A New Political Dawn is Breaking in Egypt

A New Political Dawn is Breaking in Egypt

The Muslim Brotherhood, Arguably, are the most highly organized political party in the land. Denying them or underestimating their power will be futile. Granted, they have never been tested in either government or as a legitimate political party since their inception as an ideological political movement. But their organizational skill, even by world standard, has been nonpareil

To an outsider, they are seen as the principle movers and shakers and the pillars of the political infrastructure in Egypt. Denying them their right of inclusion strictly on the basis of rejecting their ideology would be both frivolous political doodling and untenable wishful thinking. It would be practical and highly advisable to accept them for what they are; a formidable political powerhouse deserving the right to contribute to Egypt's future even if you disagree with everything they stand for.

Their detractors are few, incredibly ineffective and politically inept. Lacking real grass roots, they are incapable of competing with them on any level. The Muslim Brotherhood have grass roots projecting deeply in the hearts and minds of the largest segment of society where their opponents operate on the bare margins of existence. They embody a dream for which ordinary Egyptians have long yearned over four tumultuous political eras belonging to 5 successive clamoring generations.

If they succeed in accomplishing what they promised, so be it; their rivals might just have to get used to eating political crow. If they fail, they will be, like their political contemporary regimes, subject to the law of natural attrition. In the end, they do exist, they are active, they are powerful and they have well-oiled socio-political machinery. 

They appear to have vetted a powerful cadre of able and visionary technocrats to administer their ambitious platform; aptly named "Rising Egypt".  They have demonstrated by the preponderance of the evidence that they have full intention of engaging their political machination to its fullest potential.

The way I see Egypt's political theater now, observing from afar, Brotherhood opponents like it or not, there is no circumventing working with them, and more often than not, in either subservient roles or deferring matters to their nods of approval. They have won with a sweeping mandate which gives them absolute parliamentary commanding power. The question of abusing this power does not arise, at least in theory, since they are extremely sensitive to the temperature of the political street. They have a pretty accurate thermometer. It is called, ""The huddled Masses."

Their platform is simple yet, upon hearing it, potent. Social, industrial and educational renascence, and reconstruction of Egypt's cultural, military and economic power to bring it back to its traditional role as the leading power in the Arab world and Africa as well as one of the three formidable regional powers on equal footing with Iran and Turkey and logically surpassing them when standing with the Arab world behind it. 

In terms of organization and mass appeal, compared to the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's rival political powers are second rate . For mass popular support, they are not even on competing level. But if they come to terms with accepting the new reality; a reality with the Brotherhood role has been determined and made dominant by the power of the ballot, they stand a better chance of remaining afloat on the political surface. This way, political diversity will have a true meaning, democracy will stand the test of time and Brotherhood detractors ranging from liberals and socialists to right wingers and feminists will flourish rather than wither and desiccate in the wake of the political hot, dry gale force wind of change of the Brotherhood.

Egypt’s first democratic election is slated for 05/23/2012, and preparations are underway. The process appears to be progressing smoothly without major anomalies. When considering a scenario of a possible outcome, an observer finds it difficult to pin point an absolutely clear winner in the first round. It appears that run-offs will be inevitable.

There are two candidates running on platforms with an Islamic background on one level or another and one with a leftist progressive and national platform in addition to two “Folools”, which means remnants of the ousted Mubarak’s regime.

1) Muhammad Mursi, a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California, USA. He served in the capacity of Asst. Professor in the school of engineering at California State University, Northridge. In 1985 he returned to Egypt and was awarded tenure as professor of engineering at the University of Zaqaziq. He had been politically active during the Mubarak’s regime and had won a parliamentary seat in an election that scared the regime so much so that they had to defraud him of his seat. Selected for the world's best parliamentarian award for the years 2000-2005. He is the official candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood.

2) Abdul Moneim Abul Fotouh, a Physician turned politician with extensive experience in managing international charitable and professional NPO, which is a highly involved political career on both the national and international levels. He had long been active member of the Muslim Brotherhood in good standing and a prominent figure in its executive committee before he was forced to resign upon deciding to run for president against the Brotherhood’s declared policy at the time of post-revolutionary political effervescence.

3) Hamidean Sabahi, a left of the center candidate with a Nasserist Pan-Arab national platform. He does not have an Islamic agenda but accepts Egypt’s identity as an Islamic nation with a vociferous voice for full equal rights based on citizenship alone. He acknowledges the excesses of the Nasser Dictatorship but highly praises Nasser's ideology and ambitious national dream, thus vowing to revive the dream learning from its lessons  and avoiding the negative aspects of its experience.

4) Ammro Moosa; Former Foreign Minister of the Ousted Regime and Secretary General of the Arab League under Mubarak’s Dictatorial Hegemony. (Folool.)

5) Retired Air Marshal Ahmad Shafiq; former commander of the air force. Served in the rank of wing commander when Mubarak was Air Chief-Marshal. Upon his retirement from the air force, Mubarak created a cabinet post specifically for him in which, he served as Minister of Civil Aviation. During the revolution, Mubarak appointed him prime minister; a short-lived career that was terminated by the revolution and the ignominious fall of the Mubarak’s regime. (he is a Folool.)

Observers believe that in all likelihood the election might be heading for a run-off between the two front runners, Mursi and Fotooh. But regardless of who will ultimately end up holding the mantle of power for Egypt’s top boss job, Egyptians, it appears, are ready, willing and quite capable of embracing the democratic process. Democracy, it seems, is growing extremely rapidly in the valley of the Nile.

