Analysis: Egypt's disenfranchised moderates
The country's "critical bloc" is already growing tired of the interim
administration.
Alaa Bayoumi Last Modified: 30 Jul 2013 13:21
Interim President Adli Mansour (L) and his deputy, Mohamed ElBaradei, may lose
support from moderates [Reuters]
Looking from afar, Egypt may seem to many as a country deeply divided between
two entrenched political camps, with no political forces in between.
The escalating political tension and growing conflict between Egypt's strong
religious and secularist political forces is indeed overwhelming. Yet, like any
other country, Egypt has its own critical bloc that tries to avoid
polarisation, focusing on non-partisan interests, while shifting between major
political camps in a search for common ground.
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And, in a deeply divided country such as Egypt, staying politically neutral can
be both difficult and costly. Deep polarisation makes it hard for any voice to
deviate from either side of the dominant political rhetoric, as critical voices
become vilified by all groups.
Egypt's moderates
Still, Egypt's critical voices could be credited for major political shifts in
the country before and since the January 2011 revolution. They were at the
nucleus of the youth groups that triggered the uprising and went to the streets
long before groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafis, and traditional
secularist parties joined. They were the ones who first called on the Supreme
Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) - which seized power from long-time leader
President Hosni Mubarak - to retreat from politics and hand power to a civilian
government, providing moral and political cover for the protests that helped
end overt military rule.
They also supported Mohamed Morsi in his presidential campaign against Ahmed
Shafiq, who was seen as a remnant of the old regime. Their support may even
have been enough to win the presidential poll for Morsi, who won with just 51
percent of the vote. They later became disenchanted with Morsi's rule after he
failed to achieve many of the major demands of the revolution, such as the
reforming of Egypt's police. Their withdrawal of support for Morsi was critical
to his eventual ousting.
The group revolves around youth movements such as April 6 and "We are all
Khalid Said" - and around former Muslim Brotherhood youth leaders, who resigned
from the group complaining of its rigid leadership and partisan politics. These
former Brotherhood youths have rallied around Al Tayar Al Masry ["The Egyptian
Current"], a political party still under construction, and the Strong Egypt
Party, led by former presidential candidate and Muslim Brotherhood leader,
Abdel Moen Aboul Fotouh.
The bloc also has a leftist component, represented by "the socialist
revolutionaries", a group of young socialist activists who focus on labour
rights and social justice, but distance themselves from the hardline secular
attitudes taken by old socialist elites, who often found it impossible to
co-operate with religious groups for ideological rather than political reasons.
Disenchantment and calls for resignation
Such critical voices are also represented by several intellectuals,
increasingly disenchanted with the role of the military after either tacitly or
vocally supporting Morsi's overthrow.
Moataz Abdel Fatah, a political science professor at Cairo University, could be
seen as one such intellectual. He worked as an adviser to the first prime
minister after the revolution and was a member of the committee that wrote
Egypt's 2012 constitution. His independent voice won him both praise and
criticism.
But his lambasting of Morsi in recent months has put him firmly in the firing
line of the religious camp.
Still, he wrote on July 28 in El-Watan, warning of "a new revolutionary wave".
"The June 30 revolution cannot go back on the goals of the January 25
revolution, including criminalising the police state, holding those politically
corrupt accountable, rejecting the misuse of authority and power, and
respecting basic human rights and freedoms," he wrote. "If we don't see before
us strict commitment to the goals of the January 25 revolution, we will most
probably witness a new revolutionary wave against the outcome of the June 30
revolution."
The deaths of pro-Morsi protesters in Cairo on Friday night may have played a
role in turning the tide of opinion in favour of the growing disenchantment
with the interim administration. The killings brought wide-ranging condemnation
and raised concerns about the direction of the country's new leadership,
forcing some of its defenders to rethink their positions.
Hassan Nafeah, a political science professor at Cairo University, is a former
supporter of President Morsi who came out in defence of his ousting - citing
Morsi's political failures.
