Political adolescence

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If anything, the latest events in Egypt prove that the government as well as the opposition are going through a belated case of political adolescence. This adolescence has left its mark on various aspects of life in the country and may affect the life of ordinary Egyptians for years to come.

For years, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) wanted to have its cake and eat it. For years, the NDP has monopolised the political arena to the exclusion of other political players and independent public figures. As a result, the government came up with solutions that were partial and inadequate at best, conflicted and immature at worst.

The opposition was equally in shambles. Opposition parties rarely came up with comprehensive political programmes. Suffering from internal squabbles and obsessed with survival, few made efforts to recruit supporters, groom leaders, or reach out for potential allies. Emergency law, imposed by the NDP, kept the parties at bay, hiding within their shells, isolated in their towers.

Civil society institutions sprang into action, perhaps to fill the political void, but only to be hit with a barrage of restrictive laws and measures. Accused repeatedly of illegal foreign funding, civil society kept its head low.

Consequently, political action was hobbled. Even when activists took to the streets, maturity seemed to lag behind. No political programmes were formulated. No broad view of complex problems was forthcoming. No concrete steps were taken to lessen the agony of unemployment and poverty. The outcome is now clear. The youth of this country was left prey to narrow-minded theology. The rudimentary ideas of jihad caught up with their despair, turning them into human bombs, into a threat to the nation. And we ended up with the perpetrators of the recent events in Al- Azhar, Abdel-Moneim Riyad, and Al-Sayida Aisha.

We need to face the suicidal jihad tendencies with a clear mind and with concrete political programmes. The latter are not likely to emerge unless the NDP allows other parties and political forces to get a piece of the action. We need political ideas that banish nihilistic thinking. We need programmes that transcend political adolescence. We need a new social contract between citizens and statesmen.