Rafiq Habib: Civil Disobedience Calls Attempt to Dodge Democratic Entitlement, Elections

 Coptic thinker Rafiq Habib described Egyptian opposition’s repeated calls for civil disobedience as a new attempt to resort to street rather than ballot-box arbitration, pointing that persistence of such calls to anarchy, imposition of conditions to participate in the elections or boycotting parliamentary elections, is an attempt to move away from mechanisms of democracy.

In a post on his Facebook page, Habib criticized protests in the city of Port Said forcing closure of some vital institutions and facilities and attempts by secular forces behind calls of disobedience to subvert and vandalize. He further pointed that this approach is draining the resources of the state and society in order to achieve a political role for secular forces away from the ballot-box.

He explained that civil disobedience as a means of political work in Port Said serves narrow interests of certain parties at the expense of the higher interests of the homeland, and therefore will not achieve anything for those who call for it.