of thousands of people streaming past me to the Saudi embassy. There is a great sense of change here."
Renewed clashes
Our correspondent said there was not a visible presence of Saudi troops on the streets in his area, but clashes between protesters and Bahraini security forces continued elsewhere.
He confirmed reports that at least two people were killed in the Shia suburb of Sitra outside of Manama in fighting there on Tuesday.
Abdullah Al Hubaaishi, a Bahraini who was making his way to the protest camp at Pearl Roundabout in Manama, told Al Jazeera that there were many wounded protesters on the streets in Sitra.
"Most of them have been shot," he said. "Those people started attacking the villages and the towns. If there is anybody in the road they will shoot them. If there is nobody in the road they will enter the houses."
Request for assistance
Hundreds of Saudi-led troops entered Bahrain on Monday to help protect government facilities there amid an escalation in the protests against the government.
Local television broadcast images of troops in armoured cars entering the Gulf state via the 26km causeway that connects the kingdom to Saudi Arabia.
The arrival of the troops followed a request to members of the Gulf Co-Operation Council (GCC) from Bahrain.
The United Arab Emirates also sent about 500 police to Bahrain, according to Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Emirati foreign minister. Qatar, meanwhile, did not rule out the possibility of its troops joining the force.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani, the Qatari prime minister and foreign minister, told Al Jazeera: "There are common responsibilities and obligations within the GCC countries.
"The arrival of Saudi and UAE troops in Bahrain is in line with a GCC defence agreement that calls for all members to oblige when needed and to fully co-operate.
"We are committed to adhering to the GCC agreement. At the moment we have peacekeeping troops. We don't have a full force there, but this is up for discussion."
International concern
The US, which counts both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia among its allies, has called for restraint, but has refrained from saying whether it supports the move to deploy troops.
The government called on Tuesday for all sides in Bahrain to seek a political solution rather than use force.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state who was speaking in Egypt, said Bahrainis must "take steps now" towards a political resolution of the crisis.
Americans are being advised to avoid travelling to the island, which is home to US warships that patrol the Gulf.
Iran, meanwhile, has warned against "foreign interferences".
"The peaceful demonstrations in Bahrain are among the domestic issues of this country, and creating an atmosphere of fear and using other countries' military forces to oppress these demands is not the solution," Hossein Amir Abdollahian, an official from the Iranian foreign ministry, was reported by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency as saying.
Provocation to protesters
Abdel al-Mowada, the deputy chairman of Bahrain's parliament, told Al Jazeera that it was not clear how the Saudi force would be deployed but denied the troops would become a provocation to protesters.
"It is not a lack of security forces in Bahrain, it is a showing of solidarity among the GCC," he told Al Jazeera.
"I don't know if they are going to be in the streets or save certain areas ... [but protesters] blocking the roads are no good for anyone, we should talk.
"The government is willing to get together and make the changes needed, but when the situation is like this, you cannot talk."
The Saudi troops arrived less than 24 hours after Bahraini police clashed with demonstrators in one of the most violent confrontations since troops killed seven protesters last month.
Opposition groups, including Wefaq, the country's largest Shia movement, have spoken out against the use of foreign troops.
"We consider the entry of any soldier or military machinery into the Kingdom of Bahrain's air, sea or land territories a blatant occupation," Wefaq said in a statement.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middl ... 56152.html
by JackRiddler » Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:12 pm
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/14/saudi_arabia_strikes_back?page=full
Saudi Arabia Strikes Back
The House of Saud's intervention in Bahrain is a slap in the face of the United States, and a setback for peace on the island.
BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS SEZNEC | MARCH 14, 2011
One thousand "lightly armed" Saudi troops and an unspecified number of troops from the United Arab Emirates entered Bahrain on the morning of March 14, in a bid to end the country's monthlong political crisis. They are reportedly heading for the town of Riffa, the stronghold of the ruling Khalifa family. The troops' task, apparently, is to protect the oil installations and basic infrastructure from the demonstrators.
The Arab intervention marks a dramatic escalation of Bahrain's political crisis, which has pitted the country's disgruntled Shiite majority against the Sunni ruling family -- and has also been exacerbated by quarrels between hard-liners and liberals within the Khalifa clan. The clashes between protesters and government forces worsened over the weekend, when the security services beat back demonstrators trying to block the highway to the capital of Manama's Financial Harbor. The protesters' disruption of the harbor, which was reportedly purchased by the conservative Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa for one dinar, was an important symbolic gesture by the opposition.
For the United States, the intervention is a slap in the face.
On Saturday, March 12, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Bahrain, where he called for real reforms to the country's political system and criticized "baby steps," which he said would be insufficient to defuse the crisis. The Saudis were called in within a few hours of Gates's departure, however, showing their disdain for his efforts to reach a negotiated solution. By acting so soon after Gates's visit, Saudi Arabia has made the United States look at best irrelevant to events in Bahrain, and from the Shiite opposition's point of view, even complicit in the Saudi military intervention.
The number of foreign troop is so far very small and should not make one iota of difference in Bahrain's balance of power. The Bahraini military already total 30,000 troops, all of whom are Sunnis. They are under control of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa and supposedly fully faithful to King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. Bahrain also has a similar number of police and general security forces, mainly mercenaries from Baluchistan, Yemen, and Syria, reputed to be controlled by the prime minister and his followers in the family.
At this time, therefore, the Saudi intervention is largely a symbolic maneuver.
It is so far not an effort to quell the unrest, but intended to scare the more extreme Shiite groups into allowing negotiations to go forward. The crown prince recently laid out six main issues to be discussed in talks, including the establishment of an elected parliament empowered to affect government policy, fairly demarcated electoral constituencies, steps to combat financial and administrative corruption, and moves to limit sectarian polarization. He notably failed to mention one of the opposition's primary demands -- the prime minister's resignation.
The Saudi move, however, risks backfiring. It is extremely unlikely that the Saudi troops' presence will entice moderate Shiite and Sunni opposition figures to come to the table -- the intervention will force them to harden their position for fear of being seen as Saudi stooges. The demands of the more extreme groups, such as the Shiite al-Haq party, are also likely to increase prior to negotiations. These elements, having seen job opportunities go to foreign workers and political power dominated by the ruling family for decades, have grown steadily disenchanted with prospects of talks.
The crown prince is well aware that the Saudi intervention only makes a negotiated solution to this crisis more challenging, so it is difficult to imagine that he invited the Saudis into Bahrain. The more liberal Khalifas, such as the crown prince, know very well that the only way out of the crisis is to obtain the resignation of the prime minister and some of the more extreme Sunni ministers.
However, the prime minister -- with whom Gates did not meet with during his weekend visit -- does not appear to have any intention of resigning and is the most likely figure behind the invitation to the Saudis to intervene. Although details are still sketchy, he is likely joining with the Saudi king to pass the message to the United States that he is in charge and no one can tell him what to do. Furthermore, it signals that the Saudis agree with Bahrain's conservatives that the Shiite must be reined in rather than negotiated with, even at the cost of telling the United States to kiss off.
