Who's working for democracy?

By Fatemah Farag

The meeting, organised by the Committee for Coordination Between Political Parties and Forces, opened on 8 December and concluded on Sunday.

It was a follow-up to last year's Democracy Conference that came on the heels of local (municipal) elections, in which opposition parties fared poorly but blamed this on ballot-rigging.

As explained by a brochure called Political Reform and Democracy, issued by the Coordination Committee this year, "the committee found that the time had come to take a step forward in the struggle for democracy through the formulation of a joint programme of political and democratic reform." Putting their weight behind the collective effort were NGOs, research centres and independent intellectuals.

The timing of this year's debate coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, the opposition groups felt that there was little to celebrate on a local level. The concluding statement issued by leaders of the leftist Tagammu, Islamist-oriented Labour, Wafd, Liberal and Nasserist parties and the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and Communists explained that there has been a "deterioration in the state of human rights and public freedoms in Egypt during the past year. There has been a regression from the limited margin of democracy that previously existed."

The opposition forces supported their allegation with published reports of torture and cited laws that restrict freedom, in particular the emergency law that has been in force since Sadat's assassination by Islamist militants 17 years ago. According to a document drawn up by the groups, this law has "given police forces a free hand -- without any supervision or accountability -- to continue torture, extra-legal killings, mass arrests, hostage-taking and harassment of citizens in their homes." The document also stated that the press had faced "successive encroachments, including new restrictions on the right to publish newspapers as well as limitations on the right to obtain information."

In their meeting last year, the opposition groups had issued a number of recommendations, which included calling for an end to one-party monopoly over power, an end to the state of emergency, a stepping up of efforts to end human rights abuses by the police, and a new law to regulate the exercise of political rights.

In their meeting this week, the opposition groups seemed to feel that little progress had been achieved during the year with respect to their demands for greater democratisation. Moreover, many among the 102 participants complained that not much had been done by the parties themselves to uphold the agreed programme and that the parties had not acted against what they believed were transgressions against democracy.

One example cited was the recent arrest, and subsequent release, of Hafez Abu Se'eda, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights.

"The political parties kept a strange silence while the most democratic organisations in our society were being hit. This signifies a double standard: while we talk about the need for democracy, we witness at the same time an attack against civil society," complained Nihad Abul-Qumsan, Abu Se'eda's wife. "Then there is a lot of talk about specific details such as the rotation of power at a time when all the political parties present here today have not made any change in their own power structures."

Criticism also came from trade union representatives, such as Ibrahim El-Sayed Hassan, a member of the Mehalla Al-Kobra trade union, who pointed out that "political parties are always announcing their support for, and solidarity with, Iraq and Libya. This is important because they are our brothers but I am your son. If you do not stand by the workers when their houses are being brought down, then you are of no use to us."

Saad Qandil, a farmer, concurred: "The ordinary man no longer believes in this term 'democracy' because the worst crimes are carried out in its name, such as the attacks against his social and economic rights. People need something concrete if we are going to convince them that what we are saying makes sense."

Consequently, the leaders of the political parties decided to alter their agenda in an attempt to make their programme more functional. This time around, the list of demands was topped by a suggestion to establish a Front for Political and Democratic Reform, which would not only include representatives of the parties but public figures, human rights organisations and trade union members.

Other suggestions were made, calling for greater efforts to gain a new law on electoral rights and action towards ending limitations on political activities. Allusions were also made to the "struggle" to get rid of all provisions that "violate" workers' rights in the draft unified labour law, and to efforts towards regaining the independence and freedom of professional syndicates.

"The political parties and forces confirm their intention to move with the utmost seriousness and determination to put these suggestions to the test of execution," the recommendations concluded.