The military coup in Egypt had a number of results, the most difficult of which for a nascent democracy is the return of the military to the political scene. It created events which the people of Egypt will not forget in a hurry:
- The Egyptians will not forget the image of their first freely-elected president being ousted after only one year in office by a coalition of his political opponents, the Christian minority and the army. This was blessed by the democratic West and other states.
- They will not forget that the man charged with forming an interim government, Mohamed ElBaradei, had shoes thrown at him post-January 25th.
- The Egyptians will not forget that journalists insulted, not criticised, the freely-elected president continuously for a year but he did not have them arrested, nor did he close-down any of their media outlets. His opponents, however, who claim to uphold freedom of speech, have closed TV stations opposing the coup and arrested journalists.
- They will not forget that during the year of the Islamist government not one citizen was arrested without a court order, whereas the president himself, as well as his aides and members of his party, have been detained by the supposedly freedom loving groups behind the coup.
- They will not forget that party offices were stormed, looted and set on fire as the president and his party were accused of damaging the country.
- The Egyptians will not forget that supporters of the president on the streets were killed in their dozens and yet were accused of killing others.
- The Egyptians will not forget that during the mass protest which led to a coup against the freely elected president more than 100 cases of sexual harassment of women and rape were reported. Human rights organisations have condemned this almost reluctantly and none of the mass media have had exclusive interviews with the victims as they did during the January 25 Revolution.
- They will not forget that they dismissed journalists sympathetic to Mubarak in 2011 and yet the same journalists are icons of the coup.
- The Egyptians will not forget that Arab states imposed embargoes on Egypt because it elected an Islamist president and when that president was ousted they cheered and sent the coup culprits cash and oil.
- The Egyptians will not forget that the so-called champions of democracy in the West sat idly by while democracy was slaughtered in their country. Clearly, the criterion for their support is the degree of loyalty to Western neo-colonialism.
- They will not forget that the Egyptian army’s loyalty is not to the state, its freedom or its people’s interests, but to the party, including foreign states, which pays the most for its stained honour.
- The Egyptians will not forget that their judiciary is neither independent nor clean, with judges and officials who are puppets in the hands of the army. The General Prosecutor, whose resignation was a demand of January 25th, was returned to his position by the military coup.
- The Egyptians will not forget that when they elected their president in a free and fair democratic election the people of occupied Palestine cheered while the Israeli occupiers were upset; when the president was ousted by the military coup, occupied Palestinians felt great sadness and the Israeli occupation felt great joy.
This list is not the definitive version. History will record that this coup is the worst act of many in the black record of the Egyptian army, blotting out as it did the freedom of democracy in the country, and undermining its value.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.