Let me address, in these crucial hours, the heroic people of Egypt.

Let me address, in these decisive days, the courageous sons and daughters of the Sudan.

Let me address, at the dawn of a new age, Tunisia's brave sons and daughters, and the true heroes of the nations of the East in whose hearts burns, like a divine promise of victory, the flame of liberation, the longing for national rebirth, the thirst for justice and truth, the spark of that fire which makes the human soul human.

Blood of your blood and spirit of your spirit, I am burning with you.

I have suffered with you in your suffering. I have died with you in your dying. In your rebirth, I am reborn.

I am riot of your riot, victory of your victory.

With you I am saying that there is no hope but revolution, that there is no way out and no future without it, that no one but the people can govern the people's affairs.

Let our hearts be inspired by the grandeur of our national and cultural heritage! Let our thoughts be inspired by the enlightenment of the Golden Age, by the splendour and the light of a civilisation that does not have its equal in this world and by the knowledge that this civilisation lives within us, its seed being reborn with every new generation!

Let us no longer be ashamed to show our faces and let us speak our name in dignity! Let us raise the beauty of our heritage as a banner! Let us live our dreams with blood and soul!

It is time for the nations of the East to rise as one.

Our problems are deep and what lies at their root is the fact that we have not been ourselves. Arab problems require Arab solutions. Middle Eastern solutions are the only way to tackle Middle Eastern problems.

Not one day longer let this fact be ignored. We are not the backyard of any Imperialist power. We shall not be governed from abroad. Our policies shall not be dictated by foreign interests.

Every government of national unity must understand this first of all.

Else, it shall not last one day. And it must not be allowed to.

Let us take our rightful place among the nations. Let independence not be a farce. Let national souvereignty be souvereignty indeed.

No longer and never again let a government be tolerated whose first and singular priority is not the interests and the welfare of the people. It is the veins of the people whose blood, salt and sweetness nourishes the earth of the motherland. The nation is every one of her children. Every and each of her sons. Every and each of her daughters.

The motherland is our love and our truth. She is our history and our future. She is our present.

Our earth is an earth with many faces. Many faiths and many cultures have grown on her soil. They are the fertile seed from which her splendour, her high civilisations, her enilghtenment, her hopes and her promise are descended. One without the other is nothing. Their interaction alone is the cradle of the high culture. And the possibility of this high culture is destroyed whenever any one of them lays claim to exclusiveness. The potential of every great nation lies its multi-cultural character. The interaction of different cultures and faiths is the cradle of the Golden Age, the cradle of every nation's true greatness and civilisatory force. Let this be at the core of our national and cultural rebirth. Let society, in its renewal, be pluralistic-- multi-cultural and multi-religious. Let us draw our strength from the discovery of our selves in the mirror of the other. Let unity in diversity and versatility be the source of our greatness, as we, true descendants of our ancient civilisations, make our impact, once again, on the global history of human civilisation.

Political stability rests on the pillar of an efficient balance, on a stable equilibrium, of secular and religious elements in our lives and day-to-day administration. Any suppression or political exclusivity of either would upset that balance which is the very heart of the sanity and self-awareness of every nation.

Democracy, then, must be democracy in the true sense: the people as the political executive under all circumstances and the prevalence of the people's interests at any costs. A parliamentary sham is not enough. No game, no political illusion can take the place of the people in the history of the nations and in the administration of their affairs.

Long live the rebirth of the East! Long live the unity of our peoples and nations!

Long live the people's revolution!

Muhammad A. Al Mahdi

January 30th, 2011