The Saudi intervention may also have been precipitated by the deepening rift between the extreme Sunni elements and the liberal Khalifas. If the Saudis are indeed heading to Riffa, it is possible they are tasked with defending the Khalifa stronghold not so much against the Shiite rabble but against the Bahraini military, which is under the command of the crown prince. The Saudi intervention would therefore be an effort by the prime minister and the Saudis to pressure the crown prince into not giving in to the protesters' demands and to fall in line with their plans to secure Bahrain as the personal fiefdom of the Khalifas and their tribal allies.
Whatever the case, the future appears bleak. The Saudi intervention will no doubt provoke a reaction from Iran, which will argue that their Shiite brothers are being systematically oppressed. Any troubles caused by Bahraini Shiites will only provoke further Saudi intervention. Ultimately, the island risks falling under de facto, if not de jure, Saudi control.
The Saudi intervention, however small, is therefore a major step backward for the region. It represents a major slap in the face to the United States,
a defeat for the liberal Shiite and Sunni elements in Bahrain, and ultimately a catastrophe for the entire Khalifa family, both the liberal and conservative wings, who may have just surrendered their power to the giant next door.
Ultimately, this may also be a defeat for Saudi Arabia as well. The Saudis have long tried to avoid overt interventions in their neighbors' affairs. They intervened once during the 1994 upheavals in Bahrain and in the past two years have been active on the Yemeni border -- but under King Abdullah they have tried to arbitrate, rather than dominate, events on the Arabian Peninsula. Their decision to intervene directly in Bahrain's affairs suggests a weakness in the Saudi leadership and Riyadh's surrender to the more conservative elements in the country.
Jean-François Seznec is a visiting associate professor at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.
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by JackRiddler » Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:54 pm
Headlines from news.google.com as of 9:33 pm EDT on March 17:
ElBaradei calls on Egyptians to reject constitutional amendments
Al-Masry Al-Youm - Mar 16, 2011
Photographed by AP Egyptian presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei called on all Egyptians to reject the proposed constitutional amendments that will be put to a nationwide referendum on 19 March, 2011. In a video posted on social networking site ...
Egypt's First Vote After Mubarak's Ouster May Set Pace of Democracy Shift Bloomberg
Referendum on constitution sees Egypt apprehensive The National
Egypt Moves Ahead With Referendum NPR
ABS CBN News - Xinhua
all 343 news articles »
Middle East Media Research Institute
Would the proposed constitutional amendments fortify Egypt Islamists?
Ahram Online - Dina Ezzat - 5 hours ago
... the Armed Forces and that are to be voted on in a referendum Saturday. On the other side stand most prominent national figures, including intellectuals like Ahmed Kamal Abul-Maged and potential presidential runners Amr Moussa and Mohamed ElBaradei. ...
Muslim Brotherhood Presents Kinder, Gentler Face The Media Line
all 22 news articles »
France24
Muslim Brotherhood urges support for constitutional changes
France24 - Mar 16, 2011
By FRANCE 24 (text) The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition force, is supporting controversial amendments to the country's constitution, which will be put to a referendum on Saturday. The constitutional changes – which are opposed by many of ...
Thursday's papers: Constitutional reform and security measures
Al-Masry Al-Youm - Tarek Wageeh - 13 hours ago
In an interview with al-Ahram, Ismail Attman, director of the Department of Morale Affairs in Egypt's armed forces, asks citizens to participate in the Saturday referendum. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has no aspirations to rule the ...
MEMRI (blog) [ignore that it's MEMRI, just note Amr Moussa]
Video Posted On YouTube Calls For Opposing Changes In Egyptian Constitution
MEMRI (blog) - 3 hours ago
In a video posted on YouTube in advance of the referendum in Egypt tomorrow on the proposed constitutional amendments, numerous people, including prominent figures, called to "vote no." The figures included Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, ...
Globe and Mail
Egyptian constitutional changes are too little, too soon
Globe and Mail - 7 minutes ago
Young democrats and liberal leaders such as Mohamed ElBaradei and former presidential candidate Ayman Nour are right to call for a rejection of the referendum. The army says the referendum will be a “democratic experience.” What is more likely is the ...
Baradei to run in Egypt presidential elections
Alsumaria - Mar 10, 2011
El Baradei also said he would vote “no” in a March 19 referendum on constitutional changes. Baradei said a new constitution shall be set for the country and to hold presidential elections afterward to be followed by parliamentary elections. ...
Globe and Mail
ElBaradei sets conditions for presidential run
AFP - Mar 10, 2011
ElBaradei, a former UN nuclear watchdog chief, also said he would be voting "no" in an upcoming referendum on constitutional amendments, calling instead for its postponement, or a new constitution altogether. The military council which has ruled Egypt ...
ElBaradei Plans To Run For Egyptian President RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Egypt's ElBaradei to run for president ABC Online
Egypt's ElBaradei to Run for President The Chosun Ilbo
The Press Association - Sify
all 328 news articles »
Reuters
Clinton in Cairo endorses the Egyptian revolution
Ahram Online - Mar 15, 2011
Clinton's meetings in Cairo also include Mohamed Baradei and Amr Moussa – the two main presidential candidates. She is also scheduled to meet with members of the January Revolution Coalition. Meanwhile, Clinton and El-Arabi discussed the situation in ...
Video: Clinton: 'This Is Egypt's Moment' The Associated Press
Clinton Backs Egyptian Democracy Push Wall Street Journal
Clinton arrives in Egypt on first post-Mubarak visit AFP
Bikya Masr
all 3,453 news articles »
Wednesday's papers: State Security eliminated, Israeli spy-ring uncovered
Al-Masry Al-Youm - Heba Helmy - Mar 16, 2011
Another tweet for ElBaradei on Tuesday: “The cancellation of the referendum on constitution amendments is the only way to move Egypt to democratic regime.” ElBaradei is also calling for the ouster of the heads of governmental media institutions who ...
http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/03/regarding-constitutional-amendments.html
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Regarding the Constitutional Amendments Jazz “1”
Since the announcement of the proposed constitutional amendments and the date of the referendum and there has been this huge debate between between the “Yes” team and “No” team. The referendum will be held on March 19,2011 across the country after 3 days . The voting will be by the National ID not by the voting id as it is referendum,the thing which is assured by the government over and over. Accordingly all Egyptians over 18 years old are eligible to participate in the referendum. The army is warning that it will not allow any kind of protest on that day and it is also thinking of suspending all media coverage about the referendum from Thursday.
Next Saturday will be an official holiday in Egypt. The referendum committee has launched a wonderful website where you can find the nearest voting committee and report any forgery in the process. There is a campaign online now to organize public committees to monitor the referendum. The referendum will be fully monitored by judges. 16,000 judges will monitor not less than 40,000 committees all over the country.
In brief this referendum can have “insh Allah” the highest turnout in the history of referendum in Egypt especially that current debate has made many people in Egypt from silent majority interested more and more in the political process in the country. Already it is expected that not less than 40 million Egyptians to participate in this referendum “ From those who have national ID and eligible to vote , members of judiciary , army and police forces are excluded”
There are certain good and bad things about hot intense debate. This is the first indicator that the country is moving toward a real democracy , we are having for the first the real political debate and difference genuinely. Egyptians for the first time do not know the result in advance and for the first time we feel that our vote will count.This is the best thing ever in this whole debate.
