If Sisi’s brutality in Egypt continues, the results could be dire for Europe. By Amr Darrag
By now the horrifying
details are familiar: there are illegal arrests, enforced disappearances,
extrajudicial killings
The outpouring of joy
that followed Hosni Mubarak’s resignation was palpable. It was 11 February
2011 – eight years ago to this day. Egyptians of all faiths and ages and
backgrounds, united by a desire for freedom, gathered in Tahrir Square to bring
30 years of tyranny to an end. We believed that as the people of the region’s
most historic power, inspired by the success of the Tunisian revolution, we were setting in motion a chain of events
that would guarantee Egypt’s freedom.
But after 30 months
the dream became a nightmare. Letting the military manage the transitional
period was probably the biggest mistake of all; revolutions never give power to
pillars of the old regime. Perhaps later on we were complacent: our first free
presidential election, and the subsequent referendum on a new constitution,
gave us confidence that the changes taking place could not be stopped or
undone. But the solidarity that defined the protests in Tahrir Square was
disintegrating, and neither the government of Mohamed Morsi nor any of the
other political powers could resolve the differences or abate the fears – of
the old regime, the political parties, the army and the people in the street –
that had started to infuse public life.
We made mistakes. Try
as it might, the government, in which I served as a cabinet minister, could not
isolate the leftover elements of Mubarak’s regime and bring consensus to the
country. And all the while there were fuel, gas and electricity shortages to
exacerbate the rising discord. We gave priority to establishing democratic
institutions, but it took only a minute on 3 July 2013 to dismantle them all: the presidency, the
parliament and the constitution. Major reform of the remnants of the old regime
should have been more of a priority.
When, in November
2012, Morsi announced that his rulings were temporarily above the
constitutional court’s, some believed he had proclaimed himself dictator – though his intention was to
safeguard the country’s new constitution, which limited, rather than extended,
his powers. It opened the door to fresh calls for protests and regime change
and eventually General Sisi’s military coup. The scorched-earth assault on protesters
in Rabaa Squareremains one of the darkest days in modern Egyptian history, and sounded the
death knell for the dreams of the Arab spring... read more:
