Egypt needs consensus based on confidence

Translated from People's Daily By Li Yang

The large protests sweeping Egypt these days suggest the country still has a long way to go as it pursues stability and development that the leaders promised on the road to democracy — a bumpy road so far.

The problems are interwoven with each other in Egypt — income polarization, religious conflicts, confrontations between the liberal and the radical. The chaotic street politics will aggravate and complicate the issues.

Some "enlightened" minds speak out in this context and argue that the chaotic situation in Egypt is now a fight between dictatorial and democratic systems. This misinterpretation's possible negative effects will destroy Egyptian people's confidence in their future, and could even lead to the fragmentation of Egyptian society.

Egypt is an important regional power and achieved great developments in the past. Its status in the Middle East remains irreplaceable today.

Whether Egypt can find a proper development path as soon as possible concerns not only its own future, but that of the other countries in the region as well.

Rebuilding confidence is the biggest challenge for Egypt and the other countries in the region, which have long been a victim of Western powers' invasions and bullying in both economic and cultural fields.

One harm is the damage in local people's national confidence. Facing mounting social conflicts, they are so nervous that only the developed West is taken as the last resort. Yet recent experience suggests simply carrying out the Western system does not solve the old problems and even adds to new problems.

The unrest in Egypt is by no means a confrontation between two systems but a mess left by a simple transplantation of the Western democracy model, a panacea served up by some saviors from the West.

There are no good or bad cultures, and there are no settled labels for any systems either. Giving up exploring their own development paths, the countries in West Asia and North Africa may not find any way out.

As a large country with a long history and splendid civilization, Egypt should unite its people behind one common cause for the revival of their nation. For that, Egyptian people must reach the consensus that only the path that proves fitting their practical national conditions is the best. Attaining this consensus will be the starting point of Egypt's recovery.