But on the other hand we still have this school of making the other team as the villain and traitor who is working against the country , we do not want this. Yes we are all different but being different from you does not mean I am your enemy , this is so Mubarak regime. This is the essence of democracy which we fought the Mubarak’s regime for. I do not want to hear from “No” team that the “Yes” team is the remnants of Mubarak’s regime and from the “Yes” team that the “No” team has got an agenda !! Update : I do not want someone tells me a Fatwa here and there about what I should say in the referendum.
Another thing since day one of announcing this committee , its members have been under fire as you may know for silly reasons since day one. Already I found this link about Al Bishry in English and I would like to share it with now because it is very informative about Al Bishry himself. The committee formed under the supervision of Omar Soliman did not face this criticism despite we did not trust them as they were part of another hopeless by Mubarak and Soliman to stay in power “With my all respect to all its members especially Ibrahim Darwish and their intentions” . I know if the committee was made of angels not even prophets ,they will also face criticism. I will not accept criticism of those who used to kiss Mubarak’s shoes in the media when they attack someone like El-Bishry just because of his political views nothing more and nothing else.
For the 100th time these are temporary amendments , if they are accepted , this will not mean that we will return back the Constitution of 1971 , they will help us to have a parliament and a president in this transitional period till we have a real complete constitution made by an elected committee.
9 constitutional articles will be amended from the constitution of 1971 : 75 , 76 , 77,88,93,139,179,148,189 “Repeated”. Here is the a brief summary in Arabic about the proposed constitution amendments in Arabic in an easy way. Also here is another summary from the official AFC FB itself.
In nutshell the amended constitution will be as follows :
Article No. 75 : The person to be elected as the President of the Republic must be an Egyptian born to Egyptian parents and enjoy civil and political rights. He or either of his parents must not have held citizenship in any other country and he must not be married to a non-Egyptian. His age must not be less than 40 Gregorian years
Now there is a lot of debate about the Egyptian nationality , ancestry and marriage thing. Thank God we have passed and clarified the gender point.You must know that these conditions are also enlisted in the conditions of joining the army and diplomatic services in even harder way as it reaches to the grandparents too. The President of Egypt is the commander of the armed forces and the army mentioned in its FB note that this article was made like that to ensure the maximum loyalty and The marriage condition is not a new thing by the way , in fact believe or not King Ahmed Fouad I added us well that the king of Egypt and Sudan should be married to an Egyptian and his crown prince should be mothered by an Egyptian. According to the committee most world countries have these condition in a way or another , of course someone will bring the States and the answer is ready : The States is a considerable young nation and its structure is built upon immigrants. People usually ignore that even in the States the President must be born in the US territory.
Of course people spoke that this article was amended specifically to prevent Dr. Ahmed Zowail who got an American citizenship and is married to to Syrian lady !!? With my all respect already Ahmed Zowail was not and is not the best candidate for presidency and there are so many reasons other than this amendment , Zowail was being used in the media by some to hit Dr.ElBaradei.
Strangely all the people kept speaking about Gamal Mubarak’s British passport and were wondering on how the President of Egypt would have another passport from foreign country just like his businessmen ministers !!!?? Did not we have that debate about the Saudi passport of Maghrebi ? I think we all remember this. Also do you remember how people did not welcome the marriage of Egyptians to Israelis and they brought the presidential candidacy to the matter !!? To be honest I was surprised with this big debate when from couple of months we loved to remind the people Gamal Mubarak with the British passport and how he can’t be the commander of chief of the Egyptian army !!!!??
I think the right of Egyptians abroad to vote is more important now , especially now than the ancestry of our president and the nationality of his wife . Already again this article can be and will be amended in the new constitution. This is only for the transitional period for God sake !!
Article no.76 : The candidate will be eligible to run for the office if he gets the following {the support of 30 members of the people assembly or the Shura council or both or the support of 30,000 voters at least in 15 governorates where not less than 1000 voter in each governorate to ensure his or her popularity or that he or she is a member of a party represented in either the Upper house or lower house by at least one seat.}
The article also includes the formation of the presidential elections committee. In the amendment it will be only made from judiciary figures. Of course this is a positive amendment considering the fact that during Mubarak that bloody article “longest constitutional article in the world and history” was tailored specifically to fit the NDP candidate only who was Gamal Mubarak.
Article No.77 : The presidential term is only 4 years and the President has only one successive time to run again.
Again this article in the past was terrible as the presidential term was 6 years for here to eternity !! Regardless of the “Yes” or “No” teams , most people agree on this amendment from the principle of the 4 years but I have met someone who believe it was too short to have at the current time , Egypt is not the States. He believes we can have 5 or 6 “like France” for 2 Presidential terms to give the president now enough time.
Now there is a confusion because there is an article “ No.190” in the suspended constitution of 1971 that says that the president ends his presidential day after 6 years of the announcement of his presidential term. According to legal experts this article is not importance because it will be amended by nature plus the constitution of 1971 is already suspended.
The constitutional declaration the army declared on February 13th,2011 has already suspended the constitution 1971. According to the legal expert of AFC Maj. General Mamdouh Shahin the constitution was suspended when Omar Soliman announced the step down declaration and the army declared its third communiqué on February 11,2011. Shahin argues that the constitution was suspended when Mubarak delegated the AFC to rule the company when constitutionally the speaker of the parliament should take his place and if he can’t do it ,if not the speaker of the parliament then the head of the constitutional court should fill it.
Article No. 88: Complete judicial supervision on the elections
Article No. 93: The people’s assembly is committed to the provisions of the Constitutional Court concerning the validity of its members’ seats.
Nobody argues about these amendments.
Article No. 193 : The president is obliged to appoint a vice president.
To be honest when we spoke about the constitution amendments in the past , we usually forgot it. Ayman Nour spoke about the need of electing the vice president as well, of course we can discuss it later.
Article No. 179 : The counter terrorism article is completely cancelled.
Article No.148 : The president will not announce the emergency status except after a referendum and the emergency status will not be more than 6 months.
There is a lot of debate about the coming article no. 189 repeated
Article No.189 repeated : All the elected members of the first people’s assembly and the Shura council will elect a committee of members from legal personalities and public personalities to put a new constitution in the next 6 months once elected.
I prefer to speak about this article and the criticism about it in a separate post.
Now believe or not whether the result is Yes or No will not mean the end of Egypt or the revolution. I will elaborate more insh Allah in another post.
I believe the real main difference point between the “Yes” and “No” teams is the timeframe, “Yes” wants a shorter time frame while “No” wants more time. The army is ready for both results with ready made scenarios.
In case of No the army will have to declare another constitutional declaration that will act as a temporary constitution. The army then will see forming another committees.. etc.
In case of yes we will have a parliament and a president by the end of 6 months and the army will go back to its barracks.
Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Politics,News,parliament,Constitution amendments,MENA,Democracy,Media,Post revolutions,elections,Egyptian army
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12763313?print=true
17 March 2011 Last updated at 08:28 ET
Q&A: Egypt's constitutional referendum
Egyptians vote on Saturday in a referendum on changes to the constitution that would pave the way for new parliamentary and presidential elections within six months.
Following the uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down in February, the referendum is being seen as a major test for Egypt's transition to democracy after 30 years of authoritarian rule. But critics are pushing for a "no" vote, arguing a more radical rethink is needed and that the ruling military council is rushing the process.
