Summary:
President Abdul Fattah Sisi came into power in 2014 and was supposed to step down in 2022 at the end of his second four year term. However, President Sisi may see power till 2030 which is 8 years past the original date of his office. He is able to do this because of a change in the amendment which would turn his term right now to 6 years and let him run again. Sisi who had originally overthrown the last leader Morsi, who was known for his mistreating of citizens, ended up putting thousands in detention. Sisi himself hasn't faced a true competitor for his spot, for the last election he had won 97% of the vote. His competitors either dropped out or they were arrested. The Egyptian parliament is filled with supporters of Sisi. If this goes through then Sisi would also get more power in the judiciary and the military.
Reaction:
President Sisi is a very dangerous leader toward his citizens. For example, once he had an Egyptian economist murdered because he challenged Sisi on the topic of why Egypt is poor (Full story). If a leader who is not willing to let his or her citizens come out to make changes when their country is not doing well is able to more than double his term for his place in office I as a citizen would be worried for my family and the well being of my country. Egypt doesn't have a strong chance of getting a good leader to run against Sisi due to these "drop outs" and "arrestings". Plus, with a good amount of parliament on his side he can do what he wants for a long time.
Connection:
This connects to the Rise of the Dictators unit where corrupt people in power used their power in order to lead countries and exploit there people. In this case it would be just the start but if this keeps continuing where he can elongate his time in power Egypt could very well be in the process of turning into a dictatorship.
Questions to Consider:
1. What are some ways the people could fight back and stop this from happening?
2. Do you think that the government even though on Sisi's side would fight for the people's rights?
People can fight back by supporting the criticisms of the liberal al-Dustour party which, according to the original article, denounces Sisi's actions as power grabs. However it will be very hard for people to fight back because Sisi crushes opposition and scares people from taking action. In addition, it might be hard for opposition leaders to find allies and work together to fight back if the majority of the people support Sisi and want a stronger government after the failures of Morsi. According to CNN, people who support the new amendments to the constitution believe that they would strengthen Egypt's economy and security (https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/20/middleeast/egypt-referendum-votes/index.html). However, the new amendments would give Sisi more legislative and judicial power by allowing him to select the members of both branches. This would especially prevent the people from stopping Sisi's rise to power. I don't think that the government would fight for the people's rights because they deny allegations made by human rights groups such as Amnesty International that accuse the Egyptian government of killing dissenters. If anything, the government wants to keep Sisi and themselves in power.
ReplyDeleteIt is very difficult to get rid of an overpowered dangerous ruler. The people of Egypt and international relations should band together as one to try overthrow Sisi's presidency. I don't think the government would help because they wouldn't if they value their lives. President Sisi seems to take everyone out of his path as shown by his actions at arresting everyone who didn't drop out of the previous elections. He also has Parliament on his side. I don't know about the military or the judiciary branch but dictators like Sisi always seem to find a way to control their status in leadership until other countries decide to kick them out. So even though the judiciary and military branch know that they will be rid of their power, I doubt they will have the means to take Sisi out of office.
ReplyDeleteI agree that having other countries come together to help fight for the Egyptian people but that could set off some of Egypt's allies into joining the fight and that could start a lot of tension between countries and develop this into a bigger problem. I agree the government won't help taking Sisi out of office because they all like him. The only way I see Sisi coming out of office is a revolution of just the Egyptians-Steve Thomas
DeleteWhat’s concerning about Sisi continuing to extend his power more and more is that the people of Egypt seem to have lost a lot of say in terms of choice of their leader. Even excluding the fact that Sisi has basically eliminated all of his legit opposers, it seems virtually impossible to overthrow Sisi at this point. For one, the coup d Etat of Morsi required the while military to get it done, yet Sisi was once a military leader and has, since being elected president, given, as this article states, a lot more power and benefits to the military, so it becomes hard to believe that the military would even want to do anything to hurt Sisi, as he has done a lot for them. Yet even without the military’s help, forcibly removing Morsi from his position is really Egypt’s only option. As of now, there is no clear opponent that could fight Morsi for his power and he seems to be committed to only extending it more. I believe that the people of Egypt must act fast in whatever solution they decide is appropriate, as the more time they give Sisi the more steps he will take towards becoming a full-fledged dictator.
ReplyDeleteThis was Claire Phillips^^ I didn't realize I wasn't logged in when I posted it
DeleteI do not think that the government will fight for the people because thye are on sisi's side. From Mubarek to Morsi the egyptian govt has always put the people second behing their own interest. The people can fight back against this with protest and bringing internatioal eyes to this sitiaution like they did with The protest in tahrir square. Action like that could bring international preasure and oust Sisi.
ReplyDeleteMr. Al-Sisi is one of many current authoritarian leaders who rule under the guise of democracy and elections. The 97% in favor of Mr. Sisi is irrelevant - he will remain in power and crush any supposed opposition to his regime. The Egyptian people have tried democratic revolutions in the past, but have fallen victim to larger, more organized extremist groups who put President Mubarak in office, who Al-Sisi overthrew. In a country such as Egypt, which is in close proximity to the middle eastern conflicts and thus is a common interest among the world's superpowers, President Al-Sisi keeps Egypt stable. Despite his undemocratic policies and actions, he has allowed Egypt to prosper with other authoritarian regimes, and generally suppress uprisings and rebellions. Due to the volatility, the shift towards a democratic Egypt may need to be delayed until the conflicts in the Middle East are quelled.
ReplyDeleteWith Al-Sisi as president, Egypt is again going away from democracy and is turning into more of an autocratic government that the citizens will have a hard time of overthrowing. Al-Sisi has already made the government like a dictatorship by having most of the power in the government, as the article states he gets to choose a lot of the people in the government and already has a large amount support in it. I believe that the government will definitely not help the people, as they all are loyal to al-Sisi and there could be threats to them if they do oppose him. The people would have to come together as larger groups and protest against al-Sisi because he is censoring most of the attempts to oppose him. He banned opposition from posting banners to urge people to vote no on this change (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/egypt-opposition-urges-voters-reject-constitutional-amendments-190418160131914.html). They cannot get a new leader through the normal means, as those who try to oppose him in elections are forced to back out, so I believe the people would have to protest in large groups in order to get international attention. With international attention, I believe that other democratic countries could take actions like imposing sanctions to get change in Egypt.
ReplyDelete