 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Study Special Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Talking reform at Ihsan's Salon
By Nadia Abou El-MagdPolitical and constitutional demands for the coming term: opening topic for this season's round of seminars held by the Ihsan Abdel-Quddous Cultural Salon and lent, if anything, even greater urgency by the recent arrest of 20 prominent members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. And not surprisingly, the arrests were cited by many speakers as an example of the absolute necessity for long-awaited political reforms.
The Ihsan Abdel-Quddous Cultural Salon is a seasonal seminar hosted by the weekly Rose El-Youssef magazine, and is named after the late eminent novelist and journalist.
"Today's topic -- political and constitutional reform -- is a perennial issue, we have been demanding it for the past 15 years," said Salah Eissa, a leftist journalist and political writer, and moderator of this particular seminar.
Eissa's opening speech repeated the five demands made last month by the Preparatory Committee for the Political and Constitutional Reform Conference: lifting the state of emergency; providing safeguards for free elections; allowing the unrestricted formation of political parties; quashing restrictions on the establishment and ownership of newspapers and other media and guaranteeing the independence of syndicates and civil society. These demands, Eissa insisted, are a necessary prelude to any constitutional amendment seeking to replace the presidential with a parliamentary republic.
The Muslim Brotherhood joined the Nasserist, Wafd, Labour and Tagammu parties in signing the statement, along with 150 intellectuals.
Eissa, who is also a leading member in the Preparatory Committee, set the tone for the three speakers who followed, all of whom emphasised that economic and social progress would remain unrealisable without the necessary political reforms.
Said Al-Gamal, of the Wafd Party, argued that the lifting of the emergency laws was an essential first step towards constitutional reform and the eventual supervision of elections by the judiciary rather than the Interior Ministry.
Mohamed El-Sayed Said, deputy director of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, was keen to emphasise freedom and democracy as essential qualities in the healthy life of any nation.
"Liberty," he argued, "might not always lead to rational or happy choices, but it remains an essential condition of becoming a human being."
Said continued, stressing that although Egypt is not particularly well known for its economic achievements -- it accounts for less than one per cent of international trade -- it is celebrated for its cultural and civilisation values. "But we can't claim to be cultural and civilisational pioneers," he continued, "when we don't respect human rights, and when we send civilians to military courts."
Conceding that the appearance of extremism and terrorism had unavoidably delayed political reform, the timing of such reforms has now, he said, become an open question: "There is no such thing as ideal economic and perfect political conditions. So the question remains when."
"Treating us like immature children," Said went on, "can result only in bitterness and alienation, both physical and spiritual, and reinforces the feeling of a lack of belonging."
Said concluded that a transitional stage, of up to 15 years, would provide a suitable time frame for the formulation of a new social contract.
Abdel-Hamid El-Ghazali, professor of economics at Cairo University, reinforced the general themes: "As an economist I'm saying that the problems of production in Egypt are a natural result of the lack of belonging."
El-Ghazali, who spent three years in prison following the last major crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood activists in January 1995, was joined by audience member Ibrahim El-Zaafarani, arrested at the same time, who said: "What is happening is not just an uprooting of the Muslim Brotherhood. All political forces in the country are being targeted." He was, however, defiant: "Despair is death," he said. "And we are not going to commit suicide. No right is lost when people are persistent in demanding it."
His comments were met with applause.
Said concurred. He had his disagreements with the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, he said, but it has its roots in Egyptian society, "rendering any attempt to uproot it impossible, harmful and futile". The immediate release of the detained, he said, "is a central demand of this seminar".
