Atlantic Council

Useful Links

 

Parliamentary Elections

  • Preparing for Egypt’s Parliamentary Elections: A Guide (English)
  • Electoral Law (Arabic)
  • Electoral Law Amendments (Arabic)

Legal Framework

  • President Mohamed Morsi's Constitutional Decree - December 9, 2012 (Arabic) (English)
  • Final Draft of Constitution, published November 29, 2012 (Arabic) (English) (Audio)
  • President Mohamed Morsi's Constitutional Decree - November 22, 2012 (Arabic) (English)
  • Draft of the Constitution, published October 24, 2012) (Arabic)
  • Draft of the Constitution, published October 16, 2012 (Arabic) (English)
  • President Mohamed Morsi's Decree Pardoning January 25 Prisoners - October 8 (English) (Arabic) 
  • President Mohamed Morsi's Constitutional Declaration - August 12 (English) (Arabic)
  • President Mohamed Morsi’s Decree reinstating the dissolved parliament – July 8 (English) (Arabic)
  • Renaissance (Nahda) Project (English) 
  • Morsi Meter (English) (Arabic)
  • SCAF Amendments to Interim Constitution - June 17, 2012 (English) (Arabic)
  • Interim Constitution (full text, English and Arabic), ratified by popular referendum on March 23, 2011)
  • Law on the Presidential Election, No. 174, 2005 (Arabic)
  • Electoral laws for the People’s Assembly and Shura Council (full text, Arabic, amended July 19, 2011)
  • Law on Non-Governmental Organizations, No. 84/2002 (English) 
  • Law on the People’s Assembly, amended October 2011 (PDF, Arabic)
  • Supra-Constitutional Principles (English) (Arabic)
  • The Final Draft Wording of the Articles on Defense and National Security in the New Constitution (English) (Arabic)
  • Leaked Articles of the Draft Constitution (English)

 

Egyptian Government Resources

  • Official Facebook page of President Mohamed Morsi (Arabic)
  • Official Facebook page of Prime Minister Hesham Qandil (Arabic)
  • Official Facebook page of Presidential Spokesman Yasser Ali (Arabic)
  • Official Facebook page of the Supreme Council of the Armed forces (Arabic)
  • Official website of the Cabinet (English) (Arabic)
  • Ministry of Interior (English) (Arabic)
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs (English) (Arabic)
  • Ministry of Finance (English) (Arabic)
  • Ministry of International Cooperation (Arabic)
  • Ministry of Social Solidarity (Arabic)
  • Ministry of Information (Arabic)
  • Ministry of Industry & Foreign Trade (English) (Arabic)
 

Economy

 

Egyptian Media

Think Tanks and NGOs:

 

EgyptSource
Printer-friendly version
Subscribe via RSS

It's Not My Fight

Wael Eskandar | July 11, 2012
Tahrir Guy Fawkes

Messages are flying around left and right, on the street, on television, on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere on the internet. Some support President Mohamed Morsi’s decision to reinstate parliament and some are against it. From a distance, I watch the arguments in favour and those against, as though I’m watching a rally in a tennis match. I feel impassioned because I would like both players to lose.

Those blaming Morsi for his decision are saying that he has no respect for the law or the judiciary. But they make it sound like there is a law to be implemented or a judiciary to be respected. SCAF and the constitutional court have long disrespected the law when they wielded it to serve their own interests. It is an unfair criticism of Morsi since he is fighting fire with fire. You cannot criticize Morsi for disrespecting the constitution when the constitutional declaration and its annex completely disrespected Egyptians. The rulings have no legitimacy since they were never based on justice. President Mohamed Morsi is trying to forcefully take power, much like SCAF did. He has less corrupt institutions on his side, but that doesn’t make his actions any less sinister than what SCAF has done so far.

Praising Morsi is unfair as well. The decree to restore parliament is a selfish act that will benefit no one but the Muslim Brotherhood. This display of force is unfair to those unjustly held in military prisons.  The one thing Morsi had the power to do was to bring justice to those in military prisons. No one would have contended the legality of it, since it is explicitly stated in article 56 of the constitutional declaration. Instead, Morsi repeated the army rhetoric, saying he was told that those imprisoned were mostly thugs and their release would cause chaos. He simply formed a committee, much like the one charged with investigating the Port Said massacre; a committee that may not bring about any justice. The fact that Morsi is not willing to do the one thing he can to alleviate injustice dispels the myth that once the Brotherhood are in power, justice will be served.

The more I see the messages going back and forth, and all the more I’m convinced this is not my fight. Both are fighting against my interest, and both will turn against me no matter what stance I take once they win their fight.
 
