The Power of the President

BY

-

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 - 11:45 GMT

BY

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 - 11:45 GMT

By Kate Durham
The rumor roller coaster was at it again Tuesday night with yet another episode of the Hosni Mubarak death watch. About 11pm, social media started buzzing about the state-run news agency MENA reports claiming the ousted and now incarcerated president was “clinically dead,” citing unnamed hospital sources. Unsubstantiated reports like these began circulating as soon as his helicopter landed at Tora Prison — it's as if after decades of being banned from talking about Mubarak's health, the media is trying to make up for lost time. After glancing at comments ranging from cynicism to celebration, I shut off the computer, figuring Mubarak would either still be dead in the morning or he wouldn't be. Turns out he's not dead, according to officials denying the rumors Wednesday morning. Mubarak's reportedly imminent demise creates a scenario worthy of a Hollywood script: A corrupt ex-president dies in disgrace just as a new president steps up to usher in a new era. Or course, no one is quite sure how much power the new president will actually have after the Supreme Council of Armed Forces' (SCAF) controversial Constitutional Annex. What I've noticed, though, is that many people's expectations of the president and his role are seemingly at odds with the participatory democracy that revolutionaries hope will take root. It's natural that an ousted president is blamed for the nation's problems; as head of a notoriously corrupt political system, Mubarak bears responsibility for crimes committed on his watch. But I've heard people blame Mubarak for everything from class divisions to double parking to impolite teenagers. In a June 7 CNN article , a civil society volunteer told journalist Laura E. Bohn, "There is no class integration in Egypt; it's why the political elite can't connect to the streets. Mubarak kept us that way, divided and afraid, so we'd never know and connect with the other." Just last week, I had dinner with Mohamed, a good friend and ardent fan of the Muslim Brotherhood, who blamed Mubarak by name for the moral decay of society. Saying that people treated each other much better in his grandmother's time, Mohamed explains that Mubarak destroyed the education system and “tried to destroy our culture.” My first reaction to these statements is that people need to take some responsibility for their behavior. Mubarak didn't tell that Heliopolis housewife her maid can't be trusted, and he didn't teach that teenager to talk back to his elders. Moral decay is a complaint in many countries, but in the US, we don't directly blame the person in the White House. But the US hasn't lived under a top-down paternalistic government the likes of Egypt's, which goes back to Gamal Abdel Nasser's rule. Many times in the past decade, I have read many articles quoting a common man with a grievance who wanted the president himself to address it, because he was unsatisfied with results up to that point. On the surface, the statements are probably hyperbole, but they reveal deep-seated expectations that governments will fix their individual problems. In 2008, a North Coast farm worker's family had septuplets, bringing the total number of children to 10 and sparking debates about ethical fertility treatments. The farm worker's brother Khamis Khamis told the media that the health minister promised two years of free milk and diapers, then added, "What they need most is a dwelling to live in. I hope the government will give them an apartment." Flash forward to 2012, as Egyptians tried to sort through 13 presidential candidates. A recurring theme in my conversations with voters, right up to my taxi driver this morning, is that they want a president with a “strong hand.” That's natural for former Civil Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafik supporters, who crave the stability Mubarak's last prime minister promises. But I found that Islamists often had similar criteria. During the first round of elections, a Abdel Moneim Abolfotoh partisan scoffed at the idea of Islamist candidate Selim El Awa: “He's a thinker. We need someone strong.” At a Basateen polling station on May 24, 70-year-old Mahmoud Ahmed told Associated Press reporter Sarah El-Deeb, “What we want to see is someone with the firmness of Nasser, the political skills of Sadat. And nothing at all from Mubarak." That's easy to say with the offenses of Mubarak's regime still fresh in people's minds. But there's an Egyptian proverb El-ot yahib khana'hu (The cat loves the hand that strangles it). Many are horrified by the apparent power grab the Constitutional Annex represents, but there are many others who are happy that SCAF has stepped in to restore order. At dinner, Mohamed joked about the idea that Egypt isn't ready for democracy. “It's not like you can say, 'Here's a four-day course on democracy, now go vote.' You just have to do it.” Very true, but it's going to take more than just elections and constitutions to transform Egypt into a healthy democracy, where people exercise both their civic rights and responsibilities. If the revolutionaries want to achieve a state that works for its citizens, they have to recognize and overcome overcome a mindset instilled by more than half a century of citizens being told, “Trust us and don't complain, the government will fix everything.”

Comments

0

Leave a Comment

Be Social