That Unbridgeable Chasm

Egyptians should be rejoicing. Ramadan, the holy month of Islam, is upon them. They did in fact rejoice, and are continuing to, exuberantly. Some of them, in any event. Mostly those who now acclaim the Egyptian military as their champion. They are relieved and ecstatic that the Muslim Brotherhood has been removed from the administration of government. A mere year was all it took for the Brotherhood to demonstrate their disinterested incompetence in issues that were of importance to the country and the population.

Egyptian military convoy arrives at the site of clashes between the supporters and opponents of the ousted President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, July 5, 2013. Enraged Islamists pushed back against the toppling of President Mohammed Morsi, as tens of thousands of his supporters marched in Cairo on Friday to demand his reinstatement and attacked his opponents. (Photo by Khalil Hamra/AP)

The Brotherhood fixation on firmly installing themselves with authoritarian rule under Sharia-led law in a clearly Islamist atmosphere sat rather ill with too many people who had invested too much of their national and personal aspirations to see Egypt advance in the sphere of human rights and equality for all its citizens.

And when a country becomes so deeply entrenched in an aura of economic failure that within the space of a year its currency devalues, unemployment rises steeply and the price of basic necessities soars, while crime is completely out of control, even a year is too long to govern, bringing further catastrophic results down on the heads of the growing Egyptian indigent population.

Tahrir Square is once again the place to be. Families with children in tow are there, listening to music blare, revelling in the change in fortunes of their country and by extension, anticipating the best, themselves. Street vendors are there to ensure that coffee and edibles are readily available to augment the celebratory air.

On the other hand, elsewhere, crowds of supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi vent their disappointed rage in front of the barbed wire that surrounds the headquarters of the Republican Guard. In the last few days a hundred or so Egyptians have lost their lives in violent clashes between the two sides protesting the elevation of the aspirations of one and the dashing of the other.

Supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi gather at the Rabaa al Adweya Mosque in the district of Nasr City on July 6, 2013, in Cairo, Egypt. (Photo by Ed Giles/Getty Images)

Egypt is critically divided, socially, politically, religiously. The divisions are deeply hostile and firmly entrenched. The Muslim Brotherhood is returning to the days when the government of Egypt kept it firmly underground. To that end the military has arrested many of its senior members and has once again issued a warrant for the detention of its top cleric who has publicly exhorted Brotherhood followers to an intifada.

Rural Egypt remains wedded to the Brotherhood which had well-oiled organizational skills to offer social support and welfare to those in dire need. They fulfilled what the government had neglected to do, entrenching themselves in the good graces of the indigent population base. The gains made in the last decade by a public Brotherhood presence culminating in the 2012 election when the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces accepted the will and the vote of the people, have been eclipsed.

Even Brotherhood media outlets have been shuttered. Attempts by the newly installed temporary government to stem the sting of rejection, offering the recommendation that the Muslim Brotherhood could run again in a future election, could share constructive governing power with Egypt's social democrats have all been rejected by the Brotherhood elite.

They have lost face. Gaining a portion of what they once felt they controlled entirely is a loss of monumental proportions. Accommodation, cooperation, accepting a half-loaf is simply culturally alien to the Arab mindset, in any event. For groups that represent fundamental Islamism, loss of face represents an unacceptable situation, which cannot be ameliorated other than through complete capitulation by those who have disrupted their order.

And it doesn't look at all likely that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the Mubarak-era judiciary and bureaucracy and the newly installed temporary government heads might be the least bit interested in the kind of generosity of spirit that would have them handing everything back to Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.