Symbolism Versus Reality

For a nation that has indicated that it will insist on justice because it abhors the gore and violence visited upon them, their reaction to the verdict and judgement brought down for former President Hosni Mubarak, seems impressively dictated by raw vengeance, and a wish to see him publicly dismembered, bit by anguished bit, perhaps something like a chariot scene with the man strung up between two stallion-drawn carts pulling in opposite directions?

And then the ravening mob can turn their attention on other past figures of the ruling hierarchy in Egypt, all supported by the Egyptian military.  They might want to devise some really elegant and positively entertaining form of punishment for one of the leading contenders in the new presidential election, Ahmed Shafik, former air force commander, appointed premier by Mr. Mubarak before his misfortune struck fully home.

 Egyptians react after a court sentenced deposed president Hosni Mubarak to life in prison in Cairo June 2, 2012. Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison on Saturday for ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising that swept him from power last year.  Photograph by: Mohamed Abd El Ghany , Reuters

The verdict is in, and it is unacceptable.  How about those mobs?  The oppressed are now free to scream their defiant refusal of any actions that might be a reflection of easing their old dictator out of his foreshortened life that has turned the glory of his governance of the largest Arab state in the Middle East into a shambles of histrionic rejection.  He must not be permitted to fade into history, but torn to shreds, limb from limb.

His appearance in court, with sunglasses shielding him from the spectacle of raw hate, wan and weak, lying in his special glassed-in chamber on a hospital bed, evokes no compassion from anyone discernibly, all claiming it to be an absurd sham, that the man is hale and conniving and simply manipulating the people to be merciful to their former ruler.  He may have suffered a heart attack following the verdict as brought down, but that is a tribute to his fine acting style.

To herald the occasion of justice being seen to be done, even while it has been denied as having occurred by the mobs outside the court, Egyptian officials planned to deploy 20,000 police officers to maintain public order, alongside over 160 tanks in and around the Cairo police compound where the trial has taken place.  Order and good government is what the people of Egypt have been demanding, and it requires the presence of an armed phalanx of police to ensure that order remains in place.

Bomb squads swept the Police Academy courtroom.  Troops took up positions around the compound and surrounding streets well in advance of the event, as well as surrounding the International Medical Center where the former president has been detained, and receives medical treatment. It is intolerable that he has escaped justice so lightly.  The burden of shame and dishonour allocated to him for his decades of dedication to the country's advancement and peaceful existence insufficient punishment.

He did not, after all, have to give direct orders for his security forces and the police to respond to the agitations of protesters in Tahrir Square.  In effect, normal Egyptian reaction in controlling mob scenes swept into action; the violence that underlies the social structures of the countries of the Middle East rose to the occasion.

Now enters the period of certain reward.  The Muslim Brotherhood whose presence and potential to transform Egypt now sits on the cusp of fulfillment.  The raging mob will discover once Mohammed Mursi is elected president, enabling his religious bloc in the parliament to finally take effective power in the country what another kind of dictatorship feels like.