Egypt's dictatorship sits on a powder keg

In his Washington Post article titled "Egypt's Dictatorship Sits on Gunpowder," Ezzedine Shoukry Fashir (an Egyptian writer and visiting professor of political and economic science at Dartmouth College, Hampshire) wrote that no one likes the military regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, not even his supporters. .

He adds that those who do not oppose him reluctantly bear it for one reason because they believe it will help Egypt maintain stability and reform the dysfunctional state.

The problem is that the system is failing in both ways. For politics and the economy, rather than building partnerships and thinking in the long term, Sisi chose the easiest path and undermined his ability to achieve reform or stability in this process.

Sisi's limited version of economic reform was limited to eliminating subsidies and liberalizing the exchange rate without deeper reconstruction of the country's economic and regulatory structures. As expected, this has impoverished many Egyptians who are tired of these policies, and the resentment that the government has faced with growing repression has been growing to curb it.

In addition to the millions suffering from the deteriorating economic situation, not to mention the regime's attack on its enemies, both left and right, there are millions of angry Islamist supporters who are eager to avenge their dead and tormented. There is also the armed militia in Sinai that has not been defeated.

Add to this the millions of young people who hate everything the regime represents, and millions more who believed that liberal democracy was within reach until it was restored to military rule that began in 1960.

In other words, the dictatorship of Egypt sits on a cloud of fear underneath a powder keg. This cloud of fear will have to break because the regime's alleged reforms and the repression it must use to enforce it are increasing the temperature, and the events of the past few weeks have made this clear.

This increased heat is not a sign of stability, and it is indeed a warning shot.

According to the writer, the elusive stability and profound reforms that Egyptians need and deserve can only be achieved by ending repression and national reconciliation.