The Arab Spring from where it left off…

What is happening in Egypt these days shows that the process that began as the Arab Spring did not end with coups and counter-revolutions and will not end easily. All the discourse, slogans and demands of the Revolutions of 2011 are being voiced again, and today an even broader social alliance than the one formed back then is taking shape.

Those who set out to turn the Arab Spring into a winter did not take into account that, after the harshest winter too, a spring is bound to come again. They ignored the centuries of accumulated expectations of the peoples. They stole their revolutions, tried to destroy their hopes, killed their youth, tried to make those who remained rot in dungeons, and drove many of them out of their countries. But how much can the peoples' demands for freedom, dignity and bread be suppressed?

There is a seething social dynamism in the Arab geography. A society integrated with the world, demanding a humane life, no longer tolerating being humiliated. Who can stand in the way of the sprouting of brand-new seeds waiting to bloom in the deepest layers of society? In the end, however much it is postponed, this spring is bound to come sooner or later.

We see that Sisi, what an obstacle he constitutes to the development of his own country, to its taking the place it deserves on the stage of history, and to the demands of the Egyptian people to live a humane life, is trying to keep a usurped revolution by force in a dungeon. Whatever support he may have received from whomever, it is not possible for a dictator so contrary to history, society, reason and conscience to continue any longer. The impasse into which he has driven his country for six years has led today to the whole Egyptian people uniting at the point of rising against him, and has not been able to prevent the spring that was postponed by suppression from returning to the agenda.

As of yesterday, the demonstrations of the Egyptian people protesting Sisi and calling on him to step down entered a new phase with the Friday demonstrations. The Sisi administration's efforts to prevent these demonstrations, announced days in advance, were far more striking than the preparations made by the people. At least two thousand people, among them academics, journalists, writers and people from every political segment, who might take part in or organize the demonstrations, were detained from their homes. Among them, one of the most notable was Prof. Dr. Hassan Nafaa, a secular-liberal-leaning member of the Political Science faculty at Cairo University, who in the early period had supported the Sisi coup against Morsi. The reason for Nafaa's detention was a tweet he had posted. In his message he said:

"I want my words to be understood correctly. I have no doubt that the continuation of Sisi's absolute rule will lead to catastrophe and that Egypt's interest lies in Sisi going today rather than tomorrow. But it is also very clear that he will not go without the pressure of the people in the street. We, too, at the same time, need to choose the ways of transferring power to better hands at the least cost and avoiding chaos scenarios."

That even Sisi's supporters have come to this point actually shows also the disposition of his coup-maker character, which in the end leaves no friends. By saying that Sisi's departure cannot be possible without a popular movement and support, Nafaa in fact also expresses the need for a renewed social consensus.

There is an interesting subject of social consensus brought out by the new wave of spring in Egypt, and that is the personality of Muhammed Ali. Muhammed Ali, who has become a sociological phenomenon worth examining from every angle, has become a subject of consensus never before seen on the streets of Egypt in any way.

Muhammed Ali, who has no ideological or religious message, while carrying the banner of the revolt against Sisi, has won the sympathy of people from every segment; the videos he uploads are watched by millions of people, and with his directions the people pour into the streets at the hours he wants. Such an event is not something that can easily happen through planning. There is truly a serious crisis at hand, and this crisis produces the charisma it needs.

People, at the level of a social consensus, load the necessary charisma onto a personality suitable to bring them out of this crisis. In fact, Muhammed Ali's strength comes not only from himself but also from the depth of the crisis existing in Egypt and from the fact that the existing options against this crisis have not been able to offer a more reconciling and more suitable option.

Meanwhile the measures Sisi has taken against the demonstrations are not limited to arrests. Among these measures is forcibly bringing all civil servants to the squares by bus with a meal and a hundred-pound supplement to their pay and organizing counter-rallies in support of Sisi, while dispersing, by taking precautions in advance, all gatherings intended as protests.

Although everyone's foremost concern is that these measures may turn into a mass slaughter like that of 14 August 2013, it is seen that the demonstrators have been willing to risk even this possibility.