Old ways

Patterns change hard in nations. The terrible mistakes of the past tend to be repeated again and again, and sometimes it seems as if struggling for change is in vain. Certainly, this is the feeling at present in Egypt, which saw the worst violence it has experienced in decades on August 14, as security forces resorted to shooting and the use of bulldozers and helicopters to break up gatherings of thousands of supporters of former president Mohamed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood. At least 421 people have been killed in the massacre and thousands injured, with witnesses describing terrible scenes as bleeding bodies, including those of children, tumbled to the ground. The supporters of Mr Mursi had been camping at two locations in Cairo since before he was deposed on July 3.

The horrific action taken by the security forces ends a long stand-off. It also ends Egypt’s brief tryst with democracy, which was achieved after months of protests with a presidential election held in May 2012. That election was, of course, won by Mr Mursi, a result reluctantly accepted by the country’s powerful military, which has now regained a hold on power. It is to be seen if the fact that it has done so at the cost of so many lives is something that will be tolerated, within Egypt and beyond its borders. Condemnation against the use of brute force has come in from Washington and other places; there is obvious anger within the country and accounts from officials that the protesters were armed and shooting at troops are being refuted by international media channels covering the horrifying sequence of events.

Encouragingly, there are some signs of unease over what has transpired within the ruling set-up itself. The vice-president in the army-backed government, Mohamed ElBaradei, stepped down as images of bodies lying on the ground came in. Ordinary people in the country are said to be still more shocked and it is to be seen what impact the tragedy in Cairo will have, with many convinced there are more chapters yet to unfold in a country that has fought hard for freedom.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2013.

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