Erstellt am: 4. 7. 2013 - 13:27 Uhr

Coup Coup At You Mr. Morsi

Egypt's Arab Spring becomes its Arab Summer as President Morsi becomes its Ex-President Morsi PLUS the Snowden Saga continues....

apa

Fireworks light up the sky as opponents of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi celebrate outside the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, 03 July 2013.

Revolution Reset

Last night was mental. I go into Facebook Overdrive when things go down in Egypt and things went down bigtime.
In case you haven't heard - here it is in a nutshell:
As the opposition and a whole lot of other people cheered, Egypt's top military officer announced that President Mohamed Morsi was no longer the leader of the country last night.

Adly Mansour, head of the country's Supreme Constitutional Court, was sworn in this morning as Egypt's interim President. This means: Morsi is under house arrest, many leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have also been arrested, the Constitution is suspended, and while there is jubilation that Egyptians managed to get rid of two seemingly incompetent leaders in two years, the future is unpredictable and uncertain and so the party is only momentary. The party also has a disgusting dark side to it and I'll get to that but first, check out what my new friend Dina H. Sherif, the co-author of From Charity to Social Change: Trends in Arab Philanthropy , has to say about the whole was-this-a-military-coup-or not?-debate:

I think everyone needs to chill over this whole coup v. not a coup d'etat stuff. The people wanted the brotherhood out because the country was imploding and they backed up the military in doing this. Let's be clear - the people could not have done it without the military and the military could not have done it without the people. The rest is just semantics. What's important is that a lot of concepts are open for debate, including democracy as defined by the west. Actually, many traditional concepts are being questioned and redefined.

Now, everyone needs to keep their eyes on the goal - we need to finally get down to the business of building up an inclusive and just nation and most importantly and I say this to all of those of my generation and above, we need to get down to the business of creating jobs for all of those amazing youth that we are so proud of and get down to the very very hard job of ridding our society of ignorance and intolerance.

Second chances don't come often - Let's not waste it. Celebrate if you want, but get to work... and fast.

I so co-sign that Dina. Thank you.

Now, about the dark side of this week's events in Egypt.

apa

Egyptian women shout slogans against the President Mohamed Morsi asking him to leave, during a protest in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, 03 July 2013.

There have been disgusting and high numbers of mob and plain old usual sexual assaults during the protests in Egypt this past week. This is the thing that has affected me most to be honest. For the women affected and for the fine caliber of men I love and respect who represent what this whole revolution thing is about. The Egyptian army is in charge and the constitution is suspended. Whatever. Women are getting the fucked up deal as usual. Women who are striving for change are targeted ... sexually. WTF is that?? This has to stop no matter which regime takes over. And it can be stopped I think.

Here is why - I believe the idealism and inherent honesty of youth, even deeply religiously guided youth, will prevail and Egypt will rise peacefully and democratically on the backs of its unbelievably amazing and respectful of tradition but forward-thinking and moving, young.

apa

Democracy activists of organization Campact demonstrate in front of the German Chancellery for former US secret service worker Edward Snowden in Berlin, Germany, 04 July 2013.

In other news...

NSA-leaker Edward Snowden's saga continues and now Germany and France and a host of Latin American countries have been added to the list of nations cheesed off about events set off by the whistleblower. James Boys from Kings College in London gave us his take on the latest twists in the Snowden story...

apa

Fireworks explode behind the Lincoln Diner for the US Independence Day celebrations in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA.

In other OTHER news...

I love fireworks and it's Independence Day in the USA so Happy Fourth Of July Americanos, blue jeans and chinos, Pepsi and Oreos...Americanos!