Tahrir, Egypt

Tahrir which became a symbol for victory with its role in the overthrow of a tyrant, had become overnight a battle field! It is really hard to try and analyze what's happening now in Egypt. With the events of November 19th, the people who lost their lives and those who were wounded and even lost their eyes in an onslaught rarely seen since the events that led to the demise of Mubarak (with the exception of Maspero's events), I am seriously worried about where we are headed. Can SCAF really be that callow!! Haven't they realized that such an onslaught would reunite everybody against them (even though the Muslim Brotherhood seem to be napping it off which I doubt will continue for long if they want to be seen as being on the side of the people)!!

I am hoping that the different and ever bickering political factions come out of their slumber and reunite to save what's left of the country before it's too late. WE NEED UNITY!!

Egyptian Parliamentary Elections 2011

I can feel the anticipation mixed with elation for some and fear for others. I, myself, have a mixture of both; elation at having what I hope is going to be the first free election in a long time in Egypt and fear of chaos during the elections.  The upcoming parliamentary elections has the NDP (the ex ruling party) almost barred (if not by law then by popular rejection) from entering and the Muslim Brotherhood running using their new party's name "Freedom and Justice" without fear of prosecution. The Muslim Brotherhood is also facing for the first time competition in terms of the use of religious symbolism and rhetoric in politics, from the Salafi (Muslim Traditionalists) party called El Nour or "The Light"!!! This is surely going to be fun to watch, having two entities claiming each represents Islam better than the other...

The liberals not to be outdone, have managed to form and then tear apart a number of coallitions that they have created with no forethought to their ideological differences as it seems, and are also competing with each other for mostly the same seats. One area (Heliopolis which everybody considers to have highly educated population) has a well known revolutionary who is also an award winner (Miss Mahfouz), a well known political writer and activist (Hamzawy), and twitter celebrity ( Salem @sandmonkey) running for the same seat!!!

To complicate matters further, the new electoral system which I can vouch that more than 80% of the population does not understand will surely lead to confusion on election day (or days since the military council in its infinite wisdom has divided the election process up to take several days).

So, I am sure nobody can really predict the outcome of this election including me... We'll have to wait and see and hope for the best or better yet keep working for the best.