Abdallah Schleifer Al Arabiya We are overwhelmed by the latest breaking story, and this past week there have been an unnerving number of them. But the sense of an intensifying crisis in Egypt – until now a largely ignored economic as well as the obvious political crisis — has been growing since late November. The street violence has been escalating, and this is not even to mention the rising unemployment, periodic banditry on the highways, the looting and land seizures at archaeological sites across the country, garbage littered streets and an epidemic of car theft all of which preceded Morsi taking power. What is different about much of the violence now and the street fighting back in January-February 2011 is that during the Tahrir uprising, the protestors did not initiate the violence. It was the security forces, the police and riot police, who attacked, and then when repulsed, were replaced by thugs and the tourist-trade camel riders. These were fought off largely by the experienced street fighters of the Ultras – organized fanatic football fans who have a deep and reciprocated hatred of the police — who rallied to Tahrir, as they would to any other cause providing an opportunity to fight the police. Alongside them then were the Muslim Brotherhood Youth who brought a strong almost Leninist sense of party discipline to the organization of security measures to protect Tahrir during those 18 days from both attacks and infiltration. Now it is the demonstrators who are almost always taking the initiative and attacking the security forces, whether they be Cairo Ahly Ultras protesting a court ruling letting off policemen accused of being party to the death of more than 70 mostly Ahly fans in Port Said more than a year ago and setting a Police Club and the offices of the Egyptian Football Federation on fire, or the protestors on the opposite side of the Nile. They are a different band, overwhelmingly street kids and unemployed youth who have taken the initiative in attacking security forces while attempting to block traffic on the Corniche, the main downtown artery near Tahrir, and setting on fire two restaurants nearby believed to be owned by Muslim Brotherhood businessmen. They have also attacked the Five-Star Semiramis Hotel and engaged in throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. “Why are you attacking the hotel?” the photojournalist Cliff Cheny who has been covering most of the action asked the demonstrators. “Because the police are protecting the hotel,” replied one of the young men. Not too long ago demonstrators were throwing Molotov cocktails at the Presidential Palace. The anti-Morsi, anti-MB sentiment runs strong, and is getting stronger by the day among all classes in Cairo. But here is what the educated youth and middle class Egyptians who articulate their anger as a defense of liberal, democratic values fail to understand: If any demonstrator approached the White House or Number 10 Downing Street and lit a Molotov cocktail, he would be shot down by the security forces protecting the respective residences of the American president and the British prime minister. As for Tahrir Square itself, a small number of protestors, less than a hundred, occupied it for about three months, blocking traffic and moving around the square which is a major junction for downtown Cairo. Can anyone imagine Times Square, Trafalgar Square, or the Champs Elysees shut down for three months? When the security forces finally moved in, the young street fighting enthusiasts who characterize the new 2012-2013 Tahrir rallied to the scene. Of course one can fault Morsi on a number of issues, particularly in domestic affairs — just read the independent press. But if some of the actions and particularly the statements coming from Morsi have been clumsy, and in the case of the Islamist-dominated Shoura Council have at times more than bordered on stupidity, one must also note that the Opposition, particularly the leadership of the National Salvation Front (NSF) has more than bordered on irresponsibility. NSF leaders have consistently refused Morsi's invitation to meet with him for direct dialogue unless he first adopts all the demands of the Opposition. Can one imagine the leaders of the opposition in the United Kingdom, France or the US refusing invitations to meet with the prime minister or the president? NSF leaders also denounce Morsi as a dictator, as worse than Mubarak. God alone knows what the future holds for Egypt, but if, right now, Morsi was a dictator, the NSF leadership and cadre as well as the editors of the pro-Opposition independent press would all be in prison. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have lost popularity but so has the Opposition and the demonstrators. That is why there is a growing sentiment — particularly among the working class poor who are struggling to find work and to put food on the table for their families — for a return to military rule.? — Abdallah Schleifer is Professor Emeritus of Journalism at the American University in Cairo, where he founded and served as first director of the Kamal Adham Center for Television Journalism
