In January 1898, the great writer Emile Zola wrote a letter titled J’Accuse (I accuse!) addressed to the President of France Félix Faure and published in L’Aurore (The Dawn) accusing the government of purposeful wrong-doing against an innocent citizen, Alfred Dreyfus, an Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to penal servitude for life.
Today there is a strong sense of indignation in non-Islamist policy-circles in Egypt against those western governments, media, development agencies, and think tanks who chose to side with an authoritarian regime against a citizenry who dared to dream of “bread, freedom and human dignity”.
June 30th, 2013, will go down in history as the biggest ever people’s revolt against a regime that Egypt has witnessed in its 5,000 year history. The turnout excelled by far the largest ever turnout that the country witnessed during the 18 days of protest against President Mubarak, 30 months earlier.