by Mounir Hamza for Women's Lens
edited by Aimee Kligman
At a time when all the protagonists in the political arena are preparing themselves for parliamentary
elections it might be wise to try to understand the issues at stake.
It seems that all the setbacks suffered by the Egyptian revolution in recent months can be attributed
for the most part to the collision course that has taken shape between the will of the Supreme Council
of the Armed Forces - SCAF - to preserve the status quo that prevailed prior to January 25th, 2011 and
the aspirations for change driven by the revolutionaries. Apart from some gains made by the latter after
the fall of Mubarak by means of the pressure of the street which led, among a few other things, to the
change of Gen. Ahmad Shafik's government, the incarceration of former president Mubarak and
his two sons, as well as most of his political protégés and the indictment of some icons of the old regime; it
remains to be seen if the most important prerogative of the revolution, namely the dismantling of the
old regime to be replaced by a new one on a new basis will be achieved. It should be noted that the longer
the interim period the larger the number of disenchanted Egyptians who, with time, due to economic
hardship and the lack of security, might even take an opposition stance to the revolution altogether.
The main hardship endured by most Egyptians, if not all of them these days, is the lack of security
mainly because many police officers from the former regime, including some suspected of having
tainted blood on their hands, oddly as it may sound, are still active in concert with the ones who were
once part of the notorious security apparatus of the state which had for decades committed numerous
atrocities against fellow Egyptians. The police reforms recently announced by the current minister of the
interior does not seem to have any impact on the ground as it seems to go against the will of some of
the old guard in the ministry. SCAF, on the other hand, rather than encouraging a complete overhaul of the state's security apparatus decided to cover up for the police and fill the gap felt by the
absence of the latter by providing its own forces, namely the military police which has, on occasion,
roughened up Egyptian civilians just as the central security police used to do in the days of Mubarak.
It looks like handling such issues as delicate as they may be in a superficial and apolitical way is still the
main course of action. Needless to say that there are so many other issues pertaining to security that will
consequently suffer on top of which is the country’s social cohesion, its economic and legal activities,
tourism etc.
As though poor management by the executive branch – SCAF & the government – in quite a few
cases was not enough in bringing an almost chaotic atmosphere in some aspects of the country, SCAF,
despite displaying its neutrality from the early days of the revolution regarding all political denominations, has been relaying a message to the people for some time now that says otherwise: the selection of a Muslim Brotherhood icon to take part in the committee amending the Constitution, the choice of Salafi 'Sheikhs' to resolve sectarian disputes outside the rule of law serve to demonstrate SCAF's leniency when it comes to secret funding of Islamic organizations etc.
SCAF is either unconsciously or willingly showing some kind of favoritism towards Islamists – at least
some of them – Is it because the latter have insinuated implicitly and explicitly that in the advent of
them coming to power, they would circumvent the military of any accountability whereas the other
political denominations such as the liberals, socialists and nationalists have, partly at least, called for the
opposite which translates into transparency and accountability under the rule of law. Would the military,
after almost sixty years at the forefront of political life in Egypt, be ready to abide to a civilian leader or
in its shortsightedness let itself fall once more in the lap of the Islamists? But then again, having subdued them once before, maybe they think that in the event of a confrontation they can come out on top once again.
As for the elections looming these days in an atmosphere of lawlessness and complacency towards
the illegal methods used in the political arena by the parties under the banner of Islam, it goes without
saying that the new recently politicized parties emanating from the revolution will have little chance
to do much when compared to the Muslim Brotherhood who has years of political experience behind it and
also the Salafis who have enough unaccounted funds to mount their campaign. As for the Gamaa Islamia
and the Suffis, well they are not expected, for quite different reasons though, to shine in such elections.
Last but not least are the members of the political party one chaired by Mubarak that should, in turn,
mark a few points since the law that was supposed to be enacted to prevent them from enlisting is still
under discussion! Another development that calls for our attention is the recent administrative court
decision to render it unconstitutional to deprive Egyptians living abroad from their right to vote. How
will the government handle such a matter especially that it had earlier announced that it did not have
the administrative means to carry such an endeavor.
Now that the interim period is to stay with us all the way to 2013 covering elections – both legislative
and presidential – setting the committee in charge of enacting the new constitution and formulating
the long awaited new constitution - will the country be able to sustain almost negative growth for such a
period of time without social repercussions? Is Egypt reformulating the political spectrum that prevailed
before January 25th, 2011 only with new faces? Is SCAF conscious about that or is it simply ignoring it let
alone endorse it?
In those tormented times one cannot help but run back in time to the sixth Pharaonic dynasty
25 centuries B.C. whereby I recall what was accounted for on a papyrus as the emotions of a senior
Egyptian civil servant who laments the fate of his country under the influence of insecurity and chaos in
what could be the first document in the history of man demonstrating love for one's country. It is that
same country that assembled us all and made us cry like babies in the month of January 2011 and the
very same one that, by virtue of its people thousands of years ago, gave birth to the concepts of love,
goodness, justice and virtue before it was known to mankind. It is left to us – Egyptians - to evoke our
historic heritage and rise above our differences and lead this country to where our ancestors would be
proud.
The film, scheduled for a free screening at the Carlton Cinema in Toronto on Nov. 3 at 6:00 p.m, is part of “Spotlight on Muslim and Arab Women’s Stories,” presented 
