From upper right hand corner and across the top: The supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, who was arrested after the crackdown and has accused the police of beating him, former military general Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Hosni Mubarak, and a member of the police forces threatening to beat an artist. (Photo: Christine Smith)

An account of the days immediately following the crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood

I am writing this at the urging of friends and because of my sadness about what is currently happening in Egypt. I am writing as a person who has lived in Egypt for a year learning Arabic. The following represents my opinion about the ongoing events, through observations and what I have learned in conversation with my friends and by reading journalistic reports.

As you all know by now, June 30 saw the popular ouster of Mohammed Morsi. I believe it was reported the around 33 million Egyptians throughout all of the provinces entered the streets against him. This was most likely the largest protest in Egypt ever and one of the largest in the world. This was organized by the Rebel Campaign (Tamarod) over several months. Yes, Morsi was popularly elected, but the year of his rule was incredibly difficult on Egyptians in terms of the basic necessities of everyday life. While any new president in these conditions would have faced the same problems, what made his time in office even worse was that he used the exact same policies of Mubarak, namely torture.

Torture was and is still wide spread (one of the major demands of the revolution was for human rights and respect). Torture was used not just by the interior ministry but by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. This was evident in the protests in front of the Presidential palace after the presidential declaration where male Muslim Brotherhood youth violently attacked protesters. These were not errant youth refusing to listen to brotherhood leadership. Doctor Mahmoud Habib, who was part of the Muslim Brotherhood for 40 years and part of its guidance bureau, documents that indeed, they were sent to intimidate and attack protesters.

Further, in the Brotherhood’s last year in power, Brotherhood members and its allies have done little to stop sectarian violence, instead often encouraging it. The plight of Copts in Egypt is most well know but Shias in Egypt are also under increasing attack and before June 30 a mob of around a thousand, just a short distance from a police station, entered a Shia priest’s home and killed him. So unsurprisingly, with the faltering economy, (the price of everything is rising and everything seems to be falling apart), the demands of Jan 25 becoming a far away dream, and the puzzling, embarrassing and sometime authoritarian actions of Morsi, people were fed up. So to reiterate, the popular demand of a majority of Egyptians was to oust Morsi.

The problem began with the arrival of the Military announcement which declared that all political groups had 48 hours to come to an agreement or a new roadmap would be drawn to lead Egypt into the future, a future without Morsi. At the time of the announcement, this action actively signified the end of Morsi’s government. Immediately after his removal, Morsi was jailed due to a case against him (side story: During Jan 25 Morsi was in prison but managed to break out with others and establish communications with (I believe) Al Jazeera during a time when communications were down in the country, a case was launched against him because of this break out and the larger belief that he was operating with terrorists groups which is a rumour/problem that also plagued his presidency: was he a president for Egypt, advocating on behalf of the needs of Egyptians or was he working to advance the goals of the Brotherhood throughout the region and working with dangerous terrorist organizations?).

Al Azhar, the Coptic church, liberal and secular forces and a host of civil society institutions supported the ouster and appeared on TV with general Sisi during his short announcement of a new roadmap for Egypt. The Salafi party al Nur did not support the ouster of Morsi but did support the call for referendum elections and participated in talks to form the transitional goverment after Morsi’s departure (they’ve actually been surprisingly clever about their political decisions).

For the week after this, I believe the Brotherhood were in a state of shock. From their statements about Tamarod (the rebel Campaign), it is clear they thought it was nothing and it was also clear that they were very disconnected from the anger of Egyptian people. Also at this time, the political rhetoric was escalating with Brotherhood officials promising reprisals for the disposal and imprisonment of Morsi.

