Why Are Egyptians Revolting Against an Elected Regime?

Last Sunday, Egyptians in almost every major city in Egypt took to the streets by the millions to demand that President Morsi steps down. The mass demonstrations did not stop since June 30th, the throngs continued to fill streets and squares even if no demonstration was scheduled by Tamarod, the movement that is clearly leading the streets of Egypt today. Yesterday for example, Tamarod asked the people to go to the Itihadiya and Quba palaces to continue adding pressure on Morsi. They did but at the same time Tahrir was also filled to the brim. No demonstration was planned in Tahrir!

June 30 witnessed demonstrations that far exceeded the revolution of 2011 that ousted Hosni Mubarak. In fact, the millions who took to the streets on June 30 exceeded the number who attended the funerals of both President Naser and Egyptian diva Um Kalthoum, making that day the largest gathering of Egyptians in history. So why did Egyptians suddenly turn against a president whom they elected only a year ago?

MB served two masters:

President Morsi was elected because people yearned for change. The margin between him and Shafik was not that big but still the majority chose change over a candidate who represented Mubarak’s era. What we later discovered was that Morsi turned out to be merely the Brotherhood’s representative in the presidency and not the president of all Egyptians.

President Morsi used his office to consolidate power for the Brotherhood which ruled Egypt as if it was just one branch in its regional organization. The instability in the country can be traced back to his dictatorial constitutional decree that granted him sweeping power; something Mubarak would have not even dared to do. Egyptians had big dreams after the January 2011 revolution and they hoped the Brotherhood would deliver a better Egypt. Instead, the MB minimized Egypt, the cradle of civilization, to just a tool for them to meet the petty geopolitical goals of their organization.

MB turned into an occupation force

The Brotherhood did not try to change Mubarak’s regime, they just cloned it and made it work for their interests. The cultic nature of the Brotherhood organization, its ideological ties with foreign entities and regional span made it look as if it was “not very Egyptian”. Some of the protesters who took to the streets since last Sunday refer to the MB as the “the Brotherhood occupation.”

No Sheikh under the Mosque’s Dome

“We thought there was a sheikh under the mosque’s dome.” Egyptians say this when they anticipate something big from someone and then get nothing at the end. Before reaching power, we thought the Brotherhood were these great business people who will improve the living standard of Egyptians. On the contrary, we discovered that the MB know nothing about the economy and their economic policy depended solely on borrowing money from anyone who showed any sign of willingness to lend. We thought they were Warren Buffets, they turned out to be Seven Eleven cashiers.

The Brotherhood’s dreadful mismanagement of the country’s economy and the political situation was one of the major reasons why Egyptians cannot take them anymore.

The failure of Westerners to understand why Egyptians revolted against an elected regime is stemming from the fact that they, the Westerners, are secured in their inclusive constitutions, bills of rights and rule of law. We have nothing of these. We only had one facet of democracy – election – which brought a cultic organization with a fascist twist that decided to cancel the other facets.

Why did Egyptians vote for the MB if they were so dreadful? Well, they didn’t know. They did a mistake. The Germans voted for a mass murderer and the Italians voted for a fascist. We have the right to make mistakes too. We’re not better than the Germans and the Italians.

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