We are a non-partisan group of loyal Egyptians whose only interest is to allow Egypt to actualize the promise of this remarkably pure and spontaneous revolution and to avoid its hijacking or dilution by other groups which mostly have very questionable agendas and very little real love for Egypt. Indeed, many of them consider that the stable, pluralistic democracy that this revolution is promoting would present an existential threat to their agendas which thrive on fear, division and instability. They will fight to the death to destroy this opportunity for Egypt and will not hesitate to sacrifice Egypt itself to avoid their own certain demise. Contrast this with the peaceful protestors and the efforts in every neighborhood community to protect their homes and families in the visible absence of any police presence.
The facts and issues as we see them are as follows:
- This ‘revolution’ can truly be considered a uniquely pure and non-partisan spontaneous movement of the people instigated by a diverse group of activists and individuals who have shown an incredible degree of integrity, courage and love for Egypt. It has stirred all the rest of us from our passive acceptance of the status quo and has ignited the fire of change and hope amongst us all.
- The Egyptian Army and the International Community have, moreover, given their full support to the objectives of the people and have committed to support and protect protestors as long as they continue to act in a controlled and constitutional manner. There is no doubt that this bond between the people of Egypt and the Armed Forces is an essential corner of the revolution’s success and its conversion into a stable, equitable and democratic regime in Egypt.
- Nevertheless, it is NOT reasonable to expect these noble and courageous individuals and groups who are doing their role by rallying and protesting on the streets to also orchestrate the political response agenda and/or to administer the transitional phase in a manner that allows the preservation of the idealistic goals of the revolution while achieving a tangible political framework.
- The transitional phase must be managed in a formal, political manner by loyal Egyptians who share the same principles and love for their country but who also have the necessary experience and credibility to engineer a lasting regime change that achieves the objectives of the people.
- The failure of such ‘political’ representatives of the revolution/people to emerge and to engage in the transitional phase with the regime/government is creating a vacuum that is quickly being filled with chaos, violence and frustration. This is in turn creating rifts between factions of the Egyptian people and between the people and the army. Such divisions are clearly extremely dangerous as they allow the high-jacking of the revolutionary platform by all those groups that benefit from division and the chaos that could ensue. During this transitional phase which may last for a number of months Egypt MUST regain its political, social and economic stability. Realistically this can only happen by accepting to work with many members of the newly formed government which includes many men of capability and honour including the Vice President- Omar Soliman, The Prime Minister- Ahmad Shafik, The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence- Tantawi and the Chief of Staff- Sami Anan.
Our view is that there is currently an impasse which must be unlocked. This requires a ‘leader’ to emerge to speak on behalf of the ‘street.’ Mr. Zewil appears to be the least conflicted candidate to represent this group. Amr Moussa and Naguib Sawiris are other candidates whose affiliations are not suspect.
Our view is the best course for stability is for the country to conditionally accept the current interim government and to support them to oversee the implementations of all the demands set out below. We recognize the risk in this strategy but consider this is the best of the available options from a practical and constitutional level. Significant gains have been made and now is the time to consolidate them. The alternative is for division and chaos to prevail.
Our demands to be achieved by September:
- New constitution to be enacted to ensure a pluralistic, effective multi-party system representing the various factions of Egyptian society and lifting of the emergency laws – this is to be supervised by the independent committee of Egypt’s trusted luminaries such as Ahmed Zewil, Kamal Aboulmagd etc….
- Dissolution of the current parliament with immediate effect.
- Dissolution of the National Democratic Party with immediate effect.
- New parliamentary elections – under the strict supervision of the judiciary and observed by international monitors
- Free presidential elections
- Current interim government to submit emergency plan for six months
- Investigation into the crimes committed on 2nd February against the peaceful protests and of the widespread release of the prisoners from the prison system
- Guaranteed right for protestors to continue their peaceful demonstrations
- Guarantee of freedom of speech, freedom of press and internet
- Immunity from prosecution for the President and his direct family plus the right to remain in Egypt.
Disclaimer: Commentaries published by Daily News Egypt do not reflect the position of the paper, but reflect the independent opinions of their authors.
