20/03/11-31/03/11, Commentary and references

March 20 Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum on constitutional changes that will usher in rapid elections, with the results underscoring the strength of established political organizations, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, and the weakness of emerging liberal groups. More than 14.1 million voters, or 77.2 percent, approved the constitutional amendments; 4 million, or 22.8 percent, voted against them. The turnout of 41 percent among the 45 million eligible voters broke all records for recent elections, according to the Egyptian government.

March 29 The military command announced that parliamentary elections would not be held until September 2011, meeting the demands of opposition leaders who wanted more time to organize political parties. The presidential election, scheduled for August, was also postponed. The command also revealed that the ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, has been prohibited from leaving the country, and that it would soon lift the detested emergency law, among a number of announcements intended to shore up diminishing support for the armed forces council ruling the nation.

March 31 Egypt's military rulers announced a new interim constitution replacing the one suspended when President Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, incorporating the amendments approved by voters in the March 19 referendum. In addition the 18-member ruling council said it would hand over legislative powers after the parliamentary election in September 2011, and that executive powers would be transferred after the presidential election, which will be held by November.

Commentary:

The anger fueling the street protests in Egpyt was not new. It had been seething beneath the surface for many years, exploding at times, but never before in such widespread, sustained fury.The grievances are economic, social, historic and deeply personal. Egyptians often speak of their dignity, which many said has been wounded by Mr. Mubarak’s monopoly on power, his iron-fisted approach to security and corruption that has been allowed to fester. Even government allies and insiders have been quick to acknowledge that the protesters have legitimate grievances that need to be addressed.

New political facts have emerged from this "revolution". The Egyptian people have demonstrated that they may be patient and peaceful to a fault, but they surely know how to make their voices heard at home and around the world. The way these spontaneous demonstrations took place and maintained a unity of demands, despite the blackout on mobile communication and stoppage of internet service, proves that a new collective conscience has been born in Egypt. In fact, Egypt itself has been reborn.

References: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Egyptian_protests

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12327995

March 20 Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum on constitutional changes that will usher in rapid elections, with the results underscoring the strength of established political organizations, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, and the weakness of emerging liberal groups. More than 14.1 million voters, or 77.2 percent, approved the constitutional amendments; 4 million, or 22.8 percent, voted against them. The turnout of 41 percent among the 45 million eligible voters broke all records for recent elections, according to the Egyptian government.

March 29 The military command announced that parliamentary elections would not be held until September 2011, meeting the demands of opposition leaders who wanted more time to organize political parties. The presidential election, scheduled for August, was also postponed. The command also revealed that the ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, has been prohibited from leaving the country, and that it would soon lift the detested emergency law, among a number of announcements intended to shore up diminishing support for the armed forces council ruling the nation.

March 31 Egypt's military rulers announced a new interim constitution replacing the one suspended when President Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, incorporating the amendments approved by voters in the March 19 referendum. In addition the 18-member ruling council said it would hand over legislative powers after the parliamentary election in September 2011, and that executive powers would be transferred after the presidential election, which will be held by November.

Commentary:

The anger fueling the street protests in Egpyt was not new. It had been seething beneath the surface for many years, exploding at times, but never before in such widespread, sustained fury.The grievances are economic, social, historic and deeply personal. Egyptians often speak of their dignity, which many said has been wounded by Mr. Mubarak’s monopoly on power, his iron-fisted approach to security and corruption that has been allowed to fester. Even government allies and insiders have been quick to acknowledge that the protesters have legitimate grievances that need to be addressed.

New political facts have emerged from this "revolution". The Egyptian people have demonstrated that they may be patient and peaceful to a fault, but they surely know how to make their voices heard at home and around the world. The way these spontaneous demonstrations took place and maintained a unity of demands, despite the blackout on mobile communication and stoppage of internet service, proves that a new collective conscience has been born in Egypt. In fact, Egypt itself has been reborn.

References: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Egyptian_protests

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12327995

24/02/11-15/03/11

Feb. 24 Egyptian authorities arrested Anas al-Fiqqi , the country's former information minister, and Osama el-Sheikh, the chairman of state TV and radio on corruption allegations. The arrests were the latest move made by the country's military rulers against figures in the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

March 2 Speculation that former President Hosni Mubarak had departed Egypt for Saudi Arabia heightened with a government-owned newspaper saying that he had gone late last week to a special Saudi military complex at Tabuk for chemotherapy treatment by his usual German doctors. He is suffering from pancreatic and colon cancer, it said.

