Whither Egypt?

Over the last three years, things have been following head over heels in the Middle East. Revolution has swept established regimes away, and unfortunately at times also left war and chaos in its wake. Egypt especially has been in focus, and it looks as though there’s been a lot of movement. But in which direction? And where does the church in Egypt stand in all of this?

A Brief Chronology

In May of 2014, Egyptians elected Mohammed as-Sisi as President with an overwhelming majority (93%) of the vote. He was the new strong man, and was supposed to achieve what his predecessors had not: deliver the country from economic mismanagement, unemployment, and corruption.

Long-time President Hosni Mubarak had resigned three years before, in February of 2011, in response to the massive street protests involving hundreds of thousands of people. Mubarak had been an authoritarian who ruled with an iron hand. For three decades, there had been little in the way of freedom of expression, freedom of choice and economic development.

Then came the ‘Arab Spring’, and it looked as though ordinary citizens had finally achieved the right to determine their own form of government. Popular movements and secularly-minded leaders  were leading the protests. They would never have gotten anywhere, however, without the support of the military leaders  backstage. And these didn’t move until they were sure that Mubarak could not hold on any longer. Then they moved in, took power, and promised free elections.

The New Strong Man

It took about a year until elections were held, but for the most part, those who had led the revolution were not the winners of the balloting. Instead, Islamic factions got about 70% of the vote, and the most powerful of these groups was the Muslim Brotherhood. The first freely-elected President came out of that party—Mursi won in June 2012 with just over 51% of the vote. But it became quickly evident that this man was not going to be a president for all Egyptians. His Islamic agenda was very quickly confronted with resistance stemming from secular circles. Mursi seemed to have won the struggle with the military leaders, though—he dismissed the old guard and brought in his own people.

The Protests Start All Over

(Stay tuned for part 2  . . . !)

by a ReachAcross leader