The Birthers and the Citizeners …. A Letter From Aunt Gladys

The Birthers and the Citizeners …. A Letter From Aunt Gladys

In 2008 US Presidential Election ushered in the 56th President of the United States. The Election, carried out every 4 years, was completed on 4 November with the new president officially sworn in on 22 January of 2009

Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received a sweeping mandate by winning 365 electoral votes vs. 173 for his Republican opponent John McCain.   This mandate would have been sufficient to give Obama unprecedented powers should he have been the candidate with the necessary skill and experience to use it.    He was not.

Barack Obama ran on a simple platform promising sweeping change in the machinery of government and gave his popular constituency a hope that he was neither able to, nor did he actually have any intention of carrying out. It was a great disappointment in the man and his agenda.

This election packed so many firsts that it stands out in US political history as the most significant since WW II.     It was the first U.S. presidential election, in which a non-white received the nomination of one of the two major parties as well as the first election in which a non-white was elected President,

During the early stages of Obama’s campaign,  the negative noises,  normal in US elections in general,   were focused on his color, his liberal agenda and his inexperience.     His opponents in the racist South, dismissing him as one with little to no chance of going anywhere in his bid for the top boss job, were only rattled by the precedence he had set for Non-Whites to run for the great office of president of the United States.

But once Obama's real sweeping popularity became obvious and his chance of winning the election loomed larger than what his detractors thought it comfortable to contend with, Conspiracy theories began to be weaved and emerge.   Accusations ranging from his religion, his origin, and oddly enough, his membership in terrorist organizations flew left and right propelled by the nutter machinery of over the top radio talk shows.

But perhaps the most outrageous and most egregious attack designed to discredit Barack Obama and render his bid for office illegal and his winning unlawful was the question of his US birth.    A conspiracy theory of sort concocted by his most implacable enemies purported that he was not born in the United States, a constitutional condition that must be met for anyone to run for the office of president  and occupy the White House.

Confident of his position and aware of the hidden hatred,   Mr. Obama  elected to remain aloof and dismissed his attackers as unworthy of the dignity of response.   However, the attacks escalated and the Obama advisers had enough of the nonsense and showed his official birth record in the state of Hawaii ending the vicious rumor.

This is where the resemblance is to a case that has taken Egypt by storm. Mr. Hazzem Abu Ismail,   an accomplished lawyer and a conservative from the group known as the Salafi Muslims,   does not mince words when he speaks of America as the reigning Lucifer over the dominion of the Earth.   His strong position towards taking Egypt out of the subservient role to the United States and building it to full independence economically, politically and militarily has ruffled the feathers of the Neocons and the Zionists who rule the US.

History has repeated itself.    At the behest of the Obama administration a story was concocted claiming that Mr. Abu Ismail is not lawfully entitled to run in the presidential race in Egypt.   Why? His mother, the Egyptian authorities allege, was a naturalized United States Citizen. This, according to Egyptian law,  precludes Mr. Ismail from running in the race.

Mr. Ismail demanded proof of this allegation and countered by saying that his deceased mother had been holder of a permanent residency status in the US but had not been actually naturalized.   When pressed,  the Egyptian Government produced a nonsensical letter it claimed came from the United States Department of State claiming that the lady in question was naturalized in 2006 but presented no material evidence admissible at law,  nor presented any credible facts other than a perfunctory purport that the US does not tell a Lie!    Ridiculous and retarded as this may sound, it is actually all the evidence that the Egyptian government presented to support its case against Mr. Abu Ismail.

Judging by the similarity of the cases between both Mr. Obama’s detractors, who came to be known in the US as the Birthers, and Mr. Ismail’s detractors, whom I am dubbing the “Citizeners”,  it appears that this seemingly fraudulent and unsubstantiated allegation was cooked in the political kitchen of the US Department of State.

A letter from the State Department without supporting documentation in the form of official photocopies of original records with photos signatures dates and official seal of the United States is not proof of anything, much less admissible as evidence in a court of law since it seems that this is where the case will be heading in Egypt. 

It really amounts to nothing more than a sworn statement from your Aunt Gladys stating that she had seen you applying for citizenship and receiving your naturalization certificate.

And while Aunt Gladys may be telling the truth, she could also be biased, corrupt, senile or legally blind, and while a court of law would treat her kindly and take her testimony only perfunctorily under advisement it would dismiss it as inadmissible or at best insufficient evidence presented as hearsay.

US naturalized citizens pass through a myriad of procedures and Tape-Recorded Video Interviews, and their files undergo exhausting processes each of which leaves a heavy paperwork trail of archived material and authenticating documents. And once Naturalization is completed and Citizenship is granted, an ornate certificate of naturalization is presented in a highly publicized ceremony with funfair, while also Photographs are taken for official as well as ceremonial proof. All this is ready and available to any senior State Department official authorized to respond to a request for evidence submitted domestically or by a foreign entity provided that it meets the standard set of laws controlling freedom of information as well as privacy of information.

The Egyptian Ministry of the Exterior's claim that it had received Citizenship information regarding Mr. Abu Ismail's mother's status of naturalization is a lie for the simple reason that No authorization had been obtained from the deceased person or her immediate family to release this information in accordance with United States Information Privacy Law, and the US government, while has vested interest in discrediting Mr. Abu Ismail and ending his bid for Egypt's presidential election, would not risk violating Federal law and the subsequent scandal associated with that in addition to risking criminal litigation in US Courts..

Regardless of whether the allegation has any merit, surely someone in the US negative rumors machinery must have known that if they made the allegation they would have to produce the supporting evidence,  and that the supporting evidence should be more than a letter signed by Aunt Gladys swearing that she was a friend of Mr. Abu Ismail’s mother and she had seen her with her own very eyes applying for US citizenship.

Shame on you Mr. Obama, and Shame on you Hillary Clinton. I expected something a little more professional out of both of you. Next time, perhaps may I suggest a letter from Uncle Pete swearing that Aunt Gladys is not a crook!