Egypt prepares for one million march in Tahrir Square

[Benny B]

Five months after Egypt's revolution, many of the groups behind it, say few of its goals have been achieved.

That is why activists and political groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, are calling for a million man march in Tahrir Square on Friday.

Sherine Tadros reports from Cairo.

[BIG ACH]

These people need to stop going to Tahrir and start getting back to work and their lives.  They think this is for the best but thats just taking the country backwards!

[Benny B]

These people need to stop going to Tahrir and start getting back to work and their lives.  They think this is for the best but thats just taking the country backwards!

You sure about that?

To a certain extent I agree with you BA. However, if they stop now they may end up with a corrupt military dictatorship and little of the reforms the original revolution hoped to accomplish. It's one thing to force Mubarak out, its another thing altogether to create an entirely new system of government. The movement needs to keep the pressure on.

[Benny B]

Tens of thousands of protesters across Egypt have expressed their frustration with the country's rulers.

It was one of the largest nationwide demonstrations to take place in months.

Ralliers are demanding Egypt's rulers to state a clear plan for a path to democracy.

They say little has changed after an 18-day uprising forced former president Hosni Mubarak to step down five months ago.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

[BIG ACH]

You sure about that?

To a certain extent I agree with you BA. However, if they stop now they may end up with a corrupt military dictatorship and little of the reforms the original revolution hoped to accomplish. It's one thing to force Mubarak out, its another thing altogether to create an entirely new system of government. The movement needs to keep the pressure on.

What the revolutioners don't understand is that the Muslim fundamentalists are far more organized and better funded than anyone else they have in mind.  the country was better off with Mubarak, as corrupt as he was, he brought stability to the country and kept a strict eye on the fundamentalists. Economy was much better with him.

[Benny B]

What the revolutioners don't understand is that the Muslim fundamentalists are far more organized and better funded than anyone else they have in mind.  the country was better off with Mubarak, as corrupt as he was, he brought stability to the country and kept a strict eye on the fundamentalists. Economy was much better with him.

I think the revolutionaries are very familiar with The Muslim Brotherhood, dude.

As far as Mubarak...there are pluses and minuses to him in power. When Sadat was assassinated, the Egyptian people did not ask for a dictator for life in Mubarak. He may have given them stability, but at what price? Do you accept a family dynasty in power forever, passing down the presidency from father to son, or do you fight for the unknown of democracy and an end to nepotism, cronyism, etc? I think if you are a young revolutionary, you stand up and fight.

[BIG ACH]

I think the revolutionaries are very familiar with The Muslim Brotherhood, dude.

As far as Mubarak...there are pluses and minuses to him in power. When Sadat was assassinated, the Egyptian people did not ask for a dictator for life in Mubarak. He may have given them stability, but at what price? Do you accept a family dynasty in power forever, passing down the presidency from father to son, or do you fight for the unknown of democracy and an end to nepotism, cronyism, etc? I think if you are a young revolutionary, you stand up and fight.

Contrary to what everyone says, I think Gamal Mubarak would've been an excellent president, much better than his father...  if only it wasn't for his last name.

 The "revolution" wasn't a good thing, thats my opinion.

[_bruce_]

What the revolutioners don't understand is that the Muslim fundamentalists are far more organized and better funded than anyone else they have in mind.  the country was better off with Mubarak, as corrupt as he was, he brought stability to the country and kept a strict eye on the fundamentalists. Economy was much better with him.

A voice of reason - at last.

[Benny B]

Contrary to what everyone says, I think Gamal Mubarak would've been an excellent president, much better than his father...  if only it wasn't for his last name.

 The "revolution" wasn't a good thing, thats my opinion.

So...you think a transfer of power to Gamal...with no elections and zero input from the people...would be just fine and dandy? 

You are FROM Egypt, but no longer live there, correct? Would you accept president Obama staying in power as president of the United States until death, bequeathing the presidency to Malia Obama at that time? Or is the concept of a modern-day pharaoh, or a royal monarchy, something unique to the Middle East and what is required to keep Arab people sufficiently subordinate and under control?

In your estimate BA, what percentage of Egyptians living in Egypt share your point of view?

[BIG ACH]

So...you think a transfer of power to Gamal...with no elections and zero input from the people...would be just fine and dandy? 

You are FROM Egypt, but no longer live there, correct? Would you accept president Obama staying in power as president of the United States until death, bequeathing the presidency to Malia Obama at that time? Or is the concept of a modern-day pharaoh, or a royal monarchy, something unique to the Middle East and what is required to keep Arab people sufficiently subordinate and under control?

In your estimate BA, what percentage of Egyptians living in Egypt share your point of view?

Who in Egypt shares my opinion? Like no one, maybe two people out of 80 million.  It is not the popular opinion, but this is what I believe.  seriously though, There are people that share this view but its not the majority, I think the majority is sugar coating the situation though.

