Read the Egyptian Constitution?.. Anyone?

Here I am again after a series of personal posts, where I sought refuge from current political and social matters. I found out that my despression because of the news is doubled when I write about them, but it seems inevitable. Anyway, once again I delve into the whirlpool of Egyptian politics. Our parliament has recently approved the list of constitutinal "amendments" suggested by the president. Read more here

For those who don't know: Egypt has one of the oldest constitutions in the world. It has been subjected to several "amendments" always in favor of the ruler, till we finally reached the one we are "amending" nowadays. But this is by far the biggest one, targetting 34 constitutional articles, most of which have to do with the outdated and the unrealistic socialist nature of the state. After the mass privitization that Egyptians have been witnessing during the past few years, it became rediculous to consider Egypt as a socialist country. So the majority of the changes are for the sake of erasing the last trace of a time when the state was responsible for its citizens.

Despite the huge opposition that faced those "amendments," the parliament has managed to declare its approval of the whole suggested list earlier than orginally scheduled (Monday instead of Tuesday) , and the popular referendum is to take place also earlier than scheduled (26 March instead of 4 April). But of course you all know how we like accomplishing things fast, especially huge matters.. matters that shall define the future of our country and the coming generations. You know that time is highly valued in Egypt. You know we don't believe in sayings such as "Ya mesta3gel 3atalak Allah," ( It's no use being on a hurry) or "Fel 3agala elnadama," (You shall regret being on a hurry) or "Ya 7'bar enharda bfloos bokra yeb2a bblash," (Today's news will be known tomorrow) or the most famous "Foot 3aleena bokra" (Come back tomorrow).

It is sad to see that the only efficient oppositional force nowadays is the Muslim Brotherhood, whose members only care about the article which will deprive them from having an official political party. The Egyptian constitution originally states that there should be no differentiation between Egyptians, whether based on race, gender or religion. Now, they will add that there can be no religious parties; i.e. political parties that have a single religious ideology. To me, this is the only article that makes sense. It just came to fortify the rule of banning any kind of discrimination among Egyptians.

The other faint voices of the non-biased opposition call for what really matters: changing Article 77 which gives the president the right to stay in power forever, and changing Article 2 which states that Islam is the basic source for legislation. Both articles are left untouched by the "amendments". There are other demands that they share with the Brotherhood, and that is disapproving the articles which aim at invading people's privacy and abolishing their civil rights for security purposes, (for all opposition is treated the same by security forces, who make use of such rules and laws to conduct massive captures and carry on brutal acts against opposers,) and disapproving the absence of judical supervision over elections.

However, what I care most about is this: How many will go to the polls on Monday? How many of them will have an idea about what they are voting for? How many will not care to place their votes cause they already know the result? How many will stay oblivious of what's going on? How many have never ever read the constitution and don't even care to know what it says? How many give a damn about the future of their country?