So now, we are hearing rhetoric that is both disturbing and frustrating, along the lines of “let the state tighten its grip over protesters, we have had enough”, and “it is time to work and stop protests, we need to eat”, and “what has protesting done so far except damage to the whole country”.
Indeed, what has protesting accomplished? So far, none of the demands of 25 January have been met. The first demand, the first spark for that revolution, was to bring an end to the interior ministry’s brutality. Reforming that institution was the first reason people took to the streets (remember Khaled Said, whose killers are acquitted?) and now the protest law requires that same institution’s blessing to allow people to take to the streets. What happens now when Egyptians decide again to rise up against the brutal ministry? Go get approval from the ministry for their route, give the ministry the names and addresses and phone numbers of the organisers? Hell, you might as well detain yourself right then and there!
But then again, this is Egypt, where no law is enforced and those who should enforce it are the first ones to break it, so no need to fret. Right now, and without any law put in place, the amazing Ministry of Interior detains anyone anytime and for charges we only saw in movies criticising Gamal Abdel Nasser’s rule. Charges like distributing “papers” calling for protests, being in possession of the yellow Rabaa sign, or having “anti-regime documents” on your computer… and this is without even having protested yet! People are being tortured, sometimes to death, in detention facilities and police stations during questioning for such ridiculous charges. No need for a law or a fine or a prison sentence; our police are taking matters in their own hands anyway, and who is to tell them not to? Who is to hold them accountable? No one did during Mubarak’s rule, nor SCAF rule, nor Morsi’s rule, and obviously not now (whoever’s rule this is!)
And Elbaradei saw it coming… and he was right… and then he was called “traitor”.
Ah… Misr, Misr… how much can you keep doing it wrong?
…4 days for Bassem to come back. Counting.
Al-Must'arib (the vocational Mossarab) 