suggested to me by Sharon Bussell (editor of the article)
By: Moomen Sallam
This past Friday (5/27), 200,000 Alexandrians went into the streets in what was called “the second Friday of anger”. They moved from down town to the headquarters of the army, a distance of about 10 kilometers.The goal of the protest was to send a message to the Military Council with a list of demands, among which included postponing the elections until a new constitution is written, as well as calling for the trial of Mubarak and his men.
The Muslim Brotherhood refused to take part in this protest (which is their right), but they went far beyond that by accusing all who planned to attend as being against the Egyptian people or an infidel. They even started to spread rumors that the protest was organized by Christians!!! This latest activity follows the MB attacking all other political parties inEgypt to the extent that one of their leaders, Sobhy Saleh, came out recently saying that their group doesn’t recognize the liberal, secular, or socialist Muslim as a “true” Muslim.
http://www.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=417588
Not only did the Muslim Brotherhood call for the boycotting of Friday’s protest, but they arranged their own protest two days before (on Wednesday, 5/25) to issue their demands to have elections as soon as possible. Their protest was a failure as no more than 2000 persons attended, consisting only of the group’s own members.
The actions and comments from the Muslim Brothers against the secular Egyptians show a high level of arrogance and the fake feeling of victory in a battle that hasn’t yet started (and perhaps won’t start for another two years). The Brothers started putting all their hopes that elections will be held in September where they anticipate winning the majority as the only party prepared to run in the election, whereupon they could write the new constitution of Egypt, which they plan to use to increase their size along with their fellow Islamists (Salafist and Jihadist). All this behavior has provoked the secular forces in Egypt and turned the protest to be against the Islamists and Muslim Brotherhood in particular instead of demands to the Military Council.
What is more remarkable about this event is the huge number that turned out was much larger than the organizers expected, especially in the absence of any Muslim Brothers. This large number of protesters along with their actions has sent 3 messages to 3 different parties; the Muslim Brothers, the Military Council and the Copts.
To the Muslim Brotherhood the message is this-- the seculars are here and we can get the crowd; you don’t control the street and winning the election in September isn’t something that can be taken for granted, especially since this protest came two days after the failure of what you called “the wall of revolution”. In the protest of May 27th, people walking for 10 km raised slogans against you -- “Egyptians are here, where’s the MB?” & “MB, is Egypt more important or the parliament?” This march filled the 3rd largest street of Alexandria with chanting against the MB and instead of losing people it gained more people till it reached its destination, along with people on balconies raising Egyptian flags, chanting slogans, singing the Egyptian national songs, and throwing bottles of water, biscuits and candies to protesters. People are no longer believing the MB propaganda against seculars. So Muslim Brothers, do you still believe that seculars have no ground in Egypt?
The second message is to the Military Council -- the Muslim Brothers don’t own the street all alone but also seculars have the power of the street, so if you are playing with the MB to avoid trouble in the streets, we too can make trouble. So do what is right by postponing the election, work on creating a civil constitution for Egypt that protects all Egyptians from discrimination, and guarantees that no winner in the coming election can turn against democracy. Don’t be afraid of the Islamists and we’ll back you up, standing with you shoulder to shoulder. Do what is best for Egypt and protect the revolution by writing the new constitution before the elections -- don’t put the cart before the horse. The last thing we want is to replace dictatorship with theocracy and go to another revolution not knowing how it will end next time.
As for the Copts, the message to you is this -- we are here for you and we’ll defend you. We are one hand as we chanted together “Muslim, Christian one hand” & “Mohamed tell Hana, Egypt will be a haven”. So you are safe. You saw 200 thousand Egyptians calling for the civil state which means a state that will make all Egyptians equal as part of the Egyptian nation -- no Muslim, no Christian and no Baha’i, just Egyptian. So start joining the parties and work hard with secular Muslims for the civil constitution to defeat the Islamists in the coming elections. As you saw, they can be defeated when we stand together and work hard, hand in hand.
These are the three messages of Alexandria and they were delivered. Now it’s time for those parties to read it, understand it, and work accordingly.
Edit by Sharon Bussell
