The worst part of the Arab Spring..the Arabs themselves!

Cairo, Egypt--When journalists asked previous failed Arab regimes about their reason for not implementing democracy or allowing freedom of speech, their response was always that the Arabs were not ready yet for full democracy. That’s their story and they’re sticking to it.

We refuted this answer and consider them as dictators afraid of giving their people freedom. Instead journalists competed with each other to see who would cross the limits of freedom to direct criticism--and some insults--at the head of the regime. We knew that those in power in Egypt would let us write how we wanted as they would do what they wanted in the end. When the Arab Spring began, we were in deep despair that citizens would be left no choice but to rise against the desperate situation. This worried me to the point that I personally thought about changing my career so I wouldn’t have easy access to information giving rise to my anger and frustration. Even after the first spark of Arab Spring in Tunisia demanding the overthrow of President Ben Ali, we in Egypt watched these events without any hope the movement would spread to Egypt, because we knew of Mubarak’s strong security grip after 30 years of consolidating power for himself and his sons. But once demonstrations began in Egypt on January 25, people came out in large numbers defying police for four consecutive days and hope crept back in. The sun of freedom was shining on us after a long dark history of oppression, fear and detention.

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After the success of Egypt, the same scenario happened in Libya, Yemen and Syria. Egyptians and Arabs felt that history was smiling on them and that tomorrow would certainly be better and we would be able to restore the glories of our forefathers. Imagine being barred from speaking out loud loudly for years and then all of a sudden having the opportunity to say whatever you want as loud as you want. This really happened. So many voices interlaced and overlapping--newly liberated-and screaming at the top of their voices. No one was listening or stopping to understand each other. Some loved the situation as hundreds of demonstrations sprang up--sometimes for no reason, bringing in their wake hundreds of new parties, dozens of newspapers and scores of new websites and television channels. Some started to talk not only freely but sometimes rudely, and then came the stage of skepticism and mistrust, and the exchange of accusations between those who were allied yesterday and sharing the same sufferings of injustice and oppression at the hands of previous regimes. Each saw no right opinion but their own, and if the other differs with them, then he is a traitor or an agent who has his own external or internal political agenda. People become lost between the conflicts of the political and cultural elite. Vision became cloudy, rules broke down, respect and even mercy between conflicting and competing forces for the seats of power, money, influence and fame vanished. Islamists came out of their burrows and prisons found the perfect once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to implement their agenda, hijack the revolution and control the population. They took full advantage of people's love for religion and simplistic yet naive belief that they would not revisit the same levels of corruption and injustice. Islamists weaved a beautiful dream and wore lambskins to hide their wolves' fangs. The same thing happened with the liberals and secularists. Those who were playing along the ropes and eating off all tables are just a collection of double-dealers. They flattered past and present authority figures slavishly, while planning future jumps to power. They are no better than the Islamists. They did so with Mubarak, the military council, with Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, and finally with General al-Sisi. On the popular side, it appeared that people misunderstand freedom and consider it just as an excuse to do whatever they wish without fear of the law or any repercussion. Many now carried weapons illegally, quarrels and murders increased, theft, sexual harassment ascended to unprecedented levels. Drug smuggling and kidnapping increased dramatically. Everyone took advantage of the weakness of the security situation adding to this was the fear of the police themselves to stand and face the people who became like a raging mob. The result? A decline in economy, closure of many factories and tourism facilities. Prices increased rapidly with no control on the markets due to the greed of traders and producers. Unemployment rose significantly--worse than ever before. Now there is a wide, broad and deep complaint. Those who don’t have money complain about poverty. Those with money complain about not being able to invest. The Middle class--which is the balance of any society--has begun to collapse under the weight of escalating prices, random policies and a hesitant fragile government, which cannot make crucial decisions for the fear of inciting the populace or the media again. Many feel that this revolution did not help the Arab countries, but only brought yet more doom failure and suffering. People are beginning to insult the revolutionary youth who lit the first spark of these revolutions, accusing them of working for America, International Zionism, Freemasonry and foreign intelligence services... Only yesterday they were Egypt’s heroes. Many now believe that the previous regimes were right to say that the Arabs are not ready for democracy and freedom, with many believing that their old forms of government were much better, despite their corruption because they provided security and control from the Islamists, militants and gangs that trade in all vices. Despite the corruption production rates were better, foreign investments flowed, tourism was stable, and that yesterday was much better than today. There is a total fear of tomorrow and wishes to turn back the clock. As it turn out, the worst thing about the Arab Spring, is the Arabs themselves.