It's becoming increasingly relevant to note that the English* translation of Egypt's capital, "CAIRO" can be found in the English word "contradiction" -- given, the letters are not in quite the right order, but that may also be appropriate since things seem to be increasingly out-of-order as the weeks have gone by since President Morsi's "Revolution Protection Decree".
I have not had the opportunity in the last 2 days to get back to reading the English translation of the proposed Constitution, but from what I did read of the mammoth document, I could see several statements that appeared to be quite contradictory--and I'm only about half way through.
And, I did get to read some tweets tonight; at the urging of some smart young Egyptian Christians, I started following some other young, Egyptian "tweeters" beyond Wael Ghonim, which led me into a world of opinions and referenced articles. Two articles through 100's of tweets in the past 24 hours are worth mentioning here as I retweeted them immediately upon reading them:
And then I thought I would read the headlines on the local news websites before bed--but the glaring contradictions kept me up to write this. I came across these two headlines:
1) Presidency denies SCC's claims that judges were blocked from court on Sunday
and
2) Presidency files report against TV presenter, satellite channel
Now, in the first headline, the "SCC" refers to the Supreme Constitutional Court; and the article references the events of yesterday when demonstrators in favor of President Morsi, many of whom may have previously been demonstrating over the weekend at Cairo University, came to Maadi and surrounded the Supreme Court building (see pics). The article quotes and references statements made by Yasser Ali, Presidential Spokesperson, that include saying that the judges did in fact make it into the courthouse on Sunday; implying that the judges were not heeded from their work.
The judges referenced psychological distress as well as death threats that hindered them in completing their docket for the day, which included making rulings on the Constitutionality of the Constituent Assembly (who recently & quickly pushed through a draft constitution) and the Shura Council, the high legislative body. Now Ali said, according to this article, that the President didn't intend to interfere in judicial affairs through his decree, but wants the judiciary to "supervise the [constitution] referendum." And there's the contradiction--the President didn't want the court ruling on these matters and so placed his authority above the courts; his supporters (though the Presidency says was not happy to see the demonstrations at the courthouse) went to let the SCC continue to hear that sentiment. But by asking the Judges to oversee the referendum, the President wants the court to fulfill some duties, but not others -- by the way, despite the judges recent history of protest to the President's decree, the judges have agreed to supervise the referendum.
This first article continues to include the following statements by Ali as follows:
“We did not like to see those demonstrations,” he said, “but we respect all means of peaceful expression of opinion. ...It is a guaranteed right for all Egyptians.”
and
“Disputing the president’s decisions is normal and healthy,” Ali said. “It means diversity, not division.”
Really? Really??
Apparently not so limitless: defamation appears to be a limit. And I'm sure that there are other limits as well.
Freedom of expression is a HUGE component of the debate and the controversy in Egypt as all try to chart a course into democracy.
To that end, tomorrow, a day set aside for civil disobedience by the opposition--not destruction, but strikes, more demonstrations, etc.--many of the newspapers throughout Egypt will not go to press. The editor of the above referenced articles is quoted in that Al Jazeeera story link with this quote,
"'We took the decision of suspending the newspaper from printing tomorrow as an objection to the articles in the new Egyptian constitution that limit freedom of speech and also because the constitution does not have the approval of all Egyptian factions,' Mohamed Samir said."
We will wait and see what tomorrow holds, and the next few weeks--until then, we hope you will continue to join us in Praying for Egypt...
*(note: i have not found a connection between the Arabic words for contradiction or contrary with the Arabic form of Cairo -- but perhaps some of my Egyptian friends will tell me if one exists.)
I have not had the opportunity in the last 2 days to get back to reading the English translation of the proposed Constitution, but from what I did read of the mammoth document, I could see several statements that appeared to be quite contradictory--and I'm only about half way through.
