The popularity of a ruling regime is usually determined by a set of political, economic and social factors in a nation. Within the Egyptian society, the economic deterioration under president Sisi deprive the state from tangible reasons of popularity. Adding the current lack of political awareness/interest to the equation gives the biggest weight to political branding as the determining factor for the president’s popularity.
This article is aimed at establishing a link between components of the Egyptian culture and the emotional aspects of president Sisi’s image, and it’s based on my answer to Why do Egyptians like the current Egyptian President,"el-Sisi"?Like any other president, some people like him, while others don’t; both sides have their own reasons, yet it’s more interesting to begin with the elements on which his popularity is based:
1-
Being a Military Figure
Many citizens of Egypt believe that
Nationalism is a deadly important value. “Loving the sand of your nation” is a
popular virtue in Egypt, it’s commonly believed that you can’t really love your
country unless you love and support its army, and you don’t truly love the
army, unless you support its leaders.
Yes, it’s that simple, being a former military
officer gives him credit before the game starts, especially after portraying
the former-overthrown president Mohamed Morsy as a traitor, and the whole
Muslim Brotherhood organization as terrorists and enemies of state.
Basically, the president’s credibility among
those who believe him is solely based on his affiliation with the Egyptian
Army.
2-
The Nasser-Sadat Mix
A mix of Nasser’s and Sadat’s approaches toward gaining public support, both are former presidents of Egypt, and both are usually considered popular among Egyptians. Nasser was an “Arab Nationalist”, and was seeking support from/partnering with the USSR during the cold war. Sadat came to power right after Nasser’s death, after three years of presidency; he won the war against Israel in 1973, and eventually liberated Sinai. After winning the war, Sadat ditched the USSR, signed a peace agreement with Israel, and initiated a long term strategic partnership with the US.
More importantly, Sadat announced Egypt as a state
of “Science and Belief”, calling himself the “Believer President”. The belief
part here refers to believing in God; Egypt is a 90% Muslims, 10% Christians
(mostly Orthodox) population, where Religion and Religious Rituals are highly
valuable.
Despite the fact that Egypt achieved nothing
on the “Science” side, Sadat published pictures of himself praying and reading
the Holy Quran to apply a religious appeal.
As an example of how Sisi combines
both tactics, shortly after he became president, he visited Russia for
discussions with Vladimir Putin’s Regime, which was heavily promoted by various
media channels as a new strategy to getting the relationships back on track
with Russia, diversifying the sources of machinery and weapons for the Egyptian
Army, and gaining multiple influential partners, instead of relying on the US
solely. On his way back from the same trip, he flew to Saudi
Arabia, to practice the Islamic Ritual of “Umrah” that can only be achieved
over there; pictures of him praying were also heavily promoted by media
channels in Egypt to showcase how “Religious” the president is.
(Image source: World Tribune)
3-
Powerful but Tender
The simplicity of his speeches; mostly using
slang Arabic, combined with simple terms and ideas. Keeping in mind that Egypt
is a developing country, with a high rate of illiteracy, it counts as a reason
for his popularity.
The firmness of his actions, and the
tenderness of his words! Due to poverty, illiteracy, unemployment… Egypt is
full of “Weak Citizens” who usually dream of a super defender, who may
protect them from being hurt, and treat them gently at the same time.
Sisi has been killing, imprisoning, and
torturing thousands of civilians, of whom mostly belong to the Muslim
Brotherhood, but at the same time, he speaks romantically during most/all of
his speeches, “Don’t you know that you’re the light for my eyes?” is
one of his most popular quotes. So, if you consider members of the Muslim
Brotherhood and other civilian political activists “The Enemies” like he does;
that makes him killing your enemies, while tapping on your shoulder with care
and support.
As mentioned in
a previous article about Corporate Life and Politics in Egypt, the core values of management are
cross promoted among households, educational institutions, workplaces, and
within the broader scope of the nation itself; that’s why the “Parenthood
Notion” embedded in the Egyptian culture may help the president’s tactics yield
positive outcome.
But not all Egyptians like him:
To comprehend the current political situation
in Egypt, one must have a look back at the most popular incident in Modern
Egypt… The Egyptian Revolution of 2011:
Within this brief era of enlightenment
(2011-2012) all taboos were brought on the tables of discussion. An increasing
appetite for political participation led to an increasing interest “To Know”,
with booming figures of internet usage and book readership, philosophical approaches
and views of historical figures like Socrates, Plato, Machiavelli, Nietzsche…
found their place within such discussions, as highlighted in Philosophical Legacy: The Bachelors of Egypt.
1- An 18 Days-Revolution, Revolutions 101:
Revolutions are indeed a hot topic for global
media networks, usually portrayed as an attractive act of change bringing hopes
for a better future. The Egyptian revolution of Jan 25th 2011 was dominating
the leading news networks, such as the BBC, CNN, Aljazeera… It was in fact the
most popular incident in modern Egypt.
