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29 Nov, 2012 05:34

Transition in chaos: 'Morsi taking Egypt down Mubarak road'

The latest protests on Tahrir Square in Cairo are not the seeds of another revolution, they are a continuation of what was started 2 years ago, blogger Wael Eskandar told RT. President Morsi’s new powers are returning Egypt to a Mubarak-style regime.

RT: Again, like two years ago, cries for the President to go are being heard on Tahrir Square – do you think a new revolution is on its way?Wael Eskandar: I don’t particularly think this is a new revolution, I think we’re finishing off this one, the one we started two years ago. Because in reality not much has changed in the way the regime has been handling the country. The transition process is in itself in a state of chaos, and the new elected leader Mohamed Morsi is determined to go down the same road that Mubarak has gone, down with all the economic policies and with his inability to listen to what people want.RT: But isn’t the transition process expected to be very difficult at this stage? After all, the draft constitution could be voted on in two days – and Morsi promised to shed his new power as soon as it passes. So people have to be patient only – everything will be back to normal soon, won't it?WE: If we have signs that things are going well, then I agree with you that we have to be patient. But the fact of matters [is] that everything is going in the opposite direction of what the revolution is called for. The constituent assembly itself is a reflection of how unwilling to share power [the] Muslim Brotherhood are along with Mohamed Morsi. He says that he will give back powers as soon as parliament is elected. But he’s not allowing Egyptians to share in writing the constitution. So this to me seems but a false promise about giving back power, because the one thing he can do is allow Egyptians to write their own constitution and share power, and he’s not doing that.RT:The judiciary, much of which was appointed by Mubarak, were the ones who were threatening this whole process. Surely that’s something that you as a protester would be keen to see not happening, bear in mind, where the judiciary came from originally?WE: Yes, the judiciary have been a tool for Mubarak regime. But if we come to think of it, when people protested Mubarak, they were protesting police brutality. And we see that Morsi is giving promises to the police that they will act for the impunity and does not want to bring anyone to justice for the crimes they’ve done.RT:The EU is threatening to cut funding if Morsi continues to behave like a dictator, as many perceive he is doing, will this external pressure help the protesters' cause?WE: External pressure will help the protesters' cause but at this point I think that Mohamed Morsi is willing to risk that, because the US, who are backing Mohamed Morsi, have not issued as very strong statement that would deter him from going for that power grab.RT:You’re saying that nothing has improved since Mubarak was deposed. Give us an idea of how bad has it become for Egyptians compared to what it was?WE: It’s a lot worse. Security is a lot worse. Police are now unwilling to step in in anything domestically, they only act politically. This is much like the Mubarak regime, but it continues and it gets worse. They will not move to address any citizen concerns such as theft or mugging, or thugs. At the same time, economic policies are the same, and the subsidies are about to be lifted, they have been lifted for the gas at the moment. There has been no change in these things, which are very bad to most Egyptians, I think.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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