What is the referendum about?
Egypt's military council suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament last month, meeting demands made by the opposition movement that ousted Mr Mubarak.
The Egyptian constitution had been written with built-in guarantees to keep Mr Mubarak and his political party in power. A committee of judicial experts was appointed to recommend the changes needed to ensure free and fair elections in the future.
Voters are now being asked whether they approve of the changes.
What is being proposed?
Under the proposed amendments to the constitution, the future president would only be allowed to serve two four-year terms, instead of unlimited six-year periods. He or she would also be obliged to appoint a deputy, something Mr Mubarak avoided until his last days in office.
Other amendments would make it easier for individuals to qualify to run as a presidential candidate and re-instate judicial supervision for elections. It would also be more difficult for any leader to maintain the state of emergency.
However the scholars that drafted the changes decided to put off steps limiting presidential powers until after the elections. They suggested the next parliament should form a committee to rewrite the constitution entirely.
Why is the referendum proving controversial?
While Egypt's political opposition has long demanded constitutional reforms, many leading figures complain these changes were drawn up in haste and do not go far enough. The amendments were drafted in just 10 days and offered to the public for discussion for only three weeks.
Young activists who led the 18 days of popular protests have called for a "no" vote in the referendum and are planning new demonstrations on Friday.
Potential presidential candidates including Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, and former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei want a new constitution to be drawn up from scratch before any elections are held.
Meanwhile, the two largest political forces in the country - the former ruling National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood - are encouraging members to vote in favour of the amendments, warning of the dangers of a legislative vacuum.
They are most likely to benefit from early elections as dozens of smaller parties set up following the uprising have yet to fully organise themselves.
What happens if there is a "no" vote?
If the proposed changes are rejected, the amended constitution will be scrapped and a new one drawn up from scratch. Security sources say this would delay the parliamentary and presidential elections to December and early 2012.
In the meantime, Egypt's military council would issue a constitutional decree as a temporary measure.
Analysts suggest the army is eager to keep its early time frame for elections, as it does not want to be tainted by perceived failure to solve the country's manifold problems.
Will this referendum be free and fair?
Whatever the outcome, the referendum could give Egyptians their first experience of a free vote in decades. Under Mr Mubarak's rule, elections were marred by vote-rigging and fraud.
Any Egyptian over the age of 18, holding a national identity card is eligible to vote: This gives a total electorate of about 40 million people.
Polling stations are expected to open between 0800 and 1900 local time. They will be secured by police and supervised by 16,000 members of the judiciary.
Civil society groups and the media have been invited to monitor proceedings.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2011-03-17/egypt-s-first-vote-after-mubarak-s-ouster-may-set-pace-of-democracy-shift.html
Egypt’s First Vote After Mubarak’s Ouster May Set Pace of Democracy Shift
By Mariam Fam - Mar 17, 2011
Egypt’s first vote since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak may determine how fast the country returns to civilian rule, as campaigners for a rapid handover to stabilize the economy compete with those who say democracy should be entrenched first.
A March 19 referendum on constitutional changes, drafted by a committee appointed by army leaders who have been running the country since Mubarak’s resignation last month, asks Egyptians to approve measures including term limits for presidents and fuller judicial oversight of voting. They are aimed at paving the way for the election of a new parliament and president, possibly within the next six months.
Backers of the amendments such as the Muslim Brotherhood, banned under Mubarak, say they will help end turmoil that is hurting the economy. Egypt’s stock market has been shut for nearly seven weeks, tourists have stayed away and factory output has been hit by strikes. ‘No’ campaigners advocate delaying elections and rewriting the constitution from scratch. They say rushing the transition will weaken democracy without bringing stability, and benefit the former ruling party and established forces like the Brotherhood at the expense of activists who led the popular uprising.
“It’s a democratic battle despite time being so tight,” said Amr Hamzawy, a political science professor at Cairo University and a former member of the so-called Committee of Wise Men that meditated between the regime and protesters. “It’s unclear what the outcome of the referendum will be.”
‘Fraught With Uncertainty’
Egypt’s political transition is still “fraught with uncertainty” and that is damaging the “fiscal position and broader economic performance,” Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday, justifying its decision to cut the debt rating one level. Yields on benchmark 10-year dollar bonds, at about 6.8 percent, have jumped more than 160 basis points this year.
Stocks haven’t traded since Jan. 27, when the revolt against Mubarak began to gather pace, and authorities have dropped several attempts to reopen the bourse, where companies such as Orascom Construction Industries (ORSD) are listed. Orascom Construction’s global depositary receipts are trading close to a two-year low in London. They gained 1.8 percent to $35.25 in London trading yesterday.
Finance Minister Samir Radwan has forecast economic growth of 4 percent this fiscal year, down from a pre-crisis estimate of 6 percent.
The Muslim Brotherhood endorsed the amendments because they will free the army for duties like guarding national security, and clear the way for reviving the economy, said Khayrat El- Shater, a leading member.
‘End Quickly’
“We want the transitional rule to end quickly so that we can project an image of stability and encourage foreign and local investments to help the economic development that we desperately need,” he told reporters in Cairo yesterday.
The proposed amendments would limit presidents to two four- year terms, ease restrictions on who can run for the post, and let judges scrutinize the balloting when elections are held.
Those elections may produce a parliament “dominated by the National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood” if the amendments are approved, said Ziad Elelaimy, a member of the Alliance of the Youths’ Revolution, a coalition of protesting groups which is campaigning for a ‘no’ vote.
“They are able to organize themselves and prepare for quick elections,” he said. “The groups behind the revolution haven’t yet organized themselves.” The NDP was Mubarak’s ruling party.
Forming Parties
Restrictions on forming political parties will be eased after the referendum and parliamentary elections will probably be in September, allowing new parties time to organize and promote their platforms, Major General Mamdouh Shahine, the assistant defense minister for legal and constitutional affairs, told Al Masry Al Youm newspaper.
El-Shater said yesterday that the Brotherhood agreed on the idea of forming an election alliance with other opposition groups, including some such as the Wafd and Tagammu parties that have rejected the proposed amendments. That will “assure the people that the Brotherhood will not seek a majority in parliament,” he said.
About 45 million Egyptians, more than half of the country’s population, are eligible to vote, and must accept or reject the amendments as a single package.
‘Legislative Void’
A ‘no’ vote will leave Egypt facing a “legislative void,” Mohammed Attia, the head of the judicial committee that will supervise the referendum, told reporters.
One of the amendments in the package would create a constituent assembly to write a new constitution after elections, and should meet the ‘no’ campaign’s demand for a brand-new charter, said Sobhi Saleh, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and of the committee appointed by the ruling military council to draft the changes. He said that by delaying elections, some of the ‘no’ campaigners “want to leave the country without institutions and in a state of chaos until they can find some supporters.”
‘No’ advocates such as Mohamed ElBaradei, a leader of the anti-Mubarak movement and former United Nations atomic agency chief, say holding elections under an amended form of the constitution and then writing a new one is the wrong way round.
Insult to Revolution
“New regime equals new democratic constitution reflecting national will,” ElBaradei, who has announced plans to contest presidential elections, wrote in English on his Twitter account. “Keeping Mubarak’s constitution, even temporarily, is insult to revolution.”
