A Few Thoughts on Egypt

A few thoughts on Egypt and the current situation there. Warning: it is going to be a ramble ...

Some call it a coup by the military. Others say no signed petitions led to the ouster of the president. Still others say it is a bit of both. Thomas Friedman for example in today's New York Times is going for both. Ambassador Twafik says no it wasn't a coup, that the military had to step in to keep the violence from getting out of hand. Of course he sort of has to say that because if there had been a coup by law they would lose the $1.5 billion dollars in aid America sends them. Meanwhile the news out of Turkey is saying ... yup it is a coup and it happened Monday not Wednesday. And all parties in Turkey's parliament have issued a statement condemning the situation.

I'm inclined to go with the coup theory myself. Why? The elected president is in custody of the military who have appointed an interim president. Sounds like a coup to me. Military calling the shots is by my definition a coup (please no snide remarks about how the military controls the US budget, etc. that is a whole other blog topic for another day). Morsi hasn't left the country. He didn't gracefully step aside. He didn't call for new elections (which was something folks were asking him to do). He was taken into custody. If it walks like a duck ... And yes, I do realize that I may be over-simplifying. But let us ask the question: how did this petition drive/popular uprising get started? By whom? There was a counter petition drive by a keep-Morsi faction. Whatever happened with those petitions?

The previous president (Morsi) was also elected after a huge uprising. He had the military's support following that election. For a while, even though no one seemed too thrilled that he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Now a year later we again have people taking to the streets, all sorts of uproar and an elected president in custody. Oh sure we can say "it's different this time" but is it really? And how is it different? One side note ... really just one year to fix everything? I thought the American voters were impatient we look calm by comparison of course we've had 237 years to figure out that democracy is messy, complex and infuriating.

The Muslim Brotherhood the party to which Morsi belongs is not exactly a liberal organization. I think we can agree with that and the removal of a president (and his government) of that party can be seen as at least a short-term reason for women, minorities (including Christians) in Egypt to heave a sigh of relief. But for how long?

The interim president is a judge who has served as a judge for something like 40 years under Morsi and Mubarak so who the heck knows where his philosophy of government comes from. It may very well be grounded in law. But which law? How fundamentalist is he? How much is the military thinking for him? And then there is offer made (and then withdrawn) to the proposed interim prime minister El Baradei (Noble Prize winner) what was up with that? 

All factions need to pull together, work together or there won't be an Egypt for its people in the future. But can they? Our Congress is not currently capable of working together "across the aisle" so how can we really expect the factions of Egypt to? Democracy is too new. Their constitution was thrown out so they have no roadmap, nothing to draw on.

And then there is religion. People I know from that part of the world are constantly asked "why" this, that and other in regards to Islam. People here lap up every bit of misinformation the media pours out. We don't remember that journalism isn't about ratings. We've forgotten that "personalities" are entertainers, not journalists. Instead as a culture we tune in to cult of personality and buy whatever they are selling. We still believe you see that if it is in the paper or "on the news" it has to be the truth. News flash: they don't have fact checkers in newsrooms any more. Hell, they barely have newsrooms. Bloggers are "trusted sources" and much of the time that blog is merely an opinion forum (like this one) for one individual. No one is minding the store in the almighty quest for bigger ratings so they can sell more ads and make more money. News just simply ... isn't.

So we think we know what Islam is all about. We spout hate or confusion and ignorance. When Muslims try to tell us that their faith isn't about hate and death we refuse to believe them. They have every right to come back at us with their media-driven concerns about Christianity. That all Christians hate gay people for example. Gross generalizations are not helpful.

Egypt is a mess right now. There is no denying that particular fact. The economy is a train wreck, the population is exploding, tourism is nonexistent (once a large part of the economy), the fertile land along the Nile is not what it used to be either ... and then there is the looting of the museums that happened the last time the people took to the streets. 

Egypt is on my bucket list to visit ... I want to go to Luxor, see the pyramids, the sphinx and so forth. At this rate I may never get there.