Egypt: Protesters Gather Nationwide To Demand Morsi's Ouster
Source: Huff Post
Thousands of opponents and supporters of Egypt's Islamist president began massing in city squares in competing rallies Sunday, gearing up for a day of massive nationwide protests that many fear could turn deadly as the opposition seeks to push out Mohammed Morsi.
Waving Egyptian flags, crowds descended on Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo, one of multiple sites in the capital and around the country where they plan rallies. Chants of "erhal!" or "leave!," rang out in the square, birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
On the other side of Cairo, thousands of the Islamist leader's backers gathered not far from the presidential palace in a show of support. Some wore homemade body armor and construction hats and carried shields and clubs – precautions, they said, against possible violence.
There is a sense among opponents and supporters of Morsi that Sunday's rally is a make-or-break day, hiking worries that the two camps will come to blows despite vows by each to remain peaceful. Already at least seven people, including an American, have been killed in clashes the past week, mainly in Nile Delta cities and the coastal city of Alexandria.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/30/egypt-protests_n_3524568.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D338286
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
jessie04
(1,528 posts)He runs Egypt like a dictator.
JCMach1
(29,201 posts)to converge on the Presidential palace... ng 
?1372598604579
dixiegrrrrl
(60,159 posts)I read on a news site.
Can you imagine even getting a million signatures here against something?
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)should be called starting tomorrow. And I certainly hope the progressive forces are propagandizing the military, especially the Army EMs and NCOs. If you have those guys on your side, it won't matter on which side the generals land.
jessie04
(1,528 posts)a REAL democracy will happen in Egypt.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)The anti-Morsi folks have never accepted that they lost the elections.
MADem
(135,425 posts)How dare they want things like equal treatment under the law! The NOIVE of them! Anti-Morsi folks, all of 'em!!!
jessie04
(1,528 posts)Christians learn "their place" and those jews no longer exist in Egypt, then Egypt will be juuuuust fine.
ps..I don't think you're going to get a response.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)And I don't approve of a lot of Morsi's policies.
But guess what? I'm not Egyptian. Egyptians voted him and the Muslim Brotherhood into power.
These demonstrations aren't going to force him from power--unless the provoke the military to do a coup. The people that are unhappy with Morsi need to win some elections.
MADem
(135,425 posts)When the disadvantaged are prevented from even pressing their franchise, what hope is there? That's like blaming a slave for being a victim of slavery--they should just "vote against it" I suppose....
http://www.dw.de/a-slap-in-the-face-for-egypts-women/a-16459115
http://www.dw.de/arab-spring-revolutions-dont-reach-women/a-16403996
http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-women-claim-judge-barred-them-voting-172618884.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/04/egyptian-women-better-under-mubarak
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)"Women Vote in Landmark Election" (November 2011)
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/29/179935.html
"Egyptian Women Cast Votes and Rally for Their Country's Future (May 2012)
www.unwomen.org/2012/05/egyptian-women-cast-votes-and-rally-for-their-countrys-future/
Suffrage is universal and compulsory for adult Egyptians.
There may have been problems in some places, but it seems like Egyptian women voted. I have no idea how many of them voted for Morsi or the Brothers. Do you? I would guess that a substantial number did. And that would be no surprise, given that Egypt is a conservative Islamic country. Cairo ain't Cambridge.
If democracy is such a sham in Egypt, as you seem to suggest, I wonder why the opposition is calling for new elections?
MADem
(135,425 posts)"There may have been problems in some places..."
Good grief, there are problems in MOST places when conservative bastards who want women in the kitchen and not in public life are involved. "Some" places? How about the frigging parliament?
Egypt has worked hard over the last century to be an inclusive center in the Arab world, and the brethren are fucking that all to hell.
It matters, and that's a piece of what's happening in the streets of Cairo. You can play the glib game all you'd like, it's just not funny if you are female and Egyptian.
Worse if you're a female, Egyptian Copt.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)I provided some links that suggested that they did indeed vote.
Not having followed with a microscope all the election disputes in Egypt, I conceded that "there may have been problems in some place." With them being able to exercise their franchise.
You then move the goalposts with a generic rant about "conservative bastards who want women in the kitchen" and complain about their representation in parliament. Fair enough. There were only 2 elected out of 508 seats (or 8 out of 502). Why is that? Here's what NPR had to say about it
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/19/145468365/in-egypts-new-parliament-women-will-be-scarce
In many cases, nascent democracies have a quota system to ensure that all groups get at least some level of representation. But in Egypt, a quota for women was viewed with suspicion. Many thought it might be used, as it was in Mubarak's time, to stack the Parliament unfairly.
Also, the women who ran on party lists were placed far down on those lists, meaning they had virtually no chance of getting into office. And that was true of all parties, Islamist as well as liberal.
