Dousing The Flames

"I won't listen to anyone who undermines my resolve."
Egyptian activist Shaimaa al-Sabbagh

Tragedy: Mourners carry the coffin of Shaima al-Sabbagh, an Egyptian protester who was killed in clashes with the police, during her funeral on in Egypt's second city Alexandria on Sunday

That resolve has now been dealt with. Not in a manner deemed satisfactory to any of the principals, but dealt with nonetheless. A young woman, resolute in her determination to see her Egypt transformed into a society somewhat resembling those of the West, and in her zeal to see the administration of her country change once again, challenging it to meet the demands of the leftist minority looking for a democratic ideal.

It's a lot to ask for, to expect, to demand, to conjure into existence in a region of the world where true democracy is not the answer to what ails a tribal, sectarian, divided mentality whose numbers remain fixated on a return to pure Islam which has swept popular opinion. Each time that democracy in action has given the opportunity to the great unwashed to vote in a government, it has been a triumph for totalitarianism.

Those nations will have to settle for sternly unbending autocracies. To maintain public order. For no matter who is elected to power in a geography where violence and not discourse settles issues of disagreement, the response to the resulting choice begets further dissent and ultimately violence. A firm hand of control has proven the mode of achieving public security and social equilibrium; at the very least the essence of both.

Consider: the current ruling government of Egypt is headed by a former general, a military man turned politician who is, after all, a reasonable facsimile of a benevolent dictator, in reflection of the man whose reign the 2011 revolt, Hosni Mubarak, was removed from power. In essence, what had been has been reborn. The interregnum when 'democracy' brought a fundamentalist Islamist to the presidency with the Muslim Brotherhood finally in command, brought social and economic ruination.

Now, the current government led by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has extenuating problems it faces in the Sinai with Salafist Bedouin tribesmen, al-Qaeda cells, emerging ISIS militias, and the Muslim Brotherhood to deal with, all plotting and acting to undermine Egypt's stability to bring it to a place of medieval-era Islamism ruled by Sharia law. The President has gone further than any other current Arab/Muslim leader in spurning and decrying the viral Islamist jihad that targets the Globe.

He must also balance the security needs of Egypt's Christian Copts against the malicious destruction of Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Islamists who prefer to destroy the ancient presence of Egypt's Christians rather than allow them to continue their rightful existence in the most populous of Arab countries with 180-million people of diverse allegiances. A country that was transformed in the last 40 years, like Lebanon from as close to cosmopolitan as possible for a Muslim country to one on the cusp of fundamentalism.

The protest in celebration of the 2011 Tahrir Square uprising has been predictably anything but peaceful though it was meant to be by those setting out to protest the transformation of the old into the new. A few days earlier a young Brotherhood-linked protester had been killed during the violence that erupted with an Islamist protest. This time it was a young labour rights activist who was shot by masked police with birdshot, fatally.

Life lost: Ms Al-Sabbagh, a member of the Socialist Popular Alliance party was taken to a hospital where she was declared dead

This was not someone who meant to become a martyr. The government adopted a law in 2013 banning all demonstrations taking place without permission. And how likely is it that the beleaguered government whose president now enjoys huge popularity among the population in general, will be prepared to issue very many permits to allow the disgruntled and disappointed political activists whose numbers are relatively few to protest his reign?