President Mursi’s battle for new Egypt - 1

-From DR. ABDUL RUFF

[Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal, Specialist on State Terrorism ;Chancellor-Founder of Centor for International Affairs(CIA); Commentator  on world affairs, Analyst on Middle East, Chronicler of Foreign occupations & Freedom movements (Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Xinjiang, Chechnya, etc.) Former university Teacher; website: http://abdulruff.wordpress.com/mail: abdulruff_jnu@yahoo.com]

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New government in Cairo under Mohammed Morsi is facing stiff opposition from anti-Islamic protesters with backing from deadly global anti-Islamic infrastructure (GAI) that hates Islam and hence do not want Egypt to go Islamic way.

Long known for its pyramids and ancient civilisation, Egypt, a Muslim nation, is the largest Arab country and has played a central role in Middle Eastern politics in modern times. Egypt  also pays a key role in Palestine issue.

Egypt's teeming cities - and almost all agricultural activity - are concentrated along the banks of the Nile, and on the river's delta. Deserts occupy most of the country. The economy depends heavily on agriculture, tourism and cash remittances from Egyptians working abroad, mainly in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. However, rapid population growth and the limited amount of arable land are straining the country's resources and economy.

In the 1950s President Gamal Abdul Nasser pioneered Arab nationalism and the non-aligned movement, while his successor Anwar Sadat made peace with Israel and turned back to the West, thereby further empowering an already arrogant fascist Israel to keep attacking and killing the besieged Palestinians. . .

 The historic step by President Anwar Sadat to make peace with Israel in the 1979 Camp David agreement cost Palestine and Mideast gravely which led to Egypt being expelled from the Arab League until 1989, and in 1981 Sadat was assassinated by Islamic extremists angry at his moves to clamp down on their activities.

Latest “revolution” to remove Hosni Mubarak got a new focus on Egyptian politics. Encouraged by the protests that overthrew the long-term leader of Tunisia, mounting popular anger burst to the surface in huge anti-government demonstrations in January 2011 eventually led President Mubarak to step aside.

The Arab spring protests that ousted autocratic and anti-Palestine president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 put Egypt brought importance of Palestine issue back into focus as they led to an Islamist Muslim Brotherhood breakthrough at subsequently annulled parliamentary polls and a historic win for the Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi in the presidential election of 2012. Already, parliamentary elections held in December 2011 and January 2012 produced large majorities for Islamist parties seeking to establish a solid Islamic society. .

The road towards democracy proved rocky, however, and post-revolutionary politics have become increasingly polarised between the newly ascendant Islamists on the one hand and anti-Islamic forces on the other. After his election, Morsi quickly swept aside the army's attempt to hold on to extensive political powers, but a new dispute flared at the end of 2012, when the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly signed off on a constitution which the president put to a referendum on 15 December.

When the current demonstrations started on 23 November, the focus was on the presidential decree, by which the president gave himself sweeping new powers. The demonstrations have become increasingly personal and directed towards President Mohammed Morsi himself.

The military remains philosophically opposed to almost everything that the Brotherhood and their ultraconservative Salafi allies stand for and kept thousands of Islamists in jail during decades of military dictatorship. Therefore any deal that Morsi has struck with the military comes with potential perils. If the relationship sours, the generals control almost all the guns and all the heavy weapons, are major players in the economy and for all their flaws, remain the only unifying institution in the country.

By annulling the decree that had given him more power, Morsi may have bought himself some time. The president may also convince some of the less committed secular protesters that after two years of non-stop demonstrations, they are unlikely to win any more concessions.

President Morsi rescinded the part of a special decree early Sunday morning that had allowed him to override the judiciary and had given him close to absolute power. At the same time, the embattled president insisted that a referendum on a draft constitution that would enhance Islam's role in public life would still take place next Saturday.

Egypt's president gives up newly declared powers to pacify his liberal-secular opponents, but anti-Islamic media nuts say it may not be enough. Hours after meeting with a handful of political opponents last Saturday, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi acceded to one of the opposition's key demands, apparently rescinding most of his controversial Nov. 22 decree granting himself sweeping, unchecked powers. But Morsi refused the other ultimatum: That he postpones a referendum next Saturday on the country's draft constitution, drawn up by Morsi's ruling Islamist backers.

Concluding from this that Morsi continues to press for the Islamization of the government, the National Salvation Front - which is comprised of eight left-wing, liberal and Christian parties - called for massive demonstrations again and urged its supporters to boycott the constitutional referendum.

However, the flow of Islamic fervour is strong enough to withstand anti-Islamic gimmicks and so Morsi's partial climb down may already be paying dividends. Where thousands of "secularists" marched last weekend and mid-week, only a few hundred protesters turned out Saturday night and again Sunday.

Egyptians see through the anti-Islamic revolution being instigated by Islam haters in Egypt.  

With fighter jets swooping over Tahrir Square, the imposition of martial law being threatened and army engineers busily erecting three-metre-high concrete barriers around the presidential palace, the struggle for Egypt has entered another phase.

Morsi's high-stakes strategy to get the constitution passed quickly and with little scrutiny has further polarized a country that has been badly split since president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown nearly two years ago in a revolution during which Islamists and secularists were briefly united and claimed that they wanted democracy. The secularists argue the proposed constitution would give Islamic scholars a say in judicial matters and almost totally ignore the rights of women and minorities.

Whether Morsi can stay on top of Egypt's power pyramid may hinge on whether the military will rescue him if secularists try to seize power by force. He may have co-opted the generals by offering them more powers in the draft constitution.

Whether Morsi's constitutional gambit passes or fails - and it is likely that it will pass because it has strong support outside Cairo. For example, those who support rival visions for Egypt are now so far apart that their accounts of last Wednesday's riots, which left as many as six dead and hundreds injured, are so different that it is as if the competing narratives are describing different events.

Moreover, the rivals continue to accuse each other of trying to gain support by offering bribes in a country of 82 million that is so poor there is little money available to throw at voters. Each side shouts that the other is trying to hijack democracy.

You may call him Mursi or Morsi, but the  Egyptian president is on Islamic duty. It appeared at one point that Egypt crisis offers no easy way out but President Mursi, committed by popular mandate to Islamization of Egypt, is fully confident of overcoming the crisis and move forward to establish an Islamic society as soon as possible to practice Islamic faith as truly as possible.