Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The Saudi academic, Turki Al-Hamad, counted 3 factors that “explain”, as he put it, what is happening in Egypt, stressing that this is not interference in its internal affairs.
This came in a series of tweets by Al-Hamad on his official page on Twitter, in which he said: “Talking regarding Egypt is not talking regarding any other Arab country, and it is not interference in its internal affairs. Arabs in their aspirations, successes and failures, so talking regarding them is talking regarding a common Arab destiny, so what is going on in Egypt today?Egypt in the Arab mind is not one Egypt, but rather it is ‘two Egyptians’: there is the ‘model’ Egypt, whether this model is the Egypt of Enlightenment And modernity and renaissance since the beginnings of modern Egypt during the reign of Muhammad Ali the Great, or the Nasserite model since 1952, the model of revolution, development and distinguished international standing.In the sense that we have two models for Egypt: a prosperous Egypt before 1952, and an ambitious Egypt following that date, and observers are divided into supporters and opponents For this model or that…”
And he continued: “On the other hand, there is Egypt in its current reality, i.e. the Egypt of unemployment, economic and political crises, society’s dilemmas and its violent radical fluctuations that do not belong to any model, be it royal or republican… So what happened to Egypt, rich in its wealth and capabilities, which used to lend money and help the needy, And here it is, today, a captive of the International Monetary Fund, with its neck tied to every aid from here or there, and it is the land of milk and honey?In fact, the Egyptian situation cannot be explained by one factor, especially following the fall of the monarchy, and the beginnings of the ‘climbing into the abyss’. First: The army’s escalating dominance over the state, especially the economy, so that nothing passes in the Egyptian state except through the army, under the supervision of the army, and through institutions subordinate to the army, and in favor of influential people in the army, as some observers see the sources and roots of the crisis, and all of this is at the expense of institutions. The other society, whether we are talking regarding the private sector, or civil society institutions, which was at its strongest during the monarchy era.
He added, secondly, the aging Egyptian bureaucracy that is resistant to change, which stands as a stumbling block in the face of any successful economic investment, whether internal or external, even though Egypt is an inexhaustible treasure of investment opportunities. “Above”, whether this above is the sky and its surprises and heroes coming from the unseen, or the state with its majesty and its pharaoh with the scepter, the “owner” of the keys to change and the treasuries of “manna and solace”, with an almost complete absence of a sense of independent community initiative.
And he added, “This culture is rural in roots, pharaonic in history, perhaps related to the Nile in its flooding and receding, and to the pharaoh in its extension and contraction. Such a culture was almost confined to the Egyptian village throughout Egyptian history, and is completely isolated from what cities go through, especially Cairo and Alexandria in particular, from Movements for modernization, enlightenment, and independent community initiatives in the modern era, but with the opening of the door to the city’s rural invasion in the wake of the July Movement, it has become completely the prevailing culture in almost all of Egypt.These are the three most important factors that cannot be understood without taking into account what is happening in Egypt. According to my opinion, and not all suspicions are sinful in every case..”
CNN Arabic has reached out to the Egyptian authorities for comment, with no response at the time of writing.