I Wish You a Future

Four days to go for the first multiple candidate elections in Egypt. And now coming to terms with myself first then to the fact that Mubarak will be in power for the fifth term, I realize that we have a long way to struggle for our freedom to live as dignified humans and tell the generations to come that we did not give up on them, or prove that we did not waive our civil and legal rights, or relinquish our responsibilities towards ourselves and our country.

Yesterday, the Egyptian Judges’ Club stated, after convening the general assembly, that they will undertake their role to supervise and monitor the elections but there is no guarantee for fair and transparent results. I think the statement says it all; it is a foregone conclusion who is going to win. I knew it all the time, but I was belying myself for sometime just for the sake of daydreaming. What if I go the polls and this electoral card of mine can contribute to my present and future? What if I do not have to live as a slave in my own country? What if my tie with my country changes from being as a registered Egyptian citizen to an active fully engaged citizen? What if Egypt’s army role changes from being ready to crush us to death if orderd by the ruling family to an army that defend our rights? What if our police stop humiliating us everyday in every police station and beating civilians in the streets of Cairo because they dared not to be part of the flock? It is a long list…

I am writing here and I can not help my tears. I wish I can take the decision to live as thin air, but I am a human being. And, I want to be part of the dearest thing that lives in me, my country. I won’t put it a big words like feeling like any full-fledged citizen or be part of the political system. I won’t say that the peoples of the world run their own countries and governments act as a regulatory body and these regulations are passed through a parliament with members that represent me and my needs. I simply want to be part of my country.

Going to the polls is not simple as it may seem. Peoples of the world wait for that day. It is a day that your country is telling you work hard all year because you are not a slave because you are part of me and because you can say what kind of education and health services you want and because this how much we can spend and this how much we can save to make our lives better. This is the day that I can defend and protect my freedom and other citizens. This is the day I can say no to arbitrary arrests, corruption, nepotism, oppression, torture and killing at prisons, killing people in hospitals and police stations, terrorizing to our lives, unemployment and NO TO POVERTY and yes to freedom, development, human rights and a decent life for all of us. I did not surprise myself when my eyes were filled with tears of happiness seeing all Iraqis going to the poll stations, though I had never went to a polling station in my entire life. It was a big celebration for me and my family. Iraqis choosing for the first time in 35 years, it was like a dream coming true. The turnout was high despite all the cruel sad developments in Iraq.

I want my right to elect in a fair election with true eligible candidates because I do not want a title, Egyptian, when it is supposed to be a citizenship. I want to be a free citizen joining other free citizens in the whole universe making our world free, democratic and peaceful.

And I am still not going to the polls next Wednesday. And before I had two reasons and now I have four:

• May 25 Referendum by which article 76 of the Egyptian constitution has been amended, allowing multiple candidates, was a fraud, according to the conclusions of the supervising judges.
• I will not be part of the regime’s deception to the world drawing an imaginary image about Egypt that democracy is on the march. It is not. It is a matter of changing scenes in the same dictatorship play.
• The judges’ statements yesterday hinted to the upcoming rigging of elections. International monitors are not allowed. The ball is in the regime’s court which means Mubarak to win.
• Elections low turnout will embarrass Mubarak in front of the whole world. It will undermine his legitmacy. I do not want my voice to be used as fake proof for a fraudulent process that’s meant to deceive all of us.
  

I encourage anyone to check and report to independent judges, Al-Wa3i Al-Masri , Shayfeen and NGOs for election day violations/rigging. I am not aware of any other entities but there could be more. Personal initiatives are welcomed.

Yesterday’s decision by the general assembly of the Club of Judges is marking a beginning of a long way for our battle for freedom. I hope they won’t let us down and there will be no deals under the table at the expense of making a democratic Egypt for free Egyptians. I still believe in our judges for fair constitutional change in Egypt. I will keep supporting them and call for others to support them. They proved at least for me after meeting a few of them occasionally that there are noble honorable Egyptians who can defend our rights without being blinded by corrupt money or fake authority over poor Egyptians.

Over the past 10 months I learned that I am not the only freedom dreamer, all Egyptians are struggling. Some are paying very dear prices; beatings in the street, not returning home after arrests, rape in demonstrations, usurping personal properties, harassing family members because other members are struggling against the regime. Those who are not struggling are living under cruel oppressive life, yet they struggle to survive.

I wish my friends in the picture above a future. I met them in one of the suburbs of Cairo last February and they were celebrating a big holiday in new clothes. They were so mesmerized by my digital camera because they could see their pictures after I take them. I asked them whether they use the computer or not, they said no.