Hossam el-Hamalawy
Resources on the Revolutionary Socialists
Socialist lawyer Haitham Mohamadein and other activists in Tahrir Square, singing, chanting in support of the labor strikes.
The Tahrir Square sit in entered its eighth day on Friday, with anti-government protests and sit-ins continuing around the country. Islamist groups are still absent from the scene.
I was honored to speak on Tuesday night, together with activists Wael Khalil, Asmaa Aly and Kholoud Saber, at the 2nd Tweet Nadwa, hosted by Alaa, at the Rawabet Theater.
The topic of discussion was the roots of Egyptian revolution. The audio recording of the entire event is available here.
From Reuters:
Hossam el-Hamalawy is used to being in trouble with the authorities. State security hauled him in three times for his activism when Hosni Mubarak was in power. He hoped Egypt’s uprising would end such summonses. It didn’t.
He was called in again in May for questioning. But one element changed. It wasn’t internal security but an army general who wanted to question the blogger over accusations he made on television about abuses by the military police.
“We didn’t have this revolution … so that we would replace Hosni Mubarak with the military as a taboo,” said Hamalawy, insisting that the army must change its ways.
“The military institution is part of the old regime,” he said. “It will have to go through its own change in revolutionary Egypt.”
Quite what that change might look like is perhaps the biggest question facing Egyptians now.
The army has vowed to hand power to civilians, after it took took control when Mubarak was ousted on Feb. 11.
Few doubt it wants to quit the grimy world of day-to-day government but, at the same time, few expect the generals to submit to civilian command when they return to barracks.
Instead, analysts say the military is likely to slip into the political shadows, as a protector of national security — a broad brief that would allow some back-seat intervention — and rigorously guard its business interests and other privileges.
The military has after all supplied Egypt’s rulers, including former air force commander Mubarak, for six decades.
“I do feel they are sincere about handing over power to a civilian government,” said Hamalawy, who writes the arabawy.org blog. “But that does not mean they will give up … their role in the Egypt political arena.”
After summons for interrogation prompted protests, Hamalawy said the general who quizzed him on May 31 promised to examine evidence he provided of any abuses by the military police.