Campaigners against the amendments also say they fail to curb the powers of the president, a measure they say is necessary to prevent Mubarak-era abuses.
Regardless of the referendum outcome, officials and voters said it marks the start of a new kind of electoral politics in Egypt. Voting under Mubarak was regularly overshadowed by low turnout, violence and widespread allegations of rigging. Anger over alleged irregularities in last November’s parliamentary ballot helped fuel the mass protests that ended Mubarak’s rule.
“We hope that everyone will participate in the referendum,” Attia said. “This is the first time, I think, in Egypt’s history that participation in political life takes place in an atmosphere of transparency and integrity.”
Mohammed Abdel Wahed, a 41-year-old accountant, said his planned ‘no’ vote will be the first ballot he has ever cast.
“Before, there was no use in voting, the result was a foregone conclusion,” he said. “Now, my vote will count. It’s a different story after the revolution.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Mariam Fam in Cairo at mfam1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
®2011 BLOOMBERG L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/03/constitution-amendments-jazz-2-and-this.html#more
Constitution Amendments Jazz “2” : And This is why I am saying “Yes”
I am saying “Yes” to the Amendments insh Allah and I know actually some people who read my blog will be shocked and will not believe themselves on how I would dare and Say “Yes”.
I am saying “Yes” while I am not a NDP or Salafi or MB or stupid enough to be fooled by some cheap media. I am saying “Yes” despite I refuse totally the use of religion to influence people’s vote. I am saying “Yes” and it is my right just like others have the right to say “No”.
You must know in our referendum the result whether “Yes” or “ No” will not be disastrous and will not end the revolution. According to General Mamdouh Shahin , the legal guru of the AFC these amendments if approved will be the core of a constitutional declaration that will put guidelines to our our political life till having a new constitution instead of constitution 1971. Of course in Al Masry Al Youm he later said that the president will rule by constitution without the presidential powers articles !! “We are speaking about 19 articles” Either ways the AFC said that there will be a constitutional declaration , the constitutional declaration is a substitute to the constitution.
The only difference between “Yes” and “No” is that in “Yes” we have our timeframe , we have a timetable for the political transition of power from the armed forces council to the civilian authorities represented in the parliament and the president. The parliament and president will be obliged by amended article no.189 “repeated” if approved to put a new constitution in the following next 6 months once elected.
The elected parliament will found a constitution committee made of 100 members from law experts , constitution experts , prominent personalities in the society and also representatives of the different sectors of the society. The constitution will be put and then the Egyptian people will go again to vote on its article one by one in a referendum.
Some people say that we should have that committee first and I will tell them it will need a lot of time to elect 100 members in that committee by direct election. Already what is the process we are going to elect these 100 members with ? Is it going to be like parliamentary election or what !? Amr Hamzawy spoke about electing combined lists , which means as a voter I have to choose from two or three lists made from 100 names !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! May be I did not get him right. Anyhow in direct election process , you will give a golden opportunity for radicals and NDP remnants to write our new constitution. If we have a new constitution committee through direct election we can have Mortada Mansour in the committee. Some will say that no others will choose these 100 members and again I will ask them who these others are and who gave the right to choose on behalf of us.
Others like my dear Dr. ElBaradei speak about having a constitution in three months !!? The constitution needs more time especially if we are going , already for one article like no.75 we had this huge debate so what we will do when we reach to the presidential and parliamentary powers articles !!?
The presidential and parliamentary powers articles are the ones that determine if our political system will be a parliamentary or presidential and semi presidential. This is why I believe the constitution amendments committee did not touch these articles. Already for those who are scared that the constitution amendments will create another dictator because of these presidential powers articles , I will ask them then why to choose a man based on his charisma and not on his program !!? Thank God none of the presidential candidates who announce their intentions to run have any kind charisma to become the pharaoh idol this nation loves to hate. This irrational fear from another dictator underestimates the power of the people who brought down Mubarak after 30 years. People are not ignorant or idiot.
I am saying “Yes” because I do not want 1954 to happen again , for more 58 years now I have been ruled by military and now there is a golden chance I can’t miss or waste to have a real civilian life we once had prior the coup of 1952.
I am saying “Yes” because geopolitically the army has to return to the primary job and return back to the barracks , if you think the army can stay a year or more than you are totally wrong. I will not even speak about Eastern or Southern borders but I will speak about our western borders. If Qaddafi wins over the revolutionaries “ insh Allah he will not” , he will put us in his sick mind and his history is well known plus it happened before. FYI all the world now is speaking about the role and duty of the Egyptian army in Libya , the Arabs say we must help our brothers there and the West prefer to keep it Arab X Arab as it will be cheaper and safer. I do not have a problem that the Egyptian army to interfere along with other Arab armies but this is not the correct time at all the army is engaged in too many fronts I am afraid.
http://mg.co.za/printformat/single/2011-03-17-in-egypts-first-democratic-test-reformists-divided/
In Egypt's first democratic test, reformists divided
YASMINE SALEH AND DINA ZAYED | CAIRO, EGYPT - Mar 17 2011 13:30
Egyptians will vote on proposed constitutional changes on Saturday in the first election in decades in which they have not known the result in advance.
But the changes have divided the reform movement which ousted Hosni Mubarak from power last month.
On one side, major opposition parties, civil society activists and three presidential candidates advocate rejecting the proposals, saying they do not meet the revolution's demands.
They stand against the two main groups who have experience in rallying support quickly -- the Muslim Brotherhood and remnants of Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP), who say rewriting the constitution from scratch would take too long.
The poll is a confusing first democratic experiment for many Egyptians who may have never read the constitution before.
'An insult to the revolution'
While the amendments would limit presidents to two four-year terms and ensure judicial oversight of elections, critics say they would do nothing to curb sweeping executive powers that were the backbone of Mubarak's autocratic system.
"Revolutions topple constitutions. This insistence on holding a constitutional referendum on a fallen document is like a doctor insisting on implanting organs into a corpse," said Zakaria Abdel Aziz, former head of the influential judges' club.
The changes would open up the race for the post that Mubarak held for 30 years. But opposition activists say accepting what they view as cosmetic alterations to the 1971 constitution implies granting it legitimacy, dishonouring the 18-day uprising that forced Mubarak to step down and hand over to the military.
"Keeping Mubarak's constitution, even temporarily, is an insult to the revolution," said presidential contender Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. "Voting 'Yes' in the referendum resuscitates Mubarak's constitution resulting in a flawed parliament."
Amr Moussa, who is resigning as secretary-general of the Arab League to join the presidential race as front-runner, said he too would vote against the proposed amendments.
Process of change
About 40-million Egyptians are eligible to vote on Saturday in the first poll in decades that is unlikely to be rigged. But analysts say the referendum has been rushed and is tainted with concerns on the openness of the constitutional drafting process.
A closed committee drafted the changes in 10 days. These were offered to the public for discussion for only three weeks, and until now have not been published in their final form for citizens to read before they are put to a vote.
In the proposals, the next Parliament would form a committee to rewrite the constitution entirely.
Pro-democracy activists fear that hasty elections would favour the Brotherhood and the NDP, producing a Parliament that still does not represent most Egyptians.
