Pages

nothin's scarier than a blank page

30 July 2011

Cairo substitutes "Muslim" for "Egyptian"

If you didn't know this was coming, you are an idiot.  If you are surprised by this, you need to wake up.  If you have no idea what to do with this knowledge, feel free to climb in my boat.
---------
Crowds played on slogans made popular during the epic protests that culminated in February. Heard often back then was a cry that soon became famous: “Hold your head up high, you’re Egyptian.” On Friday, “Muslim” was substituted for “Egyptian.” The chant that became the revolution’s anthem, “The people want to topple the regime,” changed on Friday to “The people want to apply God’s law.”


“If democracy is the voice of the majority and we as Islamists are the majority, why do they want to impose on us the views of minorities — the liberals and the secularists?” asked Mahmoud Nadi, 26, a student. “That’s all I want to know.”

NYT
Tens of thousands of Egyptian Islamists poured into Tahrir Square on Friday....  


Divisions have deepened — between the military leadership that inherited power and secular activists who helped lead the revolution, between liberal and religious voices, and within the ranks of Islamists, liberals, leftists and others.  
Some activists were already calling Friday’s demonstration a turning point — a remarkable display of the Islamists’ ability to monopolize space, be it Tahrir Square, the streets or the coming elections, and of their skill at organization and mobilization, which for secular activists served as a bitter contrast to their own shortcomings.
“We’re showing today — to both the people and to the military leadership — that we’re the majority of the population,” said Haithem Adli, a 29-year-old resident, holding a banner that read in part, “Together on the path to heaven.”
“That’s the reality,” Mr. Adli said. “You simply have to look at the square today to see the reality on the ground.”
Cries for national unity and coexistence between Christians and Muslims made way for familiar religious chants and demands that Egypt adhere to Islamic law, known as Shariah.
“Islamic law is above the Constitution,” one banner read.
 Crowds played on slogans made popular during the epic protests that culminated in February. Heard often back then was a cry that soon became famous: “Hold your head up high, you’re Egyptian.” On Friday, “Muslim” was substituted for “Egyptian.” The chant that became the revolution’s anthem, “The people want to topple the regime,” changed on Friday to “The people want to apply God’s law.”
“If democracy is the voice of the majority and we as Islamists are the majority, why do they want to impose on us the views of minorities — the liberals and the secularists?” asked Mahmoud Nadi, 26, a student. “That’s all I want to know.”

2 comments:

  1. Looks as if the Arab Spring is becoming the Islamist Fall.

    I'm not sure that what we're witnessing now will, in the long run, be in the best long-term interests of the US...scary.

    ReplyDelete