Egitto – L’opposizione unisce le forze contro il presidente Morsi
Si amplia la divisione politica in Egitto
– Con il decreto – emesso il giorno dopo aver negoziato la tregua tra Hamas e Israele il Presidente egiziano Morsi si arroga il controllo quasi totale dei poteri, quello giudiziario dopo quello legislativo,
– al Cairo e in altre città scontri tra polizia e giovani oppositori del regime Morsi, contro il quale si è costituito un nuovo Fronte di Salvezza Nazionale egiziano (FSN).
– L’FSN è una coalizione di gruppi tra loro rivali e in lite, secondo Hassan Nafaa, professore di scienze politiche egiziano, privi di una visione comune e di una base di massa;
– comprende un ampio spettro politico, di partiti di sinistra e liberali, ma anche di forze vicine al vecchio regime Mubarak, come Mahmud, che ha dichiarata nulla la sua destituzione.
– Secondo Nafaa, è da prevedere l’inasprimento degli scontri dato che ogni forza politica misurerà la forza delle altre.
o Hanno aderito all’FSN il candidato di sinistra alle presidenziali, Hamdeen Sabbahi; il premio Nobel per la pace, El Baradei; Abul Futuh, ora indipendente e prima appartenente ai Fratelli Musulmani, candidato alle presidenziali contro Morsi.
– Ha partecipato alla riunione del Fronte di opposizione anche Samir Marqos, cristiano, che si è dimesso per protesta contro dalla carica di consigliere di Morsi.
– Uno dei leader del FN, Amr Moussa (76 anni), ex ministro Esteri egiziano ora segretario della Lega Araba, e candidato presidenziale perdente a giugno, ha chiesto la revoca del decreto Morsi. Moussa: ci sono state le elezioni, non chiediamo un cambio di regime.
– Moussa è stato uno dei 20 membri della Costituente, comprendenti rappresentanti delle chiese egiziane, che si sono dimessi ad inizio novembre. La goccia che ha fatto traboccare il vaso, secondo Moussa, è stato un articolo che prevede figure sociali di controllo sulla pubblica moralità.
– La coalizione sta ampliandosi a gruppi di giovani e di altre forze rivoluzionarie, che vogliono impedire una “presa del potere islamista”.
– Diverse associazioni di magistrati e procuratori hanno dichiarato anticostituzionale l’iniziativa di Morsi; il Circolo dei magistrati ha indetto uno sciopero.
– L’opposizione ha avuto l’incoraggiamento del Sindacato della Stampa egiziana, che rappresenta giornalisti di media statali e privati, che ha invitato i dipendenti dei giornali statali a scioperare fino a che Morsi revoca il decreto.
– Governi esteri:
o una portavoce del governo Usa ha chiesto il mantenimento delle regole democratiche;
o il senatore repubblicano, McCain ha chiesto la sospensione degli aiuti finanziari al Cairo, finché Morsi non fa marcia indietro.
o il ministro Esteri tedesco, Westerwelle (FDP): Morsi ha dimostrato una grande senso di responsabilità negoziando una tregua tra Israele e Hamas, deve averla anche per la sua politica interna.
– L’opposizione ha annunciato per martedì proteste in tutto il paese e l’inizio di un sciopero con sit-in nella piazza Tahrir del Cairo; spera nella partecipazione di un milione di manifestanti, la scorsa domenica nella piazza ve ne era qualche centinaia.
– Per lo stesso giorno manifestazione organizzata dai Fratelli Musulmani a sostegno di Morsi.
o Lo scontro inasprito – tra il fronte dei salafiti e dei Fratelli Musulmani e quello di raggruppamenti liberali, sinistra e seguaci del regime Mubarak – si focalizza sulla nuova Costituzione.
o Se la nuova rivolta politica uscisse dal controllo si radicalizzasse potrebbe provocare un colpo militare, e il ritorno ad un governo dei militari, come temuto da ElBaradei.
