Under the Sails of Its New Constitution: The New Egypt is Launched

On December 26, 2012, the New Egypt was launched under its democratically-adopted constitution.  Some called it "the Second Egyptian Republic."  Wrong.  The Nasser Coup of 1952 did not launch a First Egyptian Republic.  It inaugurated a dictatorship which coopted the name of "republic" to clothe it with legitimacy.

It is also wrong to call the new Constitution "flawed."  No constitution is born perfect.  It is amendable.

It is also wrong to call it "an Islamist constitution."  We in the U.S. do not call our constitution "Judeo-Christian."  It is an American constitution.

It is also wrong to conjure whether Egypt is going to be a "Pakistan" or an "India."  This is blatant ignorance.  Countries and their systems  have to be evaluated on their own terms.  No two countries are ever alike.

It is also wrong to say that the Egyptian Constituent Assembly lost its legitimacy because one third of its members walked out.  If you are absent, you have no vote.

It is also wrong to say that the new constitution lacks credibility, because only about one-third of the eligible voters participated in the plebiscites of Dec. 15 and Dec. 22.  In legal terms, we only count those who are "present and voting."

It is also wrong for the opposition in Egypt to call for a restart from square one.  This means disfranchising all those millions who voted for going forward.

It is also wrong for some of the elite (Al-Nokhbah) to describe the voting majority as "illiterate."  It is the Nokhbah which needs to be schooled in the art of democracy.

It is also wrong to characterize President Morsi as totally beholden to the Muslim Brotherhood.  He, in June 2012, emerged as the winner in free and fair elections, regardless of the genre of his political roots.  He was not the first choice of the Brotherhood.  El-Shatter was.  But he was disqualified, and Morsi was put forward by the Freedom and Justice Party of the Muslim Brotherhood as their alternative choice.

It is also wrong for the opposition to continue its campaign of nullification after the results of the plebiscite were announced.  Enough is enough.  If you are unhappy with Morsi, or with the Brotherhood, and or with the Constitution, you nonetheless should allow the country to go back to work.  Then reorganize and challenge them in 2016.  But, please get out of the way, and go back to rebuild that collapsed security and economic system.

It is also wrong for the opposition to theorize about certain articles in the Constitution or to say that the document should have "a societal consensus."  In a democracy, you take decisions by a majority vote.  There is no precise definition for "a societal consensus."  Even in Islamic Law, Ijmaa (or consensus) does not mean a total meeting of the minds of all Muslim scholars in a given geographical area.

It is also wrong to say that the Constitution is too detailed.  Refining a constitution is through application and, if necessary, an amendment.  Now that the Shura Council (the upper Chamber of Parliament) is in place, it has all legislative authority and could propose amendments to the lower Chamber when elected in two months.

It is also wrong to claim that Morsi is waging war on the judicial system.  On the contrary.  The Supreme Constitutional Court fired the first shots.  It dissolved the lower chamber of Parliament on a technicality, and manifested interest in also dissolving the Constituent Assembly for the second time in a row.  Now the Constitution governs the principle of separation of powers.

There are other blatant wrongs which the fragmented opposition is committing: Calling on the armed forces to intervene after the people had approved the Constitution; unfurling the banner of a possible civil war;  scaring off the Copts that under the new Constitution their position in Egypt shall be precarious; and calling on outside powers and international institutions either to intervene or to withhold their economic and moral support for the New Egypt.

These wrongs are not only seditious. They are proving that the political thought of the so-called liberals about democracy in Egypt is nearly a black hole.  One does not advocate democracy through the stifling or denigration of the popular will.

Thus it was right for Morsi to declare to the nation on Dec. 26, 2012 that the Constitution "reflects the spirit of the January 25, 2011 revolution; that is based on respect of the rights of citizenship regardless of religion; that the polemics which preceded the adoption of the Constitution by nearly two-thirds of the voters were a healthy democratic sign; that he, prior to that adoption, committed errors (an allusion to his November 22, 2012 constitutional declaration putting him temporarily above the law); and that
"Egypt and the Egyptians now have a constitution which is freely accepted, and which was not a grant from a king nor an imposition by a president, nor a dictation from an occupier."

As I sat in my seat in Egypt Air returning from Cairo to New York City on Dec. 23, a fellow traveller to my right, asked me anxiously about my opinion of the new Constitution.  I provided the above analysis.  Yet I was joyed by that critical question coming from a beautiful young Egyptian woman who was dressed in an Egypt Air uniform.  "What do you do for Egypt Air?," I asked.  "I am a pilot on a brief vacation!!" 

Now this is the new face of Egypt, young, professional, confident and concerned about her country which she sees from above as she flies, as well as from below as she navigates the Cairo crowded streets.


Thus under the sails of its new Constitution, the New Egypt is launched, hopefully towards a destiny of national unity.