I will not side with SCAF’s illegitimate laws and constitution, , not after their soldiers crushed protesters, humiliated women and and imprisoned us; not after sabotaging our attempts at freedom and democracy. If there were any rule of law, or any justice, the 19 generals would be brought to justice for their crimes. I will not pretend our institutions are not corrupt, I will not pretend they do not symbolize oppression.
 
I will not take Morsi’s side. He’s represents the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood who joined forces with SCAF to supress street movement and hamper the revolution. They were the Trojan horse that attacked us from within. They saw democracy as a threat to their existence and yet freely used the word, along with ‘revolution’, devaluing those words, turning our gold into dust. They also used the old regime’s vocabulary just as much. Words like thuggery, foreign elements and chaos were used against the Egyptian people liberally.
 
Bringing back an impotent parliament will not help with our fight against SCAF. Parliament has played politics for the benefit of both SCAF and the Muslim Brotherhood. It does not represent me, it does not represent the interests of the Egyptian people.
 
This fight against SCAF is not for democracy, it’s for power. What do I care who wins? It’s not my fight. Let them fight one another. I’m already certain of the outcome. A tyrant will prevail.
 
Wael Eskandar is a blogger and a writer for Egypt's Ahram Online. He has written for publications like Daily News Egypt, Community Times and others. He blogs at notesfromtheunderground.net. He has an engineering background and has been closely following the events in Egypt since the 18 days.
 
Photo Credit: Reuters

Trackback URL for this post:

http://www.acus.org/trackback/70413

About EgyptSource

 

EgyptSource, a project of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, follows Egypt’s transition and provides a platform for Egyptian perspectives on the major issues – economic, political, legal, religious and human rights – that are at stake in the post-Mubarak era.

If you are interested in submitting an article for publication on EgyptSource, please send an inquiry via email with a short outline of your idea. 

The views expressed in EgyptSource are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

 

Follow us on Twitter: @EgyptSource

 

EgyptSource Team

 

Michele Dunne
Director, Rafik Hariri Center 
mdunne@acus.org
Follow on Twitter

 

Nancy Messieh
Editor, EgyptSource, MENASource
nmessieh@acus.org 
Follow on Twitter

 

Tarek Radwan
Resident Contributor, EgyptSource; Editor, MENASource
tradwan@acus.org
Follow on Twitter

 

EgyptSource Newsletter

 

Click here to sign up for the weekly EgyptSource newsletter. 

Faces of Egypt 

 

Journalist and videographer Abanoub Emad explains the drive behind his work: “I want to cover the truth..If it was just a job for me I wouldn't risk my life, but this is what I want to do…and this is what differentiates the quality of work. You can tell who's doing it for the sake of doing it, and who's doing it because it's what they love to do” 

At twenty-two, Amr El Salanekly has won the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative fellowship, co-founded a social incubator and an educational platform for underprivileged kids, turned down a job with Bangladeshi Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank, and raised hundreds of thousands of Egyptian pounds for community projects in Egypt.

Check out the rest of the Faces of the New Egypt series here. 

 

About the Contributors

 

Alaa Al Aswany, the Arab world's bestselling novelist, is the author of The Yacoubian Building, Chicago, and Friendly Fire. His work is published in thirty-one languages worldwide.  Read his EgyptSource posts here. 

 

Yussef Auf is an Egyptian judge and 2012 Humphrey Fellow at American University’s Washington College of Law. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Constitutional Law and Political Systems at Cairo University. Read his EgyptSource posts here.

 

 

Nadine Abdalla is a PhD Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and a writer for Egyptian newspaper, Al-Masry Al-Youm. Read her EgyptSource posts here. 

Amr Hamzawy joined the Department of Public Policy and Administration at the American University in Cairo in 2011, where he continues to serve today. He is a former member of parliament and a member of the National Salvation Front. Read his EgyptSource posts here. 

Jayson Casper is a writer with Arab West Report, Christianity Today, and Lapido Media. He blogs on Egyptian politics, religion, and culture at A Sense of Belonging. Read his EgyptSource posts here.

Wael Eskandar is a blogger and a writer for Egypt's Ahram Online. He has written for publications like Daily News Egypt and Community Times. Read his EgyptSource posts here.

  

Soraya Morayef is a journalist and writer based in Cairo. She blogs under suzeeinthecity.wordpress.com. Read her EgyptSource posts here.

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a UAE based political commentator. He tweets as @SultanAlQassemi. Read his EgyptSource posts here.

 

Magdy Samaan is a freelance journalist and a 2011 MENA Democracy Fellow at the World Affairs Institute. Read his EgyptSource posts here.

 

Haitham Tabei is a special correspondent for the Washington Post and Asharq Saudi newspaper in Cairo.

Read his EgyptSource posts here.

Featured Videos