CAIRO: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood and the government as a whole, seems to have gotten themselves into quite the tough spot at the moment. After the shocking constitutional declaration, which was broadcast on November 22 to the Egyptian public, many crowds gathered to protest. Their protests were based on the fact that this declaration gives Morsi a spectrum of powers that should never be put into the hands of one person. The declaration itself seemed like it was the result of a long thought-process and turned out looking clearly tailored to fend off any opposition against it. That is to say, the decree gave martyrs' families larger compensation and issued an order for the retrial for everyone responsible for killing protesters within the past two years, while at the same time giving Morsi legislative powers way beyond what would be considered “legal" or at least fair. The issue for Morsi's government is that they now have only two ways to deal with this. They could either stand their ground, not changing anything about the declaration – as they have in the past few days – justifying it by claiming it is only temporary, or they could always take it back. Both options will have troublesome consequences, to say the least. Proof of this is the fact that he was supposed to make a speech last night, Sunday. The speech never came and no excuse was made as to why that was the case. At this point, it is fair to say that almost everyone is speculating what the content of this speech might be; will Morsi take everything back? Will he justify his decisions? Will he verbally attack protesters again, calling them thugs? Especially now that three martyrs have been added to the list and keeping in consideration the million-man march on Tuesday, which was announced earlier this week, the whole situation could shift very easily. So it is fair to say now that Morsi's delayed speech has only added to the public's assumption that he is unsure of how he will handle the situation. If Morsi does indeed take back the declaration, or at least the parts of it that granted him legislative powers which have not only angered the public, but also caused an outburst by the Judges' Club and the Journalists' Union – both of which declaring, as a result, to join the march on Tuesday – it might calm down some of the protesters; it might even make it easier to contain the protests on Tuesday. However, the Muslim Brotherhoods' credibility will be the one thing at stake. Not their credibility in front of the general public because that has been lost for the most part since that declaration was made, but their credibility in front of their own people. The people who supported Morsi in front of the Presidential Palace and who have protested in favor of Morsi's decisions. This sector's support is something that the Muslim Brotherhood cannot afford to lose at this point. Therefore, any efforts to appease the protesters and the general public at the moment by withdrawing part or the whole declaration will negatively affect the Muslim Brotherhood and the government as a whole. On the other hand, if he does not take it back and withdraw the declaration, the outcome is probably going to be alarmingly serious. People have been enraged by this declaration for the fundamental reason that it is an outright slap in the face of the revolution, so much to the extent that it was labeled “A Declaration of Dictatorship." Not only was this the case, but Morsi afterwards claimed that the people protesting against this declaration are “thugs” whose sole purpose is to attack the police. Adding to that the fact that three protesters have been killed, hundreds were injured and those who were arrested were not only treated brutally, but were also faced with the charge of “Attempting to Overthrow the Regime". This all was not helped by the fact that right after the declaration and as the people were protesting in Tahrir Square, Morsi made a speech to his supporters in front of the Palace, thus, excluding everyone opposing him and nullifying his campaign's slogan “A President for All Egyptians". All this points in one direction and if you go to any activist's Twitter or Facebook account, as long as they are not a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, you will see it clearly, you will most likely find them discussing how this is the second phase of the revolution, how Tuesday's protest will be a replica of the protests that eventually led to Mubarak's downfall and how Egyptians can easily overthrow any regime that oppresses them. Personally, I believe the upcoming days will determine Egypt's future and it all comes down to this, whether the government is more concerned about their credibility in front of the sector of people they have already won over or about the fact that the rest of the general public is so enraged that they are calling for a second revolution. ** The author is a cynical blogger with various “nerdy” interests and a passion for writing and music. Was never involved in politics before January 25, 2011. Received a Bachelor's degree in Egyptology but works now as a concert coordinator. She can be found on Twitter.
