#SCAF learning to play politics

pow.. we are coming for you!

politics is a marionette play, and you’d better be the one holding the holding the threads!

In politics, if you are faced with “or anticipating” fierce opposition for a certain policy while in power, it’s not politically wise to engage in confrontation with the opposition. top-notch politician will tell you it’s optimal to create a situation in which the opposition will come and ask “even plead” for what you proposed.

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the Supreme Council of Armed Forces “SCAF” has been ruling the country after the egyptian revolution toppled Mubarak’s regime in feb the 11th. SCAF Generals have stated now and again that it’s an interim job, and they will give the power back to an elected civilian authority, so they can move back to their barracks.

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power is seductive, one has to admit. and from the looks of it, this seems to be the case with the SCAF. the scenario of conspiracy theorist goes something like this: the SCAF members rounded up in a dark meeting room, a plot & a plan is formulated to give the army a role in the political scene in post-revolution Egypt. and they came up with a wicked plan to trick the liberals and leftists, who are scared out of their minds from an islamist hegemony, into agreeing to appoint the army a guardian for maintaining a secular civli state.

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SCAF is trying to push some constitutional amendments for a military rule in the political sphere, citing the the turkish military, among other amendments to establish human & civil rights, and citizenship, as constitutional principles. this kind Maneuver won’t be a smooth one, and they know it. lest we forget that Egypt hadn’t seen a civilian president since the egyptian republic declaration in 1952. poeple are looking for a future where they have an “elected civilian” president, you would know that from the revoultionary chants in tahrir where the masses were calling “Madnia Madina” meaning “civilian state”.

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unfortunately for SCAF, their proposal for appointing the army as guardian for the civil state, was rejected by every political group, parties and factions. even liberals. and here comes the conspiracy theorist again with some addition to the original scenario: the SCAF members are summoned to the same dark meeting again, steamed up about what happened. what went wrong! we thought the islamists fear would be enough for liberal to drool over the proposed constitutional principles!. ” it wasn’t real enough” said one general at the corner of the room, who wasn’t visible due the dim light. all the others listened up. “they need some taste for how things can go down, their fear need to materialize.” he added. “only then they will come ask for us to protect them.” his eyes sparkled as he emphasized his point with his finger.

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july 29 was a shocking day for most Egyptians, when masses of salafis and muslim brothers took the tahrir square, the symbol of Egyptian revolution and the Egyptian longing for freedom, in a clear show of power. chants “islamic, islamic” and calls for enforcing the Sharia law took place, where the chants of “madania, madania” once rocked the skies. people who weren’t salafis or brothers, were kicked out of the square, escorted with chants “secularists are enemies of islam”. the whole protest was about asserting the “islamic” identity of Egypt, complete refusal of the constitutional guiding principle and pledging of loyalty to the ruling SCAF!

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and if that didn’t scare the hell out of every moderate muslim, christians, liberals and every living soul that doesn’t identfy as islamist, they were to destined to witness another episode:

the SCAF and government official have announced this week, to the islamists shock, that the constitutional principle will be declared soon. and this is another turning point. for islamists this is a declaration will be officially putting their dream of an islamic state to rest for good, provoking them to make a statement marking the first time they have directly challenged ruling SCAF. stating they won’t accept any attempt to work around or manipulate people will, and such attempts can lead to ugly consequences!

our friend the conspiracy theorist comes one last time for the last scenes in his scenario: the Generals congratulate the prominent General in the dim corner, sipping their drinks with eyes field of dreams of power in influence. “sometimes people need to the stick” said the general in the dim corner. “carrots don’t cut it anymore”.

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the current situations: Islamists knowing that specifying a political role for the army would diminish their own ability to shape Egypt’s future. Liberals fearing that the political role of the army would diminish their hopes of having a country fully governed by civilian rulers. and each party is wary and mistrustful of the other party.

Social justice – the way to prosperous yet stable society!

the way to a stable society!

“Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely” that’s key message in the influential landmark book of Dale Carnegie, How to win friends and influence people. Mr. Carnegie states that the sense of importance is a basic need for every individual & we crave recognition. more to the point he states that in order to engage people we must satisfy their sense of importance

and if that applies for individuals trying to engage “and win over” others,  it most certainly applies for institutions, governments trying to engage and win the loyalty of their people.

