Thursday, June 02, 2011

Mubarak's Army

The Military Council had no choice but to save its skin and pretend to be with the revolution. Any order to shoot the protesters at a time when right and wrong were so obvious in Tahrir square would have meant the end of all the benefits the military Generals were reaping. The army of Egyptians would have been split. Some would have been loyal to the Generals and some loyal to the people. In any case it would have meant the disruption of the wealthy lives of the military commanders.

We kept shouting a lie, hoping it becomes true, that the army and the people are one. They never were. The army was controlled by the SCAF and they extended their control to the minds of most Egyptians who cannot accept the reality we're faced with. It's still the game of security, that the country will collapse without the SCAF and yet it is the collapse of this nation that has risen up that they wish to achieve.

Some things have changed, the people have become more aware and more political, but our rulers have become more ruthless and intolerant. The SCAF now intimidates freedom more than the past regime. No media is allowed to speak ill of them, remind you of something? They kidnap, torture and unjustly try innocent people who have no chance of defending themselves, remind you of anything? They make promises they never keep and fill our television stations with propaganda, remind you of something?

If you're not reminded of dictatorship and tyranny, then you're blind. It's not that you're blind really, but you're closing your eyes and you do not want to see the truth of it. Today an Egyptian is defined by his defiance of injustice and if you do not want to see injustice, then you're not Egyptian. This is not the definition that hundreds upon hundreds of martyrs died for. We are rewriting this definition to stand for justice and you will not be part of of it if you close your eyes.

The evidence is out there, and clear as day light. All you need to do is open your eyes to see it. Don't rely on your hearing to detect light. Don't ask these questions like 'where is the evidence? I can't hear it'. You cannot hear light, and you cannot see sound.

We are at a crossroads. We have been resurrected after decades of death. We knew our enemy and we now know how to fight the enemy. The same enemy comes in a different uniform. We must, not only open our eyes, but raise our shields and sharpen our swords. Our enemy is tyranny and injustice, it always has been. If we cannot tell the truth, then this resurrected body will die once more, and this time we will be the murderers.

Wearing a uniform is not a good enough excuse for men to inflict injustice upon other men.

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