"It really hurts so much when the same people you were with in that square that day, who are fighting against the regime ... are now turning against you," says Dalia Ziada, an activist who ran for Parliament. "It's like betrayal, betrayal from our companions."
<snip>
"I tried to test how the society is thinking about women after the revolution," she says. "We went to three locations ... and we did a survey that was composed of only one question. Would you accept to see your president as a woman? One hundred percent of them said 'no.' This is what people think, it's OK to have democracy, but women are not in the equation of democracy."
-------------
I don't think your problem is with me, but with Egypt. Just like Thomas Franks' Kansans, Egyptian women may vote against what we see to be their best interests. As I said before, it's a conservative Islamic country. Maybe not in the upscale cafes of Cairo, but Cairo isn't the whole of Egypt.
jessie04
(1,528 posts)nt
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)jessie04
(1,528 posts)Egypt's president on Thursday issued constitutional amendments that placed him above judicial oversight and ordered the retrial of Hosni Mubarak for the killing of protesters in last year's uprising.
Mohammed Morsi also decreed immunity for the Islamist-dominated panel drafting a new constitution from any possible court decisions to dissolve it, a threat that had been hanging over the controversial assembly.
Liberal and Christian members withdrew from the assembly during the past week to protest what they say is the hijacking of the process by Morsi's allies, who they saw are trying to push through a document that will have an Islamist slant marginalizing women and minority Christians and infringing on personal liberties. Several courts have been looking into cases demanding the dissolution of the panel.
The Egyptian leader also decreed that all decisions he has made since taking office in June and until a new constitution is adopted and a new parliament is elected — which is not expected before next spring — are not subject to appeal in court or by any other authority. He also barred any court from dissolving the Islamist-led upper house of parliament, a largely toothless body that has also faced court cases.
The moves effectively remove any oversight on Morsi, the longtime Muslim Brotherhood figure who became Egypt's first freely elected president last summer after the Feb. 11, 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/84163.html
what a great guy
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/84163.html#ixzz2XkVhqaIm
David__77
(24,727 posts)Two different things. I think that the it's more likely for the Salafists to win an election over the MB than the liberals.
The Mubarak courts are not exactly motivated by some love of democratic norms. What is clear is that MB has won each election in Egypt since the so-called revolution.
Morsi is no good - a real reactionary. But the progressive forces in Egypt will have to do better than hankering for a coup by perhaps-worse officers.
joshcryer
(62,536 posts)David__77
(24,727 posts)But, from a legal perspective, of course not.
joshcryer
(62,536 posts)In the end they believe their President has overreached his powers. If only more people protested such things.
You'll remember the MB sweeping win in Egypt was largely accepted by the progressive Egyptians.
David__77
(24,727 posts)People celebrating the coup threat, dancing, singing, weeping for joy. It was widespread.
The courts have time and again struck out at MB, disqualifying candidates, trying to nullify elections when the "wrong people" win, etc.
Again, I'm no defender of MB at all. I think the US was wrong to support the "Arab spring," whether in Egypt or Tunisia or elsewhere. It was clear that the storm would lead to smashing the remnants of the Arab left.
joshcryer
(62,536 posts)The information age has fostered the ability to speed it up generationally. The only right move is to continually move toward that direction.
Saudi Arabia is the largest state sponsor of terrorism. It is not the ideal.
ellenrr
(3,865 posts)I've been looking for hours and can't find any except in Arabic.
The Guardian is getting frequent updates by phone, but that is not the same.
thanks,
ellen
jessie04
(1,528 posts)all the usual sites don't have it.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)We get it here updates here in the UK almost continually. Its 9.45pm there now and dark anyway. Last I heard the Muslim Bro offices had been firebombed.
it's not in English though
3 recently updated tweeters
https://twitter.com/Beltrew
https://twitter.com/ahramonline
https://twitter.com/Skytwitius
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters attacked with stones, petrol bombs
Violent protesters attack Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo's Moqattam district with Molotov cocktails, state media reports
Ahram Online, Sunday 30 Jun 2013
Around 500 people gathered near the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo's Moqattam district, hurling Molotov cocktails and stones at the building, state news agency MENA reported Sunday evening, quoting eyewitness as saying they had heard shots during the melee.
Television channels aired images of parts of the building exterior in flames.
A senior official of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), Gehad El-Haddad, lamented the attack on Twitter. "No police on scene yet in Moqattam. Security is dealing w/ attacking thugs. They were joined by others wearing Black Bloc uniform w/ firearms," he asserted.
A number of offices belonging to the Brotherhood and the FJP, the group's political arm, have been attacked in recent days.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Maybe Morsi's days are numbered.
What comes next? This doesn't augur well for any sort of political stability. Remember, Morsi isn't the dictator; he's the first democratically elected president of Egypt.
jessie04
(1,528 posts)How about a real secular democracy with checks and balances.
There's more to democracy than elections.
jessie04
(1,528 posts)dead
or in jail
or in exile
before the end of day.