Despite being Canadian, I still have a great deal of concern about my birth nation, Egypt. It will always have a place in my heart due to the fact that the rest of my family live there.
To put my mind at ease, I usually, scan the venues of the media looking for news about Egypt.
During the past few weeks, I began to suffer from mental anguish after reading about the latest protests against president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi after he handed over two strategic Red Sea islands to the Saudis.
The latest demonstrations and protests prompted me to pose the following questions:
Is Egypt in the brink of another revolution? Can President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi survive the latest Egyptians’ wrath of anger?
The international news outlets reported that there is a call for a major demonstration scheduled for April 25th, 2016 against president El-Sissi.
Can the leaders of the demonstrations motive enough people to join in in order to have an impact similar to the one that led to the ousting of Mubarak?
Would Egyptians forget the turmoil and chaos that followed the previous two revolutions to embark upon a new one?Can the deteriorating Egyptian economy survive another revolution?
Would El-Sissi be able to oppress the infuriated Egyptians to bring stability and order to his regime?
It is a well-known fact that Egyptians hold eternal love for their land. They were willing to sacrifice their own lives, in several wars, to protect that land.
Losing parts of Sinai during the wars with Israel injured their pride beyond recuperation. Their wounds from that loss will be scripted in their minds and hearts forever.
Egyptians believe that handing part of their land over, to even their friends the Saudis, is the ultimate form of betrayal. It does not make any difference that those islands belonged to the Saudis in the first place.
Egyptians are known to be emotional people, which may lead them to be influenced by those who called for the demonstration to pour into the streets of major Egyptian cities.
Can that demonstration gain enough momentum to endure the harsh treatment by police to survive the test of time and go on for several days? Most political analysts doubt that.
There is a major discontent with El-Sissi regime. The Egyptian economy is in a real mess. The police forces are brutal in handing protests. Those facts may lead some observers to believe that Egypt is in the brink of another revolution.
Two of the reasons that, motivated people to elect El-Sissi, were their hope that he would be able to restore order to the Egyptian streets and improve their standards of living by stabilizing the economy.
Many Egyptians would be apprehensive to participate in any event that could bring back the turmoil and chaos that followed the previous revolutions..
Police and army forces are preparing a strategy to disperse of the protesters. Upon being aware of the upcoming demonstration, they begin sweeping all venues to arrest suspicious leaders who may be involved in organizing the demonstration. They are permitted to use all forms of weapons if necessary to accomplish their mission.
Will El-Sissi survive the latest discontent? Only time will tell. Egyptians are patient people but history taught us to see that there is a limit to their endurance of harsh treatment and suffering.
Unless Egyptians see an apparent improvement in the Egyptian economy, they will display their anger in one form or another of protests.
As an individual who loves his birth country, I wish that all the turmoil and chaos come to an end. I hope that peace and prosperity spread their wings upon the Egyptian society.
Holding an honorary professorship from China, Sava Hassan is a Canadian author, poet and educator. He had published three books and wrote numerous articles in various topics in Canada, USA and China. For a year, he was writing an advice column for a major English magazine in China. Sava, occasionally, writes articles for several Chinese English Newspapers. He won several writing awards including four from China.