A Military Tradition Continues

As soon as the Egyptian Supreme Court held that about a third of those who were elected to parliament failure to fall within constitutional mandates, effectively dissolving that legislative body, the Egyptian military stepped in to block access to the Parliament and insure that the court’s mandate was literally followed. “[T]he Mubarak-appointed judges charged with overseeing the vote held news conferences leveling accusations at the Muslim Brotherhood that seemed intended to scare away voters. First, the judges suggested the Brotherhood had infiltrated an official printing facility to produce pre-marked ballots favoring their candidate. But state news media later reported that none appeared to have been used.

“Then the judges also suggested that the police had found evidence that the Brotherhood was planning violence. Hatem Bagato, the general secretary of the election commission, said three operatives had been arrested outside a polling station with a laptop computer containing photographs of ‘military training in other countries.’” New York Times, June 17^th. On the eve of presidential elections, the military also invoked a new interim constitution giving them authority that eclipsed that of the new president. The move seems to have shifted the election away from a former Mubarak minister (whom the court permitted to run), pushing the vote towards the conservative and Islamist-leaning Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohamed Morsi (above), an American-educated engineer (he received a PhD from USC in 1982), who seems to have won. Ah, but the military seems to have delayed posting the results… Gee, nothing suspicious in that, huh? Troop movements suggest that the army is preparing for something, or perhaps they are just hoping the people are ready for “stability” and tired of protesting.

The Brotherhood and the military are clearly on opposite side of the ledger: “After meeting with Gen. Sami Hafez Enan of the military council, the Brotherhood-affiliated speaker of the Parliament, Saad el-Katatni, declared that the military had no authority to dissolve the Parliament or write a constitution. He said a separate 100-member panel picked by the Parliament would begin meeting within hours to write up its own constitution, raising the prospect of competing assemblies… Brotherhood supporters called the apparent victory by their candidate, Mohamed Morsi, a rebuke to the military’s power grab. ‘Down, down with military rule!’ a crowd at Mr. Morsi’s campaign headquarters chanted as he prepared to give a victory speech shortly after 4 a.m. [June 18^th].” NY Times, June 17^th.

Another military government in Egypt? A full coup soon? Didn’t that die with the demise of Hosni Mubarak or was he simply abandoned by the generals because he was no longer able to rule effectively? Increasingly, it appears as if the military simply sat on the sidelines in a wait-and-see mode to understand how much public “democracy” would be tolerable. But a secular army, unhappy with this fundamentalist Islamist trend, seems to have made a decisive step to eviscerate the public voice. So what’s new? After a short, post-WWII British-supported monarchy fell in the early 1950s, the military has ruled, directly or indirectly, ever since.

“On 18 June 1953, the Egyptian Republic was declared, with General Muhammad Naguib as the first President of the Republic. Naguib was forced to resign in 1954 by Gamal Abdel Nasser – the real architect of the 1952 movement – and was later put under house arrest. Nasser assumed power as President in June, 1956.” Wikipedia. Nasser had worked his way up from a Second Lieutenant in Egyptian Army until he reached the highest ranks of the military. His reign in Egypt ended in 1970 when Nasser died of a heart attack. A fellow military officer, Anwar Sadat, who had served with Nasser during the latter’s long military career, assumed power until his assassination in 1981. Yet another military officer, Hosni Mubarak, succeeded him until the Arab Spring (or was it simply an abandonment by his fellow military, seeking to buy calm by his ouster?) deposed him, theoretically to be replaced by a democratically-elected regime.

So the military is back, right where they have been since 1953. “The generals have not spoken publicly or explained their actions, which have been announced without fanfare in the official news media. A rushed decision issued [June 14^th] by a Mubarak-appointed court had initially provided at least a legal veneer for the dissolution of the Parliament, but the swift consolidation of power has quickly taken the feel of a counterrevolution in the making… The military’s charter ‘really does complete the coup in many obvious ways,’ said Nathan Brown, an Egypt expert at George Washington University, in an e-mail message. It brings back martial law and protects the military from any public, presidential or parliamentary scrutiny. And it perpetuates the generals’ dominance of the political system.” NY times. Will there be new riots? Additional repression? Will the military finally accept civilian rule? Whatever happens, stability seems to have left the building.

I’m Peter Dekom, and one should never underestimate the vicious power of vested interests, from the military to the power elite, in any country.