By His Farewell Speech to Egypt As Its Outgoing Interim President, Judge Adly Mansour Redefined His Homeland

How did Justice Adly Mansour, Egypt's interim President bid the public "farewell" on June 3, 2014 so that El-Sisi assumes his rightful post as the legitimate successor?  Here follows an analysis from the original highly articulated Arabic, translated by this blogger in the form of highlights:

• The great Egyptian public, through exercising their right to vote in that presidential election in May, have manifested a keen political sense.  They proved that they were truly worthy of their great Egypt;
• The Egyptians observance of discipline as they voted for their choice of the next President (El-Sisi won by a landslide against Sabbahi) has made Mansour proud to be an Egyptian;
• The greatness of the homeland is anchored in its historically being the world's crossroads, the Locus of revealed religions, the cradle of civilization, the fount of arts, the locus of distinctive architecture, and the bridge between 3 of the world's continents;
• Egypt is the beacon of Africa's freedom, the gift of the Nile, the owner of the Suez Canal, the host of Al-Azhar and the great Coptic Church.  Egypt is defined in four ways: An Arab, an African, an Islamic, and a Mediterranean State;
• After evoking "the genius of it's geographic location," he turned to the low ebb at present in the fortunes of revolutionary Egypt, by affirming that after darkness there shall be light.  The country's youth are its vanguard and its pulsing heart.  June 30 was a date not to be forgotten in the turnaround of Egyptian fortunes.  That Second Revolution, sparked by popular will, would not have succeeded without the backing of the military and the police.
• "At that critical juncture, it was the Egyptian people who brought me to be their interim president.  History shall register that it was the citizens who had kept the oldest State in recorded history from collapse.  Since the Pharaoh Narmer (Mena), southern Egypt and northern Egypt had been forever united, not to be split asunder by those who had been forced out of power in July 2013."  No mention by name of the Muslim Brotherhood.  There was no need to include their name in Mansour's farewell speech.
• Looking at the security and economic bottomless chasm which Adly Mansour peered at upon assuming his one year of transitional presidency, he said: "Egypt is a body which has been for decades exhausted by political confusion."  Yet within three years, its public rose against two failed regimes (again without naming either Mubarak or Morsi).  A period of decay during which both faith and country became the preserve of monopolists who led it into political and economic deadends followed by blind terrorism determined to impose its distorted vision on both Muslim and Coptic Egypt.  A total mischaracterization of both.
• Turning to the help and encouragement given by friendly sister Arab States, he saluted Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, the Hashenite Kingdom of Jordan and the State of Palestine.
• As to those States which used the stressful period of transitional Egypt to denigrate it or to interfere into its internal affairs, Adly Mansour, in an even tone that shed light not heat said: "To the other camp, I say: Egypt is as old as history.  With God's help, it shall stand forever tall with you or without you.  Like it or not, be advised that Egypt is making a historic come back.  Your persistence in moving along your wrong path shall only make corrections more costly."
• Addressing his successor, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, he said: "Today, I turn Egypt's rulership, which has been entrusted to me for a year, to the next president who has been chosen by the voice of the people.  I turn to him a State which has a Constitution, a democratically-elected President, and very soon with an elected Parliament.  It is a State destined to regain its place and role internationally, both economic and political."
• Harking back tot he past 3 years when international aid was offered at the price of Egypt's dignity and its sovereign right to decision-making, he affirmed: "Never again shall anyone bargain with this nation on it dignity for a loaf of bread or on its security for the price of freedom.  This is now a country whose wealth shall be dedicated to its citizens.  It security shall be ensured by its responsible practice of freedom within the framework of loyalty to the homeland.  In this regard we must beware of special interest groups whose greed obfuscates facts and produces an atmosphere of opportunism."
• As a former President of the Supreme Constitutional Court (which the Islamists regime was bent on its destruction), Adly Mansour addressed El-Sisi saying: "Mr. President, I state before you and before all of Egypt that the judiciary is the impenetrable citadel of justice, which it administers without fear or regard to material benefits.  Our new Constitution has provided for its independence.  Justice is the pillar on which governance rests.  And human rights, in its broadest meaning, also covers economic development which should, in time, extend to southern Egypt, Sinai, the western desert, the triangle of Halayeb and Shalatin (adjoining the borders of the Sudan)."
• Faith, Adly Mansour declared in his farewell address, must be rediscovered as a comprehensive movement for enlightenment.  It should not affect morals and values only.  It should uplift the level of popular culture and style.  In this enlightenment movement, our writers, poets, journalists, artists and innovations should warn against the pitfalls of prejudice and the aversion towards "the other."
• Ending up his historic farewell speech, Judge Adly Mansour addressed the Coptic community.  He said, "Coptic Egypt is an integral part of this blessed country.  To the Copts I say that  your contributions to the strength  of the texture of the Egyptian nation have been limitless.  Your blood in Sinai was mixed with the blood of your Muslim brethren in the defense of the common homeland."
• Then he continued: Your great sons and daughters continue to enrich Egypt.  No one can forget the late great Pope Shenouda III, the late Makram Obeid, Fouad Aziz Ghali, Boutros Boutros Ghali, Kamal El-Mallakh, Dr. Louis Awad; Dr. Younan Rizk, Dr. Magdy Yacoub -all luminous Egyptians in whose contributions we shall forever revel.  This is especially so during the 1919 uprising against British occupation whose symbol shall forever be the Crescent and the Cross in an eternal embrace.

Devoting this blog posting to that farewell speech has behind it a historic reason: No such speech symbolizing the peaceful transfer of power has ever been delivered to the Egyptians.  It is an iconic occasion not to be lost in the avalanche of daily news.  By that speech of June 3, 2014, Judge Adly Mansour has redefined his homeland and its mission.