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The Young People’s January 25th Revolutionary Committee met with members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to discuss their progressive demands. The leadership of the Council has asked the Committee to submit their agenda in writing. The demands were submitted with a request that they will be implemented within the next 6-9 months to include the following 11points:
- · The dissolution of the old Parliament (1971), and the drafting of the new Constitution that emphasizes democracy and the establishment of a parliamentarian government that will limit the authority of the elected president
- · The separation of governmental powers allowing them to function independently from each other
- · The cancellation of the Emergency Law and abolishing of military courts
- · The resignation of Dr. Ahmad Shafiq’s Cabinet and the appointment of a new cabinet headed by an independent, honest, and objective person to lead the transitional government until elections take place
- · Lowering the age of candidates running for the parliament to 25, and for those running for president to 35
- · Allowing people to establish democratic labor unions, other organization unions, and student unions
- · Allow freedom of the press and free election of its representatives and the release of all political prisoners
- · The dissolution of the previous ruling party (NDP), and the confiscation of the party assets, if proven illegally obtained, and turned it to the treasury of the Egyptian government
- · The dissolution of the ignoble office of the government’s national investigative security and to abolish sending draftees to that office to fulfill their draft duties
- · The implementation of all court orders issued prior to the Revolution of January 25th, such as the request to expel government security officers from universities and colleges
- · The drafting of a new law to allow, in the next few months, the establishment of different political parties that guaranty their freedom, and the dissolution of all local councils in the different Egyptian governorates since they were established undemocratically
The above requests were submitted by the leadership of the Young Revolutionaries to the transitional government of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Let us hope they will be taken into consideration seriously.
More to follow about the daily political developments in Egypt.
This was written in collaboration between Hani Fakhouri and Aleya Rouchdy
Husni Mubark’s fall has shaken Saudi Arabia to the core . The Saudi rulers must now worry that protests in neighbouring ally Bahrain may embolden its own Shiite population to push for reform and democracy and may even lead to the overthrow of monarchy in saudi Arabia, a deathknell for many in the West. But it will not be difficult o buy the so called democratic leaders of the East, Today's Pakistan is the example.
ReplyDeleteMost of Saudi Arabia’s Shiites live in the oil rich Eastern province. They make up 15% of Saudi population, and may rebel and jihad against the Saudi rulers should they become bold enough getting support from abroad, may be Iran and Iraq. Will the US intervene? Surely it will.
Regional heavyweight: the most fundamentalists Saudi Arabia and liberal United States both view Bahrain and the al-Khalifa family as a beachhead against Shiite Iran. The fifth fleet is stationed at Bahrain which is the nightclub of American forces.
Will Saudi backing for the ruling family in a close neighbour save them or make both fall? Saudis consider themselves the godfather of the Bahraini regime,
There are seeds for disturbance (in Saudi) but the Saudi security apparatus is very strong, and the political environment is very, very tight.
It is too early to predict because Saudi citizens can be bribed to shut their anger and human rights.