[R-G] "The Egyptian Giant Is on the Move"

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://mideastwire.com/topstory.php?id=22481>
2008-04-07 00:00:00 : Egypt > Opinion
"The Egyptian giant is on the move"

On April 7, the Palestinian-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the
following opinion piece by Chief Editor Abdel-Beri Atwan:

"Like an elephant, Egypt moves heavily and and enjoys a high tolerance
level. However, when it starts to move, there is no stopping it as it
destroys everything that stands in its way, especially if it is hungry
and if its children can't find anything to eat. The strikes and
demonstrations staged in Egyptian cities yesterday are just the
beginning, or the beginning of the end of the regime. What is
important now is not the success or the failure of the demonstration,
as much as it is the fact that the giant represented by the popular
base has started to rebel against hunger, oppression and corruption
and has started to raise its voice in protest.

"After thirty years of fake peace and false promises, and after having
humiliatingly joined the American war projects against Arabs and
Muslims, the good Egyptian people are now hungry and dying in bread
queues, while other populations are advancing, prospering and becoming
economic tigers. I lived in Egypt when I was a university student at
the end of the sixties, beginning of the seventies, as well as during
the depletion war and before the country shifted Westwards and
surrendered its neck to the International Monetary Fund.

"I can say that cooperatives were filled with all kinds of food
products and the entire Egyptian people wore wool and cotton clothes
and high-quality Egyptian shoes, from the president of the republic to
the smallest employee in the state... The great Egypt was sold under
the headline of privatization to the US and Israel, in exchange for a
very small price, which was collected by a group surrounding President
Mubarak, his sons and the ruling elite, so that it differentiates
itself from the vast majority of good and patient Egyptian people...
America is the biggest wheat-producing and exporting country in the
world.

"Why doesn't it rush to save its ally President Hosni Mubarak, who
helped it in all its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and maybe in its war
against Iran and Syria in the future, and who became its mediator for
peace and normalization in the region? The answer is simple: The
problem is not as much the US as it is the Egyptian regime itself.
This regime does not know how to manage its alliances and exploit them
to serve its people and the coming generations. What this regime is
interested in, is remaining in power at any cost while filling the
foreign bank accounts of those surrounding it... Now Egypt has no
economy, no politics and no leadership. It is like a piece of wood
floating on a river, not knowing when, where and how it will stop.

"It is not controlling its own fate and its captain has eluded his
responsibilities and has retreated to his own world in the Sharm
al-Shaykh resort far from all problems and concerns... However, the
Egyptian people have started to rebel, to break the circle of silence
and make loud demands for a drastic change. They will undoubtedly
achieve their goals, for this has been done throughout eight thousand
years of civilization and creativity. Their rebellion will mark the
beginning of salvation from the state of submission that this nation
is undergoing, considering that ever since Egypt left with its flock
with the Camp David Accords, its situation has been deteriorating..."
- Al-Quds al-Arabi, United Kingdom

Click here for source
<http://www.alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=today\06z40.htm&storytitle=ff%20%C7%E1%E3%C7%D1%CF%20%C7%E1%E3%D5%D1%ED%20%20%ED%CA%CD%D1%DFfff&storytitleb=%D>
-- 
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>