The Army and the Egyptian Revolution

The Army & the Egyptian Revolution.pdf

The Army and the Egyptian Revolution

in historical perspective and global context

Maysara Omar

March 2011

* * *

Introduction:

There will be no tricks here, non, not those of the sub-consciousness or of hopes, optimism, or the dreamy desires. There will be facts, and a mind adept to work on them with a great sense of purpose and responsibility. And the picture is already grim, as soon as the fate of Egypt, is contemplated and reconsidered now, only a couple of months after the beginning of what we came to call, a revolution!

The amount of “delusion” that this present discourse will be facing is indeed massive, perhaps that’s why I don’t care to write it in Arabic anymore, and perhaps also, because very soon a text like this will certainly result in creating immanent danger upon its writer. The combination of public delusion and military threat reminds one of the social and political condition of Egypt following the US-backed 1952 coup. Then also, everyone was extremely confused and lost after the destruction of the age-long Ottoman political regime, no one knew much about the military institution and its Egyptian officers, whether they were “free” or not. The appearance of tanks and army vehicles and energetic soldiers in the streets of the then fabulous city of Cairo was confusing and challenging to the self-confidence of the then nationalistic civilian population. Just like what’s happening now, more than half a century after the 1952 coup, many people are confused and deluded in their conceptions of the “military redeemer and emancipator”, or the “truly nationalist and Egypt-loving army”, or at best, the “neutral army” that is distanced from civilian and political life, and that will hand power to the will of the Egyptian people, free and powerful as they shall be for ever!

But the truth is that what happened back then was the beginning of a dark fate of Egypt that no one could foresee and resist. In the name of social liberty and justice, whatever seeds of true democratic life that existed back then were submerged by covert sinister and manipulative poison that succeeded in killing it completely, and only in two years; parties were abolished, including the then extremely popular Wafd party, and the military institution flourished exponentially by means of patriotic rhetoric and popular decrees on the one hand, and excessive use of violence against all opposition on the other, until 1959, when almost literally all free Egyptians, in their thousands; artists, writers, and many innocent ordinary citizens, were either entirely silent, escaped the country, or imprisoned. From this condition, and from this moment onward, the military institution in Egypt acquired a certain identity that I wish to discuss in this article. And although that identity have changed considerably following the Camp David accords, and although the army eventually became isolated from the task of controlling civilian life, leaving it to the massive police institution; the leadership of the army never became “neutral”, and never distanced itself from the political order that it once created back in 1952, and was never at any moment let alone to develop any of these delusional features as patriotism, love of Egypt, or even neutrality regarding the political institution in Egypt. The truth is that the inseparable association between the military and political institutions is inscribed by history, the events and reality of which commence in 1952, and last up to this very moment. And though the revolution has succeeded in destroying the “legitimacy” of the political institution, thus bringing an end to the political order that started back in 1952; it has retreated immediately and hasn’t yet achieved the “national independence of Egypt”, which, requires necessarily the destruction of the political institution itself rather than just its legitimacy, that is,

1. abolishing all institutions that are associated with the oppressive nature of the old regime, including Mubarak’s party and all police entities such as State Security Intelligence, riot police, and censorship agencies;

2. replacing all official figures of the old regime with new ones, including those holding purely administrative positions, and arresting all influential figures including Mubarak himself.

At the same time, a popular revolutionary body of some sort would naturally be expected to form and function independently from the new government and the acknowledgment of the army. But since the revolutionary participation withdrew rather quickly and instantaneously following the fall of the figure of Mubarak, no such entity was ever created, and instead, the army was given the chance to preserve the government that Mubarak himself formed before his fall. With such difficulty this government was brought down under public pressure and street protests, and a new pro-revolution government (supposedly) was formed. Ideally speaking, this is a revolutionary government that was brought by the revolutionary people in the street. But in reality, neither the people nor the government are anymore devoted to revolutionariness! A truly revolutionary government should have felt the duty to formally demand the military council to abolish emergency law, end curfew, release arrested revolutionaries inside military prisons and stop martial trials of civilians. The new association between the revolutionary government and people should have both rejected (or at least objected to) the humiliating visit of Hillary Clinton, who once said that Mubarak is a personal friend of hers and, reacted to the first signs of the revolution by declaring that Mubarak’s rule was “stable and looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.” These should have been not only natural “revolutionary” reactions, but also dutiful! Yet not a single person in the government, including the PM, opens his mouth with any comment, when an embarrassing and shameful joint military-thuggery attack on the protesters of Tahrir take place in broad day light (on 9 March; and there are hints that this was in fact initiated by the government or made with its consent), and when the military itself becomes involved and responsible for the killing of 10 civilians (on 8 March, in the context of suppressing a Christian demonstration in Mansheyyet Naser).