“i’ve worked for several gigantic corporations in my life,” said Mustafa, a veteran salesman, “only one of them i can truly say i’ve been loyal to, as for the others it was just a job and i didn’t mind working for the competition the next day “. we can’t account for this sense of loyalty in terms of chance and serendipity, both parties have to invest in the relationship in order to reach this level.

on a state level however, social justice is one crucial factor in establishing the sense of loyalty and belonging to one’s country. social justice in terms of providing means for obtaining  jobs for every citizen that enables him/her to provide a decent income and dignifying life for his/her family. a society where nepotism is the calling card for a job is a society on a verge of chaos. you can’t proclaim loyalty neither government can demand it when you can’t provide the basic needs.

judiciary systems comes at the top of the list, after all you can’t claim social justice in a society where those who have “connections” and know “people” can almost get away with anything while ordinary citizens can’t attain justice. therefore we’ve along way to go in the middle east to achieve that. after all you wouldn’t get a raised eyebrow when you talk about a certain class of people where the law doesn’t apply.

people appreciate and sense social justice when they qualify, just because they are citizens who have rights, to have access healthcare systems that one call “safe for human use”. healthcare systems where patients attended by qualified professionals, have access to proper medications and most importantly treated in a dignifying way that respects standard patients’ rights.

discriminately treatment of police according to their own classifications of people, and in which class do you fall determine how you will be handled.  in some states they classify “people who have connections” and ordinary citizen. others “people with money” and the masses. sometimes it’s about the religion, race and provinces! and they have no shame in doing so. it is undisguised, they don’t have the courtesy to even hide it.

political and social marginalization of a certain sect, class or ethnicity is a ticking bomb. sometimes marginalization can occur just by neglecting and overlooking certain group of people, driving them to recoil and retract from active participation in the political and decision making process. in other cases sectarianism and marginalization is integrated into the educational curriculum! this is can progress into disowning thier identity as complete citizens of that states and adopting new identity where they identify as minority of specific traits, which in their prespective caused them to be marginalized. these could be  religion, ethnicity, color, poverty or regional disposition.

“if the company’s senior managers are really looking for a sort of stability in the future, they invest time, resources and effort in building their employee loyalty” said Mustafa. “and stable companies are the ones who make it, you see, people tend to give their best when they feel a sense of belonging to a certain institution”.

increasing security alert and political sweet-talks that never materialize, without addressing the grievances of marginalized people will only serve as mere painkiller while the disease runs wild ruining and eroding the very fabric of the society. and the recent sad events in London starkly points out that no matter how civilized a society is, without social justice there will be severe consequences.

people are yearning for welfare state. where their voices are heard, their votes count and their dignity is preserved. Arab spring is all about that. people are sick of despotism, nepotism and poverty, and instead of accepting their current reality they went out and shouted at the top of their lungs asking for freedom, social justice and better future.

The evolution of the State/People relationship

Care to witness evolution in action?

if you really do then this is the perfect moment to witness the social and cultural evolution taking place in the Middle East and specially the Arab World by the catalytic action of the “Arab Spring”

the image of a ruler, weither a King, Emir or even an “elected” president, remains for most part a patriarchal image in the arab culture. That image; that all Arab leaders had invested a lot in keeping, entails certain kind of “respect”, which in essence is actually submission and acceptance of despotism.

Given that patriarchal image of a ruler, the relationship between the people and the state had been ranging from Master and slaves, to superior and subordinates. that image is being shattered to pieces after Mubarak, the ousted president of Egypt, was put on trail on third of August along with his two sons and his minister of interior, Habib Al-adly, for corruption charges, but more prominently for the killing of protesters in the 25th of jan Egyptian Revolution.

in the midst of arab revolutions, where the dust is just settling in Egypt and Tunisia. the relationship between the the state and the citizen have evolved a bit. where they became adversaries, with each side testing the waters, trying to gain / maintain territories.

that’s most evident in the ongoing tension between the ruling SCAF “Supreme council of Armed Forces” and the revolutionaries pushing for the complete realization of the revolution demands, including: Mubarak trail, stopping military trails for civilians and suspension of police officers accused of killing protesters.

The SCAF is still maintain that mentality of a patriarch. fighting to “submit” to the will of the revolutionaries. with delayed responses, threats and claims about “6 of April movement” of accepting foreign grants, questioning its motives and implying treason!

the fight of the SCAF is ultimately futile. the scene and people mindset have changed. hence, the relationship has evolved. persistence from the revolutionaries part will be the required force to move us ahead towards the next step on our evolutionary ladder till we reach the stage where the relationship between the ruling government and the people resembles the relationship of employees “the government” and employer “the people”.

the majority of Egyptian people who tend to “mind their business” are not actively involved in the political realm yet. among this silent majority there are the autocratic governmental employees where the patriarchal system applys in their institutions and a revolution is badly needed inside. we see some micro-revolution in those institutions but it will take time to rid the old mindset.

if the concept of a “public servant” is adopted at the top levels of the state, governmental institution will naturally follow. and that’s exactly why we need to support those dreamers who push the envelope and never compromise. those set-ins and those Egyptians willing to endure hardships for the dream of a modern state are the vanguard of change driving the evolution forward.