[This statement was called to our attention by Atef Said.* It was prepared by the "Egyptian Coalition of the Supporters of the Egyptian Revolution." The original Arabic version can be found here. Translation below by Fida Adely & Aiman Haddad]
"The Egyptian Revolution Lives . . . We will not accept anything less than the fall of Mubarak and his regime."
February 3, 2011
Yesterday, Tuesday, the tyrant who rules us and who was ousted by the Egyptian masses, refused to step down and relinquish power to the people who are the source of all power. Why did Mubarak refuse to relinquish power to its rightful owners? More importantly, why did the secret police, the police and the army generals support him and collaborate with him? Also, why did the US support him, rather than forcing him to leave, which they are capable of doing?
Our response is that all of them know that the issue is not Hosni Mubarak personally. The issue is that if the will of the people prevails, this will be a serious threat to them all. If the millions have their way, the issue will not be one person, but will be the regime in its entirety.
The Egyptian masses refused Hosni Mubarak because he is a symbol, leader and conductor for an alliance of the corrupt and unjust . . . because he represents a political and class alliance that loots the Egyptian people, tortures its sons in its police stations and prisons, chases them out of the factories and corporations, sucks their blood, and spreads unemployment among its sons and daughters. Hosni Mubarak’s departure is a sign of the beginning of the removal of this political and class alliance. Should he remain, it will be a sign of the persistence of this alliance in ruling over us with metal and fire.
Mubarak says that he himself, in cooperation with Amr Suleiman, Sami A’nan, and Ahmed Shafiq, will begin to oversee a political and social system based on justice and freedom!! That is absolute madness. Does anyone in their right mind ask of Hitler to oversee the dismantling of fascism? Does anyone in their right mind ask of Stalin to oversee the dismantling of his bloody regime?
We absolutely reject the continuation of Mubarak and his clique and followers in power. The people have given their verdict. The people want the overthrow of the regime. The people want the overthrow of the president. They want a new dream that starts with implementing political freedoms, which grow and flourish by achieving justice and equality. The people want to retrieve their stolen wealth and cut their relations with the Zionist enemy. The people want to support the struggle of Arab nations to be liberated from Zionism and imperialism. The people want to stop the programs of privatization and impoverishment. The people want to provide jobs and control commodities prices, they want to raise wages and prosecute the corrupt. In short, the people want a new world that they make themselves. Does it make any sense to let the dictator, who killed hundreds of our sons last week, supervise the process of making our dreams come true?
We say to our brothers, our sons, and our people all over Egypt: He who plants fear in our hearts, he who impedes our movement and imposes curfews, he who has severed our connections to the world by cutting the internet and banning al Jazeera, he who unleashes thugs and secrete police in the streets – he who has done all of this is Mubarak the dictator who is clinging to his authority at the expense of the people’s blood. So, with whom will you stand? With whom will you fight? With the camp of freedom and equality, or with the camp of tyranny, exploitation and corruption!
If Mubarak wins, it will be a defeat for the revolution, a defeat for the camp that aspires to sweep this rampant rot that has become widespread and dominant as a result of Mubarak and his clique. If Mubarak wins, it will be a victory for his policies that oppressed us for thirty years. If Mubarak wins, we will be sent to jails, and the police will come back to impose its oppression upon us.
Hence our call to workers, public employees, young people in the neighborhoods and the popular committees is the following: participate with us in making a new future, organize strikes as large as you can, occupy your factories and institutions, establish committees in every work place, issue statements in support of the revolution, instigate the masses to organize and demonstrate and mobilize in every site, push the revolution forward and be patient so we very soon celebrate in victory.
Long live the Egyptian revolution!
* Atef Said is an Egyptian leftist human rights lawyer currently living in the United States