7/28/13

On the Third Current Revolutionaries" in Egypt

An article written for The Unheard Egypt on The Third Current revolutionaries (Not to be confused with the Third Square).

(Ahrar Movement Banner says: Against the military rule, the remnants of the old regime, and the Muslim Brotherhood policies).

A design by ahrar movement against the military, the remnant of the old regime and the MB
Among the many unheard voices in Egypt are the voices of those who are committed to the revolution since day one but for many reasons were silenced and sidelined from the conversation taking place in the wide political spectrum, and were also overlooked by the media. 

This happened mainly due to the ongoing polarization and forced dichotomies in the Egyptian political sphere. The “Third Current” Egyptian revolutionaries have always been there, it is not a new phenomenon in Egypt but this mobilization came back to the surface again from several grassroots initiatives due to the dramatic recent developments in Egypt especially with the military’s moves.

But, who are the “Third Current” revolutionaries? Is there a need for having such a thing? The third current could be represented through any reasonable Egyptian thinking outside of the box, standing against the continuity of a 60+ years old military rule, against the collaboration with the figures of Mubarak regime, and critical of the Muslim Brotherhood but are not necessarily excited about bringing the Islamist vs. Secular dichotomy as an argument. 

This is also everyone who participated in the mobilizations since 2011 but are not affiliated with the different sides of the current highly polarized political conversation (Military vs MB, Secular vs. Islamist, Military and Mubarak’s remnants vs. MB).

There was a need for such grassroots straightforward initiatives to make a distinction especially with the shocking positions of many well known “revolutionaries” and “revolutionary movements” that either started allying with the old regime Egypt revolted against openly, or are taking populist opportunistic positions while sending mixed signals about their actual positions because they want to maintain a specific image internationally and locally.

In addition to that, with the claims that it’s mostly Pro-Morsi Pro-Muslim Brotherhood that are opposing the military rule now in a reactionary manner, another distinction needed to be made between the Pro-Morsi anti-military bulk and those who are critical of the Muslim Brotherhood while opposing to the military at the same time.

Recently and especially after the statements made by the minister of defense Al Sisi, it has came to our attention that the number of such initiatives have increased dramatically all over the country and in different communities, both urban and non-urban and not only restricted to Cairo or the big cities. 

We have been following the emergence of different mobilizations in this direction closely and in this piece we will highlight the most recent updates from “Ahrar Movement”, a grassroots movement that’s been actively mobilizing in different occasions and is taking the lead in many direct action events in addition to working on building a framework that’s revolutionary and inspired from Islam at the same time. The western narrative sympathetic to secular leftists in Egypt ignore the presence of such groups.

The following are translated passages from Ahrar Movement recent statements:

On the Third Current:
From a protest organized by ahrar movement recently and the sign says no to the rule of  the military, the remnant of the old regime and the MB
1- “The media (whether on TV, press, or online) is trying its best to direct people into thinking of this situation as a dual equation, so you’re either with the Muslim Brotherhood and you call for bringing Morsi and the constitution back, or you’re with those who’re clapping for the military and Al Sisi lovers!

Unfortunately, many young people accepted this, and by Allah, if we accepted this duality we will lose whatever remained from the revolution if anything remained! Find your way, young people!”

2-”Many revolutionaries know very well that the revolution is relapsing and that the military is killing whatever remained from freedom in our country but they are afraid of mobilizing against the military fearing that Morsi would be back. They must know that surrendering to the “2 options” solution is not a revolutionary act.

 The revolutionaries must open their third road. Tomorrow, everyone will pay the price of the silence towards the military violations of today. Glory to those who are abiding to their principals.”

3- “The framework we think we will be operating through in order to achieve the goals of the revolution as a third current could be summarized as follows:

A- The first angle is working on “The awareness of the Egyptian people”, this will take place through different tactics and campaigns, in order to make it clear that:

-The revolution hasn't destroyed the country.

-Islam hasn't ruled in Egypt to be blamed, the failure of some of the Islamists doesn't translate to a failure of Islam as a whole and as a governing model, and opposing these people is not equal to opposing Islam itself.

B- The second angle is: Protests and decentralized mobilizing all over the country no matter how small it is.

On Islam and Revolution:


“We think of the true revolutionary as one that must be in peace with their religion, and we think that a Muslim who is truly religious will necessarily become revolutionary. Islam’s outlook and theory on change is at its foundations revolutionary by default. Islam does not accept conciliation with the oppressors, it refuses to work under any umbrella of corruption, and it does not put personal and individual interests ahead of the Islamic approach and its principals.

Those Muslims who operate under the umbrellas of corruption, accept half-way solutions, abandon their foundational principles, adopt other ever-changing principles, raise false slogans that are not in accordance with their beliefs, and then claim to do all of this for Islam are harming nothing but Islam itself. The ends do not justify the means in Islam, both the ends and the means must be pure and in accordance to faith.

On the other hand, those who consider Islam to be an opponent to the revolution, and think they can achieve real change through a revolution whose cultural framework comes from their enemies are deluded.

The purpose of revolutions is bringing down a regime and replacing it by another, and the destination of every regime lies in its cultural framework. Whenever you call for the downfall of a regime while you hold firmly to its cultural framework you are also deluding yourself.”




7/3/13

Important: Recommendations on #June30, 2013 in Egypt

Some of this was written In July 2013 before Sisi officially took over and some is right after. This perspective was very hard to find in English:

They're saying all the Anti Morsi folks are "revolutionary heroes" because opposition is always celebrated in the west even if it was opportunistic or reactionary. They're always right even if they're members of the old regime, pro-military, pro-Mubarak etc.

On the other hand, all Pro-Morsi folks are considered evil, ignorant, stupid, extremist and anti-revolution by default even if they're your family members.

This is the trendy logic nowadays everywhere, this is what the media and the activists/opposition sympathetic media is telling me to think constantly, and this is what most of the press has been suggesting but I'm not buying this, and I won't. 


*******************************************
Taken from a video after Sisi took over and overthrew Morsi:

"What do you think is the definition of democracy that we should stick with? If it's not decided by voting and polls and ballot boxes, what do you think is the way we can handle this?

Why wouldn't people who voted for Morsi be called pro-democracy activists just like we were called pro-democracy activists at the beginning of the revolution? ... What do you think is going to be the reaction of all these people who feel that their voices have not been respected? ... What do you think is left for them to resort to? ... What do you think is going to be the future of Egypt under military rule that we never got rid of? .

How about all the other people who live in other parts of the country besides Cairo's downtown... who are not as politically sophisticated as you might think we are, but don't want to see the military in power, and think that we can't be as politically active as you are because we have families and we have kids to feed and we feel that the only way to make things change here in this country would be through voting and electing a president to begin with. How do we explain things to these people?

With all the developments that are going to continue to happen, the instability and the violence, what do you think life will be like for these people? ...

Seeing two years of our lives wasted entirely and realizing that our lives might be at risk and that our future is uncertain"

On the Military Industrial Complex, SCAF, and revolutionary cheering for the junta:
  
The military never left any time actually in the last 60 something years, including last year. They're just coming to the face of the military dictatorship again, as you wished, dear "revolutionaries".

1- What you must know about the Egyptian military industrial
complex.

http://inalllanguages.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-you-must-know-about-egyptian.html

2- When a revolution calls for military rule.

http://inalllanguages.blogspot.com/2013/02/when-revolution-calls-for-military-rule.html

3- "If you're gonna try to compare civilian - even MB - government to brutality of #SCAF's rule, you're either blinded by hate or forgetful." 

"I’ve learned a basic and terrifying truth today: That many would rather see a military junta rule with impunity and autocracy than see a democratic administration govern with fecklessness and error. That many people who call themselves revolutionaries and advocates of democracy simply hate Islamism more than they love freedom. That people are fully prepared to welcome the army back to political life, with a cheer, two fingers up to those killed since 2011, and a good riddance to Egypt’s first experiment with democracy. Fuck that for a revolution."

Patrick Galey, July 1st 2013. The day the revolution died.

4- Videos and images:

* Documenting SCAF's crimes
http://www.scafcrimes.net/#SCAFCrimes

*SCAF crimes documentary with English subtitles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHHi76YH7s4

*SCAF Crimes in Egypt: A Revolutionary Timeline in Photos

http://muftah.org/scaf-crimes-a-timeline/
 
On the "All secular are anti-Morsi, all religious, conservatives, Islamists are pro-Morsi sheep:  

Smashing the secular vs Islamist dichotomy:

The bearded is not a Morsi supporter and the opponent is not an infidel. #Egypt

The false secular vs Islamist dichotomy forced upon us by many lead people to label any seemingly practicing Muslim (Bearded men, Niqabi women and the like) as a supporter of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood automatically. This oversimplification makes things easier to understand for the Islamophobe westerners and easier to promote for secular Egyptians, but in reality things are not like this.
 

June 30 was also about 9 death cases confirmed, hundreds of injuries, and over than 42 sexual assaults reported in Tahrir only. Uproar in Assiut in upper Egypt where pro- and anti- folks started killing each other and people are still shooting each other outside of the main Muslim Brotherhood HQ in Cairo. 

Yes, all of this ugliness is happening behind the scene while you're enthusiastically sharing the images you find inspiring and awesome on your smart phones and Macs. There are different sides to the story, and different ways to look at it, but keep in mind when you choose to give a blind eye to reality you do this because you're still in a place of privilege.

It's true this is not affecting your life in anything, but remember it does with us.

*********
Sexual harassment in the protests in Egypt. Don't be silent!

1- Mob sexual assault on a female journalist from the Netherlands in Tahrir square On June 28th 2013:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CMBnImNySA

Another video angle to the same incident:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R7Yy_UPbNE

2- June the 30th the men talk about an attack on the women warning others from going into the area in Tahrir.
Female protesters are talking about what happened to them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E3QZmhbuho

3- Sexual assault at the presidential palace June the 30th

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4ihg7iuK1w


 http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/12565/no-apologies

Wave Of Men Targeting, Sexually Assaulting Women At Egypt’s Anti-Government Protests

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/men-targeting-sexually-assaulting-women-egypt-protests.php