The Egyptian Opposition: A Smart Move
19 December 2012
By Tariq Alhomayed
The Egyptian opposition agreeing to participate in the
constitutional referendum, in accordance with five
conditions put forward by the National Salvation
Front, is a smart move and a politically wise act,
rather than a sign of retreat or defeat. It is true
that the battle in Egypt is a battle to preserve the
state, but the battle is unfortunately being conducted
through legal loopholes and religious and media
deception, and in this climate rationalism is
important.
The Egyptian opposition's confrontation with the
Muslim Brotherhood, in the latter's attempt to hijack
Egypt as a whole, will not be a single battle. Instead
it will be multiple rounds, from the constitution to
the media, and even the economy, education and of
course the political system as a whole. The
Brotherhood have succeeded in misleading Egyptian
public opinion in crucial moments, just as they
succeeded in fooling the West and many in our region
about their democratic intentions, the transfer of
power and so on. The conditions accompanying the
Egyptian opposition's decision to participate in the
referendum include full judicial supervision – a
matter that has not yet been resolved by the judges,
and for the referendum to be held on one day only and
not in two phases as the Brotherhood proposed, which
would disperse the electorate and make it easier to
rig the vote. This is a smart move and it means that
the opposition is playing politics correctly,
responding to the Brotherhood's tricks in the same
manner.
The Egyptian opposition must realize that as long as
they are able to mobilize millions of Egyptians to
reject President Mursi's constitutional declaration,
which granted him full powers, and his attempt to pass
the Brotherhood's constitution, or the "midnight"
constitution as it has been described in Egyptian
newspapers, then they are also able to mobilize crowds
to vote "no" in the constitutional referendum and
preserve the state. This is the opposition's battle
now, and it is the most effective way to curb the
Brotherhood's greed. A boycott did not work for Iraq's
Sunnis after the fall of Saddam Hussein, nor did it
work for Egyptian political forces the day they were
deceived by the Brotherhood's tricks and pushed into a
clash with the military council after the fall of
Mubarak. Those forces were ultimately distracted in
futile battles and on that day we wrote warning
Egypt's liberals not to be like the Sunnis of Iraq.
From here the decision to participate, and to mobilize
the ranks to vote no against the "midnight"
constitution is a smart and rational move. It is
proper political conduct on the part of the Egyptian
opposition, and in doing so it takes away a number of
important cards from the Brotherhood, most importantly
its deception of the street and the way in which it
has fooled the West into thinking that the Brotherhood
believes in institutional democratic work. Likewise
this step proves that the Egyptian opposition is not
only a street opposition, but it also has weight at
the ballot box and knows how to play politics rather
than misleading tricks. It is true that the task is a
difficult one, but it has long been said that nations
are not built on hopes, slogans or through the
pulpits, rather they are built on long, hard work that
requires mobilizing the ranks and winning over others.
The most important thing is to deprive the competition
of their deceptive tricks, especially if the
competition, in this case the Muslim Brotherhood, is
playing the religion card, exploiting legal loopholes
and inciting the emotions of the masses.
So now the hard work begins for Egypt, or at least a
third of its electorate, to vote "no" on the
"midnight" constitution.
Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat,
the youngest person to be appointed that position. He
holds a BA degree in Media studies from King Abdul
Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also completed his
Introductory courses towards a Master's degree from
George Washington University in Washington D.C. He is
based in London.
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments