And there she was, under my building, with tears running down her eyes. I looked at her in shocked disbelief, trying to figure out what to say. I asked her, “What’s wrong? Anything I can help you with?” She looked at me with teary eyes and said, “It’s gone. It’s gone!” And all I could think was, “Damn! You’re nuts, woman!”
You’re probably thinking this little story is about love, failed romance, etc. It isn’t! This was the day Mohamed Morsi was announced the winner of the 2nd round of the elections against Ahmed Shafiq! A strange day for all Egyptians, I would think. Some rejoiced. Some saw it as the beginning of a true democratic nation and all that nice stuff. However, in “our” social circles, the total opposite of that held true. Mass Hysteria. That would be the most accurate definition of what I saw and heard that day. Friends, family, acquaintances; almost without fail, everyone was heading for the metaphorical bunkers, screaming, “The Islamists are coming!”
I have to admit I’m one of the least thrilled with Morsi’s win and the subsequent rise of the Ikhwan to positions of power. But, I still maintain: It’s not as bad as everyone thinks. At this point, feel free to call me crazy or anything else that comes to your mind. But I really do believe we’re seeing the end of the Ikhwan as we know them. The beauty is, no outside intervention is needed. Just sit back and enjoy the implosion.
Due to word count constraints (and the fact that I would need a whole issue just to list the Morsi and Brotherhood fiascos) I’ll try to restrict this to only a few of the self inflicted disasters Morsi and his pals have entertained us with since his election. Keep in mind that I won’t even go into the pre-elections fiasco, false promises and claims, blatant lies, contradictions of words and actions, inconsistencies that have been the defining aspect of the Muslim Brotherhood since this revolution began on Jan 25th.
Let’s begin with the censorship that is fast becoming an everyday occurrence. The appointment of a known member of the FJP as Minister of Media and appointing FJP loyalists and members as Editors in Chiefs of major state owned publications. To the extent that some are comparing it to Abdel Nasser era type media blackouts. I think Morsi and his cronies are forgetting the build up to Jan 25, and how and why it came about.
Ex-Morshed Mahdi Akef coming out on Tony Khalifa’s show, “Zaman El Ikhwan” in Ramadan and blatantly telling anyone who doesn’t agree with “The Islamic Project” to go to hell. Followed by “The Holy Morshed”, Mohamed Badie, saying “We now have the deed of ownership of Egypt. It’s ours!” Other shining examples of walking talking disasters are Safwat Hegazi, Essam El Eryan and Moahmed El Beltagy, and their Herculean statements they entertain us with; ones that sound more like threats than anything else.
I still haven’t listed some of Morsi’s personal disasters. Opening up the Rafah border crossing and cancelling security checklists. Exporting diesel fuel to Gaza. Not attending the funeral of the 16 fallen Egyptian soldiers who were shot in cold blood by “unidentified jihadists”, while the Egyptian TV announcer is almost weeping while telling us that “President Morsi is at the head of the funeral procession with a heart filled with sorrow.” If that wasn’t enough, he was photographed the very next morning laughing like a baby with the Libyan PM. The IMF loan, which ironically enough, was considered usury a few months ago but is now practically ordered by God, that will result in lifting subsidies off petroleum products and basic goods. And last but not least, there’s the imaginary “Mashrou El Nahda”, aka “El Fankoush”.
There are examples galore, I assure you. What amazes me is that Morsi and his FJP pals seem to have not learned a single lesson from Hosni Mubarak’s disastrous mistakes. Arguably, they seem to be following in his footsteps that were akin to digging his own grave. Only they’re doing it at an accelerated pace. What took him thirty years to accomplish, they seem to be out to accomplish in less than three. At the rate they’re going, it looks like they’ll get there on time.
My question would be: Does anyone in his right mind think all this will just slide or that the Egyptian people are going to take all this lying down?
I’m not an optimist myself. Anyone who knows me will tell you that – and granted, this will get much worse before it gets better. But I guarantee you; it’s not as bad as you think. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show. It’s going to be very interesting indeed.