[LaCrisi-paguinElsRics] Hossam, en Washington Post, sobre la revolució egípcia

[Oleguer Bohigas]

Entrevista a un company de l'organització germana d'En lluita a Egipte. 

Aquesta és la seva pàgina: http://www.e-socialists.net

IMPORTANT:

Barcelona Concentració en suport al poble egipci: Mubarak fora ja!
Divendres 4 febrer, 20h
Plaza Sant Jaume (Metro Jaume I)
Barcelona
Diuen que avui podria ser l'últim dia de Mubarak. O hi ha repressió sagnant o volen assaltar el palau presidencial. 

Ens veiem a St Jaume!
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2011/01/31/DI2011013102323.html?tid=nn_twitter


Crisis in Egypt: Blogger/journalist first-hand 
stories

 

  
  
    

    
      
      
      
      
      
       
Hossam el-HamalawyMonday, January 31, 2011; 12:00 PM 

Hossam el-Hamalawy, an Egyptian blogger and journalist from Cairo who 
writes the popular blog Arabawy, 
was online Monday, Jan. 31, at Noon ET to take questions about what is 
currently happening on the ground in the Egyption capital. 


El-Hamalawy has been an editor at 
several Egyptian papers and is currently at Al Ahram English, a leading 
English-language daily. 

____________________ 
Boston, Mass.: How long before Mubarak steps down? 
If he does, do you worry about a power vacuum? 
Do you see ElBaradei as property interim leader until free and fair elections 
can be held? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: I see him stepping down pretty soon or else he 
will be taken into custody of the protestors and will be put on trial. 


I do not worry about power vacuum because the people are already taking 
initiatives on the ground to fill any security or political vacuums as we saw in 
the case of the popular committee that are running security now in the Egyptian 
neighborhoods, following the evacuation of the police. 


Regarding ElBaradei, I do not want to see him as an interim leader because he 
will diffuse the revolution, not take it forward. 
_______________________ 
Sheffield, U.K.: Which are the opposition parties capable of replacing 
Mubarak and will they respect the call for elections? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: I don't see any of the current opposition groups 
capable of providing an alternative at the moment. And what I hope for is that 
we end up with direct democracy, not liberal democracy. Direct democracy is 
based on collective decision-making from below based on the committees that are 
springing up now in the neighborhoods and hopefully soon in the factories. 

 


Liberal democracy is voting for rich fat cats once every five years. 
_______________________ 
Bluffton, Ohio: As a university student interested in social justice 
and social change, what can American students alike do to help during this 
situation? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: They can protest in the front of the Egyptian 
embassies and consulates and pressure their own government into cutting the aid 
they give to the Mubarak dictatorship. 
_______________________ 
Durham, N.C.: How much truth is there to rumors that police are behind 
the looting? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: These rumors are largely through many of those 
criminal thugs who work closely with the police who use them against political 
dissidents previously in elections and in protests. 
_______________________ 
Coon Rapids, MN: Do you think the new government will be a secular 
one? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: At the moment it is very hard to say what the 
outcome of the uprising will be since it's not over yet. However, the Islamic 
forces are not running the show. Personally I'm hoping for a secular system. 

