The military coup, or the ‘people’s coup’ as the liberals like to call it, came as a relief for most Egyptians. This was because they had great hopes after the revolution in 2011, which were shattered during Mohamed Morsi’s stint as the first ever democratically elected president. The revolution had united all Egyptians, who set aside their differences and strove to liberate their country. For the first time, they felt empowered in the land of the Pharaohs and tyrants. Self-determination was previously a remote concept, a luxury that the common Egyptian had never been able to afford in this region’s long cruel history.
The revolution brought an end to Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship and also forced the Egyptian army to step aside, giving democracy a chance. But the revolution, instead of benefiting all sections of Egyptian society, profited the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) alone. The MB was the only organised political force and despite operating underground for decades had plenty of experience in mobilising support. Its strong network enabled it to muster enough support to take the reins of the first ever-democratic government in Egypt. The euphoria in Egypt soon ended when President Morsi took on a dictatorial role by alienating the liberals and imposing his rigid Islamic agenda, without taking other stakeholders on board. Although the MB had narrowly won by mustering 51 percent of the support, its decision-making manifested that it was adamantly intolerant of the other 49 percent.
The constitution that was drafted by the MB is a prime example of such bigotry. Although the constitution was approved through a referendum, with a mere 33 percent participation rate, prior to that it was steamrolled through the constituent assembly and no efforts were made to reach a consensus. Sunni Islamic values were made the cornerstone of the constitution. Moreover, women’s and religious minorities’ rights were not protected and were left to religious interpretation. In addition, Morsi’s overbearing actions such as preventing the judiciary from functioning independently and the removal of the military’s top brass under the garb of cleansing the country of the remnants of Mubarak’s regime were not received well. He was seen as an Islamist dictator and not as the liberator of Egypt, as he would have hoped. The reason why Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist agenda is being tolerated in Turkey is because he transformed Turkey’s economy, making it a major economic force within a decade. Morsi had no such credentials to show, and quite to the contrary he managed to bring Egypt’s economy on the brink of destruction, which caused major resentment among the masses. The military under General Sisi had, prior to enforcing the coup, given several warnings to Morsi’s government to get its act together. Morsi’s stubbornness made the coup on July 3 inevitable, if not justified.
Unfortunately, after the coup things have only gone from bad to worse. Despite all the Muslim Brotherhood’s shortcomings, there was no rationale to deprive a political party of its mandate granted by the people. Similar events transpired in Algeria where the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was denied power after winning the elections. What followed was a systematic crackdown on FIS members, which started a bloody civil war. One can’t help see similarities and deplore the excessive use of force by the Egyptian authorities against pro-Morsi protestors demonstrating outside the Rabaa Al-Adawiyah Mosque this past Saturday. More than a 100 people were killed and the bullet wounds on the heads and chests of the corpses suggest that the police shot to kill rather than to disperse the crowd. To add insult to injury, MB’s leader and ousted president Morsi, who has been in custody since the coup, has been accused of plotting and assisting jailbreaks in which scores of prisoners including MB’s leaders were freed from jail. He has also been accused of conspiring with Palestine’s Hamas.
The fact of the matter is that pillorying Morsi and his supporters will in no way help resolve the impasse between the liberal and right wing forces. Pro-Morsi protestors should be given the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech. If they are shunned, the MB may be disillusioned by the political process altogether and the more extremist elements may be shored up to resist through violent means. Egypt’s army chief General Sisi’s attitude is only hurting the chances of reconciliation as he has appealed to Egyptians supporting the military’s role in this crisis to take to the streets in order to show their commitment to change (and indirectly legitimise the military intervention). This will only divide Egyptian society even more and may lead to a full fledged civil war, which would be disastrous for not only Egypt but also the Middle East as a whole.
After the Egyptian military coup, there are concerns over Islam’s incompatibility with liberal values of democracy. On the other hand, a commonly held opinion in the Muslim world about the US having an imperialist agenda and its alleged ambitions to place its cronies as heads of state in Islamic countries in order to exploit them, may have also gained credibility (Egypt has been receiving $ 1.3 billion annually in military aid from the US for more than three decades). Whether these concerns are valid or not, it is imperative that better sense prevails in Egypt. The MB should realise that democracy involves respecting dissenting opinions and taking into consideration the needs of all sections of society, instead of imposing one’s own agenda. Moreover, the MB will also have to come to the realisation that religion should be kept separate from the state’s affairs. If this is not done, then it may become impossible for the MB to be a part of the political process. The liberals in Egypt should realise that their credibility may be tarnished if they continue to ride the bandwagon of the military. They should show their resolve to re-establish democracy in Egypt and should refrain from strengthening the military’s hands so that it does not take centre-stage as it has in the past. Egypt’s divide will only widen unless all stakeholders work together to reach a compromise.
The writer is an intern at Daily Times