Egypt in Search of Political Change
Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.
The land of
Pharaohs, magic and fantasy appears to be intermingled with in-house fireballs generated
conflicts of hopes and expectations. The Generals are becoming restless with Tahrir Square’s
shouting matches, crumbling economic affairs, emotional outbursts of the
emotionally charged people and their aspirations, domestic strife and people
wanting overnight results of their long political struggle. This paints an
unimaginative and short-sighted picture that politically responsible government
under President Morsi could deliver unthinkable goods and amenities of life out
of the besieged Egyptian socio-economic context. Society at best becomes
productive when there is peace, freedom of thoughts and movement and
collaborative endeavors for change and development. Egypt faces complex and critical
situations. What was destroyed by over half of the century of continued
authoritarian rule, political insanity and societal destruction cannot be
restructured and rebuild in a year or two. Suspicious and paranoid army
Generals need not to jump into a volatile political affairs. No Generals can
understand what is good for the public conscience and aspirations. In an
emerging democracy, people enjoin passion to demonstrate and to shout at one another
that is not abnormal. There is no political emergency in need of military
dictates or intervention. The Generals are not equipped with the capacity to politically
reason the unreason. They are not the political entity to pursue peaceful
dialogue for human change. President
Mohammad Morsi was elected through a
fair political system and he must have time and opportunities to devise new
thinking, plan and take concerted actions to deliver goods and services to the
embittered pubic. Today’s Egypt
seems more standing and moving on a rational path of change and development
than the Hosni Mubarak’s era of dictatorial rule by one party against all. It
will be unwise and unwarranted if the military Generals intervene in the
political process for societal change and future-making. Such an intervention
could block all avenues of peaceful political transformation for the good of
the people. There were no political dialogues in Mubarak’s authoritarian rule
but President Morsi facilitated so many to talk with the opponents. Egypt needed
new political imagination and political institutions to undo the paradox of
history, President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are articulating some and
more to come with the consensus of the people over certain period of time. Being
one year in office is just a dot on the screen for change. Political Change
moves on its own pace, not what some external forces should dictate or
determine it. If opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood dream of glory and triumph
and think they enjoin some magic solutions to the 50 years old
economic-political mismanagement, they are disconnected to the real world of
change. What happening in Egypt
is the test case for short and long terms political development process. If it
is stopped, it will ruin Egypt’s
lifelines for freedom and democracy. There is no quick fix of any
socio-economic ills perpetuated by so many against all Egyptians. People enjoy
the freedom to stand for their rights and dignity without any coercive and
secretive police actions. Tahrir
Square has become a symbol of the continued
essence of freedom and collective will of the people of Egypt. It
should retain its historic identity and value.
Under the Arab
authoritarianism when people of Egypt were oppressed and dehumanized for over
half of a century, there were no outcries and human rights concerns in the
Western news media or the in the stonewalled Arabian peninsula for
moral-intellectual support and recognition of the need for change and political
dialogue. The Western scholars and official policy makers never seem to have
imagined that Arab people could rise against odds and beyond the obvious and
strive for their rights and freedom as did many other nations in the Western
industrialized world. The Egyptian people have made sacrifices and articulated
the hope and optimism for a new world of human rights and political
imagination. Today, the rest of the Arab absolute rulers and the common folks
appear to be living in two different worlds - varied conflicting time zones
between the people and the palaces, and being unable to see each other to
reconcile and to understand the prevalent political realities shaping the
present and carving out the future of the Arab world. Egypt could well be a role model for
change and future-building
Most of the Arab
Middle East world is dominated by neo-colonialism and ruled by ruthless
authoritarian rulers denying the people their inborn sense of freedom, human
dignity and the will to participate in a people-oriented system of political
governance. The oil generated wealth and the new concept of “modernity” could
not facilitate a promising future with sustainable system of governance,
participation and initiatives of the people to replace nomadic ignorance and
neo-colonialism endured under the European imperialism. Arabia
appears to be in conflict within itself, its time and role in modern history,
vast resources of natural fossil fuels and Arab authoritarianism controlled and
managed by the Western trained secret police apparatus across the world.
Economic developments have led to more conflicts and wars throughout the Middle
East Arab states seeking recognition and co-existence with the challenging
political and economic developments scenarios. The individualistic absolutism
has produced authoritarianism maintained by the Western military alliances and
political intrigues generating new age of political mismanagement and
institutionalized corruption. The issues of change and reformation of the
corrupt system of governance are identified in form of Islamic extremism and
terrorism that is nowhere to be seen. Other totalitarian rulers are
experiencing the same fate sooner or later, the neo-colonial kings and
presidents will make their way out not by persuasive reasoning but by the power
of the people’s movement and sacrifices for freedom, peace and craving for new
educated and intelligent leadership from the new generations. The victory of military
coups is never permanent. The emerging battlegrounds clearly indicate that some
ignorant rulers continue to rely on the force of evil to determine the future
of the people. The supremacy of force and evil mongering is transitory and
people across the Arab states will ultimately triumph their rights and freedom
for a new and democratic system of governance.
