“Is there any hope for genuine change?" seems now the big question people are asking as they feel that they are being sucked in a whirlpool of political and constitutional debates. One day parliament is dissolved, the next it is back and the following day it is not there again by virtue of a constitutional court ruling. What is happening in this country is unbelievable, given conflicting legal interpretations. Politics and law are exchanging places such that people on the street are not just disoriented but are taking sides, a condition threatening to divide the country and to pull it backwards. It is feared today that we are becoming our own enemies as those on top of the three authorities – executive, legislative and judicial – are moving around in closed circles, failing to co-operate and integrate for the sake of supreme interests. Moves taken within this narrow circle of interests on the part of each authority are fomenting a tendency for polarisation, which emerged with the presidential elections and was thought to abate with the swearing in of the new president. But apparently a conflict is to drag on in a sort of game, the end of which seems unpredictable at the moment. Side conflicts for instance between lawyers and the police, the Shura Council (Upper House of Parliament) and the press are adding to the gloomy picture. The people really wish to have a break from 18 months of a marathon-like journey that has so far failed to reach safe shores. The alarming exchange of accusations of disloyalty and ignorance and a tendency to use verbal and physical violence in disputable issues are suggesting a degrading level of opinion expression. Wise Egyptians: it is time to end the game and start laying the foundations of a second republic.
