Sunday, March 24, 2013
Election Ballot Boxes Are Not Enough to Bring Stability...
Friday 13 March 2013
Peace be upon you..
I am still in
Cairo, the city that I love so much and consider it to be a second home after
Baghdad. This is my last semester in the University. I am supposed to submit
the Masters’ thesis next semester in God’s willing.
I don’t feel
lonely here. People here are so kind especially with non-Egyptians. They love
visitors and they are very friendly, respectful and welcoming.
But certainly the
country is passing through a transitional phase and limited level of chaos
compared of what we’ve seen in Iraq post U.S. invasion in 2003.
The Army and
Police forces were dismantled in Iraq immediately post invasion which led to
chaos, not a political as much of a security chaos in the streets. There were
increasing incidents of violence, explosion, assaults, thefts and kidnapping
against people in Iraq. Thus, I don’t think that decisions made by the American
Leadership were innocent and weren’t meant to destroy Iraq, both the
land and the nation.
Now after 10
years have passed since Iraq occupation, the country still in somewhat worrisome
security chaos, but the political chaos is more pervasive where we find rising
ethnic and sectorial conflicts and no sign on the ground indicating that it is
getting any better soon.
The most
important cause of political chaos is the distorted constitution that is
drafted by America and forced on the Iraqi political leadership, who represent
all sectors and ethnicities, to approve it and adopt it. Those leaders are
still paying the price of their misjudgment, stupidity, opportunism and rushing
to accept anything for the sake of staying in power.
Why political
situation has gotten so complicated in Iraq?
Despite what has
been announced regarding political agreement, the situation doesn’t indicate
any agreement at all. There are differences, arguments, disagreements and
hostility among political parties especially the large ones after the last
election in 2010. There is still a dispute around the actual winning list and its
right to rule. This argument hasn’t been clearly concluded yet and doesn’t
yield to political stability or social and economic stability. The country
still goes through enormous economic problems and nothing is working over
there. Investments and development in the areas of health, education and infrastructure
are still government’s daily battles, but without any positive results on the
ground. Political powers fight aggressively for their own interests. You cannot
tell the difference between street explosives and violent dialogues among
political rivals in Iraq. None of that is done for the sake of people or the
country. I don’t know who decided to gear Iraq towards failure. It wastes time
without achieving any positive results on the ground. Nothing is working. It is
so frustrating that people prefer now to change all those politicians hoping to
change the rules of the political game and maybe there will be a positive
outcome instead of this continuous mess.
I return back to
Egypt…
The revolution
overthrown the old regime since 2011 and since then, various political parties
have appeared. But the struggle over power has been running in an unhealthy and
an unreasonable manner. If the rule of the political game continues with this
stupidity, narrow mindedness and favoring the parties or individual interest
over the country’s interests , neither the people nor the country will gain
anything.
After the
revolution, a parliament was elected followed by presidential election. But
there were a conflict of interest that led the supreme constitution court to
dissolve the parliament. The Islamic parties who won the majority of parliament
seats thought that this is against the revolution and not for the sake of God
or the Nation. On the other hand, the opposing political parties sees it as a
right step and an opportunity to shine and raise its voice asking for many
changes that will pull the rug from under the Islamic parties.
The election of Mursi,
who represents also Islamic power, has scared the secular and liberal parties.
They have been living a state of resistance and chaos since Dr. Mursi became
president. They raise their voice and boycott dialogue with him. They also use
the media to provoke demonstrations and spread rumors, disorder and doubts
about the president and the new government. They undermine the presedent’s achievements
and deny the government continuous attempt to improve the security and economic
situation. They also plant the seeds of doubts against the intentions of the
government and the president to agitate people against him. It continues to be
an endless fruitless charade.
This chaos has
created political instability in the country and somewhat of a limited security chaos (compared of what happened in
Iraq). The opposition exaggeration in regard to economic and security status
has infuriated people in the street without offering any alternatives or
solutions that may help the country to resolve this dilemma.
The opposition
here acts like someone spiteful and resentful against those in authorities and
as someone who want to lead his opponent to failure in any way possible. The most important thing to the opposition is
to use all possible means to prove that the ruling Islamic Party is a failure
even if it lead to drowning Egypt in chaos and hindering it from going forward
and succeed. Opposition is not interested in saving the ship that carries
everyone. Instead, it believes in drowning the ship to prove that the captain
is a failure without thinking of the consequences to these selfish and foolish
thoughts.
