Just over a week before my scheduled arrival in Cairo to research the constitution-drafting process, President Morsi triggered perhaps the most significant crisis since the fall of Mubarak.
When I first decided to focus my doctoral thesis on constitutional drafting in the Arab Spring in October 2011, it seemed marginal to the main conversations the tumultuous year had offered up, a legal specialist’s interest in the paperwork of astonishing and theory-shattering revolutions.
Yet since the summer the constitution has taken centre-stage, as those who struggled to overthrow dictators in 2011 find that the task of building the aims of the revolution into a constitutional document is never an easy one. Just over a week before my scheduled arrival in Cairo to research the drafting process and whether those involved in the overthrow of Mubarak felt their aims were being represented in the process, President Morsi triggered perhaps the most significant crisis since the fall of Mubarak.
Since President Morsi gave himself sweeping new powers and immunity from judiciary oversight on November 22, announcing a referendum on the new constitution, the splintering between Morsi and the judiciary – who shortly went on strike as the national judicial union announced its decision to boycott the referendum – was further entangled by the outpouring of popular protest, with hundreds of thousands of protesters mobilising in Tahrir square and outside the Presidential palace, with skirmishes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and those opposed to Morsi’s actions peaking with the deaths of six and injury of over 600 on Wednesday. A diary as the events unfold:
Wednesday, December 5
100,000s protested at the Presidential palace yesterday – and finally Vice-President Makkmoud Mekky proposed in a press conference that there be dialogue on the disputed articles of the draft constitution. He says he is confident the crisis would soon abate. But he has disappointed those disaffected by the developments of the last week by insisting that the proposed constitutional referendum will continue as planned.
Newspapers ran again today, after yesterday’s press strike provoked by the lack of press freedom in reporting on the constitutional crisis. But today’s media coverage, and daily conversation, is dominated by the deadlock. Wednesday evening has seen the largest and most tense protests since the constitutional crisis began, articulating a high level of alienation among those who mobilised for the downfall of Mubarak and what they feel about Morsi’s actions. The February 2011 slogan, “The people demand the overthrow of the regime” is once again being chanted, a cry which also received ideological reworking by Muslim Brotherhood protesters on December 2, chanting “the people want the implementation of Shari’a”.
The return of force has come as a shock to many, largely in terms of the level of coordination of the violence, as Muslim Brotherhood militias attacked protesters demonstrating in front of the Presidential palace, causing five deaths and over 600 injuries. Anger over what opposition protesters have been describing as ‘fascist tactics’ by Muslim Brotherhood militias is compounded by footage circulated on social media and by evidence that journalists were being targeted in the attacks. The opposition, which has long been fractured between dozens of parties, appears to be converging as coordination of the protests develop, under the umbrella of the National Salvation Front, established in the wake of Morsi’s November 22 proposal.
Protesters are particularly incensed that Muslim Brotherhood voices such as their Twitter feed are representing opposition to Morsi as ‘pro-Mubarak’ and trying to frame dissent as anti-revolutionary. The return of Tahrir as a locus of political debate also reveals just how much has been learnt in this space since the February 2011 protests, not least in terms of safety coordination amongst protesters.
Thursday 6
There was something slightly unreal about waiting for Morsi’s speech today– the inevitable echo of Mubarak’s last defiant stance days before his downfall in 2011, the night in which the word ‘Ceausescu’ started trending on Twitter, a peculiar hiccup of history in which the smell of hubris was so strong that global group-think gurgled up the name of a dead Romanian. Morsi’s speech was disappointing on several levels. Beginning several hours after its scheduled start of 6pm, although he called for ‘dialogue’ the substance of his position meant that the opposition were unmoved – Morsi both insisted that he would keep the sweeping powers he granted himself in November, and that the constitutional referendum would go ahead as scheduled on December 15.
