Liberals in Egypt

Ahmed Moor
Military coups, anywhere in the world, should be a cause for distress. In an Arab world governed for decades by exponents of a paternalistic military tradition, a military coup should be regarded as more of the same; in the case of Egypt, a step or two backwards. That historical legacy should have been enough to engender opposition to the coup. But what was especially dismaying was the full-throated support for the coup – issued by the so-called liberals in the country. The dark irony of course is that many of the people who spent the week exclaiming joyfully were protesting the military only a year ago.