– Morsi aveva già acquisito i poteri legislativi a seguito della dissoluzione del parlamento da parte della Corte costituzionale ad inizio anno, quando il paese era governato da un consiglio militare ad interim.
o Secondo analisti e politici egiziani il decreto Morsi protegge completamente l’Assemblea Costituente, controllata dagli alleati di Morsi, dalla possibilità di essere ricostituita o sciolta.
o Circa 1/3 dell’Assemblea Costituente, che deve elaborare una nuova Costituzione entro febbraio, ha abbandonato la commissione nei mesi scorsi contro il predomino degli islamisti.
o Il NYT: con il suo decreto Morsi ha voluto prevenire una decisione della corte costituzionale che sembra volesse sciogliere l’assemblea costituente domenica prossima.
o L’Alta Corte aveva già ordinato lo scioglimento della prima camera parlamentare, Madschlis al Schaab e la precedente Costituente, istituita ad inizio anno.
– Il decreto Morsi, con una aggiunta alla Costituzione vigente, esautora il potere giudiziario (i giudici erano stati nominati dal precedente regime), avocandolo al presidente Morsi fino all’approvazione di una nuova Costituzione il prossimo febbraio,
o secondo Morsi per accelerare il periodo di transizione impedendo l’ostruzionismo dei partiti di opposizione e dei resti del regime Mubarak –
– Asia Times, 27.11.2012: ricorda l’operato simile a quello di Morsi del presidente americano Abraham Lincoln, il presidente più venerato della storia Usa ma in un certo senso anche il più dittatoriale. Durante la Guerra civile sospese l’Habeas Corpus, e questo portò a innumerevoli arresti arbitrari, chiusure di giornali e incarcerazione di decine di editori.
o Lincoln non era molto sensibile ai diritti dei suoi oppositori, riteneva appropriati e giustificati quasi tutti i mezzi per proseguire la guerra contro il Sud secessionista.
o Lincoln manovrò per far passare in un Congresso riluttante e diviso il 13° emendamento anti-schiavitù.
o Anche Morsi giustifica la centralizzazione dei poteri nelle proprie mani parlando di salvaguardia dei frutti della rivoluzione.
o Morsi sta affrontando una prova del nove della sua capacità di leadership.
L’inasprimento della crisi politica indebolisce ulteriormente l’economia egiziana già in difficoltà; -9,5% il maggior indice borsistico egiziano, il maggior calo dalla rivoluzione contro Mubarak ad inizio 2011.
Egyptian Opposition Pushes Back Against Morsi’s Autocratic Ambitions
Protesters are clashing with police in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. (Photo: Polaris/Newscom)
– Egypt has been rocked once again by a political crisis triggered by President Mohamed Morsi’s relentless efforts to secure dictatorial power. Hundreds of protesters from liberal and secular opposition groups demonstrated in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the birthplace of Egypt’s stunted “Arab Spring” revolt.
– One barometer of the coming test of strength between Morsi and the weak and splintered opposition will be whether the disappointed democrats can retain control over Tahrir Square in the face of police and Muslim Brotherhood countermoves.
– Egypt’s judiciary also has pushed back against Morsi’s power grab. The Supreme Council of the Judiciary denounced Morsi’s unilateral assertion of power over the judiciary as “an unprecedented attack on judicial independence.” The Judges Club, an association of judges made up of many appointees by the Mubarak regime, called for a strike by courts across Egypt.
– But the judges alone will not be enough to reverse Morsi’s power grab. The key vote will be wielded by the armed forces.
– Morsi appears confident that he can count on support from key military leaders, whom he hand-picked after purging the top ranks of Mubarak loyalists in August.
– While the army’s ultimate verdict on Morsi’s power grab is not yet apparent, Egypt’s investors voted with their wallets and withdrew their money from Egypt’s stock market, which plunged almost 10 percent on Sunday. Even if Morsi does secure the backing of the army, his assertion of dictatorial powers will further undermine what little confidence remains in Egypt’s deteriorating economy.
