The Long and Winding Road for Democracy in Egypt Part 8 

A blast from the past: Egyptian Leftists dilemma

35 year old man who spent his entire life in a bomb shelter because his father mistakenly believed that the country was being bombarded by nuclear weapons by the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. He moved out of the vault for the first time in his life without any human interactions capability and dressed in outdated fashion and speaks in a strange lingo. Yet, he still posses good manners, good heart and good will that people were willing to listen to him though not take him seriously most of the time. The above is a description of the hilarious comedy hit of 1999 by Brendan Fraser called a Blast from the past. The case of this young man resembles exactly the state of affairs of the Egyptian Socialists and leftists in 2012. They appear to be friendly folks who happen to speak about human rights and the workers right in face of the so called “Tyranny” of capitalists and investors.

The Egyptians leftists and socialists seem to be revolving in a time loop sequence in a similar manner to those represented in Sci-fi movies where the antagonists find themselves in a place where time stood still.  That is usually manifested by the socialists out of touch declarations that seeming to more befitting of 1950’s and 1960’s speeches than they do with the year 2012.
It’s a fact that the Left has been an integral part of the Egyptian revolution from the very beginning till this moment and may have inspired many Egyptians to join the revolution in the first 18 days and thereafter. Yet, their approach in tackling the daily lives causes of the Egyptians after the revolutions have alienated a large majority of the Egyptians from them. They have always claimed to be liberals while in fact they are far from it , in many cases the key figures of the socialist movement in Egypt seemed to be the leftists counterpart of the extremist Salafis groups with their  non-objective points of views and statements on most the political issues. There are some certain traits which are distinctive among many Egyptian Leftists, Socialists, Pan Arab nationalists, classical leftists (Marxists, communists) , Extremist neo-leftists (Anarchists, Revolutionary socialists) and Progressive (Social Liberals) in Egypt :

CLASSIC LEFTISTS

1-      Creating a fantasy world and alternative reality:

From their early rise in the 1940’s through the 1950s and 1960s, the socialist movement in Egypt have faced several transformations but failed to adapt to the constant changes in the world and that manifested itself strongly during the 1970s till the end of the cold war. Socialists have managed to be in positions of authority in most of the world countries. Despite this fact, they managed to transform many potentially viable economies into bankrupt ones in most the countries they landed in starting from Mother Russia (Former Soviet Union) all the way to Egypt. The economy of Egypt before 1952 was among the most promising in the world and only compared to the Brazil, Argentina and USA with the demise of most European and Asian countries pre-world war.
However, thanks to the policy of Nationalization in Egypt which is the modern equivalent of the Spanish Main piracy acts of the 17th and 18th centuries on cargo ships passing through the Caribbean and the gulf of Mexico, the Nationalization of the Egyptian private sector companies and their takeover by the government from their rightful owners represented the deepest blow to the Egyptian economy in its modern history. The socialist always claimed that was a great time for Egyptian economy and Nassser’s reforms were important for it, but they neglect the fact that trade, agriculture and industry suffered badly and the private sector which most modern world countries rely on was obliterated by the Nationalization laws. The result was the poverty that spread even further in the society. There may have been some marginal achievements in the field of heavy industries like Steel and Aluminum but the overall experience was abysmal and not near as perfect as the socialist claim to be.


2-      Treating Egyptian businessmen as crooks and foreign investors as colonizers

Refaat al-Said

Since the early 1950’s till today, Marxist, communists and their allies in the left treated the Egyptian businessmen as the crooks to be and each and every one of them is guilty till proven innocent of stealing what they call the people’s money. El Tagamoa Party (The coalition- Marxist party) were among the pioneers of this movement since the 1970s and most leftist artists, filmmakers, journalist and scholars have propagated through the years that the businessmen are crooks and opportunists who are immoral in their business activities. That has affected the perception of the businessmen in Egypt in the eyes of the common Egyptians and created an unhealthy environment for the economy to thrive. The same can be applied to foreign investors who are perceived by the same Marxists and communists as being colonizers who seek to rip Egypt of its’ resources and fortunes in favour of their own wealth. All these perceptions escalated into creating an anti-business environment which needs to clear and instilling new perceptions that promote growth and prosperity for Egyptians. El Tagamoa Party led by Dr. Refaat El Said was in conflict with both Sadat and Mubarak policies, yet in the last years of Mubarak’s rule they became more domesticated as opposition especially after being given seats in the Upper house and lower house parliaments courtesy of the Mubarak’s regime.
PAN ARAB NATIONALISTS

