Editor’s letter: Irreversible optimism

Depression might well be a logical reaction to the path the Egyptian revolution seems to be taking. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) refuses to give up its power to civilians and continues to manipulate the people with hollow, never-to-be-implemented slogans. The latest complementary constitutional declaration is in effect a military coup against democracy, yet SCAF likes to play the same game of denial.
Islamists, mainly represented by the Muslim Brotherhood, have been engaging in political deals with whoever is in power – in other words, SCAF. Yet this is a badly managed survival strategy that has failed miserably in the past couple of weeks, as SCAF have decided to play alone, for reasons to do with their own survival.
The 18-day uprising that followed January 25, with its utopian influence on the people and many international observers gave the initial impression that Egypt would immediately engage in a serious process of building a proper post-revolutionary, institutionalised democracy. Well, this clearly did not happen, and it doesn’t seem that it will happen in the near future either.
Are we the naïve optimists here? Perhaps. But we do have reasons for optimism. We did not simply allow ourselves to remain stuck with depressing facts, such as that the powerful SCAF is the anti-revolutionary power, that the young revolutionaries are scattered and politically immature, or indeed the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood is willing to ally with the devil for the sake of gaining power they have been deprived of for the past 80 years. Remember the Muslim Brotherhood’s blessings provided to SCAF while it was violently dealing with revolutionary youth during the clashes at Mohamed Mahmoud and the Cabinet? We don’t let ourselves get stuck with these miserable realities on the ground, simply because we look to the future. Not to the near future, but to the medium- and long-term.
There are three new factors that should not be underestimated in Egypt’s post-revolution. First, Egyptians are now unstoppable when it comes to expressing their views – even the politically unrealistic ones. This is an ongoing political development that no one can strip away. No one can stem the daily flood of Egyptian political jokes that act as free political lessons to the masses.
Second, the Islamists, who chose to go for power first and turned their backs on the revolutionaries, have lost both: power, and the revolutionaries. Significant and painful criticism has been directed against them by a variety of political entities, while SCAF sold them out at the first cross-roads. They will need years to fix this dilemma and come up with new confidence-building strategies and actions.
The third and most important factor is ‘young versus old,’ a very simple biological reality that should provide us comfort. Power-hungry entities such as SCAF and the Muslim Brotherhood are too old as organisations and individuals to communicate, in a comprehensible language, with the youth that represent the massive majority of the nation.
Biology will not help them to physically function for more than a few years, while all the world’s medical advancements will not empower them to stand against the youth or against what we might call revolutionary awareness. We believe in those who were not polluted by the past three decades of political nonsense.
Look deep and observe student activism in Egyptian universities. They have the power and they do not compromise. It does not even stop there at the university gates. High school students are also having their say, as can be observed in a good number of demonstrations – even primary school students, who chant “the people want the headmaster to fall,” whenever they feel dissatisfaction regarding the price of potato chips or rescheduling of classes. I actually feel pity for Egypt’s future governments: what has happened in the psyche of the youth is irreversible.
This is how we, the naïve optimists, see the future of Egypt. It is just a matter of an ongoing struggle to accelerate the arrival of the future we desire.