– Morsi is acting as if he expects the United States and others among Egypt’s creditors to turn a blind eye to his lunge for power as a sign of gratitude for his help in brokering an unstable ceasefire in Gaza.
o But the Obama Administration must not abandon America’s founding principles in supporting the rule of law, liberty, religious tolerance, and political freedom. It must push back against Morsi’s illegitimate assertion of unchecked power. This will encourage opposition leaders and perhaps even Egyptians who remain on the fence to vigorously reject Morsi’s aggressive power grab.
The bottom line is that Islamists have hijacked Egypt’s “Arab Spring” and are choking off any possibility of a Gaza “Arab Spring” by fomenting endless conflict with Israel.
Ägypten Opposition bündelt Kräfte gegen Präsident Mursi
26.11.2012 · Die Konfrontation zwischen Islamisten und Gegnern des Präsidenten Mursi weitet sich aus. In Kairo und anderen Städten kommt es zu Straßenschlachten an. Bei einem Angriff auf das Hauptquartier der Muslimbruderschaft kam ein 15 Jahre alter Jugendlicher ums Leben.
– Die politische Krise in Ägypten weitet sich aus. Führer der neu gegründeten Nationalen Front forderten am Wochenende die Rücknahme einer Verfassungsergänzung Präsident Muhammad Mursis, mit der er am vergangenen Donnerstag die Justiz bis zur Verabschiedung einer neuen Verfassung entmachtet hatte.
– In Kairo und anderen Städten kam es am Sonntag abermals zu Straßenschlachten zwischen der Polizei und Gegnern Mursis. Die Proteste forderten am Abend erstmals ein Todesopfer. Ein 15 Jahre alter Jugendlicher wurde am Sonntagabend getötet, als Demonstranten in der Stadt Damanhoor im Nildelta ein Gebäude der islamistischen Muslimbruderschaft von Mursi angriffen und sich Straßenschlachten mit der Polizei lieferten. 40 Menschen seien zudem verletzt worden, teilten die Behörden mit.
– Präsident Mursi will an diesem Montag mit dem Obersten Richterrat des Landes zusammenkommen, um über seine Dekrete zur Ausweitung seiner Machtbefugnisse zu sprechen. Die Richter Mursi überreden, die Unantastbarkeit folgenschwerer Entscheidungen wie Kriegserklärungen und eine Verhängung des Kriegsrechts einzuschränken. Mehrere Gerichte des Landes hatten zuvor für Sonntag, den ägyptischen Wochenanfang, angesetzte Verhandlungen abgesagt. Mehrere Verbände von Richtern und Staatsanwälten hatten das Vorgehen Mursis als verfassungswidrig bezeichnet. Der Richterclub rief zum Streik auf; der Hohe Rat der Justiz bezeichnete das Dekret Mursis als „beispiellosen Angriff auf die Unabhängigkeit der Justiz“.
– Eine Sprecherin der amerikanischen Regierung mahnte die Einhaltung demokratischer Standards an. Der deutsche Außenminister Guido Westerwelle äußerte sich besorgt über die „jüngsten Ereignisse und Entscheidungen“ in Ägypten.
o „Wir setzen darauf, dass Präsident Mursi, der mit großem Verantwortungsbewusstsein eine Waffenruhe zwischen Hamas und Israel ausgehandelt hat, diese Verantwortung nun auch nach innen wahrnimmt“, sagte er. Mursi hatte die Ausweitung seiner Machtbefugnisse einen Tag nach dem von Ägypten vermittelten Waffenstillstand zwischen Israel und der palästinensischen Hamas dekretiert.