In the meantime, Egypt entered a period of Sisi/army enthusiasm. Two prominent news channels had nothing but anti-Ikwan (Ikwan=Muslim Brotherhood) and pro-military coverage. It was very partial and very overwhelming. For me, the growing popularity of the army was deeply disturbing but when talking to friends here, I learned that because the Egyptian army is a conscript army, many families have sons that have entered or who have been in the army. The army, specifically the rank and file is a beloved institution for many and the fact that they played a role in ridding the country of Morsi elevated them in the hearts and minds of many. To be sure, the rank and file is not the same as the Supreme Council of Armed Forces which is a separate council of military leaders and who, after the disposal of Mubarak also terrorised and mismanaged the country…

Also during this time, the Brotherhood started active protests and sit-ins against the army, again ignoring popular discontent or any responsibility for the last year and claiming they were wronged and that they have legitimacy for four years. I absolutely disagree with this. Morsi was elected because many Egyptians hoped he would fulfill the demands of Egypt and put Egypt on a different track and also because he wasn’t Ahmed Shafiq who represented the era of Mubarak. He did not fulfill those demands.

Instead of sticking with western style bureaucratic democracy that believes one should wait for four years living under a constitution that was written in two nights just to go put one’s opinion in a box (which, depending on what side you are, you aren’t sure your vote will matter or be counted), Egyptians chose to make their voices heard in the most indisputable and transparent way: by hitting the streets. Despite this clear message, the Ikwan (Muslim Brotherhood) still cannot see that it has no legitimacy without the support of the majority of Egyptians which it has VERY CLEARLY lost.

In the month leading up to the dispersal of the sit-in, the Ikwan sadly slipped deeper into a state of fantasy and the Military leadership has helped them sink further. Seventy-three Ikwan protesters (The reports I have read describe them as largely peaceful here) were killed during a conflict during fajr prayers. I have not yet seen an investigative report into what exactly happen but it is agreed the 73 is an absurdly high number of dead on the part of protesters and that the military here acted without restraint.

These unrestrained actions by the military only made the situation worse, but in surprising ways. It gave support to the claim made by the Ikwan that they were being assaulted and treated inhumanely, but also it led to the Ikwan committing strange activities to amp up their claims. For example, the MB was caught using footage of the carnage in Syria with dead Syrian women and children as if it had happened in Nasr city (Nasr City is a suburb of Cairo and a site of the Brotherhood’s largest sit-in at Rabea al-adiwiya Mosque). Second, the Ikwan launched a series of mobilisations where protesters hit different spots in the city and tried to set up more sit-ins outside of the two in Giza and Nasr city (For the residents of Nasr city, there were repeated attempts by residents to get them to leave because they were accused of stealing and destroying properties and trapping residents in their homes). Throughout the city they blocked roads,  blocked the platforms of the metro, they made travel around parts of Nasr city and Giza impossible (Giza is a field site of mine and I was not able to travel to it at all) and they spray painted almost everything in the city ‘C.C murderer'(CC stands for the head of the Military, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Sisi =C.C.).

Further, another part of their strategy seemed to be recruitment. They sent out emissaries to convince Egyptians to join them in their fight for legitimacy. Unfortunately, I had the bad luck of encountering one.

I give English classes at Sakia El Sawy and occasionally a person sitting near by would like to come and just listen to the lesson. On one particular day, a middle aged man asked to join. After two minutes of making a quick introduction and returning to the lesson, the guy launches into his spiel about how all the military wants is power and how wrong they have been. I had stopped to tell him that I was in the middle of a class and that he could talk about this later. After a minute he continued and then my student asked him to stop. Then he went to the next table to try and recruit, eventually finding two who listened to him for a while but then turned to playing cards, I presume leaving the guy unsuccessful in his attempts.

Further, there were reports (some by journalists) of torture and violence within the sit-ins, due to which a group of Egyptians NGOs visited to inspect the situation. NGO members were verbally assaulted and I believe some were physically roughed up.

During all of these actions, there was no security force that restricted the behavior of the sit-ins or tried to calm the situation or alleviate the pressures from the sit-ins on local residents. It was jaw-dropping surprising to see how aggressive and out of control things got without anyone doing anything. I believe there are a few reasons for this:

1. The police presence in Egypt still has not fully returned
2. the police simply do not know how to peacefully regulate crowds without a full out attack
3. I think some officers, based on what I observed, simply don’t think risking their lives are worth it. Further, the military, who’s mandate it is to protect the country and secure the lives of citizens did nothing. There were actions in the Sinai, but that was it. Some say it was the international pressure that prevented them from doing anything, they did not want a repeat of the deaths that happened in front of the republican guard house where 73 brotherhood members died. I simply don’t know. Anyway, it was clear that the situation was reaching a point of crisis and international attempts had failed in whatever it was trying to do.