In any case, and although parliament has been dissolved and constitution aborted; the previous political institution still functions and thrives through the freedom of pre-revolution official figures with considerable power, the continuation of Mubarak’s party (NDP), and the criminal and covert State Security Intelligence which, although formally announced to have been transformed into a “National Security Intelligence”, its old guard still possibly hold access to power tools, and have even been reported to work now directly under the authority of the military institution! Witnesses who were released from detention or custody and who reported this new association between the military and State Security Intelligence -and I personally being one of them- open our eyes to a condition that, in my opinion, requires considerable and careful attention and consideration.

The purpose of this article is to bring to awareness and discussion the reality of the army’s position “against” the revolution, and to expound on the possibilities of its course of action toward redefining its relationship with the civilian population, and interacting with the virgin process of political formation and construction that is taking place now in Egypt.

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The people, haven’t yet, brought down the regime!

A revolution, or popular uprising?

The “regime” in the popular slogan: “the people, want, to bring down the regime”, should have included not only the person of Mubarak, and the extremely powerful State Security Intelligence, and Mubarak’s so-called party that still thrives to the day, and the rest of other individuals who had been (and partially still) responsible for political and public control practically and in effect. The regime couldn’t have survived for 30 years had the army been an independent entity. The leadership of the military institution is necessarily an integrated and essential part of the regime, and bringing down the regime must include bringing down that military leadership also, and replacing it with another, in exactly the same fashion through which the revolution succeeded in replacing the official government with another that we respect and trust, and which makes us feel hopeful, powerful, and victorious.

But the truth of what happened is that the mass revolt was in fact directed in full against two specific enemies; the police institution and the person of Mubarak. And although hundreds of thousands took to the streets because they had in mind a wide range of demands and general perspectives for the future of Egypt, the essential spontaneous nature of this revolution was that of revenge and destruction! The preconsidered slogan of “bread, freedom/dignity, social justice”, that was pronounced by the organized revolutionary youth groups and that might indeed had been current during the very first days of the revolution; fill strangely from popular use and became entirely submerged by the also rhythmically tri-based slogan “the people, want, to bring down the regime”, and then later: “we won’t leave, until he leaves.” It was a revolution “against” a specific representation and image of evil, not “for” general public rights and values. And indeed, as soon as what’s popularly conceived as evil was destroyed -which was in a somewhat dramatic and theatrical way the figure of Mubarak- the revolution immediately begun receding, and people sheered with the slogan: “the people, did, bring down the regime!” and that was the end of it! It did not matter what would come next, and what did in fact come next as I write these lines.

After the withdrawal of the massive masses from the streets, and the announcement by the organized so-called revolutionary youth groups of the ending of the sit-in in Tahrir square, what remained was a considerably small number of unaffiliated people who believed and thought and felt that the people, have not yet, brought down the regime! These were the people who refused to end the sit-in in Tahrir after Mubarak’s fall and believed it should continue until other key demands are met, on top of which was the resignation of the government of Shafiq, Mubarak’s man. Military police dispersed them by force the following night (12 Feb.). But they attempted a new sit-in in a following Tuesday; thugs and informants in big numbers succeeded in breaking it, and military police arrested and tortured a number of activist youth the following morning from the square (22 Feb.). Then again they attempted a new sit-in in the following Friday; military police dispersed them by brutal force and arrested some of them the same night (25 Feb.). A little bit of discontent and public concern was shown over the use of force by the army, which issued an official apology to the “Jan25 revolutionaries” the following morning and described the military police violent action as an “unintentional miscommunication” (unintentional, and miscommunication, are two things that are rather uncommon in any military institution!!). The sit-in recommenced immediately the following day, small numbers, disguised thugs and informants never stop attempting to break it, and failing systematically. Shafiq’s government is brought down and a pro-revolution figure is appointed by the military (3 March). Some people in Tahrir are still apprehensive and cautious, with further demands including the creation of a presidential council, abolishing emergency law, release of political prisoners and dissolving State Security Intelligence. The sit-in continues but is becoming more and more slim, media mobilizing public opinion against it, thugs keep coming non-stop – until a joint thuggery-military attack on the protestors took place in broad day light, hundreds arrested and brutally tortured (9 March). There was no reaction whatsoever to the use of violence by the army, and not only did the army not apologized this time, instead no official statement was pronounced, and several current newspapers described the previously “Jan25 revolutionaries”, as “thugs occupying the square”! Throughout these dates, several other important events took place, including the second spontaneous and popular uprising against State Security Intelligence, two other joint thuggery-military attacks on protesters in different locations, increase in suppressing worker’s and employee’s protests, and use of torture and arrests by military police, and ultimately, the killing of 10 Egyptian civilians, all of whom were Christians (!!) by military sniper shots in the context of putting down their demonstration (8 March).