– Aus Protest gegen die Verfassungsergänzung hatten sich am Wochenende mehrere linke und liberale Parteien zur Nationalen Front zusammengeschlossen.
o Einer ihrer Führer, der frühere ägyptische Außenminister Generalsekretär der Arabischen Liga, Amr Musa, forderte die Rücknahme der Dekrete, die auch die Entlassung Generalstaatsanwalts Abdelmegid Mahmud beinhalten. „Wir werden keinem Dialog zustimmen, solange diese Verfassungsänderung inkraft bleibt“, sagte Musa am Samstag.
o Der Nationalen Front habe auch der linke Präsidentschaftskandidat Hamdeen Sabbahi, Friedensnobelpreisträger Mohammed El Baradei und der unabhängige Islamist Abdelmonen Abul Futuh angeschlossen.
– Der am Freitag aus Protest gegen das Vorgehen des Präsidenten zurückgetretene christliche Berater Mursis, Samir Marqos, nahm an dem Treffen des Oppositionsbündnisses ebenso teil wie der entlassene Generalstaatsanwalt Mahmud.
– Damit umfasst die Nationale Front ein breites politisches Spektrum nicht nur linker und liberaler Parteien, sondern auch dem alten Regime nahe stehender Kräfte wie Mahmud sowie dem gegen Mursi bei der Präsidentenwahl angetretenen früheren Muslimbruder Abul Futuh. Der noch unter dem 2011 gestürzten Machthaber Husni Mubarak eingesetzte Mahmud bezeichnete seine Entlassung am Samstag auf einer Pressekonferenz als „null und nichtig“. Er warnte vor einer „systematischen Kampagne gegen die Institutionen des Landes im Allgemeinen und gegen die Justiz im Besonderen“.
– Die Opposition kündigte für Dienstag landesweite Proteste und den Beginn eines Sitzstreiks auf dem Tahrir-Platz in Kairo an, wodurch sich die Fronten weiter verhärten dürften.
– Auch die islamistischen Muslimbrüder, aus deren Reihen Mursi stammmt, haben für diesen Tag zu Demonstrationen aufgerufen, um den Präsidenten zu unterstützen.
– Schon seit einer Woche bereits liefern sich vor allem Jugendliche Straßenschlachten mit der Polizei in Seitenstraßen des Platzes, wo vor fast zwei Jahren die Massenproteste gegen Mubarak stattgefunden hatten. Am Wochenende wurde auch die in der Nähe des Platzes gelegene amerikanische Botschaft mit Steinen beworfen.
Wollte Mursi Entscheidung der Justiz zuvorkommen?
– Auf einer Kundgebung am Sonntag in Kairo stellten sich Mitglieder der Muslimbruderschaft hinter Mursis Entscheidung. Muhammad Badie, das Oberhaupt der Islamistenbewegung, rechtfertigte am Wochenende dessen Vorgehen. „Die überwältigende Mehrheit des ägyptischen Volkes hat die Entscheidungen des Präsidenten der Republik begrüßt“, sagte er.
– Zentraler Punkt des sich verschärfenden politischen Streites in Ägypten zwischen Salafisten und Muslimbrüdern auf der einen und Liberalen, Linken sowie Anhängern des Mubarak-Regimes auf der anderen Seite ist die neue Verfassung.
– Rund ein Drittel der Mitglieder der Verfassungsgebenden Versammlung, die nun bis Februar ein neues Grundgesetz erarbeiten soll, hat das Gremium in den vergangenen Monaten aus Kritik an der Dominanz der Islamisten verlassen.
– Die Zeitung „New York Times“ berichtete am Wochenende, dass Mursi mit seinem Beschluss zur Entmachtung der Justiz einer Entscheidung des Verfassungsgerichts zuvorkommen wollte, das angeblich am kommenden Sonntag die Auflösung der Versammlung beschließen wollte. Hohe Gerichte hatten schon angeordnet, die erste Parlamentskammer, Madschlis al Schaab, sowie eine Anfang des Jahres eingerichtete frühere Verfassungsgebende Versammlung aufzulösen.
