By Rania Al Malky
CAIRO: Watching the live transmission from Tahrir Square Friday morning as hundreds of Egyptians gathered to “realign the path of the revolution”, I’m heartened by the fact that they have drowned out voices calling for an open-ended sit-in dubbed “the second revolution of rage” in the past two weeks.
Despite the emotional outbursts and the deliberate attempts to instill fear in potential participants, the polarization of society since calls began for a mass protest on May 27 is perhaps a blessing in disguise. The two sides of the spectrum clearly defined their stances: one showing little or no confidence in any of the achievements so far, hence demanding a second revolution and a presidential council to replace the army council; while the other choosing to continue along the same path of applying pressure to shape the current and future path of the country. And as zero hour approached, it was clear that the two sides had agreed to disagree, which in itself is a dramatic compromise.
Even though I still have reservations regarding holding elections before having a constitution, like the four million others who voted no on the March 19 referendum on the constitutional amendments, I am resolved to respect the results of a democratic process. However, from day one I summarily rejected framing May 27 as “a second revolution”, with all its combative, confrontational pitting of the people against the ruling army council, but supported this protest as a basic human right to associate and as a means of drawing the military council’s attention to some fundamental issues that continue to be shrouded in mystery.
Where are, for example, the results of the investigations into the alleged torture of protesters by military police last March? Why has there been no serious police probe into the sectarian crimes that took place in Muqqatam and Imbaba in Cairo and the village of Sol in Helwan? And if investigations were undertaken, why is there no transparency in publicizing the results and referring the criminals to court? Why has the military prosecution not kept its promise of reviewing the cases of protesters given prison sentences in military courts? Why do other protesters continue to be tried before military courts and given suspended sentences?
When it comes to the prosecution of the ousted president and his family, the recent decision to refer Mubarak and his sons to the criminal court for killing protesters and financial corruption, have allayed fears of a possible amnesty, in which case the whole country would have legitimately gone back to Tahrir Square and very legitimately embarked on a second revolution.
But that didn’t happen. And as I type these words now, there is talk of Mubarak being moved from Sharm El-Sheikh to Tora prison hospital. Exactly when this will take place and how Mubarak’s court proceedings will be conducted, reportedly some time in the next two weeks, are topics of endless speculation, but will be finalized soon enough.
More than any other time since Mubarak’s ouster, and despite various clashes between protesters and the army, it is clear that the army council is intent on appeasing the public. Its decision to steer clear from areas where protests were taking place Friday and its decision Thursday to release a draft of the amended People’s Assembly law for public discussion before its final endorsement are positive steps in the right direction aimed at casting off the impression that the army is making unilateral decisions without seeking general consensus.
But the point we have reached now did not come from a vacuum; it is the result of the power of continued peaceful public pressure and of course a little help from the G8, the International Monetary Fund and the US and the UK, which have promised billions of dollars worth of investments, debt swaps and waivers as long as the country continues along a path of democratic reform.
In the final analysis, it’s all going to boil down to the economy. To guarantee that Egypt’s spring doesn’t turn into a deadly tsunami the interim government must use the money to create jobs and reinforce the institutions that will guarantee accountability, transparency, fight corruption and impose the rule of law.
We have won the battle against a decadent regime, let’s hope we can win the war against poverty, apathy, marginalization and worst of all, our own inability to engage in serious, open and sincere dialogue to reach consensus and rebuild our country.
Rania Al Malky is the Chief Editor of the Daily News Egypt.
