Editorial
Downward spiral
December 22, 2011
The Daily Star
ditorial Downward spiral December 22, 2011 01:39 AM
The Daily Star
Editorial Downward spiral December 22, 2011 01:39 AM
The Daily Star
The latest news coming out of Egypt reveals that the country is
experiencing nothing short of a catastrophe.
Among the original demands of the protesters in Tahrir Square were for
better living standards and employment, alongside a strong desire for
political
freedom. But today at least 20 percent of Egyptians are still living under
the poverty level, with unofficial estimates closer to 35 percent. Almost
continuous protests for and against the interim government, and the violent
response such demonstrations have triggered have brought the country to
near paralysis.
Egypt has long depended on tourism, investments and industry to keep
afloat, and the ongoing volatile security situation is damaging all of these
key
sectors.
The immediate euphoria which followed the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak
in February has proven short-lived. Violence, which has simmered since the
first round of elections in late November, has flared up again, with 13
dead over the last few days alone.
Almost inevitably Moody’s ratings agency downgraded Egypt Wednesday, with
the national credit risk second only to Greece.
Investors will continue to withdraw from the country, and potential
tourists will continue to book their holidays elsewhere as long as such
instability continues.
Recent protests, led by liberal and non-sectarian protesters, the same ones
who spearheaded the original demonstrations against Mubarak, were harshly
put down by army forces. The brutality witnessed shows that the army,
regardless of its promises of reform, is no different from the security forces
of Mubarak’s era.
Further than this, however, the interim rulers seem to have made some tacit
agreement with the country’s Islamists: a power-sharing alliance of
potentially ominous nature. After years in the wilderness, the Muslim
Brotherhood
are leading the vote after the first round of elections, with the Salafi
Islamists not far behind.
But these years spent underground have given the Islamist parties time to
organize: to solidify agendas and build support bases.
So while liberal protesters believed that the violence experienced earlier
in the year would lead to regime change, to democracy and freedom, their
aspirations appear already dead in the water.
For so long religion has filled the gap left by the absence of political
democracy in Egypt, as with many other countries in the region, and combined
with this interim period of government, we see a fertile ground for those
wishing to sow dissent.
Certain people have taken advantage of this lacuna to push their own
agendas – agendas entirely at odds with the protesters’ original demands for
liberalism, individuality and for equality. This open invitation paves the way
for an Egypt marked by violence, disobedience and increasing poverty – a
country which looks set to regress, and where the ordinary Egyptian will pay
for the mistakes of others.
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