Tuesday 26 September 2017

Mohamed Mahmoud Incidents: The Bachelors of Egypt

Mohamed Mahmoud incidents occurred in Egypt 2011, between November 18th and 25th; days and nights of continuous clashes between army/police forces on one side and rebels on the other. One of the revolutionary waves that ran in the background of social interactions in The Bachelors of Egypt Novel, with quotes from fictional characters that reflect on real life social conflicts within this period of time.


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The Egyptian revolution of 2011 is usually portrayed as an 18 days revolution, when in fact other revolutionary waves kept occurring after overthrowing Mubarak, disrupting several norms and values within the Egyptian society. The former tyrant delegated his authorities to a group of army tyrants, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), who were ruling the country between February the 11th 2011, and June 30th 2012.


What happened?



Protests were initiated on Friday 18th by the Islamist figure Hazem Abu Ismail, with plenty of protesters joining, regardless of their ideological beliefs… by sunset, the initiator left the place, with most of the protesters, leaving behind a small number of individuals, mostly relatives of the casualties of previous protests.
Those who were left behind were brutally swept out of Tahrir Square by the army forces, the incident attracted some protesters to join, or return. 
A few hundreds gathered on the same night in Tahrir square, sitting in with the remainder of those protesters, after military forces left the place. Chants against the regime were heard out loud, most prominently “Down with the SCAF” and “Down with military rule”.
Thousands joined on the next day, and the numbers kept increasing, clashes occurred near the ministry of interior building (ministry of cops), and other spots close to Tahrir square. Several field hospitals were established by volunteering doctors and medical professionals within the square’s parameter. 
Multiple injuries occurred per minute on the civilians’ side; however, accurate statistics on the number of casualties aren’t available… Egypt isn’t really a country of statistics.

In chapter 3 of The Bachelors of Egypt, Mohamed Okasha expresses his grief after losing a friend during the clashes:
“For two weeks I kept waiting for him to show up at the college cafeteria, in classes, or passing by me at home to go out together, day after day I checked my phone for any text from him. I wasn’t able to comprehend that his life ended in that protest, but now I realize that he’s gone, and I know who killed him,” Mohamed Okasha, Egypt 2011, The Bachelors of Egypt.

Who killed him?



The incidents involved army and police forces on one side and civilian protesters on the other, death, and severe injuries were indeed common among civilians, most prominently many demonstrators were shot in the eye. Media channels covered these events from different angels; a small percentage of them portrayed the obvious human rights’ violations committed by the regime, making use of the relatively high level of freedom of speech that was available back then, others attributed these crimes to an unknown third party, when countless voices were raised with the regular attitude of ‘blaming the victim’; a traditional aspect of the Egyptian culture. Similar reactions accompanied a series of other clashes in 2011-2012.
Ahmed Harara, a rebel who was shot in the right eye during Jan clashes and in the left eye during November clashes (image source: almesryoon website)

The Army as a Political Lobby


Back then, the Egyptian army was the most powerful political lobby in Egypt, a couple of years before it became the only political lobby worth mentioning. In 2011, army leaders had strong ties with leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, contrary to the current status, they used to be allies. The Brotherhood didn’t participate in any of these clashes; they viewed them as obstacles to the democratic journey of the country, claiming that these events would only delay the parliamentary and presidential elections. After they were allowed for the first time to establish a political party in Egypt, they claimed that Egypt’s prosperity can only be achieved through ballots. 

After nights of continuous clashes, the head of SCAF ordered his men to seize fire, and announced the launch of parliamentary elections. Several political parties and factions started campaigning when it was already known that Islamists in general and the Muslim Brotherhood in specific will dominate the parliament.

The Muslim Brotherhood Self-Destruction Mode


As expected, the parliament (people’s assembly of Egypt) included about 45% of its seats for the Muslim Brotherhood and 70% of its seats for Islamists in general (Salafis made up the rest). None of these Islamist groups blamed army generals for incidents of Mohamed Mahmoud (November 2011), council of ministers (December 2011), or any other clashes. They even celebrated the “Success of the revolution” in Tahrir Square on January 25th 2012, when others went to protest to “continue” the revolution and achieve its objectives.
The more protesters raised their voices while chanting against the SCAF, the more Muslim Brotherhood members raised their voices with celebratory chants, or audio speakers with playlists of verses from the holy Quran. At the time, members of the brotherhood acted as the civilian supporters of the SCAF and it was a logical result that a few fights started between both sides.

