To the Egyptian army

By Christopher King

6 February 2011

Christopher King reminds the Egyptian army that the world is watching it, and asks: “Will you choose repression or freedom for your people?”

La vache qui rit – the laughing cow (البقرة الضاحكة) – has betrayed your people.

Egyptians deride Mubarak as "La Vache Qui Rit" – after the French processed cheese that appeared in Egypt in the 1970s – because of his rural background and his bonhomie. For a time the image that dominated Mubarak jokes was that of an Egyptian archetype, the greedy and buffoonish peasant.

Was it so that La vache qui rit can grovel to America that Gamal Abdel Nasser threw the British out of your country?


You know that La vache chooses riches for himself and his friends but poverty for your people.

You know that La vache is America’s torturer.

You have heard the American president’s ambassador tell the world his message to La vache, that he should stay in power.

The world is watching the Egyptian army. Will you choose repression or freedom for your people? What did Colonel Nasser choose?

You know that the armies of Britain and the European Union are killing the people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have lost their honour to America.

Soldiers know that honour is not a matter of money or strength of weapons. It is something from the heart.

Ask the Pashtun of Afghanistan what honour is.

Show the armies of Europe an example. Show them what honour is.

The people of Europe need your example.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian