Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Egypt's political elite have lost the support of the man on the street

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/60631.aspx
 
 
"So, what did the Egyptians really vote for?"
 
With turn out at just 33 pct in the first phase of Egypt's 
constitutional referendum, Ahram Online's Dina Samak says Egypt's 
political elite have lost the support of the man on the street
 
Dina Samak , Sunday 16 Dec 2012
 
The first day of voting in Egypt’s constitutional referendum is over. 
But what did Egyptians vote for and will they get what they want?
 
Om Rasha is a cook with three children and wears the full Islamic face 
veil. She lives in a village on the outskirts Suez and says has voted 
for the Muslim Brotherhood or the Salafists in every election since 
2011, because “they are men of God and will fear God and obey His orders 
and be good to the poor.”
 
However, the life of Om Rasha, and the 40 per cent of Egyptian women 
who, like her, are the main breadwinners in families living below the 
poverty line, has not improved since the revolution and there are few 
signs that it will in the near future.
 
Om Rasha says she does not know who she will vote for in the 
constitutional poll, which takes place in Suez on 22 December, but she 
will not vote for the Brotherhood because “they will raise prices for 
the poor."
 
She adds: “[The Brotherhood] will not support me financially except if I 
am a widow or divorced, and I am neither. I am a poor woman who can 
hardly make ends meet.”
 
However, Om Rasha also has little time for the opposition groups 
campaigning for a 'No' vote.
 
“The other men (the leaders of the National Salvation Front, the main 
bloc opposing the constitution) has not said how they will help me pay 
my bills. I don’t understand what they say or how they can govern if 
Morsi leaves and I think they will fight with each other,” she says.
 
Mixed sentiments could be heard in Maadi, an upper middle class district 
of Cairo.  In the old market fruits and vegetable sellers from Upper 
Egypt and the Nile Delta were waiting for customers who were actually 
queuing for hours at polling stations.
 
The well-dressed people queuing to vote made it clear they were against 
the constitution and an Islamist state governed by the "arrogant" 
Brotherhood which is "little different to Hosni Mubarak's National 
Democratic Party."
 
Others said it was time for the country to move forward and the 
Brotherhood should be given one last chance to get the ‘wheels of 
production’ turning.
 
In Maadi's old market, Abdel Hameed, a fruit seller from Sohag in his 
early fifties, did not even know if he was supposed to vote in the first 
or second phase of the referendum.
 
“This whole thing is not for us,” he says. “I just want things to get 
better and there is no hope of that.”
 
Voting took place in Sohag on Saturday, so the voice of Abdel Hameed, 
like Om Rasha, will not influence the referendum.
 
“If we vote for the Brotherhood they are going to raise prices and the 
opposition will keep on protesting. But if we vote for the opposition, 
the government will keep on telling us to wait until we have 
institutions that can deliver our demands,” says Abdel Hameed, who takes 
his young daughter to the hospital every week for dialysis. “I don’t 
have health insurance and my whole day is spent earning enough money to 
live and trying to find people to help me get the state to cover the 
expenses of my daughter’s treatment.”
 
The first phase of the constitutional referendum saw turnout of just 33 
per cent, which means 67 per cent of people simply did not vote.
 
The apathy many people showed towards the referendum cannot be ignored 
in the context of the ongoing battle between the ruling Islamists and 
the civil opposition. If the turnout in the second phase of the 
referendum is as low as in the first it will highlight the fact that 
fewer people are willing to vote.
 
In December 2011, turnout for the parliamentary election was over 60 per 
cent. A few months later, less than 50 per cent of voters cast ballots 
in the presidential election. The declining level of participation is a 
clear message to the country's political leaders if they really want to 
see it.
 
In the weeks before the referendum the opposition persuaded many members 
of the couch party (the majority of Egyptians who do not participate in 
political activity) to join them in protesting against the draft 
constitution and the president's constitutional declaration. Many of 
those who protested outside the presidential palace or in Tahrir Square 
were taking part in political action for the first time.
 
Conversely, Islamists, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, called on the 
opposition to respect the ballot box as the only way to measure public 
opinion on the constitution.
 
However, the majority of Egyptians, in the first phase of the referendum 
at least, answered the hard question—they decided not to vote.
 
The referendum begged the question: Who do you believe will improve your 
lives? The Brotherhood on the one hand, or supporting the the opposition 
that calls for "the fulfillment of the demands of the revolution" on the 
other.
 
In the end, the people clearly rejected both camps of the Egyptian elite 
by choosing not to vote.
-- 
Namib
.....
- God will take care of you. Whatever you need, God will give it to you.
- I need a shave. Am I next?
(Tom Kromer)

 le rivoluzioni dell'area.
 
Tutti pensano, forse, che *con Morsi* i prezzi aumenteranno, perché 
l'eventuale introduzione della nuova Costituzione, determinerà un 
crescente isolamento internazionale del Paese, e il supporto degli USA 
(che già si vanno riposizionando: vedremo come si muoverà Kerry) verrà 
meno --- in piena crisi post-primaverile & mondiale. Mi sembra questa, 
la vera "coscienza democratica" degli egiziani: la perfetta distinzione, 
sulla base di interessi materiali, fra piano religioso e piano 
economico. Nessuno è disposto a fare la fame in nome di "dio", salvo 
pochi sciroccati.



Colossale stronzata.
 
In Libia i generi alimentari erano quasi gratis. 
 
 

 avere in mano il potere economico?
 
L'economia egiziana è crollata ad un decimo del suo valore 
pre-rivoluzionario, il turismo è pressoché scomparso: una forza politica 
di governo che si appoggia sui militari non agisce come una forza di 
opposizione (vedi Hamas prima e dopo la presa del potere). Confido cmq 
che gli egiziani ne sappiano più di noi, su come vanno le cose a casa loro.
