Egypt

The fear is that the forces that maintain hegemony over our society are using every means possible to prevent the further fruition of our revolution. This includes a dirty game of exploiting these recent events by purposefully deepening divisions within Egyptian society to make their rule unavoidable, more violent and even less accountable to the population at large. Since June 30, this has meant an unending stream of bloodshed among Brotherhood supporters and civilians either protesting them or caught in the crossfire or within sectarian battles. We are caught in a situation where a population is being held hostage and their death is being incited and capitalized upon by almost all political elites vying for power: the military generals, the Brotherhood and the liberals. Today we are still in the midst of the January 25 Revolution. We face a serious threat of its co-optation, but until now the power still lies with the people.

The very structures that oppress Egyptians will generate resistance as well as confusion and despair. Several members of the June 30 amalgamation have registered their own objections to the constitutional decree, an index of Bermeo’s other finding that citizens backing coups rarely support what the coupmasters do after they seize power. Having come so far, the country seems unlikely to accept a restoration that does not respond to at least some of the calls for bread, freedom and social justice. Perhaps the “deep state” will acquiesce in the foundation of a more robust parliamentary democracy than Egyptians knew under Mubarak. Perhaps it will find ways of easing Egypt’s economic pain, including the poverty, joblessness and truncated life chances that are the primary concern of most Egyptian citizens. And perhaps not. The downfall of Husni Mubarak is best described as half-revolution, half-coup; in Mursi’s case, the proportions may differ. The generals might like to write the revolution’s obituary, but it is too soon, and ultimately the pen is not in their fingers.

There is lots of ongoing news and drama from Egypt including increasing violence between the Muslim Brotherhood, anti-Morsi protesters and the military as well as updates on the shaky coalition organizing the transition government. This round-up of news from Egypt from Al Arabiya includes: Egyptian soldiers escape from pro-Mursi kidnappers, state TV reports, At least 42 killed in attack outside Cairo’s army headquarters, Egypt orders shutdown of Islamist party headquarters, Salafists pull out of government talks in Egypt, Egypt’s Salafist party rejects choices for premier, vice-president.

One of the biggest casualties of yesterday’s events in Egypt is US Ambassador, Anne Patterson. For months now, she has been insisting on a slanted reading of the political scene in Egypt, constantly letting the Muslim Brotherhood off the hook (in a bizarre move last week, she even visited Khayrat El-Shater, the strong man of the MB in his personal office), and giving erroneous accounts to John Kerry about the opposition to President Morsy. The biggest casualty, however, has to be Morsy and his Muslim Brotherhood, who have insisted on a disastrous reading of the political map after the revolution and succeeded in fooling Patterson (and many other western diplomats and journalists) of their delusional views.

There was confusion last night after Mohamed ElBaradei was authoritatively reported to have been appointed as Egypt’s interim prime minister by the acting president, Adly Mansour. He was expected take the country along a military-imposed political roadmap amid vicious strife, including growing sectarian attacks and a rising death toll. However, this was contradicted late last night by Egyptian state television, which denied any such appointment had been made. Opposition from religious political parties seem to be resulting in doubts about his appointment.

As special assistant to the Egyptian foreign minister, ElBaradei served on the negotiating team at the historic Camp David peace talks that led to Egypt's peace treaty and diplomatic relations with Israel. He began his UN career in 1980, and was sent to Iraq in the wake of the 1991 Gulf war to dismantle Saddam's nuclear programme. In 1997, he was chosen as head of the IAEA, a role that made him an international household name and led to confrontations with Washington, first over Iraq and later over Iran. When the US claimed that Iraq was buying uranium in Africa, ElBaradei dismissed the evidence before the UN Security Council as fake. Though he angered Washington by challenging claims that Saddam Hussein was hiding a secret nuclear programme, he was proved right when no nuclear weapons were found after the 2003 US invasion.

Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has been appointed as Egypt's new prime minister, the state news agency MENA reported, after bloodshed followed the ouster of the country's first freely elected president. The Tamarod (rebellion) movement, which engineered mass protests culminating in the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday, made the announcement on Saturday after talks with Adly Mansour, Egypt's new interim leader. The news of the appointment was greeted with cheers outside Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace, where opponents of Morsi frantically waved Egyptian flags and honked car horns. Morsi supporters express anger, call him a US puppet. Al Nour, second largest Muslim Party, says selection violates "roadmap" threatens to withdraw.

"Those who called Mursi's removal this week a military coup were insulting the Egyptian people, who had turned out in their millions to demand his ouster, Sabahi said. He called for former U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent liberal politician, to be appointed prime minister for an interim period he hoped would not last longer than six months until an amended constitution was in place. "We have agreed on a roadmap that has a new constitution that will be drafted by a committee to amend the suspended constitution and change the disputed articles, after which people will vote on it in a referendum. Then, there will be a presidential election, then a parliamentary election," he said.

As Mark LeVine just put it in a column for Al Jazeera, “the Egyptian military stands in the way of revolution, and the revolutionaries will again have to take it on directly.” None of this is to belittle the incredible achievements the revolutionaries have secured so far, and it is obvious that activists the world over will continue to follow and support the struggle of the Egyptian people with amazement and the utmost respect, as a shining example of fearlessness and perseverance that inspires us all. But it does mean that “free and fair” elections alone may not be enough to still the people’s immense hunger for bread, freedom and social justice. It may mean that the biggest stand-off is yet to come. And it certainly means that this revolution is far from over yet.

The military has been very careful to present its maneuvers strictly as a response to the desires and aspirations of the Egyptian people. By meeting the demands of the Tamarod movement for the removal of Morsi, the military has for a time secured substantial support among revolutionary masses. The key question, however, is not representational. Whoever assumes the reins of power next will be expected to offer a way out of grinding poverty and unemployment, as well as measures dealing with other political grievances. If the demands of the movement cannot be met, the masses of people will once again be invited to take action. As developments unfold, it remains to be seen whether the military will succeed in using the demonstrations to reinstate a Mubarak regime without the person of Mubarak, or whether the protest movement will use the military intervention to remove Morsi as a stepping stone in advancing the revolution toward realizing the social justice and independence aims of the revolution. What is still lacking in Egypt is a coherent revolutionary voice. The Tamarod movement is made up of tens of thousands