I woke up Wednesday, the 14^th of August to a call from my roommate telling me not to go out as the sit-ins were being broken up. I put on the news and saw fire and smoke. At first, I believed that the military had started the fire but there are now reports saying that the fire may have been accidentally started (or not) by the Ikwan. During the melee, many were shot, the belongings of reporters were confiscated and some were roughed up by security forces. The sit-in in Giza was successfully torn down. I remember seeing two death rates that are around 500 and 2000 but that number has since grown. It has become clear that the Military had absolutely no plan and just decided they were going to go and get rid of the sit-ins disregarding the sizable number of the people camped out or the consequences. State and religious institutions were not safeguarded. And again to reiterate, I don’t believe the officers involved in the raid have any experience with breaking up gatherings in a way that reduces the possible loss of life. They just attacked. And then Mohammed El Baradei resigned with a note that gave no real details except mentioning there was a political solution and a security solution and the government chose the security solution. He doesn’t outline what exactly was the political solution or inform the reader (Egyptians) about what is going on inside of the transitional government. This angered me because he was the choice of the rebel campaign to enter government and move it toward the demands of Jan 25. This transitional government was supposed to be more transparent and open to the demands of the people. Instead, all I have seen is that this has been more of the same and no one has any clue what has been going on and his letter does nothing to alert Egyptians about the possible risks and dangers it is being led into with the new transitional government.

For the week after the fourteenth, we lived in a nightmare. There were reports that bodies could not be identified in the morgue because of their charred state. And worst of all, there were also reports that some of those bodies had been dead before Wednesday.

There have been debates over whether the Kkwan members were arming themselves. I strongly believe many of them were and there is documented evidence of the Ikwan supporters shooting and randomly throwing molotov cocktails. I don’t know for sure if this was an official policy of the Ikwan (I have to be honest and say that I suspect it is) but whether it was or not, the rhetoric on the part of its leaders is encouraging the violence we see now. Further, some reports by journalists seem to imply that in the sit-ins, there was very little supervision or control provided by the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, so the MB would say one thing (for example, that they supported only peaceful protests while participants of the sit-in acted differently and actively armed themselves). It is inconceivable however that Brotherhood leadership was unaware about the issue of weapons in the sit-in camps as talk of weapons in the camp was everywhere. The important question is what did they do, if anything, to investigate.

In addition to the many unidentified burned bodies, police stations were set on fire without any consideration of the residents who live nearby. My Arabic teacher lives right next to a police station and she was stuck in her home with her family watching flames and inhaling smoke wondering if the flames may reach her home (thankfully they are safe). At the same time as the police station was burning down, Brotherhood supporters prevented fire trucks from reaching the station. Further, Brotherhood supporters fired indiscriminately at homes as they marched through the city. This happened in Bulaq on the day after the massacre at the Al-Adawiya Mosque where two of my students live. We had made plans to meet up, but the violence made it impossible. The same was happening in Zamalek and the Ramsis area of Cairo where supporters were torching buildings. Activities like these are happening throughout Egypt. There has even been an attack on the Library of Alexandria where Ikwan supporters broke in and stole items that were in the front hall of the Library.

I can go on with the list of chaos but I do want to mention that above all of this, the most damning of the Ikwan ( or their supporters…) is the systematic attack of Copts, Coptic churches, schools and properties. Egypt is a majority Sunni Islam state with ten percent (this number may be seriously outdated) Copt. On June 30, Egyptians of all stripes came out to oust the Ikwan, and most of them were undeniably Muslim! Yet the Copts are being targeted. Opposition groups and ordinary Egyptians doubted from very early on whether the Ikwan could be trusted to speak for and protect all Egyptians. In fact, from the beginning many doubted it. These ongoing attacks prove these folks right. There is no voice of wisdom in the Ikwan telling them that these continuing attacks have ruined whatever tiny chances they have had. There is no consideration for the country as a whole or its people.

