The Second Egyptian Revolution Without Violence - Democracy in Action

President Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood are out, as Egyptians pull off their second successful mostly non- violent revolution in under three years. There was no violence at all until pro-Mursi supporters clashed with police or civilians. Over 300 were wounded and 7 died.

But anti-Mursi protesters were never interested in violence. They wanted change. Two mostly peaceful revolutions is an impressive record in a region not noted for its democracy and an era where everybody is quick to resort to violence. Up until last night there was no evidence of police or military in the streets and Tahrir Square where hundreds of thousands gathered to chant “out, out” and celebrate in advance the demise of a president who didn’t keep his election promises and wasn’t doing his job properly. 

A president who created a government out of an unpopular party, excluded opposition and commandeered the Constitution for a month. Ironically, though, he gave the military the power to over-ride him. 

In the US when democracy is stifled by a conservative section of the government, people who protest are very civilized. There’s a lot of expression of outrage and frustration but no violence, which is good, and no real action, which isn’t so good. Essentially those who want to see change believe they have to wait until the next election and work hard to wake the masses up to the importance of voting. Overt military takeovers are prohibited, and that’s very good. It’s government of the people by the people. Or it’s supposed to be.

But although we hold onto the theory of democracy, that we are the ones with the power, we don’t really claim it fully. And in reality we place all the responsibility on elected leaders. You fix this. But that can be impossible for a leader when sectors of opposition parties that have gained power through non-democratic means create a stranglehold, as Congress has done since 2008. Who’s got the power then? 

Whoever controls that sector and in today’s world it’s corporate interest, which is the antithesis of true democracy. Either this happens or elected leaders break promises they never had any intention of keeping. So something’s wrong with the way we do democracy in the West.

Egyptians have shown us again what democracy in action really looks like. Last night CNN had live coverage of the phenomenal celebrations in Tahrir Square, with anchors and reporters speaking to various Egyptians about the impending change in government. All of them were asking the question – is this a military coup and isn’t it contrary to democracy? Nobody spoke to a representative of the Muslim Brotherhood while I was watching, and no doubt if they had the answer would have been categorically yes.

They would have been wrong, though. Democracy is about the will of the people and the majority rules. When Mursi was elected a large number of Egyptians hadn’t participated in the elections. He won the vote, but it wasn’t the will of the majority. 

About 13 million voted for him. About 12 million voted for his rival, Independent Ahmed Shafik. But voter turnout was just over 50%. A lot of the people who opposed Mursi didn’t vote. Which is also a democratic right. Does it mean they have no voice? No. 22 million signed a petition to get rid of him. That’s true democracy in action. It’s what we don’t often do in the West.  

This wasn’t a military coup. It was about deposing an elected leader who wasn’t doing his job well and who broke his election promises. It was about unseating a party that had been trying to gain power for 85 years and piggy-backed on a revolution and, with Mursi’s blessing, commandeered democracy. Rational demands were made on Mursi. He refused to listen. So a petition was started. When even that had no effect, many of those 22 million took to the streets and voted with their feet.

When politicians behave like outlaws in the West we complain but do nothing. In reality it means all bets are off. You push me around and I must take it lying down? Not if I’m an Egyptian! 

I understand the fear of the military playing any role in this. I don’t like it either. Especially that military, even though many of the old generals are gone. But Egyptians got rid of the Junta that had no integrity and absolute power. They got rid of Mubarak and Mursi. They’ll do it again if this military steps out of line. 

It isn’t civilized in the way that we know in the West. But democracy is an organic animal and this era is about the people educating themselves, learning to flex their muscles and take responsibility for holding leaders accountable. In Egypt it’s very clear that leaders have two options: pay attention and do your job properly or you’re out. We could do with some of that in the West. Imagine if Democrats banded together like this. In the last election there were about 63 million registered Democrats, 47 million Republicans, and 32 million Independents. And Congress is controlled by a group of Republicans that aren’t even representative of their own party.

Egyptians deserve congratulations for what they’ve achieved. Most remarkable to me is what they achieve without violence. When the first revolution happened, so much of the media reflected Western gloom and doom for the country. The same thing is happening again along with Egyptians don’t understand how democracy works. It’s not true, though. They understand it better than we do. When you take action you’re bound to make mistakes but that’s how you learn.

The Vatican, NRA, Republicans and the Muslim Brotherhood Have a Lot in Common

Conservatives are an interesting group. Whoever they are or whatever party name they bear – the Vatican, Republicans, Muslim Brotherhood, the National Rifle Association in the US - the same dynamics operate. Lust for control and power, misrepresenting themselves, disregard for the people they supposedly represent, reliance on dogmatism, success in conning those they rule for a while, and absolute inability to see when they've pushed it too far and have hit the losing streak.

Oh, and the desire to keep women down and out of their power. Granted some are a lot more rabid than others, but it’s just a matter of degrees, really. The essential thing is a shared fundamental disregard for democracy and the sacredness of the individual and their right to the use of their own mind and body. The funny thing about conservatives is that they’re paranoid about their enemies and always think they’re better than and different to other conservatives. For example, I’m sure Republicans would be outraged to be compared to the Muslim Brotherhood and vice versa.

Catholics would shoot me for saying members of the Vatican – which includes the pope – are in principle not much different from the National Rifle Association. And the NRA members would hotly defend themselves perhaps, saying they don’t protect child rapists. 

In a way, though, they’re all control freaks with big PR engines, living in a culture of immunity. Control lust drives them. In some it’s rabid, vocal, and even physically violent; in others it’s more sophisticated and a whole lot more sinister and difficult to eradicate. The people who know how to use their brains and have independence of mind should be the ones running the world, but even when one becomes a leader, like Pope John Paul I or Barack Obama, either they’re gotten rid of or they don’t get the support they need to do as much as they could. It’s frustrating to watch.

People who are more or less in control of their minds often just want to get on with their lives. And although eventually that control lust casts its long shadow over them and they’re forced to act, by then it’s such an uphill battle. It’s a shame, because these heroes who rise up in our midst like living miracles don’t get the support they deserve and we don’t get the full benefit of what their leadership with our support could bring us all. 

But it seems to be the nature of the human beast. The aggressor is always the control freak. I guess the important thing is that at some point Liberals do wake up and start asserting their rights, using their power for good, participating more actively in politics. 

So, liberal Egyptians will vote the Muslim Brotherhood out of power. Americans will vote conservative Republicans – especially those backed by organizations like the NRA - out of Congress. Catholics will eventually get vocal about a cabal of bishops voting in pope after pope who does nothing about the bishops who protected pedophile priests and about corruption in the Vatican and the disempowerment of women that Catholicism promotes.

It’ll happen. And nobody’s going to keep women down. We’re destined to progress, all of us.

Egypt in Turmoil – Empowerment Doesn’t Come Easy

Two years ago, when Egyptians inspired the world with their astonishingly successful and mostly non-violent revolution, commentary ranged from pure cynicism to the kind of unsubstantiated gloom and doom that Richard Quest specializes in.

Kofi Annan, speaking to Richard Quest at Davos in February 2011, said that obviously there was a need for reform, but “change has to be managed. I can understand there’s impatience and people want to see things move ahead very quickly but one has to be careful not to move at such speed that one creates something that is unmanageable down the line.” It sounds admirable and wise, but the problem is that real wisdom and the ability to take things slowly only comes with experience and being empowered for a long time. 

When the first democratic elections were held and there was such a poor turnout it was more grist to the mill of gloomy predictions that Egyptians would never truly get it together. 

Now Egypt seems to be in unmanageable chaos if you take a snapshot. President Morsi has declared a state of emergency in the three cities of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia following violent protests against the death sentence handed down to men found guilty for the part they played in the Cairo soccer brawl that left 74 people dead.  

The state of emergency, deaths at the hands of police, and the curfew have driven people to a frenzy and raised all manner of ghosts of how life was under Mubarak. It’s hard to get a reading on President Morsi because he speaks always with his head and not his heart, but he doesn’t seem to be a despot in the making. He just has read Egyptians wrong and doesn’t have that depth of understanding about the road to empowerment that Egyptians really need in a leader.

And the biggest problem is that Egypt had a democratic election, but Egyptians didn’t turn out in droves to vote. Out of close to 51 million registered voters, 48.15% abstained, and of those who did vote, only 51.7% voted for Morsi. Nobody changes overnight from being totally disempowered to being totally conscious of all their rights in the healthiest sense. It's a slow process. So they ended up with a man and a party who didn't truly represent the country. 

Now they’re paying the price. This doesn’t take away from the supreme courage Egyptians showed two years ago. But they’ve still got to learn how to put the same kind of effort into voting as they did into overthrowing Mubarak. And when people have been disempowered for a long time there’s a lot of suppressed rage. It has to run its course. Even when circumstances are radically altered, it’s never enough, so that rage button keeps getting pressed. 

Expressing is part of empowering yourself. I remember when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and he sometimes spoke publicly to large crowds acknowledging their right to their rage. Whites criticized him for stirring the mob, but I don’t think that’s what he was doing. He was affirming people’s right to their pain and anger, giving them a way to express, an opportunity to vent. That’s how you avoid violence.

Barack Obama said in his book “Dreams From My Father” that it takes longer to eradicate the damage done by generations of disempowerment than it took to create the damage. I think he’s right. It’s something that President Morsi doesn’t seem to have grasped yet. He has said many times that he cares about all Egyptian people, but that isn’t the same as being voted into power by them. And his actions are unwise.

But until Egyptians take all the power that is rightfully theirs and exercise it democratically they will feel the frustration of being ruled by somebody they didn’t choose. Anything that ruler does to infringe on their rights will fan the flames. The road to true and working democracy is hard, just as the road to personal empowerment. It’s not a static destination either; it requires constant maintenance and vigilance.

If you’ve been in a bad relationship where you were totally disempowered, it’s hard to face the truth that part of your disempowerment is your lack of awareness of your own rights. Once you start becoming aware and you end the relationship, the chances are that the next one will only be marginally better. But each time, you learn a bit more.

Eventually you’re free. I believe Egyptians are on that road, and that no matter what obstacles lie before them they will triumph. They’ve shown incredible courage, resilience and resourcefulness and for that they deserve the world’s continued support and admiration.