The whole story of asking the Egyptian people to demand Morsi’s resignation

1. Current situation:

The protests in Egypt that lasted for nearly a week reached their climax on June 30, the first anniversary of President Morsi’s taking office. A year ago, Morsi, chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, won Egypt's first democratic presidential election since Mubarak's ouster, becoming Egypt's first non-military president. On the first anniversary of Morsi's coming to power. Tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square to hold massive demonstrations calling for the resignation of Egyptian President Morsi.

(1) Demonstrators believe:

Morsi failed to achieve most of the goals he proposed during his campaign, and Egypt's political, economic and social environment as a whole has not improved significantly. They claimed to have obtained 22 million people's signatures in support of holding an early election.

Some media claimed that this was the largest protest demonstration by the Egyptian opposition since the overthrow of Mubarak in 2011. The demonstrations were basically peaceful. According to Xinhua News Agency, armored vehicles were deployed in some areas around Cairo, at important intersections, and near the international airport. However, there were almost no police officers on duty at the demonstration site.

(2) The Muslim Brotherhood headquarters was looted

At about 7 pm on June 30, about 50 people attacked the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters, threw gasoline bombs at it, and caused a fire . Brotherhood members fought back, killing at least four of the besiegers. Both sides said the other side was the first to attack.

After a night of fierce fighting, on the morning of July 1, people once again poured into the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters and looted all the remaining items inside. People took away air-conditioning parts, safes, filing cabinets and there was a scramble inside the building.

(3) The military issued a 48-hour ultimatum

The Egyptian military’s top general and defense minister, General Sisi, read a statement on TV saying that he had issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the government. A consensus is required to respond to the protesters' demands, otherwise the military will take its own "road map to the future."

Morsi said through the media and a spokesman that he was committed to "correcting mistakes" but had no intention of resigning. Egypt's presidential palace said dialogue was the only option to resolve the crisis. So far, five ministers and five members of the Morsi government have resigned.

The organizers of the demonstrations rejected the invitation for dialogue on July 1, calling 17:00 local time on the 2nd (23:00 Beijing time) as the "deadline" for Morsi to step down.

2. Direct reasons

The people have not seen signs that the country is getting better

Egypt can be said to be in the worst period in history: the Egyptian people passed a When Morsi came to power in 2006, they did not see any signs of improvement in the country. They were extremely dissatisfied with the status quo and became increasingly impatient. Throughout the year, Egypt experienced constant civil unrest. People are suffering from high fiscal deficits, inflation and unemployment, and very little money is spent on public health care, education, and projects to stimulate economic growth. The government is helpless. All the goals Morsi put forward during his campaign to improve people's livelihood have not been fulfilled.

3. Deep-seated reasons

1. The opposition believes that:

Morsi and his staff were slow to respond to economic issues. Particular weakness has been seen in the reduction of foreign exchange reserves and the fluctuation of the value of the Egyptian pound. Despite three finance ministers in one year, the government's economic policy remains unclear.

The media criticized the Egyptian government for "expending a lot of energy on borrowing foreign debt and attracting investment, but does not know how to use these things for projects that promote economic growth." At the same time, as the political situation continues to stir up troubles, people's daily life problems have intensified.

2. In fact, the current situation in Egypt cannot be entirely borne by Morsi, but is caused by many factors.

First of all, the revolution broke out in Egypt because the problems accumulated to the point that the people could no longer bear it. Many of the accumulated disadvantages were structural problems. For example, Egypt had almost no national industry and mainly relied on tourism and other industries. Solving these problems will not happen overnight. On the contrary, political instability has caused capital flight, leading to a depression in the tourism industry, which has made the Egyptian economy even worse. This is the most fundamental reason and the most difficult to change.

Second, after Mubarak stepped down, Egypt is transitioning to democracy. Different political forces compete with each other, causing Egypt to develop into political turmoil and chaos to a certain extent.

Third, the current situation in Egypt has a certain relationship with Morsi’s personal governance style. After Morsi came to power, he greatly strengthened the power of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt is a country with relatively strong secularization. Many people are very wary of the "Muslim Brotherhood" line promoted by Morsi and even find it difficult to accept it. Morsi's approach did not unite the various factions well.