WAEL SAID ABBAS GHONIM, THROWS MUBARAK A GAUNTLET?

Icheoku says the time has never been so ripe and the moment rightfully so come, that for the survival of the quaking Mubarak led Egyptian government, it has to crackdown now and so hard on the stringing-out protesters in Tahrir Square. Such crackdown in order to shake the resolve of those protesters must be so bloody so red that Tienanmen Square will look like a child's play. The government of Mubarak must visit with vengeance the iniquities and angst of the past three weeks on these protesters; a crackdown so vicious in intensity that they will see enough red to scatter throughout the four corners of the globe? Such ruthlessness on fellow Egyptians is the only thing that will save the regime's skin, the resolve of these protesters considered; and in order to enable them survive what has come to be known as Revolution 2.0!


For the Mubarak regime to survive, now is the time to bring out the sledge-hammer to hammer down those 'dissidents' at Tahrir Square. Sixteen days and counting with each passing day emboldening the protesters and forcing the regime to sacrifice one thing after another; forgetting that until Mubarak is also sacrificed those protesters will not be placated. The regime have to shut out the country from the outside world and clean out Tahrir Square the best way despotic government knows best; such that blood will continue to flow until the River Nile once again turns red, but this time not because of a plague but with the blood of Egyptians massacred for standing up for democracy! That is the only other choice left for Mubarak here since he has decided to dig in and the protesters are not going anywhere either. According to the face of the protest, Wael Said Abbas Ghonim, President Hosni Mubarak should either go or have him (Ghonim) killed; and Icheoku hedges bet on the later? Icheoku says this sure sounds like two extreme positions which gives no room for manoeuvre or negotiation and this battle of the will is now more likely to boil over with an unpalatable result.

After watching Mr. Ghonim's interview with a CNN correspondent in Cairo, so many questions came rushing down our minds and begging for answers:- who is this man; what are his affiliations both political and religious; what were his antecedents of activism and why has Google suddenly become an activists nest, executives freely mixing business with politics? In the said interview, Ghonim threw caution to the winds, offering himself up to be murdered just to prove a point that he is not afraid to die for democracy? But unbeknownst to this guy, he is not in America or speaking to an audience that usually rationalizes issues and soon he may get what he bargained for and the heavens will not fall. Icheoku appreciates what he is doing and admires his bravery going up against an entrenched military offshoot government that has practically been in power since 1952; admitted Mubarak has been president for 30 years only, but people do such things with a lot of caution but not foolish bravado. Icheoku believes that Ghonim has made his point and would have joined the negotiation efforts currently underway; but for him to denounce all negotiations is an invitation for anarchy and no reasonable mind thinks the government in Egypt will allow him destroy the country or even the administration or even humiliate President Hosni Mubarak. The operating procedure usually is for the lesser of the mortals to go and this is our fears that soon and very soon, when the crack-down on the protesters eventually beins, that Mr Wael Said Abbas Ghonim might be specifically targeted as an expendable pawn in the unfolding game of chess playing itself out in Egypt.


One school of thought on the Egyptian crisis even went further to question how really grass-root is the uprising, that in a country of over eighty million people, only about one hundred thousand people are protesting the Egyptian government? To this group Icheoku says, they should prove their superiority by organising ten million man march throughout Egypt to showcase their strength in numbers and until then, the world is hearing the vocal chords of those few who are adamantly protesting Mubarak's open-ended stay in government. Icheoku's heart is with those protesting Egyptians but we believe that the cardinal objective of the protest was achieved when Mubarak agreed to step down and now all parties should join hands to ensure that he keeps his promise and in an orderly fashion. We condemn any attempt at unduly over-rushing the transition and having waited for thirty years, six additional months will not be too daunting a period to effectively trade Mubarak for someone else. A chaotic disorderly Egypt is not an option for Mubarak being rushed out 'NOW'; so Egyptians and the world must help him organize a transition that will endure and an Egypt that will be there for our future generations yet unborn. Nothing else matters, nothing else counts; not even one million martyr-ready Ghonims.


Icheoku says if the negotiation is called off, what other wind is left in the sail of those protesting the regime; since they neither have overwhelming disruptive numbers of protesters to shut down the government nor the instrument of cohesion to otherwise achieve their objective. There is already enough of Egyptian blood (302 people dead) shed so far to water the planted seed of democracy in Egypt and such obstinate foreclosing of any negotiation with the government, tantamount to hardening of the hearts (akin to the pharaoh who will not let go the Israelites, so it may be an Egyptian thing not to compromise) will only accelerate to more ugliness. January 25 till February 10 is such a long time for such a number of people to be protesting a government which has dug in and will only go on its term; so why bother thinking they will bulge now or just throw their honcho under the bus just because one Ghonim said so?  It must not remain this my way or the highway and Icheoku hopes these parties will hearken to a wise council and come to a meeting point instead of being strung out with their positions. Like his hero, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Ghonim has provoked a thought and Icheoku hopes he will ride out the storm and achieve democracy for the people of Egypt. 


Icheoku says, if like Ghonim himself conceded that Mubarak has "sacrificed a lot" for Egypt and ought to be treated with dignity, does it not therefore make sense to just indulge him with the six months he is asking for to make a seamless transition instead of rushing him out of the house he helped build like a common thief? There is some contradictions here and Icheoku only hopes that this Ghonim is not part of some clandestine organisation trying to cause unnecessary upheaval in Egypt. SIX MONTHS AIN'T TOO MUCH TO ASK. Icheoku admires the courage of Ghonim, trying to make a difference in Egypt and we wish him God's speed; however we would rather he does not take positions of extremism in this matter as there are principally two egos at play here - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's and that of the protesters. Let a common reachable goal be agreed now so that both parties retains something of value of their ego in order not to humiliate either. Simply put, both parties should try and meet each other half way and let there be peaceful transition. Icheoku warns that should negotiations fail and the government becomes agitated enough to become edgy or feel that they have been overly cornered, Egyptian blood will flow and the River Nile will turn red!