I am so saddened
by all of this because I love Egypt and Egyptians. I am hopeful that Egypt will
assume back the leader role of the Arab Nation because it is like the big
sister to all. Its absent role has caused so much damage to its neighbors. Iraq
has been occupied, Palestinian suffering has increased, Syria has been
subjected to chaos and destruction. All of that because stable balanced Egypt
has been distant and busy with its internal affairs. Some of the Gulf States have
been funding the Syrian opposition claiming that Bashar Al Asad is a dictator,
a tyrant or a Shiaa who diverted from faith of Islam . I don’t know then why
did they help in Saddam’s fall when he wasn’t a Shiaa neither was Al Qathafi in
Libya . Or is it a matter of dictatorship as the regimes in those gulf states
are not less dictatorial and their nations earned the right to armed and funded
revolutionary against them same as neighboring countries if they believe that
it is acceptable in and applicable to Syria.
By the way, why
Syrian dilemma hasn’t been resolved yet?
I believe that
there are two main reasons for that: First, Syria is an ally to regional powers
such as Iran, China and Russia. This has made it an uneasy bite to America,
Israel and the NATO. Second, who is qualified to assume authority after the
fall of the current regime? It is
obvious that the Islamic groups are more qualified than others. This is another
headache to America, Israel and the NATO countries. That’s why the Syrian
situation is not resolved due to regional and international affairs while the
Syrian people are paying the price. This is the results of the current dirty
political unmoral world. It is all about interests.
In this case, it
is about the struggle for power here and there and it is the result of foreign
interference in our region. America occupied Iraq, Iran has also been trying to
take a piece of Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel followed. Everyone is running after personal gains from the fallen
victim. Syria is no difference. Two years of destruction has passed and
everyone is trying to see their place in Syria after the fall of the regime.
Even the Muslim Brotherhoods in Egypt are taking part in the opposition battle
in Syria. It is a matter of interests rather than lending hand to neighboring
Arab Muslims for the sake of stopping the bloodshed and destruction of their
country. The most important thing now is how to get the biggest share of the
cake in the near future…
Everyone can
observe now that the conflicts and battles in our region is a matter of regional
and international interests rather than
religious one. But the sick media broadcast different misleading stories to
people…
Unfortunately,
Israel is the biggest ally to America and western colonial powers. Some Arab
countries have become a strategic ally to America and others international colonial
powers. It plays a defendant role against anyone who opposes the instructions
and directions of America and other countries who have Interest in the region.
Anyway, Back to
Egypt…
The problem here
is that the Islamic Parties who won with the majority of parliament seats and
presidency believe that this is rightfully earned through national voting process
while secular and liberal parties are very frustrated because they only won
modest number of seats. This has caused opposing parties to lose their mind and
balance. They resorted to use immoral methods to stir chaos and political
instability in the country. They started to use media stations that they own or
that are bias to the opposition to broadcast false stories aiming to instigate
the street. They succeeded in stirring violence in the street and generating
frustration in minds of people. They misled people who became angry like the
opposition but without offering any alternative solutions to the existing problems.
This has created a distance between on one hand the government and the
president and on the other hand people who blindly listen to the opposition
refusing to admit reality. They interpret things according to the concepts planted
in their heads based on assumptions like election forgery by Muslim Brotherhoods
or the assumption that the country is being ruled by the Islamic Group Leader
not Mursi and so on. There is no tangible evidence in any of these stories.
They are all assumptions and theories published and reiterated by the opposing
parties until they were believed by so many people.
I believe that
this method is called: lie, lie and lie until the people will eventually believe you. It is the
same methodology used by the Bush Administration regarding the weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq and the fabricated
stories that has been publicized in the media which has justified the war
against Iraq. There has been no proof of such weapons, but the American
objective has been achieved and people can go to hell as it is not important
what they believe and what they don’t.
