Egypt Final Post

               Through the semester our group has been covering the ongoing crisis that is occurring in Egypt as a result of the military takeover.  There has been constant unrest as pro-Morsi supports have continued to protest through the weeks since the military takeover.  A topic that our group kept a close eye on has been how the current military run government has responded to pro Morsi supports and their actions.  In addition, we have covered the ongoing actions that the new military run government has taken.  Based on our reports over the weeks is does not appear that the military run government is going to be changing soon.  There have been rumor and talks of the current Army/chief defense minister (el-Sissi) potentially running for office.  This news has not yet been confirmed but the rumors did not help to keep the peace in Egypt.  Furthermore, since the military takeover there have been multiple account of public media networks being permanently banned for portraying the current government in a negative light.  There have been many other instances of military-backed interim government using its power to silence or push back against negative publicity.  University students have also organized themselves and started to protest but they too have been met with military personal.  When members of the interim government were asked why they ordered the peaceful protest to be shut down, many member responded in a similar pattern.  Member of government stated that the protesters were inciting violence and had to be stopped in order to keep the peace.  Inciting violence is the same crime the current government is charging ousted president Morsi and many of head Muslim brotherhood members with.

               Each week when our group met, we would all take 45 minutes to 1 hours to look over popular news articles.  We would always make sure we were reading different ones so after we all had finished we could compare the information and opinions of what we had read.  We would then discuss what information was most important/relevant to include in the current weeks blog and how it related to what happened in the previous weeks.  When reading an article I tried to imagine how each week’s events were effecting everyday citizens both Morsi supports and non-Morsi supporters. How the different actions taken by the government would affect the protesters and if the actions taken by the protesters ever went too far and warranted the use of military action.  I commonly used the Al-Jazeera website as a source of information.  The website was perfect because it offered a synapses of major event and how those event have affected the citizens of Egypt.  Working in a group really allowed me to look at each story from a different viewpoint.  Almost every week members of our group would offer different ideas of analyses or idea as to how the interim government’s actions would affect the country as a whole in both the short and long term.

               Through the semester I have gotten a much better understanding of the current crisis that is occurring in Egypt.  I understand that Egyptian citizens and Muslim brotherhood supporters are angry because the president they elected, Morsi, was forced out of office.  This action was viewed by many protesters as a direct violation of the democratic election process the country had just recently implement.  As a result many citizens feel there rights and voices are being ignored.  Citizens and pro-Morsi supporters then began to protest and perform mass demonstrations with the goal of having Morsi reinstated.  The protesters did not just culminate in the capital city.  Protest group formed at universities, small town, workplaces etc. all demonstrating their disapproval with the outing of Morsi and his upcoming trial.  Even with the protesters performing many types of demonstrations the current government has tracked down and detained all head members of Morsi’s party.  With all the members in custody the trial involving ex-president Morsi has moved forward.  The upcoming trial has only further shown how unstable Egypt still is.  The public and many Morsi supports are greatly concerned with how legitimate the trial will be. In the last weeks of studying the ongoing crisis it has become clear that Egypt is split.  Citizens on one side believe that with the start of Morsi’s trial Egypt will finally begin to settle and they country will leave the current oppressive government behind and return to a more democratic state.  On the other side many citizens fear that the trial of Morsi will not change and the current military-backed interim government will remain in power for a greater amount of time.  It is clear that there are still a lot of changes to occur in Egypt and only time will tell what the final result will be.