20 - 26 December 2001
Issue No.565
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 20 - 26 December 2001 Issue No.565 |
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Civil society in a rickety world
Nabil Abdel-Fattah* measures the aftershocks
The tragic suicide attacks that struck New York and Washington on 11 September exposed the vulnerable points in the security policies of the most powerful nation in history, as it is still described. They also opened the door -- in societies characterised by the rule of law, an autonomous judiciary and an active and effective public opinion -- to the curtailment of civil liberties, as witnessed in the US recently and anticipated in many European societies, but also to harsher immigration restrictions that will effect the political asylum rights of foreigners suffering human and political rights abuses in their native countries. That the US/British-led international coalition against terrorism has targeted the financing sources and networks of radical political Islamic groups further threatens the activities of Islamic charitable organisations concerned with humanitarian relief and social care.
The rush to attribute the terrorist acts of 11 September to Al-Qa'eda and its Taliban and Egyptian Jihad allies has underlined certain aspects of global inter-denominational antagonisms: specifically, the tendency to exploit religion -- Christianity, Islam or Judaism -- in international conflicts. In Egypt and the Arab world, the decade-long obsession with clash of civilisations and end of history rhetoric has reproduced and propagated these concepts as fundamental to the tensions between Islam and the West. The spread of the controversy, alone, seems to have given these concepts credence and concrete reality. Linking the terrorist acts against the US to Al-Qa'eda, the Taliban and Egyptian Jihad has fostered a distorted perception of Islam and Muslims, which will gain credence in the absence of an Arab/Muslim media policy able to break through the Western media barrier. Bin Laden's use of the concepts of jihad and Crusade has intensified stereotypes that shape the collective religious and political consciousness, not only in the US and the West, but also in large portions of Asia and Africa, which do not have Muslim majorities.
These signposts give rise to several questions.
First, will government intervention in the US to curb the recession hamper civil society organisations in the North and, in turn, these organisations' support for their counterparts in the South? What will be the impact upon Egypt, given the general lack of voluntary initiative in financing "civil society" here?
Second, will the war in Afghanistan reduce support from international NGOs for religious, and specifically Islamic, NGOs? Will government control affect religiously inspired NGOs, which constitute a major portion of civil society in Egypt?
Third, will security and bureaucratic restrictions stifle initiative in this domain, and consequently hamper the development of Egypt's crippled civil society?
Fourth, will the US and Europe, intent on garnering Arab support for the fragile international coalition against terrorism, ignore the pressure to which this region's governments subject human rights NGOs? Will these governments seize the opportunity to restrict these NGOs even further?
Many answers are possible. Above all, the concern in the West and in Egypt for "drying up the swamps" of terrorism may lead to the following developments:
Restrictions on the creation of Muslim and Christian NGOs and their activities -- particularly since Islamist groups have already used such organisations to specific ends -- will subject civil society to greater government control and monitoring.
Reform efforts will target official and unofficial religious education, with an emphasis on the principles of tolerance and dialogue, the "culture of peace" and the values of modernity and globalisation. Such reforms will obey political and security criteria; in the relatively long term, they will require the creation of new NGOs to promote the new religious values and, simultaneously, the elimination of traditional Islamic charities.
A reshuffling of the regional priorities of Western NGOs, and a greater focus on interdenominational dialogue in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, will dictate their financing priorities.
Intercultural dialogues may affect international civil society's funding policies and, hence, the creation of local NGOs, community associations and research centres.
NGOs that advocate religious and civil freedoms and the principle of coexistence, within the framework of the western perspective on these concepts, will receive support.
The new measures to monitor electronic communications are certain to encroach upon freedom of expression and civil society activists in Egypt. Consequently, they will fetter initiative and voluntary service, particularly in human rights advocacy. Perhaps, too, this will undermine the already fragile legal and political position of community activists.
Against such developments and reversals, the old question emerges: what is to be done? Unfortunately, there are no quick and ready answers. Nevertheless, it would be useful to consider possible courses of action.
Working on the assumption that NGOs will be subject to more legislative and bureaucratic control, it will be vital to draw on civil society's collective negotiating expertise and develop a strategy on forthcoming legislation. Such a strategy will entail activating judicial mechanisms, on the one hand, and establishing channels of dialogue with the national, party and independent media, to promote a calm, non- confrontational climate conducive to negotiation. This consideration is all the more important because certain political parties now fear what they perceive as competition from human rights NGOs, as was evident in the recent confrontation between these parties and several Egyptian human rights organisations.
Another important goal is the establishment of national and regional centres for Muslim-Christian dialogue, which will alleviate foreign political pressure and media distortion. Egypt can undoubtedly take the initiative in this domain if various Muslim, Christian and human rights organisations issue joint statements on freedom of worship, citizenship and women's rights. Original and cogent efforts in this regard will serve as a platform for promoting understanding regionally and internationally, and bolster Egypt's experience in communal coexistence. Certainly, grassroots efforts to this end will find official encouragement forthcoming; so will networking between religious and civil groups, for such efforts reconsolidate national unity and, consequently, promote domestic stability and enhance Egypt's image abroad.
*The writer is assistant director of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies and editor of the Report on the State of Religion in Egypt.
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