Egypt, together with its people, army, political elites and opposition, was already gripped by anguish in the face of the mounting violence and the climbing toll of casualties from the clashes in cities and towns throughout the country when further demonstrations, also numbering in their millions, took place on Friday 26 July to protest against this situation and the spread of terrorism. Yet, the pro-Morsi camp nevertheless persists in its state of denial of the new reality ushered in by the 30 June Revolution, and it continues to prolong its sit-ins in a number of city squares. Its intransigence has been bolstered by support from Qatar, Turkey and a number of Western capitals that have been sending conflicting messages that ultimately boil down to direct or indirect support for the pro-Morsi camp. The Muslim Brotherhood has long since made it clear that its strategy, backed by its allies in Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya and a number of other Islamist groups, is to escalate the situation with the cynical aim of “scoring” casualties. This is its strategy for attempting to win sympathy abroad and strengthen its negotiating position with respect to the fate of Brotherhood leaders, their frozen assets and their prosecution on various criminal charges. Meanwhile, Egypt's interim government has been coming under intense pressure, in part from a segment of the intelligentsia that rejects violence and bloodshed under any circumstances. Moved by sympathy for the casualties in the Muslim Brotherhood camp, a number of writers, intellectuals and media figures have appeared to be moving towards a resumption of the stance epitomised by the chant “down with military rule” that they had taken up soon after the former ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) assumed control of the country following the 25 January Revolution. As humane as their motives may be, the practical effect of their stance has been to aid the Muslim Brotherhood in gaining time in its drive to tip the balance back in its favour and turn back the clock to before 30 June. In its determination to return to power, regardless of the costs and of the universal antipathy it generated in the course of a single year in government, the Muslim Brotherhood has induced a number of its second-tier members and Islamist sympathisers to put forward various initiatives intended to void the 30 June Revolution of its substance. Prime among these have been those put forward by the Islamist thinker and former presidential candidate Selim Al-Awwa, judge Tarek Al-Bishri, and the prime minister under ousted former president Mohamed Morsi, Hisham Kandil. The general thrust of these initiatives is to ignore that 30 June ever happened, to ignore what drove the people to the level of frustration and anger that made 30 June inevitable, and to refuse to recognise the interim government and the roadmap that emerged from this revolution. These initiatives are not compromise solutions by any stretch of the imagination. They are merely formulas for restating and reasserting the Morsi government's claim to “legitimacy” and for perpetuating the state of denial of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies. Their tactical aim is to generate the impression of a parity between rival camps, so as to secure a place for the Muslim Brotherhood at the negotiating table with a strong enough position to assert its positions with respect to the constitution, the former Shura Council, and the electoral laws in the event that it fails to secure the reinstatement of Morsi. Against this backdrop of violence and bloodshed, of confusion and divisions among politicians and intelligentsia, and of the Muslim Brotherhood's callous schemes to cast itself as the victim in order to win sympathy and return to power, it seems there is a need to identify a number of basic principles and concepts, such that we can collectively clear our heads, muster our resolve, and focus our energies on the demands of the present situation that was made possible by Egypt's major revolutionary uprisings. Among these are the following: - The current situation compels us all to draw a distinction between the concept of political opposition, whose proponents must continue to enjoy all rights and duties, and the terrorist who inherently forfeits such rights because he espouses violence, carries arms, turns them against society, and fights the institutions of the state, which, in any civilised society, should monopolise the right to bear arms. - There is a difference between a peaceful sit-in by people who, regardless of their political affiliation, have certain political demands that they feel morally compelled to defend, and a non-peaceful sit-in that threatens violence, dispatches contingents to provoke violence with other people, assaults government buildings and public property, obstructs traffic and sets up roadblocks, fortifies itself behind barriers and carries concealed weapons. - We must determine that a revolution did occur in Egypt and that the logic of this revolution should not compel the revolutionaries to bow to the demands of those they rebelled against, precisely because those they rebelled against had failed to fulfil the revolution's central demands for a state governed by the rule of law and an inclusive state for all its citizens, without exception, in which are all equal in civil and personal rights and duties. - We must reaffirm a number of national principles, one of which is that the army and the unity of its leadership and soldiers constitute a red line. We must state that the enemy of the army is our enemy and that those who are willing to sell portions of our national territory are also willing to sell us out. - We must agree upon the need for transitional justice that rises above the spirit of vengeance and that guarantees the human and legal rights of all those who are brought to trial. - We must underscore the independence of our national will and the need to resist foreign pressures with respect to the roadmap for the future. We must make it clear that all those who seek to strengthen themselves by recourse to foreign support, or that call for foreign intervention to punish the people for the free choices they have made with the support of the army, are traitors that must be fought. - We must acknowledge that the Egyptian army and people are waging an open war against terrorism in the Sinai and in parts of the rest of the country, and that this compels a number of extraordinary measures to be implemented in accordance with the law and in a manner that best safeguards the rights and welfare of the Egyptian people. - We must affirm that the unjustifiable bloodshed of any Egyptian is sinful and that severe measures must be brought to bear against all those who illegitimately bear arms, attack military or other vital facilities, take up arms against the army, or use violence to terrorise the people. - We must agree that the post-30 June state must be strong and firm in its resolve to end all manifestations of the anarchy and instability that led to the second revolution, and that the perpetuation of anarchy and lack of government control jeopardise the state. - We must stress that the people, which rose up to give a mandate to the army to fight terrorism, will never permit any reversion to a police state. We must continue to insist that human rights and civil liberties remain a red line, that there can be no return to the era of human rights abuses, and that, therefore, the mandate and measures required by the current exigencies of the war against terror must remain subject to the law. - We must agree that the people that massed in the country's streets and squares on 30 June marched beneath the Egyptian flag, not for the sake of a particular faction, group, ideological clan, political party or political figure, but in the hope of the realisation of a central declared aim, namely the revival of the Egyptian state and society and the resumption of the course towards the civil democratic state, progress, development and prosperity. - We must agree that there can be no return to the pre-30 June situation and that anyone wishing to propose an initiative, mediate, or otherwise contribute to a solution to the crisis must work beneath the umbrella of the interim government that has been mandated by the people and their revolution to administer the affairs of the country at this time. It should also be stressed that all initiatives must respect the will of the majority of the people and not seek to void the revolution's principles of their substance. - We must resolve to disregard the many fictions being circulated in segments of the foreign media, which also remain in a state of denial and continue to support an illusory legitimacy that had been exposed and dismissed by the Egyptian people. Such media have demonstrated an illogical and unjustifiable hostility towards the Egyptian people and, in this spirit, they have committed gross violations of journalistic ethics. Flagrant examples of the intent to distort and misinform have been supplied by Al-Jazeera International, France 24 and other TV networks, which have portrayed the masses assembled in Tahrir Square, near Al-Ittihadiya palace, and in other major squares as supporters of Morsi and opponents of “military rule” rather than opponents of Muslim Brotherhood rule and supporters of the 30 June Revolution.
