Upcoming elections are blighted by paranoia and a national crisis of confidence. It doesn't mean revolution was a bad idea
Magdi Abdelhadi
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 April 2012
"In Egypt it's sometimes impossible to determine whether chaos is the work of sinister counter-revolutionary forces, or just normality. There's a big fire almost every week – the latest being in an oil depot in Suez. This immediately sparked fears that "enemies of the revolution" were again at it.
Chaos, people say, will convince the average Egyptian that the revolution was a bad idea – with the result that he/she will vote for "stability" in the coming presidential election, or even worse, call on the ruling military junta, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), to stay in power.....
Many blame the roadmap imposed by the military with the blessing of the Muslim Brotherhood. Instead of charting a new path with the drafting of a new constitution that laid down a vision for the future and new rules, according to which a parliament and a president should be elected, they both agreed to patch up the old system. But their motives in doing so were at odds.
While the military sought to salvage as much as possible of the old regime, the Brotherhood saw a historic opportunity to seize power quickly.
The Brotherhood, along with other Islamists, won the election and looked poised to rule the country. But when the military, fearing real change, refused to let them form a new government, they fell out. That's when their opportunistic love affair came to an abrupt end.
Both apparently also failed to agree on a compromise candidate for the presidency. That's when the Brotherhood reneged on an earlier promise and fielded its heavyweight deputy leader, multimillionaire businessman Kharait al-Shater. Suleiman, after months in the shadows, also entered the fray, prompting speculation that he was the military's candidate.....
Close up, Egypt looks a mess. An old elite mounting a rearguard action to fend off its imminent demise. An emerging elite, fragmented and with no experience of parliamentary democracy, let alone running a country blighted with all the economic and social woes you can think of: corruption, poverty, obscene inequality, rampant unemployment, illiteracy, with a hostile military and police force on top.
The scene appears set for a disaster whichever way it goes, but the long view offers an alternative reading.
One of the immediate benefits of the revolution has been the exposure of Islamists as politicians who lie and manipulate the public like all others – such as the Islamist MP who lied about his nose job – and thereby damaged their carefully cultivated image as God-fearing do-gooders....."
Magdi Abdelhadi
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 April 2012
"In Egypt it's sometimes impossible to determine whether chaos is the work of sinister counter-revolutionary forces, or just normality. There's a big fire almost every week – the latest being in an oil depot in Suez. This immediately sparked fears that "enemies of the revolution" were again at it.
Chaos, people say, will convince the average Egyptian that the revolution was a bad idea – with the result that he/she will vote for "stability" in the coming presidential election, or even worse, call on the ruling military junta, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), to stay in power.....
Many blame the roadmap imposed by the military with the blessing of the Muslim Brotherhood. Instead of charting a new path with the drafting of a new constitution that laid down a vision for the future and new rules, according to which a parliament and a president should be elected, they both agreed to patch up the old system. But their motives in doing so were at odds.
While the military sought to salvage as much as possible of the old regime, the Brotherhood saw a historic opportunity to seize power quickly.
The Brotherhood, along with other Islamists, won the election and looked poised to rule the country. But when the military, fearing real change, refused to let them form a new government, they fell out. That's when their opportunistic love affair came to an abrupt end.
Both apparently also failed to agree on a compromise candidate for the presidency. That's when the Brotherhood reneged on an earlier promise and fielded its heavyweight deputy leader, multimillionaire businessman Kharait al-Shater. Suleiman, after months in the shadows, also entered the fray, prompting speculation that he was the military's candidate.....
Close up, Egypt looks a mess. An old elite mounting a rearguard action to fend off its imminent demise. An emerging elite, fragmented and with no experience of parliamentary democracy, let alone running a country blighted with all the economic and social woes you can think of: corruption, poverty, obscene inequality, rampant unemployment, illiteracy, with a hostile military and police force on top.
The scene appears set for a disaster whichever way it goes, but the long view offers an alternative reading.
One of the immediate benefits of the revolution has been the exposure of Islamists as politicians who lie and manipulate the public like all others – such as the Islamist MP who lied about his nose job – and thereby damaged their carefully cultivated image as God-fearing do-gooders....."
1 comment:
اللهم ولى امورنا خيرنا ولا تولى امورنا شرارنا .... :)
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