2012:9 - Reactions

Just like many elections in America, people in Egypt are divided in response to the news that Mohamed Morsy will take the oath of office on June 30. After I wrote A President for Egypt in which I described a rather quiet response in Ma’adi, celebratory horns and drums increased for a few hours but all-in-all it was a quiet Sunday evening in our corner of Cairo. The scene in Ma’adi was relatively quiet and subdued compared to the one that played out in Tahrir. When I shared my observation with someone their comment was, "Of course. Ma'adi is not Egypt."

Last night at dinner I was greeted by one student who declared “the revolution is dead” and another who said, “I’m not worried. Maybe I should be but how I can worry? Egypt elected a president. I’m happy.”

A new day brings the same divided response. In the Coptic Catholic Mass that we pray each morning one prayer of intercession says: “Remember, Lord, those responsible for the affairs of our nation: leaders of government, soldiers and all who are entrusted with civil responsibility. Raise them up in every good work.” In the middle of the prayer a student added the words, “and for our president.” This is a first in my six years of worshiping with the seminary community. After the Mass was completed, the presiding priest told us we must pray for Egypt’s new president. “We must pray that he brings justice to Egypt, even if we are unhappy.”

In breakfast this morning one student told me that America (by which he means the US government) was happy that Morsy is the new president. When I asked him why, he offered words he had heard from others on television. I suggested that the US government was happy that the person who received more votes would be the president of Egypt and had that person been Shafiq, the US government would have been equally happy. My student did not agree with me.

Through bits and pieces that I’ve heard over the last few days I sense that some think that the US government was somehow involved in Morsy’s rise to prominence and ultimately in his election to the presidency. When I suggest that the US no longer wields that kind of power in the world the students look at me in disbelief. What I’d like to say is that if the US was really interested in choosing Egypt’s president they would have intervened in the first round of voting to ensure that two moderate candidates had prevailed. I’ll have to wait for the right opportunity to offer that possibility.

In the end I suspect that it may be easier to believe that a foreign power like America orchestrated Egypt’s election results than it is to believe that 13 million of your neighbors disagree with your choice for president.

There is no question that Egypt is divided. I hear it among my students and I saw it today as I walked to Road 9 for a morning at Greco. A man walking toward me looked across the street and saw a friend walking in the same direction as me. The man’s face beamed with a smile and he gave a thumbs up to his friend as he said, “Morsy!”

In this midst of this division my prayer for justice, peace and security for ALL Egyptians remains unchanged.