Morsi, SCAF and the revolutionary left
Morsi, SCAF and the revolutionary left
Hossam @3arabawy
June 30th, 2012 at 9:26am | no comments yet
As soon as the news broke last Sunday that Mohamed Morsi was officially declared Egypts first elected civilian president, I could hear loud happy chants and cheers in my street. The janitors in my neighborhood gathered around the corner in their galabiyas, jumping up and down, in the same fashion I usually see them when the Egyptian national football team scores a goal in some match. Their children, in bare feet, were running up and down the street, chasing posh cars that passed by, chanting Morsi! Morsi!. While, fellow citizens in working class districts in Cairo celebrate[d]
with fireworks, marches, dancing and sweets amid hopes of a brighter future, reported my friend Lina el-Wardani of Ahram Online.
For many, including those who boycotted the elections or nullified their votes, for sure there was a sigh of relief. I, as well as millions of other Egyptians, were certain the ruling military junta will rig the vote in favor of General Ahmad Shafiq, who was to be crowned as Egypts next president. I am happy we turned out to be wrong.
Although SCAF mobilized Mubaraks National Democratic Party network in favor of Shafiq, and attempted to directly intervene to rig the final count, their efforts failed. Some activists are circulating conspiracy theories along the lines of Morsi being the real SCAF candidate or that he won by a dealwhich I disagree with. The blunt fact is, although SCAF is in still in control, they might not be as confident and powerful as most revolutionaries think.
The majority of those who are cheering the electoral results are not necessarily happy about Morsis victory, as much as they are relieved that Shafiq, the representative of the SCAF-backed counterrevolution is not in office.
http://www.arabawy.org/2012/06/30/morsi-scaf-and-the-revolutionary-left/
xchrom
(108,903 posts)bemildred
(90,061 posts)EFerrari
(163,986 posts)He's an incredible photographer as well as a journalist / activist. This is an interview with him on Jan 26:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/26/thousands_protest_in_egypt_in_largest
bemildred
(90,061 posts)One sees so much simple-minded bullshit about MB, it's nice to see nuanced discourse for a change. I stopped freaking out about MB and islamists in general after reading Mafouz, and Karen Armstrong.
WRT Egypt, this sounds like what I would expect, and far from over. It appears the generals blinked. Perhaps Hosni dying in the slammer influenced their attitudes.
EFerrari
(163,986 posts)"What a day -- an MB president praising the army!"
because Morsi did praise them, fulsomely, in his speech. I guess if I were him, I would have, too. It's like watching two big cats circling each other.
Anyway, Hossam may turn out to be the definitive photographer of the revolution. It's been amazing following his work. He also posts a lot of stuff related to trade unions.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Hosni dying in the hospital is a warning to him too, I would think, and he needs to consolidate power, if he can, before attempting to throw his weight around, supposing that he wants to.