The coup being carried out by Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi against the revolution does not only constitute a threat to it and to Egypt. Indeed, it threatens all the hopes that were placed on the Arab spring, as a flourishing chapter of democracy in which the people will regain their right to differ with the authority, to have another opinion and to see the ruler willing – even bound – to listen to this opinion. By imposing his Constitutional Declaration - although the use of this term features the greatest insult to the constitutions' task as tools of convergence, not divergence; by hastening the voting over the constitutional draft although aware of the division surrounding it; and by watching his group defy the highest judicial institution while being faced with most of the unionist and civil bodies, Morsi has undermined the simplest dreams for which the Egyptians rebelled and which they thought had prevailed on January 25, 2011. But the problem with the Egyptian president is not limited to what he is doing in and to Egypt. It is a problem with the Muslim Brotherhood group he is representing in power, as this group is controlling or seeking control over the capabilities of more than one Arab country in the post-revolution phase. Is this the behavior the group is promising us following its victories in these countries? Does it still live in an era in which the rulers are supreme leaders, chosen to their posts in an indefinite way by divine intervention, without anyone being entitled to oppose them or their decisions? In addition, and once this control is imposed, is the MB's task to infiltrate societies and sustain division in them under the pretext that the group is the most apt to interpret the rules of the Shariaa to give the ruler the upper hand in imposing his authority and hegemony? The slogans raised by the members of Morsi's tribe (as they are called) during the demonstrations staged in his support, featured alarming expressions conveying the extent of their belittlement of others as lower degree citizens. These slogans brought back to mind what is heard on other streets that perceive their leaders as being above mistakes and their groups as being “the most honorable people." What we are hearing in the Egyptian demonstrations supporting President Morsi is not any different, as they are accusing his oppositionists of hiding behind foreign support, and of being secularists and apostates, although the latter oppositionists respected the MB's right to reach power via democratic means. The Muslim Brotherhood nonetheless should have practiced power based on those same means. What is raising more concerns over what could happen in other states in which the MB have reached or aspire to reach power is that the group's promises are not sustained long enough on the ground to allow the people to believe their truthfulness. Indeed, President Morsi promised that the constitution will not be ratified except through concord between the Egyptians. He also promised to be a president for all the Egyptians, and not just a faction of them, and to distance the judiciary from the authority's intervention. But where are those promises today? And because Egypt is what it is, and because the Egyptian MB is the spiritual guide of the other Islamic organizations in our region, we worry for Tunisia and Libya, just as we worry about Syria's fate in the future. Coexistence, even cohabitation in Tunisia between President Moncef al-Marzouki and the Ennahda Movement, proved – so far - it can face the crises following Ben Ali's fall with a few limited problems. In addition, the insistence of Ennahda leader Rached al-Ghannouchi on this coalition confirmed that his vision for what the situation should be in a country enjoying a culture of diversity and a heritage of social openness such as Tunisia is right on the mark. Moreover, the document issued by Syria's MB confirmed its insistence on the respect of the others' rights and its rejection of hegemony if it were to reach power. But the outcome of the Egyptian MB's promises is rendering the concerns legitimate, and justifying the fears of seeing them succeeding in turning the optimism we felt with the arrival of the spring into a sad and bleak autumn. But we hope they will not succeed in doing so.
