Thousands rally for Salafist in Egypt vote

[DJKeefy]

Thousands of people rallied in central Cairo on Friday in support of a Salafist candidate who could be ruled out of Egypt's presidential election because his mother reportedly held US nationality.

Under the country's electoral law, all candidates for the presidency, their parents and their wives must have only Egyptian citizenship.

"The people want Hazem Abu Ismail! No to manipulation!" the demonstrators shouted after making their way through central Cairo to Tahrir Square, epicentre of last year's revolt which toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

The protesters, including women in full Islamic veil, carried portraits of Abu Ismail and waved their fists, angrily condemning any attempt to disqualify their candidate.

Abu Ismail launched his candidacy on March 30 with a large motorcade that took him to electoral commission headquarters in Cairo.

Commission chief Hatem Begato said on Thursday that the agency had received information according to which Ismail's mother had "used an American passport for travel to and from Egypt" before her death.

Files will be examined on April 12-13 and any candidate not meeting the requirements informed, the commission said. Those rejected would then have 48 hours to appeal before the final list of candidates is announced on April 26.

Abu Ismail advocates a strict interpretation of Islam similar to the one practised in Saudi Arabia and has become a familiar sight in Cairo, with his posters adorning many cars and micro buses.

Source: http://213.158.162.45/~egyptian/index.p ... s&id=23838

[Teddyboy]

There was a small rally in Abu Haggag Square yesterday, where this blokes pictures were in evidence, smiling young men were handing out leaflets. I'll bet a pound to a piastre that his followers will find a way to discredit the "evidence", no doubt trumped up by the lackeys of the Great Satan, of his mother's nationality.

[Arthur]

According to Thursday's New York Times:
"Presented with a report from a database of public records that included an address in Santa Monica, Calif., for his mother, Nawal Abel Aziz Nour, as well as her name on a Los Angeles voter registration list, the campaign spokesman, Mohamed Fahim Abdel Ghaffar, suggested it could be a forgery.

Interior Ministry officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss pending investigations, said separately on Wednesday that they had obtained copies of what they described as American “travel documents” belonging to Ms. Aziz Nour that indicated she had been a United States citizen before her death, but the exact nature of the documents could not be confirmed."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/world ... ypt&st=cse

[Hafiz]

The ebb and flow of events and can obscure broader historical, economic and political forces at play in Egypt and in the region.

‘The Arab Counterrevolution’ appeared in the New York Review of Books in September 2011 and takes a cold eyed and long term view of the ‘Arab Spring’. The principal author (Malley) has US Democratic connections and works with the International Crisis Group.

Its major argument is that the liberals and protesters were never more than fire lighters – and disorganized ones at that. Unexpectedly they take a relatively positive view of the Brotherhood and conclude predictably that all revolutions consume their own children and that the future, in post revolutionary situations, belongs to the organized, the determined, the powerful and the ruthless. They predict major future conflict between the Brotherhood and Salafists.

Whilst most wide eyed analysis in the Western Press over the past 9 months has subsequently proved plain wrong this cold and realistic article is still worth reading on how the current situation was predictable from the outset.

Some extracts to give you a taste of their argument follows.

“For all this uncertainty, there seems little doubt—as protesters tire and as the general public tires of them—in what direction the balance will tilt. After the dictator falls, incessant political upheaval carries inordinate economic and security costs and most people long for order and safety. The young street demonstrators challenge the status quo, ignite a revolutionary spirit, and point the way for a redistribution of power. But what they possess in enthusiasm they lack in organization and political experience. What gives them strength during the uprising—their amorphous character and impulsiveness—leads to their subsequent undoing. Their domain is the more visible and publicized. The real action, much to their chagrin, takes place elsewhere.

The outcome of the Arab awakening will not be determined by those who launched it…The result will be decided by other, more calculating and hard-nosed forces.

Nationalists and leftists will make a bid, but their reputation has been sullied for having stood for a promise already once betrayed. Liberal, secular parties carry scant potential; the appeal they enjoy in the West is inversely proportional to the support they possess at home. Fragments of the old regime retain significant assets: the experience of power; ties to the security services; economic leverage; and local networks of clients. They will be hard to dislodge, but much of the protesters’ ire is directed at them and they form easy targets. They can survive and thrive, but will need new patrons and protectors.

That leaves two relatively untarnished and powerful forces. One is the military, whose positions, as much as anything, have molded the course of events…

From all corners of the Arab world, Islamists of various tendencies are coming in from the cold. Virtually everywhere they are the largest single group as well as the best organized… they are full-fledged political actors.

Living in the wilderness has equipped them well. Years of waiting has taught them patience, the cornerstone of their strategy. They learned the art of survival and of compromise for the sake of survival. They are the only significant political force with a vision and program unsullied, because untested, by the exercise of, or complicity in, power. Their religious language and moral code resonate deeply with large parts of the population. Islamism provides an answer to people who feel they have been prevented from being themselves…

The Arab world’s immediate future will very likely unfold in a complex tussle between the army, remnants of old regimes, and the Islamists, all of them with roots, resources, as well as the ability and willpower to shape events. Regional parties will have influence and international powers will not refrain from involvement. There are many possible outcomes—from restoration of the old order to military takeover, from unruly fragmentation and civil war to creeping Islamization. But the result that many outsiders had hoped for—a victory by the original protesters—is almost certainly foreclosed

Before long, yesterday’s liberators became today’s foes. Things are not as they seem. The sound and fury of revolutionary moments can dull the senses and obscure the more ruthless struggles going on in the shadows.”

[arsanyf]

There are rallies for Hazem Salah in many governorates, some have violent tendencies, some are claimed more reasonable but they are un-noticeable compared to threats of violence and jihad

Some even said: "We would elect Hazem Salah even if his mother was Jewish" besides how racist that statement is as if being is an insult of some kind, they do not mind Hazem Salah having violated any regulation whatsoever as long as they see him president