Let us now have a careful look at the relationship between dates, events, and reactions:

This contextual look and analysis shows clearly, that although it might be natural for people’s revolutionary spirit to wade and fade out after the resignation of Mubarak, and then Shafiq; the rise in the power and control of the army seems to be absolutely systematic and organized. To that, I must add that it is also extremely fast-rated. The almost immediate resolve to violence and physical confrontation of such nature was, in my opinion, to establish the precedence and reality and identity of army power in relation to people power before the people grow even stronger and therewith make the possibility of physical oppression less and less applicable by the army. The continuation of this rise would suggest a destination point at absolute control, characterized by the re-institution of State Security Intelligence or its practices, and the return of oppressive police force, or more likely a return to the condition of 1959 described earlier in this article (mass arrests and terrorizing of citizens, spreading fear of the army, control of media and press, widespread of informants and expulsion of foreigners, etc.).

In any case, the behaviour of the army leaves no doubt of the truth that the military institution has no “love” for Egyptians! In other words, it is not a national institution that will stand by the side of the Egyptian people or that seek Egyptian national existence to evolve and prosper. What matters more is to investigate the consequences of this truth, and what sort of scenarios might and will result from it, regarding the relationship between the army and the people, and therefore, between the army and the revolution. We now know for sure that the army has been making use of such tools as torture, arrests, martial courts, and media and press control and manipulation to delude public opinion and hide its ugly face (no body seems to care about the murder of Egyptian citizens by military fire because no body knows about it or willing to believe it actually happened!!). Yet we do not make any effort to interpret what does this mean, and where it might lead us.

It is clear that the army is applying the technique of “creating precedence”, that is, giving itself arbitrary powers and legitimacy and executing these publicly and “against” the public itself. If the people do not resist the manifestations of any of these powers, it becomes a fact of life, a condition of the present reality that although may not be legitimate or valid or even acceptable, it remains an active and functional factor of reality that effects the consciousness and behaviour of the people. An example of this in the society is violence against children, which although formally illegal and immoral, everyone in the society is willing to accept its presence. The army is now working quickly and effectively to create for itself and establish in the society a repertoire of to-be-accepted precedences, and through which it will be able to maintain its control over the civilian population. Some of these precedences have already made their way into “law”, through the high constitutional court, which legitimized for the military court the penalty of execution against thugs in given circumstances. This, of course, is a significant development not only because of how unjust it is against convicted thugs, but mainly because it establishes a “legal precedence” for the army to take measures against the civilian citizens who, according to international and Human rights law, must never be tried in a military court in the first place.

People like me are forced to juxtapose this development with the fact that several fabricated cases made by the military sought and succeeded in convicting innocent people who participated in demonstrations for works of thuggery. These fabrications were not hidden or concealed, but photos of people whom we know by face and name, made their way instantly to the national TV, alongside weapons which the TV said belonged to them. Released prisoners reported that the army fabricated these photos, and even women where ordered to strip naked, endure virginity tests, and photos/videos of them were taken, either for intimidation or fabrication of prostitution cases against them. And once more, the continuation of this line of development suggests that it will reach at a destination point where ‘more’ innocent people will be thus arrested, convicted, and punished or even executed in martial trials, so long as they execute their right to public protest and freedom of expression! And that the controlled and manipulated media will call these innocent people thugs and whores, and most definitely, networks of spies and enemies of the state (because they look differently or have unconventional haircuts!!). A further development in that regard is an official law prohibiting demonstrations and sit-ins, made by the government which has no legislative legitimacy, and proposed for approval to the military council which has no legitimacy to enact laws either; all of which is happening independently from the Supreme Court!! What is even more significantly telling at this crucial moment, is that the army is purposely exhibiting these massive violations openly in front of both local and international civic institutions, and is in fact able to get away with it, and repeating it. This then is a further level of creating precedence; that of open and undisguised oppression. And because this oppression is yet to be widespread as was that of the police, and also because the media and press are being silenced, the army is therefore succeeding in spreading its oppression very gradually and by calculated moves that never result in a popular awareness of the condition of oppression, and therefore succeed in avoiding confrontation with the people en masse.

Thus, by torturing and arresting people, fabricating cases against civilian citizens and referring them to martial courts, increasing the scope of control in the public sphere, and up to killing civilians, the army aims at widening its power gradually, but quickly, and at the same time sending signals to the activist civil society and Human rights organizations, and all those who are going to resist its violations. And I think that the signal says: “look, I did it there, and there, and I am doing it here again, and hey, I’m getting away with it each time, and will always do. So watch out of me!!” And truly, fear of the military institution and military police is generally beginning to increase in the street, and those who went to demonstrate in front of the Egyptian museum which the army converted into a torture center, were last dispersed by force and arrested. Their effort faded away, thank god those arrested were released, but the museum torture-center is still working in full capacity without any serious challenges, and only one month after the supposed victory of the revolution!