"How can a Parliament that does not reflect the people's goals and their aspirations be charged with rewriting a constitution to govern relations between state and society and Egypt's political life for decades to come?" asked Amr Hamzawy, an analyst and reformist, at a panel discussion this week.
Manipulation
Youth activists have called for a march against the changes on Friday, the eve of the referendum.
One online social networking group, which gathered more than 20 000 members in four days, said it rejected "attempts to rid the revolution of its legitimacy by using an old constitution, even if this was for a transitional period".
Legal experts and opposition figures say that without a new constitution and the abolition of restrictions on the formation of political parties, Egypt may find itself once again with a president who has absolute powers and a pliant Parliament.
The country's military rulers have sketched out a tight six-month timetable to hold the referendum, elections for the upper and lower houses of Parliament, a presidential vote and then another referendum for the new constitution.
Activists say this accelerated programme could allow those who manipulated the old system to do so again.
"Our revolution has not succeeded yet and this risks sucking it of all its achievements," said Abdel Aziz, one of the judges who led a 2005 movement demanding judicial independence.
Parties divided
Decades of autocratic rule have left Egypt's opposition fractured and toothless. Now political parties are scrambling to state their position on the referendum.
Formally recognised secular opposition parties have put aside their squabbles to call for a new constitution. The leftist Tagammu Party, Ghad Party, Arab Democratic Nasserist Party, Democratic Front Party and Wafd all intend to vote no.
"The proposed amendments don't limit presidential powers and that is something we highly fear," Wafd's Deputy Head Yassin Tageldin said. "We don't want another Mubarak to rule us."
But they stand against the NDP, smaller opposition parties said by critics to be NDP fronts, and the Brotherhood, who have the experience to mobilise supporters for an early election.
The Brotherhood says it would take too long to draw up a new constitution. Mubarak's former party, long used to winning by landslides, also says the changes will secure stability and bring about constitutional legitimacy.
For many Egyptians who long for normalcy and who fear that a "no vote" vote may prolong military rule, it will be a tough call.
Nevertheless, they will have the novelty of real choice.
"For the first time in our lives, we will experience democracy and our voices will have value. Do not let anyone determine your position," one Facebook group posted. "Egypt has to change. That will start when we decide for ourselves." -- Reuters
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Web Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-03-17- ... ts-divided
by AlicetheKurious » Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:36 pm
@Omar, very well put. I would just add that there are a lot of unanswered questions about this referendum:
1) Tarek Bishri is supposed to be a brilliant legal scholar -- so why is the wording about the so-called "obligation" to commission a new constitution so sloppy and in fact not an obligation at all?
2) Under the 1971 constitution, there is no provision for any "Supreme Council of the Armed Forces" to take over from Egypt's president. If the amendments are accepted, then the 1971 constitution is back in effect (meaning, by the way, that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is unconstitutional). Allow me to repeat: THE 1971 CONSTITUTION WILL BE BACK IN EFFECT. Yes, the 1971 constitution that legalized the dictatorship and its corruption. With NO OBLIGATION for the future president or parliament to commission a new constitution.
3) Why do the amendments not limit the president's powers in any way, but include detailed provisions that disqualify any candidate with dual citizenship or who has a non-Egyptian wife??!!
4) Why did the Armed Forces Council move the referendum date up from April to March 19, yet did not publish the official text of the amendments in an official newspaper until barely a week before the referendum?
There's too much monkey-business about these amendments for anybody to be trusting or naive.
The constitution is THE contract between a people and its government. Leave the 1971 constitution in the garbage where it belongs, and let's demand a constitution worthy of those who died and suffered so much for our freedom.
JackRiddler wrote:I don't understand why the push isn't first to elect a constituent assembly, without a president, then to hold a referendum on a new constitution, and only at the end to elect a first parliament and executive.
by WakeUpAndLive » Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:58 pm
by DrVolin » Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:30 pm
AlicetheKurious wrote:
Tomorrow will be pivotal. By Sunday we'll know more about the odds that a genuine democracy is emerging in Egypt.
by JackRiddler » Sat Mar 19, 2011 4:01 pm
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/360705
Five positions on the revolution
Author: Alaa Al-Aswani
One night in Tahrir Square, during the revolution, I lit a cigarette and threw the empty box on the floor. An old lady came up and warmly greeted me. She identified herself as one of my readers and complemented my writings. I thanked her, but she suddenly stared at me and said: “Please pick this box up off the floor.” I was embarrassed. I bent down and picked up the empty box. “Throw it away where the garbage belongs,” she continued.
I did as she said and returned to her, like a guilty child. She smiled and said: “We're now building another Egypt. It has to be clean.”
This is one of many impressive incidents I experienced during the revolution. At one point, when were chanting to bring down Mubarak, a young man full of energy yelled perniciously against Suzanne Mubarak, the ex-president’s wife. The crowds immediately stopped him, insisting that they were demanding their rights and were not in the business of insulting others. Over the course of three weeks, there was not a single incident of sexual harassment or theft, even as one million people gathered in a single square. For the first time ever, protesters cleaned up the square where they had sat-in after their demands were met.
Why did the revolution bring out such refined behavior among Egyptians? In truth, the revolution is a great human accomplishment. Revolutions bring the out best in people and rid them of their most unethical practices. When people revolt, the threats they confront for the sake of their freedom and dignity immediately transform into better human beings. Revolutionaries constantly assert that they value freedom more than they value their lives.
The question is whether all Egyptians have participated in the revolution. The answer is a simple no. No revolution has ever included an entire population. Today, Egyptians fall into one of five groups vis-à-vis the revolution.
The first group is the revolutionaries themselves. These are the most noble people in Egypt. They revolted for the sake of freedom and they paid an exorbitant price for their country. Figures leaked from the Ministry of Health indicate that over 800 people died during the revolution and more than 1200 young men lost their sight as a result of tear gas. Thousands are still missing, some of whom may be martyrs. These great sacrifices are what motivate the makers of this revolution to insist on achieving all their demands. United by the experience of the revolution, these people have overcome a barrier of fear. Their political awareness is high, which allows them to make the right decisions.
Second are the spectators of the revolution. These are Egyptians who have suffered for many years under Mubarak’s unjust regime, but who were never ready to make sacrifices for their rights. They were preoccupied with their survival and the concerns of daily life. The most they could do was to complain, and hope for God to bestow upon them a good reformer. The revolution took the spectators by surprise; they did not participate in it and were content to just watch on television. They also vacillated between acceptance and rejection of the revolution. Initially, were misled by state-run media into believing that the revolutionaries were hired agents As the martyrs’ toll increased, however, the spectators began to sympathize with the revolution. But they were moved by Mubarak’s plea to die in his country.
The camel charge into Tahrir, on 2 February, and the ensuing attack on protesters caused the spectators to change switch sides again and support the revolution. The spectators want change so long as it costs them nothing. They want democracy without incurring any personal losses or changes to their lives. Psychologically, and intellectually, they live in the pre-revolutionary period.
Third are the counter-revolutionaries. These are Egyptians who realize that the revolution will do away with their fortunes and might lead to their trial and imprisonment. They come from diverse social backgrounds and professions and include ex-ministers, prominent businessmen from the ex-ruling party, state security officers, corrupt media figures, and small bribe-takers, among others. All these people insist on undermining the accomplishments of the revolution. They were comfortable with Shafiq, Mubarak’s devoted student, being prime minister. During Shafiq’s one month in office, not a single police officer was put on trial on charges on of killing protesters. Instead, the Interior Minister at the time, Mahmoud Wagdi, commended state security officers for performing their “national duties.”
