I try to be careful about the limits of sentence length and the quirks
of Outlook Express's system. I got into a time bind, dashed off my
intro and sent it. I noticed the sentence breaks after I'd sent most
of the mailing. When I get stuff like that I usually just delete it. 'The
Struggle Surges Ahead' is too important a document for that, so,
this afternoon, i'll resend it, properly aligned. If you don't need or
want to read it, just hit 'erase.'
With chagrin,
Ed
From: "Cort Greene" <cort.greene@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 8:34 AM
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The President's promises and the bloody events of Wednesday, February 2
*We the protesters who have currently been in a sit-in at Tahrir
(Liberation) Square in Cairo since January 25, 2011 strongly condemn the
brutal attack carried out by the governing National Democratic Party's (NDP)
mercenaries at our location on Wednesday, February 2, under the guise of a
"rally" in support of President Mubarak. This attack has continued on
Thursday, February 3. We regret that some young people have joined these
thugs and criminals, whom the NDP is accustomed to hiring during elections,
to march them off after spreading several falsehoods circulated by the
regime's media about us and our goals. These goals that aim at changing the
political system into one that guarantees freedom, dignity and social
justice to all citizens are also the goals of the youth. Therefore we want
to clarify the following.*
*Firstly, we are a group of young Muslim and Christian Egyptians; the
overwhelming majority of us does not belong to political parties and have no
previous political activism. Our movement involves the elderly and children,
peasants, workers, professionals, students and pensioners. Our movement
cannot be classified as "paid for" or "directed by" a limited few because it
has attracted millions who responded to its call of removing the regime.
People joined us last Tuesday in Cairo and other governorates in a scene
that witnessed not one case of violence, assault on property or harassment
of anyone.*
*Secondly, our movement is accused of being funded from abroad, supported by
the United States, as being instigated by Hamas, as under the leadership of
the president of the National Assembly for change (Mohamed El-Baradei) and,
last but not least, as directed by the Muslim Brotherhood. Many accusations
like these prove to be false. The protesters are all Egyptians who have
clear and specific national objectives. The protesters have no weapons or
foreign equipment as claimed by instigators. The broad positive response of
the people to our movement's goals reveals that these are the goals of the
Egyptian masses in general, not any internal or external faction or entity.*
*Thirdly, the regime and its paid media falsely blame us, young
demonstrators, for the tension and instability in the streets of Egypt in
recent days and therefore damaging our nation's interests and security. Our
answer to them is: It is not the peaceful protesters who released the
criminal offenders from prison onto the unguarded streets to practice
looting and plundering. It is not the peaceful protesters who have imposed a
curfew starting at 3 o'clock PM. It is not the peaceful protesters who have
stopped the work in banks, bakeries and gas stations. When the protesters
organized the one-million demonstration it came up in the most magnificent
and organized form and ended peacefully. It is not the protestors who killed
300 people, some with live ammunition, and wounding more than 2,000 people
in the last few days.*
*Fourthly, President Mubarak came out on Tuesday to announce that he will
not stand in the upcoming presidential election and that he will modify two
articles in the Constitution, and engage in dialogue with the opposition.
However, the State media has attacked us when we refused his "concession"
and decided to go on with our movement. Our demand that Mubarak steps down
immediately is not a personal matter, but we have clear reasons for it which
include:*
*His promise not to run again is not new. He promised when he came to
power in 1981 that he will not run for more than two legislatures but he
continued for more than 30 years.*
*His speech did not put any collateral for not nominating his son "Gamal",
who remains until now a member of the ruling party, and can stand
for election that will not be under judicial supervision since he ignored
any reference to the amendment of Article 88 of the Constitution.*
*He also considered our movement a "plot directed by a force" that
works against the interests of the nation as if responding to the demands
of the public is a "shame" or "humiliation".*
*As regards to his promise of conducting a dialogue with the
opposition, we know how many times over the past years the regime claimed
this and ended up with enforcing the narrow interests of the Mubarak
State and the few people who control it.*
*And the events of Wednesday proved our stand is vindicated. While the
President was giving his promises, the leaders of his regime were organizing
(along with paid thugs and wanted criminals equipped with swords, knives and
Molotov cocktails) a brutal plot to attack us in Tahrir Square. Those thugs
and criminals were accompanied by NDP members who fired machine guns on
unarmed protesters who were trapped on the square, killing at least 7 and
wounding hundreds of us critically. This was done in order to end our
peaceful national popular movement and preserve the status quo.*
*Our movement is Egyptian - Our movement is legitimate - Our movement is
continuing*
*The Youth of the Tahrir Square sit-in*
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