Fun fact: Some of the rebels were holding signs and stickers that demanded SCAF to delegate all its powers to the parliament. They were opposed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the exact same political/social/religious group that controlled the parliament.

(Image source: Kenana online)

Shortly after one of the Mulsim Brotherhood figures, Mohamed Morsy won the presidential elections on June 2012, he removed most of the army generals from their positions, but offered them a prestigious exit, awarding the former minister of defense and the head of SCAF, Marshal Tantawy with the Greatest Nile Collar, the highest of all Egyptian decorations.
After removing most of the SCAF’s generals, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was appointed minister of defense; this promotion meant that he will be leading other military officers who are older than him, and may have been traditionally promoted to this position before him. This could be viewed as a fine political move, giving the highest ranked officers a reason to turn against each other; however it wasn’t effective, the generals stayed loyal to their new boss, Sisi and to their political camp.
Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood tried to portray this change as a significant post-revolutionary sign of reform, but it didn’t satisfy any rebels or rebel movements back then, as they aimed at prosecuting these figures, instead of honoring them out of the army. They also tried to portray it as a “Youthful change”; the 2011 revolution was often portrayed as the youths’ revolution against the aging figures and practices of Mubarak’s regime (Ageism is common in Egypt).
They gave a chance for a younger military figure to lead the whole ministry, and they attempted to frame him as Morsy’s choice, his own man that will work under his supervision to lead the Egyptian Army. The initial branding campaign for the current Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was launched by the Muslim Brotherhood during Mohamed Morsy’s presidency.

Fun Fact: Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was appointed minister of defense by Mohamed Morsy, a single year before Sisi overthrew Morsy.

Pointing fingers


After June 30th 2013 revolution/military coup/or whatever you would like to call it, Morsy was overthrown, and only then leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood started blaming army generals for incidents of Maspiro (September 2011), Mohamed Mahmoud (November 2011), Council of Ministers (December 2011)… acknowledging them as crimes.
On the other side, the media channels that used to attribute such crimes to an unknown third party suddenly claimed that this party was revealed. They decided to frame the Muslim Brotherhood as the previously unknown party, responsible for any drop of blood shed on the streets of Egypt.

Beyond The “Arab Spring”

Revolutionary incidents of 2011 are usually minimized and referred to as incidents of the “Arab Spring”, what started with overthrowing the Tunisian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Egyptian president, Mohamed Hosny Mubarak, killing the Libyan president, Muammar Gaddafi…  In fact this era witnessed global incidents such as riots in Greece, Rome, Occupy Wall Street in the United States… and many other events that revealed how unhappy people of the world have become with leaders of the world. With the global rise in social media usage, groups of rebels and activists were informed with real time progress of their companions in any of the world’s hotspots. Their universal connection was based on hopes for a better future, a common belief that they were capable of achieving it, and anger toward political systems and leaders. 

Tahrir square of Egypt was the place in which the Egyptian revolution of 2011 was launched, and the place in which most of the revolutionary waves of the same year took place. #Tahrir on Twitter was usually trending whenever protests occurred in various places in Egypt, and was used along with #Rome #Greece… and other revolutionary hashtags from other places in the world.


Egypt Nowadays


Under president Sisi (2014-present), such clashes are absent, and you can mostly view images and videos of the current president’s supporters praising him. Egyptians earned the right to express opinions freely in 2011, but that right has been continuously violated by the current regime. “Down with the military rule” used to be a regular chant in protests, but now you’d be endangering your life while expressing similar views in a public place.
Politics, economics, sociology… were popular back then, with philosophical questions and debates disrupting the cultural scene of modern Egypt. Now such conversations are viewed as useless, mostly because people tried to think, read, and discuss the future of Egypt, before they saw that future being set by the single influential political lobby of the armed forces.

“A proud Egyptian” was a common statement among Egyptians’ social media profiles, reflecting on the rising senses of belonging. This sort of Nationalism and National Exceptionalism may not be healthy for citizens of the world; however, it was formed by intensive hopes for a better future. These statements are currently absent as well, despite how nationalistic some Egyptians might be; they mostly realize that there is nothing to be proud of.

 Back to the novel


Within a social context of interactions, The Bachelors of Egypt displays the feelings and controversies of Egypt 2011, and shows some elements of the Egyptian culture that enabled the current tyrant to conveniently conquer the opposition while practicing textbook autocracy.

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