One should not joke when it comes to serious issues, but the scene nearly becomes comical on the Egyptian political stage every time an incident occurs, a measure is taken, a decision is issued, a suggestion is put forward, or a call is made for dialogue over a particular issue, or even when enough time has gone by without any changes taking place… In every one of these cases, everyone starts fighting, and one is at a loss to explain the stances of some figures and parties, as one realizes that the stances of some of them agree with the principles of others. Yet the situation reminds one of the famous oft-repeated scene in Egyptian films, where an argument takes place between two people at a lively party, they begin fighting, and one sees everyone at the party hitting each other, although the argument had started between two of them and had nothing to do with everyone else. The scene usually ends with someone hitting the lights with a chair, turning them off for everyone, in accordance with the famous Egyptian saying “a chair in club”, which means that someone hit the lights with a chair, bringing darkness on everyone in the place. On the whole, the extent to which the “revolutionary elites” in Egypt are frustrated at the present stage cannot be hidden, even if the reasons for such frustration differ according to their affiliations and their wishes. Indeed, the liberals are frustrated because the masses of the people have abandoned the Revolution and have become “couch people”, i.e. people who prefer, as per the Egyptian expression, to sit on a “couch” at home and “watch” the political scene without participating in it. The major figures of the liberal elite are also frustrated that the Revolution has not been completed. Indeed, they see that the remnants of the regime are still in place, just as the toppled President has not gone to jail and lives in his own wing at a military hospital. The army has taken no measures to ensure that the “remnants” would not take part in politics in the future. Another reason for the liberals' frustration is the intensified presence of Islamists on the political scene after the Revolution, and predictions that they will win the majority of seats in the coming parliamentary elections. There is also the army's insistence on remaining in power until roughly the end of next year, and the failure to promote the formula of a “civilian presidential council”, which they had called for and which both the army and the Islamists rejected. And then came the document that has been named after Deputy Prime Minister Doctor Ali Selmi to increase the frustration of the liberal elite, considering that it contains clauses giving the military an exceptional situation in the future, despite what the document holds in terms of clauses that fulfill the demands of the liberals, by placing restrictions on the ability of Islamists to control the articles of the constitution and preventing clauses being drafted that would lead to Islamizing Egypt or turning against the constitution in the future. Selmi's document has itself come to represent an object of frustration for the Islamists' revolutionary elite, as its major figures have rejected what they considered to be “tutelage over the people's choices”, whether regarding the issue of forming the constitutional committee or that of granting the army political privileges that would place it at a distance from being monitored or would enable it to influence politics. Indeed, they (the Islamists) insist on the right of the next parliament to select the members of the constitutional committee that will draft the articles of the constitution. The remaining reasons for frustration among the liberal revolutionary elite do not represent much concern for their Islamist counterparts, as the belief is prevalent that what happened in Tunisia will be repeated in Egypt, and that power in the future will be in the hands of the Islamists, whether the constitution is drafted first or later, as the people will grant the Islamists the majority in any case! Such a prediction has been reflected in the insistence of the Islamists on having the next parliament alone have the upper hand in establishing the constitution. The scene today reflects the state of polarization following the Revolution: the Islamists reject any document that places restrictions on the next parliament in forming the constitutional committee or guarantees the secular nature of the state in the new constitution, while other forces, including the liberals, the leftists, the Nasserists and a number of members of the revolutionary youth, are exerting pressure to demand the quick departure of the Military Council and guarantees that the Islamists will not control the country in the future. As for the military, it is accused of procrastination or collusion for well-known reasons, and its policies and recommendations do not meet with the approval of the two competing sides. There are also in the background of the stage the people, who fear that the matter will end with “a chair in the club”, thrown by any of the sides of the political game, and plunging the whole country into darkness! The battle for the constitution will remain the most intense on the Egyptian political stage and will reach its climax after the parliamentary elections, scheduled to be begin on the 28th of this month and to end on the last week of next March. Then everyone in Egypt will be waiting for who will throw the “chair” and destroy the “club”. Noteworthy is the fact that Selmi's document has made some renounce their stances on preserving the “peaceful nature” (“selmiyya”) of the Revolution, and voice words of warning or “threat”, which means that the period of time remaining, from today and until measures to draft the constitution come into effect, will require every side of the political scene to work towards reaching a consensus before darkness falls on everyone.
