Say what you want about politics
as a profession or process but one thing that can be said about politics that
would be true is that politics is not a game of half measures. Mohammed Morsi today
has learnt this to his detriment as the Egyptian president “scrapped a decree… (that
gave) him near-absolute powers”[1].Initially
defending his move to usurp power Morsi has abandoned ‘sweeping powers’ that
allowed Morsi to “declare emergency laws and him from judicial oversight”[2].
Morsi’s power grab has
instantly split the country into two or at least the protesters in Cairo, Egypt’s
capital. A prime example of the split manifested outside the presidential
palace as “supporters and opponents of president Mohammed Morsi threw rocks and
firebombs at each other” throwing the country into crisis[3]. His usurpation of pharaoh-like
power has been costly as it has sapped away any political capital Morsi may have
had and sure not be forgotten due the death of seven Egyptians[4].
Mohammed Morsi must have seen
this reaction coming as pulling power moves in a country with a healthy dislike
for dictators is sure to spark widespread anger, just ask Hosni Mubarak. His
mandate was narrow to begin with due to just beating a pro-Mubarak apparatchik narrowly
as the nation effectively chose to go with the lesser of two hated but
organized evils.
The only legitimacy Morsi had
was to implement reforms that gave Egyptians more freedoms, the main reason,
along with other factors, behind the revolution in the first place. Now he has
to mend fences and make real concessions to bring the secular and liberal
opposition to the table, probably starting with the draft constitution secular and
liberal groups strongly disagree with as they contest that the document “only
represents Islamists, disregarding the rights of liberals, women, workers, and Christians”[5].
In sum, Morsi has made a
serious mistake in usurping ‘sweeping powers’ as he should have calculated that
there would be a serious reaction to such news from a people who have grown a
healthy appetite for protest and confrontation of power.
[1]
A.R Hussein, 2012, Egypt: Mohammed Morsi cancels decree that gave him sweeping
powers, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/09/egypt-mohamed-morsi-cancels-decree
[2]
Ibid
[3]
Guardian.co.uk, 2012, Morsi supporters clash with protesters outside
presidential palace in Cairo, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/05/morsi-supporters-protest-presidential-palace-cairo
[4]
The Jerusalem Post, 2012, Morsi meets
army chief, cabinet after clashes, http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=294891
[5] H.
Maher, 2012, ElBaradei says Morsi’s’ legitimacy ‘hangs by thread’, http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/59876/Egypt/Politics-/ElBaradei-says-Morsi%E2%80%99s-legitimacy-hangs-by-thread.aspx
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