Saturday, May 19, 2012

#Egyelections : And #AMAF shows off his supporters

The official Abu El Fotouh "AMAF" campaign announced that it would end its official activities on Friday in a big show off for the popularity of the moderate Islamist candidate. The event got an ad that is worth thousands of pounds in Ahram weekly Friday issue. It was supposed to be at Cairo international stadium but the stadium's administration refused the event despite the Muslim brotherhood and Freedom and Justice party organized a big event for Mohamed Morsi at Mansoura stadium in the city of Mansoura last month !! Anyhow they moved it to Al Gazeeria Youth center in Zamalek this is better because It would not be easy to go to Nasr city on Friday night

The event included hosting prominent figures in the society that endorses Abu El Fotouh that make him the man who u unit ideologies behind his idea of "strong Egypt" , just look to the speakers of the events : Director Mohamed Diab , director Amr Salama , Activist Wael Ghonim, singer Hamza Namira , actress Hanan Turk , actress Athar El Hakim, MP Mostafa El Nagar , MP Essam Sultan, Al wasat party leader Abu Ela Mady, Al Nour party spokesperson Nadar Bakr were some of the names announced.

Believe or not but I do not like some of these figures but we should unit in this critical time on common goals then we can kick each other asses later.
Anyhow in my way to the event I found out that Ultras Abu El Fotouh organized marches to the event from Kasr al Nil bridge to Al Gazeera youth center and so I decided to go with them and move in their rally. Middle class , liberal and moderate Islamists families and youth were in the march that I joined , it was one from several rallies. I found a Christian colleague from college years in the march wearing Abu El Fotouh T-shirt. In the street some saluted Abu el Fotouh supporters and some did not because they blocked the street for awhile.
 
Based on the buses , posters and logos , I knew that Al wasat party mobilized its members to support Abu el Fotouh. The building and development party was also there with their banner including the infamous Omar Abdel Rahman supports Abu El Fotouh. It was announced that the blind sheikh endorsed Abu el Fotouh still his son announced that his father was decieved and he would endorse Moris if he knew about him.

Inside the youth center you will find a cross section from Egyptian society with all its social and political backgrounds. You will find old people and young people , you will find rich , middle and working class , you will Muslims and Christians , the liberal and Salafist as well Al Gamaa al Islamiyaa , you will find the deaf and the disabled , you will people from Upper Egypt, Sinai, Red sea ,Suez , Alexandria and other areas, you will find unveiled and veiled girls. You can not deny this diversity in Abu el Fotouh supporters on that night ,if you were there. Thousands of supporters were there cheering for the man waving with their orange flags and singing his ultras style songs. It was big show off.

The disabled and hearing impaired audience were seated in the front seats. There were special hearing impaired translators who translated the whole event on air.

As original Egyptian event , it did not start in time. It started with Abu El Fotouh's arrival along that group of public figures that support him. The event was presented by Mohamed Al Shahawy, the manager of Abu El Fotouh's campaign. It started with verses of Holy Quran then a moment of silence dedicated There were three short documentaries presented in the event including one made by Hanan Turk about Abu El Fotouh and his campaign. There was one pause of prayer where Al Shahawy recited the Azan himself. The event were small speeches by the public figures to explain why they are endorsing Abu El Fotouh and why they are calling the people to vote for Abu El Fotouh.

The speakers were : centrist activist Wael Ghonim, leftist activist Wael Khalil, salafist activist Khaled Mansour, Christian doctor Sherif Dos , award winning director Mohamed Diab, award winning director Amr Salama ,actor Ahmed Fahmy , actor Athar El Hakim, Dr. Nadia Mostafa , Rabab al Mahdy , Abu Ela Mady , MP Sultan ,MP Mostafa El Nagar, writer and islamist thinker Fahmy Howiday, former MB leader Kamal Al Helbawy, singer Hamza Namirah ,Abu el Fotoh's adviser Rabab El Mahdy ,representatives from Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa and its political arm building and development as well representatives from Al Nour party including its famous spokesperson Nadr Bakar.

As you can see this wide range of personalities represent far right to far left stood behind the man in some kind of consensus we have not seen it since the 18 days of the revolution. These personalities were reflection Of course you can guess from my coverage that I support Abu el Fotouh , yes I do support a man who can gather this wide range of pro-revolutionary political powers from left to right in this transitional period , I will explain my reasons later but for the time being I will quote dear Ghonim

We do not need another Saladin or savior , we need a head for executive authority
The speakers' words were too many , I recorded some parts. Some of the speakers attacked SCAF, the former regime's candidates and the Muslim brotherhood.I like what Ghonim, Diab , Khalil, Helbawy, Salama as well Al Nagar and Rabab el Mahdy said.

Abu Fotouh's speech was the final act or rather the main act in the event that those thousands waited for anxiously.The short speech was in my point of view was actually a warning to SCAF from playing around in the elections. "We heard lately that SCAF was supporting one of the candidates , SCAF should aware that the couch party aka the Kanaba party will not accept any attempt to manipulate the elections" Abu El Fotouh said. He did not only send a message to SCAF but to the army as well."The army will turn against the people" AMAF said revealing that he got a phone call from General Sami Anan last Thursday where he told warned the general from dishonoring the military honor. Of course I wish I know what Anan had told him.

I will try to upload the photos and videos in time as it is just three days away from the elections. My laptop is dying and I losing my mind. I recorded almost for all the speakers and I do not know how I can work on these videos

5 comments:

  1. Very impressive work.. as usual... Very curious to know who's your candidate!!!

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  2. Bearing no May surprises, I expect Abu El Fotouh to reach the run-off and ultimately close on presidency. Nevertheless I will not vote for him. How he could be a conciliator if he couldn't cooperate with his own life-long group (MB)? This gives me the impression that his separation from MB is a ploy intended for political purpose.

    I find Sabahi is a true Egyptian leader. His vision is truthful and he is honest and dedicated to his values. I don't rule out a nightmare scenario leading to Shafik or Mousa!

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  3. Regardless of who wins, I foresee Egypt ending up with a 'democracy' like Pakistan and not Turkey with a President as the 'Head of State' and a Prime Minister as the 'Head of Government' but the real 'power' will reside in the hands of the Generals.

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  4. Great post Z!
    I am Fotouh supporter and am hoping that he wins in first round.Egypt does NOT need Nasserist Sabahi. We tried that and it failed, we tried secular Mubarak and it failed, we had royalist, we had foreign rule, we had pharaoh. Now finally we get to try moderate Islam. It cannot be worse than all the rest we tried and failed.
    Fotouh to unite. Fotouh for President.

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  5. The polls are getting pretty contradictory. They show Ahmed Shafiq supposedly having gained support but this may be more a result of polling techniques rather than him actually being the as popular as they would lead people to believe.

    It will be interesting to see what kind of share of the vote Sabbahi's recent increase prominence will translate into. He did pretty well among the expatriate vote, although the vote from Saudi Arabia is now boost Mursi. Seems like the most likely scenario is a run-off between Moussa and Aboul Fotouh. However, other scenarios are very possible. It would be interesting to see a run-off between Sabbahi and Aboul Fotouh.

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