When the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) dissolved Shafiq’s cabinet and appointed a new revolutionary government, headed by Essam Sharaf, counter-revolutionaries started to feel threatened. The next day, they began destroying documents. State security officers disappeared and left their offices in order to incite chaos. They tried to sow tensions between the military and the revolutionaries and put pressure on Egyptian spectators, leading the latter to despise the revolution for the disruption, chaos and the lack of security that it caused. These factors would then be used as an excuse to adopt exceptional measures that would bring back the old regime.
Fourth is the Muslim Brotherhood, who participated with courage in the revolution, much like the rest of the Egyptian people. The Brotherhood’s youth played a heroic role in protecting protesters from attacks by the police and thugs. But the group suffers a chronic discrepancy—which has been the case throughout its history--between its deeply ethical membership and its leaders. Most Brotherhood members are good individuals, but their leaders place the interest of the organization above all else. As a result, the Brotherood has consistently taken positions against democracy and has supported all of Egypt’s autocratic leaders, starting with King Faruq. The Islamist group went against a national consensus and participated in Mubarak’s last parliamentary election, as well as in a dialogue with Omar Soliman—who sought to improve the regime’s image by sitting with token members of the opposition--during the revolution. The Brotherhood is now repeating its mistakes by standing with the National Democratic Party in supporting the proposed amendments to the Egyptian constitution, despite the fact that it understands such amendments will obstruct democracy and invalidate the gains of the revolution. The Brotherhood leadership supports the amendments because the movement will gain more seats in the People’s Assembly if elections are held quickly, a possibility they value more than anything else.
Finally, there is the Egyptian Armed Forces. The revolution would not have succeeded if it were not for the willingness of the army to side with the Egyptian people against a corrupt regime. Despite this, however, there are several unanswered questions about the role of the armed forces:
- What is the legal status of the deposed President Hosni Mubarak? Is he retired, or under house arrest? Does he have the right to use presidential palaces? When will he be tried for crimes that he committed against the Egyptian people? Why have his most important aides, such as Safwat al-Sherif, Zakaria Azmy and Fathi Sorour, not been legally pursued?
- The army is undoubtedly aware of the criminal activities that the State Security apparatus has engaged in over the decades, including detentions, torture, rape, and spying on citizens. Some State Security officers have been put on trial, a positive step, but most remain free and out of sight. These officers will do whatever they can to incite tensions and chaos, and they possess all the necessary tools to do so: weapons, experience, money, and agents. The burning of state documents, sectarian tensions, protests by Copts and Salafis, are all minor preludes to what remnants of the State Security apparatus are capable of doing in Egypt. Why does the military not use the Emergency Law to arrest state security offices and put them on trial?
- After Mubarak stepped down, a slew of “factional” were raised across Egypt. The primary reason for this is that many of those who hold positions of power in ministries, agencies, and universities, are corrupt and complicit with the Mubarak regime. Since many of these demands are legitimate, why does the SCAF not form a committee of independent judges to look into these complaints and refer cases to the general prosecutor? This is the only way to stop these protests. People must be assured that justice will prevail, even if not immediately.
- Why is the military rushing to end the transitional period? The common answer is that the military wants to finish this difficult task as soon as possible in order to resume its main task of securing the country. This argument is both reasonable and acceptable. But it would have been better to adopt the proposal, presented by legal experts, to appoint a presidential council composed of both civilian and military members to govern Egypt during the interim period. This would allow political parties sufficient time to organize themselves and ensure that parliamentary elections reflect the will of the people.
- It is common knowledge that a constitution is invalidated when the regime is represents falls. It is thus unclear why the military insists on patching up the old constitution. All political forces (with the exception of the Muslim Brotherhood and the National Democratic Party) have rejected the constitutional amendments. What then is the point of insisting on these amendments and how will a referendum be held amid the deteriorating security situation? Why not follow the advice of constitutional law specialists to formulate a constitutional declaration and elect a constituent assembly to write a new constitution that reflects the will of the people? If the answer is that the security situation does not allow for elections, then the same could be said about the referendum. If we are capable of holding a referendum on the amendments, we are undoubtedly capable of holding elections for a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution.
These legitimate questions certainly do not diminish our appreciation for the great role the armed forces have played. But Egypt is going through a critical moment, one that requires us to speak honestly, so that our country embarks on the future that it deserves.
Democracy is the solution.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
Publishing Date: Thu, 17/03/2011 - 04:01
Source URL (retrieved on 19/03/2011 - 21:54): http://www.almasryalyoum.com/node/360705
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/19/egypt.referendum/
ElBaradei attacked trying to vote in Egyptian referendum
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Mohamed ElBaradei, an Egyptian presidential candidate and Nobel laureate, was attacked by thugs at a polling station in Cairo on Saturday, his brother told CNN.
ElBaradei described the attack, which occurred during a referendum on changes to the constitution, on his Twitter account.
"Went 2 vote w family attacked by organized thugs," he tweeted. "Car smashed w rocks. Holding referendum in absence of law & order is an irresponsible act."
The former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency also tweeted that two members of his campaign team were detained at a separate polling station in Cairo.
ElBaradei said the two women were serving as official monitors at the polling station when they were detained.
"Disgusting," ElBaradei said in another tweet.
His brother confirmed the attack. Egyptians streamed to the polls Saturday to vote on proposed constitutional amendments, the first democratic initiative after the fall of autocratic president Hosni Mubarak's regime.
"Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei's car was attacked by thugs who threw rocks at it and prevented him from entering the Mokatam voting poll," Ali ElBaradei told CNN. "He did not vote today."
The attackers also chanted slogans against him, the brother said.
A military official told CNN he was not aware of the incident.
"We have been on the ground all day securing the polls along with the police and with the aid of the neighborhood watch groups too," said Major Alla al Iraqi of the military's press office. "There have not been any incidents of violence or clashes. Any minor arguments I witnessed between those who were voting yes or no were resolved between one another. Today, has been a model for democracy."
An estimated 45 million Egyptians are eligible to vote in what is widely viewed as the country's first free election in decades, and the poll sets the stage for parliamentary and presidential elections later this year.
Many voters were exuberant over the occasion.
"I am very, very happy," said Mohamed El Hourushy, a 19-year-old political science student. "This is something I've been fighting for all my life. I didn't think I would live to see this scene."
The proposed amendments include limiting the president to two four-year terms, capping emergency laws to six months unless they are extended by public referendum, and placing elections under judicial oversight.
Opponents say the proposed amendments were rushed and fall short of the people's demands. Many demand a new constitution and claim an early referendum gives an unfair edge to the Muslim Brotherhood and remnants of Mubarak's National Democratic Party -- well entrenched and politically savvy groups that are much better prepared to mobilize voters than newer factions still scrambling to get organized.
But presidential candidate and head of the Arab League, Amre Moussa, who is urging a "no" vote, lauded the referendum as "the first official step towards the democracy called for in the January 25 movements."