Durch die Eskalation der politischen Krise wurde die ohnehin am Boden liegende ägyptische Wirtschaft weiter geschwächt. Am Sonntag fiel der wichtigste ägyptische Aktienindex EGX30 bis Mittag um 9,5 Prozent und damit so stark wie seit der Revolution gegen Mubarak Anfang 2011 nicht mehr.
Ägypten: Mursis Coup
Kommentar: Machtkampf in Ägypten
Ägypten: Demonstranten setzen Parteibüros der Muslimbrüder in Brand
Ägyptens Präsident Mursi festigt seine Macht
Mursi begnadigt politische Häftlinge aus Zeit des Aufstands
Ägypten: Der Mursi-Code
Muhammad Mursi: Ägyptens neuer Ton
Egypt Opposition Pushes Back
– CAIRO—The political divide in Egypt widened as secular and liberal opposition forces raised pressure on President Mohammed Morsi to rescind an edict that consolidates his power and sidelines the judiciary.
A power grab by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has U.S. politicians like Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) calling for the end of foreign aid until Morsi backs down. Dr. Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institute discusses on the News Hub. Photo: AP.
The political divide in Egypt widened, as secular and liberal opposition forces raised the pressure on President Mohammed Morsi to rescind an edict that consolidates his power and sidelines the judiciary.
Mr. Morsi’s supporters, meanwhile, prepared for rallies Tuesday to preserve what the Muslim Brotherhood, the main Islamic party, called "legitimacy and stability."
– Egypt’s array of quarreling opposition groups has coalesced and formed a National Salvation Front to push back against Mr. Morsi’s decree.
– The coalition—formed last week by secular and liberal political parties—is expanding to include youth groups and other revolutionary forces seeking to challenge Mr. Morsi’s decisions and prevent what they say is an impending Islamist takeover of the government.
– The Front is expected to have significant leverage: Many groups are joining, and it is tapping rising fear among Egyptians of a Brotherhood takeover.
– Thousands of Egyptians gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in reaction to the president’s move to grant himself near-absolute power.
– On Sunday, the opposition effort got a boost from the Egyptian Press Syndicate, which represents journalists at both state-owned and independent media. The union[e] held a tense and boisterous meeting to denounce Mr. Morsi’s decision and call for employees at state-owned newspapers to stop their printing presses in solidarity until Mr. Morsi rescinds the decree.
Top judges on Saturday described the decree as "an unprecedented assault" on judicial independence and called on judges to strike nationwide. Many courthouses in Cairo and other parts of the country were closed Sunday because of the strike, according to Egyptian state media. Mr. Morsi is scheduled to meet with senior judges on Monday to explain the scope of his decisions, said his spokesman Yassir Ali.
– Egyptian shares plunged more than 9% Sunday, the first trading day since Mr. Morsi’s decree, as the political tensions unnerved investors already jittery about the prospects for the economy. The benchmark EGX-30 Index closed down 9.6% at 4917.73, wiping out last week’s modest gains, which followed the signing of a preliminary agreement on a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.
– Tensions were running high on Sunday. More than two dozen tents were pitched in Tahrir Square, where several hundred opponents of Mr. Morsi amassed. Nearby, young anti-Morsi protesters clashed with security forces for the seventh consecutive day, but this time the scene shifted to a road leading to the U.S. Embassy, which has been attacked in the past.
Protesters clashed with police in Cairo Sunday amid turmoil over President Morsi’s move to consolidate power.
Protesters lobbed rocks and Molotov cocktails at security forces, which hit back with a barrage of teargas. Protesters set an abandoned Avis car-rental office in the area on fire.
– The U.S. Embassy issued a statement saying some rocks had landed in its compound but that it didn’t believe it was the target. It urged its personnel to remain indoors and warned U.S. citizens against coming to the embassy.
