"Harmony~ It's about individual voices coming together for a moment~ and that moment lasts a breath..." ~quote from 'HOUSE OF CARDS' Tv series~
'POLITICS' in the world we ALL live in are just that. Nothing more than games motivated by inherent appetite for POWER; POWER PLAY.
For those who feel either happy or sad about the change Egypt is going through and indeed especially for those who feel justly apprehensive, let's try to keep religion safe and away from all of these dirty games and cherish its guidelines as received, perceived and absorbed by each one of us in our own growing ways both personally and as a nation. We must come together and all share a modicum of respect or forever be subjugated to tyranny of a kind.

'Something in the soul...'Hani Shukrallah , Tuesday 2 Jul 2013

"Egyptians are overthrowing an Islamist regime, once again defying lazy stereotypes about the region."

"“There is something in the soul that cries out for freedom,” said Martin Luther King Jr. so many years ago, his memorable words quoted by none other than Barak Obama in his 12 Feb. statement on the Egyptian revolution, which a day earlier had successfully overthrown Hosni Mubarak’s obdurate 30-year rule. For the American president it was rhetorical flourish, even as his administration, both before 11 February 2011 and since, acted consistently to help strangulate that very “something” in Egypt’s soul."

"Why it was necessary to remove Morsi" Khaled Fahmy

"The revolution aimed to change the rules of the game, not just its players. When it was clear that Mohamed Morsi was picking up the mantle of Mubarak, he had to go"

Read more:

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/75663/Opinion/Why-it-was-necessary-to-remove-Morsi.aspx

Comment is free

"This is not a coup, but the will of Egypt's people"

Amira Nowaira

"The overthrow of President Morsi may seem like a military coup. But to all intents and purposes it is not. The call for Morsi's ousting was made by millions of Egyptians who went out on the streets for four days in a row, raising Egyptian flags and chanting one word directed at him: "Erhal", meaning, "leave, depart". Without the presence of those millions on the streets and their determination to get rid of Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, the military would certainly not have intervened." Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/04/coup-egypt-mohamed-morsi-people

landslide handglide

ALEXANDRIA photo by Asser Mattar

Asser Mattar

"Thousands marched from the east and west of Alexandria to gather in the focal point of Sidi Gaber, in front of the train station. Abu Qir Avenue linking the east and west of Alexandria was blocked with the sit-in and the thousands of people demonstrating since Sunday the 30th of June. In front of the train station, Ahmed Ismail street going north until the corniche was also filled with demonstrators against Morsi. The atmosphere was more of a carnival everywhere, with people singing, chanting, waving flags, whistling, and raising red card (as a sign for Morsi to get out). Last night the celebrations were enormous with fireworks and marches all over the city.

Everyone was there, from all ages and classes of society

muslims, christians, rich, poor, old, young even salafis and women with niqab"

“The rejection went far beyond the liberal community,”
“I have been extremely conflicted this past week,” Morayef told me. “I don’t support the military or coups. But for me as a voter, Morsi betrayed the trust that pro-reform Egyptians placed in him. That is what brought 14 million people into the streets on June 30. It was not so much the incompetence as the familiar authoritarian agenda, the Brotherhood trying to solidify their control by all means.”
Morayef said. “The vast majority of the women at the demonstrations were veiled. Practicing Muslims, non-Westernized Egyptians, were saying no to political Islam and religious authoritarianism. We have never seen anything like this in the Arab world.”
Read more:
*http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/opinion/global/political-islam-fails-egypts-test.html?_r=2&

N.Elkouni writes:
"Egypt, my Egypt...

I long for the Egypt of my youth... It wasn't a utopia back then but it was a safe place where different religious ideologies where respected and tolerated. It was a place where the poor were able to offer their families a nutritious meal for less than a pound... It was a place where you did not have to surrender your integrity and self respect to feed your family and to survive... With the euphoria that accompanied the January 25 revolution and the hesitant joy we felt yesterday...I wonder. I wonder is this the dawn of a new day for Egypt?! I hope so... I hope I can go back to my family home in Alexandria and feel that I belong... I hope I can go back home with my boys to the beloved country of my youth and feel that we belong... Will this come to pass, I hope so..."

