A Rule Divided
Mr. Morsi was formally sworn into office, before Egypt's constitutional court. Not, as it traditional, in parliament. For the Supreme Court dissolved parliament, claiming that many of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists posed as independents, for election, when they were obviously not."I swear by God that I will sincerely protect the republican system and that I respect the constitution and the rule of law. I will look after the interests of the people and protect the independence of the nation and the safety of its territory.""There is no power above people power. Today you are the source of this power. You give this power to whoever you want and you withhold it from whoever you want." Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi
But there he was, promising "the Muslims and Christians of Egypt", that he would provide them with a "civil, nationalist, constitutional state."
Before his swearing-in, Muslim Brotherhood supporters in their tens of thousands cheered him in Tahrir Square. "Say it loud, Egyptians, Morsi is the president of the republic. A full revolution or nothing. Down, down with military rule. We, the people, are the red line."
And after his inauguration, President Morsi spoke at Cairo University, the very venue where a newly-elected American President Barack Obama addressed the Muslim world, exhorting Egypt and other Arab countries to turn to democracy. And there we have it.
Egypt has turned to democracy. Democratically electing the Muslim Brotherhood. The Islamist group that almost a hundred years ago sought to bring pure Islam to the fore. Since then, the Arab and Muslim world has responded; Islamism is becoming the rule, not the rarity.
And for their troubles The Brotherhood was outlawed in Egypt; later tolerated, but barely.
In between, they were responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat who had betrayed them by realizing that Egypt could only become prosperous by turning off its war drums, and making peace with Israel. From the Muslim Brotherhood sprang Hamas, a terrorist-inspired militia that, like its sponsor, had a political and social wing. The former aspired to office, the latter provided services to the poor.
As Hamas is dedicated through its charter to the destruction of the State of Israel, so too is Egypt now turning its ship of state around, back toward the turbid waters of suspicion and denunciation of Israel.
As President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, now in the clear ascendancy have taken the initiative to recommence brotherly relationships with the Islamic Republic of Iran, democracy that brought Hamas to power and later the Brotherhood, has found its place as President Obama prophesied.
The crowd that bustled jubilantly around Tahir Square to hear Mr. Morsi's address of triumph over the Brotherhood's adversity had many women in attendance. Wearing waist-length khemar veils, in reflection of the type that finds favour in Islamic modesty with Mr. Morsi's wife, the new First Lady of Egypt.
Egypt's military council still holds on to power. They have, in fact, increased the powers allocated to them. Giving themselves the right to veto certain aspects in the drafting of the new constitution. They are to name a National Defence council to operate defence and foreign policies and to decree control of all military affairs.
A country not quiet yet united. And the yearners after liberty, the liberal-secular Egyptians, will they ever become accustomed to the new Egypt whose existence they helped brought about?
Labels: Anti-Semitism, Egypt, Human Relations, Human Rights, Islamism
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