Saturday, December 15, 2012

Videos against the Egyptian draft constitution surface social media

A group of Egyptian youth designed a series of video clips on YouTube campaigning against the draft constitution to be put to vote on Saturday. The clips come along a series of videos called in Arabic “Fahmni” or “Explain to Me,” tackling political and legal concepts and terms. The clips discussed some articles of the constitution in a very simple manner, while pointing out what they consider as ‘legal flaws.’ The videos start by the question, “why are we voting ‘no’ to the constitution?” followed by simplified explanations of the reasons behind rejecting some articles. One clip discussed Article 14 which limits the stipulation on a maximum national wage by stating that exemptions would be regulated by the law. The clip criticizes this article saying it does not set a standard relation between minimum and maximum wage. In another clip, the youth criticized Article 149 which states that the president may issue a pardon or mitigate a sentence. This article, the clip says, will grant President Mohamed Mursi the right to intervene in judicial affairs. The country heads to referendum after weeks of protests and violent clashes between rival camps that left eight people dead last week. Egyptians are to start deciding Saturday whether to adopt a new constitution backed by Islamists, or reject it as urged by the opposition, which claims the new charter does not represent all Egyptians. Recent protests have failed to dissuade Mursi from holding the referendum, which will be staggered over a week.

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