1-       Infatuation for Tyrants and dictators:

While seeking the just rights of the Palestinians and calling for the establishment of their sovereign nation, Egyptian Pan Arab Nationalist have turned their backs to the to the atrocities of some of the most notorious Arab tyrants in history represented by the likes of Moamar El Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Hafez El Assad and most recently Bashar El Assad whose criminal activities in Syria are mostly overlooked. This is due to the fact that many Egyptian Socialist figures have been regular guests at the palaces of these tyrants at different times during the past decades especially when they are in collision with the ruling president be that Anwar El Sadat or Hosni Mubarak. That applies on many famous Pan Arab journalists like Mustafa Bakry , Hamdy Kandeel and many others.

Hamdi Kandeel

They felt no shame working for Newspapers or TV stations operated and owned by these tyrants. Even didn’t protest the fact these tyrants have been involved in the direct killing of Egyptian citizens throughout the past decades especially Qaddafi and Saddam Hussein. At the same time, they are willing to open the gates of hell on any other non-Arab country that harms or kills an Egyptian be that Israel, USA or any western country. They neglect the fact that Egyptians’ lives are sacred at all times because bullets possess no nationalities in the eyes of the victims and it’s irrelevant who fired it at them and caused their death.
These actions have alienated a lot of common Egyptians from the Socialists and they have been labeled by many as hypocrites who perceive matters in double standards and made their arguments and the causes they adopt hard to believe in the eyes of Egyptians, thus paving way for Islamists to take control of the Egyptians’ minds. That has been manifested clearly in the parliamentary elections when all of the socialist parties have managed to only gain less than 5% of the total parliament seats.

2-      Forging an unholy alliance with Nasserism  

Gamal Abdel Nasser

In the eyes of Pan Arab Nationalists, President Gamal Abdel Nasser is treated as a Greek demi-god and Hassanein Heikel is his messenger. Whatever came of out the mouth of the Egyptian late president of the 1950’s and 1960’s is like an irrefutable fact as to them he’s infallible. Similarly, the words of the prominent Egyptian political analyst and writers Heikal are treated as sacred scripture. Socialists fail to ignore the fact that Nasser was the root of the tyranny in the modern Egyptian political system. He banned all parties and formed a one soviet era like part he called “The Socialist Union” whereby his word is the infinite wisdom and final resolution. It’s the same party whose members danced in the parliament when President Nasser withdrew his resignation after the failed performance of the Egyptian army in 1967 war against Israel which result in defeat and occupation of Sinai and other Arab regions in Syria, Palestine and Jordan.
One of the ironic syndromes of the Egyptian political life is the existence of a party called the Arab Nasserite Democratic party. The name itself is an oxymoron since Nasserism and democracy can never meet. It’s the equivalent of calling a party the Nazi-Jewish alliance or the Stalinist human rights association which is quite unreal. Pan Arab Nationalists have been trying for years to paint the Nasserite era with an ingredient that it completely lacked and that was democracy.

Hassanein Heikal 

Socialist writer Hassanein Heikal is the Egyptian counterpart of Joseph Goebbels – The German third Reich Minister of Propaganda who was a master in twisting facts and brain washing the masses with his ideas. Somehow throughout his 60 years of writings he managed to twist enough facts for the Egyptian populace enough to create an alternative world for them. He painted a completely different reality for Egyptians. His impeccable writing and journalistic skills was a great asset to achieve this aim and it worked perfectly for decades as the socialist propagate his books and writings like Holy Scripture. As a matter of fact many Egyptians still believe he is the only credible writer about Egyptian modern history which is a travesty of its own. Egyptian leftists have created a myth and a legend out of the man and the president and witch hunted all his adversaries and called them traitors for the cause. That was the same rhetoric that was used by communist Soviets against their adversaries and it’s still prevailing till this moment in the literature and rhetoric of Egyptian socialists.

To many Egyptians leftists President Gamal Abdel Nasser represented pride and glory. They always neglect the fact when he first stepped in office in 1954, Egypt was over 3.5 Million Sqm in Size and comprising Egypt, Sudan and Gaza Strip with the strongest currency in the world and a one of the most promising economies of that time. By the time Abdel Nasser passed away in 1970, he left the country at a  size of 940,000 Sqm with the independence of Sudan and occupation of Sinai and Gaza strip and a battered and bankrupt economy. Added to the above, the involvement in 3 wars which Egypt has paid a hefty price to wage and lost during his presidency including one in Yemen! There appears to be no pride or glory in the results he achieved, something that Egyptian Pan Arab Nationalists and leftists must consider when pledging allegiance to President Nasser’s Ideology.

