Voices in unison chant and ring out into the air of the Square; strong, determined voices that reverberate with pride off the concrete of office buildings, minarets and steeples. Voices chanting from every direction. The infamous words in incessant refrain: “Al-shaab yurid isqat an-nizam!“ - the People demand an end to the regime.
We had thought, with the wide-eyed foolishness of Arab Spring revolutionaries, that with the end of Mubarak’s reign those words would no longer need to be uttered by hundreds of thousands in unison, that the bloodshed and tyranny would end, that dignity would be restored and that all would become free. But realities, like blazing meteorites from an all too familiar space, came crashing down on every dream we held up to the sky since that glorious day in February of 2011. Since that day, every Egyptian revolutionary confronted each of the country’s demons one by one: an omnipresent and omnipotent army, tenacious to its relentless hold of the country and unapologetic for its calculated ruthlessness; a brainwashed population, initially refusing to the see the sinister undertones of political Islam and unsympathetic to the plight of minorities; the crippling weight of dysfunctional bureaucracy; and a state of petrified paralysis that infected all arms of government .
So when our scruffy, bearded knight in holy armor took office in June of 2012, vowing to uphold the principles of the revolution and to ensure that Egypt, going forward, was to be a democratic and inclusive society, we all wanted to desperately to believe him. And though I detest political Islam in its modern forms and always doubted his sincerity, I found myself at times sneaking a smile at his diplomatic coups. After all, he stood up to Iran and Syria. He respected the treaty with Israel. He reached out to China and the United States. He even brokered a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Time magazine could be forgiven for nominating him as their “Person of the Year”.
But in the end it seems it was Morsy who was truly wide-eyed and foolish. A day after brokering a cease-fire between Gaza and Israel, Morsy sought to consolidate his newfound esteem in one sweeping constitutional declaration pronouncing his office an incontrovertible source of law.
No sir, as you may have figured out by the ocean of people in Cairo’s biggest and most iconic square today, we will not watch as you turn back the clock on our dreams. We may be battered and bruised, but we are certainly not done. Meteorites enter the earth’s atmosphere every day, but you should know that at best they eventually end up cold stone buried beneath our feet.
Be part of the dream, retract the declaration now.
