As of yesterday, Mohammed Morsi has been declared the President of Egypt by way of democratic vote. Morsi was a controversial candidate whose ties with the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood lead many to believe he would pass strict policies imposing Islamic values on Egypt’s citizens, a concern especially to Christian and Secularist citizens. Likewise, Morsi’s running opponent, Ahmed Shafik ran a significant deficit of trust because of his status of Prime Minister under the hated and recently ousted Mubarak regime.
From listening to several Egyptian citizens opine on their choice of the two leading candidates, one may have been hard pressed to find anyone who trusted either candidate entirely. This brand of ‘voting for the lesser of two evils’ democracy, compounded by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces seeming efforts to marginalize presidential power as much as possible, have born a sentiment that the year old Egyptian revolution may have been a waste.
So, was the revolution wasted? That may depend upon who you ask. Certainly, for Islamists and Muslim Brotherhood supporters, it has not. Their candidate won the pivotal election, and even if his power is diminished there is still the hope that this may be one step closer towards the Egypt they want to see. Fatigued revolutionaries may agree, though they may not support Morsi fully, that he is a more hopeful alternative to the Mubarak associated Shafik.
But what about everyone else? Those who are not seeing the dramatic progress they had hoped for after one year of fighting for it?
Those who fought so hard only to feel marginalized under the majority rule of democracy?
And of course, those who still worry that the SCAF has simply been pulling the strings all along? To these people, their faith in the revolution may be waning, if indeed they do no already consider it to be a waste.
To them, I beg, don’t let it be.
It’s easier said than done to stand up for your beliefs and your convictions in the face of all adversity. As an American, for whom it easy to take free speech for granted, I know I cannot truly understand the fear that one faces in the turbulent regime and post-regime of Mubarak. I do understand, however, the feeling of frustration that comes with not having your voice heard by those in power, and the insecurity that comes with wanting to stand up without knowing your fellow countrymen will be behind you or not. The hard truth is that this will be a regular fact of life for just about any person living in a democratic society, and understanding that is understanding that the path to true progress is an arduous one that requires a great deal of discipline and patience.
Always remember that, when all those people converged on Tahrir Square all those times in unity, that though their ideas and ideals may not have aligned so perfectly, that together they managed to break through a wall of silence and make their dissatisfaction known. The powers that be came down violently upon them, and instead of letting this deter them, the crowds swelled more and their conviction became stronger. It was because we, as humans, all know there is an inherent wrongness in tyranny, and once it realized for what it is we stand hand-to-hand to fight it no matter what.
After the dust of the elections settle, will the status quo in Egypt drift back to another de facto tyranny perpetrated against the people by the SCAF? Right now, no one can truly say. What the revolution has proved is that the people know what that tyranny looks like, and are willing to fight it when it see they see it. The people have confidence in their own voices now, and they must cling to it if the progress they hope for is ever to be made. Democracy is an imperfect system, and no one ever gets everything that they want, but the moment people give up on their voice is when democracy becomes voluntary totalitarianism.
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