3-      Witch-hunting those who oppose what they perceive as the national values

“The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war” -Desiderius Erasmus Dutch Scholar and Philosopher

Anwar El Sadat

For many years, Egyptian socialists and particularly Nasserites have performed witch-hunting against any scholars, journalists or writers opposing them in what that they have self-declared as the national values. These national values can be summarized as Egypt should do everything towards what they call as Arab Unity and that the USA, Europe, Israel are the eternal enemies of Egypt whose aim on earth  on earth to  conspire against the Egyptian people and their ambitions for development and prosperity. And while wars have been fought between Egypt against Israel , Britain and France at one time in history, peace have prevailed after thousands of lives have been lost. But seemingly many socialists don’t like to let bygones be bygones and they are willing to go through it again for the sake of what they call National pride and values regardless of the consequences.

Whatever happened between Israel and Egypt will never match a fraction of what happened between Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Russia in 20th century Europe. Tens of millions have paid their lives for endless wars over resources, power and ideologies. But the difference that these nations decided that enough is enough and they couldn’t let blood be spilled indefinitely. So they came to the conclusion that they don’t have to love one another but at least try to co-exist as neighbours. The same applies to the Middle Eastern region. Only the difference that Israel is still breaking international law when dealing with Palestinians almost daily but at the same time, a good portion of Palestinians lead by Hamas are rejecting any peace deals with Israel and labeling anyone who attempts to walk that path as a traitor . This is the same position adopted by the Egyptian Pan Arab Nationalists for decades and they are even taking it a notch further by declaring that they seek to discontinue the Peace Treaty with Israel regardless of all the implications that a decision like that could take Egypt and the entire fragile region to. These situations and others like labeling the late President and war hero Anwar El Sadat as a traitor to the cause have a similar and equal reaction from the extremist in Israel who doesn’t want to see peace prevailing in the region. Shouldn’t Sadat have made that historical move, the Middle East would have been a much worse place that it’s already now. Thousands if not millions would have paid their lives for an endless war which would have ended as well with a peace treaty anyway. Therefore, he might have saved millions of lives and the world a possible third world war. The sooner Egyptians leftists and Pan Arab Nationalists realize this fact the better Egyptians and all the Middle East will be.  Unlike most socialist activists and journalists around the world who are usually pro-peace, the Egyptian Pan Arab Nationalists hardly adopt this notion.

Thanks to the Egyptian Pan Arab Nationalist socialist’s propaganda, many Egyptians now are paranoid towards anything from USA and the west that portrayed the west to them as predator that is waiting to devour the Egyptian nation. This rhetoric is one that has been used since the early 1950s all the way till now even with the existence of private channels. Yet, private channels still utilize the service of old school socialists’ journalist and anchors. Most of the guests are also socialists who call themselves liberals which happen to be another conundrum for the liberals being categorized in the same league as leftists/socialists in Egypt

NEO LEFTISTS (ANARCHISTS AND REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISTS)

The latest faction to appear among of the Egyptian leftists, yet they have made quite an impact in the political spectrum though not all of it is positive. They have joined forces with other political factions in the Egyptian revolution and their most famous group 6th of April have been heavily involved in the political scene since 2008. They believe in a utopia where people are completely free with almost no governmental control or laws. However, these ideas collide with the more conservative tendencies of the nowadays Egyptian society.  The 6th of April Youth group managed to be a major ingredient in the Egyptian revolution first 18 days and months that followed but felt into the abyss of chaos in certain ways since they only seek to achieve a certain goals that they believe that without their will be no revolution. They collided with many factions SCAF, Islamists, other socialists and liberals seeking that goal. Their political training in Serbia was used by their opposition to label them as traitors and infiltrators yet these allegations haven’t been proven and they are definitely patriots though their unorthodox methods aren’t welcomed by many Egyptians. Their impetuousness and overzealous nature in their political activities, riots involvements and protests have always worked against them in most occasions.
In a similar manner, the anarchists and lately the revolutionary socialists have played the same above role but with an extreme version. The declaration of the Revolutionary Socialists that they seek to achieve fall of the country was met was a massive scorn from the Egyptian society and while some of the leaders of the group explained that they mean the fall of the old regime and country and rebuilding a new one, that didn’t change the fact that their immature tactics failed to grip the minds of most Egyptians towards their cause
Ironically, most the neo-leftists are usually upper-class and upper-middle wealthy Egyptians who perform their activities using pricey laptops and ipads as well as luxurious means of transportations in the forms Mercedes, BMW and other sports SUVs which has given little credibility to their real intentions and they were in many cases deemed as rebels without a cause by many Egyptians.

SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

Mohamed Abou El Ghar

Represented by parties like Egyptian Social Democratic Party of Dr. Mohamed Abou El Ghar, or The Democratic Front Party of Dr. Ghazaly Harb and Masr El Horeya of Dr. Amro Hamzawy, these can be considered as the most modern and most progressive of the leftist movements since they believe as much as liberals with the freedom of speech, women rights and free markets and they are hand in hand now trying to establish a free Egypt for the future to come. Yet, they succumb sometimes in their economic ideologies to Marxists and communists and their mixing of the liberal values with the socialist government controlled economy in their rhetoric lead them to fall into a web of their mistakes. It’s not a secret that social democrats are trying to adopt some of their European counterparts’ methods for organizing the economy. But it’s also not a secret that these same strategies have failed in many countries that applied them in Europe and was a factor in the current economic crisis in Europe. However, they remain more open minded and able to learn from their mistakes than most the other Egyptian left factions. It’s up to Social Democrats to try to lead the left towards a more positive approach in tackling the daily life problems of the Egyptians as well as coordinating with other liberal powers like Free Egyptians to draw long terms plans for political, economic, social development in Egypt.

CONCLUSION:

Egyptian leftists/Socialists are patriots who love Egypt but they happen to have all their priorities in the wrong order. Their heightened emotions always prove as their downfall. They must realize that we are living in a different time and different era where the world will not tolerate a lot of their antiquated rhetoric or another war in the Middle East or words of war-mongering. For years they have neglected their work on the ground with the working class whom they supposed to represent in favour of media exposure and in most instances they use these causes for the sake of popularity and not seeking actual results on the grounds.

The leftists believe in a secular/civic state is one of the sources of their strength and these kinds of issues are the ones that they can align themselves with liberals in Egypt in opposition of the Islamists tyrannical and radical forces. The Left can still thrive through the social democrats factions who represent a more modern version of the socialist ideology that be applied in modern day Egypt. Adopting freedom of speech and all sorts of freedom is the only way that socialists/leftists will regain the lost ground in the hearts of Egyptians. Egyptian socialists have a lot to learn from their counterparts in the west particular in the past few decades. Their attachment to old rhetoric’s and outdated ideologies will only increase the rift between them and the average Egyptian even further regardless of how gilded their classical rhetoric sounds. They have to disassociate themselves from tyrants and their ideologies. Leftists are patriots and can be even ultra-patriots in some cases. Yet, some of their factions are the political equivalent of “Friendly-fire” in wars.

The Long and Winding Road for Democracy In Egypt Part 7

And then there were none: Egyptian Liberals in peril

Legendary crime novelist Agatha Christie’s bestselling mystery novel of all time title, maybe suitable to describe the current Egyptian liberals’ dilemma post Egyptian Revolution. It will not take a genius to discover that the Post-Revolution Egyptian liberals are currently in dire straits politically after the first parliamentary elections.

The great rejoice by the initial success of the revolution led mainly by liberals and the socialists against the Mubarak regime, have overshadowed by the significant losses of the parliamentary elections for both the lower and upper houses of the parliament. The Islamists who won the majority in both houses have consolidated their power in Egypt recently and Liberals have been dealt a bad blow.





