Egyptian personalities issue call for ‘rescuing the homeland’

A number of leading Egyptian political personalities have issued a call for all in the country who “desire change, and reject repression, corruption and despotism” to “rescue the homeland”.

In a communique headed “Enough is enough: a call for rescuing the homeland”, Arabi 21 has reported, Ayman Nour, Tharwat Nafi, Hatim Azzam, Sayf Al-Din Abd Al-Fattah, Tariq Al-Zumur, Abd Al-Rahman Yousef, Amr Darraj, Muhammad Mahsoub and Yahya Hamid have called for general cooperation so that the people of Egypt may “work together” to bring down the fear barriers and bring an end to “oppressive military rule”. The intention, they insist, is to “pave the way to bring about comprehensive change for the benefit of the people, their rights and their free and independent will.”

They plan to achieve this, they say, by means of a “revolutionary wave” that “opens the doors of hope, supports the vulnerable, the persecuted and the oppressed; one that relies on the youth of the revolution and their abilities to expose the weakness and feebleness of this regime.” There can be no distinction between one innocent person’s blood and another’s, they argue, “and human rights must be upheld regardless of affiliation race or religion.”

All of the country’s current disasters and crises must be addressed, the communique points out, “for the sake of all the thousands of martyrs and detainees, including the first freely-elected President, Mohamed Morsi.” The state, it added, should protect the people rather than torment them. “It should build a system of justice, dignity and respect for the law.”

It pointed out that there is growing rage in Egypt, with anger in the queues for fuel and at the power cuts, which may last for hours, days or even, in some places, weeks. “There are strikes and protests at the failing economy. The people are plagued by high prices, low salaries, weak production capacity, falling exchange rates, sweeping inflation, a huge deficit in the budget, collapsing currency reserves and unprecedented high levels of unemployment.”

The security forces which “kill innocent people in cold blood inside their homes and detention centres and prisons; the forced disappearances; the rapes; the systematic torture of children, women, the young and the elderly and the sick, are all suffered by the people at the hands of the authorities.”

Other major grievances listed include, “the violation of Sinai and the demolition of homes; the banishing of the innocent; the security lapses which lead to bombings in the capital and the attack on a foreign aircraft in our territories after taking off from our own airport; the international violation of our sovereignty and national security following the failure to secure Sinai and protect the tourists; compromising our rights to the Nile waters and the failure to tackle the issue of the Renaissance Dam; the concession of our rights to Mediterranean gas through the signing of unfair deals with international firms that do away with the rights of future generations in the wealth of their country.” All of these have to stop, in order to “rescue the homeland”.

As the anniversary of the 2011 revolution approaches, the group is calling on all sections of the Egyptian people as well as “all the patriotic and revolutionary forces, structures and symbols who desire to see change.”

The “revolutionary wave” needed to banish all of these ills, say the signatories, has to be “founded on the principles and the endeavour to accomplish the objectives of the revolution” without fear or favour. “We have hope and absolute confidence in the determination of the people who will not rest until it accomplishes the objective of its revolution, and you will definitely see this happen, even if it takes some time.”