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When did I realized that everything was over? It happened in Heliopolis - in a affluent suburb of Cairo - in a park. Hundreds of rich families went to celebrate the coup, wearing T-shirts depicting el-Sisi and his cronies. It looked like some historic photos from 9-11-1973 from the days when the coup perpetrated by General Pinochet against President Allende in Chile. It was different, of course it was; but it looked the same. US-sponsored coups always look the same. And so do the faces of the elites that support them!
I read about the demise of Morsi onboard MEA, from Istanbul to Beirut. I felt immense sadness. I did not know why, precisely. Certainly, it was not for the Mr. Morsi's reign. But most likely it was for that time, for that hope that was now totally choked and abandoned. For the days when 'everything was possible'; when people were ready and willing to fight for their country.
Egypt is a 'failed' state now. Scared, frustrated, poor and totally corrupt. A state that is devouring its own people.
When I go to one of countless slums of Cairo, these days, people look at me with open hate. They see me as a foreigner, as someone who helped to throw them back to hopelessness and misery. Of course, they don't know that several years ago I fought for them, at least as a filmmaker, side-by-side with their nation's socialist vanguard.
I also feel sadness for Morsi the man, if not Morsi the president. I somehow sense that the patriotic poem that he read before collapsing and dying, came straight from his heart.
In one single year when he governed, he did his best. His best was not good enough. He failed.
But he did not deserve to die like this, muzzled and humiliated, in a cage!
He deserved better. And his country, Egypt, deserves much, much better, damn it!
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[First published by NEO New Eastern Outlook]
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Four of his latest books are China and Ecological Civilization with John B. Cobb, Jr., Revolutionary Optimism, Western Nihilism, a revolutionary novel "Aurora" and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: "Exposing Lies Of The Empire". View his other books here. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky "On Western Terrorism". Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter. His Patreon
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