This is not looking good at all, the sky over Sayyeda Zeinab mosque keeps getting darker…I’ve also been hearing blasts with flames shooting up, as if gaz bottles inside that building blew up. Let’s hope that Cairo’s fire fighters are up to it, I start to hear their sirenes, finally.
Update: The smoke is gone.
The online article also contains lengthy accounts by Abu Omar, of his kidnapping and his arrival in Cairo, the torture he endured in Egypt and his situation now.
As the walkout staged by opposition MPs shows, the current crisis over the constitution is perhaps one of the most serious in years. There are plenty of things that are dubious about the constitution, but the opposition has rallied around two major points: the amendments to articles 88 and 179, which respectively would reduce judicial supervision and cancel out constitutional protection of personal rights, giving police powers to search and conduct surveillance without warrants as well as detain prisoners without charging them. (I won’t go into the details — Gamal Essam Eddin covered them nicely in this story.)
In my opinion, there are two central things to keep in mind about the coming period. The first is whether the opposition can get its act together enough to either produce a “no” vote on the amendments (which of course could easily be changed into a “yes” by the authorities, if 2005’s referendum is anything to go by) or whether it should call for a boycott of the referendum. Currently, the opposition is split about what to do, as it is on the question of whether MPs should resign in protest. It seems unlikely that the opposition would be able to mobilize voters against the amendments, particularly as the NDP is preparing a major campaign (of course using the state’s resources as well as its own) for a “yes.”
Some are beginning to predict that President Mubarak will dissolve parliament after the referendum (most probably later this year), a move that would meet considerable opposition from many NDP MPs who spent a lot of money getting their seats. A new election, under a new (probably list-based) electoral law would probably greatly reduce the number of Muslim Brotherhood MPs (and thus the overall number of opposition MPs, even if secular opposition parties make modest gains). The endgame of all these maneuvers — ostensibly to consolidate power during the twilight years of Mubarak’s rule — is still uncertain. But Egypt’s deepening authoritarianism is getting much attention. Here’s a round-up of some recent stories:
Burying democracy further in Egypt – Amr Hamzawy and Dina Bishara on the escalation of the Mubarak regime against domestic opponents, especially the Muslim Brothers.
Crackdown by a clique – Muslim Brother Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh denounces the recent crackdown on the MB and the constitutional amendments, saying:
Stability cannot be achieved by depriving social and political leaders of civil justice. Nor can it be achieved by resisting democracy and excluding the largest political force in the country from political life. By closing the doors to dialogue, the state is opening a door to chaos and extremism. The consequences will be severe, not only for Egypt but for the entire Middle East.
Can that be interpreted as a fear that younger members of the Ikhwan might choose a more violent route than the leadership? It’s a point that is much debated around here.
More rights in Egypt, not fewer – NYT op-ed says “Washington should help independent groups organize in the event of such a vote. Dissenting voices are essential if there is to be any hope of free debate and democracy in Egypt.” O NYT op-ed writer, are you aware that most independent groups in Egypt hate the US and its policies in the region? Or that such help would be automatically be labeled as foreign intervention? Rather than suggest interventionist solutions (i.e. ones that involve interfering in other countries’ domestic affairs), how about lobbying for the severing of diplomatic relations or military aid programs or any other measures?
Imaging Otherwise in Cairo – Anthony Shadid traces the birth and death of the Kifaya movement. This is the first part. I’m not sure about his thesis, i.e. that Kifaya has died. Like many people, I think he fundamentally misunderestimates Kifaya’s impact. Without Kifaya, much of the growing dissent taking place today would not be taking place. It was never going to bring down the regime — only elements within the regime can do that. In the second part of the story, Shadid looks at the US backing away from pressuring Egypt. Again, I think he gets it wrong in exaggerating the role of US in creating that “Cairo Spring” of 2005 and in minimizing the prospects for political change (although not necessarily a transition to a Jeffersonian democracy) in the next few years. It is true that the opposition in Egypt suffers from the lack of clear leadership and political consensus, but it still early days. If there’s one thing that’s clear about Egypt today, it’s that nothing is certain.
There are several ways of understanding the regime’s current attack on the Brotherhood. First, the regime wishes to deflate the Brotherhood’s expectations after the past two years of emboldening political victories, which perhaps led to the miscalculation evident in the “Al Azhar Militias” incident. Second, Mubarak’s regime has relentlessly eliminated any potential alternative to itself for the past quarter century, which explains much of how it deals with any group possessing social legitimacy. Third, the regime is determined to guarantee a quiet presidential succession, whether after the end of Mubarak’s term in 2011 or in the event of any alternative scenario. The current crisis seems to be the labor pains accompanying the birth of the Fourth Republic (since the 1952 coup), which means that Egypt is entering a critical stage of political suffering as its rulers put their house in order.
For those in Egypt, pick up today’s al-Wafd for al-Enani’s op-ed titled “Burn it!” It’s about the constitutional amendments, and seems to capture a lot of the feelings about them in the opposition.
Also check out Florian Kohstall’s piece on education reform in Egypt and Morocco.
CAIRO, Egypt: Egypt’s judiciary chief has named the country’s first female judges despite opposition from conservative Muslims, according to a decree published Wednesday.
Mukbil Shakir, the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, gave 31 women judge or chief judge positions in Egypt’s courts, the official Middle East News Agency said, quoting Shakir’s decree.
The move is expected to give a boost to President Hosni Mubarak’s political and social reforms that have been widely criticized as too restricted. But others said the announcement still falls short of providing women equal opportunities.
There has been a rather depressing debate about why women are unfit to be judges, notably among judges themselves — turns out they are not the guardians of liberalism some thought they were. But that is the point, isn’t it, as Baheyya pointed out in her last post:
The third strategy portrays the regime as the progressive, courageous champion of women’s rights valiantly resisting sexist, exclusionary judges who preach democracy and reform but refuse to allow women entry into the judiciary. Women’s accession to the judiciary in Egypt has been a hot button issue among judges for at least 10 years, eliciting very strong feelings, with a minority of ardent supporters and a majority of variously motivated detractors. Marei has already selected 124 women legal officers for qualifying exams and training in the National Center for Judicial Studies in preparation for their admission into the profession. By playing the woman card, the regime burnishes its own reputation, casts doubt on the integrity of its judicial critics, and drives a wedge between pro- and anti-women judges within the judicial reform movement that the regime hopes will block further collective action.
This brings us back to another missed opportunity in the current constitutional reform process (it hardly deserves such an august title, mind you), to get rid of the reference to Sharia in the constitution which gives judges like the one quoted in the above AP story an opportunity to say naming women judges is against Sharia law, which is currently enshrined about the constitution. There was a brief flirting with changing Article 2 to either remove the reference to Sharia or make the text say Sharia is a source of legislation rather than the source of legislation. In today’s papers the government confirmed what’s been known for days — that there would be no change to Article 2 — but not before a populist storm was brewed up about the regime attacking Islam itself. One independent MP, in fact, says he is starting a “Popular Movement Against Secularism” to combat the ruling party’s notions of “citizenship” and the ban on religious parties. You can thank Anwar al-Sadat’s 1980 amendment to introduce Sharia as the source of legislation in the constitution and years of state Islamism under Mubarak for that kind of attitude in the political elite and society at large.
The tragedy of Arab life haunts many hearts but has remained, apparently, insoluble. For those counted wise in the West the state of the Arab world now is like the existence of the Soviet Union in the Eighties — a durable fact that one has to learn to accept. The idea that democracy, or anything like it, can take root in the arid soil of the Middle East is a mirage — and pursuing it will end only in misery, as Iraq’s tragedy is proving.
But now new voices are challenging that assumption. A work has recently been produced that lays bare the ugliness of contemporary Egyptian society — the staggering level of business corruption, the ruthlessness with which political power is manipulated by the elites to consolidate their own position, the sexual hypocrisy which stifles genuine freedom and deprives women of basic rights, the crushing of individual initiative and ambition by cronyism and the rise in extremism fuelled directly by the regime’s own flagrant defiance of the common good.
The work is not a polemic for a neo-con think-tank but a novel, The Yacoubian Building, by the Egyptian writer Alaa al-Aswany. What makes it remarkable as a work of fiction is the manner in which al-Aswany combines his devastating hatchet job on the current Egyptian regime with a touching and humane narrative that engages the reader as charmingly as Armistead Maupin or Alexander McCall Smith.
In other news, white man discovers social critique in Arab literature. Wait until he finds out about Sonallah Ibrahim!
[Thanks, S.]
http://www.hrinfo.net/
The Web site of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (hrinfo)
http://www.hrinfo.net/egypt/hmcl
The page of the Hisham Mubarak Center for Legal Aid, hosted on hrinfo’s site
http://www.afteegypt.org
Web site of the Nur Center
http://wwwshamsannews.net/newsdetails.asp?id=402http://www.eipr.org
The Web site of the Egyptian Inititative for Personal Rights
http://www.hrinfo.net/egypt/hmlc
A typo leads to a 404 page, but it’s named in the suit. The correct URL for the Hisham Mubarak Center is named above.
http://www.hrinfo.net/egypt/elmarsd/
The Urban Center [lit. “Observatory”] for Human Rights
http://www.hrinfo.net/egypt/eojl/
The Egyptian Center for Justice and Law
http://www.hrinfo.net/egypt/nadeem/
The page for the Nadim Center for Victims of Violence, hosted on hrinfo
http://www.hrinfo.net/egypt/eaat
The Egyptian Association Against Torture
http://elsaeedi.katib.org/node/48#comment
A page from a blog concerned with human rights issues
http://harakamasria.org/node/9062#comment-7416
From Kifaya’s Web site
http://gharbeia.net/ar/judgebookreview
Blog that has campaigned for democracy, human rights, and respect for the environment
http://www.alghad.org.eg
Purportedly the Web site of the Ghad Party’s newspaper. Incidentally, this URL was inaccessible from Egypt March 14 using the ISP LINKdotNET.
http://www.gn4me.com/nahda
The Egyptian Renaissance site
http://www.gn4me.com
The Good News company’s site, named as the owner of The Egyptian Renaissance, above.
http://www.alnoor.se/othernews.asp?year=200
Web site of the Nur Center
http://www.shamsannews.net/newsdetails.asp?id=402
Shmasan News
http://www.wna-news.com/inanews/news.php?item3699.6
Web site of the Iraqi News Agency
http://mohamed.katib.org/node/34
Blog post
http://taranim.wordpress.com/2006/02/22/kareemyagod/#comments
Blog post
http://bentmasreya.blogspot.com/2007/02/blog-post_14.html
Blog post
http://www.hrinfo.net/reports/net2004/egypt.shtml
The Egypt chapter of HRinfo’s 2004 report on Internet censorship in the Middle East
http://www.hrinfo.net/reports/re2006/re06-2.shtml
HRinfo report on April-May 2006 crackdown
http://www.hrinfo.net/reports/re2006/#egypt
HRinfo report on Bahrain, Tunisia, and Egypt
Let’s hope this one dies on the vine. In the meantime, reason enough to be vigilant and for techies abroad to start archiving sites. Release the spiders.
And if anyone from the ICT or information ministries is reading, please read Nart Villeneuve‘s excellent discussion of the pitfalls of Internet censorship for governments. To these I would add economic ill effects. Egypt’s perception as a friendly country for ICT investment, a perception the government has spent millions on fostering, rests in no small part on its policy with regard to online censorship, which is free… and costs nothing. All the Smart Villages, slick IT projects at the Alexandria Library, and UN-prize-winning Web sites will seem like so much expensive window dressing if the government starts censoring blogs, newspaper Web sites, and the Web sites of human rights organizations. Telecom Egypt is looking for a partner to modernize the country’s Internet backbone, at a cost of US$1 billion. And let’s face it, Egypt isn’t China. China will become the largest broadband market in 2007, with 79 million broadband users. When Egypt launched a program to expand broadband access in 2004, it set itself an initial goal of 50,000 users. The difference in GDP is about US$2.13 trillion. Bad publicity ought to seem like more of a liability here.
For the sake of the greater good, Judge Abd al-Fattah, and for the sake of the rights to impart and receive information, please drop this lawsuit. Your good reputation will be better served if you’re known as the man who forgave an insult than if you’re known as the man who censored the Internet.
The same president whose honor you’re so anxious to defend has himself spoken about the importance of ICT in “supporting national efforts toward more freedom, democracy, and respect of human rights.” So, your honor, for the sake of the president and patriotism, for the sake of the next generation of honest, hardworking Egyptians from Aswan to Alexandria, and for the sake of your good reputation, please drop this lawsuit.
Coming up on the anniversary of the liveliest expression of popular dissatisfaction with the Mubarak regime in recent memory–the March 2003 demos–it seems like the moment to wheel out some old photos. I’ve scanned a (rathered battered) roll of negatives, and strung them together with some captions here.
I think the moral of the story is this: if there’s a dozen guys dressed up like little Darth Vaders chasing you, run like hell.
Rumors have been reaching me for days now, and I received confirmation only today from lawyer Gamal Eid, executive manager of Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.
It seems that Judge Abdel Fattah Morad, head of Alexandria Appeal Court, has started a lawsuit against the government in Egypt’s Administrative Courts in order to block a number of Egyptian websites. The list, 21-websites-long, includes the blogs and sites that took part in the discussion around the book the Judge has written, and the wide plagiarism evident in the book copying HRInfo’s report on Internet Freedoms in the Arab World, and a how-to-blog guide written by blogger Bent Masreya.
Of the 21 blogs and website, I was able so far to confirm Kifaya’s and HRInfo’s websites, in addition to the blogs of Bent Masreya, Yehia Megahed, and my own.
The lawsuit is started by Abdel Fattah Mourad, one of Egypt’s most senior judges–and head of the Alexandria Appeal Court, where imprisoned blogger Abdul Kareem Nabil Soliman’s case is heard next week.
Follow this story as it develops at Arabawy, where the full email is posted. This is the most serious development against bloggers to take place in Egypt, and if a court rules in favor of the lawsuit it will not only be difficult to overturn but also encourage more lawyers to make a name for themselves by filing lawsuits against other sites. As Amr says:
What worries me, however, is that this is a judge whose ruling cannot be appealed. He can silence, imprison or execute people, and he oversees our elections.
Once the blogs are found offensive by the court, then in light of the Egyptian’s regime reputation, it is automatic to prosecute the bloggers. This is an early warning.