Clearing a path for the Egyptian constitutional referendum to go forward on Saturday, the Egyptian opposition blocs have reversed their call for a boycott, instead urging their supporters to try to vote the constitution down.
The military, which had previously ordered the opposition to agree to negotiations with President Morsi, has also backed down from that demand, which apparently is no longer necessary if the constitutional vote will happen.
The vote was originally scheduled for Saturday only, but is now being expanded to two days, staggered in different cities, because of the number of boycotting judges. Officials said that the judges that agreed to oversee the vote were only enough to do about half of the country each day.
The ruling Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) expects the constitution to pass with a relatively wide margin. The opposition is expressing confidence it will fail, while condemning the drafted document as too religious in character and not granting sufficient rights to Egypt’s Christian minority.
The military did not order anyone to go anywhere and have issued invitations and retractions and revised descriptions of who was invited and why last night. The National Salvation Front has decided to participate in the referendum vote, other opposition groups still refuse to participate. One Salafi leader has openly "warned" the Copts to vote yes because if the result is "No" Egyptians will know it is there fault, given their 8 million population and the belief that they all voted for Ahmed Shafiq in the presidential election.
I would strongly urge you PLEASE to READ carefully every article in the draft constitution as that may help in understanding just terrible a document it is in terms of citizen rights, worse than the 1971 constitution. The right to organize and not have your group dissolved, to health, etc., in other words, bread-freedom-social justice that the revolution was about. It is all status quo OR WORSE. One must STOP analyzing it in terms of Christians, secularists and women. It is about basic citizen rights and the independence of government branches. It is about handing the Armed Forces formal rights it only dreamt about! It is a document that legitimizes authoritarianism.
I suggest that everyone interested in the current struggle in Egypt take a look at the video of the MB militia's detention chamber along the side of the Presidential Palace that was captured by cell-phone camera and the brutal beating of their victims being ordered to confess to being paid by foreigners or the old regime. Take a look at the testimony of one of those victims who was a happless office cleaner from a nearby building who appears on the video, or the activist who had half his ear chewed off [yes, chewed…look at the video], look at the suited MB interrogators and their henchmen. Listen to their leaders' threats. What about the ordinary communters whose cars were smashed and drivers beaten along the road in front of the Media Center where Salafis are protesting the journalism that reports their deeds. That is what Egyptians are justly afraid of.
Black propaganda – this whole opposition is USAID.
All these stories are some many Kuwaiti incubators, or Libyan Viagra pills.
USAID? You've gotten the teams mixed up. USAID's efforts in Egypt have been to facilitate Egypt's full integration into the global neo-liberal economic system. The MB ideologically is on board and have made clear that they intend to extend Mubarak's policies, only less corrupt. In the midst of the recent chaos, Morsi announced implementation of the economic austerity measures demanded for the IMF loan which translate into elimination of subsidies on which the 50% of the population that are poor live on. Just a wiff of the reaction on the street made him backtrach within 6 hours, issuing a retraction at 2:00 am.
MORE: The opposition is a grab bag of old "liberal forces" [60 years old or older] and the leftist, labor, revolutionaries, student groups and even football ultras and others seeking a reform of economic priorities to reflect the interests of ordinary Egyptians. This runs totally against the Morsi government and what is called the "Washington concensus" on economic development. Had the leftist/labor element come to power, it would likely have modified, if not eliminated, the dominant economic program, a great headache for the US and its partners.
Propaganda? The evidence against the marchers interrogated by the Brotherhood goons [their performance on video for one and all to see]…was so compeling that the Chief Prosecutor released them. This enraged Morsi, who had just finished a somber speech in which he spoke of foreign plots and payment and arms these people had that were given to them by the old elite according to supposed "confessions." For his sins, the prosecutor was removed and sent elsewhere in the hopes a more compliant person would get into the job. Alas, the prosecutor slated to replace him refused to take his displaced colleague's seat. With a total lack of evidence, Morsi's order that the group be rearrested also cannot be fulfilled. True respect for the rule of law.