While my opinion is decidedly against the actions of the Muslim Brotherhood, I must also state here that they are currently undergoing a massive and unjust crackdown where anyone linked to the organization whether violent or not, is being arrested and imprisoned. Security forces have used overwhelming amounts of force against them, unnecessarily killing many. It is clear that in this new phase, security forces and the transitional government are trying to eliminate the Muslim Brotherhood. Prime Minister Beblawi has indicated as much when he announced that he was investigating legal means of eliminating them. Secondly, I am also against the actions of the security forces who have shown they have no training except in death and torture. And third, I am against military rule as it has been clear since the 25 January 2011 until now that the military is driven only by their desire to maintain their powerful positions over Egyptian politics, whether democratic or not.

A year ago, I came here with no firm judgements about the Ikwan. After a year, I was glad to see them leave the presidency as it was clear they needed more political experience. On the 14^th of august I felt terrible distress for the loss of lives at the sit-ins and felt very afraid for the future of Egypt (I wondered whether the demands of Jan 25 would ever be met and whether Egypt was headed toward fascism or worse) and angry with Baradei and the security forces for not having a plan on how to reduce loss of life or chaos. After these few days, I agree with many Egyptians that the supporters of the Brotherhood were rampaging across the nation and threatening the lives of civilians. And like many Egyptians, I wondered about the lopsided coverage in the international media (overwhelming support for the Ikwan) as we were all living as if we were in prison, stuck inside afraid of venturing far from our homes, afraid of being shot or burned. Just as the security forces collectively assaulted protesters whether they were armed or not, the Ikwan were collectively punishing all Egyptians throughout the country, Almost no one can go to work and many people live off of daily wages. So the poor must risk their lives and go out under these conditions to make money in order to eat.

I hope through this long note, I have made it a little clearer where I stand and why so many Egyptians strongly supported the military and approved of their actions. It would seem like the international media are painting Egyptians as irrational, overly emotional, prone to dramatic protest but not to the hard work of democracy and prone to supporting ‘strong man’ dictators. Quite the opposite. Egyptians are striving for a life of freedom and dignity, to be something more than pawns in political power struggles every four years. Egyptians are working hard, every day, to attain a spirit of political and social freedom that goes beyond the idea of democracy as practiced in the west.

When I have attended protests here, yes they are rife with emotion (how can they not be!?!) Those protests are spaces of anger, hope and joy and all of these emotions are present along with the organizational and thoughtful work of young people here. Egyptians are not stupid nor have they been duped. Rather the past year with Morsi was a spectacular failure and they are now facing a siege. When faced with a powerful organization such as the Ikwan (who have a history of violence) people have placed their bets with the military…again. (sidenote: Gamal Abd Al Nasser jailed them and tried to wipe them out, Sadat let some of them out but before he was assassinated regretted the decision and tried to jail them again, Mubarak let them unofficially enter politics but kept them in a precarious position where they were persistently under the risk of  being re-jailed. All of these presidents were from the military, and yes, as a friend pointed out to me, we can consider the military as a political party in Egypt!). While I don’t agree with the overwhelming support of the military or their role in politics, I don’t judge this as a stupid decision on the part of Egyptians.

Now with Mubarak released from jail and much of the Brotherhood leadership locked up, it seems as though Egypt is back at the beginning and there is widespread sadness about the deaths, the violence and the flip in the fortunes of Mubarak and the Brotherhood. I don’t know what will happen next but I don’t believe Egyptians will support a return to the past. So much has changed in the years since 2011 that it is impossible to go back. The changes are irreversible and this is what gives me hope that Egyptians can find another way outside of the dangerous loop between the Muslim Brotherhood and Military-led governments.

If you pray, pray for Egypt.

Christine Smith is a PhD student at the University of Kentucky whose research includes urban space and everyday life in Cairo, Egypt.

Comentarios

comments