Unrest In Islam

"It is over a year now that the Egyptian people elected Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who withdrew in order to qualify for the presidency. Dr. Morsi vowed to protect the rights of all Egyptians, to respect their hard-won freedom, to offer a new era of accountability and democracy, and much more."
Unnamed Canadian-Egyptian woman now living in Cairo

In this hand out picture released by the Egyptian Presidency, Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi gives his speech to thousands of Islamists and Syrian opposition supporters during the "support for Syria" rally at Cairo stadium on 15 June 2013 in Cairo. (Photo: AFP / HO) Published Wednesday, June 26, 2013

With the removal of former autocratic President Hosni Mubarak who inherited the presidency when as vice-president under President Anwar Sadat, (who came to power in a military coup) he witnessed an offshoot member of the Muslim Brotherhood assassinate Mr. Sadat, military rule came to an end. This is what young Egyptians dreamed of; the end of a benevolent dictatorship and the beginning of a bright new era for Egypt, under a democratically elected government.

Although the Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian Salafists took no part in the burgeoning protests of Egypt's "Arab Spring", they watched and waited to determine and possibly take advantage of the results as protests against high prices, scarcity of cooking oil and gasoline, high unemployment and police brutality took to the streets and to Tahrir Square to voice unconditional rejection of the Mubarak reign. When the Supreme Military Command urged Mr. Mubarak to resign, the Muslim Brotherhood stepped forward.

They were organized and well conditioned to present themselves as a viable alternative political party capable of governing the country. They had ample practise in ordering themselves and acting as a government-within-a-government, aiding the poor, offering educational and medical assistance, and food and other types of welfare, making a reputation for themselves as a respectable, reliable, incorruptible group. And they had a devoted following.

And if democracy was the way they could come to power, then democracy was the vehicle they would use, because "democracy" was the magic word of the imagined course leading to prosperity and freedom. With the fall of the Soviet Union and communism, 'democracy' spelled potential to Russians who imagined it would lead them to a lifestyle and wealth not unlike what they saw people in the West enjoying. Now it was Egypt's turn. And Russia, for its part, has returned to a tyranny.

A year in governance, Mohammad Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have introduced creeping Islamism to Egypt, not democracy. Democracy had its place as a tool to be used to achieve a goal. That goal was achieved when the Muslim Brotherhood won a plurality of votes in an official 'democratic' election that also brought the Salafists to power in the Egyptian parliament. And though President Morsi pledged to rule the country responsibly, attentive to equality for all Egyptians what has resulted is a schism within Egyptian society.

The original protesters comprised of educated youth, secular, socialist-minded and union groups have discovered themselves and their hopes to have been left behind, in the settled dust of Brotherhood rule. They protested the existence of a complacently rigid Autocracy and have in its stead, thanks to a democratic election, an Islamist Theocratic Tyranny which many now claim is more rigid than that of its predecessor.

What's more, social circumstances have degraded; the country's economy is in tatters, tourism is deflated, the cost of basic needs and goods has skyrocketed, unemployment has risen steeply, and violent crime goes unchecked. Add to that the growing human relations divisions between Muslims with threats against the presence of the ancient Christian Copt communities, and the newly-emerging rage of the majority Sunnis against the minority-presence Shia populations, as a result of the Syrian sectarian conflict.

The fairly obvious degradation of the original expectations of the protest groups into the reality of a steadily emerging Islamist nation under Sharia law, with a virtual Caliphate-led government has led to a total rejection by a significant proportion of the Egyptian population of the current government. They want the government to resign, and they claim to have collected fifteen million signatories to urge that resignation to become reality.

President Morsi has no intention of resigning. Nor will the real power behind the throne, the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood agree to any such fanciful occurrence. "I am here to support the legitimacy of an elected president who was chosen by the people through the ballot box" said a teacher by the name of Saad Ismail, in the 100,000-strong counter-protest in support of Mohammad Morsi's continued presidency.

Islamists are skilled in human relations; they know the efficacy of patience, and that time will bring to the patient all things that matter if they manipulate events in a manner to which people are wont to respond. Islamists use democracy, then discard it once it becomes an inconvenient distraction. As it has now, for the Egyptian government; a reflection of what is occurring elsewhere, say Turkey for example, where Recep Tayyip Erdogan is being verbally flogged for the very same reasons.

Expectations for democracy differ; the people think it will bring them good governance and the politicians who seek to rule believe it will usher them into power. While the people anticipate that democracy, once set in motion will bring them freedom from oppression and prosperity and opportunities for their children, the government realizes that its goal has been achieved and it can slough off the pretense of equality and freedom, earning the wrath of the disappointed.

By then it is the government that has the initiative, the power and the authority. And the people can nurse their grievances and their disappointment and go back out to the streets and the public squares as they did in Syria, as they are doing in Turkey and as they are prepared to do in Egypt, and be exposed to the government's determination to do their ongoing duty to their country.

Through the use of rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas, if need be.