The fight for a democratic Egypt, that its people waged 2 years ago, wasn’t just a struggle to get rid of Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year-old dictatorship.
It was a fight for better economic opportunities and social mobility. Tired of rampant unemployment and inflation, ordinary Egyptians thronged Tahrir square for weeks, despite facing repression by the state security services, and called for Mubarak to resign. Their struggle appeared to have paid off when Mubarak resigned and his regime crumbled.
But that the factors that had made Egyptians to make so many sacrifices for a political overhaul of their country still remain pressing concerns. The economy took a bad hit after the revolution, and has been on a downward spiral due to the constant political turbulence in the country since then. Rampant unemployment and a crippling budget deficit plague Egypt at moment, and are making the population even more unhappy with the democratic order.
And this is why the secular groups that oppose the Islamist presidency of Mohammed Mursi have become more restless. They have reportedly gathered 13 million signatures demanding Mursi to resign. The opposition has also planned massive rallies on June 30 to call for the president to step down.
In an attempt to preempt these grand plans of the opposition, thousands of Mursi’s supporters gathered on a boulevard near the presidential palace on Friday. They chanted slogans denouncing the secularists and expressed their support for the Islamist leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.
As both sides continue to show intolerance for each other, and wage their ideological battles, they have completely forgotten the unrest of the streets that has severely affected Egypt’s economy. Potential foreign investors and tourists have been thwarted by the rowdy demonstrations that have lately become the hallmark of Egyptian politics.
The Egyptians need to show patience for ideological differences. Regardless of its imperfections and failings, the current government is a legitimate, elected government and Egypt’s gung-ho protesters need to come to terms with this fact.