A re-run of the protests which ousted Hosni Mubarak back in 2011? This is what commentators have dubbed the fresh protests in Egypt, where thousands have converged on the renowned Tahrir Square which shook the throne of the dictator Mubarak and now the democratically-elected Mohamed Morsi who was ousted yesterday by the military, writes Majed Iqbal.
It seems surprising that Egyptians are protesting against a government which they “democratically” elected not too long ago, knowing full well that Morsi and his party had no real plan for the government and were elected more on the merit of their social and charitable work.
What is clear now is that there was no change! Were people naive enough to believe that the army which backed a vicious dictator who brutalised his nation through fear, torture, extra-ordinary rendition, complicit and blessed by Western rulers, would allow anyone to come forward to rule Egypt?
The ultimatum set on Monday by the Army was clear proof of who holds the reigns of power in the country. These were the same generals who sat in the US waiting for orders on how to contain the situation in Egypt with their “wait and see” policy. What else can be expected from them in the current climate?
Naive thinking
Morsi is a victim of his own and his party’s absence of thinking on how to rule Egypt. He chopped and changed, sustained ties with Israel, took on IMF interest-based loans deepening the economic stagnation of the country, remained muted on Syria for months on end, had no stance on the opening of the Rafah border for free transit of goods to Gaza, appeasing the secularists by maintaining key resorts openly serving alcohol and other entertainment for Western holiday makers and having a lack of vision for job creation.
These problems have deepened by pursuing a line of “compromised politics” that focus primarily on appeasing power brokers from mixed backgrounds in government rather than solving the nation’s woes. These are the pitfalls of democracy which strangle prosperity in a tug of war of power.
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Morsi and his party should have listened to the call for a comprehensive Shariah to be implemented by withdrawing from the shady electoral process and using their social standing and influence to explain a new vision based on Islam and how its detailed rules are the only force for real change for Egyptian society which can offer justice, peace, prosperity and a civil society for all through the framework of a tried and tested system which upheld theses principles for over 1300 years.
Compromised politics never work!