" 'Yes' or 'no' is not the issue -- that Egyptians are participating and voting today is what's important," he said.
The polls opened at 8 a.m. at more than 13,000 polling stations across the country, and many arrived early to polling stations to beat the crowds.
Outside the polling station at Kasr el Eini el Doubara -- a Cairo language school -- about 50 people lined up just before voting started. Many Egyptians, even senior citizens, said this was their first time voting.
"It feels good," said 80-year-old Nadia Risk. "It feels like, although I'm a senior citizen, I might be able to contribute to something that will be very democratic."
"I feel my vote will make a difference for the first time in my life," said 58-year-old Ibrahim Fahmy.
"I was born in 1952 during the first revolution and ever since I did not feel this country belongs to me. This is the first time I feel my vote will make a difference."
Voters filed in to a room where they picked up their ballots and went behind a blue curtain to mark their vote. A check inside the green circle was a "yes" vote. The black circle was a "no" vote.
Election officials marked voters' fingers with pink ink to keep them from voting more than once.
At about 8:30 a.m., Moussa, who called on Egyptians to vote against the amendments, arrived to cast his vote. A throng of reporters and cameramen surrounded him as he made his way to the ballot box.
"I honestly passed by many polling stations and they were all filled with people awaiting to make their decision. It is our duty to accept whatever they decide," Moussa said.
"It's very strange to have a referendum organized and implemented in one month," said Karim Elias, a 33-year-old software engineer who said he voted "no." "I want a new constitution. I want something that represents the Egyptian people."
Judge Mahmoud Atiya -- the head of the judicial committee overseeing the referendum -- told CNN the next step in the transition to a civilian government depends on the outcome of Saturday's referendum.
If the measures are voted down, the military will go back to the drawing board, Atiya said, and eventually issue another order, in accordance with the constitution, on what will come next in the transition to a civilian government.
It's not clear exactly what the army's instructions will be in case of a "no" vote or whether they'll extend their self-imposed six-month deadline to transfer power to an elected civilian government.
If the measures are approved, the military will move forward with parliamentary elections in June, Atiya said.
Analysts say it's hard to predict the outcome of the vote.
The ruling Egyptian Armed Forces announced this week that thousands of international monitors will be in place at polling stations across the country to ensure transparency in the voting process. More than 30,000 soldiers and security agents are also manning polling stations, security officials said.
Journalists Dina Amer and Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report
Links referenced within this article
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http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/afric ... referendum
© 2008 Cable News Network.
by JackRiddler » Sun Mar 20, 2011 3:04 am
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/03/19/egypt-from-revolution-to-referendum/
Egypt: From revolution to referendum
By Jody McIntyre
The Foreign Desk
Saturday, 19 March 2011 at 2:56 pm
On Saturday March 19th, the Egyptian people voted ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a referendum, proposed by the army, to make several amendments to the constitution. However, no national dialogue has taken place in planning the amendments, and many activists who participated in the revolution believe that the referendum fails to address their demands.
“This referendum is based on a constitution that the revolution was meant to stop,” says Salma Said, an Egyptian activist and blogger. “Even the NDP, Mubarak’s political party, are campaigning for people to vote yes to the referendum!”
One of the proposed amendments, to Article 75 of the constitution, stipulates that any Egyptian with dual nationality, even if they have renounced their second nationality, or who was a spouse with another nationality, will not be able to run for presidency. As the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies observes, “This narrow, chauvinistic view of national loyalty is inconsistent with provisions in Egyptian law that uphold the right of Egyptian citizens to dual nationality, and it disregards the fact that hundreds of thousands of Egyptians were forced to emigrate over the past five decades, either to escape persecution or because the country failed to foster an adequate environment that would respect the competencies, abilities, and aspirations of all Egyptians without discrimination.”
It seems a bit too convenient that any Egyptians that have travelled abroad, often due to political persecution, will be excluded in such a way. “It tells Egyptians abroad considering returning to their homeland after the revolution to help build a new country,” CIHRS continues, “not to bother, and it establishes a broad category of second-class citizens.”
So far, only the former ruling National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood have called for their supporters to vote ‘yes’ to the referendum. The Coalition of the Youth of the 25 January Revolution, many of whom played a leading role in the Egyptian uprising, and who recently rejected an invitation to meet with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, released a statement on Monday encouraging supporters to go out and vote ‘no’.
Incredibly, the amendments do not limit the powers of the President, one of the central demands of the revolution. As CIHRS details, “Under the proposed amendment [to Article 148], the president maintains his right to declare a state of emergency with no restrictions on the cases in which he may take this exceptional step.”
Mubarak ruled for over thirty years with such a ‘state of emergency’ imposed. To leave such a power in the hands of the President, after two million people took to Tahrir Square to overthrow the last one, is ludicrous.
“We are angry that this debate over the referendum,” Salma Said continued, “is giving an illusion of some kind of democracy. The current situation is that we cannot protest, people are being arrested and taken to military trials, but this is not given any attention. Instead, the media is choosing to focus on this ‘sudden’ democracy, saying that at last Egyptians have a voice and everything is fine, but this is not the case.”
Picture:Getty Images
http://bikyamasr.com/wordpress/?p=30822
Activism back to Cairo streets as Egyptian public opinion is split on referendum over constitutional amendments
Mar 19th, 2011 | By Davide Morandini | Category: Egypt
CAIRO: If one happened to go to Tahrir Square on Friday, one would think Egyptian demonstrators have already lost their revolutionary fervor. Only a few hundreds met in the square where people have gathered every Friday in tens or hundreds of thousands since the Egyptian revolution began on 25 January.
But the majority of demonstrators were not in Tahrir Square on Friday. Instead, they flooded the streets nearby, chasing after passing-by as they aimed a final, lethal (they hoped) blow against Saturday’s vote on constitutional amendments.
Following a trend made familiar by the mass-commercialization of the symbols of the revolution that flooded the streets of Cairo since revolutionary clashes started, stickers, banners, t-shirts and flags with the logo “la” (“no”) where worn, waved and displayed at every corner in Downtown Cairo as opposers of the constitutional amendments carried out their last-minute campaign.
In a statement circulated on Facebook few days before the referendum, the 6th of April Movement, one main youth organization that took the streets against the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak, addressed the constitutional amendments as “illegitimate,” stressing that they will bring back to life a “flawed constitution.”
Once again, youth seemed to be taking the lead on Friday night, as soon as carpets and stages for Friday prayers were being removed from the alleys around Tahrir Square.
Different Friday sermons were held in mosques around Cairo calling on believers to vote “yes” in Saturday’s referendum. Muslim preachers from the southern district of Helwan addressed believers that a positive vote was a religious obligation, reported al-Masry al-Youm, as Muslim authorities welcomed constitutional amendments as a salutary change for the Egyptian political scene.
As a main point against the amendments, a new draft of the constitution would represent a clear step towards a new political system. Moreover, drafting a new constitution will delay the date of Parliamentary elections, giving the time to newly formed political party to fill the gap with already existing organizations including the Muslim Brothers and formerly ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
As Saturday’s vote remains uncertain, supporters and opposers of the referendum are split in two, with a large number still to make up their mind.
BM
by AlicetheKurious » Sun Mar 20, 2011 4:03 am
by hava1 » Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:01 am
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