THE REACTIONARY EGYPT: “DEMOCRACY IS MINE AND I RUN IT MYSELF”

The Unbearable Lightness of Populism and Western Business Lobbies

by Glauco D’Agostino

The coup enticement by the secular-militaristic prudery is the real threat to democracy. Still today

Any surprises? Not at all. Democracy detractors turned out to be, eventually, the lay-militarist forces, historically taking a coup as their usual political instrument. If you don’t remember, some of the main coups (excluding those only attempted) carried out by military and/or inspired by secular formations in the countries of the Muslim world are shown at the end of this article.

What’s happening in Egypt reproduces a standard pattern, previously seen and seen again over the years: first, inspiring verbal utterances on democracy defense, overpriced international symposia in order to reaffirm our unwavering certainty about the key value of democratic principles, to be defended, if necessary, even through the righteous’ firmness; then, when the first military takeover overthrows democratic order, by imposing tanks on the streets, somebody tries to endorse the idea we should not amplify this issue. Coup d’état? Which coup? Certain well-informed analysts (possibly showing an academic title off) make us aware this is not a coup; at most we can speak about a “correctional movement”. Sure, we had no doubt. It’s a matter of semantics. Enough to change name of things and, by magic, those things change their essence. (It would be as saying the airstrike against the New York Twin Towers was not an attack, they just collapsed because a structural failure).

Stunning! There is someone claiming the absence of a coup, yet; of course, by speaking from the top of his competences (so many!) and always serving the winner. But now a slight problem could arise: who is the real winner? Some expert’s statements right after the coup have been out too far untimely. And now the scariest risk could be losing credibility with lobby groups and, what it’s worse, losing sinecures for doing the ordered filthy media work.

Nobody knows what to do and no one can properly interpret events. President of Egypt has not people as a source of institutional legitimacy, but the military iron willpower speaking on behalf of people. (By the way, how about exporting in the Western countries this new form of democracy?). To start with, the Egyptian Presidency heralds it has appointed Prime Minister an estimated character, sure, but on behalf of a not simply quantified movement of a blatant minority: and, you know, din is the democracy gist, according to certain progressive Western universities. Then, the Officers above, following a blessing by the increasingly frightened putschist generals, suggest some media reports, growing uncertainty: who said that? The assignment to whom? We have not decided anything, yet. You have got it wrong. This is a regime protecting popular democracy and therefore we are consulting Taḥrīr Square. Too bad in this square, icon of the 2011 Revolution, there are also Salafi an-Nour militants, who, initially supporting military intervention, then keep their distance from it, and, moreover, pan the nomination of the Nobel Prize for Peace al-Baradʿ ī, who, possibly aware of having been utilized, realizes his own career (serving state and international lobbies) is bowing, by accepting a second choice position: the price of his exhumation, by waiting for future glory. Not to mention the neo-“interim premier”, poor fellow!, totally irrelevant on the decisions of “those who matter”.

Well, it’s chaos.

The situation got worse while first public statements were starting to be divulged:

– UK Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC: “It’s of course a dangerous precedent to do that, if one President can be deposed by the military then, of course, another one can be in the future”;

– U.S. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said that “our law is clear: U.S. aid is cut off when a democratically elected government is deposed by military coup or decree. As we work on the new budget, my Committee also will review future aid to the Egyptian government as we wait for a clearer picture. As the world’s oldest democracy, this is a time to reaffirm our commitment to the principle that transfers of power should be by the ballot, not by force of arms”;

– U.S. Republican Senator John McCain, the 2008 presidential candidate, said from Arizona: ” I’ve thought long and hard about this, but I believe that we have to suspend the aid to the Egyptian military, because the Egyptian military has overturned the vote of the people of Egypt. We cannot repeat the same mistakes we made at other times in our history by supporting the removal of freely elected governments. I say that with great reluctance, but the United States of America I think must learn the lessons of history and that is: we cannot stand by without acting in cases where freely elected governments are unseated by the military arm of those nations”, he concluded.

Clearly, the reasons of the uprisings unleashed against the legitimate President Morsi were not so authentic. Maybe there’s more. And someone who cannot be influenced has noticed it.

What’s the future? Of course, a compromise is always achievable. For example (as suggested), by going to the polls again, this time under the watchful eye of sabers, frogs and tracked, and maybe this time the genuine secular democratic forces will succeed in the coveted victory. The one, for sure, welcomed by jubilant mood in the velvet lounges of the Western intelligentsia, that one politically correct, if you follow me. As saying, let’s vote so many times until we will win.

Poor democracy! Shattered by exponents of the new world order, often hypocrite, lacking ideals to be defended and in many cases also performers on behalf of faceless puppeteers. Might as well, without bothering democracy, to legitimize using force both at the international level and in the internal one, which is the movie we have seen for over a century, and the scholars call “necessities of Geopolitics”.

Apart from that, they would like to relegate democracy to theoretical debates, or rather to invoke it only when it suits them. In fact, according to the motto “Democracy is mine and I run it myself.”

Some of the main coups carried out by military and/or inspired by secular formations in the countries of the Muslim world