Egypt must look forward to better days

Whatever the Cairo court had decided would have disappointed some in the country. But Egypt is weary of revolution. It needs evolution.

Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak and his son Gamal sit behind bars during a court hearing (AFP PHOTO / STR)

Whatever verdict was passed down in Cairo on Saturday, there would have been disappointment in some quarters. Had the court agreed that the former president Hosni Mubarak was correctly charged with the deaths of protesters, his supporters would have been angry. As it was, the court threw out the charges against him and his sons and allies, to the disappointment of those few activists still protesting.

In a way, the lack of protests tells its own story. Egypt is weary, nearly four years after the Arab Spring swept through its streets and squares in a blaze of hope and expectation. It was, perhaps, always inevitable that the high-minded and grand claims of the revolution would founder to some degree on the rocks of realism. But the claim that “the revolution is over” is overblown and, in a way, rather offensive to those seeking to make Egypt better. Egypt still has a bright future, but it will take hard work and some time. Better days are coming to Egyptians, but not – sadly – tomorrow.

The verdict will, doubtless, be disappointing to those family members who lost relatives in the uprising and who have yet to see justice. But justice is served by clear answers, not ambiguous charges.

The Mubarak era is over. Egypt has had two presidents since he departed. What Egypt needs is stability, security and prosperity. It cannot permanently exist in a state of revolution.

Instead, what is needed is evolution: a gradual loosening of the stagnant economy that characterised the past three decades, a gradual reduction in subsidies, with appropriate support for the poorest. An increase in spending on education, an increase in public health, a reduction in the bloated bureaucracy and an economy that can create the jobs that the Arab world’s largest country needs. None of this can be done overnight and none of it can be done without security.

The verdict will have pained many Egyptians; it would have done so whatever the court had decided. Those Egyptians whose family members were killed deserve answers and ought to get them. An open examination of what happened during the revolution is still needed – perhaps along the lines of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. But the best way to remember them is for Egypt’s future to be brighter than its past.