The Pink Slip
Mohamed Morsi
We take the events in Cairo’s Tahrir Square seriously and so should Egypt’s new government. After all, we gave Hosni Mubarak a Pink Slip during the Arab Spring uprising, and just like that (almost), he was history.
Now Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, is starting to remind us of that immortal line in The Who’s classic song “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
You know the one, it goes: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” Morsi and his party, the Muslim Brotherhood, which was outlawed by Mubarak, want to ram through a new constitution that gives him near-dictatorial powers and silences dissent.
His push for a constitutional referendum to be held on Dec. 15 has ignited deadly street clashes and raised the specter of increasing violence that threatens any progress this fledging government has made since getting rid of Mubarak.
Whether Egyptian voters should boycott the referendum or vote “no,” or whether all the judiciary should go on strike or the opposition press should cease publication is up to them. But we do know that Morsi’s autocracy is the last thing Egyptians need right now.
Morsi… You’re fired!
