On the evening of October 9, Coptic Christians marched to the infamous Maspero building (home of the Egyptian Ministry of Information) demanding their rights to live and worship in Egypt as free and equal citizens. A peaceful protest was instead met with violence initiated by military personnel with live ammunition and confirmed armored vehicles that ran over several protesters. Men dressed in civilian clothes, aided and abetted by military and civilian security forces, joined in the attack on the Coptic Christian protestors. Sadly enough, most of those civilians were not just “baltageya” (thugs) of the old regime. Instead, they were normal citizens responding to anti-Christian inflammatory statements made on State-run TV claiming that the protestors are aiming at destroying the Egyptian State. Ironically, the historical headquarters of the State-run TV is the very Maspero building that the protesters chose as their symbolic destination to voice their demands. So it was essentially an all out attack by the State against citizens of Egypt whose only crime was that they are asking for equal rights and equality before the law. Twenty seven protesters died in the confrontation. I agree with Ahdaf Soueif when she opined that the real killers in Maspero's events are Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). I, however, disagree with her assertion that sectarianism in Egypt is not to be blamed. SCAF has simply capitalized on the deeply rooted problem of sectarianism in Egyptian society. I'll go further by saying, as Ahmed Abd-el-Rassol describes in detail, that sectarianism is not but a symptom of a very pervasive problem in Egyptian society: cultural despotism. Over the last 60 years, absent a pluralistic, free society and political system, military rulers and their cronies have managed to pit one segment of society against another. If you're a Christian, atheist or a liberal, fear the Islamists. If you're an Islamist, beware of the Christian, atheist or liberal. In Mubarak's era, if you're wealthy or middle class, beware of the poor and their upcoming uprising. In Nasser's era, if you're poor, down with the rich! Whoever your enemy is, that enemy must be confronted and silenced. And all for the welfare of society. In the process, Egypt's military rulers have created a culture of despotism that they have capitalized on since taking over rule of the country in 1952, culminating in last week's Maspero events. Unfortunately, much of this social despotism is still with us today in post-revolutionary Egypt. The liberals are out to spread moral evils. The Islamists are out to convert us all to Wahabism by force. The Copts are out serving as foreign agents. And the rest of society, while we're at it, are “kanaba” (essentially, couch potatoes) or “felool” (supporters of the old regime). As heartbroken and angry I am about the events at Maspero, I agree with optimistic political commentators in believing that the future of Egypt will be SCAF-free for all the pragmatic reasons they provide. The most appealing of these reasons is the fact that a critical mass of the Egyptian people, especially the younger generation, is no longer buying into state propaganda pitting one segment of society against another. But make no mistake about it, cultural despotism will come back to haunt us in the future, regardless of how emphatic political forces of all stripes – Islamist, socialist and liberal – are in assuring us that an Egypt without SCAF will be free. For a truly fundamental change to happen, the culture of despotism has to be called into question. Raising awareness about the necessity of respecting Egypt's diversity and pluralism, and calling for equality before the law are indispensable. None of this, however, can happen without the direct grassroots activism of those who believe in these ideals. But, in turn, that fight can not succeed without freedom of expression, independence of state media – I personally favor eliminating state media (aka propaganda machine) altogether – and the absolute right to unhampered political activism and social political work. Thus, Egypt's liberals (broadly defined) have to work on two fronts: work tirelessly to question firmly held beliefs to dismantle the culture of despotism, and fight for political rights aimed at dismantling the tools used by despotic rulers to nourish the culture of despotism. And that's no easy task. But short of that, any pragmatic reasons to believe that SCAF can not possibly stay in power for too long are irrelevant. Egypt's next government, democratically elected or not, may still find it appealing, in the face of many of the country's economic and social challenges, to capitalize on the culture of despotism permeating Egyptian society. ** Islam Hussein is an Egyptian blogger. He runs the Arabic language liberal blog libraliyya.org, which you can follow on twitter @libraliyya BM