I don't live in Egypt right now but my family has a manufacturing business there which I still work for, even from the US, and I still have a house there.  So I have a lot to lose if the country goes ape shit.

Lets get somethings clear here because you are misunderstanding me.

1.  Although I don't think Mubarak was perfect, I do believe having him was better than the current situation.
2.  He should have never stayed in power for 30 years, elections should have run, with the clear ruling that no religious parties are allowed to be involved.
3.  I think it would've been wrong for Gamal to have just taken over the presidency without a fair election, that doesn't change the fact that I think he would be an excellent candidate.
4.  The main problem with the "revolution"was that there was no clear leader, they just wanted Mubarak out with no concern over what is to happen after and now they are suffering for it.  it was an emotional outburst, Because they have no leader, the only organized group is the Muslim Brotherhood, and if they come into power you can forget all about democracy, it will be another Iran.
5.  The poor people who revolted now and who believe Mubarak was robbing them will be in worse situations than they were before Mubarak left, the economy is getting worse, under Mubarak it was getting better, now its gone to shit.

You will forgive me if I don't comment more about this, it gets me very frustrated and make me want to toss my laptop out the window.

I appreciate your respectful argument though and different point of view.

[Benny B]

Who in Egypt shares my opinion? Like no one, maybe two people out of 80 million.  It is not the popular opinion, but this is what I believe.  seriously though, There are people that share this view but its not the majority, I think the majority is sugar coating the situation though.

I don't live in Egypt right now but my family has a manufacturing business there which I still work for, even from the US, and I still have a house there.  So I have a lot to lose if the country goes ape shit.

Lets get somethings clear here because you are misunderstanding me.

1.  Although I don't think Mubarak was perfect, I do believe having him was better than the current situation.
2.  He should have never stayed in power for 30 years, elections should have run, with the clear ruling that no religious parties are allowed to be involved.
3.  I think it would've been wrong for Gamal to have just taken over the presidency without a fair election, that doesn't change the fact that I think he would be an excellent candidate.
4.  The main problem with the "revolution"was that there was no clear leader, they just wanted Mubarak out with no concern over what is to happen after and now they are suffering for it.  it was an emotional outburst, Because they have no leader, the only organized group is the Muslim Brotherhood, and if they come into power you can forget all about democracy, it will be another Iran.
5.  The poor people who revolted now and who believe Mubarak was robbing them will be in worse situations than they were before Mubarak left, the economy is getting worse, under Mubarak it was getting better, now its gone to shit.

You will forgive me if I don't comment more about this, it gets me very frustrated and make me want to toss my laptop out the window.

I appreciate your respectful argument though and different point of view.

Hey brother, I'm sorry I got you all worked up. I assumed you had strong opinions on this issue once I noticed you are from Egypt.

Without responding in depth to your post as I should, I will just say I agree with much of your point of view. In particular, I agree with point number 4. You had a revolution that was so focused on getting Mubarak out, with no clear idea in mind of who or what would fill the power vacuum. That never made sense to me, and when it became apparent that the military would assume leadership, that concerned me. I am not exactly an expert on Egyptian history, but I know quite a bit about Africa post-colonialism, and military dictatorships don't have a great history of working out too well, not to mention they often resist leaving power for free and fair elections. They should have let Mubarak stay until elections could be held, but it appears they were afraid he would stall, make excuses, and never leave office.

As you mention your family's business interests, are you sure you didn't want to see the status quo maintained just to keep the $$$ flowing? I had a feeling there were business and/or government ties to the Mubarak regime that were influencing your thought! lol I can respect that! 

Another personal feeling I had was that Mubarak was getting somewhat unfairly demonized in the media towards the end. Comparisons to Saddam Hussein and excessive brutality and so forth. I never had that image of Mubarak...I saw him as a rather benign dictator.  Nevertheless, with the outpouring of outrage we saw here in the West, I have to believe the majority of the people found him repressive, and were quite frankly sick of his shit. Now there is a lot of talk of his need to be executed for his crimes.  Mubarak should have NEVER stepped down, in my humble opinion, without a guarantee of no prosecution or jail time. He fucked up and didn't use what little leverage he had left, the way I see it.

Thanks for your insight, BA. 

[BIG ACH]

Benny, let me say this just to make sure its clear, my family's business has no ties whatsoever to the government or the Mubarak regime.  We run an honest privately owned company. And we have never officially or unofficially in any way supported government personnel or government parties.  Its a business and thats all it is.

Of course we want to continue seeing money flowing in, what business owner wouldn't.  Since the revolution our business is down by 25%
But this its not the reason I'm taking this stance I genuinely feel that what is happening is wrong, no one is forming official political parties to oppose the Muslim fundamentalists, instead they are out there asking for Mubarak to stand trial... Mubarak is in the hospital dying, people need to look ahead instead of look to the past, Mubarak standing trial will not better the country, and you know what, even if he does, they wont be able to prove anything.  I'm not against change, but they are going about it all wrong, and I don't want to see the extremists take control.