SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Protests and Polarization in Egypt Ahead of Referendum
Opposition debates tactics as Morsi prepares for controversial vote
Dec 11, 2012
Early violence against opposition groups marked the day as Egyptians on both sides of the referendum controversy overtook the streets of Cairo Tuesday.
Tensions ran high after more than a dozen people were injured by masked gunmen who fired bird shot pellets and threw petrol bombs at protestors camping in Tahrir Square.
"The masked men came suddenly and attacked the protesters in Tahrir. The attack was meant to deter us and prevent us from protesting today. We oppose these terror tactics and will stage the biggest protest possible today," said opposition member John Gerges.
Tuesday's rival protests are being staged by opposition leaders who want Morsi's constitutional referendum to be delayed and believe that "sufficiently large numbers of protesters" may "change Morsi's mind," and Islamic Morsi supporters who want the vote to go ahead as planned on December 15, Reuters reports.
Despite a decree signed on Monday by President Morsi officially granting the Egyptian military the power to arrest and detain citizens, Al Jazeera reports that the "elite Republican Guard has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the palace, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades."
Tuesday, dozens of protesters reportedly pushed down two of those giant concrete blocks which were blocking access to the site.
Meanwhile, thousands of Islamist Morsi supporters assembled at a nearby mosque.
The opposition coalition National Salvation Front (NSF) said it would announce Tuesday whether it would call for a boycott of the referendum or rally the public to vote down the draft charter, which critics charge with infringing on the rights and freedoms of the Egyptian people, the New York Times reports.
If the constitution does pass, NSF member and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahy said, "Egypt will continue in this really charged state. It is certain that this constitution is driving us to more political polarization."
"The road Mohamed Morsi is taking now does not create the possibility for national consensus," he added.
In preparation for the controversial vote, Morsi amended a law Tuesday to restrict voters from casting ballots outside their electoral districts, as they have in the past.
Also Tuesday, "in light of the unfolding developments on the ground," according to the International Monetary Fund, the Egyptian government has asked to delay a $4.8 billion IMF loan reportedly for another month to allow the government time to explain the heavily criticized austerity package to the Egyptian people, said Egyptian Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said.
Democracy Now!'s Sharif Abdel Kouddous filed the below report from Cairo.
_______________________
_______________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
Early violence against opposition groups marked the day as Egyptians on both sides of the referendum controversy overtook the streets of Cairo Tuesday.
Tensions ran high after more than a dozen people were injured by masked gunmen who fired bird shot pellets and threw petrol bombs at protestors camping in Tahrir Square.
"The masked men came suddenly and attacked the protesters in Tahrir. The attack was meant to deter us and prevent us from protesting today. We oppose these terror tactics and will stage the biggest protest possible today," said opposition member John Gerges.
Tuesday's rival protests are being staged by opposition leaders who want Morsi's constitutional referendum to be delayed and believe that "sufficiently large numbers of protesters" may "change Morsi's mind," and Islamic Morsi supporters who want the vote to go ahead as planned on December 15, Reuters reports.
Despite a decree signed on Monday by President Morsi officially granting the Egyptian military the power to arrest and detain citizens, Al Jazeera reports that the "elite Republican Guard has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the palace, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades."
Tuesday, dozens of protesters reportedly pushed down two of those giant concrete blocks which were blocking access to the site.
Meanwhile, thousands of Islamist Morsi supporters assembled at a nearby mosque.
The opposition coalition National Salvation Front (NSF) said it would announce Tuesday whether it would call for a boycott of the referendum or rally the public to vote down the draft charter, which critics charge with infringing on the rights and freedoms of the Egyptian people, the New York Times reports.
If the constitution does pass, NSF member and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahy said, "Egypt will continue in this really charged state. It is certain that this constitution is driving us to more political polarization."
"The road Mohamed Morsi is taking now does not create the possibility for national consensus," he added.
In preparation for the controversial vote, Morsi amended a law Tuesday to restrict voters from casting ballots outside their electoral districts, as they have in the past.
Also Tuesday, "in light of the unfolding developments on the ground," according to the International Monetary Fund, the Egyptian government has asked to delay a $4.8 billion IMF loan reportedly for another month to allow the government time to explain the heavily criticized austerity package to the Egyptian people, said Egyptian Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said.
Democracy Now!'s Sharif Abdel Kouddous filed the below report from Cairo.
_______________________
_______________________
Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
Early violence against opposition groups marked the day as Egyptians on both sides of the referendum controversy overtook the streets of Cairo Tuesday.
Tensions ran high after more than a dozen people were injured by masked gunmen who fired bird shot pellets and threw petrol bombs at protestors camping in Tahrir Square.
"The masked men came suddenly and attacked the protesters in Tahrir. The attack was meant to deter us and prevent us from protesting today. We oppose these terror tactics and will stage the biggest protest possible today," said opposition member John Gerges.
Tuesday's rival protests are being staged by opposition leaders who want Morsi's constitutional referendum to be delayed and believe that "sufficiently large numbers of protesters" may "change Morsi's mind," and Islamic Morsi supporters who want the vote to go ahead as planned on December 15, Reuters reports.
Despite a decree signed on Monday by President Morsi officially granting the Egyptian military the power to arrest and detain citizens, Al Jazeera reports that the "elite Republican Guard has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the palace, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades."
Tuesday, dozens of protesters reportedly pushed down two of those giant concrete blocks which were blocking access to the site.
Meanwhile, thousands of Islamist Morsi supporters assembled at a nearby mosque.
The opposition coalition National Salvation Front (NSF) said it would announce Tuesday whether it would call for a boycott of the referendum or rally the public to vote down the draft charter, which critics charge with infringing on the rights and freedoms of the Egyptian people, the New York Times reports.
If the constitution does pass, NSF member and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahy said, "Egypt will continue in this really charged state. It is certain that this constitution is driving us to more political polarization."
"The road Mohamed Morsi is taking now does not create the possibility for national consensus," he added.
In preparation for the controversial vote, Morsi amended a law Tuesday to restrict voters from casting ballots outside their electoral districts, as they have in the past.
Also Tuesday, "in light of the unfolding developments on the ground," according to the International Monetary Fund, the Egyptian government has asked to delay a $4.8 billion IMF loan reportedly for another month to allow the government time to explain the heavily criticized austerity package to the Egyptian people, said Egyptian Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said.
Democracy Now!'s Sharif Abdel Kouddous filed the below report from Cairo.
_______________________
_______________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.