Local Egyptian community is hopeful
Posted Feb 2, 2011 07:22:41 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There is a sense of relief in the local Egyptian community upon news that President Hosni Mubarak will not seek re-election.
As 570 News first reported yesterday, after eight days of intense protests, Mubarak announced he would not run in September’s presidential election.
For Issmaeel Lawendy, a Waterloo man who has spent the past four years attending school in Egypt, the news comes as a relief.
“Freedom of speech (in Egypt) is very rare and people are very afraid,” Lawendy notes. “This did give people hope and the people really did need a victory. Today we have one.”
Mubarak has pledged to spend the next several months working to ensure a peaceful transition of power.
For Lawendy, it’s critical that Egyptians have a say in who their next leader will be.
“Mubarak’s regime has not only kept Egypt standing still but it has actually taken us backwards,” Lawendy insists. “We need someone free of corruption and we need someone who cares for the people. People need to feel like they have a choice in the matter and the laws that they live under.”
Lawendy was himself part of a protest march last Friday, before catching his flight home to Waterloo between semesters of schooling. While concerned that it had to come to such a level of protest, Lawendy is impressed by the power of the people and their ability to be heard.
“This is a milestone not only in Egypt’s history but also in human history,” Lawendy states. “It’s especially important in Egypt where the people have been suppressed for so long. I think people around the world should speak out against injustice and oppression and dictatorship.”
Mubarak, 82, has been president of Egypt since former leader Anwar Sadat was assassinated in October 1981.