It’s ironical that Liberals helped their archrivals obtain a victory that even the most optimistic among Islamists couldn’t have dreamt of .Thanks to the Liberals and socialists who have worked in their favour for all the months following the ousting of President Mubarak and his regime.  The current status of the liberals in Egypt indicates a very uncertain future in the biggest country of the Middle East which always had a direct impact on the region historically. These alerting symptoms from the liberal front, indicates that the entire region is entering a new phase of extremism despite the initial signs of liberty. It can be said without a doubt should the liberals in Egypt will not be revitalize themselves and the liberal values within the Egyptian society, what is commonly known as the “Arab Spring” will eventually end up into an “Arab nuclear winter” . The causes of this recession within the Egyptian liberals are numerous but can be summarized as follows:

1. Lack of unified leadership

From the very first days of the revolution, it was evident to all analysts that the Egyptian revolution led mainly by liberals, lacked any form of coordination or leadership. In fact, it was deemed as a blessing that the revolution has no head or the former tyrannical regime would have severed it easily in the first days and quelled the revolution at its birth. But the blessing eventually turned to be a curse after the first few days and hopes that a leading character like Dr. Mohamed El Baradei or a historical Party like El Wafd leading the liberal movement in Egypt were soon shattered after the first few days post the revolution. Dr. Baradei indecisiveness and inability to lead the revolutionaries as well as convince them of the ideals of liberty was also a disadvantage factor that worked against the liberals. The man who defied the regime of Mubarak no longer inspired the liberals or was able to convince the moderate factions of their cause.

2. Lack of proper political and social representatives

The liberals had no strong representatives within the Egyptian society before or after the Egyptian revolution. Most of who call themselves liberals hardly has a clue about the liberal values. They are in many cases socialists or Marxists who believed that their ideals are outdated and started to act as liberals. While some common ground can be found between Liberals and Socialists, it’s was mistake of great proportions that the hard-core Liberals allowed the socialists to run the show for them and deliver the message on their behalf.
The result was a distorted messages of liberalism that was swinging sometimes to the extreme left with a rhetoric only befitting the 1950’s and 1960’s and not the modern day world.  Even the oldest of all Egyptian parties El Wafd Party decided to play the side kick role to the Muslim Brotherhood. Instead of mustering the liberals from all the country under one banner. They raised the white flag to the Islamists early in the political game which resulted in the resignation of most of the prominent figures of the party like Sameh Makram Ebeid and others.  The Liberals found themselves almost without political figures representing them except the older scholars like prominent secular guru Dr. Murad Wahba and others who are not political figures in the first place.

 


3. Lack of common goals

Since the ousting of the Mubarak’s regime, liberals disintegrated into factions with different and sometimes colliding agendas to present to the Egyptian public. Their main focus were on Tahrir square protests and criticism against the Supreme Council of Armed forces .Both actions have depleted them from the energy needed to gain further grounds in the hearts and minds of Egyptians.
The intermixed socialist and liberal agenda only added confusion to the Egyptian populace about the real goals of liberals and their identity. The focus on the attacks against SCAF and general principals of liberalism were not enough to draw the attention and support of a majority of Egyptian. The agendas of liberals neglected to a great extent the daily life problems and focused on the bigger picture while the Islamists were focusing just on the daily life problems in the campaign and amalgamated that with their traditional religious rhetoric. That combination proved successful in the previous parliamentary elections. Yet, it should not deviate liberals in future of tackling the principals of liberalism and focusing on how they will solve those daily problems of Egyptians.

4. Islamists apologists and pseudo Liberals

Egyptian liberals are plagued by the pseudo liberals and Islamists apologists among them. Those have played a very dangerous and controversial role in assisting the Islamists in their goal for the domination in the parliament and Egyptian political scene. The likes of Dr. Waheed Abdel Mageed who headed the democratic alliance formed as a result of the ill fated union between Wafd and Muslim brotherhood, became a sort of flip flops of liberals and apologists for the Islamists.
Dr. Amro Hamzawy a presumed liberal and head of the El Horeya “Freedom” party won by a landslide, a seat in the parliament. Yet, less than 2 weeks of his victory, he appears on a Salafi (Fundamentalist) Satellite channel and declares his support for Internet censorship on pornographic websites just to appease the Islamists. Not content by that outrageous support on personal freedoms , he wages a war against whoever opposed him on twitter and other social media websites and in his column in Al Shorouk Newspaper. He accused Egyptian liberals who opposed him of practicing what he called “Liberal dictatorship” and they are a bunch of “home bound liberals”
These types and more others did hurt the Egyptian liberal movement and it’s time for liberals to choose their real representatives in the upcoming period and not flip flops who are in it for positions and more political power. The latest chapter of the practice of pseudo liberals, are those who are supporting former Muslim Brotherhood leader Abou El Fottoh in his bid Presidency. They are neglecting the fact that his background of over 40 years in the boundaries of the 80 year old Islamist group is a blatant evidence of his real tendency and his victory will only consolidate the power grip of the Muslim brotherhood over the future of Egypt.

