It is only natural for people, anywhere on the face of the earth, to disagree and to have different stances on the constitution that will determine their country's identity, the laws that will rule them and the relationship between them and their state – as it is natural for those who consider it to achieve their ambition to be satisfied with and to approve of it, and for it to be opposed by those who consider its articles to have been written in order to achieve the interests of a particular segment of society alone, or consider that it will result in a future in which a particular political faction would overwhelm the others, or that such a constitution would not lay the foundations for achieving growth that would benefit all citizens. Yet it is not natural for those opposed to the articles of the constitution to find themselves forced to vote “yes" on it in order to preserve an opportunity to later amend the articles they are opposed to, as voting “no" would grant the President whom they oppose legislative powers for at least a year! More importantly, the constitution, which Egyptians are supposed to vote on in a referendum next Saturday, will be a “constitution in blood", as young people opposed to the President have paid with their lives for it not to be submitted to a general referendum, exactly as other youths who support Morsi also paid with their lives for the President to be able to pass it and call people to vote on it, before amending and annulling it with another constitutional declaration. On the whole, even if Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, and with him his party, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the groups he is affiliated to, the Muslim Brotherhood, and his Islamist allies, were to manage to pass the constitution, his term in office will not go by without major problems, for him, his party, the group he is affiliated to, his allies, and also the Egyptian people. This not just because, when he sought to resolve the problem of the constitutional declaration and the issue of the constitution, he sat and discussed it with his allies, some of those close to him and a small number of figures considered to be affiliated with the secular movement, and they all came out to announce that they had agreed on submitting the constitution, which had been the reason for all this mayhem, to a referendum, and to present people with a new constitutional declaration that does not meet the ambitions of those who had boycotted the meeting, those who were protesting in Tahrir Square, or those who were besieging the Presidential Palace. Rather, it is because the reality of the situation confirms that a profound rift has been opened between, on the one hand, the President, his party, the group he is affiliated to and his allies, and on the other a large segment of the Egyptian population, who have become even more convinced that the President's considerations benefit the party, that the party's policies achieve the interests of the Brotherhood, and that the Brotherhood's compass is veered towards its own members and allies alone. Moreover, the blood that has been shed around the Presidential Palace has created a rupture between the President and those opposed to him, knowing that the presence of a Prosecutor General appointed by Morsi has reinforced the feeling among some that prosecuting Brotherhood leaders for example for the decision to attack the tents and disperse the protest at the Ittihadiya would come under suspicion. More important than all of this is the fact that the President himself, along with his party, the group he is affiliated to and his allies, are all known to be extremely tightfisted. Indeed, they never take the initiative to alleviate the tension beyond their use of certain literary clichés, and always suffice themselves with either appeasement, or obstinacy, surprise at or condemnation of the stances taken by the opposition, or backing down after it is too late! All of this of course does not satisfy opposition forces, whether those of them who meet in large halls and speak in front of cameras and projectors, or those surrounding the palace or protesting in Tahrir Square. And when the crowds gathered on the part of the President's supporters become the means to show that the people are with Morsi, and also of course with the constitutional declaration that was annulled and then with the new one, it makes no difference. With the referendum, the problem remains standing and does not get resolved. Indeed, even assuming that the majority of Egyptians admire what they have experienced from the President over the five months of his rule, appreciate the behavior and the actions of the Muslim Brotherhood, are impressed by the cohesiveness of the party and the strength of the Brotherhood, and support the unity of its allies from the remaining Islamist parties, this does not negate the fact that those opposed to the President, his party, the group he is affiliated to and his allies, represent an influential force. Indeed, they have maintained their stances and have not departed from their conviction that the past five months have been a scourge for the country, that the President has abandoned many of his promises, that the party's goal is to “Brotherhoodize" the state, that the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to achieve its own consolidation, and that its Islamist allies want to change the identity of Egyptian society. Ongoing conflict with such an influential force would paralyze the country and would maintain the intensity of such a conflict or even increase it – especially as there are some who believe that, after the Egyptian people lived for thirty years under a regime that they hated, the Revolution has brought them a regime that hates them.