And, I did get to read some tweets tonight; at the urging of some smart young Egyptian Christians, I started following some other young, Egyptian "tweeters" beyond Wael Ghonim, which led me into a world of opinions and referenced articles. Two articles through 100's of tweets in the past 24 hours are worth mentioning here as I retweeted them immediately upon reading them:
- by
@sandmonkey Why the Salafis Agreed to the Constitution http://bit.ly/VgHqya @stevenacook: Morsi's Mistake http://fam.ag/TEJtwv
And then I thought I would read the headlines on the local news websites before bed--but the glaring contradictions kept me up to write this. I came across these two headlines:
1) Presidency denies SCC's claims that judges were blocked from court on Sunday
and
2) Presidency files report against TV presenter, satellite channel
 |
| [AFP photo] |
 |
| [Reuter's photo] |
The judges referenced psychological distress as well as death threats that hindered them in completing their docket for the day, which included making rulings on the Constitutionality of the Constituent Assembly (who recently & quickly pushed through a draft constitution) and the Shura Council, the high legislative body. Now Ali said, according to this article, that the President didn't intend to interfere in judicial affairs through his decree, but wants the judiciary to "supervise the [constitution] referendum." And there's the contradiction--the President didn't want the court ruling on these matters and so placed his authority above the courts; his supporters (though the Presidency says was not happy to see the demonstrations at the courthouse) went to let the SCC continue to hear that sentiment. But by asking the Judges to oversee the referendum, the President wants the court to fulfill some duties, but not others -- by the way, despite the judges recent history of protest to the President's decree, the judges have agreed to supervise the referendum.
This first article continues to include the following statements by Ali as follows:
“We did not like to see those demonstrations,” he said, “but we respect all means of peaceful expression of opinion. ...It is a guaranteed right for all Egyptians.”
and
“Disputing the president’s decisions is normal and healthy,” Ali said. “It means diversity, not division.”
Really?
These quotes bring us to the second article, and the additional contradictions:
The same Presidential spokesperson, Yasser Ali, is quoted in this article as the Presidency's new lawsuits are made public. The defendants in the suit will be talk show host Mahmoud Saad and his recent guest psychiatrist Manal Omar; apparently, Omar recently appeared on the show hosted by Saad and gave a psychological analysis of President Morsi and his recent Constitutional decree. The summation of this analysis was that the President was a psychopath and she called on him to resign.
This was not Saturday Night Live, but I don't believe this was a satirical sketch--and the President, nor his office or supporters are laughing.
But, didn't Ali, spokesperson of the President, in the previous article say that disputing the President was healthy, that it represented diversity not division? If the translated content of the article is correct, then he did.
Now, the grounds of the lawsuit are defamation--and to that end, they have a strong point. If this was any unlicensed editorial or opinion on the street, that would be different--but this was a licensed psychiatrist whose credentials must have been given, and she used a psychological argument to make a strong accusation publicly.
But further, adding to the Contradiction with a capital "C", the same article goes on to reference this statement from Ali:
"Freedom of expression in Egypt has become limitless."
Apparently not so limitless: defamation appears to be a limit. And I'm sure that there are other limits as well.
Freedom of expression is a HUGE component of the debate and the controversy in Egypt as all try to chart a course into democracy.
To that end, tomorrow, a day set aside for civil disobedience by the opposition--not destruction, but strikes, more demonstrations, etc.--many of the newspapers throughout Egypt will not go to press. The editor of the above referenced articles is quoted in that Al Jazeeera story link with this quote,
"'We took the decision of suspending the newspaper from printing tomorrow as an objection to the articles in the new Egyptian constitution that limit freedom of speech and also because the constitution does not have the approval of all Egyptian factions,' Mohamed Samir said."
 |
| Screenshot of EgyptIndependent/ Al Masry Al Youm website on Tuesday, December 4, 10:20 am local time. |
We will wait and see what tomorrow holds, and the next few weeks--until then, we hope you will continue to join us in Praying for Egypt...
*(note: i have not found a connection between the Arabic words for contradiction or contrary with the Arabic form of Cairo -- but perhaps some of my Egyptian friends will tell me if one exists.)
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