Mohamed Kinawy

The uprising in Egypt on January 25th started as a people’s revolution and is becoming a military coup.

During the first eighteen days before ousting Mubarak, the people in Tahrir Square were in charge and the government was actually responding to the protesters’ demands.

After Mubarak was ousted, the power was transferred to the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF). At the time, most agreed with the SCAF temporarily taking control of the country. The unofficial agreement with the revolutionaries was that SCAF would transfer the authority to civilians within six months.

Yet, there were many concerns and questions regarding SCAF at the time. Many believed that Tantawi was as corrupt as Mubarak. There were other concerns as well, but people had no other option but to trust the Army which was considered to be the only pillar of authority left in the country. There was no other entity that could have been trusted to rule and people weren’t aware of the consequences.

Despite the fact that people had doubts about SCAF’s intentions, many believed that if their demands weren’t met or if anything went wrong, returning to Tahrir Square would still have the effect of pressuring the ruling power.

Unfortunately, many of the revolution’s demands weren’t met. That is why people returned back to Tahrir only a few days after transferring authority to SCAF.

One of the first demands of the revolutionaries in the post-Mubarak era was to oust the then new prime Minister, Ahmad Shafik, who was appointed by Mubarak a few days before he stepped down. Shafik was believed to be as corrupt as the members of the old regime. He used to mock the protesters in Tahrir, which provoked the people even more. With the pressure of the people’s second sit-in in Tahrir, Shafik was forced resigned.

Suddenly we started to feel that the political pressure we had inflicted through protesting in Tahrir had lost its effect. SCAF had reverted to the oppression of the Mubarak regime, and not responding to the people’s demands.

As a result of the SCAF’s performance and their failure to acknowledge the people’s demands, many are starting to believe that they performed a military coup. That shouldn’t be happening. The Supreme Council did nothing to take over the country. They failed to fulfill their national duty to their country and their people. They didn’t take a risk as the revolutionaries did, which is at the heart of many discussions taking place today.

SCAF has to realize that a military coup will not be accepted by the people. In order to move the country forward they should put a definitive and timely plan in place to hold elections and hand power over to the civilians. This is the only way to avoid another long sit-in in Tahrir Square and the prolonged chaos that is already overwhelming the country.

Mohamed Kinawy is an EGYPTIAN Revolutionary and a CLINICAL Pharmacist. He participated in the sit-ins in Tahrir Square and helped treat many of the victims of the Mubarak regime’s efforts to crush the revolution. mohmdgad@gmail.com

October 10 2011