National salvation is more akin to disaster assistance than futurist wisdom, writes Abdel-Moneim Said I thought we already had national salvation, which was the revolution that erupted in January in order to rescue the country from a corrupt regime. But it appears that 10 months down the line the country needed another salvation process. This one would take the form of a new government to replace the revolution's previous government after it failed to salvage the nation. Yet the shape of the new government sparked sharp differences. While the revolutionaries of Tahrir insisted on a cabinet whose names they listed but whose mission they never defined, the powers-that-be created a different cabinet, accorded this presidential powers and also created an advisory council consisting of many political giants. So we now have another collection of figures tasked with the mission of saving the nation. Yet it is difficult to see how they are supposed to accomplish this mission when the mission, itself, has yet to be made clear. What exactly is supposed to be saved in the short period between now and, say, March when legislative elections are due to end, or perhaps June, at the latest, when the presidential election is scheduled? The problem is that this government went to work as though it were another National salvation is more akin to disaster assistance than futurist wisdom, writes Abdel-Moneim Said one of its predecessors. It pleaded for time, albeit a short amount of time, to study the issues. After this it will require another amount of time to come up with viable solutions and then a third period in order to put them into effect. While this might be perfectly normal and logical for ordinary governments, it is not when it comes to a national salvation government. A national salvation government is more in the nature of an ambulance that has to rush to the aid of a pedestrian sprawled in the road after having been hit by a truck. An emergency rescue team has to be trained, for example, in how to staunch haemorrhaging and in how to move a body so as to keep breakages from developing into a permanent deformation or worse. An emergency rescue team does not consist of top-notch surgeons and it certainly does not have the luxury to study the case, conduct tests and then come up with a treatment plan. Saving the nation right now does not entail national mega-projects or long-term policies. Rather, it needs to accomplish three objectives for otherwise we will find that while the revolution succeeded the patient died. The first is to complete the process of democratic transition by following through with the remaining phases of the elections and, in the process, forging a basis for compromise on the shape of the new constitution. The second is to re-establish security with respect to which the first step is to issue a report to the people on the state of security and how and to what extent it has deteriorated. The third is to halt the deterioration of the national economy, which also requires a frank and thorough evaluation of the current economic situation and a realistic forecast. The details of these assessments must be presented to the various political forces, especially those that obtained the highest number of votes. If the government accomplishes these aims, it will have administered the necessary first aid and succeeded in its national salvation mission. Then we can breathe a sigh of relief and turn to other priorities.
