د. حسام بدراوي الموقع الرسمي
Egypt’s revolution.. People’s democracy.. (2)
By Dr.Hossam Badrawi
5-7-2013
I do not support the deposition of an elected president by a country’s military, but what is happening in Egypt is not a coup in the traditional sense or by definition of a coup. Millions of Egyptians in unprecedented numbers poured into the street without leadership calling on end to the MB rule to the extremists Islamic project.Indeed, the army almost surely prevented a bloodbath that would have scarred Egypt for decades. The reality is that it would have been a crime not to intervene. Pro-Morsy supporters are now in the streets demonstrating their violent inclinations, compared to 30+ million Egyptians who merely waived their flags in unison to make their voices heard.
Today, a few thousands of armed MBs are killing demonstrators, burning national institutions, pulling the army into a face-off that will surely result in casualties. They are unfortunately partially supported by the American and Qatari media which is clearly showing bias in their selective broadcasting and interpretation of events. The American Congress at least issued statements that make sense and are in keep with US values. Some statements came individually before that in support of the revolution in spite of the position of the Obama adminstration in support of MBs.
Eric Trager, an expert on Egyptian politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Obama should not label Morsi’s ouster a coup, nor cut off U.S. aid.
We really don’t care any more about the American Aid, and actually cutting it, means also elevation of all other Camp David’s commitments of Egypt towards the agreement between Egypt and Israel . I don’t think Americans would risk this part of the deal and would not go that far. Anyway Egyptians will never forget that the US has been supporting MBs against the will of the people. This is a strategic error of jusdgment that will strain US relations with what will surely now become a true democracy in the Middle East built around its people’s will.
“The Obama administration should recognize that as undemocratic as any coup is, what happened in Egypt was not a coup by definition but the result of the basic fact that Morsi and the MBs had completely lost control of the Egyptian state in the last few months.
Republican Representative Ed Royce, the chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee said” Morsi was an obstacle to the constitutional democracy most Egyptians wanted””
Democracy was not the primary thing at stake in Egypt these last few months,” but rather Morsi’s mismanagement and fears of collapse of the Egyptian state. Cities were plagued with power outages and fuel shortages, growth of inflation and unemployment with zero FDI into the country other than handouts to MBs from their regional supporters. A long-promised deal with the International Monetary Fund was never been completed, and only suspected bailouts from Qatar and Libya have kept Egypt from exhausting its reserves of hard currency. The black market of foreign exchange is totally controlled by the MBs, and every one knew that the only way to transfer money outside the country is through them .
U.S. Representative Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House said “The Egyptian military has long been a key partner of the United States and a stabilizing force in the region, and is perhaps the only trusted national institution in Egypt today,” . Now the US is ready to sacrifice this long relation for the support of a terrorist group, that allies with Hamas, the long standing democratically elected terrorists, by American standards… what an irony !!!.
To us in Egypt, the legitimacy of the votes in the ballot, as an important pillar of democracy, is well understood. Yet it is not the only feature of democracy. The US administration knows well that theMuslim Brotherhood do not and will never respect democracy. It is merely a stepping stone to their fascist intentions . Let us not forget that Adolfo Hitter came to power with legitimate vote in a democratic process.
Using religion , to deceive people to vote politically for those claiming to be the guards of Islam is not democratic. Collecting legislative and executive power with no respect to judicial independence is not democratic. Lying and deceiving in every promise is not democratic.
The “democratically elected” president and his regime broke all the rules and covenants of legitimacy. In November of last year, The Supreme Court was besieged by the president’s followers for more than 30 days to obstruct justice and delay the sentencing in two crucial cases related to the constitutionality of both the Constituent Assembly and the Upper House (the Shoura Council). This is not democracy.
During these days the president bestowed on himself the right to legislate and immunized all his decrees from legal pursuit. He removed the Prosecutor General, breaking his constitutional oath and appointed the man of his choice, breaking yet again his constitutional limits. He thus became the Superman ruler of Egypt: the CEO, the legislator and the magistrate. This is not democracy.
MBs produced via non constitutional comittee a draft of constitution, that does not respect the plurality of the society nor the rights of women . This constitution was forced with articles excluding people from their political rights without any legal convictions . It changed the identity of Egypt to fit the religious state in MBs mind . Is this democracy
Appointing someone who was involved in the massacre of Japanese tourists in Luxor during the late nineties, as the governor of Luxor, without resistance would have been a crime against justice and democracy.
If more than 30 million Egyptians come together and say no to this, and to the mismanagement of the country, and change the government the only way available to them, as no parliament and all powers of the State is in MBs hand, it is for us a way of implementing democracy.
Democracy is not a theoretical issue to be discussed on papers, and interviews, but has values and principle to be followed. We cannot consider only one of these values and ignore all the rest.
When the army, police, media, judges ,intellectual, artists, professionals scream for the change, no one can call it a coup but a response to the call of more than 30 million.
My God, what a double standard the west is portraying to us in Egypt by standing and supporting a criminal regime that does not respect any value of human rights or democracy, holding on accidental minor majority in the ballot, without implementing any of its values or respecting the plurality of Egyptian society and its moderate spirit..
By:Hossam Badrawi
5 – 7 – 2013