In the light, or rather darkness, of these facts; we can clearly realize and state that: the people, haven’t yet, brought down the regime. Further, the question of whether this was a popular uprising or a revolution carries more significance than just the pointless debate of phraseology and terminology. The fact that the people’s revolt resulted in absolutely no particular social and political “values”; no principles, no new reality that can be felt and conceived and out of which further goals and steps can be pursued; and also the quick establishment of oppressive and degrading practices by the military, all this indicates clearly that the collective action and protest of the people was not one that sprang from or resulted in a new bearing of collective consciousness and self-consciousness, or that brought to being a new social reality and public life that derives from the will of the people. Had these things were present, we would have seen them expressed in everyday life, the official machine (and particularly the media), and certainly against every new violation, and in a new constitution that should have been concerned with more than just the political and administrative system, but also the social and public values that this revolution brought forth, had there been any.

Thus, the days will yet determine, whether the collective will and action of the Egyptian people will unfold into a true historical revolution, or whether the reality of domination and subjugation, one way or another, will continue as it has always been.

* * *

Anti-national military strategy VS. divided, confused, and dreamy population!

From all the above, it appears quite clearly to me, that the anti-national leadership of the military institution does have some sort of plan and strategy regarding the present condition, and perhaps also the future. And although this plan may be flexible, it’s also obviously oriented towards certain ends which are beginning to materialize for the benefit of the army against a greatly confused and uninformed population, and divided and dreamy political and activist entities which hold fast to a baseless optimism and hope. (see table below).

Army strategy:	Effects on the people:
1. Increasing its physical power in the public sphere, and at the same time eroding people’s power by targeting sit-ins, strikes and demonstrations where ever they erupt. For that it uses the media, direct physical force, and spreading fear.	1. Popular presence in the street becoming minimal and dangerous to protesters. Revolutionary spirit and consciousness eroding quickly. Media creating superficial moral and critical opposition to public display of discontent and protest. Final result is a considerable reduction in connectivity and communication among the populace, and a return to the condition of isolation of civic and political institutions from the common people.
2. Creating dangerous legal and factual precedences on the ground, maintaining curfew and martial courts, using directive, imperative, and authoritative language without legitimacy (such as advising and demanding the “people” to do or stop doing this and that, prohibiting demonstrations, etc.) and success in maintaining these with little or no popular or political opposition or awareness, and accumulating popular support via the discourse of “bringing back stability”.	2. Growing acceptance of the de facto reality of the army’s “administrative” authority, and therewith acceptance of its involvement in civilian governance and ability to achieve “stability”!

The point of the army’s involvement in administrative life is, although yet not widespread, is extremely dangerous. This is greatly facilitated by the continued inability of political entities and civic institutions to form coalitions or strongholds of political positions, and to develop their own strategies and activities towards specific aims and through possible courses of action and communication with the Egyptian society as a whole. At the same time, the current transitional government is weak and dwarfed by numberless challenges and its own lack of revolutionariness and insufficiency, leaving the alpha-male administrative role exclusively to the army rather than attempting to seize it for itself as the true current legitimate power.

The manner with which the people have swallowed a referendum of insufficient amendments of the constitution, struggled and failed to mobilize the sufficient “No” vote against it rather than reject it and demand amendments to be more complete, thorough and representative of the “revolution”; reveals clearly that the people have surrendered their initiative, without even being aware of any such surrender. The passage of these amendments with a 77.2% in the referendum, and the legislative/presidential elections it will give way to, will immediately result in chaos and further confusion, and a farther departure from the revolution of the 25^th of January. Dialogue among the people will become increasingly narrowed down to specifics, rather than general and inclusive matters. Then only god, and perhaps also the leadership of the military institution, will know whether the implementation and taste of democratic life through competitive voting, will be rewarding or punishing to the people of Egypt!

In the meantime, the army will have succeeded in keeping to the background in appearance, but not necessarily in effect. Its factual power in terms of control of public life will keep increasing, and under the slogans of keeping peace and safeguarding the electoral process and democracy, it is already publicly prohibiting demonstrations and expression of opinion in the street and press alike. And still, little proper response, or awareness, is currently accumulating against such supposedly sensitive matters.

In a following section I will deal with what this half-revolution have practically achieved, and what plan the army might be following, and under what wider context it might be working. But in any case, there is no space for doubt that the army is strictly working currently to redefine the power-relationship between itself and the entire Egyptian population, and that so far it has been almost perfectly intelligent and successful in establishing the reality of that power-relation almost entirely according to its exclusive terms, by resolving to covert and manipulative methods and means which reveal instantly that this is no army of the people, but one that has been and will be the most serious and dangerous enemy and threat, of the prospect of the great revolution of the Egyptian people.

* * *

The army, and the people, are wresting hands!