– Amr Moussa, a 76-year-old Egyptian politician and candidate in the June presidential election that Mr. Morsi won, is among several former presidential candidates, including Mohamed ElBaradei, former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to join the National Salvation Front. It also includes youth leaders instrumental in the revolution that toppled the authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.
"Elections have taken place," Mr. Moussa said. "We are not asking for regime change but we are mobilizing to rescue Egypt because something seriously wrong has happened."
– The Front’s central demand is that Mr. Morsi scrap the decree, which makes all his decisions as president, past and future, immune from judicial review until a new constitution is approved, via referendum, to be held by February.
– Mr. Morsi acquired legislative powers after the Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved Parliament earlier this year when the country was ruled by an interim military council.
– In addition to neutralizing the judiciary, many Egyptian politicians and analysts say Mr. Morsi’s decree completely shields the Constitutional Assembly, the panel tasked with drafting the new constitution that has increasingly come under the sway of Mr. Morsi’s allies in the Brotherhood, from being reconstituted or dissolved. The courts had been expected to consider dissolving the panel in the coming weeks.
– Mr. Morsi and his allies say the decree was necessary to expedite a transitional period that has been shackled by what they call obstructionist opposition parties and remnants of the Mubarak regime.
– Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said the liberal and secular forces now banding together to confront Mr. Morsi are still beset by the problems that have stymied collective efforts until now: personal rivalries, conflicting ideologies and agendas, and a lack of common vision and grass-roots reach.
The groups were uniting to confront what they see as a naked power grab by the Muslim Brotherhood, the dominant party in Mr. Morsi’s coalition, Mr. Nafaa said.
– "I think we are going to see an escalation in the battle as each political force will test the strength of the other," he said.
– Mr. Moussa, the former presidential candidate, was among some 20 members of the Constitutional Assembly, including representatives of Egyptian churches, to resign earlier this month over what he characterized as bullying and strong-arming by Mr. Morsi’s Islamist allies on the panel. Mr. Morsi and his allies have denied the allegations.
– "For me the straw that broke the camel’s back is their push to include an article about society figures tasked with enforcing public morality," said Mr. Moussa.
– Opposition groups have called for a million-strong gathering Tuesday in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising that toppled Mr. Mubarak. The Brotherhood, which initially called for a similar rally Tuesday in nearby Abdeen Square, on Sunday changed the venue to a public space in front of Cairo University, farther from the square, to avert clashes with Morsi opponents. "We call on all patriotic, revolutionary, youth and Islamist forces to join this million-strong rally in support of legitimacy and stability," said Brotherhood spokesman Mohammed Ghazlan.
On Sunday, the Brotherhood said a 15-year-old member was killed and 60 people were wounded when "thugs" tried to storm the party’s headquarters in the city of Damanhour, north of Cairo.
– Pressure from Washington on Mr. Morsi to repeal his decree also mounted over the weekend, despite the Egyptian leader’s role in helping to negotiate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Some leading lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain (R., Az.), a former presidential candidate, are calling for the U.S. to halt financial assistance to Cairo if Mr. Morsi doesn’t back away from instituting his constitutional amendments.
"We thank Mr. Morsi for his efforts in brokering the cease-fire with Hamas.…But this is not what the United States of America’s taxpayers expect," Sen. McCain said on "Fox News Sunday." "Our dollars will be directly related to progress toward democracy.”
—Tim Falconer and Jay Solomon contributed to this article.
Morsi, Egypt’s Lincoln?
– NEW YORK – Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi has triggered the first real crisis of his presidency by his sudden and unexpected decision to arrogate to himself nearly total control of all branches of the government, including the judiciary branch, which has revolted against what Morsi’s diverse opponents call his dictatorial move.
– Although Morsi has defended his action as both necessary and temporary, the country has now been engulfed in a new political turmoil that, in case it gets out of control, may result in a military coup and the restoration of military government, as feared by rival politicians such as Mohammed ElBaradei.
