Doaa El-Bey reviews the deadly violence in Abbasiya The press this week scrutinised what happened in Abbasiya and its impact on the presidential elections and the very future of Egypt. The banner of Al-Masry Al-Youm on Sunday described the situation in Abbasiya as "calm after the end". Al-Wafd wrote "the perpetrators of Abbasiya fall". Newspapers also looked at the formation of the constituent assembly and the crisis between parliament and the government. Al-Akhbar on Monday had 'Resolving the parliament problem with the government in two days' and the new daily Al-Watani headlined 'the field marshal threatens El-Katatni: if you fail to form the constituent assembly, we will select it". Nagwa Tantawi wrote that protesters in Abbasiya managed to cause depression to all Egyptians and raised concern regarding the future of the country. "In Abbasiya, Egypt's national interest was absent. Political opportunism was overwhelming in an attempt to dance on the corpse of the country and the blood of the martyrs," Tantawi wrote in the official weekly Al-Osbou. For the first time in Egyptian history, she added, the Ministry of Defence was under siege by people who called for Jihad and martyrdom for the sake of Allah. Meanwhile, Tantawi noted, all presidential candidates except Moussa, El-Awwa and Shafik refrained from taking a clear stand on the incident. Instead of suspending their campaign in support of protesters in Abbasiya and blaming the ruling military council for what happened, the rest of the presidential candidates should have addressed their discourse to youth who were acting as if they were in a holy war against the enemy. They should have taken more positive steps in order to stop the bloodshed. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood did not try to do anything to calm the people down. At least one MB should have come out in defence of Article 28 which caused the crisis in Abbasiya. He should have called for respect of the article which is part of the constitutional amendments that people accepted in last year's referendum. Ahmed Abu Bakr noted the anger that engulfed society as a result of the overwhelming disorder. Abu Bakr agreed with Tantawi that presidential candidates considered loyal to the revolution did not take a clear stand on Abbasiya. They did not clearly state their viewpoint on the value of protesting near the Ministry of Defence. They issued general statements about the right to protest without mentioning the harm that the protest caused to the country and to residents of Abbasiya. On the other hand, the candidates described as supporters of the old regime clearly described the scene in Abbasiya as chaotic and that the protesters were using the right to protest to cause violence and impede the presidential elections. Abu Bakr warned that Abbasiya and similar incidents have affected the general mood of the people and consequently the results of the elections. In the referendum -- the first voting experience -- religious polarisation made it look like a battle in which pious people should say "yes" to the amendments. In the parliamentary elections, which came after the deadly violence in Mohamed Mahmoud street, people rejected the revolutionary youth via the ballot box. "Thus the revolutionary youth should be careful of the impact of their actions on the general mood ahead of the presidential elections. They should be cautious of a third 'battle of the voting booth' in which the general mood would welcome members of the old regime," Abu Bakr wrote in the independent Watani. Nevine Yassin asked what is happening in Egypt -- crises without solutions, conflicts with no target and a catastrophic scene that was never witnessed in world revolutions. Thus instead of moving towards building the state and the economy, Yassin wrote in Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the opposition Wafd Party, "we are heading towards an abyss to thwart the state." Meanwhile, the world is watching and analysing the economic and political situation and redrawing its plans accordingly. Israel for instance, Yassin elaborated, started analysing our situation, according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv, and reached the conclusion that if Egypt's economic situation continues deteriorating, the state would not last for more than two months. As for parliament, she added, it took an unprecedented step when compared to all world parliaments by suspending its sessions to show its anger that the government was not sacked. "But it is not discussing current economic and social problems. Instead, it is debating trivial matters like the age of child custody and outlawing studying music in schools." "What will parliament members do when the constitutional court rules that it is unconstitutional? Would they give in out of respect to the law or attack the Ministry of Defence like the followers of Abu Ismail did?" Yassin concluded her regular column by asking. Mohamed Ali Kheir wrote that incidents similar to that of Abbasiya will not end as soon as a president is elected and the crisis between the parliament and government would not be the last. "The situation on the ground proves every day that all the players in the political scene failed to run the transitional period," Kheir wrote in the official daily Al-Akhbar. One and half years after the revolution, he added, the constitution is facing obstacles that could remain until next year, the presidential elections have not started yet and the performance of the parliament is below the required standard. Thus, Kheir called on the three main players -- the ruling military council, the MB and the political elite -- to review their performance and policies. The military council which is in control of the game, he wrote, issued a constitutional declaration that contained confusing articles. Moreover, it is likely to hand over power before a constitution is drafted. What would it do during the remaining period of the transitional period? Would it add new articles to the constitutional declaration, revive the 1971 constitution or force political powers to draft the constitution before the end of the transitional period? As for the MB, Kheir wrote, its popularity is dwindling because of its attempt to monopolise all state powers. Thus he called on the group to review its policies and the way it deals with the other political powers. Regarding the political elite and the political parties, the writer believed that they failed the people and focussed instead on their personal interests. He summed up by emphasising that if the three powers review their policies during the last 18 months, we could get out of the present political crisis. Ahmed Sayed Ahmed wrote that with every development similar to that of Abbasiya, the question is raised over where the country is heading. Abbasiya together with the crisis of the constituent assembly, the problem between the government and parliament, and the furore surrounding the presidential elections, are all symptoms of an ailing transitional period that is not being run within a clear framework to turn Egypt from a despotic to a democratic state. Ahmed pointed to the political, ideological and religious differences that were suppressed by the previous regime. They came to the limelight after the revolution and caused a conflict between various old trend a new fledgling movement. The illness, Ahmed continued, made the political process weak and vulnerable to all actions and created a state of mutual distrust and enmity. He agreed with Kheir that the way out is in a genuine review by all the active political parties to what happened and why it happened. "We are in need of holding a national conference of all the political powers, in which they can agree on a national agenda that puts social priorities in order to run the rest of the transitional period, especially ending the problem of the constituent committee, drafting the constitution before the elections and issuing a complementing part of the constitutional declaration," Ahmed wrote in the official daily Al-Ahram. He said if all parties put Egypt's interest first, they are likely to agree.
