Scenes of Political Absurdity in Our Country
Amr Hamzawi
First Scene: Intellectuals, rights activists, and partisans are insufficient in dealing with human rights violations by double standards when it affects those whose views and opinions differ with their own. Rather, they rush to replace the roles of the military, security experts, and strategists. So they are proposing operational plans ‘to break up sit-ins and liquidate them,’ rather than demanding compliance with the law, condemning exceeding it, thinking about political solutions, and moving away from reliance on a single security tool.
Second Scene: Officials with temporary executive power, and the party and youth forces supporting them, were together before June 30 at the forefront of demanding sovereignty of laws, protection of human rights, citizens’ freedoms, and the prompt administration of justice in holding those involved in violence and violations accountable, and the adoption of total transparency. Today, they are silent and don’t think of the fact that democratic values which they defended before June 30th, continue to require defense and assistance thereafter – after they become those in ‘power.’
Third Scene: Writers and reporters get involved in the militarization of the collective imagination of Egyptians in the production of an image of the ‘Savior-Hero’ for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, with cheers for a ‘popular mandate’ that undermines state powers and institutions. They do this in lieu of putting forward visions and ideas on how to return Egypt to a democratic Egypt and put in place sufficient guarantees to establish a democratic civilian state in contrast to a religious or military state, whose affairs are governed by elected civilian authorities within the framework of the rule of law and equal citizenship rights.
Fourth Scene: Leaders and members of the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies in the religious right condemn human rights violations against them and demand local and international public opinion condemn them. Then, they abstain from apologizing and from condemning incitement to violence and its use, the carrying of weapons and contraband against citizens and cutting off roads when it comes from their ranks.
Fifth Scene: Citizens have been in the presence of freedom in all squares since January 2011, and they have not ceased in dreaming of a civil, democratic Egypt. Except their concerns over the nation today have reached great levels, and the landslide rejection of the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies after their catastrophic mistakes has overpowered them. These two factors are settling despite a continuing search for any ability to survive (?), even the palatable fascism of exclusion, compromise over the principles of the rule of law, or human rights.