– Certainly, Morsi’s move has been intended as a preemptive move to disallow the judges appointed by the ancien regime to decide the fate of an Islamist-dominated committee to revise the constitution. What is at stake is no less than the form and nature of the future political system and, indeed, the fate of the new Egyptian revolution that has been a crowning achievement of the Arab Spring.
– What would Lincoln do? My mind raced to this question while I was watching Steven Spielberg’s wonderful, albeit myth-making, portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in the new movie that focuses on Lincoln’s political maneuvers to get the anti-slavery 13th amendment passed through a reluctant and fractious Congress.
– After all, Lincoln, arguably the most revered US president in the country’s history, was in some sense also the most dictatorial US president and who in his time was much criticized for his suspension of the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War. Targeting the "most sacred rights of American freemen," to echo some of his congressional critics, this led to countless arbitrary arrests, closure of newspapers and incarceration of dozens of editors, actions all subsequently sanctioned by the US Supreme Court, in the case of Milligan, where the court reasoned that the suspension of habeas corpus was permissible.
– As is well-known, Lincoln’s justification was that his powerful blow to the supremacy of law was "constitutional when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety requires them, which would not be constitutional when, in the absence of rebellion or invasion, the public safety does not require them."
– Lincoln was not particularly sensitive to the rights of his opponents and deemed nearly all means appropriate and justified for the end, ie a successful persecution of the war against the secessionist South. Thus, in his message to a special session of Congress on July 4, 1861, Lincoln stated:
It was decided that we have a case of rebellion, and that the public safety does require the qualified suspension of the privilege of the writ which was authorized to be made. Now it is insisted that Congress, and not the Executive, is vested with this power … It cannot be believed that the framers of the instrument intended, that in every case, the danger should run its course.
– It is noteworthy that some of Lincoln’s contemporaries who deemed his action unconstitutional nevertheless backed him with the rationalization that the Civil War emergency "show[s] that even legality must sometimes be sacrificed for other values." Lincoln himself never denied his stretch in presidential power but those extraordinary actions "whether strictly legal or not ventured upon … public necessity."
– Turning to Egypt’s Morsi, at present under fire for invoking public necessity for his supposedly draconian measure, which ignited a popular revolt in the streets of Cairo as well as on the judicial benches around the country (although some justices have decided to endorse Morsi instead of challenging him), it may be instructive to make limited comparisons between him and Lincoln by drawing on the "mystic cords of memory", to borrow a term from Lincoln’s first inaugural speech.
– In fact, the parallels are rather striking. Much like Lincoln who was attacked for usurping "regal authority" during the Civil War, Morsi is now branded as Egypt’s new pharoah. And just as Lincoln defended himself against criticism by citing a higher priority, that is, maintaining the Union[e] at all costs, Morsi today can be heard discoursing about safeguarding the fruits of revolution by centralizing power in his hands.
Change Lincoln’s term of "rebellion" for Morsi’s "reactionaries" and "counter-revolutionaries" and one sees the strong and unmistakable parallels. Both cases remind us that political leadership, especially at a time of great national turmoil, is a complicated and at times contradictory phenomenon.
– Perhaps Morsi should not be compared to Lincoln at all, and it is too early to conclude whether he shares some of Lincoln’s presidential leadership: his depth of vision, strategic command, political savvy, and techniques as a great communicator.
– What is beyond doubt is that Morsi now faces a litmus test of his leadership, in a crisis of his own making, yet one that may have been inevitable, and we shall soon find out if he has another one of Lincoln’s great qualities, namely, the ability to learn from his errors and evolve.
Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran’s Foreign Policy (Westview Press). For his Wikipedia entry, click here. He is author of Reading In Iran Foreign Policy After September 11 (BookSurge Publishing , October 23, 2008) and Looking for rights at Harvard. His latest book is UN Management Reform: Selected Articles and Interviews on United Nations, CreateSpace (November 12, 2011).