Morsi resorting to strict control
Protesters decry autocratic actions by Egypt president
CAIRO — Egypt President MohammedMorsiand the Muslim Brotherhood inherited a corrupt police state with failing institutions. Crime was rising, and the economy was in free fall immediately after longtime leader Hosni Mubarak was toppled early last year.
But rather than reach out to secular and liberal voices, Morsi and one of the world’s most influential Islamist organizations have often resorted to the rigid structure that helped the Brotherhood survive decades as a persecuted opposition.
Angry protests that drew tens of thousands of people into Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Tuesday reveal that Egyptians no longer will accept an autocratic leader, whether an Islamist like Morsi or a secularist like Mubarak. A dispute with judges over separation of government powers has rallied liberals and non-Muslims who fear that Morsi aims to gradually expand Islamic law to alter the nation’s character and limit civil and religious freedoms.
The resolute yet uncharismatic Morsi is reviled and praised. Rival portraits of the peasant’s son who became an engineer and then president have emerged from this narrative: a pragmatist seeking a constitutional democracy but willing to bend the rules to get there, or a political novice determined to stifle state institutions to further the Brotherhood’s dominance.
The president’s battle with the judiciary epitomizes the Brotherhood’s struggle against entrenched remnants of the old regime maneuvering to upend Morsi through chaos and gridlock that jeopardizes foreign investment, security and Egyptians’ faith in the ideals of the 2011 revolution.
At key moments, however, the Muslim Brotherhood has relied on an authoritarian tendency in its erratic efforts to govern Egypt.
Morsi’s overall “aim is to establish a new un-democratic political system with the Brotherhood at the center of the state,” said Ashraf el-Sherif, an expert on Islamic movements at American University in Cairo. “They are not interested at all in reforming the politics of the country.”
Many of those who took to the streets this week don’t trust the courts, either. However, they accuse Morsi of power grabs and have branded him a new pharaoh. The protesters don’t see a president’s pragmatism; they see Machiavellian ambitions by the Brotherhood to sideline the opposition, including leading figures, such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.
“The people want to bring down the regime,” protesters shouted in the same chant used to unseat Mubarak.
Throughout its 84-year history the Brotherhood, foundedby a school teacher, has been co-opted, marginalized and persecuted. Thousands of Brotherhood members were arrested and tortured under Mubarak. The group survived, not by being democratic within its ranks, but by a rigid structural orthodoxy with a dedi- cated populist base.
The group’s authoritarianstreak has largely defined the Brotherhood’s problems in governing. Last year it expelled prominent young members who were seeking a more moderate political approach.
But, as hehas shownwith his decree on the courts, Morsi can be calculating. In August, he forced the resignations of the nation’s military commanders, including Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who had controlled Egypt since Mubarak’s fall in February 2011 and despised the Brotherhood’s Islamist plans for the nation.
It was bold move that showed Morsi was capable of eliminating the man who rivaled him for power, apparently backed by younger officers willing to strike a deal with the Brotherhood to replace their aging generals and advance their own careers. It also suggested that Morsi was open to reaching out to holdovers in Mubarak’s regime, including officials from police, intelligence and the courts, if they were willing to switch allegiances.
The pressing question is whether Morsi will outlast the protest movement. The long-divided opposition camp, famous for bickering and endless tweeting, has in recent days found cohesion and momentum. Four people have died in the violence and some 500 have been injured. The suspicions over the Brotherhood are resonating, but so far the president is not blinking.
“Morsi is betting on the street’s fervor to die out. He will try to stretch this out to its limit,” said el-Sherif. “It is not in his best interest to rescind this decree because it will be a blow to his popularity and the Brotherhood, but if this crisis continues, he will have to.”