A Coup, Dear Friends, is a Coup! By A Z
That Morsi was incompetent is beyond question. The political charge sheet against him is long, compelling, and detailed. The fact is, Morsi couldn’t unite the country and people were really hacked off. Morsi was given the opportunity to be a broad, inclusive president, but instead pursued the narrow interests of the Muslim Brotherhood, forcing through an unpopular Islamist agenda. He failed to address the rights of minorities, the rights of women, and the economy. Morsi, seemingly drunk on delusions of grandeur and high on ideology, fancied himself de-facto -rather than nominal- ruler. Now, he’s been given a reality check. But then democracy and freedom have never been the baseline of Muslim polity and governance, so, if the progress has to be made, considerable bouncing and false starts will have to be accommodated. That is the only way – the tortuous road to democracy and pluralism. In recent times, Iran has again shown us the truth that every revolution is a road to nowhere. When revolutions happen, one group of usurping band of leeches are replaced by a ravaging set of ideologues. Stripped, off their cloaks or uniforms, to the flesh and bones, these people turn out to be as terrible as the ones before if not worse.
However, a coup is a coup. And it must be not be condoned. If for some liberals, Saudis, and their backers it is not a coup then they reek of double standards. Liberals who are not democrats cannot further democracy. They never have. If the millions demand it in the streets is then a coup not a coup? Then Zia’s coup was also not a coup. If the millions welcome a military takeover is then a coup not a coup? Then Musharraf’s coup was not a coup either.
A belligerent army first issues an ultimatum to an elected president to obey it or resign, and then fulfils its threat. Rejecting the results of elections that were widely deemed to be free and fair and setting aside a country’s basic law is a step that no army should ever take in any country. It is one thing for citizens to force an early election. It is an entirely different matter for the military to stage a coup. I can’t see how this is in Egypt’s interests; there must have been better alternatives. This coup will only cause greater division, undermine many Egyptians’ faith in democracy, and set a dangerous precedent.
This was a coup that was in the making when the opposition parties spurned Morsi’s call to join the government. The entities for whom Hosni Mubarak was the frontal bulwark had never thrown in the towel. They never accepted the ouster of Mubarak and always worked behind the scene to recover their paradise lost. Myopia and incompetence by the Muslim Brotherhood, tons of money from the Gulf theocracies, indirect help from the West and Israel and the romantic, sincere, but naïve “revolutionary” youth of Tahrir Square did the trick for them.
Don’t tell me that Egyptians political rights have been trampled upon to protect civil rights of a few. I have seen that many times over in Pakistan and elsewhere. Don’t tell me that Mubarak’s army is all of a sudden guardian of freedom and political rights. Like all coups from Chile to Cote d’Ivoire to Iran to Pakistan to Bangladesh to Indonesia this one too will cost wastage of time at best and will spell disaster at worst for the nation.
As someone who grew up under the yoke of a repressive military dictatorship and had to contend with another coup in 1999 setting behind the clock of democracy, I struggle to reassure the Egyptian protesters. I am fearful that the Egyptians welcoming the coup will pay for their political naivety and short-termism. Like Pakistanis they are falling into the trap made by the very establishment and elite they wanted to bring under control. These protestors may be in for a rude awakening not far down the line. The motley combination of West oriented liberals, the petit bourgeois elements, the anarchists revolutionaries who sacrificed so much to precipitate both the revolution and the counter-revolution during the last couple of years will be the sore losers along with the Muslim Brotherhood; who contributed the most in the outer of Mubarak. The sense of glee for this counter-revolution in Egypt is palpable among the neocons/Gulf despots camp. The primary conflict in the Middle East remains between the domination of the vested interests against people’s democratic revolution and resistance in this region led by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. (To be clear, the resistance too has no trucks with the democracy.) The resolution of this conflict will be long drawn and will only come about with the defeat of the one or the other of the two-antagonist camps. In its long struggle with the Mubarak regime, the opportunistic and short-sighted Muslim Brotherhood could never understand or appreciate the real nature of their struggle. Even after gaining power in Egypt, opportunist Morsi and the Brotherhood collaborated with the Gulf monarchies and even forced an equally opportunist Hamas leadership out of the resistance camp. It is only natural that they will have to pay dearly now for their short-sightedness.
However, what matters the most is Egypt. The largest and most important Arab country, that should at some time assume its rightful leadership role in the comity of Arab nations. Somehow a national coalition government must be formed and a constitution written that protects basic human rights and political and religious freedoms. The UN should press for elections and a roadmap to achieve these goals at the earliest possible date.
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What is going to happen with Coptic Christians and Shia minorities there?
what will happen if demonstration grows ?
for longer period, a week or two ,
paring in mind what we’ve witnessed of media isolation.
“The primary conflict in the Middle East remains between the domination of the vested interests against people’s democratic revolution and resistance in this region led by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. (To be clear, the resistance too has no trucks with the democracy.) ”
Hmmm. Really? How do you apply this sweeping statement to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen or even Egypt?
Let us face the reality. If things were as simple as that, we would not be in a mess as dense and as stinky as we have today. Most Middle Eastern populations are not convinced that the solution to their problems resides in a democratic, inclusive and open government. Most conflicts in the Middle East today are fired by religious, sectarian and ethnic animosities. There is no real conflict inside Iran or in Saudi Arabia because the majority of the population broadly agrees with the ways these countries are run. They enjoy a confessionnal and ethnic homogeneity that supports a national consensus.
Egypt and Tunisia are the only countries in the Middle East today witnessing the emergence of a secular movement for democracy. This movement has many opponents who want to take advantage of the dynamism and vitality that this movement has generated. In Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood took advantage of the uprising to take control at first and now it the Army that has taken over. I happen to prefer the army to the Muslim Brotherhood (and this is of course a question of opinion and open for debate) because the army, by definition, is opportunistic. They want to remain a strong player in Egypt and would favor any regime that has a broad-based popular support. So, right now, if the secular democrats of Egypt can put their act together and win an election to form a government, there is a chance for emergence of a stable democracy in Egypt. If Morsi remained in power, secular democrats would be suppressed and religious agenda would dominate. Within a couple of years, any return to an inclusive democratic regime would be reduced to a pipe dream.
In conclusion, I would insist that the current military coup in Egypt is not the worst thing that could happen to that country. Fundamentalists do not play by democratic rules. They manipulate them to achieve control, once for all. The question is: Why should we be so naive as to give them that opportunity, time and again.