Greenleaf writes:
"I'm sure you've been sharing every minute of these past few days, the energy, the determined refusal, the anticipation, the tension, the fears, the joy and jubilation at last! It's truly wonderful!
Such a huge relief. Like a gigantic rock has been lifted off. THANK GOD."

This song was playing a couple of days ago and it was sounding just the right chord for these last amazing four days
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rssew0OaCNY

Another timeless song evoking national spirit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BohHGP6z4Ho
What follows is more 'stream of consciousness' than analysis of any kind:
Change is always startling if not shocking. Molecules are thrown up into the air only to settle in some other form. Adapting when not rebelling and rebelling when not adapting is what instigates necessary and inevitable change within and without ourselves.

Perhaps Egypt has shaken the whole world to some extent~ dismissing what appeared a foregone conclusion through a spirit refusing to be so utterly compromised yet again.

The choice of parties for election post the 2011 revolution was virtually akin to non-existent since the election process boiled down to encompass only two parties: one that virtually represented Mubarak himself and the only other was the one shunned by all who came into power since the 1920s: the Muslim Brotherhood. However, with the turn of events and the deposing of a 30 year rule of dictatorship, the latter appeared to be the only viable one for many revolutionaries and won by only a very small margin. Many did not vote since they recognised the pitfalls each choice included. Nevertheless the MB was seen by many as being given a chance to prove itself and in turn to become an integral part of society; a golden opportunity since its members had been outcasts and driven underground for so many decades.
Furthermore, if the democratic process was already severely compromised right from the start it became even more so with every edict and statement announced. A democracy ceases to be one when it ceases to abide by the democratic (however lame) principles that served in bringing it into power in the first place. Once the MB began to be seen as building its own army, its own militia, respect and empathy were replaced by dread. There is no doubt that the party was indeed seriously compromised by a vengeful former regime, however the continuous harping on about this factor on the part of the president himself served him badly since there appeared to be no negotiation forthcoming to pave the way for cooperation. Additionally, the president declaring himself to be above judicial law and lay of the land signified a defiance of the very essence of even a trace of democratic spirit. Even though there was a subsequent attempt to retract that statement, the seed of doubt and helplessness in a people, by all intents silenced, grew ever stronger.

Perhaps democracy has been thrown a spanner. Perhaps there is something to be gained from witnessing such a transgression. Democracies all over the world are seen to fail their people when clearly unable to deliver on many an issue or concern so that many may come across as only half-heartedly established.

Whatever the road map for Egypt may appear to be at present it is almost certain there will be enormous ramps to climb over.

photo by Lamiaa Elsaadawy

Amidst the mass euphoria of present victory, many individuals and entities may well soon feel significant new pressures; discord rather than discourse sprouting from a 'remix' of varied identities hoping to form a harmonious Egyptian ethos once more.

In principle, the MB is part of the nation in every sense of the word and should not be allowed to go underground and wreak more harm than good, however that may largely depend upon their stance and their willingness to be 'part' rather than 'the only part'. Restraint from administering a backlash will prove essential to their current fate. However, especially in the presence of an overseeing Military we must not forget the power of manipulation in the political arena from which there is no escape.

تصوير القوات المسلحة لمحافظة الاسكندرية بالهليكوبتر بعد عزل مرسى Video by Armed Forces of

Alexandria post deposition of M.Morsi    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQb0SEhqztw
Live and let live should be the motto of ALL including those

N.Elkouni: "Egypt like a lotus flower illuminating the darkness of the night"

who have made it their life's mission to self-righteously witch-hunt others, believing their view to be the only valid and permissable one. Instigation of violence and segregation are both abhorrent especially when in the name of a cause, be it religiously or politically motivated and as is the case, so very often both.
Tolerance, like free speech can have no limits, by very nature of definition.
For a peaceful and humane outcome 'live and let live' must be accompanied with tolerance.
This should apply in all aspects of society everywhere but that would be Utopia ~and Egypt may have some way to go!

Article links contributed by Hala Halim and Amira Nowaira
Videos submitted by ShelSand GreenLeaf