Guest Post: Egypt Dividing

Guest Post: Alhassan from Egypt

Almost two years after its revolutions, everyone in the world would think that Egypt got what it wanted, but apparently that is not the reality. Earlier this year in June, Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, got elected into presidency. Although many were not satisfied by the results, Egyptians chose to wait and see what Morsi got for them. Over the last six months, he has failed to achieve the goals he had set in his campaign: Egyptians experienced no improvement in their life conditions, and even worse, several accidents such as a train accident where 50 children died. All of these factors combined made Egyptians' hate for the new president grow very quickly. This hatred exploded when the president decided to sack the general prosecutor and assign himself power over the legislative and executive branches. Many perceived this as a huge decision that will create another dictator. His decree led the opposition to call for protests against the constitutional declaration, which were met by a demand from the Muslim Brotherhood Party for its members to have a counter protest. For two weeks, both sides protested for and against the decree. Morsi's only reaction was calling Egyptians to join an urgent referendum on the new decree, which still didn't satisfy the protestors. On Wednesday, the 5th of December, clashes took place between the two sides, with many claiming that members of the MB were the ones starting the attack with weapons and fire bombs. Now, sadly, the country is polarized between the two parties: Pro- Morsi/decree and anti- Morsi/decree.

President Morsi of Egypt

Random Alhassan Thoughts: Although I wasn't happy with Morsi getting elected, I was still satisfied by the fact that we had our first fair presidential elections. I could also understand that after a very long era of dictatorship, which created a very politically illiterate nation, why people elected the man who spoke in the name of religion. After hearing his decree, I wasn't very worried about the creation of a new dictator, knowing that we will act the second we sense the creation of one. I rather believed that we should trust him and see what he had for us. After all, the majority of Egyptians willingly elected this man. Nevertheless, I was saddened by the acts of the MB members, who are now speaking in the name of religion and anyone who opposes them is being called a hater of Islam. I was also disappointed by Morsi, who ever since he became a president, didn't try to have an inclusive government that would unify the nation. A very big division is being created between Egyptians and if Morsi doesn't act immediately, very bloody clashes might occur between his supporters
and people who would want him to step down as a president.