THE ARAB SPRING IS HERE TO STAY
Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , indeed, is the best case study and
can be the role model for promoting democratic values in an otherwise
tyrannical Arab world with state controlled lives or civil wars, be it Saudi Arabia or Somalia
The world has seen how the Arab Spring rapidly spread in
the different Arab countries in a short span of time. Driven by a desperate
urge for change and connected by the modern technologies of communication, the
developments of one country pushed the thinking of the residents of the next
country and the chain was established in no time.
It also shows how the people across the Arab nations are feeling
almost similar problems of restricted freedom, borrowed livelihood, fractured
social life and no individual viewpoints midst an existential threat.
For this, how the Arab Spring proceeded in Egypt , was important for Egypt
And the rapid rise and fall of Mohammed Morsi is good for
that reason. It tells us it is heading in the right direction.
It was increasingly becoming clear that Morsi was not
working and was not going to work to promote a secular democracy. He was
gradually working towards Islamization of Egypt. In doing so, he messed up an
already derailed economy, something that seldom seemed to be his concern. Morsi’s
primary concern seemed to be establishing the Islamic rule as preached by the
Muslim Brotherhood.
That is a dangerous proposition for the world. Establishment
of a strict Islamist rule under the Muslim Brotherhood in one of the most
influential Arab nations would work as a boon for the militant Islam and would
push back the spirit of democracy in whole of the Arab world many years back and
it would negatively affect the ongoing Arab Spring uprisings in other Arab
countries.
The concern over the military stepping in and deposing a
democratically elected government is valid but its applicability has to be case
specific and it doesn’t apply in the Egypt
Egyptians had seen first elections in decades when the
elected Morsi. The generation of the voters had never experienced what the
democracy was and had no idea what it had to be for them. Also, as some
analysts say, the Muslim Brotherhood was the only organized political outfit (with
the front - Freedom and Justice Party) when the elections were announced. The
generation of voters had no practical experience of the violent past and the anti-secular
hardline ideology of the Brotherhood as they had grown seeing the movement suppressed.
The protesters, and the Egyptians, had sought and fought
for freedom and a better life during the first Tahrir Square uprising. And one
year of Morsi’s rule told them it was not what they had expected from Morsi
while voting him in the highest office of the country.
And it was a remarkably swift realization for a nation of
over 84 million to realize it and raise voice so effectively deposing Morsi in
just a year and the second Tahrir
Square
And for the concern of the military taking over, it is a
far cry in the present circumstances. The Egyptian military is a stable
institution that enjoys popularity in the country and has support from the
global powers like the US Egypt
The Arab Spring in Egypt
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
