By Salama A Salama Now we know that every rumour we've heard about the fulul was true. The fulul, or the remnants of the now- disbanded National Democratic Party (NDP), often blamed for various acts of sabotage that have taken place since the revolution, are no longer meeting in secret. They are no longer trying to disguise their actions. They are acting in broad daylight, holding conferences and setting up parties. And if need be, they are willing to rise in open challenge to the regime. If Mustafa Mahmoud and the Battle of the Camel were not enough, the fulul are getting better organised by the day. They made their presence known during the trials of the deposed president and his aides, inside and outside the court. They transported their supporters in buses to the trial's location in Al-Tagammu Al-Khamis, as if in an organised tour. It is an effort that involved a considerable amount of logistics, and it is not difficult to find who financed the crowds who kept shouting, "We are with you, Mr President." Then came the attack on the Israeli embassy, which coincided with attacks on the Giza Police Department and the Interior Ministry. Officials said that the attackers were thugs and people on foreign payrolls. But, many weeks later, we still haven't been told who orchestrated this attack. As the elections approach, the fulul know that this is their last chance to sneak back into power. The only way to stop them is for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to issue the Treachery Law, banning them from political life. This is the only way to root out the decay and corruption the NDP planted in our midst for 30 years. We need to impose a political ban on the higher echelons of the NDP, especially the members of the Policies Committee. Individuals who ran on the NDP ticket for local councils, the People's Assembly, and the Shura Council must also come under the ban. This must be done, but within due legal process. The last thing we want to do is to deprive all three million former NDP members of their political rights. The fulul are not going to give in without a fight. Already, their leaders are threatening the SCAF with dire consequences if a political ban is brought into force. They promise to cut off the railroads in Upper Egypt, and I believe they already rehearsed such actions. One cannot rule out that much of the disturbances we've seen in Upper Egypt over the past few months were planned by the fulul. Clashes between families that ran out of control, the attacks on places of worship, such as the recent incident in Edfu, and other cases of sectarian violence, all bear the unmistakable mark of the fulul. Most revolutions are faced with the dilemma of what to do with diehard supporters of bygone regimes. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, East European countries passed special laws aimed to terminate the political influence of the old parties. In East Germany and the Czech Republic, political bans on key figures of the old regimes lasted from two to five years on average. We need to rid the Egyptian political scene of the horrors of the deposed regime. We need to reverse the tide of corruption that has deformed our politics for three decades. We need to stop the fulul in their tracks, so that this country may finally find its way to democracy.