Inevitably, the speech ignited further protests, and a deepening of frustration at Morsi’s unwillingness to compromise. The army, who have been largely absent from the mounting damaging dynamic between what looks like coordinated Muslim Brotherhood violence and protesters, have now erected barriers outside the Presidential palace.
The army’s role in the constitutional crisis has been largely sidelined by the main deepening fracture between Morsi and those opposing his November 22 powers and proposed referendum. While a large question-mark over the summer was to what extent the draft constitution would retain or break with Egypt’s institutional legacies of a strong army, the role of the army is less pressing in people’s minds now than issues of Presidential power and the article defining the principles of shari’a as a principle source of legislation. The draft constitution grants a larger level of civilian oversight to the army but does not severely threaten the institution – as such the army’s position this week as been peripheral to the main dynamic between Morsi’s supporters – a level of coordination by Muslim Brotherhood protesters that has taken many by surprise – and opposition demonstrators such as the New Salvation Front.
For their part, the Muslim Brotherhood posted pictures on social media of their headquarters set on fire as protests continued into the early hours of the morning, in what they have termed a ‘terrorist’ act. Increasingly discordant narratives are being generated by both sides on social media and in public debate, with the Muslim Brotherhood condemning the police for not intervening in the ‘terrorism’ of the protesters, who they position as threatening peaceful democracy, while those opposed to Morsi have – as well as the inevitable ‘Pharoah’ and ‘Mubarak 2.0’ references – been documenting the attacks of the Muslim Brotherhood on protesters, positioning them as ‘militia’-like, co-ordinated attacks by trained agents.
Friday 7
Friday has long been protest day in Cairo, and after the week’s events, between Morsi’s speech and the scaling of the barriers erected outside the Presidential palace, there was a sense throughout the city that this weekend would make or break the course of the events. The election committee head Ismail Hamdi announced that early voting for Egyptians abroad on the draft constitution would be delayed, the first indication, in the eyes of the New Salvation Front and other Morsi-opponents, that their demands are being listened to. The early voting, which was due to begin on Saturday, is now scheduled for Wednesday. However, opponents to Morsi’s November 22nd position are insistent that this cannot change the opposition’s position.
El Baradei, who has been a figurehead of the opposition to Morsi since the November 22 decree, spoke on Egyptian television to articulate the opposition’s demands – a commitment to annulling Morsi’s immunity from judicial oversight, and halting the constitutional referendum until the crisis between Morsi and the judiciary is resolved.
On his Twitter account, El Baradei also called for opposition groups to resist dialogue with Morsi on compromising on these demands. Protesters gathered early on Friday and remained until the early hours, breaching the Presidential cordon. Although the skirmishes have been less jarring than on Wednesday, El Baradei’s sentiment of a ‘dialogue boycott’ seems to have hardened the lines between Morsi’s supporters and the opposition. The early voting for Egyptians abroad is now scheduled for Wednesday – it remains to be seen whether this will not be modified further as the deadlock continues.
Saturday 8
The tension in Cairo is palpable, as many speak of the betrayal of Morsi and ‘military’ tactics of the Muslim Brotherhood, while official statements, social media and public debates warp with misinformation, particularly the official positioning of those who disagree with the Muslim Brotherhood as being ‘pro-Mubarak’.
By yesterday, reports emerged of parts of the country declaring themselves‘autonomous’ from the Muslim Brotherhood, a sense that the post-revolutionary accord was rupturing nationally. It is clear that the showdown between the Muslim Brotherhood and the New Salvation Front is far from over and the state newspaper has reported that Morsi would soon use armed forces to help ‘keep order’.
The immediate question now is of the referendum, whose scheduled deadline looms, and while the overseas early-voting referendum has been moved to Wednesday it is unclear whether these votes would be considered valid if the judiciary is refusing to oversee the referendum as a whole. The ‘dialogue talks’ Morsi called for in his speech on Thursday are reportedly being held this evening with several opposition groups, although the National Salvation Front has stated that it will not participate.