5. Smear Campaign against liberals by Islamists

While the Liberals were doing what they believe is honorable, chivalrous and noble by spreading the main message of the revolution and what they believed as liberal values to the Egyptian public, Islamist led by the Muslim brotherhood used that same message against them politically. After all, since when politics was about any of the above descriptions!
But the vile methods utilized by Islamists and the lack of coordination and proper counter-attack against these allegations from liberals, led to great loss of ground to both liberals and revolutionaries alike in the parliamentary elections. Even worse one week before the elections and instead of working on the elections campaign most of the liberal figures were taking the streets of Tahrir and surrounding areas side by side to socialists and the result what was known as the massacre of “Mohamed Mahmoud street” which State TV and SCAF as well as Islamists managed to pin on the actions of the liberals despite the great loss of lives among the liberal activists.
That smear campaign among others actions by SCAF and Islamists who labeled Liberals and seculars as “Anti-Islamic” and “Infidels” have tainted liberals reputation in the eyes of the poorly educated population. They even labeled The Egyptian Bloc composed of 3 parties ( 2 Liberals and one socialist) as the “Crusaders bloc”. Ironically enough the liberal media and TV stations stood defenseless against these horrendous allegations and even hosted more Islamists in their programs than they did with their own liberal candidates. The result was as known to everyone, Islamists won over 70% from the lower house of the parliament and 90% of the upper house. The Latter most of the liberal parties have boycotted due to their position against Supreme council of Armed Forces and accusations to SCAF of favouritism towards Islamists in the lower house parliament. That was another political mistake among a series that liberals might pay for in the years to come.

6. Divisive media outlets and lack of clear message

Liberal Media in an attempt to appear revolutionary started to host a lot of people who claimed to be liberals and fight for the personal freedoms.  Yet, they couldn’t have picked worse representative in most cases. It was not uncommon to find a man/women on TV presenting himself as a liberal and bashing capitalism as well as the role of the USA and ranting about an international conspiracy of cosmic proportions on the Egyptian people and their revolution.
The alienation of people from the message was quite prevailing the months following the Egyptian revolution.  It was always refreshing to see younger men  and women more on TV to provide the audience with their experience during the revolution and their dreams. But it certainly was met with a lot of scorn and surprise when you man/girl who hardly graduated from school and still jobless to give life advise to people three times his age. The general public felt disoriented and alienated from the message shown every night in talk shows and newspapers interviews from people who call themselves liberals but fail to deliver a sound message to the public due to their inexperience and impetuousness.
In a society that reveres the elderly , it’s quite alienating and annoying to listen to young man calling older people and his elders names like the Arabic equivalent of “Old geezers” . The disrespect for the older generation that exuded from these young revolutionaries have really annoyed the public generally and painted liberal movement with descriptions that they could done better without.
Moreover, Liberal media outlets like On TV and others welcomed Islamists with open arms in an attempt to appear liberal and accepting the other side views but this fatal mistake backfired on the liberals since in most cases the guests of Islamic background bashed the liberals views without anyone present to contend their radical views.
That kind of setting led to further losses in the liberal camp and the strategy of trying to uncover the real intent of Islamists by presenting them more in media outlets failed miserably due to incompetent TV presenters who among which some appear to be  Islamists sympathizers like TV anchor Yousry Fouda and many others. These incompetent TV anchors and hosts have failed miserably in their job in the past year and their strategy back fired on the liberal camp.

Conclusion

Freedom of expression, freedom of economy, Freedom of belief, democracy and personal freedoms are the messages that should be spread by Egyptian liberals in all sectors of society. Their message should be simple, focused and to the point. The traditional academic liberal terminology will fail to capture the imagination of the common Egyptians and that has to change. Groups of Liberals, NGOs and lobbies must be formed all over Egypt in order to pursue the liberal message.
Should the Egyptian liberals fail to reorganize their ranks and don’t start fighting back for their own existence and presence in the country, the next exodus from Egypt will not be a biblical exodus of Jews but it will be modern day exodus of liberals in a similar manner to the post Iranian revolution scenario .Should Liberals fail to organize several unified fronts and pressure groups to fight their cause and endorse politicians who fight and lobby for their causes. Inch by inch Liberals will lose numbers and ground to radical religious extremist in the country and sooner or later … and then there were none!