President Morsi has failed. The divided nation now needs real dialogue. The majority of Egyptians is against a theological state, says diplomat and political analyst Ashraf Swelam
Egypt is more divided than ever before. You don’t have to be a genius to recognize this fact. And yet, President Mohammed Morsi has not comprehended the situation. Nor has the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, nor have their allies from the Salafi camp. And this is despite Morsi having won the country’s first presidential election with only a slim majority.
After the election, Morsi’s most pressing task was to unite the divided country and act as the president of all Egyptians. This is what he had promised. Yet, without batting an eyelid, he did exactly the opposite. He thereby contributed to the growth of a deep-seated and earnest aversion felt by many Egyptians to the Muslim brotherhood.
And, time and again, he has bowed down before Egypt’s so-called “deep state”, the impenetrable web made up of the military, security forces, and bureaucrats. He has even taken up common cause with them, instead of taking revolutionary forces on board to help breathe new life into the severely weakened country.
