On the levels of moral degeneration in Egypt

The moral decline and downward spiral in Egypt is endless. When one mistakenly believes that there is an end or bottom to this, one is surprised that there is another deeper “bottom”. When we read the news from “the mother of the world” we are disappointed and frustrated by what the situation has come to under the military rule. We lose hope for a moment in the possibility of reforming or changing this country. One of the most depressing images in Egypt is the image of Dr Mohamed Saad El-Katatni in the red execution clothes looking pale and weak. This indicates the level of physical and psychological torture he and other prisoners are subjected to. It has reached the point where the prisoners’ families are no longer asking for their relatives to be released, but to improve their conditions in prison, most importantly allowing visitation and providing blankets to keep them warm in the bitter cold. We also read that nine new prisons will be built on dozens of acres of land and heard about the introduction of courts to deal with women’s “abusers” in Egypt, as announced by the Minister of “Injustice”, the corrupt Ahmed El-Zend.

In addition to his, we heard about the disgraceful diplomatic failure of the Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in the incident dubbed “Al Jazeera microphone battle” by my colleague Zein El-Abidine Tawfik and about the fine of $32 million imposed on the Muslim Brotherhood in a fabricated case known as the “storming of the prisons” without the knowledge of the defendants. We heard the disgraceful conversation held by the “executioner judge” Nagy Shehata with Al-Watan newspaper in which he exposed the degeneracy in his language and profession. This same newspaper did not actually publish his words until after he denied he spoke to them in an example of unprofessionalism and moral failure. More news to come out of Egypt included the Friday preacher who considered Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi the “shadow of God on Earth”, the seizure of the respectable football player Mohamed Aboutrika’s assets at the same time that Habib Al-Adli, the ministry of interior murderer during Mubarak’s era, had the freeze on his assets lifted, and the release of the Israeli spy Ouda Tarabin in exchange for a few drug dealers, according to the newspapers. Tarabin had described his imprisonment as a “break” as he was able to enjoy all means of relaxation and entertainment.

This decline (or nightmare) does not end here; rather it leads us to something worse. We are now witnessing the fight over the general’s heart inside the new “parliament”, after the farcical play that was the parliamentary elections ended. The new members are fighting to reserve a seat on the State Support Coalition list being formed by the National Security Council (formerly known as the State Security), which incited a number of members to join its ranks acceding to the statements of Al-Wafd party members. The goal of this list, which is evident from its name, is to support the current military government against the “enemies and saboteurs”. It is important to take a look at the image indicating the level of degeneration we expect members of the new parliament to reach in their behaviour. This image is that of two new members (one of whom won with the majority vote despite his ignorance and ill manners) standing alone in one of the new parliament’s rooms and smoking together in a sad and unfortunate scene. This scene however is not lacking in significance.

Some may view all that I have mentioned above as fragmented and pessimistic news that does not reflect the truth of the situation in Egypt. However, unfortunately, this news reflects something more dangerous than this; it reflects the state of disregard and indifference that has dominated more people. They now view such news as something normal that is not cause of concern or fear for the future of the state. In other words, it seems that because of how many times it is repeated, such unfortunate news and stories no longer seems strange. The collective consciousness now deals with such news as part of the “bread” of everyday life, which we no longer need to contemplate. Perhaps this is what the oppressive regime in Egypt wants; it wants us to deal with such sad news as if it were normal in order for society to stop demanding its rights and freedoms.

This is the same behavior displayed by other oppressive regimes in our region and elsewhere. For example, it has been said that the most prisoners in Al-Assad’s prisons ask for is to be detained in larger prisons in order to allow them to run to stop the blood from clotting in their legs due to the cramped spaces. Meanwhile, during Mubarak’s rule, the most that prisoners asked for was windows in the prisons so they could see the light of day. This is how demands to end oppression and injustice have turned into attempts to adapt to it with the least losses possible.

The current ruling military government in Egypt is behaving in the same manner and trying to distract the attention of those inside and outside the country. It is important to stop the oppression and political crimes committed against the citizens and opposition and not just demand an improvement of conditions and accepting them. Therefore, the military government’s media in Egypt continues to remind everyone of the Iraqi and Syrian scenarios in an attempt to justify acceptance of the miserable situation that the country has reached.

Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, 15 December 2015.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.