Opponents of the Egyptian government wasted no opportunity in making fun of Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy’s recent statement about US, Egypt ties. He reportedly said: “It’s like a marriage. It’s not a fling.”
The statement itself is nothing out of the ordinary. Actually it’s a common expression in English. But such is the rivalry and acrimony between the government and its opponents that the discourse is getting ever lower.
The Egyptian political discourse, from both sides, has never stooped so low. Of course the Muslim Brotherhood have been the most active in this exchange of diatribes, since the group found out that their loss of popularity among the public is not due to the deep state, as they keep saying. It is because people find its discourse and practices almost comic.
Take, for example, the religious scholar whose nose led to his ouster from the people’s assembly. He claimed that he was attacked by masked people who broke his nose and took 100,000 pounds from him. Then it turned out that he was telling a lie in order to cover for the fact that he had a “nose job.” So his party apologized and he resigned from the assembly. It’s a trivial story, but it helped, in addition to dozens of similar stories, demolish the putative integrity of the group.
These exchanges are not simply harmless verbal exchanges. Abu Ismail, the famous presidential candidate, found out that, for all his lashes and verbal attacks at the US, his mother was an American citizen. He deliberately kept a lid on this fact so that he can run for presidency, even though the Egyptian law specifically stipulates that both parents of a candidate must be Egyptian nationals. It’s because of things like these that the Brotherhood and their allies were like a sitting duck because their puritanical and fundamentalist discourse is a far cry from their practices on the ground. This election season is full of exiting anecdotes. You find leaked “cassettes” and very abusive language, which would make you think that their only outcome is a complete break among the rival political forces.
What are we to make of these abuses and name calling? Is this a kind of inherent behavior? Or is it basically a whim that will pass away on its own?
The Egyptian people, known for their sense of humor, can forget and forgive. No matter how bad the language used, people can forget everything as soon as they reach a compromise. Unless, of course, there was violence and blood. You see, bloodshed cannot be forgiven, or forgotten. That’s why we see a rising wave of bombings and blasts from the Sinai to the heart of Cairo. This certainly disgraced the already tarnished image of the Ikhwan after the ill-fated Mursi rule. Extremists within the Brotherhood, together with their allies abroad, think that these bombings and assassinations are a good way to keep their cause alive. But they will certainly fail to destabilize the current regime. And they failed to garner any public support from any sector, except from within the group itself. It is certainly a very strong case against them, not for them.
Then we have the political attacks. They try to pit the public opinion against their opponents by media attacks and political defamation. This is an ongoing battle between the two parties, and one day the use of abusive language and vicious attacks will recede to the background and finally disappear. As the Election Day is approaching, the pitch of the attacks is getting hotter. But this is an election carnival that carries no surprises. El-Sissi will win with a landslide and the attacks, of whatever kind, will not be able to change this outcome. Neither will the bombings.
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