March 3 Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq resigned, bowing to one of the main demands of Egypt’s opposition movement, which has called for his ouster from its informal headquarters in a resurrected tent city in Tahrir Square. Egypt's stock exchange, which suspended trading a month ago when nationwide anti-regime protests erupted, said it will remain closed until further notice.

March 9 Eleven people died in overnight fighting between Christians and Muslims in the suburbs of Cairo, in the deadliest unrest since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, which was striking for the solidarity between people of different backgrounds. The clashes broke out during a protest by several hundred Christians over the burning of a church in the village of Soul a week earlier, and raged into the early hours of the morning, adding to a sense of unease as the country charts a post-Mubarak future.

March 14 With the referendum over the constitutional amendments that will shape Egypt’s immediate political future just days away, the country’s nascent political forces were agreed on two things. The referendum, a simple up or down vote on about 10 amendments scheduled for March 19, will be a milestone and the first one not rigged outright in about 60 years. Also, and far more important, is that the referendum floats in a sea of confusion: the military has suspended the Constitution to rule, yet is asking the public to approve the reworking of bits of it.

09/02/11-23/02/11

On the 9th February, inspired in part by the emotional televised interview with Wael Ghonim, the largest crowd of protesters in two weeks occupied Tahrir Square, surrounded the Egyptian Parliament and staged sporadic demonstrations and strikes in several Egyptian cities. In a late-night address to the nation, Mr. Mubarak unexpectedly refused to budge, saying he would stay on through the end of his term. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit dismissed calls by Egyptian protesters and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scrap the country’s emergency laws, which allow the authorities to detain people without charges.

Four days later, The uprising’s leading organizers asked protesters to leave the square. Swiss officials ordered all banks in Switzerland to search for — and freeze — any assets of the former president, his family or close associates. In Egypt, opposition leaders vowed to press for a full investigation of Mr. Mubarak’s finances.

Strikes and labor protests spread to the Cairo airport and the nation’s largest textile factory, despite pleas by the military for people to get back to work. Economists have warned that the labor unrest is deepening an already catastrophic financial crisis and scaring off foreign investors.

On the 18th of February, Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an influential Sunni cleric who is banned from the United States and Britain for supporting violence against Israel and American forces in Iraq, delivered his first public sermon in the country in 50 years, emerging as a powerful voice in the struggle to shape what kind of Egyptian state emerges from the uprising. He addressed a crowd of more than one million who gathered in Tahrir Square to mourn those who died in the protests. Meanwhile, the military warned restive workers that it would stop what it declared were illegal strikes crippling Egypt’s economy, declaring “it will confront them and take the legal measures needed to protect the nation’s security.” 

25/01/11- 08/02/11

25 January will be a date enshrined in the country’s history. That was the day Egyptians decided to end the country's last pharaonic dynasty with a large, violent burst of people's revolution. Young Egyptians joined the "Khaled Saeed" Facebook group to launch the call for an uprising against tyranny, oppression, torture, corruption and injustice. 

Three days later, more than a million Egyptians took to the streets in support of the uprising. Anti-riot police used maximum force but finally had to retreat.The army had to step in and were immediately embraced by protesters too.This is a the “Friday of Rage”. Mr. Mubarak called the army into the streets and late that night ordered his government to resign but did not offer to step down himself. He named the head of military intelligence, Omar Suleiman, as his new vice president, and the air force chief, Ahmed Shafik, as prime minister, in an attempt to shore up support among the military.

After eight days of protests, Mubarak started to get the hint – that he is no longer wanted as a president by his own people. The president's termination letter has been sealed by millions of Egyptians. After 30 years of ruling Egypt, the 83-year-old man has clearly become detached from reality.

The demands of the protesters were beautifully crystallised in two chants: "The people want the regime down" and "Bread, freedom and human dignity". 

On the 7th of February, the reorganized government announced a 15 percent salary hike for its six million employees, a move apparently aimed at shoring up support for Mr. Mubarak and defusing popular support for the protests. Elsewhere in Cairo, many parts of the city appeared to be returning to normal.

As the authorities and protesters struggle to grasp the see-sawing initiative in the 15-day-old revolt, the government unveiled new pledges of reform, but demonstrators gathered in ever greater numbers to reject anything less than the president’s immediate ouster.