Promotion of Virtue My Ass

A facsist facebook group was created today under the title of "The Committee of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Egypt".

I am disgusted because something stinks.

Sandmonkey alluded to a very alarming fact in his latest blog post. He mentioned that an "Egyptian Bloc" campaign operative was arrested in Suez by the military police at a polling station for filming the army promoting the Salafi Nour Party (with a big banner carrying the Noor Party slogan being placed on the side of an Army Truck) and his film was confiscated.

Is SCAF playing with fire? Promoting the Salafis to force Egyptians to choose between military rule and Salafi rule?

If this is the case then you have several players conspiring against democracy and freedom in Egypt:

1) SCAF with its huge vested political and economic interests.
2) The Salafis who ultimately want to turn Egypt to a Taleban state.
3) The Saudi Wahabis who are funding the Salafis and share with them (and SCAF) the desire to torpedo the revolution and kill democratic aspirations in Egypt.

What will happen when the vice and virtue scum bags start operating on Egyptian streets?

I remember an incident that happened to me in the mid 80's when I was a student at Cairo university. I was approached by a group of 4 fellow students who were members of the Islamic Group (El Gamaa El Islameya). They asked me to join them in the mosque for prayers, but I said no. They got aggressive and started directing verbal abuse at me. I started shouting and made it clear that I was not going to give in to their bullying and they backed off.

If you give the likes of these wankers a free hand to promote their shit in the streets it will get ugly and I fear that this is what some want.

Maths of blood & death

If Copts make up 10% of the population of Egypt (and that is a very conservative estimate), then the sum of Copts killed starting from the new year's eve Alexandria massacre up till the Maspero massacre is equivalent to more than 1000 out of the general population of Egypt.

This is more than the total number of people who Mubarak killed during the Jan 25 revolution and who include many Copts :(

Why are simple rights like freedom and equality so hard to achieve in Egypt?

SCAF and Mubarak

Very well said by Anthony Shadid in the NYT:

Since Feb. 11, when Mr. Mubarak was forced from office after protests convened in Tahrir Square, Field Marshal Tantawi has served as the head of the ruling military council, which has exercised absolute and largely unaccountable power. It claimed to seize power in the name of the revolution, but after months of ineffectual rule, suspicions over its willingness to fully surrender power and a plan for elections that has satisfied few, the council’s appeal has diminished.

Read full piece

We need to remember what the revolution was about

I am not trying to preach to anyone here especially since I am the man who once ordered "pageone" in an Italian restaurant, before realising it was not a dish, just a typo on page one of the menu.

It would be such a major fuck-up if Egyptians paid with their blood during the 25 Jan revolution to end corruption and start democracy, then we end up with the SCAF, the Muslim Brothers and the salafis in charge and dancing on the graves of the freedom martyrs.

I hope it doesn't happen.