Egypt's Revolutionary Nuances

News from the Egyptian Street and Media Translated Without Comment from Arabic into English As a Public Service
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• In Egypt, you can vote while at the same time be protesting against something.
• You can be against the SCAF (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces), but you can also be for the Armed Forces, the symbol of Egyptian nationalism.
• You can be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but you, being a young person, may be against the leadership of the Brotherhood.
• You can demonstrate in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the Egyptian Revolution, and scream against military rule, even if temporary.  But you may be for the continuation of military rule, with a subservient civilian government.  If so, you don't go to Tahrir, but to another Square, Abbassiya Square, near the Headquarters of major branches of the Armed Forces.
• You may be a resident of Cairo.  But your roots are in the countryside, either in the North (the Delta) or in the South (the Al-Saeed).  So when you wish to catch your breath, you may take a  bus ride to your village where is relatively more peace and quiet.
• You may have been a member of the National Democratic Party (NDP) now dissolved.  But the recent judicial rulings allows you to fully participate in Egypt's political life.
• You may have served in a high capacity under Mubarak's rule, now ended since February 11.  But you may still be called upon to serve the New Egypt.
• You may be shouting in Tahrir a slogan using the examples of revolts in other Arab countries.  In Syria, there is a very bloody crackdown by the military of Bashar El-Assad against demonstrators all over Syria.  But in Libya, a similar confrontation between Gaddafi's military and the Libyan revolutionaries ended up by killing Gaddafi.  So one of the slogans in Tahrir carry an ominous warning to the SCAF: "If you want to turn this into a Syria, we shall turn it into a Libya."
• You may be a graduate of Al-Azhar University, an Islamic Scholar with the distinctive turban of Al-Azhar, which was worn by my late father.  Yet you support the party called "The Free Egyptians" (Al-Missriyoon Al-Ahrar), established by a prominent Copt, Naguib Saweeris.
• You may be a committed Azhari (graduate of Al-Azhar) - committed to Sunni Islam (though there is no basic difference between Sunni and Shii).  Yet you are also committed to the principles declared by Al-Azhar on August 17, one of which states that: "In Islam, there is no recognition of a State based on religion."  That historic document was co-drafted by top Coptic clergy, symbolizing Coptic/Muslim unity, the true fabric of Egypt for more than a thousand years.
• You may be Pope Shenouda, the revered Patriarch of Alexandria, and one of the great scholars in the history of modern Egypt.  He is from upper Egypt (southern Egypt - Al-Saeed).  Yet he is capable of great wit in his discourse with the public.  I attended one of his memorable sessions at the Egyptian Consulate-General in New York City.  Some of his congregants laughingly asked him to tell them one of his favorite self-deprecating jokes.  His response: "God created the upper Egyptians (the people from Al-Saeed of whom he is one) for comic relief!!"
• And if you can read Arabic, you will probably not miss a hilarious cartoon in the Egyptian press, mocking what is perceived to be SCAF's desire to stay beyond July 2012 governing Egypt.  In the cartoon, you see two chairs: In one, there is a bottle of sticky liquid (crazy glue) with the name "Mubarak" as a brand name on the bottle.  On the other chair, sits a military officer of high rank with an indication that that (crazy glue) was applied to that seat before he sat down.  The officer seems to be either unable or unwilling to leave his seat of power.

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