Egypt has come a full circle in a year. The country is back
in turmoil with the democratically elected government ousted in a coup, and
they are now ruled for all practical purposes by the military. No matter what
people call it and try to sugar coat it as a needed ouster, it is still a coup.
President Morsi was elected democratically with a little over 51% of the vote,
which is quite similar to the 51%+ won by President Obama in the 2012
elections. So is it right for the opposition in the US to demand President Obama
to resign if they dislike his policies? A good example would be when the
healthcare act was passed in the US with over 40 percent of the country
opposing it, could the republicans and the tea-party folks demand for his
resignation? They can show their opposition and file law suits, and finally
take it up in the next elections. If the majority has disapproved of Obama,
then they would have seen him being booted out of office, and as it happened
that was not the case. This is what happened in the US since there is a working
democracy (in-spite of all the dysfunction in Washington) and the power is not
concentrated by just one executive branch.
Compare this to what happened in Egypt, people did not like
Morsi’s policies and also felt that he is trying to be too powerful. Besides,
Egypt’s economy was not doing well and so people were frustrated. The right
path for the protestors would have been to show their opposition, rally up the
entire opposition to be united and then let Morsi face the music in the next
general elections, or take it to the court. People would have had the power to
vote a bad leader out if his policies are not good. Atleast, democracy would
have survived and people had the freedom to make their choice, and it would
have given Morsi an opportunity to test out if his policies would have worked.
What happened instead was that it gave an opening for the anti-government
leaders and the leaders from the old regime, as well as the military to strike
back at the government. Unlike in the US, the ultimate power in Egypt rests
with the military and hence they could easily bring down a democratically
elected government. There is no other executive power involved. So clearly what
happened in Egypt was a step back in its progress and also in the democratic
aspirations of its citizens.
I have seen reports from many in the international media
stating that it was probably a good step as Morsi tried to grab more power than
he had to, but the fact is that whatever was done by Morsi (even if he tried to
grab more power) was done in a democratic manner. He won a democratic
referendum to amend the constitution, with over 60% support (though some might
argue that it was boycotted by a section of the voters). Morsi’s removal cannot
be justified and has put Egypt on a very slippery slope, whoever is in power
will not have the legitimacy, and will always have around 45% of the population
against them. It is a very tricky situation for the international community (and
specifically the US) too as any interference in Egypt could be interpreted in
the wrong way by half the population. Infact, as of now both sides are blaming
the US for what has happened, though for completely opposite reasons. The
anti-Morsi supporters are claiming that Obama is a Morsi supporter for not opposing
the way he ruled, while the Muslim Brotherhood are claiming that Obama is
supporting the army for not opposing the coup. It is best for the US not to
interfere and pick sides now, they should leave it up to the Egyptian people to
find a way out. After all the revolution was started by them, and they own
responsibility for the outcome as well. If the US is seen to be very supportive
to the current regime and the army, it will create further alienation of the US
in the middle east and in the Muslim world, for going against a democratically
elected Muslim government.
What the Egyptians should realize is that democracy is not a
perfect solution and is not a solution for all their problems. Every democracy
has had their share of problems, as we have seen in the US in the recent past
where at times the democratic process has been very dysfunctional. Even in the
largest democracy in the world, India, voter discontent is very high and a
majority of the population feel that the government is very corrupt, inefficient
and does not put people first. Even then, there is something that works and
democracy is still alive and the people elect the government. There is freedom
and there is opposition from some segment of the population for all policy
decisions. The same is the case with many mature democracies around the globe.
Of course, there are democracies which do not function well at all with
repressive regimes even under a democratic veil, one hopes that Egypt does not
fall into that category. The revolution started with the Egyptians wanting
freedom from a dictator who ruled for decades, and its citizens yearned for
democracy. Once that was achieved, they wanted a perfect solution or a solution
that works to their advantage. They need to reset their expectation and
understand that democracy is a long process with many ups and downs. They need
to be patient on this big change to democracy and need to understand that it is
the people who wield the final power, and if a government is not functional,
they can boot them out of power in the next election. Till then, they need to
wait with patience, and give the nascent democratic process a chance. So does
the international community. Egypticians should be in charge of their own
destiny without international interference. The people of Egypt started the
revolution and they themselves must own the responsibility to take it to the
next step.
-Ramanuja Iyer...
No comments:
Post a Comment