A steep learning curve

By Salama A Salama

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In established democracies politicians accept the judgement of the people. When Tony Blair won Thursday's UK election he said that "the wonderful thing about elections is that you go out and talk to the people, and listen and learn from them." We need to keep these words in mind while assessing the political scene in Egypt.

To amend a single article of the constitution the People's Assembly and the Shura Council have wasted months in fruitless discussions while the National Democratic Party (NDP) held consultations with opposition parties and then promptly forgot all about them. Rather than this endless discussion what is needed is the removal of all political obstacles so that parties may at long last face the judgement of the public. Political programmes need to be tested at the ballot box not concocted out of alliances that suit only bureaucrats, cronies and opportunists.

The political parties, and this includes the NDP, are closed books as far as the majority is concerned. The government, and the political elite, have lost touch with the masses. The security measures sanctioned by the state serve only to widen the chasm between the powerful and powerless. No one in this country, apart from NDP supporters, seems able to speak, demonstrate or protest. Such a situation is not only frustrating, it is dangerous.

The Ministry of Interior is perfectly capable of framing regulations that would regulate demonstrations. It could, for example, suggest particular routes for the exercise of this utterly constitutional right. Had the ministry done so the violent clashes involving Kefaya and the Muslim Brotherhood would have been avoided. The clashes tarnished the image of the regime and increased tensions around the country.

The security services have for too long been viewed as hostile to freedom and democracy. For too long they have been seen as collaborating with the forces of darkness, tilling the breeding grounds of terror through repression, torture and unlawful detention.

Many have called for political Islam to be fully integrated in political life. The Islamic current is a mixed bag. There are people who appear to come from the Dark Ages, people who want the Islamic caliphate back. And there are people who understand modernity and believe in citizenship and democracy. The more these latter, the reformist trend, are excluded then the stronger the reactionaries become. In recent elections at the Lawyers Syndicate, conducted with exemplary transparency, the Islamists lost.

You may have no sympathy whatsoever with the Islamists. It is still wrong, though, to exclude them. The Egyptian public mostly sees itself as pious, though Egypt is a country where ignorance, backwardness and corruption have encouraged many to mix politics with religion. It is the weakness of the existing political parties that makes the Islamists appear strong. And no democracy, no decent democracy, can condone the mass round ups and detentions that are part and parcel of Egyptian life.

What we need to abandon is our fear. Freedom and respect for the law are not going to bring the extremists to power. What is happening now, though, could well do just that.

The manner in which Article 76 of the constitution is being amended has closed the door to political reform and revived the referendum. Our politicians don't seem interested in learning, nor in talking to the people. They are listening and talking to themselves.