Don Newman: Do Morsi’s recent moves suggest his agenda is to take Egypt toward a democratic future, or back to an authoritarian past?

By: /
23 August, 2012
By: Don Newman
Chairman of Canada 2020, Senior Columnist with ipolitics.ca

I wish I could predict a more democratic future for Egypt. Sadly, I can’t.
Recent moves to sack the military leadership are not part of a plan to reduce the role of the Military in a march to a more democratic future. Instead they are a power play to make sure that the powerful Egyptian military is lead by people loyal to Morsi. And if they forget to be loyal, he’ll fire them too.
Two more points: There is no democratic tradition or history in Egypt and a movement like the Muslim Brotherhood is anti-democratic. And a religious movement like the Brotherhood cannot be open to change at the ballot box. That kind of change would be heresy.

Before you click away, we’d like to ask you for a favour … 

 

Journalism in Canada has suffered a devastating decline over the last two decades. Dozens of newspapers and outlets have shuttered. Remaining newsrooms are smaller. Nowhere is this erosion more acute than in the coverage of foreign policy and international news. It’s expensive, and Canadians, oceans away from most international upheavals, pay the outside world comparatively little attention.

At Open Canada, we believe this must change. If anything, the pandemic has taught us we can’t afford to ignore the changing world. What’s more, we believe, most Canadians don’t want to. Many of us, after all, come from somewhere else and have connections that reach around the world.

Our mission is to build a conversation that involves everyone — not just politicians, academics and policy makers. We need your help to do so. Your support helps us find stories and pay writers to tell them. It helps us grow that conversation. It helps us encourage more Canadians to play an active role in shaping our country’s place in the world.

Become a Supporter