Und diese E-Mail habe ich über einen Verteiler erhalten. Ihr werdet verstehen, dass ich Hinweise auf die Identität des Verfassers entfernt habe. Der Text wurde von einem ägyptischen Doktoranden geschrieben:
Thank you for the encouraging emails I received from you regarding the current Egyptian uprising and your concern about my safety.
I was asked by the XXX and XXX whether there is anything they can do to help, and I decided to write you this mass email in response.
For those of you who haven't been following. Egypt has been witnessing massive mobilizations against Mubarak's regime, which were severely repressed on Friday January 28th and again on Wednesday February 2nd with more than 200 dead and 5000 injured, not to mention the continuous harassment and arrests of human rights activists, journalists and protesters, the cutting of internet and cell phone lines for several days etc. I have been demonstrating and sleeping in Tahrir square with fellow protesters for 10 days now, and have experienced firsthand the brutality of a stubborn regime that would do anything to stay in power.
Mubarak has been ruling Egypt for 30 years now, and his ruling party and state apparatus is notoriously corrupt and dictatorial. Nevertheless, his regime has remained a close ally of the US and Israel and therefore had been too strong to be shaken by age-old expressions of discontent, until January 25th 2011, the date massive and fearless demonstrations, mainly by the youth, started to fill the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and several other cities on a daily basis.
Since the beginning of this revolution, the US has first expressed reluctance, then ambivalence in recognizing the Egyptian people's right to overturn Mubarak's dictatorship. Hilary Clinton stated on January 26th, “Our assessment is that the Egyptian Government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.” Later, in the face of growing numbers of casualties, the US only moved from such blatantly complicit statements to mildly urging for 'a smooth transition of power'.
However, in practice Washington has continued to support the Egyptian dictatorship. A few months ago, Obama and congress approved an additional 1.3 billion dollars in security assistance to help prop up Mubarak's repressive regime. This after the November parliamentary elections were filled with well-documented fraud, independent election monitors rejected and despite the mass arrests and media suppression prior to the election. Even more, the Obama administration has cut aid to Egyptian civil society by 75 percent while maintaining this record military assistance, the largest after its aid for Israel. This support has only consolidated Egypt's armed forces, paramilitary units and secret police which number more than one million, in a context where half of the population lives below the poverty line, almost 35% are illiterate, and where the majority is persistently deprived of their basic rights. And despite the bloody repression carried out by the security forces (using American arms and tear-gas) since January 25th, the White House has merely declared that it will review its assistance to Mubarak's regime while literally waiting to see who will be the winner, Mubarak or the Egyptian people.
Given the level of repression and injustice that characterize the Mubarak era in Egypt it is paramount that American citizens reject US support of the Mubarak regime. Historically US support for authoritarian regimes was only put to an end by the American public's demands. I urge you to challenge the American policy that backs dictatorships in the Arab world in any ways you can. Please speak up in favor of the Egyptians' rights to determine their own future.
Sincerely,