Bilal Fadl
Your friend is someone who is honest with you not someone who tries to please you just so you can feel good, so please allow me to bother you with my astonishment that you may consider removing the Israeli flag from on top of the Israeli embassy and replacing it with the Egyptian flag as some sort of political or even symbolic victory. After the January revolution I thought we no longer need symbolic victories as much as we need to pursue realistic ones. In my opinion, if this action symbolises anything it is our strong frivol and misapprehension of our surrounding reality, and sadly shows that some of us have become prisoners of symbolic victories in the fields of amiss. So that you can understand my bothersome idea more clearly, let me take you from what happened in front of the Israeli embassy to what happened in front of and inside the state security headquarters. Do you remember how ecstatic thousands of activists were when they stormed the headquarters that was paved to them in a carefully calculated way, and how they were amazed to find documents that were deliberately left behind for them? Some turned out to be forged just for the activists' sake, so the truth can mix with fiction and the real secrets could remain archived in electronic format far from their angry hands. The activists considered what happened an unprecedented historical victory and their happiness climaxed when the decision was made to dissolve the State Security system and replaced it with another system called National Security. They attacked those like myself that asked instead of dissolving State Security, it should be put under complete judicial supervision and committees should be assembled to investigate all its activities, including the tremendous wealth accumulated by its top officers and their affiliations. They thought that this proposal corrupts their achievement of toppling tyranny and dictatorship. Ok, and now five months after disposing this symbol, let's ask ourselves: where is the judicial supervision and the various apparatus of the Ministry of Interior that are supposed to be monitoring the new National Security system from which, for example, we can determine the truth of what happened to the Alexandrian activist Mahmoud Sha'aban? Who will bring justice to the thousands that were tortured and lost their futures by this system? Have the fortunes of the inflicted officers been investigated in the abuse of human rights? And who can guarantee that the officers are not just as corrupt when they are moved to a new location? Have the activists been involved in pursuing issues like these or were they just satisfied with disposing the symbol of deception?
Let us return to what happened in front of and above the Israeli embassy where the Israeli flag was taken down and replaced by the Egyptian flag by the young and brave man Ahmah AlShahat. What I liked most about him is that he works as a carpenter six days of the week, and for his day off he goes to Tahrir square. This to me symbolizes the greatest achievement of the January revolution: that it caused millions of Egyptians to take action rather than the passive satisfaction with the reality that they have been entrenched with for thousands of years. I watched a TV interview for Ahmed and I honoured him and loved his lucidity, and I prayed that no harm should come his way, [...] but I don't think he's the symbol that Egypt needs in regards to the struggle against Israel. Perhaps because I'm feeling languid, or maybe because since the January revolution I stopped consuming political drugs. I realized the way to defeat Israel starts with liberating the palace of Arabism. Or, perhaps because whilst Ahmed was climbing the building to reach the Israeli flag I knew that was a young Israeli man at the Dimona nuclear plant working on improving his nation's nuclear capabilities, and another young Israeli woman working in a cancer research lab subsidized by the state with millions working on a cure for cancer which will return billions in profit, and another young Israeli man protesting with complete peace of mind because he isn't vulnerable from military trials, and even if someone were to abuse his freedom to protest he knows that justice will be served. No Israeli needs to climb on top of the Egyptian embassy and replace the Egyptian flag with the Israeli because they understand that the power of the nation isn't embodied in cotton that waves on top of any embassy.
I realise that most of those who demonstrated outside the Israeli embassy aren't delusioned and know that what happened isn't the end of our struggle against Israel. Most of them, by the way, protested with all their courage against military trials for civilians and chanted demanding toppling of military rule. But I am sad that day by dad they don't realize they are looking for symbolic achievements and distant themselves from the right path to topple military rule. It saddens me they they believe that the Egyptian citizen can sympathize with slogans for waging war against Israel when they first need an internal victory against autocrats, exploiters and the corrupt. It saddens me that they don't realize that they are being politically exploited these days. It saddens me they don't ask why they were allowed to do what they did this time in particular; just like they didn't ask why they were allowed to reach Abassaia when it was possible to prevent them in Abdelmoneim Riyad Square, for example. It saddens me that this revolutionary power is dissipated daily as superficial opposition and tampering squabbles instead of chanelling them into serious efforts that produces political currents that are connected to the streets, so that the activists don't remain a deaf cluster provoked by carefully calculated situations, to realize when it's too late that it's abondaned by the public that it revolted for.
I'm from a generation that had the biggest dream of doing what happened infront of the Israeli embassy. This action was considered a fantasy in the 90's. Our biggest dream when we protested the murder Mohammed Durra is that we reach Attaba and become martyrs there. But now we've realized this dream and we've also realized that reaching the top of the Israeli embassy or even inside of it won't bring us a step forward. We will win our civilized battle against Israel if we have a longer breath, calmer, and sharper, and with less concentration on appearances and symbols. So will the generations that will follow us realize this and save time that we and the generations before us have wasted?
If you've considered these sentences veraciously annoying worthy of consideration, then many thanks. If you've considered it to be the grounds of the final chapter between you and me then let me tell you that it was only a draft.
Translated from Arabic, and I may have left out a phrase or two.
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