A
series of protests with a few participants across governorates of Egypt started
on January 25th, 2011. Numbers of demonstrators kept increasing, until it
reached a peak on Friday January 28th, also known as “The Friday of Anger”.
Clashes
with the police forces all over the nation have led to their sudden absence,
after being defeated by groups of civilians. People had to gather and protect
their own neighborhoods, while others remained at Tahrir Square in Cairo and
other squares across Egypt protesting against Mohamed Hosny Mubarak’s regime.
On
February 11th 2011, the former president Mubarak was overthrown, or “delegated
his authorities to the Supreme Council of Armed Forces”. The country was
completely paralyzed between Jan 28th 2011, and February 11th of the same year.
Excessive
celebrations of Egyptians all over the world, and media’s over-glorifying of
the 18 days-revolution have led most of its supporters to believe that it was
all over, and they have already won the battle against the regime. In an
ironical unprecedented scene, people were celebrating the success of the
revolution after Mubarak delegated his powers to the Supreme Council of Armed
Forces (SCAF), despite the fact that all of the SCAF’s generals were appointed
by Mubarak himself, and have been serving in his cabinet for a long period of
time.
Over
time, many Egyptians started to realize that getting rid of Mubarak didn’t
essentially imply any changes with his regime, the man left his place at the
top of the system, but the system itself remained… which caused the repetition
of “Down with the system” and “Down with the SCAF” chants within various
revolutionary incidents post Mubarak’s removal. Those are the ones who
don’t like him.
When
the next president, Mohamed Morsy was overthrown on July 3rd, 2013, as a result
of the June 30th 2013 revolution, global media and heads of most of the world’s
states perceived it as a military coup, mainly because Morsy was the first
elected president. The Egyptian Government has spent years trying to convince
the world that it was a revolution, and spent fortunes over global PR agencies campaigns,
and various trade agreements with developed countries to gain international
recognition from their governments, and credibility among the citizens of the
same nations.
In
fact, during both revolutions/incidents/or whatever you would like to call them
that occurred on 25 January 2011, and 30 June 2013, the army was the main
player, and its generals were in charge of making the final decisions.
One
of the main factors contributing to the initiation of the first revolution was
Mubarak’s unannounced, unofficial, heavily promoted plan to name his son, Gamal
Mubarak the president of Egypt after him.
The
“Inheritance of Power” even through means of “elections” was
heavily resented by many civilians, and it was considered a despiteful thought
for the army leaders. Simply stated, Egypt has only been led by military
figures since 1953 (excluding Mohamed Morsy June 2012-June 2013):
·
Mohamed Naguib (1953-1954)
·
Gamal Abdel Nasser (1954-1970)
·
Anwar El-Sadat (1970-1981)
·
Mohamed Hosny Mubarak (1981-2011)
·
Abdel Fattah El-Sisi (2014-Present)
As a former fighter, and a military figure,
Mubarak was “honorably kicked out”, and was even saluted for his long years of
serving the country, at times of war and peace by the same military officer who
announced that Mubarak delegated his authority to the Supreme Council of Armed
Forces.
On
the other hand, Mohamed Morsy was arrested/kidnapped in 2013; the former
president was kept in an unknown place under the commands of his former
minister of defense, Abdel Fatah El-Sisi, when his authorities were
“constitutionally” transferred to the head of the highest constitutional
judicial court in Egypt.
Due
to the global popularity of the term “Revolution”, the state had to work on
persuading the world that it was a “Revolution”, just like the popular Jan 25th
revolution of 2011.
According
to Nationalism: The Bachelors of Egypt, most of the rebellious individuals who didn’t like
Sisi as a president had to face serious trouble:
“As
for Egypt 2011, it’s worth mentioning that many of the Egyptian Expats who were
residing in different places around the world flew back to the country after
the “18-days revolution”. They thought the country’s status will change, and
their own abilities/knowledge/experiences will finally be valued, and utilized
within their own country. The myth of a successful 18-days revolution was
beyond tempting, it made everything seem possible.
Mixing
Love and Hope can form the most flammable motivation.
Months/Years
later, people started to realize that nothing has changed and there are no
signs of future progress, those who flew back to their home country needed
to “Fly Forward” to their former countries of residency, sadly, some were
unsuccessful.
Moreover,
the “Rebels” of January, whether those who were affiliated with the Muslim
Brotherhood, other political factions, or Free-players who were seeking justice
started immigrating to other countries. In case they were not killed, arrested,
or severely injured in a manner that made them no longer useful for the job
markets in developing countries”.
We can only
understand the reasons for a person’s popularity/ unpopularity in a country by
analyzing its social structure. You can find useful insights in
this article about The Bachelors of Egypt Novel.
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