By Rania Al Malky
CAIRO: For a very long time, many Egyptians, including myself, were convinced that this was not the time for outspoken criticism of Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).
As the bedrock of stability and the protectors of the revolution, the honorable army generals who defended Egyptians’ legitimate calls for freedom and democracy triggered by youth groups online and supported by ordinary citizens who took to the streets in the millions to rid Egypt of its 30-year dictator and his clique, the army was the last fort of defense for a collapsing state.
In the ecstasy of Feb. 11, everyone believed in them. No one wanted to question their commitment to their stated objective of handing over the country to an elected civilian authority and an elected president by the end of the year. No one openly challenged their rosy promises of democracy through free and fair elections.
But all that changed. Thousands of Egyptians not only in Cairo, but all over the country, and not just those participating in sit-ins and marches are beginning to lose the trust they initially put in the SCAF.
The reasons for that are clear and unequivocal: some 7,000 civilians have been subjected to illegal military trials, while the icons of the previous corrupt regime, including Mubarak, are basking in Tora prison and in Sharm El-Sheikh, facing snail-paced procedures that respect their right to a fair trial but neglect the stark contradiction between their treatment and the treatment meted out to “ordinary Egyptians”; emergency law is still in place, giving the military police and the interior ministry the absolute power enjoyed by the hated state security under the past regime; the trials of police implicated in the killing of protesters have taken extraordinary turns, with some such police officers released on bail in Suez, for instance; cosmetic changes in the Interior Ministry, where the historic removal of over 600 senior officers failed to meet the basic demand that those implicated in killing protesters at least be suspended until the trials end; the purging of government institutions, namely ministries, especially the ministry of information, has yet to take place; as well as the setting of a reasonable minimum and maximum wage.
Starting July 8, protesters who continued a sit-in in Tahrir Square and in public spaces all over Egypt have vowed to stand their ground until the demands of the revolution are met. Fringe groups who in no way represent the majority of protesters obstructed public services for three days, but other protesters convinced them to desist, which they did, while continuing their extremely civilized act of peaceful protest to press for their demands.
But in the past week the situation reached a head.
A cabinet reshuffle revealed that very little has changed in terms of how much authority is in the hands of the Prime Minister, who in a bid to appease protesters replaced 12 ministers, appointed two new deputies and retained 13, strangely including two from the Nazif cabinet.
The announcement that a young dynamic communications and IT professional Hazem Abdel Azim was to take on the Communications and Information Technology portfolio, followed within days by the dramatic revelation that his candidature was vetoed by a “security check” triggered by unfounded, false allegations by a newspaper — El-Youm El-Sabea which has repeatedly proven that it runs inaccurate and unverified reports — was the first big blow to SCAF’s credibility.
It was clear from the outset that Abdel Azim’s removal was directly linked to his public political views that were highly critical of the Interior Ministry. The fact that the authorities, aided and abetted by an untrustworthy newspaper, used a smear campaign to discredit Abdel Azim with a little help from the suposedly disbanded state security investigations, proved that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
A confrontation between protesters and SCAF was bound to take place sooner or later, fuelled by a combination of arrogance and inefficiency by the army council.
Rejected by most political currents, the recently announced parliament law, once more proved that the council’s unilateral decision-making is not a myth as they are trying to show. Despite opening it for debate and public discussion, SCAF came up with a final version that not only disappointed political parties, but cast doubt over the SCAF’s commitment to holding truly free, fair and transparent elections.
The unjustifiable decision not to invite international election monitors under the classic Mubarak-era pretext that this would be an infringement on Egypt’s national sovereignty, can only mean one thing: SCAF is not truly committed to accepting the transparency it has promised.
And again harking back to the dark ages, the army discourse of the past two days has confirmed most doubts about SCAF’s true intentions of keeping the military’s stranglehold on power, albeit from behind the scenes.
SCAF statement number 69 published early Saturday was an act of clear incitement against protesters and online activists planning a peaceful march towards SCAF headquarters and the Ministry of Defense. The statement even singled out the April 6 Youth Movement as the root of sedition and the cause of rifts between the army and the people.
Add to that accusations by Major General Hassan Al-Ruweiny, Head of the Central Military Command of Egypt of treason and “accepting foreign funds” leveled against the group and against the Kefaya Movement for Change, which he described in several media interviews as “a non-Egyptian movement” because the word “kefaya” means “Enough”, similar to movements in North Sudan and Tunisia.
Of course accepting foreign funds is not a crime if you are the Egyptian military which has received $1.3 billion in military aid from the US every year since Egypt signed the Camp David Peace Accords with Israel in 1979.
It’s telling that General Al-Ruweiny had described in a TV phone-in that those participating in the planned march towards SCAF headquarters as “protesters and thugs”, in a dark premonition of the violence against them in Abbasseya Saturday night which left 296 injured after attacks by the real armed thugs as the military police and central security police watched without lifting a finger to protect the peaceful protesters.
Incidentally on the same Dream TV breakfast show with Dina Abdel Rahman – who is rumored to have been fired – the same Al-Ruweiny admitted that he personally spread disinformation in Tahrir Square because he understands the effect of rumors on angry crowds, confessing that he was the one who first started the rumor that steel magnate and NDP hawk Ahmed Ezz was arrested long before he was, in order to “calm down the protesters”.
The Egyptian street has reached a fever pitch. This can only lead to a head-on collision between independent revolutionary forces and a growing spectrum of political currents, and a ruling army council that has failed to realize the magnitude of the seismic events since Jan. 25 or to meet the minimum aspirations of Egyptians demanding fundamental change.
The ball is in SCAF’s court. This is the time when actions speak louder than words. Instead of resorting to the old “KFC-meals and foreign agenda” tactics to divide and conquer, SCAF must prove beyond a doubt its unwavering commitment to real change.
The question is, will SCAF protect or abort the dreams of millions of Egyptians?
Rania Al Malky is the Chief Editor of Daily News Egypt.
