Article published in TeenStuff Magazine in Egypt (March’s issue) 2012
-Where to?
-Tahrir square to join the demonstrators.
-Don’t you think that it’s time for a pause after the government’s concessions?
-What concessions? Do you see any substantial one?
-Come on! Businessmen cabinet ministers were ousted from the government; most of them will undergo a judicial investigation. The chairman of the planning and budget committee pertaining to the people’s assembly the steel bar magnate billionaire is subject to an investigation from the attorney general after submitting his resignation from the general secretary of the ruling party together with the president’s own son and many other regime dignitaries…
-Had it not been for the people’s uprising nothing of what you just said would have happened.
-Undeniably; except that you seem to forget that the country is mostly paralyzed and its security is still volatile.
-Are we to blame for that? Who ordered the security apparatus to fade away from the whole country, let the prisoners loose, reduced the gas distribution quotas. Was it us? By the way, nothing has filtered yet on the investigation pertaining to such crucial matters till now. Why is that?
-I presume that an investigation of this magnitude takes time. The prime minister by the way announced that an investigation into the debacle of last Wednesday will take place immediately and that it will be transparent.
-Transparent! We have no confidence in this regime for after all, most of the ones who took control of the country after January 25th are from the old regime that has ruined the country for decades to come. The few concessions that they’ve made may look substantial for you yet only cosmetic for us.
-What exactly are you looking for?
-The regime’s head no less. If at least in his last speech he would have apologized for having shot his own people and presented his condolences to the families of the victims after all, demonstrations were peaceful.
– Assuming he stays till the end of his mandate yet all your other aspirations were met such as the dissolution of parliament, the abrogation of the current constitution in favor of a new one, etc. would you put an end to the demonstrations?
-What guarantees do we have that the path of reform will prevail after we go back home? Let him at least delegate his powers to the vice president.
-Yes but article 82 of the constitution stipulates that nobody except the president can dissolve parliament, dismiss the government and change the constitution.
-My uncle who is a jurist says that other articles from the constitution can circumvent this obstacle such as article 139 which allows the president to appoint a vice president and define his duties and then again, he can simply dissolve parliament, sign a decree stipulating the constitution change and then delegate his powers after which, he could either leave or retreat from public office. The chaos he claims he is sparing us from is already there.
-What about the regional and international threats that loom our country?
-There is no change without risk.
-True but no revolution has ever accomplished all its objectives. Those who have succeeded have only accomplished a handful of their aspirations in a long term span many have fallen into hard-line dictatorships or theocracies.
-Benjamin Franklin once said and I quote: “Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one”. Don’t worry about us we will prevail.
Mounir Hamza
Mounir Hamza 