The situation in Egypt has reached a state that imposes going beyond any talk of the revolution; of the events during the revolution; of what it has come to; or of its positive and negative aspects. This is not to mention the ills of the Mubarak regime; the schemes of its remnants; the mistakes and sins of secular forces; the fact that the Islamists alone reaped the fruits and then struggled and failed at managing the state. Moreover, there are the hidden aspects of the military's support for the revolution, its welcoming of the toppling of Mubarak and its confusion during the transitional period, its stance on the manner in which the Islamists are running the government, the security unrest, and the police which collapsed at the beginning of the Revolution then returned to the practices Egyptians has rebelled against. The state of Egypt today indicates that the circle is increasingly narrowing, yet without reaching a solution. The matter has gone beyond those in power and those in the opposition, or to be more precise, beyond the traditional conflict between political forces that are in power and others that oppose them, to a point where all sides engage in tampering, and sometimes enjoy it, without any of them realizing that such practices are more harmful to them than they are to their opponents. Indeed, neither will those in power be able to govern if they continue to be submerged with failure and confrontation; nor will the opposition topple them as it continues to theorize on satellite television all week long then rise in revolt every Friday, only to rest afterwards. This is while its most prominent figures return to their steady timeslots on satellite television shows to carry on the struggle of microphones, cameras and studios while awaiting their next holiday! In the vein of the events of Moqattam, one discovers how exaggerated are all the stories about “militias" kept by the Muslim Brotherhood in particular, and by Islamists in general. Indeed, Islamists often boast of being organized and of having “reserves" of young men willing to be martyred for the sake of their religion! Scenes of their militias transpired in front of the Media Production City (MPC) yesterday and today, besieging it for the second time, as they did before it the Heliopolis (Ittihadiya) Palace, as well as the Constitutional Court, and finally on that infamous day in Moqattam, when they gathered to protect the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood's Guidance Bureau and to set up ambushes for those heading towards it. Meanwhile, secular forces and prominent figures of the opposition never cease to warn of the Muslim Brotherhood making use of its militias and the Islamists of their young men at every clash or siege. It has thus appeared that the conflict in every confrontation had not been to the benefit of the Brotherhood, even if its members were organized or followed orders and instructions from above. Indeed, random violence against them separates, scatters, exhausts, and defeats them. The incident also proved that the ruling regime and all of its constituents – the President, his party, the group they are affiliated to and their supporters – have always failed to manage the crisis because they do not believe that there is a crisis in the first place. Indeed, they are convinced that there is a conspiracy being hatched against the “Islamist project", knowing that the marches on Moqattam and the call for “restoring dignity" had nothing to do with the Islamist project, but were a response to violence that was carried out against a small number of activists and journalists, among them a girl who was brutally slapped in the face – just as past marches and demonstrations at the Heliopolis (Ittihadiya) Palace or in Kobry El-Qobba had been in response to particular instances of the behavior, conduct, decisions, measures or discourse of those in power. It is noteworthy that the reactions of Islamists on social media websites, as well as at the Muslim Brotherhood conference and in the discussions and debates of its leading figures, in addition to some that were issued during and after the events of Moqattam, included demands for the President to get angry, to arrest opposition members who wreak havoc, to topple the leading figures of the opposition, and to impose the authority of the state, i.e. the authority of the Brotherhood, on everyone. Regardless of the details of the scene, the end-result is that the ruling regime is moving forward on its way without making any concessions, considering them to undermine its control over the pillars of the state, or, as its supporters claim, to be harmful to the Islamist project. And may God spare us the oft-repeated call for dialogue that only takes place between those in power and their supporters, while opposition forces across the spectrum insist on confronting the Brotherhood and the President with demonstrations and marches that start out peaceful and turn every time into blood-spattered clashes with the police, or with the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters. In reality, the facts point to the failure of the theory of the “small child" which those in power have used to deal with opposition forces, as they wait every day for the country's public squares to calm down, for the opposition to give up hope, or for the movement of the street to fall asleep, like a child who cries first, then screams, and then wrecks everything his hands can reach, but eventually becomes exhausted, gets tired and goes to sleep! Such a theory appeared in the President's “tweet" yesterday, when he reached the conclusion that the violence taking place had nothing to do with the revolution. And if it seems that the opposition has outgrown the phase of childhood, the scene in Egypt seems to indicate that all parties are going through a phase of “adolescence", in which eagerness is unrestricted, behavior is purposeless, conflict is useless, and desire is powerless!! As for gauging the situation by showing images of those who engage in violence, or the faces and behavior of the thugs, along with further lamenting over the peaceful revolution that toppled the Mubarak regime, it is no longer of any use, or rather no longer fools anyone. If the scene of cleaning up Tahrir Square, after Mubarak had stepped down, remains in people's minds, then the truth has not been erased that this peaceful revolution saw the fall of hundreds of martyrs, as well as other victims from the police force, which saw more than 90 of its stations burned down, and around ten of its jails stormed into, resulting in breakouts. There were also malls that were looted and the headquarters of the National Democratic Party (NDP) near Tahrir was burned down... There is no longer a place for outbidding, even amid all of this tampering.
