Towards freedom's light

By Mohamed S. El-Awa

---

I remain convinced that peaceful marches and civilised demonstrations are the highest accomplishment of civilised society and conclusive evidence of its vitality and strength.

Egyptians have never ceased in their demands for comprehensive reform. The most important step towards reform is banning the monopoly of power, as experience tells us that this is the greatest disaster that can befall a nation. Such experience generated constitutions decreeing that any ruler has to be elected directly by the people and for no longer than two consecutive terms. Is that more than Egyptians deserve?

At this critical moment, as dreams of empire grip American rulers, we must join hands and summon up our courage. Our enemies want to control our future and our children's future. They wants us eat, read and pray as they see fit. Their pretext is "reform", but we all know this is not true. They want to destabilise our region, then slowly drip-feed us new ideas, concepts and values until we can't help but agree.

We hope that Egypt survives this worrying time, peacefully and calmly. Egyptians, and foremost amongst them the Muslim Brotherhood and nationalist forces, are a civilised people rooted in their history and its stability. The wise have to realise that comprehensive reform should not be treated as an issue of "security".

It remains our duty to create new realities on the ground, and prevent hypocrites and opportunists from meddling with them.

This week's Soapbox speaker is secretary-general of the Arab Doctors Federation and a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood.