Egypt & Military Sedition

DOES the Muslim Brotherhood have a case in the present conflict in Egypt?  What has happened in Egypt, despite what seemed to be popular overthrow of Mohamed Morsi - the countries first democratically elected president, whether we like it or not is clearly military sedition.  'Sedition' is defined as 'a concerted movement to overthrow an established government'.  The more perceptive reader will see the similarity between what has happened in Egypt this Summer, and what happened in Spain during the military insurrection in July 1936.  

The successful military insurrection of the Spanish military in July 1936, which ultimately led to the dictatorship of General Franco, was military sedition against the then legally elected Republican government, just as the ousting of Mr. Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt is military sedition today.  Commenting on the whether Franco and the Spanish military had a case George Orwell wrote in a letter dated 1st, August 1937:

'I should not say that the (right-wing) rebels had no case, unless you believe that it is always wrong to rebel against a legally-established government, which in practice nobody does.'  

Some have tried to justify the seizure of power by the Egyptian military by saying that Mr. Morsi and his government were introducing an Islamic constitution that would overwhelm the opposition.  And yet, what is now happening in Egypt ought to give us real cause for concern.    

On Saturday, the editorial in the International Herald Tribune (IHT) declared:

'The generals who now call the shots in the world's leading Arab country and their handpicked  civilian government have halted efforts to reach a compromise with the Islamic supporters of the man they ousted:  Mohamed Morsi...  Instead, they have threatened to forcibly disperse tens of thousands of pro-Morsi civilians from sit-ins in Cairo.'

However much we may dislike Islamic extremism, it is impossible for those of us believe in civil liberties to defend this kind of thing, and the editorial in last Saturday's IHT persuasively argued:

'The Brotherhood, having been tossed out in a coup, might legitimately wonder whether the democratic process can ever be trusted.'

Today, the news reports say that  yesterday the Egyptian police postponed their threat to begin choking off the two Cairo sit-ins where tens of thousands have gathered to protest against the overthow of President Mohamed Morsi thus continuing the six-week standoff.  It is thought that the police called off their clear-up because their plan to end the sit-ins was leaked to the media (the A.P. reports).  But ministry officials have said, the police will start to step up their use of 'nonlethal tactics', including tear gas and water cannons.  It is not clear though if this is immediately on the cards.