January in Egypt, where pride meets shame

January 2011 witnessed the greatest revolution in Egypt’s history, in which the people revolted against oppression and injustice. It was an epic human gathering in which all the people, regardless of their political, intellectual, and religious affiliations, came together, putting aside any affiliation other than their affiliation with Egypt.

Their voices harmonised in a united symphony chanting, “The people demand the overthrow of the government” and “Raise your head, you’re Egyptian”. These chants shook the earth in Egypt in 2011, and their reverberations reached other Arab countries, including Libya, Syria, and Yemen. It is no wonder that this happened, as we are a united Arab nation and its people are one but divided by the colonial powers into several countries.

Seven years after the Egyptian revolution that impressed the world and was the dream the Egyptians have always dreamt of achieving and was right there in front of them, they discovered that they overthrew a dictator and corrupt government, but they did not overthrow the system. This was the biggest mistake made by the revolution, and it was used as a door for the system to return through by means of conspiring with the imperial and regional forces afraid that the winds of the revolution would reach their countries. These forces feared that such revolutions would topple their thrones. Of course the regional forces I am referring to are Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Israeli conspiracies planted by Israel in the region. The UAE is the headquarters for the counter-revolutions where all the conspiracies against the Arab nations and the Muslim nation as a whole are plotted.

These two countries in particular managed to turn the dream of the Egyptian people into a frightening nightmare, just as it did with the other Arab revolutions, although it took on a different form in Egypt, out of fear that their nations would get democracy. They spent hundreds of billions of dollars to overthrow the democratically elected president, elected in the first ever free elections, not only in Egypt’s history, but also in the history of the entire Arab region. The entire world witnessed the integrity of these elections. This was followed by the military coup, which certainly would not have happened if it didn’t receive the green light from the US.

Read: Prominent member of halted Egyptian opposition campaign attacked and injured

This was admitted by Al-Sisi himself during an interview with an American television station after the coup. He admitted that he spoke weekly with the American Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel, for six months, expressing his frustration with Morsi and that there is no hope for him. Now, after the secrets of the deal of the century have been revealed, we are able to decode the meanings of this sentence, which we may have considered many times but did not understand at the time. It is obvious that President Mohamed Morsi refused to give up parts of Sinai and establish an alternative state for the Palestinians in Sinai, despite the rumours and lies promoted at the time in this regard. This angered the Egyptians and turned them against him, a matter that the corrupt media played a major role in.

The Egyptian revolution displeased the Israeli leaders, just as it did the Arab leaders. Despite the fact that they want Israel to remain the only democratic oasis in the region they also fear the awakening of the Arab nations and their overthrow of their leaders, who act as their agents in the region and the guards for their usurped entity. We saw how after Hosni Mubarak  – who Israel would describe as a strategic treasure – was overthrown a young man climbed up the 15-storey building housing the Israeli embassy and removed the flag. The youth down below burnt it, while the masses rejoiced and cheered. At the time this young man was honoured by the governor and was given an apartment to live in. The people had a second lease of life, granted to them by the revolution. Compare this to what happened to those who protested in front of the Journalists Syndicate in objection to Trump’s reckless decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. They were pursued by the police and a number of them arrested merely because they chanted in support of an Arab Jerusalem.

Hence, the interests of the Zionist Israelis converged with those of the Arab Zionists, and they combined their efforts in order to bury the Egyptian revolution alive. If the blossoming democratic experience had continued to grow, it would’ve changed the shape of the entire region.

However, we cannot excuse the elites, especially those who participated in the 25 January Revolution, from conspiring against the revolution and joining hands with the enemies of the revolution merely because their political opponent was elected. They revolted against the same democracy they were advocating for and allowed themselves to be the path over which the military crossed on the back of their tanks on 30 June, allowing the military to dress the coup in a civilian disguise before the world’s eyes.

After the lowly elites lost hope of gaining any positions in the government, which they considered themselves the main pillars of, they became the main actors in the 30 June play. After they then suffered at the hands of oppression and injustice they demanded a new president in the elections scheduled to be held in March. They are kidding themselves once again, just as they did after the coup, when they believed that the army would hand over authority to them after deposing President Mohamed Morsi and eliminating the Muslim Brotherhood. They know, deep down in their hearts, that the next elections will be nothing more than a satirical play and that those who were brought in on tanks can only leave on tanks. Every day we witness a new act in this satirical play that has made Egypt the laughing stock of the world. After the scandal of forcing Ahmed Shafik to back down from running for president, after issuing threats, Sami Anan was kidnapped from his car two days after making a strong statement to the Egyptian people in which he announces his intention to run for president. This was welcomed by a large number of Egyptian people, which displeased Al-Sisi. Therefore, he was thrown into military prison and his deputy, Hisham Geneina, was subject to an assassination attempt by some of the government’s thugs wielding swords and machetes. Thuggery has become one of the main features of the government when dealing with its opponents.

Read: Would-be presidential candidate, ex-Egypt army chief held in military prison

After eliminating the two serious candidates the government began looking for a new extra to play the role of the opposing candidate against Al-Sisi in this play. They agreed it would be Mousa Mostafa Mousa, the head of the Wafd Party, Egypt’s oldest political party. Mousa had previously declared his support for Al-Sisi’s second term and refused to play the extra. He was given a choice between following the decision of the party or resigning and running as an independent candidate, unaffiliated with the party.

In the final hours the search was still ongoing for an extra. This man has several cases against him, but suddenly they said he received over 40,000 pledges and the backing of over 20 MPs. They also claimed he had his medical exam at the last minute. All of this is happening in secret in order for the foundations of the comical play to be complete and so that the world can mock us.

Unfortunately, all of these events are taking place on and around the anniversary of the great January Revolution, at a time when pride meets shame.

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