By Rania Al Malky
CAIRO: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Egypt is no exception.
Many are comparing the developments in the Libyan uprising, the recent storming of Tripoli by the rebels and the fact that they are the ones holding the reigns of power and forming their own government, with the situation in Egypt, where the masses of protesters who brought down the regime have (some say naively) handed the country over to the military rulers on a silver platter.
The comparison is inappropriate in essence and seems to ignore the senseless bloodshed, destruction and killing of thousands of Libyans over the past seven months, as well as the dangers of foreign intervention, but it does bring home the crux of the dilemma Egypt is facing today: those who led the revolt are not at the helm.
Analysts have hailed Egypt’s relatively peaceful revolt, pointing out to the fact that its nature as a leaderless uprising was the secret behind its resilience in the face of a ruthless regime that could have easily aborted it by cutting off its head, ignoring the fact that the power vacuum was filled by the military; that vague, shadowy remnant of the ancient regime whose ulterior motives are becoming more suspect by the day.
Divided between looking at the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) as a well-meaning but innocently confused league of extraordinary men, thrust unwillingly into a governing public role they do not want, and who must be saluted for siding with the revolution — ironically as opposed to committing crimes against humanity — and seeing SCAF as the biggest threat to the colossal achievement of ordinary Egyptians in bringing down the despot, Egyptians have recently found themselves in confrontations both with each other and with the SCAF.
Soon enough Egyptians found themselves using the same language they used to describe the disbanded state security to describe the military police. Increasingly horrifying testimonials by protesters arrested and subjected to military trials and eventually released have emerged. Accounts of severe beatings and torture of detainees while in military custody, humiliating them by forcing them to strip in front of each other and go on their hands and knees on soiled toilet floors are more preposterous in August 2011 than they would have ever been on January 24.
But what does it all mean?
Is the SCAF with or against the revolution? Will the military rulers keep their promise of handing over power to an elected civilian authority? And if they do so by holding legislative elections as soon as possible, will they seek to be the de facto rulers behind the scene? Does SCAF accept the democratic model with all it entails with regards to transparency and civilian oversight over its closely-guarded colossal financial establishment? Will the ruling generals ever agree to investigate unconscionable human rights abuses – including illegal military trials for civilians – committed under their watch?
The answer to most of these questions is a probably a resounding no, but how will that bode for the democratic future of this country, whose people have suffered for too long to accept half solutions?
Last week I closed my editorial by saying that Egyptians must make the right choice.
Even though in the midst of the overwhelming political and social chaos we are forced to navigate every day, which makes the right choice ever more relative, there is a lowest common denominator that must bind us all together inextricably, without pointing fingers or hurling stones: never compromise on the basic right of every human being to be treated with dignity and respect.
This is the sole criterion upon which to measure people’s true commitment to the core demands of protesters who risked their lives and gave their lives for this ideal. Everything else is negotiable.
As long as the SCAF continues to lend a deaf ear to individual complaints and reports by human rights groups about such violations, then it is setting itself up as the enemy of this revolution. The right choice for SCAF is not a complicated Einstein formula: it’s a simple question of will; the will to apply justice and the will to hold those responsible for such abuses to account.
And to those who believe in selective justice, beware it might me your turn next.
Rania Al Malky is the Chief Editor of Daily News Egypt.