He wrote that he "welcomed" the call made by Abdul Fatah El-Sisi, Egypt's
military chief, for people to give him a popular mandate to combat possible
"violence and terrorism". Yet, Nafeah warned that support for military leader
El-Sisi "is not a mandate to kill or to break the law".
"The responsibility of protecting the security of the nation and citizens lies
on the shoulders of the executive authority," he wrote. "When a large number of
deaths takes place in political violence, as has happened, it is natural to
consider it clear evidence of the failure of the government to fulfill its most
important job."
Belal Fadel, a political commentator known for his criticism of the Muslim
Brotherhood, has calledon General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to resign - along with
Interim President Adly Mansour and Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi - over the
killing of protesters.
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"Whoever is in the seats of power should resign or courageously face his
responsibilities and refer those responsible for the massacre to justice,
regardless of who they are," he wrote. "Everyone should know that if he is lax
in doing that, he will not escape justice - no matter what his position is -
once the balance of power turns against him, as it turned against those who
thought they were shielded from punishment."
Distortion and dehumanisation
Yet the deadly events of Friday and Saturday may not be the only reason behind
growing criticism of the interim administration.
Amr Hamzawy, a leading member of the National Salvation Front, Egypt's main
secular opposition group, has been complaining of "exclusivist fascism and
dehumanisation of the Muslim Brotherhood and their religious alliesÂ… and
militarisation of Egyptians' collective imagination".
He fears an influential group within the anti-Muslim Brotherhood camp has gone
too far in its campaign against the Brotherhood.
"Over the past few weeks, they have demonised and cursed any voice that
demanded to hold accountable those who shed blood and engaged in corruption and
authoritarianism," he wrote. Such people should face "a transitional justice
mechanism" that would not differentiate between members of Mubarak's regime,
Egypt's military, Morsi's administration or those of the current interim
leadership, he said.
"The voices demanding accountability, transitional justice, and reconciliation
have been distorted and portrayed as Muslim Brotherhood sleeper-cells, and as
suspicious groups who are agents of an American project working against the
national interest." Hamzaway wrote.
Other analysts have also complained that the interim government seems too
partisan and weak, fearing the powerful military is still "pulling the
strings" behind the scenes.
"We have a prime minister who seems to be [too focused on] protocol," wrote
political science professor Ahmed Abd Rabuh. "He delegated his authorities and
powers to three deputies at the same time; A deputy for economic affairs,
another for political matters, and a third for defence and national security
issues. But, the third man is the one who carved the current path. He manages a
powerful institution [the military], owned by the people - but that has wide
economic independence and controls, in reality, the country's destiny - as its
men are spread all over Egypt."
New movement
In response, some activists have been organising people on the ground around a
new movement - neither aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood nor with the interim
administration. They named it "The Third Square".
A flyer used by the group to call for protests states that "Egyptian people are
not and will not be one bloc. [Egyptian people are] diverse, pluralistic, and
include different and contradicting groups. [The Third Square] is against
excluding any bloc in favour of others for any reason."
Abdel Moneim Mahmoud, a journalist and online activist who has so far attended
two protests organised by the group, told Al Jazeera that a "very few people
attended. A few dozen. And they were cursed and insulted by people passing by".
"It reminded me of the early days of protests that led to the ousting of
Mubarak," he said. "We were a very small minority belittled by the people, and
we are back to the same situation again."
Mahmoud said the difficult political transition that Egypt has been going
through, coupled with the many mistakes of those in power - including the
Muslim Brotherhood - along with ongoing social polarisation, has pushed many to
give up on the revolution and its ideals.
"Many want stability," he said. "They want to live without political problems,
crises, or even stands."
Still, Mahmoud remains cautiously optimistic for the future.
"Change will come," he said. "Revolutions are like snowballs. They start with a
few people speaking up - when everyone else is silent and sees them as crazy."
Follow Alaa Bayoumi on Twitter: @Alaabayoumi
Source:
Al Jazeera
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