Friday 5 July 2013

Democracy and Egypt

CNN, among others, is baulking at the idea that Morsi, a democratically elected leader, if an Islamist, has been ousted. The means by which he came to power appears to be the trump card - this was democracy, this was a transition of power, now all wrongs became rights, and the people had to live with their choice. That there are three major power brokers, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Mubarak die-hards and the army, and the people must choose between them.

The problem is that the people don't seem to realise that their actions are causing confusion among the elites. The people don't seem to want to choose between these three power-brokers - at least not on the terms they're happy with. What the people want is to have the power themselves.

Yes, Morsi was democratically elected. But, unlike in the West, the people were not content with then handing all power over to him for the limits of his term. When he broke promises, they went back to the streets. And they've been there, maybe not continuously, but growing in number, while promise after rights-based promise was thrown in the bin. They've dusted out those promises - a consultative process for drafting the new constitution; an end to police impunity; and a renewed neoliberal agenda (perhaps the real reason CNN and others are mourning his ouster).

It seems to me that while the elites are in disarray, the people are quite clear on what they want.

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