This time, the military’s actions could be disastrous. Egypt’s armed forces have not only brought the 2011 uprising to an ignominious end but invited a vengeful extremist backlash in the process.
Those who celebrate Morsi’s ouster seem to think the Muslim Brotherhood ”” and the millions of Egyptians who are sympathetic to its cause ”” will suddenly and magically disappear.
This is indeed a fantasy. Even if Egypt’s fractious liberals had anything approaching a coherent plan for governing Egypt, they would not be able to defuse the ticking time bomb that is Egypt’s sizable minority of now-disenfranchised radical-leaning Islamists.
What brought the 2011 revolution to an ignominious end was the behavior of the Brotherhood once it gained power. All promises were broken and an Islamist constitution was pushed through by fiat.
Katherine,
Whatever one may feel about the Islamist constitution, you can’t describe a vote as “implementation by fiat.” Nine million Egyptians voted for parties other than the FJP or Al-Nour in 2011-2012, and twelve million voted for Ahmed Shafik in 2011. If Sabahi had gone through to the second round, then Morsi would almost certainly have lost.
During the 2012 constitutional referendum, by contrast, only 6 million voted against it (as compared to 11 million in favor). Yes, turnout was down to 32 percent, but even in 2011-2012, turnout was only around 50 percent.
The problem now is that the Islamists, whose initial two-to-one edge had been on the wane as their methods were exposed, can now claim the mantle of a legitimate government ousted by a coup. If anyone gains from this it’s Al-Nour, who will be able to reap the whirlwind of the Brotherhood’s decapitation.
Jeremy Bonner, you may be right, but I hope you’re wrong. The Egyptians I know, Christian and Muslim, opposed continuing the course with the Brotherhood government and are hopeful now. Whether An-Nur can take over is another question. I suggest prayer.
And lots of it!
In the meantime, watch the prices at the gas pump spike sharply upward because of the uncertainty in Egypt.