CAIRO - ‘The Arab Spring', is the term chosen by the Western media and politicians to describe the series of revolutions erupting in different Arab countries with the aim of toppling their respective regimes. The selection of this term might be attributed to two facts. The first, of course, is the actual timing of these revolutions, which have taken place in the season of spring. The other is that spring in the West is the flourishing season most welcomed by the people, coming after the long cold months of winter. The Arab revolutions, which managed in Egypt and Tunisia to peacefully remove their corrupt regimes, have brought joy and liberty to the two nations. Even though, other Arab peoples in Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen continue to suffer military violence against their pro-democracy demonstrations from their ruling regimes, the world is still addressing these revolts as part of the Arab Spring. The hope is that they will end with the demanded change in rule to effect democracy, liberty and human rights. The problem in Egypt is that the spring is not always such a nice season of pleasant weather, but is known as a period of instability that can even reach the level of bringing fierce sandstorms from the Egyptian deserts. Strangely, this natural climate seems to reflect the political and socio-economic conditions in post-revolution Egypt. After the brief pleasant days, in which the Egyptians celebrated their liberty, they started to grapple with varied arguments on the procedures they should adopt to create a sound democratic political system. Herein came the March 19 referendum on the constitutional reforms, which although witnessed a high turnout, it raised a debate over the emergence of some religious groups that directed the nation to vote ‘Yes' to the proposed constitutional amendments that aimed at holding parliamentary elections before putting in place a new constitution. Though the argument was finally settled by democratically respecting the choice of the majority, the ruling military council attempted to defuse tensions and issued a constitutional declaration including the approved amendments as well as some other general principles by which to run the country until a new constitution was drawn up. It also issued law regulating the formation of political parties to pave the way for the coming parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in September. After taking their time breathing the air of liberty, the Egyptians started to make suggestions and to dream of great development projects that could help raise their country to its rightful position on the global map. Looking to see if the transitional Government would start adopting any of their suggestions to kick off the long drive towards development, they found that acting Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's Government was being immersed in problems of different sectors. Employees and workers have shown no patience as they pushed for an immediate settlement to the financial injustice they had long suffered in their work. The contingency that has almost brought the production wheel to a standstill was the outbreak of sectarian tension, which developed into violent and deadly conflicts and the setting on fire of churches. Such storms have exacerbated the sense of instability in the country that continues to suffer a state of chaos because of the weak security and ineffectual police presence. Accordingly, no Arab or other foreign investors would consider launching projects in Egypt despite the good worldwide reputation Egypt now enjoys because of its revolution. The public mood started experiencing a noticeable change in mood from elation, hope and optimism to a deep sense of fear, suspicion and even depression, especially when State officials started clarifying the facts of the worsening economic crisis in the country. Some people have expressed doubt about the viability of the revolution and the toppling of the corrupt regime if this does not culminate in achieving prosperity and social justice for the impoverished people who take up 70 per cent of the population, according to the latest official figures. Herein comes the importance of national thinkers and active revolutionaries to salvage society from this dilemma. It is no longer acceptable to be preoccupied with the political dilemma and which should come first, the presidential or the parliamentary elections, leaving the acting Government of Sharaf to solve the current ominous economic crisis. We should launch a campaign among people of the middle and upper classes requesting them to stop purchasing imported luxury commodities so as to minimise the waste of foreign currency. The State has endured a systematic drop in its reserve due to the import of various commodities. If this situation lasted for the coming six months, it would end up in Egypt going bankrupt. On its part, the Government should present specific proposals and projects to rescue the ailing economy and ask the citizens to financially contribute to them. For example, the State could offer some treasury bills for sale in dollars at good interest rates to encourage citizens to strengthen the reserves of foreign currency. The Ministry of Finance could also levy an exceptional tax on investors and industrialists for a specific period of time (two years for example) to enhance the country's income at such a critical stage. The Government could also form a holding company for creating a number of labour intensive projects designed to be productive and profitable and, at the same time, encourage citizens to buy shares in these projects. Dozens of suggestions could be made to ease the current economic crisis if the Sharaf Government minimised its care-taker role and started to provide radical solutions to some of the nation's overwhelming problems. In other words, we have to stop waiting until a new president, parliament and constitution are in place to rebuild Egypt. Let's start now and all social and sectarian problems would be settled and even fade away of their own accord if the economy flourished. Dear readers are invited to contribute their comments, views and questions via 111-115 Ramsis St., Cairo or e-mail: ([email protected])
