tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-241854518705112690.post2809009524591170755..comments2023-09-16T02:10:38.804+03:00Comments on Tabula Sara: The Myth of "The Revolutionary Candidate"Sara Labibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665571409552202224noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-241854518705112690.post-39993481684023067872012-05-30T13:07:34.037+02:002012-05-30T13:07:34.037+02:00Thank you perfectionatic, indeed, I too have hoped...Thank you perfectionatic, indeed, I too have hoped that a liberal-minded candidate would be able to convince a large segment of society to support his program, but unfortunately we'll have to wait for that. Please do note though, I spoke only against the notion of "the" (not "a") revolutionary candidate. It's only natural for there to be different candidates who are pro-revolution but each represent a different vision for the new regime.Sara Labibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08665571409552202224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-241854518705112690.post-90517156310972541002012-05-30T13:00:21.550+02:002012-05-30T13:00:21.550+02:00Very intelligently put, and it nicely highlight th...Very intelligently put, and it nicely highlight that the revolution was not about the promulgation of a particular ideology. However, as you mentioned, a big part of the motive force behind the revolution was to achieve certain goals. Those who somewhat convincingly claimed that they were working to realize those goals might deserve the moniker "revolutionary candidates". None of those guys made it to the final round unfortunately. It was my hope that the elections would present us with various visions for realizing those goals and we would be choosing amongst them, instead the two finalists can not even feign there commitments to those goals. <br />It was my hope that a truly liberal candidate to step up to the challenge, instead we found ourselves having to choose between a reformed Nasserist or a slightly liberalized Islamist.Perfectionatichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608003377360584716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-241854518705112690.post-18491915071248619742012-05-30T12:58:24.408+02:002012-05-30T12:58:24.408+02:00Thank you both for your comments. I agree cooperat...Thank you both for your comments. I agree cooperation is necessary and this is why I mentioned that possibility explicitly in the piece. However, what moved me to write this is the way some people think that because we're pro-revolution, that we think the same way & can all, despite our differences, be represented FULLY by an all-encompassing candidate. Coordination between followers of two different candidates, who, well aware of their differences, choose to compromise and work together is something else, of course.Sara Labibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08665571409552202224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-241854518705112690.post-44886277400882682492012-05-30T11:13:36.561+02:002012-05-30T11:13:36.561+02:00Like I said in my Tweet, we have little respect fo...Like I said in my Tweet, we have little respect for differences in ideologies. But having said that, I also think that in any democratic country there are not 100 parties to reflect the minor differences between one ideology and the next. There are usually 3-4 parties and within them are fractions from the different variations of those ideologies. You'd typically find a right leaning party, a left leaning party and two extreme parties. The fragmentation not only leads to a loss of voters but it also helps in deepening the segmentation in the society. I feel that between Hamdeen and Abou El Fottouh, there were - of course - some fundamental differences but still they both agreed on 70%-80% of the issues which should be more or less enough to join forces, at least in this phase of building a new Egyptian Republic. Solutions to key challenges such as Education, Health, Police, Economy, Corruption and even - to a large extent - liberties were points that both agreed to. I'm sure the conflicts they had could've been resolved had they decided to sit together and work those differences out. In the coming years, political forces that represent the revolution with all its various ideologies should work together to achieve a democratic and civil country that will afterwards allow for the transfer of power between the various ideologies. But there is an infrastructure that we all agree should be put in place and that we are sure that neither Shafik nor Morsi will want to install. <br /><br />The cooperation is a matter of life and death in this caseKarShafhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08503772091574521255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-241854518705112690.post-69419835973543490622012-05-30T01:27:18.466+02:002012-05-30T01:27:18.466+02:00True and intelligent insight. The ideas of the rev...True and intelligent insight. The ideas of the revolutionary candidate and party are not the same. The "candidate" could have been viable if all it meant was someone to ensure we remove the old regime from power and then negotiate with each other on specifics (within parliament for example). The "party" is a bit different, it must have more of a platform than simply "pro-revolution".Hatemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01658824488898803353noreply@blogger.com