Many people supported the revolution in its beginning and backed it when it was first launched, but now they are standing in the queue awaiting to reach Ahmed Shafiq’s box to elect him, not because they believe in his personality and are convinced of his path, but because of their fear and because they are obliged, on the basis of “Your brother is being forced and not a hero”...

Shafiq and his cohorts succeeded in instilling the fear of the control of the Brotherhood over the country in the hearts of the Egyptians if the reins of power were handed over to them. Yet, those people have missed the fact that the next president will not have the same powers enjoyed by the Mubarak regime, not only because of the reduction of those powers in the new constitution, but because the former agent regime will not give up easily its comprehensive and pervasive powers in favor of any president being elected by the voters.

Yes, the remnants of the former regime would not free the arena in front of the new powers associated with the revolution, whether Morsi or other candidate of the revolution, but will work since the first moments to keep his position ceremonial, to reduce his powers as much as possible, and to enable his actual ruling. They will put in front of him all kinds of obstacles to make his decisions lacking any executive power, and this would force Morsi and those with him to fight side by side with the rest of the national forces to make the revolution succeed and to grab all the powers and authorities, which will be included in the new Constitution. Hence, this is an actual guarantee for the future of the Egyptian revolution with the Islamist candidate Mohammad Morsi.

On the other hand, if Ahmed Shafiq succeeded, God forbids, he will follow immediately the institution of the state as an obedient faithful servant, as he has always been, to serve and fill part of the vacuum left by the fall of his idol Hosni Mubarak, and thus things would return to how they were before. It is not an exaggeration if we say that all the gains achieved by the forces of revolution in the field, the Parliament, and the presidency in case of the victory of Morsi, would all together be unable to control Egypt, but by a very little amount comparing with the force and power, which will continue to be owned and controlled by the old state for years to come, and this requires the unity and harmony of the Egyptians more than ever in their face.

The old state is controlling the armed forces, the police, and all the security services in all their diversity, and is also controlling the security situation regarding the discipline or the chaos as required by the stakeholders. The former regime is the one monopolizing the foreign relations’ files, especially the relations with the United States with all what they contain of military aid, joint maneuvers, security coordination, and logistical facilities, through which it can strongly pressure the decision-makers elected by the new forces. In fact, America has adopted months ago sending military aids to Egypt without awaiting the outcome of the presidential elections, and this comes but only because it is aware that the military council does not intend to give up power in favor of any candidate who violates the approach of the former regime.

Mubarak’s Egypt is tightly gripping the issue of the relations with the Zionist entity, and it will try to use this as a bogeyman to adapt the will of the President and the Parliament. It will control the stock of strategic goods and their corridors that affect the daily lives of the Egyptians, through which it will be able to fabricate the crises or resolve them according to the demand and requirement. Hence, if we want to summarize the situation, we find that the former Mubarak’s regime - Ahmed Shafiq today- has been penetrated in the official and private media, as well as in education, banks, Al-Azhar, the Religious Endowments, localities, in many political parties and others. It also stimulated the writers, journalists, artists, and workers everywhere, kept all the keys and the secrets of the national wealth, the public and private one, and had the files of millions of Egyptians, which are always been used to be pressured, threatened and recruited.

In a word, we say that they are forests and dense and complex networks of relationships, interests, persons, institutions, and information that will work together to keep the old regime, to discharge the revolution of its implications, and to exhaust the new rulers and to defeat them as a prelude to get rid of them later with a complete popular blessing!

The Egyptians should know that it is time to realize clearly that their current choice is not in the hands of Shafiq, and that their battle is not between a religious state and other military one, between a rock and a hard place, between the bitter and the more bitter one, or between the lesser of two evils, until the end of all these deceptive binaries, which have been sprung up recently in the media and political newspapers.

The real choice is between giving up the revolution and its simple gains and surrendering to the old state, and between the ability of the Egyptians with all their diversity and variety to be united so that to overthrow Mubarak’s successor, Ahmed Shafiq, and then to work after that to enable the revolution represented by its president, parliament and its fields in the long battles yet to come, during which the forces of the revolution will spare no energy and effort.

Source: Islam Times