Egypt’s April 6 movement gets behind ElBaradei
Mar 20th, 2010 | By Sallie Pisch | Category: Egypt, Featured, News
CAIRO: Over 100 signatures were collected Friday evening at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC) in support of Mohamed ElBaradei and his proposed constitutional reforms.
Smoke wafted from the end of a lit cigarette as a dozen young men spoke animatedly around a table littered with papers, overflowing ash trays, and half-empty tea cups around 8pm.
Among those present were Ahmed Maher, Mohamed Adel and other activists and members of the 6 April Youth Movement.
These activists are part of a larger group supporting ElBaradei’s National Association for Change and they are currently collecting signatures on a statement that affirms their support for ElBaradei’s changes. The statement calls for constitutional amendments, an end to the 29-year-old Emergency Law, international observers for elections and provisions for Egyptians abroad to vote, among other things.
The movement wants to gather three million signatures. As of Friday night, they had around 3,000.
Sunday, March 21, Egyptian Mother’s Day, will mark the beginning of a street campaign to collect more signatures from people on the streets.
According to Mohamed Adel, a blogger and member of the 6 April movement, everyone except the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) is supporting the movement, and signatures have even been collected from military officers. The statement signed Friday night is the same shown to Bikya Masr in the office of George Ishaq, the former leader of the opposition Kefaya movement, last week.
Adel said the movement has received signatures by mail and via the Internet. In a few weeks time, he will travel to Dubai to collect signatures from Egyptians living abroad.
“Dreams are coming soon in this land,†Adel said. Asked if the movement had faced problems from security forces, Adel said as of now they have had no trouble.
“They can’t stop us,†he added.
Once the necessary number of signatures is collected, the papers will be sent to Parliament to demand constitutional changes. Should the target not be reached, Ishaq says he has another plan in mind. “But I can’t tell you what it is,†he said, smiling.
BM
Keep advertising off Bikya Masr - donate $1 to allow this to be possible
BM wouldn’t be able to tell us where they stand and collect signatures? I’d love to put my signature on this paper.
This is great! A young Egyptian grass roots movement standing up against domestic tyranny and calling freedom louder than their fathers ever did. Viva Egypt!
Eleonora, you can find information and sign electronically here: https://www.taghyeer.net/
To Anonymous – yr comment # 3
Without big hope I checked back again and got a very pleasant surprise
. Thanks a lot! We’ll circulate it widely in order to get as much signatures on board as we can.
To any reader here: go and sign up then set up a nice letter to your friends and keep the ball rolling!
es to change – Yes to Dr. Baradei!!
Dear All
Thanks to “Anonymous” I got the address where to go to sign. Now – for all of you who have read the above message by him … why don’t you set up a similar message (or copy the one below if you like it) and send it to all your friends? We want change – we should work for it! Good luck!
~*~*~*
(Whether you sign or not – please forward this message to your friends and let them decide if they want to be part of our future. Thank you!)
Dear friends
We all know that our great and beloved country is at crossroads of utter importance which will shape not only our future but the future of generations to come. In the past we could maybe (comfortably?) lean back and say: “Well, I just want to make a living and feed and educate my children – besides, what difference can I make?â€
Today we don’t have this luxury any longer because if we don’t all strive and work together to better our country, tomorrow, there will be nothing for our children; simple plain nothing: no food, no future … nothing. It’s as simple as that.
If you want to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem please go to the following website https://www.taghyeer.net/ and sign. Pledge with your signature that you too want this beautiful country to be again the home for all of us with equal opportunities, rights and responsibilities and with democratic institutions working under a democratically elected leadership. Pledge that the times of “Enta mish aref ana meen†are over and the rules of the law are applied equally to all of us.
Martin Luther King had a dream and knew that dreaming is not enough. He worked hard for it to come true and succeeded. We too have a dream and should not shy away from working for it.
It’s not that hard to hold out your hand and it’s not that hard for another person to shake it. Let’s do it. Let’s stand together, form a chain of unity and work for the good of our country and our children.
With warm regards,
XYZ