Continued Corruption in Egypt

-The fact that the army holds power in Egypt is a type of dictatorship. At the present time, Egyptian society is faced with continued corruption. It wanted to get rid of one dictatorship, but was later confronted with a religious one and when it decided to get rid of the second one, it was faced with a military dictatorship under the name of defending secularism and democracy.

-Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has a considerable number of followers and this was the first time that it held power, therefore it felt as if it had a special status.

-The Muslim Brotherhood was an illegal organization before during the Nasser era and had underground activities. But during Mubarak's time in power, it was allowed to have calm activities and they even had 80 representatives in the parliament.

-But this time, in the shadow of the Arab Spring and the changing of the authoritarian regimes, the Muslim Brotherhood claimed that it had balanced many of its previous radical viewpoints, hence, it succeeded in gaining the necessary votes to establish a government.

-The measure which was taken against the Muslim Brotherhood further deepened the rift in Egyptian society.

-Efforts made to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood will not succeed, for the whole population cannot be destroyed. They might refuse to allow the Muslim Brotherhood to pursue its activities, thus its activities may go underground and enter terrorist activities against the leaders of the interim government and the military and drive the country towards a long-term crisis.

-The fact is that Egypt needs to reach an understanding; because if the government is supposed to calm the Muslim Brotherhood through suppression and killing, the establishment of the intended democracy will generally be ignored for some citizens.

-If the Muslim Brotherhood reaches an understanding, future problems and crises will be prevented. Now the Muslim Brotherhood is in a critical position and it is very difficult to ask them to surrender, because they have suffered a lot and lost lives.

-Today, the logical solution to the crisis in Egypt is possible through mediation; a mediator who is accepted by both sides and can be from outside the country; an institution which both sides feel is neutral, like the United Nations. An arrangement should also be designed so that the Muslim Brotherhood would have serious participation in the future government.

-It is true that the leaders of the former regime are returning to power but the objective of the Arab Spring was to stop the authoritarian regimes and establish a democratic system.

-But the trend of this demand led to religious dictatorship which was against the initial demands of the revolution. Therefore, a double standard was formed in Egyptian society and those groups that expected a democratic system were faced with the Muslim Brotherhood which gave priority to religious values and was a type of dictatorship.

-Therefore, the army reacted in support of the secularists, which had consequences and contradicted democracy. Thus, today, difficult conditions have been formed in Egypt, the continuation of which will lead to a deepening of the crisis and more killings on both sides. And this is in complete contradiction with the initial objectives of the revolution.

-Right now, the backbone of the movement in Egypt is the army and this is not to the advantage of democracy in Egypt.

-The army's reasoning for holding power is that it would be able to restore calm and stability in the country so that the grounds would be prepared for holding free elections; this is while the army will rule the country and the military officers may even become presidential candidates, as in the previous election, where Mubarak's defense minister was Morsi's rival.

-In order to bypass this crisis, both sides must compromise and accept a middle path and form a government wherein both sides are present and which is based on democratic and popular values.

-Continuation of the present conditions will never lead to stability in Egyptian society.