[Peace-discuss] Ehab Lotayef: Why I am against the military coup in Egypt

[Robert Naiman]

Ehab, an Egyptian-Canadian who lives in Montreal, is a member of the Gaza's
Ark steering committee.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ehab-lotayef/why-i-am-against-the-military-coup-in-egypt_b_3795016.html

In a move that came as a surprise to me, wide sections of Egypt's middle
and upper classes threw their support behind the military in the first days
of July and accepted the military coup as the path to the country's
salvation. Those supporters were really a bunch of "strange bed-fellows"
including intellectuals, thinkers, political and human-rights' activists
who one would have not imagined to choose a military led coup d'état over a
democracy -- no matter how unsatisfactory the performance of the elected
government was. And stranger still -- despite the bloodshed and oppression
practiced by the coup leaders - very few of them repented to date and saw
the error of their ways (most notably Mohamed El-Baradei, the acting Vice
President for international affairs and former head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency).

Accepting the military coup by the upper and upper-middle class is more
understandable. Their priorities are their bank accounts and the comfort
they enjoy in their daily lives, and the turmoil and change that follow a
revolution don't serve such priorities well.

Coptic Christians and other minority groups, in the most part, also
supported the military coup. I can understated that they would be worried
and uncomfortable to be ruled by a government with an Islamic background
yet, on the other hand, why would they think that the coup would lead to
rulers who are any different from those who ruled Egypt over the past many
decades and under whom they complained of facing so many problems? How
could they not see that the lasting protection for everyone's rights,
majority and minority can only be a democratic system which
constitutionally and practically guarantees rights and freedoms?

Looking back, and hind sight -- as they say -- is 20/20, the orchestration
of support for the coup was not a spontaneous and was not a result of
dissatisfaction with Morsi's rule, alone. The media that continued under
Morsi to enjoy the same level of freedom it enjoyed since the January 2011
revolution was infiltrated by many Mubarak regime loyalists who managed to
keep, or regain, prominence. Those helped spread the fear of the Muslim
Brotherhood among the population and managed to magnify Morsi's every
failure and ignore his few successes.

It is true that there were not many successes but I don't believe this
should be attributed to Morsi or the Muslim Brotherhood inadequacy alone.
The difficult situation the country was left in by Mubarak and the lack of
cooperation Morsi received from the Deep State (a name given to powerful
figures of the Mubarak regime who continued to have influence in the army,
police, civil service, media and other state organizations) are factors
that should not be ignored.

The coup leaders falsified the level of support they received to claim
legitimacy. The numbers of those who demonstrated on June 30 was
illogically and unscientifically exaggerated. Moreover, not everyone who
participated in the June 30 demonstrations supported the military's
overthrow of the elected president despite them being clearly unsatisfied
with his performance.

When the coup's claimed legitimacy started to wear out, another cover had
to be found. Enter the war on terrorism, the 21st century's magic word that
silences all dissent. The coup leaders and their civilian cover-up
president and cabinet decided to play the terrorism
card<http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/08/2013817161612187424.html>to
justify their criminal violent killings of civilians who were exercising
the right to protest which they gained through the 2011 revolution and
which so many paid for with their blood.

The demonstrations that took place since July 3 were largely peaceful. No
one can guarantee that a sit-in of tens of thousands will not have some
armed people and no one can claim that it will be 100 percent peaceful. No
one can guarantee that it will not be infiltrated by undercover provocative
agents, either. But all this does not mean it is "terrorism" or should
justify handling it with the level of violence seen on Aug. 14.

Despite such violence by the authorities I condemn any attacks on churches,
state buildings and on any property or person that followed. And this leads
me to the foremost reason I am against the coup.

When people stop believing that they can express their will and participate
in ruling their country through the ballot box they will turn to violence.
No matter how long the state can suppress people to contain violence,
violence will eventually break out and burn everyone. Moreover, during the
era of suppression itself (long or short) life for all would be a nightmare
of fear, injustice and oppression under a police state that no one in
his/her right mind should chose to live through.

The army has no place in the political process and should stay out of it.
The coup should be defeated and democracy restored, otherwise Egypt would
face a bleak future -- quite a contrast to the bright future we imagined in
February of 2011.

-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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