North Africa new era heralded by Cal State professor, Egyptian President Elect

Mohamed Morsi speaks at Revolution Square on pre-inauguration day
Re-reporting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

In today’s speech, Morsi said: 

We will complete the journey in a civil state, a nationalist state, a constitutional state, a modern state.

I don't fear my people.

Respecting the will of the people is the basis of our foreign relations.

No institution is above the people.

We will never give up the rights of Egyptians abroad.


In Mohamed Morsi’s biography

News reports have spelled this name variously: Mohamed Mursi (AllAfrica); Mohamed Morsy (AFP); Mohamed Morsi (Al Jazeera English; Mohammed Mursi (BBC)

On June 24, 2012, Egypt’s election commission announced that Morsi had won that country’s presidential runoff against Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under Egypt’s deposed leader, Hosni Mubarak.

Before becoming president-elect, Morsi was a Member of Parliament, elected as an independent, in the People’s Assembly of Egypt (2000-2005) and a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood.

He was a member of the Guidance Office of the Muslim Brotherhood until the founding of the Freedom and Justice Party in 2011, at which point he was elected by the Brotherhood’s Guidance Office to be the first president of the new party. He had been Chairman of the FJP, a political party founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in the wake of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. In the May–June 2012 presidential election, Morsi stood as the FJP’s candidate.

Mohamed Morsi took his academic credentials in engineering at Cairo University (Bachelor’s and Master’s in1975 and 1978); and at the University of Southern California, U.S. (Ph.D. in 1982; and was an assistant professor at California State University-Northridge (1982-1985). In the later year, he returned to Egypt to teach at Zagazig University.

Muhammad Morsi Isa al-Ayyat (Wikipedia spelling) was born August 20, 1951, in the Sharqia Governorate of in northern Egypt.

The country

Egypt’s land frontiers border Libya to the west, The Sudan to the south, and Israel to the northeast. In the north, its Mediterranean coastline is about 620 miles (1,000 km), and in the east its coastline on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba is about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) Britannica.

Inauguration Day

News sources report that President-elect Mohamed Morsi will formally take his oath tomorrow morning. He will then travel to Cairo University to deliver an inauguration speech.



Sources and notes

“Egypt: Mursi to Take Oath Before Constitutional Court Saturday,” June 29, 2012, http://allafrica.com/stories/201206290015.html

Bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Morsi

“Egypt’s Morsi defies military in fiery speech” (Al Jazeera), June 29, 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/06/201262916347287161.html

Caption at Al Jazeera: Tens of thousands of people gathered in Tahrir Square for the speech, many waiting for hours in the heat [EPA]

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Egyptian resistance surpasses Hugo

Excepting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

“When dictatorship is a fact

Revolution becomes a right.”

Victor-Marie Hugo

Friday February 11th was a momentous day for the people of Egypt. 


Friday was “the day when the 30-year reign of U.S.-backed President Hosni Mubarak [Muḥammad Hosnī Said Mubārak (Husni), b. May 4, 1928, in the Nile Valley, a militarist and dictator, Egypt’s president since October 1981] stepped down after a weeks-long popular uprising,” Uprising Radio announced with breaking news from Al Jazeera altering the start of yesterday’s broadcast.

“His resignation was announced by his Vice President [U.S.-backed intelligence officer, torturer] Omar Suleiman after a confusing day of events on Thursday when instead of resigning Mubarak gave a 17 minute long speech reasserting his rule.

“Friday’s announcement of Mubarak’s resignation by Suleiman was only 45 seconds long.

“Power has been effectively handed over to the Egyptian military. The streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities have been flooded with jubilant protesters, elated at their success.…

The Victor Hugo quote was Sonali Kolhatkar’s “Subversive Thought for the Day” — 

“‘When dictatorship is a fact, 
revolution becomes a right.’”

With the Revolution of 1848, Victor Hugo gained election in the Constituent Assembly, later in the Legislative Assembly as deputy for Paris. He supported the successful candidacy of Prince Louis-Napoléon for the presidency that year.

As the president moved toward an authoritarianism of the right, Hugo moved toward the assembly’s left. The December 1851 coup d'état took place, resulting in the Second Empire under Napoleon III. Hugo attempted to resist then fled to Brussels.

His exile later became a voluntary gesture and, after the 1859 amnesty, an act of pride. Hugo remained in Brussels for a year. Then, foreseeing expulsion from there, he took refuge on the island of Jersey (1852 to 1855) in the English Channel. Expelled from there, Hugo moved to the neighboring island of Guernsey. His exile lasted until the return of liberty and the reconstitution of the republic in 1870. In nearly 20 years’ exile, Hugo “produced the most extensive part of all his writings and the most original.”

Victor-Marie Hugo (b. Besançon, France, February 26, 1802- d. Paris, May 22, 1885) was France’s most important Romantic writer, a poet, novelist and dramatist. He is best known outside France for such novels as Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).

Sources and notes

Victor Hugo. BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/v/victorhugo117987.html

Britannica biographical note

Hugo, Victor.  (2011). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Deluxe Edition.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica

This week on Uprising: “A momentous day in Egypt as the revolution wins and President Mubarak steps down,” February 11, 2011, http://uprisingradio.org/home/

“The news of Mubarak’s resignation came minutes into Uprising’s daily program on Friday February 11th just as [the program was] about to discuss the events of the previous day.”

Uprising is a digest of independent news analysis, investigation, education, artistic expression, activism in the public interest. Sonali Kolhatkar hosts the program.

 “Who is Omar Suleiman? Professor Lisa Hajjar on His Connections to the United States and Torture,” January 24, 2011,

http://vodpod.com/watch/5554796-who-is-omar-suleiman-professor-lisa-hajjar-on-his-connections-to-the-united-states-and-torture

February 11, 2011 Democracy Now, “Who is Omar Suleiman? Professor Lisa Hajjar on His Connections to ...Jan 25, 2011 ... DemocracyNow.org -Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has resigned, leaving many speculating the role of Vice President Omar Suleiman, vodpod.com/.../5554796-who-is-omar-suleiman-professor-lisa-hajjar-on-his-connections-to-the-united-states-and-torture

“Omar Suleiman, the CIA’s Man in Cairo and Egypt’s Torturer-in-Chief,” February 11, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/11/omar_suleiman_the_cias_man_in

Lisa Hajjar is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and co-editor of the online journal Jadaliyya

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