Last
week, in talking about the Arab Spring, we touched briefly on the
current state of Egypt and the waning support for Mohammed Morsi.
This article from the Economist further explores Mr. Morsi's actions
and the state of Egypt as a whole.
As
previously discussed, Mohammed Morsi drew a great deal of criticism
when he attempted to pass legislation exempting his decrees from
judicial review. This incident was far from the first issue the
Egyptian public has had with Morsi. In reality, it represents a
culmination of tensions that have been building since Morsi took
office. Early on, many criticized Morsi for using his right to
appoint seats in the upper house of parliament to flood the house
with “yes-men”. There has also been a startling trend of
violence on protesters by Muslim Brotherhood associates. On the
legal front, Morsi has been equally aggressive in attacking his
critics in the media. Morsi's recently appointed public prosecutor has launched a highly unpopular investigation into television
satirist, Bassem Youssef, for insulting the president. Between the
grabs for personal power, the violence on protesters and the control
over the media, the Morsi administration does not appear to be far
from the dictatorship that it replaced.
One of
the most interesting things about this article was the numbers it put
forth for participation in the Egyptian elections. Evidently,
participation in Egyptian elections has been poor. About 10% of the
Egyptian population voted in last year's election. On the
constitutional referendum at the end of last year, less than a third
of Egyptians voted. It seems strange that a population so willing to
fight for its beliefs on the streets would not be willing to do the
same at the polls.
Egypt
also has problems outside of the political spectrum. Poverty,
unemployment, and inflation continue to hit the country. Many
consider Egypt's economic difficulties on a similar level to those of Greece.
Additionally, Egypt is seeing an increasing cultural divide between
the educated, secular, urban, youth and the older, rural,
traditional population.
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