Maria’s note: Morsi’s Carrot-and-Stick-and-Stick-and-Stick Approach

Egypt’s opposition has called for protests on Sunday after the president’s decision of not rescinding the constitutional draft, as they demanded. Mohamed Morsi, who yesterday at midnight announced the rescission of the constitutional declaration that granted him sweeping powers, has decided to keep in place the date of the referendum, scheduled for December 15. All these decisions have caused the anger of a big sector of Egypt’s society, who see the demands of the revolution unfulfilled and betrayed.

Many see all the process, since the problematic appointment of the constituent assembly until the date of the referendum, as a disaster that will only lead to an Islamist-ruled country where individual rights would be weakly protected.

After Morsi was “democratically elected”, the natural path was to have a constituent assembly that would represent all sectors of society and who would produce a constitutional draft that would be accepted by the majority of Egyptians. However, that was not the case. Islamists currently form the constituent assembly in its majority, after most non-Islamist political forces resigned. And although Morsi promised he would accept the draft only if national consensus existed, he has protected and safeguard this non-representative, Islamist assembly, in charge of issuing the text.

We cannot deny that Islamist have the support of a high percentage of the population. However, the more power the Islamists hold, the more their organizations fracture. Egypt’s population is certainly polarized, and confused. The opposition is as big (if not bigger) as the Islamist power. However, the political leadership of the opposition is weak and they fail to gather people under the same demands, under the same goals. Tens of thousands are taking to streets not because they want the replacement of Morsi by a certain political figure of the opposition, but because they are angry at the impunity of the president, at the lies of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The insurmountable differences between the two segments of society are not about politics. They have to do with a complete different understanding of the meaning of freedom, democracy and civil liberties.

Now Egyptians are faced with an impossible decision of choosing a problematic constitution to rule them, or continue to fight.