The lesson taught by Gamal Abdel Nasser still echoes decades later, as a potent warning of what could befall Egypt if it falls wholly into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The evidence was clear from the moment Morsi took office. Changes were made to gain as much power as possible. Sectarian violence was stoked, often ending in lynchings, with little or no intervention from the police.
To boot, the Brotherhood was quickly working to redraw the constitution, hamstring the judiciary and enact laws that would have all but barred Egypt from ever voting again. What the Brotherhood wants and has always wanted, is to make Egypt into the same political guise as Iran, a theocracy that has an iron grip on the people and the country.
Egypt is much too sophisticated, historically and not, and valuable country to fall into this kind of despair. Egypt must remain democratic at all costs, and freedom of religion must be respected.
The Brotherhood, a Sunni group, is liable at this time of having incited sectarian violence. Having been deposed, it remains to be seen if they will go quietly. Many believe that will not happen. The radicals and the fundamentalists do not want a western style democracy, but they will invoke it to claim that their representative and its parliamentary equivalent had a mandate to rule as it wished. That oxymoron being said, the Brotherhood has forgotten the millennia of culture and enlightenment that characterizes Egypt.
For that, in a sense, we must thank the military for very quickly deposing a President that was all but bent on becoming a tyrant. Even when he was faced with millions of protesters, he refused to share power. That alone told the world what his true intentions were.
Now the Army might be stoking the fire further however, by arresting 300 members of the Brotherhood. Although many do deserve to be silenced as they were the source of the sectarian violence that killed 4 Shi'a just a few weeks ago, the rest should be spared at least for the time being until the waters return to a relative calm. The show of force might exacerbate the already loud and vivid discontent of the fundamentalist followers of the Brotherhood.
The leader of the Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, has been arrested yesterday and taken to Cairo, charged with insulting the judiciary and inciting violence. Other charges are sure to follow. After all, if anyone had any doubts, the nascent half of Al Qaeda was a brainchild of Al Zawahiri, a potent and active member of the Brotherhood, and an Egyptian, who is currently at the helm of the terrorist group. There are few doubts of the Brotherhood's agenda, no matter how frequent and how loud their claims are of their newly found moderation. There is no moderation to be expected, or any democracy to be expected by a party or group that incites fratricide. Soon Christians too would have felt the wrath. Some already had. Coptic churches have been attacked since Morsi took over, a worsening of an already tragic disregard for the Coptic faithful.
Now that they have been forcefully removed, both Morsi and the Brotherhood are calling for all out bloodshed to return the Brotherhood to power. Morsi himself had the gall to use the word 'jihad' to signify his quest to return or retain power for the Brotherhood. That kind of talk is poison, and is not befitting a head of state. Furthermore, calling for sectarian violence, the killing of brother against brother is the lowest form of dictatorial meddling.
But the fundamentalist, or their sympathizers, in Egypt represent almost 28% of the people. If they decide to heed the calls of the Brotherhood to violence, there will be a civil war, the kind that no one should want. What is worse, the economy is floundering, and the lack of food and high prices will only worsen the situation in the next six months.
As the military runs to silence the radio and television channels that are airing Brotherhood propaganda, the fire this time might be just below the momentary calm. Let us all hope that the peace holds, and that the Egyptians do not turn against each other.
Op-Ed
Partial Source : France 24/ 7.4.13
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