The truth about the military institution

I do not recall when was the first time, exactly, when the spontaneous slogan “the army and the people are one hand” was first chanted. What I recall vividly is the first appearance of the army in the scene, and its first practical involvement in the streets, back in the night of the 28^th of January. Police forces had then retreated to the vicinity of the ministry of interior and were defending it without compromise, killing the bold youth who continued their attack despite of them knowing snipers will shoot and kill them. The appearance of army vehicles was a sign of victory to the people; since if the army is in, it means police is out. Few army vehicles passed through Tahrir and went to “negotiate” with the fierce police force that continued to defend itself and the ministry although they ran out of teargas shots and were running low on rubber bullets ammunition. But soon, when that police force counter attacked the approaching masses with a sudden hail of teargas and rubber bullets, it was rumored that it was these army vehicles that provided them with ammunition, and that revolutionaries found ammunition in one army vehicle that was stopped and searched somewhere, and that military helicopters are now supplying the police with more ammunition and soldiers.

Thus, the next military vehicle passing by Qasr ElNil bridge was attacked fiercely, people jumped on and inside of it, forcing its commanding officer to raise his hands in surrender, and the 4 soldiers wearing full military uniform and rifles were beaten mercilessly, one of them cried like a child and cursed the army and the black day in which he had become a soldier, thus saving himself from being beaten too. The soldiers were instructed to surrender their rifles and they did, all of which were thrown into the Nile (except for one that one of the revolutionaries took for himself!). They had to take off their military uniform and “get out of here at once!”, and so they did. I do not know what happened to the commanding officer, but last thing I saw in that busy night was blood flowing heavily and steadily from the top of his head and down below as he struggled to make the case for his innocence. No ammo was found in the vehicle, but some maps of Cairo and scary military walkies-talkies were found. A revolutionary-engineer who was present seized them for inspection and to use them to intercept “their plans”! A moment later a couple of modarra3at which were later said to belong to the presidential guard, came in shooting in air. In less than 5 minutes, the tanks struck one another by mistake and stopped moving, and the revolutionary youth gathered around them and jumped on their bodies, and somehow succeeded in burning them, forcing a couple of soldiers to come up of each tank, raising their hands, again, in full surrender sign and spirit. The tanks left burning for hours.

The following entrance of the army included bigger tanks (which we see today in the streets), coming out of a unit which has nothing to do with presidential guard -so it was said- and the soldiers hesitantly came out of the tanks with flags, weaving and smiling at the masses. When the people waved and smiled back at them, a little by little more soldiers dared to emerge their heads from the narrow opening of the tank’s top, and beheld the center of the city and civilian life on fire, teargas smell roaming about with the wind everywhere. And since peace was established, the violent youth who made the physical victory of this revolution mounted the body of the tanks in a spontaneous but also symbolic demonstration of supremacy, and painted them all with revolutionary slogans and graffiti!! The soldiers and their commanding officers kept smiling, distributing food and drinks to the people who continued to paint “down with Mubarak” on their tanks!

This introductory story which I witnessed myself and participated in, is in my opinion currently extremely significant, to remind of the truly revolutionary spirit that was present in the street before the fall of the police institution and Mubarak, and to disclose the myth that consecrates to the illusion of the people’s belief, admiration, and attachment to the military institution in Egypt. The collective readiness of the masses on the night of the 28^th of January, to physically confront military tanks and soldiers wearing full military uniform and holding rifles in their hands, and only because rumors against the military were being spread, stands in a decisive contrariness to the situation one month later, where “verbally criticizing” the army, not over rumors, but over confirmed torture and arrest and martial trails cases, is being considered as a bold and uncalled-for action, and generally rejected by what appears to be “public opinion”. This, of course, is one of the prominent paradoxes and failures of this revolution. The early departure of the impoverished violent and vengeful type of youth from the scene, resembles for me the beginning of military physical oppression which is today recreating the condition and reality of oppression of public freedoms. The slogan “army and people are one hand” must had started sometime after the departure of the fighter youth, since it was originally created to neutralize the oppositional relationship between army and people, and to “appeal” to the army by means of stating a presupposed cooperative and organic relationship. The fighter youth would never get his mind to work that way, and I don’t remember a single moment when I found it in me to chant the slogan along with the masses!

I think it is about time for us to begin asking ourselves the question that we should have asked a long time ago, and perhaps even before the revolution. The question is in fact very basic and simple, and it is now necessitated by the reality that it is the army that is ruling the country, and that it is the only organized and self-sufficient power-entity that has supreme direct access to matters of public and civilian concern. And the question is: What do we know about the Egyptian military institution?

The truth is that we know very little in terms of its internal working and relationship, but from what we observe, we know the following significant facts:

1. There has never been any substantial form of conflict or contradictoriness between the political and military leaderships, and that political-military relationship has never been disturbed.

