Brief uit Egypte / Letter from Egypt

I received this letter from an Egyptian acquaintance who gave me permission to publish it anonymously. I present it to you without any edits, but I omitted the names mentioned. I gather it to be an important document right from the heart of an 'average Egyptian woman'. You can read a second letter here >>>

Since the first second Morsi took office, the MB have systematically been working on weaking on the state institutions and 'brotherhoodising' all the key positions in the cabinet, ministries, central and provincial governnmental offices as well in the police, media and national institutions . They THOUGHT they succeeded in doing so also with the army with El-Sissi's appointment. All the while, they have been undermining the country, wracking up its debt, selling off chunks of the country to foreign countries and organizes. All the while, they have been breeding hatred and discord and civil and religious strife.

Their leaders have come out outright on satellite and state television calling people of other denominations and their opposition 'maggots', 'lice',' heretics & infidels', 'traitors', 'parasites' , 'scum', etc, etc And saying that they should be killed for their opposition to the president, who they treated as a prophet.. Their thugs in the streets, routinely attacked and terrorise opposition figures with total impunity. They have even surrounded and held hostage the media city (full of opposition channels) and the High Court (issued many decrees that displeased the ikhwan) Political activists have been murdered, imprisoned, terrorised or undergone character assassination. And all the while, their satellite channels have been 'justifying the blood of anyone who questions our new prophet on earth Morsi'.

They have made a COMPLETE failure of running the country. Violent crime has gone through the roof, unemployment has doubled, food prices and basic amenities have skyrocketed and there are huge shortages in fuel and power. They have also been trying to change the very character and identity of Egypt and Egyptians - trying to impose the Saudi style extremist Wahhabism onto our moderate adn distincly Egyptian identity. They have also tried to negate our culture and history by trying (and failing) to replace all the heads of our cultural institutions, and attempted to take control of the national archives .

Throughout this year people from literally all walks of life and all professions have been protesting against them. There have been countless strikes, marches and drives and campaigns against them. A grassroots campaign to gather signatures for a no-confidence vote against Morsi gathered 23 million signators over a couple of months. Morsi's supporters and allies have been frightening the public and threatening violence against anyone who participated in the 30 June rallies, and STILL the nation poured into the streets. A coup usually involves the public waking up one morning and finding their city full of tanks and being informed that the army has removed the leader and assumed his powers. Take a look at all the footage. More than a third of the Egyptian population was out in the streets for four solid days DEMANDING that the president step down. This is not a coup, but very much a popular revolution, whereby the army carried out its most basic function which is protecting the people and national security.

About ever having a democratic govt:

We are trying ... Of course, its not going to be easy in a country like ours which is traditionally devout (both Muslims and Christians) and with huge illiteracy problem. The biggest problem here has been ignorance and poverty - both tools used by radicals to sway simple people. 

But we are definitely trying, and judging from the size and diversity of the protestors (old, young, male, female, muslim, christian, conservative, secular, rich , poor - EVERYONE) and the visceral nature of their rejection of the MB and their fake islamist (but real terrorist) allies, then I think we are on the right track, learning by trial and error as we go along!!

Wish us luck in building our inclusive democracy, please

PS:

 Thank you for publishing my letter - it is greatly appreciated, as quite frankly, we are all frustrated at the double standards of the west in 'demanding democratic behaviour' , while undermining an entire nation's hearfelt and hard fought aspirations & efforts for just that! We are all working towards containing these zealots and fanatics - who have hugely hurt the good name of Islam every bit as much as they have the Egyptian people, with their ugly, backward, divisive hatemongering which is at total odds with the peaceful nature of the religion. Likewise, Egyptians are happy, fun-loving, open, religiously observant and tolerant all at the same time. These malcontents know only fear, regression and violence. It is never far from their discourse and would have us at each other's throats or chopping off people's heads over differences in beliefs and opinions. They are physically and mentally incapable of co-habitating with anyone who is different or whom they cannot subjectify.