Thursday, March 10, 2011

EDITORIAL

The revolution under way in Egypt has made huge gains in less than two months, but faces the danger of lapsing into a dangerous drift into the unknown.

The fluid situation was understandable at first, when events were moving quickly. The country’s latest government said Wednesday that it was committed to fighting back against any “counter-revolution,” but perhaps what is needed is a clearer idea of what exactly the “revolution” is about in the first place.

Egypt’s mass protests inspired the region and the rest of the world, when co-religionists banded together to fight back against a decrepit, authoritarian system mired in corruption.
The latest blow to this religious unity has come in the form of a burning of a Coptic church and the deaths of 13 people in sectarian violence that people had hoped was a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, Tahrir Square witnessed Wednesday an attack by thugs on peaceful activists – the army stepped in to end the violence, but the authorities should adopt a more pro-active policy if they are serious about defeating counter-revolution.

The masses, for the most part, have done what they can to push ahead with an agenda of freedom, fair elections and political reform. Their role has been to change the past – it is up to the authorities, along with the input of civil society, to chart the path to the future.
The authorities must step in forcefully to ensure that such attacks – on peaceful protestors, or the Coptic community – are not repeated.

There are moves to hold senior political leaders accountable for their actions in the past, but accountability must be wielded against anyone who threatens the gains of Egypt’s revolution.
Change will not come overnight, but the politicians and officials now in charge must exert their authority to ensure that the process of change remains viable. Without a credible deterrent to the kind of violence witnessed in Egypt this week, the entire enterprise could prove to be a spectacular failure.

It is relatively easy for a small group to threaten Egypt’s gains, and the authorities must realize that the masses need effective leadership, bolstered by honesty, confidence and determination. Egypt is too precious to risk a failure of its revolution, particularly with the huge economic stakes involved. The stability of Egypt’s economic sectors, and the livelihood of millions of people, hang in the balance.

The Coptic-Muslim divide is only the tip of the iceberg. The Egyptian authorities must produce a vision and action plan to ensure the country defeats civil strife, especially with the specter of failure looming large in the region, in the form of Iraq’s sectarian violence, and Sudan’s break-up into two states.
Otherwise, a bleak future awaits in Egypt.