Democratic rumblings
Omayma Abdel-Latif gauges reactions to the US's new role as a "democracy broker" in the region, finding deep scepticism to be the overwhelming mood
"Colonisation is back in full force," is how the popular press chose to illustrate a new US initiative to promote democratic transition in the Arab world. Details of the US-Middle East Partnership Initiative were spelled out by US Secretary of State Colin Powell last week at a forum held by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. Opposition figures and independent analysts spoken to by Al- Ahram Weekly did not sound as radical as the press, but many did express deep- seated misgivings about "the initiative's true intentions and its timing".
"A diplomatic ploy," is how Cairo University politics professor Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed described it. El-Sayed said the initiative is a ploy being used by the Bush administration to encourage the American public -- who are moved by ideals -- to support Bush's policies in the region. "No one should attach any great importance to [the initiative] because it is only meant to divert the US public and Arab governments' attention away from the Arab-Israeli conflict and the impending war on Iraq. It is a nice way of saying that the major cause of concern in the region is not the Arab- Israeli conflict but rather the lack of democracy," said El-Sayed, a veteran civil society researcher and former fellow at the Washington-based Carnegie Foundation think-tank.
Powell's statement stressed that "the spread of democracy and free markets, fueled by the wonders of the technological revolution" was a revolution that "has largely left the Middle East behind". Statements such as these raised the ire of Egyptian politicians and independent analysts, who described such a world-view as "simplistic", and reflecting a complete lack of understanding of the democratic evolution process taking place in this country and elsewhere in the region. "It is extremely naive to think that democracy can be promoted by throwing some $29 million to authoritarian regimes. It is a long-term process where economic development is bound to create different social groups who want their voices heard," said El-Sayed.
Similar views were expressed by opposition figures like Gamal Heshmat, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood MP who was recently stripped of his parliamentary seat, Rifaat El-Said, secretary- general of the leftist Tagammu Party, and Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, Al- Wafd Party's parliamentary spokesman. While they acknowledged the need to mount genuine and serious efforts to allow a wider berth for democratic transition and a plurality of forces to be represented in the electoral body, they also believe that an American intervention -- particularly when it lacks seriousness -- is bound to result in a political backlash. These politicians agreed that the evolution of democracy will be a result of an interaction of many factors, including economic development, oil, the Palestinian conflict, and American interests in the area.
Makram Mohamed Ahmed, a prominent political analyst who is editor-in- chief of the weekly magazine Al- Mussawer, questioned the willingness of the US to really go ahead with democracy promotion projects. "The US is not genuine about promoting democracy in this region because they wholly realise that establishing democracy may give power to anti-American forces like Islamists or nationalists." According to Ahmed, the US's record in this regard does not inspire much optimism. He says the US has only supported democracy in the rhetorical sense, and will not allow forces that might undermine their interests in the region to come to power, even if this happened via democratic means.
This is not the first US effort to promote democracy in the region. Over the past decade, the US sponsored, through its aid programme, hundreds of democracy promotion projects in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. Critics argue that these programmes failed to catalyse ground-breaking changes. According to one study, the aid money that has been allocated to such projects amounted to less than $1.6 million. The new initiative, however, will have an initial budget of $29 million which could potentially increase to $1 billion.
Heshmat said that Powell's comments about being "committed to genuine two- way partnership" are not likely to melt much ice with the Egyptian opposition. The reason, he says, is that "people feel they are being targeted not because America cares about democracy or human rights, but because Americans are scared that we might become terrorists."
El-Said told the Weekly that Egyptians were bound to be cynical about American intervention in the name of promoting democracy. "America is the last country in the world to preach democracy to us," he said. "We have seen its democracy at work in the way it deals with voices of dissent, with Arabs and Muslims, and most importantly, on a daily basis as it gives its blessing to Sharon's murderous actions against the Palestinians."
Opposition figures dismissed the possibility that their parties would be willing to cooperate with any US-inspired democratisation initiatives. According to El-Said, the goal of such efforts was to create a class of Egyptian intellectuals and politicians who are willing to receive US funds and aid behind the guise of defending democracy and human rights. "It's a way of putting pressure on governments by threatening to channel the aid money into the NGOs. I see it is a sleazy way of purchasing a section of the Egyptian elite," he said.
Abdel-Nour told the Weekly that opposition figures were deeply alarmed by Powell's patronising remarks about the Arab world's education system and media coverage. In his statement, Powell spoke about "the explosion of media outlets, some of which still do not live up to their responsibility to deliver responsible coverage and factual information". He also referred to "the closed political systems" and "the language of hate, exclusion and incitement to violence [that is] still too common".' El-Sayed said these specific references to media coverage are the result of heavy Israeli influence in the plan's formulation, represented by Natan Scharansky, the Israeli housing and construction minister, being one of the consultants on the committee on democracy promotion in the Middle East -- and the architect of Powell's speech. "Israel's friends in the administration have been saying that the educational curricula and media coverage in the Arab world stimulate hostility towards the US and encourage terrorism. What they don't say, of course, is that it is actually the vile acts committed by the Israeli government which are fuelling the anger. Claiming that educational curricula incites violence is a completely unsound assumption although I believe that the US administration has approached the Egyptian government about it," El-Sayed said.
But the most problematic statement in Powell's speech may have been his explanation of how the initiative will work. The US secretary of state said it will involve the government, community leaders, educators and parents, in an attempt to "close the freedom gaps, strengthen civil society, expand political participation and to lift the voice of women".
Such mighty goals, observers say, are likely to result in a political backlash since the Egyptian government has always regarded the flow of funds to non- governmental organisations to be a violation of the traditional concepts of sovereignty, breaking the traditional boundaries of political intervention particularly when the issues involved dig to the very heart of the political establishment.
There were conflicting reports regarding the government's response to the initiative. While some sources were very critical of it, Mustafa El-Fiki, chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the People's Assembly and a member of the NDP, told the Weekly that "the initiative was received with attention and interest".
"We feel reform is a must," El-Fiki said, "particularly in this period. Steps we have taken in this direction include the 2000 parliamentary elections which were held under judicial supervision, and the anti-corruption campaign currently going on in the administrative body."
Asked whether the Egyptian government could ever be accepting of outside pressure to provide more room for democracy, El-Fiki dismissed the idea, saying, "this is about partnership and not one party dictating to the other.