2. Compulsory military service in Egypt has always been considered as a fateful experience in hell, by the great majority of young Egyptian men who were subjected to it. And this comes from the oppressive, humiliating, and inhumane treatment that is inscribed as a systematic manner of treatment in the secret, or perhaps unwritten manual of the training of the Egyptian young conscript. The purpose of this oppressive and humiliating practice is to complete the cycle of oppressive life which starts in the consciousness and life-experience of the young Egyptian from school and consummates in the military service, thus constantly preventing the possibilities of the development of the Egyptian personality and self-esteem. At the same moment and just immediately adjacent to our eastern borders; it is at least possible for an Israeli youth to feel and state that military service was the best experience in his life!

3. The Egyptian military has never reacted once to the several violations of the Israeli military against Egyptian borders and conscripts, including the cases in which conscripted or civilian Egyptians were killed. Thus avoiding to undertake its basic task of protecting Egyptian soil and population (because of its association with the corrupt political leadership).

4. Martial courts against civilians is something that the military has been systematically employing in the service of silencing the slightest degree of criticism directed against it from the Egyptian citizens, and is now using it more than ever before.

These straightforward answers reveal instantly that any such thing as “army and people are one hand”, or that the people of Egypt has any kind of special respect or admiration to the army, is a myth that has grown so widespread, and that derives its power and force by making itself almost like a religious truth that cannot be questioned, and by using physical oppression, such as arrests and martial courts, against all those who do question the truth regarding the myth of the Egyptian army, and thereby spreading fear of the military institution as though it is fear of a punishing god.

These practices and facts are very important to be considered before looking into what came to be known in Egypt as “public opinion” in the last period around the development of the revolution. First of all, and since the official media continues to be manipulated by the army directly, it seems that there is only the ‘appearance’ of a peaceful and cooperative military-public relationship. The truth is that many people are mistrustful of the army, and that any youth who tasted sufferance in military service knows by heart that the military is no friend of the people. This practice of building official facades in front of the people was itself the practice used all the time during the reign of Mubarak and that of all tyrannical regimes; this insisting public representation of fake pictures, images, acts, slogans, that everyone knows and realizes as fake, but that yet functions primarily to submerge the truth, and even to criminalize it, and also to confuse the naive masses regarding the facts. Thus comes immediately the superficial discourse of “stability” and “order”, and how the official political regime and the military institution that guards it, are the entities without which stability and order are to be broken, etc.

From another perspective, we need now consider also the relationship that unfolded between the military institution, and the United States, following Camp David accords, and how Egypt as a whole and the military institution in particular, became increasingly dependent on American aid and subjugated by American hegemony. And although we know much about the whole-scale American intervention in Egyptian political and economic life by means of international institutions such as USAID and the International Bank; we know very little about the relationship between the leadership of the military institution and the US intelligence!! Yet, I personally have no doubt -although I have no proof of any of this- that every single high official with super-massive-salary in the corpus of the leadership of the military institution, is being picked according to a set of qualities that could only ensure the continuation of the state of dependency, on top of which stands complete submissiveness to the higher leadership, and utter donkeyness in executing orders!! And in as much as it is shocking that the political leadership in Egypt has become utterly anti-national and American-devoted, there is most certainly the same degree of anti-national orientation in the highest strata of the leadership in the military institution, and that it is also devoted in a shocking extent, to maintaining American interests and hegemony in the region. And for me, nothing else apart from that, explains the measures and strategy that is now followed by the military institution, to abort any significant political transformation toward a truly democratic and free Egyptian national and public life.

* * *

What will happen next?

Human Rights Watch said in a report which it published before the success and triumph of the revolution was yet conceivable, that it feared the army will shoot the people with live fire. And to everyone who was really there from the beginning, and who saw how the army opened the road in front of thousands of thugs and disguised security forces to attack us on Bloody Wednesday, this same feeling of threat from the army was always present. But a deluded person is he who believes that now, this threat is no longer a possibility. I have attempted in this article to put together a picture that is deducible by direct observation and contemplation of facts, and their likely meanings and interpretations. My certain position, presumptive as it necessarily has to be, is that a manipulative scheme to create a political system in Egypt that will not lead to the freedom and independence of the political institution from the grasp of the military institution, is currently being attempted by the leadership of the military institution. The possible current association and relationship between the military and Muslim Brotherhood (MB) would reveal clearly that the military is involving itself bluntly and directly in the political condition and its possibilities. The transformation of the MB from an outlawed religious organization to a major official political force in Egypt, reminds one immediately of the scenario of Sudan’s revolt of 1985, when the military succeeded in mounting a popular revolution just as that of the 25^th of January, (and also because the people stopped their general strike too quickly!) and did deliver power to a democratically elected MB government, only to stage a military coup against its backward and unpopular rule two years later (the legitimacy of Omar ElBashir derives from that military coup back in the late 80s).

