Opposition protesters supporting Tamarod in Tahrir Square on June 30, 2024 in Cairo, Egypt. (Ed Giles/Getty Images)
How does a grassroots group of “revolutionary youth” reconcile its quest for democracy with its support for a military takeover of a democratically-elected government? That is the question Egypt’s Tamarod movement will have to face in the wake of a military-mandated ultimatum backing their mission and effectively endorsing the toppling of the government of President Mohammed Morsi.
The 48-hour deadline imposed by the head of Egypt’s armed forces is more than halfway over and Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood is no nearer consensus with its political opponents. Judging by the reaction of Tamarod and its thousands of supporters currently on the streets of Cairo and other cities throughout Egypt, success is almost within reach, in no small part due to the military’s moves against Morsi in the past day. Shortly after armed forces leader General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced the 48-hour deadline on Monday, representatives of Tamarod began heaping praise on the military, even calling it “the house of Egyptian nationalism.”
For a grassroots movement seeking to eradicate tyranny in government to enthusiastically embrace what amounts to a pre-announced military coup seems counterintuitive. It was not long ago that many of these same youth activists were decrying abuses from the massacre at Maspero to thousands of forced “virginity tests”- all perpetrated by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), the ruling military council which immediately preceded Morsi’s tenure as president. While some protesting on the streets of Cairo right now may have short memories, it is likely that many of these activists realize on a pragmatic level that the only way they can achieve their goal of ousting the Morsi government is with the support of the military.
Even if the inconvenient memory of SCAF’s very recent abuses was not there in the background, there is also a bigger question of the precedent that is being set here. As unpopular and politically isolated as the president has become in recent days, there is no denying that he was democratically elected in free and fair elections, Egypt’s first leader to have been so. However, Tamarod and much of the liberal, secular opposition appear willing to put their democratic ideals on the back-burner in order to see an (admittedly power-hungry) Islamist government gone in the short term. For Tamarod, this cognitive dissonance is something they likely hope will be short-lived as they look ahead to implementing a detailed transition plan that would not leave the military in charge for long (a deal, some argue, the military itself favors).
However, in empowering the military to be the ultimate arbiter over a civilian government (while blatantly sidelining a democratically-elected leader), the Egyptian opposition is striking a bargain that will color their political future for a long time, regardless of what transpires in the next 24 hours.