_______________________ 
New York, NY: I am a Coptic Christian and would like to know if Coptic 
youth are taking part in the protests? And if you have spoken to any of them 
what are their hopes for Coptic rights if the regime leaves? Please give us some 
information. Thank you. 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: Despite the call by the Coptic church in Egypt not 
to take part in the protests because the church is closely affiliated to the 
Mubarak regime but many of the Coptic youth are taking part in the uprising and 
the Muslim protesters largely welcome that and in demonstrations there are 
always slogans chanted by the demonstrators calling for unity between Copts and 
Muslims against the regime and denouncing sectarianism. 
_______________________ 
London: What does "diffusing the revolution" mean for you? What is the 
aim of this revolution if not an interim leader and then a properly and freely 
elected new government? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: The revolution for me is about radical 
redistribution of wealth and a government that will represent the will of the 
Egyptian people when it comes to civil liberties in addition to a pro-resistance 
stand vis a vis the U.S. hegemony on the region and Israel. ElBaradei is not the 
man for that. 
_______________________ 
Toronto, Canada: We see the size of the street protests but what types 
of organizations are springing up to organize these? For instance neighbourhood 
committees, factory committees, political parties. Or is it still primarily 
"spontaneous" and localized organizations? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: In many cases the protests are spontaneous but 
slowly there are grassroots organizations that are mushrooming to manage the 
protests, including the neighborhood committees, the few independent trade 
unions we have and hopefully soon factory committees. 
_______________________ 
London: Do you see this as a popular, mass led, revolution? What 
chance do the Muslim Brotherhood have of hijacking it? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: It is a popular mass revolution indeed. However, 
history is full of previous cases where groups have hijacked the uprisings. Up 
until now the Brotherhood have not presented themselves as an alternative to 
Mubarak. But who knows about tomorrow? 
_______________________ 
Washington, DC: If Mubarak steps down, is there a fear that a radical 
regime will take his place instead of a democratic one? How likely is that to 
happen? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: If you are taling radical, like in radical 
redistribution of wealth and active support for the spread of regional dissent 
against both the local Arab dictators and the western backers, then we welcome 
the radicalism. But if it was radicalism in the direction of religious 
fanatacism we definitely do not want that and I see no signs on the ground that 
religious fanatics are taking over. 
_______________________ 
Barcelona, Catalonia: Was Tunisia a 'Berlin Wall moment' for the Arab 
world? Do you think it's likely that many other dictatorships in the region will 
fall in 2011? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: The real Berlin moment was the outbreak of the 
Palestinian intifada in 2000 that started a chain reaction all 
throughout the Arab world providing inspiration for street dissent. Having said 
that, the Tunisian revolution is indeed a catalyst in a process that has been 
brewing for ten years now. 
_______________________ 
Austin, TX: We're only hearing about what is happening in Cairo, and 
to a lesser extent some other big cities. What's going on in rural Egypt? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: In rural Egypt ... if you mean the provinces which 
are not necessarily rural these protests continue on a daily basis and sometimes 
they are even more militant than the ones in Cairo. 
_______________________ 
Newfoundland, Canada: What do you think Mubarak's strategy is, or are 
he and his Ministers just living in a bubble detached from reality? 
It is very odd that the government would continually impose curfews and then 
do nothing to enforce them -it just emboldens people. 

Hossam el-Hamalawy: I think Mubarak is confused and desperate so he is 
trying every trick in the book. But it's not working because the street pressure 
continues and escalates. Mubarak hoped for the end of the protests when he sent 
in the army expecting that people will be scared by the sight of the tanks and 
fighter jets. But it backfired. 
_______________________ 
Bielefeld, Germany: Which country in the Middle East will be next? Do 
you think many more countries will experience such events like in Egypt? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: I think many countries in our region are about to 
embrace their own intefada. I think Yemen, Jordan and Algeria might be next. 

_______________________ 
New York, New York: What incentive does Mubarak have to resign? What 
if he just decides to ignore the protests? Do you think the protesters can 
continue their momentum? Egypt is a country of over 80 million people - do you 
feel the protests are representative? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: No dictator has an incentive to leave and they 
only leave when they are forced to and I feel the tipping point to be coming 
very soon. And yes, the demonstrations are very much representative of the 
Egyptian people because you find men and women, Copts and Muslims, veiled and 
unveiled women, children and old men and women, so you have all the strats of 
Egyptian people. 
_______________________ 
New York: Thus far, it appears that a very small percentage of 
Egyptians are demonstrating. Why is that? What percentage of Egyptians do you 
think the demonstrators represent? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: I think this is a mistaken idea and it's enough to 
tune in the TV stations to watch the hundreds of thousands basically in every 
province to understand that this has become a mass uprising. 
_______________________ 
Sheffield, UK: Why do you think the West has been so hesitant and 
incremental in transitioning their support from Mubarak to the Egyptian people? 

Hossam el-Hamalawy: Western governments like all other governments 
care about their own interests and do not put much value on what choices they 
make on who to ally themselves with except for their personal gains. That's why 
the Obama administration made foolish statements like those made by Joe Biden 
refusing to label Mubarak as a dictator simply because Mubarak is a friend of 
the U.S. government and Israel. 
_______________________ 
Boston, MA: From your narrative it appears that you are supporting a 
socialist restructuring of Egyptian economic life in the post-Mubarak era, but 
there are also many in Egypt who would support something more akin to the 
European liberal social-democratic model. Are you qualified to give an accurate 
representation of what approach most protesters are agreeing upon? 
Hossam el-Hamalawy: No one claims that there is an agreement yet among 
protesters about the post-Mubarak regime and I was very much clear in my 
previous answers that I was expressing my personal hopes towards what Egypt 
should look like. However, at the end of the day the majority of the Egyptian 
people will decide which direction to go.
 


      
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