Thursday, July 11, 2013

An image for the Egyptian opposition

I'm posting this image as a small reminder of just what sort of people the opposition has chosen to rule over Egypt.  Of course this is just a sample.  Many have, over the years, met similar fates.
    Khaled Saïd after beating

By 'the opposition' I mean every last person who had a hand in overthrowing Morsi.  This includes all those who trumpet their hatred of military rule; all those who say the struggle is against both the Moslem Brotherhood and SCAF; all those who say they simply want to defend freedom or, incredibly, democracy; all those who say all sorts of nice things.  In short, I mean all those who fail to acknowledge that, for whatever reason, they've chosen murderers and torturers as their rulers.

All these people, indeed every adult Egyptian, knew the army and police hadn't changed. I'm not predicting the future.  For all I know, the army and police will change tomorrow and, just as some claim, step back from power, ushering in an era of freedom and democracy.  Maybe all will turn out to be peace and love.

What I do know beyond any doubt is that no one has any rational grounds for believing in these rosy prospects.  The opposition, the whole opposition, has made the same old bullies stronger than ever. The generals who swept Morsi aside with hardly more than a gesture have nothing to fear from a far more fragmented opposition.  Its endorsement of SCAF almost certainly enhanced the military's already wide and deep popular support.  The army and police have no conceivable reason for relinquishing power or changing their ways.  And to believe otherwise is to be in the grip of a delusion so outlandish that it must be willfully self-induced, a device to conceal the enormity of a shameful choice.

Too bad this won't reduce the flow of 'revolutionaries', 'socialists', liberals and earnest bloggers making excuses for what they've done.

4 comments:

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  2. What about the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood was already clamping down on protests as well as trade union activity...bugger that the best thing that was needed in the circumstances was an election to put Mohammad ElBaradei in place or the National Salvation Front for a secularist government instead of what the MB wanted.

    You are looking at this from a black and white perspective...it isn't Morsi or the military as the only options there were other options...the military took advantage and seized power, the people should have stayed out in the street and fought to kick the military generals out of office.

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    1. Anonymous. The military might hand power over to an NSF and allow NSF government over social and economic issues with the military remaining autonomous and funded. The Islamists + Christians + Liberals + Communists + ... could have fought together to reduce the power of the military, but as long as the Islamists intended a majoritarian dictatorship why would the NSF players want a weak military.

      I think it is a pity that Egypt lost their show at democracy given who won the various elections and how they choose to govern. Hopefully there will be a 2nd chance.

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  3. Something went wrong. Here is my original comment
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    I agree the Liberals were forced to make a choice. This is what they talked about 6 months ago. Once it became clear that the Islamists wanted the old "one man, one vote, one time" type "democracy" rather than a system of checks and balances leading to laws that have broad appeal the liberals had to balance between them. They way to achieve balance is for now to swing towards SCAF and away from the Islamists.

    The Islamists are going to have to learn the notion of stakeholders. Ultimately if they can't or won't then the history of post Sadat Egypt is likely to repeat. Mubarak 2.0 will come in with broad support from anti-Islamists: liberals, Christians, socialists, secularists.... The Liberals are going to have to decide (rightly) they would rather live under Mubarak version 2.0 than under Morsi. I think the Islamists will back down but so far they've proven that they would rather have a dictatorship than compromise with the 45% of Egypt.

    As far as the images... should I put up pictures of cliterectomy to represent what Morsi's party was doing to people? SCAF does far less harm than fundamentalist Islam the numbers aren't close.

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