Egypt or Morsi, who is the loser?

In his recent televised address to the nation, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi gave unprecedented warnings to the demonstrators who have taken to the streets of Cairo and other major cities to protest against what they call Morsi’s failure to realize the objectives of the revolution.
Morsi, who came to power about a year ago with promises to establish an inclusive democratic government, is now viewed by many Egyptians as an authoritarian ruler whose government has brought nothing new to the country since the fall of former dictator Hosni Mubarak. During the speech, Morsi harshly criticized his opponents, saying they were destabilizing Egypt, and warned them that he would use the strongest measures to quell the demonstrations.

Morsi and his supporters have repeatedly blamed the remnants of the former regime for the unrest and growing instability in Egypt. However, this does not seem to be on the mark, and his opponents say the government’s failure to act on its campaign promises is the driving factor behind the people’s discontent.

When he came to power, Morsi promised to improve Egypt’s economic situation within 100 days, but the economy has collapsed and citizens are facing great difficulty in meeting their daily needs. Foreign companies decided to withdraw their investments as soon as they understood Morsi’s political orientation toward extremists. This has had a huge impact on Egypt’s financial markets and the national currency became weakened. And Morsi’s incessant asking for foreign loans during trips to Turkey, Qatar, Russia, and even Brazil and India, has made Egypt more dependent on other economies.

The political background of Morsi, who is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the methodology he has used for the appointment of ministers and provincial governors are some of the other roots of the problem. The party was involved in underground activity for decades and its members still do not trust outsiders. This has been a major obstacle for Morsi’s interactions with other political groups, and the outcome has been a quasi-authoritarian style of governance during his one year in office.

In his recent speech, Morsi was more of a populist than a pragmatist. He resorted to religious expressions to label his opponents unbelievers. This has been interpreted as an admission of defeat in his confrontation with massive numbers of protesters who are calling for his resignation.

Abdollah Alboghobeish is a political analyst and expert on the Middle East based in Tehran.

This article originally appeared in Persian on the website Khabaronline.ir