People are
determined to challenge the authoritarian absolutism and now the global
community is anxiously supporting the movements for change and freedom. It is
becoming more and more conceivable that nothing could safeguard the absolute
rulers from the consequences of their own triviality, insanity and viciousness
against the people’s movement led by the young entrepreneurs of information age
implying new ideas and creative strategies to move the public sentiments,
peaceful organized protests, effective public communication, and continued
political demonstration across the Arab world.
It is the
future, how to be rebuilt across the oil producing Arab nations. There must a
rational concern and immediate thinking on the part of able and competent
Muslim thinkers to plan for change and future-building, out of deliberate ruins
in many quarters of the Arab world. The losses are too great in human, social,
economic and political terms and consequential impacts will go on for ages to
come as what was destroyed instantly by the blood thirsty draconian forces,
cannot be rebuild overnight. These were the results of decade old
indifferences, incompetent and corrupt system of neo-colonial governance - the
net outgrowth of the Arab authoritarianism. The thinking people of the Arab hub
must search for planned changes and Action Plan - both in short and long terms,
and sustainable mechanism of value-based system of governance enlisting
politically active and informed educated, intelligent and responsible people
from the new and young generation. Given the new vision, approaches and
strategic priorities so far outlined by President Morsi, for sure, there will
be anew future for Egypt
different than the imposed dictators and insane rulers, be it Bashar al Assad
or Hosni Mubarak and so many others in waiting to go across the Arab world.
There are more
daunting challenges and opportunities ahead for concerned Arab-Muslim scholars
and thinkers to grasp the momentum of political change and try to sort out
feasible political and socio-economic remedies and workable solutions. The role
and tasks of the people dealing with change and management of development is
painfully critical and progressive over certain period of time. The societal
problems are complex and there is no single pill to diagnose the cancerous
sickness. Professor Fouad Ajami (Arab Predicament) said it right: “the problems
of the Arab world are the result of self-inflicted wounds.” If the one track
rulers were open to listening and learning (vital traits of effective modern
leadership), the catastrophic wars as in Syria against the people - firing on
demonstrators in streets, funeral processions and worshippers in Masjids,
killings of innocent citizens and destruction of the social environment and
political horrors could have been avoided.
The question is
how to manage change and emerging new and challenging opportunities to undo the
past political strangulations and economic chaos and return to normalcy? It
requires soul searching and foresight and strong commitment more than bringing
a revolution to set the proper strategies and initiate planned solid actions
for the future. Do the Arabs societies have the proactive visionary and
competent people and institutions to deal with change and conflict
management? Of all the Arab States,
Egypt under President Morsi stands a better chance to cope with the phenomenon
of change and to reconstruct its economy, political systems and national
productivity. Undoubtedly, Change will
come whether the Arab dictators like it or not, and all of the Arab lands will
embrace people-oriented Islamic-valued governance. Sadly enough, Western news
media offer irrational sensational and dramatic television coverage of public
outcries for change, economic well being and social justice. There is no
revolution in Egypt
because few millions are out in streets; this is an evolving culture of
political emancipation for the good of Egyptian democracy. The process of
political change must be allowed its due course of tests and evolutionary
growth and credibility. Otherwise, Egypt could go back to another
Paraoha, more of the Generals- more of the dying face of Mubarak.
On the pertinent
issues of sustainable change and human development for the future, the author’s
article “Arab Authoritarian World is Changing - but how to make sense-out of
nonsense” (Opinion Maker: 8/19/2011, Media Monitors Network: 8/21/2011,
Aljazeera-CCUN: 8/29/2011), offered the following observation:
“If you scan and
analyze over half of the century affairs to discover that Arab rulers had no
accomplishments to their record. They failed on all the major front battles:
failure in leadership, perception of change and development of the future,
shameful failure in dealing with the freedom of Palestine and establishment of
an independent State of Palestine, no strategy to cope with the growing
influence of Israel in the Middle East, and creating viable societal economic
and political infrastructures for a sustainable future. Under the guise of
modernity, they propelled Western enhanced militarization and secretive
police–based institutionalized system using “fear” as a strategy for their
governance. Modern Arab armies are not the armies of Islam but to safeguard the
rulers and their palaces. The armed forces of the modern Arab States supposed
to be defending the Arab citizens and their rights and dignity are killing
them. The egomaniac rulers, who loved the sensation of power and extravagant
life in palaces built on moving sand and with stolen wealth, use iron fist rule
to torture and kill the political opponents alleging Islamic extremism. The
paranoid and ruthless kings, princes, presidents and fattish Generals do not
frighten anybody, anymore except the self …… The Arab people have a success
story to convey to the future generations for change and development but the
absolute rulers stand no chance for any story of success and have no message to
the future generations and the reason what went wrong to them, what made them
commit heinous crimes and institutionalize a rule of insanity against their own
self and the people they claim to rule.”
(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja
specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen
interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of
several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict
Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Publishing Germany,
May 2012).
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