Democracy now!

By Naguib mahfouz

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Democracy is an old popular quest, one for which many people paid with their lives before the 1952 Revolution. Those who later disagreed with the revolution mostly did so because of the absence of democracy. All the errors of the revolutionary phase, all the detention camps and prisons, were related to the absence of democracy. Still, the call for democracy remained alive in the worst of circumstances, in the darkest of moments.

One objection to democracy has been that we are a backward country and therefore not ready. Yet we have seen other Third World countries, India for example, adopt democracy quite successfully. Another argument is that mullahs will take power through democracy. This is not true. Democracy is the best way to confront mullahs.

A new objection has just surfaced: the claim that democracy is being imposed from abroad. Wrong. Democracy has firm roots in the heart of our political endeavour and always did. If outsiders agree with us that we need democracy, this is not necessarily bad. It should encourage us to work harder on it. In my time, people called for independence and democracy simultaneously. I have seen young men killed in demonstrations while chanting for independence and the constitution -- the latter being a byword for democracy.

Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.