CAIRO: So many have been told, discussed and argued about the Egyptian revolution so far. In the last two days, the decisions taken by President Mohamed Morsi have created a great deal of discomfort at the opposition circles that is consisted of seculars, liberals and some of the remnants of the old regime. Their arguments are acceptable in terms of democratic traditions like separation of power, accountability and the importance of rule of law. They argue that the decree of Mr. Morsi allows him to hold too much power than he supposed to have in a democratic system. Additionally, there is also great disappointment about how the decision was taken and announced to the public. But, there is the other side of this story: the pro-Morsi (and Muslim Brotherhood) segments of the society which are heavily represented by the country's Islamist groups (in this particular case including the Salafists) who were oppressed and faced great deal of exclusionary policies by Hosni Mubarak's dictatorial regime. These groups argue that the latest decisions of Morsi are necessary in order to complete the actual revolution that toppled Mubarak in February 2011. The two groups poured to the streets on Friday to show both support to and discomfort of President Morsi. When we look at the mass protests carefully we could easily say that both groups could not gather the numbers of people they actually wanted to gather. Tahrir Square was relatively crowded but not as much crowded as it was during the anti-Mubarak protests. Pro-Morsi groups gathered in front of the Presidential Palace where Morsi delivered a speech praising his decisions and revolution and indicating that whatever he is does is for the sake of country, that are the words you would expect from any post-revolutionary president on earth. One might consider the pictures and coverage of Egyptian events of the recent two days as outrageous. Particularly for those who are experiencing the events from a farther distance both geographically and ideologically. The following comparative account however would provide useful explanations of these events for all who holds the curiosity about the Egyptian revolution. A very much detailed account of the American sociologist Theda Skocpol on the revolutions can be found in her 1979 book “States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China". She digs into very much deeper causes and consequences of the revolutions of these countries. Just looking at the some facts and post-revolutionary developments of these revolutions would give us the necessary tools to come up with new thoughts on the Egyptian case. The argument holds the view that whatever taking place in Egypt at the moment should not come as a surprise to nobody. The revolutionary experiences of the past prove that post-revolutionary times can be/would be/should be/must be challenging to all segments of the society. French, Chinese and Russian (Bolshevik) revolution have all their troubling periods of establishing a post-revolutionary order. Some suffered heavily from internal challenges whereas others had to deal with international and regional factors. In the Russian case for example the negative effects of the First World War so much visible on the state structure so a post-revolutionary order could not be established. Additionally the collapse of most of the imperial institutions, including the police forces, created even more social anarchy so the state could not practice any authority on the farmers and proletarian groups. On top of everything there was even not a military structure, thanks to the First World War, which can be relied on for helping to establish the post-revolutionary order. The army suffered great losses during the war and many of the newly picked non-professional soldiers who came from the rural areas were not being able to used to confront with further upraising in the post-revolutionary period. However, the withdrawal of Russia from the war was a useful instrument to re-organize the Red Army so it could help defending the revolutionary order in the coming years. The Chinese Revolution of 1911-12 witnessed similar experiences to that of Russia, following the successfully overthrowing of the Qind Dynasty from the power. In the post revolutionary process the central authority on the rural areas and regions has disappeared and different regions were able to establish internal and external cooperation. This has even further negative effect on the traditional gentry class who were one of the main groups who led the revolution. This also let to another type of struggle between gentry and farmers over the use of land. Following years of competitive rivalry between the Kumonintang and Chinese Communist Party, it took for Chinese political actors almost 40 years to establish the People's Republic of China which eventually completed the post-revolutionary state-building process. The most important element of the post-revolutionary period in China is the creation of the militarist system that was a necessary condition for establishing a central state order. Finally, the events of the French revolution looks the most similar to those happening today's Egypt. If what have happened in Egypt is considered as a revolution, the events of the last two day should not seem extraordinary... It's the struggle between right and wrong, we and them, powerful and weak, people and the state, state and the state, people and the people... These struggles are needed to take place if the historians of future will call the events of Egypt as revolution... Don't you forget that the greatest revolutions in the world history did not took place overnight... In the French revolution of 1789 for example, the groups who led the revolution, disagreed and clashed each other... The story of Jean-Paul Marat is just one of these... He was one of the most passionate revolutionary... But this did not help him to be killed by other revolutionary groups in 1973...That is why the country experienced the times of ‘la terreur' (terror) in the post-revolution period... The disagreement between the post-revolutionary government and other political groups grew too much and it resulted with a “ratified but never applied constitution of 1973". The ruling government argued that the constitution cannot be applied as the country is going through a “warfare period". The period witnessed the death of tens of political opposition figures who were actually revolutionaries including the philosopher Maximilien Robespierre (together with Major of Paris Jean-Baptiste Fleuriot-Lescot and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just who drafted the 1793 Constitution) who were publicly guillotine at the Place de la Révolution (now known as Palace de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris). Mr. Morsi's decisions may be seen as quite over-ambitious to himself in keeping the revolution on track, but obviously there is a large number of Egyptians who think just the otherwise and call him as the new “Pharaoh". Labeling him as a dictator on the other hand is an easy way of dealing with the Egyptian post-revolutionary political developments. As the past experiences of revolutions show that the completion of a revolution cannot happen in a short and easy way. Since we are in the age of ‘Al-Jazeera' and social media the government should think twice before coming up with a decision which would increase the risk of actual violence. Therefore, I do not think that Egypt is leading to a ‘la terreur' kind of period but rather what I argue here is that it's just on the right track concerning the post-revolutionary order establishing process. It should also be kept in mind that any post revolutionary society would witness new power re-configurations in which post-revolutionary ruling elites would be confronted with the opposition movements of the new order who were not included in the post-revolutionary ruling structure and with the guards of old regime, in order to gain more power. So, Egypt is not an exception to that rule and what is happening in the country right now have to happen if we are going to call this as revolution. ** The author is a PhD Candidate at Sakarya University and visiting scholar at the Center of Civilization Studies and Dialogue of Cultures at Cairo University.
