Democracy Wins in Egypt
By Dr Ghulam Haniff
St. Cloud, Minnesota
Although it took some time the election of Mohammed Morsi as the President of Egypt completed the major phase of the Arab Spring. He was also chosen by the people of Egypt to be the first Islamist elected president of an Arab country. People waited for several hours in Tahrir Square to hear the announcement of his election.
Mohammed Morsi was the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, a party that has been suppressed by every ruler since its founding in 1928. The last dictator to do so was Husni Mubarak who claims to be deathly ill at this time. His biggest fear is probably the hangman’s noose which he so richly deserves.
The newly elected President is very well connected to America having received a PhD from the University of Southern California and having taught for two years at Northridge State University, just a few miles outside of Los Angeles. It must have surprised the White House, perhaps the policy elite in Washington, that a man of that type was chosen to lead the country at this time of turmoil.
Unfortunately, the military had played a duplicitous game on the eve of the elections to emasculate the president. This blunder on the part of the US supported military is unlikely to sit well with the people of Egypt.
The people of Egypt had waited seven thousand years to choose a leader of their own. Even in the modern age, of enlightenment and reason, there were hurdles along the way. It was a long wait for a nation that had made unparalleled history for about five thousand years. Quite a bit of that history remains to be translated.
For the first time in the history of the Arab world the Egyptians also voted in a free, open and democratic election to pave the way for the application of Islamic values in governance. The message of the Qur’an has still not been applied as the basis of a political order. For the first time in the history of the Muslims there is some hope given the man and the political party that won.
The military is unlikely to give up the power without firm resolve and the Egyptian people will have to be ever mindful of that realization. The best thing that the citizens can do is to elevate the rule of law to a supreme position. From an American perspective it is well known that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
Democracy has gradually been making inroads into other parts of the Arab world. While many of the people were familiar with the concept they had to wait until now for the system to be implemented. Tunisia got the ball rolling. Fortunately for the people, the dictator of the country fled almost at the outset of the revolution. Few months later, Libya picked up the ball and ran with it.
The biggest prize of all is Egypt, the most populous country among the Arabs and their beating cultural heart. If Egypt can preserve and make democracy work then there is every hope that some of the other countries might be able to embrace the concept of representative government. The people of Egypt will have to be educated and trained to make the system work. Democracy does not work by itself, people will have to be trained in it.
It is quite possible that Egypt would have arrived near the goal of democracy had it not been for the colonizing power, Britain, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Starting in the middle of the 19th century Britain began to stifle democratic developments in league with the feudal elites. It made sure that democracy would never be ushered in.
Total power in the hands of the few was always manipulated to produce the result the rulers wanted. In the early 20th century Saad Zaghloul Pasha pushed for democracy but was given a shove, derailed and sent into exile.
Neither Egyptians nor Arabs were as clever or as crafty to outwit the British as they did in India. Gandhi and Nehru traveled from village to village in search of allies to checkmate the colonizer. They were vastly successful though the Arabs remained in the rearguard when nationalistic struggles were being waged in much of the Third World countries.
The Arab elites, almost all of whom are landowners, foisted their own brand of tribalism to keep the common people under oppression. This is very clearly seen even today as the people of Syria struggle to free themselves from their bondage. Those who are waging the struggles have to maintain the highest order of vigilance lest the bad old days are returned once more. That is exactly the policy of the Gulf sheikhs who have brought in thousands of foreign workers to shelter and protect the rulers.
These Gulf sheikhs want to derail the movement for democracy by enticing the leaders with a fistful of dollars. They also want to make them landowners and, of course, keep the women in the back by arguing that democracy is bad for them. These seem to be working in Bahrain and Qatar.
On the other hand democracy could be made attractive since it is consistent with the message in the Qur’an that teaches the “concept of equality” for everyone and “let there be consultation in the affairs of public life” in decision-making. These are written in the Qur’an which we can easily look up in any language. No mullah or sheikh is needed to interpret the concepts for us.
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