I am totally
convinced that the political world today is unfortunately dirty, immoral and
has no principles. Politicians are prepared to knowingly destroy people’s lives
for the sake of office and privileges. But their selfishness and narrow
mindedness can make them blind, deaf and unable to think reasonably, wisely,
patiently and quietly. This applies to politicians in Iraq since 2003. Their
stupidity and selfishness has become a model of failure and misjudgment…
As for Egypt, I
hope that the Islamic Party deals with the political crisis wisely and intelligently even though
they’re supported by vast majority of votes. The facts on the ground indicate
that there is an opposition who is seeking to share power with them either to gain
privileges or participate in decision making. Islamic parties must handle it
wisely because opting power exclusivity even though supported by votes is not
acceptable in this phase. Opposition is leading the country towards social,
economic and political chaos and distorting the image of Egypt and its
political environment. As long as Egypt remains threatened by political and
social division, the enemies of Egypt will find it an invitation to flock and conspire
against it.
This is a
critical phase and demands strong social, political and economic grounds in
addition to building a good international reputation and becoming a role model
to neighboring and far countries.
I remember Turkey
and its relatively successful experience. The Islamic Parties have worked for
decades under a secular constitution and
have been subjected to oppressions and pressures from former Turkish
governments. It also suffered from the Turkish Army interference in politics given
that it was the protector of secularism in Turkey.
Nowadays, the
Islamic Parties in Turkey assume the
vast majority of high positions in the Government, presidency and parliament .
They share power with the secular and the liberal parties despite the
differences in principles and vision. They surpassed all violent conflicts and
learned to deal in a positive way with several and different partners to reap
the fruitful results for Turkey and its people. I hope that the Islamic Party
in Egypt will possess the same level of intelligence in assessing the risk of this
phase and accept the participation of other parties in government despite
differences in vision and principles. By time, people will see which parties
possess the right vision and best interest for Egypt and its people. The voting
ballot box will remain the judge of that. People will reevaluate and
accordingly will either reelect or reject a party and remove it from the
political arena.
If the Muslim Brotherhoods insist on the fact that they earned power that
has been over due for 70 years through voting ballot boxes, this will pose a
risky path because it will only hurt everyone. It will have bad consequences on
the parties themselves as well as on Egypt and everyone. They must deal with it
wisely and patiently while offering compromises for the sake of public
interest.
I hope that Egypt
will succeed and become a role model to other nations in the region and far. I
know that the challenges are scary and so many, but it can be achieved with
deep thinking and clear strategy giving priority to the unity of Egypt.
There are so many
enemies who don’t want Egypt to succeed and I hope that it will and pass all
these difficulties. And I hope that it will have a leadership that is aware of
what is going on and able to take courageous decisions aiming only for the interest
of the country and its people not for the interest of political parties. This
is what is happening in Iraq for ten years and made them go through an endless
loop.
We should learn
from the lessons and not repeat others’ mistakes…
In Brief : Voting
ballot boxes should not be the only decisive tool in the political arena. If
the country is passing through a transitional
era and political conflicts as in
Egypt and Iraq; dialogue, agreement and national interest must be factored to
reach a stable united countries gearing toward common objectives based on an
agreed upon clear strategy.
I know that this
is an ideal statement that cannot be achieved on the ground because the
prevailing mentality is to go after personal gains. Each party thinks of how they
can get the most privileges and how to control the largest number of the
country’s main resources. And so on..
This is what our political
leaders have learned from the behavior of western colonial leaders in our region. Now, the Arab political leaders are thinking
in the same way, where personal interest and power prevails over the love and
interest of Arab nation.
I also have a
note regarding the political leaders in our Arab nations. If they only had
realized that uniting the countries in the region will create a great power
that will have a political and economic effect in the world, they would’ve
changed their stupid courses which have divided the Arab countries even
further. Or maybe some of the Arab leaders are aware of what I’ve described,
but they just don’t have the will. These leaders are not belong to its people and are not being in power as a result of a voting ballot box or
national agreement, but because America and western colonial powers want them to stay with the condition that they
continue to comply with their instructions. The ending day of these leaders will come soon, same as Shah
of Iran, the Marcos of the Philippines, and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt…
The Nations will turn
the table against them, but God alone knows when…
Change is doom to
happen in this universe and nothing will remain the same no matter how long it
will take….
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 1:38 pm 
