Hiatuses - Blogging More Politics

"Friday, July 8th.
The Revolution First: A Real Purge,
A Real Trial, A Real Government."

So there's been a bit of a hiatus in blogging, for which I apologize.  I blame an increase in social obligations and homework at the same time.  Both have been beneficial for my dialect, but I still have problems with pronunciation.  Being white means that your pronunciation has to be spot on because for the first 4 or 5 sentences, people tend to expect english rather than Egyptian-with-an-accent.

Anyhow, I'm going to post a little bit about the Revolution.  For those of you not keeping up with developments here, July 8th is a big day for Egypt.  About a million protestors have gathered in Tahrir Square to renew the demands of the January 25th revolution.  This is the biggest protest since January and reflects a feeling that things have not really changed:  trials of people who fired on protestors, of people who tortured prisoners and protestors, and of people like Hosni Mubarak himself have been incredibly slow.  At a talk given by Alaa al-Aswany, a political activist, dentist, and author of The Yacoubian Building, he basically accused the SCAF (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and current rulers of Egypt) of being involved in a counter-revolution.

The protests today were originally the work of non-Muslim Brotherhood parties who have rallied behind the slogan "Constitution First," which they raised to challenge the unfair advantages accruing to the Muslim Brotherhood by holding elections under the old constitution and then giving that elected body the power to write the new constitution.  (The perception is that the MB would win those elections handily and the SCAF + MB would have free reign to block out other parties, give Islam an official place in the constitution, etc.  I heard a really interesting discussion of whether or not the laws of Egypt's new government should be based on Islam or not while wandering around a bookshop in Talaat Harb downtown yesterday.  It sounded remarkably like the American discussions of whether or not we're a Judeo-Christian country.)

However, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) agreed to join the July 8th protests after the organizers agreed to drop "Constitution First" from the demands of the July 8th protest (named "The Friday of Persistence").  The new slogan is "Revolution First," and the official demands have been narrowed to focus on demanding more accountability for the government and a speeding up of the trials for those responsible for the worst crimes against the January revolution.

The Muslim Brotherhood has asked its supporters to leave Tahrir by nightfall.  Camping out downtown (as people have been doing for a few days, though in very small numbers) is technically illegal.  If a crackdown happens, then, it will happen after the rule-abiding MB supporters leave.

More posts soon.  All the best to the protestors and safe passage to my friends who are down there today.  I'll be sending my solidarity-vibes from Maadi today.