The truth is that any genuine degree and condition of freedom and independence of the political construct in Egypt will ultimately and inevitably lead to the supremacy of the political institution over the military, thus opening the door, in my rational opinion, to a limitless transformation in the political map of the Middle East, and therefrom in the condition of world order! As said previously, the political-military association, or even oneness, that characterised the beginning of a new historical epoch in the history of Egypt since 1952, has finally come to an end. But this does not mean yet that the national independence and freedom of Egypt has been achieved. The now fragile and challenged military institution is looking for the quickest way to institute a political system that will not dominate it and dismantle it of its anti-national commanding leadership. That’s why, in the first place, the political institution before the revolution was designed to endure endlessly -just like the military institution- so that the one can never challenge the other! But now, the political establishment, although not yet destroyed, it lost its legitimacy, and another one must be created; from this, I can only presume, with rationality and logical thinking, that the leadership of the military institution will have every interest to either recreate the previous condition and context of political-military relationship, and that if it fails in doing so, it will attempt to disrupt political life altogether, in the old fashion of a terrible military coup, possibly against a corrupt, backward, or unpopular government that it will at first help create and empower against other truly national political forces in Egypt! Another possible scenario is for the military institution to involve itself in war, against anybody!! (including Israel, Libya, Hamas, or Sudan; all of which share borders with Egypt). Under the condition of war, the military institution will be able to either halt or control political life further, and even enforce emergency and martial laws.

The coming days then, or perhaps months and years, will show where we are going, as the previous 30 years had always shown, that the political and military, are one. But at last, if the people of Egypt make good use of their power and exploit democracy to their advantage and to the service of their free and independent national life rather than religion or money; and if therefore parliamentary and presidential elections succeed in bringing about a powerful and national political life in Egypt, I see then in that particular moment the first signs of conflict between the political administration brought about by the people of Egypt, and the leadership of the military institution that continues from past times of American domination. And since I am sure that the leadership of the military institution foresees that conflict too, and fears it greatly, I believe that it will work hardest, and employ all the means and resources in its ability, to prevent such national political administration from coming to being in the first place, or to disrupt and abort its existence at last, if it does come to being.

The further question that comes to mind now is, if a truly popular, national, and Egypt-loving political leadership finally emerges in Egypt – one that will have power over the military institution and will effectively seek to reshape it and transform its anti-national identity and practices; what then will be the reaction of the challenged and confronted military leaders? Will they give orders to assassinate the president and shoot at the masses which will revolt at them? Or will the military institution in Egypt, become freed at last? And if the dream of a free and independent and civilized Egypt becomes realised in reality at last, what madness could USA resolve to, to have the situation under its control one more time?

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Epilogue:

“Lower your head down and suffer; for you are an Egyptian!!”

I must say a final word to those who oppose me, and call me pessimistic and paranoid, and also radical, impulsive, and lacking in wisdom:

We are suffering in Egypt from an age-long meekness, shortsightedness, short breath, and unconscious tendency to avoid all forms of confrontation and struggle, so long as it is not ordained by the necessity and drive of survival. We are unable to strike where it really hurts, and let alone kill! And even in ancient times, when we had the physical power, reports speak of the “kind” and indecisive performance of the Egyptian army as it sought to expand outside conventional borders, and basically to protect those at home who suffered at the hands of barbarism and uncivilized violence and invasion! And again in 1919, when the great national leader Saad Zaghloul rose with a civilian population that was willing to bear arms and did bore arms against the British army; little came of it at last because the man chose to follow a peaceful political and diplomatic path rather than a truly revolutionary one. I am truly appreciative in my heart of the peacefulness and civilization of the Egyptian people, which -despite of the relentless biting that many forces operate over their culture age after age- is still present in the social consciousness of the Egyptian people. Yet, I can no more ignore the fact that it was exactly that peacefulness and meekness, that was itself the cause of the age-long sufferance of our nation.

It is a myth, that the revolution of 25 January was a peaceful one! The only reason we succeeded in maintaining that historical sit-in in Tahrir square was the physical success of overtaking the square in the first place. I was there, as was many of you, and I saw what these daring and violent and vengeful youth did, and I participated in it myself as one of them. It was a military victory in every sense of the word; and my feelings toward the square itself, as a geographic location, is so much based on the fact that blood was spilled to acquire it against the resistance of the troops of the enemy. It was a war, a street war in every sense, and “we” won that war. And the youth did not stop their attack after the troops retreated and abandoned the square; they kept attacking throughout the following three days and nights, non stop, more of them fill by sniper shots. Those who later joined the sit-in, chanting “selmeyya selmeyya” (peaceful, peaceful), were not of the same type and character as those who opened the square for them at first! But regardless of all that; my point is that the demise of the revolution started then, when the people abandoned their vengeful, hateful, and angry feelings of destruction, and sufficed themselves with patience and endurance. And indeed, for too long the people sat there in the square, unwilling to move on or to do anything of any kind. And even when Mubarak’s regime (the members of which are still free to the day), attacked us fiercely on Bloody Wednesday killing many and injuring no less than 1500; nothing happened afterwords, and the people where really glad that they did not loose the square. And when the people finally moved out in millions, they did so out of frustration and desperation. For too long they have waited in the square, allowing the regime to try every trick and every possibility with which to attack them, and they did nothing in return but to endure and wait for the self-initiated resignation of evil, and got nothing but the admiration of the world for their peacefulness!

