Just a Reminder.

The following is an article  I published some two years ago on my previous blog “ECHOES” that was promptly censored by the then governing bodies.

A.      M.  EL NAHAS

“Practicing Active Opposition” .. A Gift or a Right?

By Ahmed El Nahas, Tuesday June 29th 2010.

I watched with admiration Mr. Ibrahim ISSA’s interview to H.E. Dr. EL Baradei, which brought me to write down the next few lines hoping to draw attention to a well known yet unobserved and totally neglected political concept.

Knowing that true democratic practices, though protected by constitutional mechanisms, are founded on

transparency, free information, obedient submission of “ALL” citizens to the law, and most of all are based

on an irrevocable and confirmed set of norms and regulations enabling a mature and responsible opposition to actively participate in the nation’s institutional functions, as a tool of the salutary regeneration of the nation’s political class, and transitional rotation of ruling among different political and social currents, whose choices of “MEANS” may differ, but their strategic “ENDS” remain the same.

The caricaturist “free speech” granted by the “Land Lord” to a well tamed and chained opposition, is nothing but a joke that only HE is loudly laughing about, while the rest of us, all of us at all levels, are paying the consequences of such laughs; in terms of  hereditary rotation of power, rape of the constitution, installment of corruption as a system, weakening the economy through continuous and unjustified debts dictated by the IMF to break our bones and control our resources…etc..!!

History taught us that free opposition, being an undisputed constituent of pluralism in a democracy, is not a gift (carrot). It is a “Right” to be won by “Any” necessary mean, and then safely treasured by “All” means.

In a country like ours, opposition would be valid and effective only when:

“A person, or a group of persons, is/are charismatic, able and resilient enough to embrace together under the same banner all opposition fractions and currents (from the grass root and upwards), in a unique and united main stream, in total harmony  and respect of each others thoughts, beliefs, and political orientations. Thus forming a single solid block to safely represent that ‘Alternative Majority’, capable of providing a new agenda acceptable nationally and internationally”.

(I’m not talking about political groups only, but the free opposition should also include civilian movements, syndicates, unions, students, bloggers, NGOs… and so on).

Only then the weigh of such opposition would gain a cutting edge to impose change through a predetermined transitional period, which could and may well be violent, but will lead to the supreme and

ultimate goal for:

“The lawful and dynamic practice of Participatory Democracy, in a Free Sovereign Nation where the Constitution is the one and only Guarantor for good governance, being the Vigilant Custodian over Rights, the Firm Tutor of Duties and the Impartial Guardian on Justice”.

Hope to live and witness the day.

Pass On The Word.