And now, the people believe, and dream, that they have won. This optimistic delusion is shared by most people, on top of which is the learned and the literate, whereas the poor and uneducated, those who tasted sufferance in this life and know by heart that evil is predominant over all good; they continue to doubt about everything, and question every fact and every supposed truth, including the plans of the military institution and the coming supposed liberty of political life in Egypt. And indeed, it seems that the people have finally given in to the military, and surrendered to surrender! against the tiring demands of vigilance and alarm. It is easier for their truly Egyptian souls to say: “Things couldn’t be as they were before. We have done the revolution, and now things changed. Egypt is going to be different, and freed at last.” Some even say: “Even if things go wrong, at least it won’t be as bad as it was before!” But the truth is that all of these people are just loosing every means of power they might have gathered during the revolution, and that they are becoming more and more deluded about the present reality and condition. And given the indications of what’s happening in reality, and the fact that it is indeed unlikely that the many forces in the world which benefited from the neo-colonization of Egypt in the past -on top of which is USA itself- are just going to let Egypt go in freedom and without expending every resource and means they can master to restrain exactly that freedom and independence of Egypt; I believe that people’s optimism is at least a lot more baseless than my paranoia! We both seek freedom for Egypt, but at least, my paranoid and alarmed spirit serves the purpose much better than their tranquil happiness and baseless assurance.

“Paranoia” is not a trait of my peculiar wisdom; but it is the evil and the aggressive reality of the world in which we all live, that sometimes suggests paranoia as a necessary requirement in discerning thoughtfulness and consideration. Nothing but profound love, and the feeling of great responsibility and duty, could drive one to be paranoid in the protection of the goodness that is trying to evolve in a dangerous and evil environment and global condition. Haven’t we seen enough of domination and sufferance and pain and humiliating dependency in order for us to be maniac aggressive in the defense of our newborn liberty?

We are not going to loose anything if everything turns out to be, some how, good! Our alarm and tensed vigilance will have caused our country and liberty no harm. But what if things do go wrong? Why do we totally ignore the possibility, that armies (rather than an army!) might come knocking our freedom down without mercy. And if the youth of this revolution are already in military prisons subjected to torture, and women to virginity tests, and if laws criminalizing public protest are being considered, media still manipulated, and evil men of all kinds still have access to power – what then allows us to settle down and be optimistic? What prevents us from considering the possibility of a future that is even worse than the past? And in what way are we able to go on living and laughing and caring for every small thing, without the slightest feeling of immanent danger and threat, that is growing around our newborn and fragile freedom and national dreams?

This is our true plight! And it has always been. No nation can prosper without those who are willing to devote themselves completely to its defense and security in every possible meaning of these words, so that others can be justified in their optimism and hope for a better future, and so that they can work on achieving that future in peacefulness. But what future there is for a nation, that is abandoning its first duty of alarm, vigilance, and watchfulness, at the down of a long-waited freedom, and even handing the task of keeping safe its fate and destiny, to that which will itself save no means to destroy it, and is already destroying it?!

I end now with two quotes, one from a victimized ancient Egypt, and another from a still victimized contemporary Egypt. The first is from the prophecy of Neferti, a wise sage who either foresaw the coming plight, or was retelling a recurrent story in the history of Egypt. The second is from the testimony by Aly Sobhi, an actor who was arrested and tortured in military detention, and who survived from a fabricated case against him where he was convicted as a thug. His and other innocent people’s photographs appeared on national TV along with weapons which were said to belong to them:

Neferti, around 3000 BCE:

“All good things have disappeared; and there lays the country pray to destitution because of these Asiatics who pervade the land. Foes have risen in the East, and Asiatics will enter Egypt. Fortresses will fall; for watchfulness will fail those defending them. And one guard will say: ‘I shall go to rest, although it is my duty to be wakeful!’ And in the darkness of the night, they will raise the stairs, storm the forts, and cross the barracks, while the people are fast asleep. Wild animals will descend upon Egypt from their homes in the desert, and drink from the water of Egypt’s river. And since no one will stand up to drive them away, they will rest and refresh themselves on the river’s banks.”

Aly Sobhi, 2011 CE:

“And because we were unwilling to die, they had a very good idea about killing the one thing in us that if died, we must die too:

‘Raise your head up high bastard, for you are an Egyptian!!’ Said the soldiers in a militaristic tone.

We the people thought: ‘Oh! Finally they are cured and they understood?! Thank God.’

And as we raised our heads up high because we are Egyptians, they struck our heads with their military boots!

The shock of a lifetime.”

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