Close up:
State of denial
By Salama A Salama
A handful of countries in this world still think that the best way of dealing with internal problems is to pretend they don't exist. Shut the doors, damn freedom of expression, issue denials, set security forces against everyone, and tomorrow will be another day -- or so they think. In a recent article in Al-Ahram, a senior National Democratic Party (NDP) figure debunks this whole attitude. He notes that the world gets its information about Egypt not from official statements, but from international reports released by various agencies, research centres, and civil society organisations. In other words, let's drop the pretence.
When the recent riots took place in Mahala Al-Kubra, the government reacted in its usual manner, blaming the Internet, mobile phones, and "the deviant few" for the protests. No matter that the protests were triggered by an international crisis involving a rise in food prices on a global scale. No matter that other Third World countries, not just us, are experiencing the same kind of turmoil. No matter that international organisations have acknowledged the problem as a global issue. No matter that the IMF chief told a meeting of world finance ministers that the crisis could undermine the stability of various governments around the world and can only be tackled with loans and aid, at least in the short run. Our government had already made up its mind. The pro-government media obliged with accusations, raining insults on the opposition while ignoring the cause of the problem.
Reacting to riots that broke out in Indonesia, the Philippines, Haiti, Algeria, Morocco, and elsewhere, Jacques Diouf, director- general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), urged the creation of financial mechanisms to enable poor countries to import food and enhance their agricultural production. The whole world is aware of the current crisis and how it affects developing countries.
Experts have explained the crisis, citing increased consumption in China and India and the growing production of organic fuel as the main reasons. Their assessment is objective and their views unambiguous. A reasonable government could have explored its options accordingly, but not ours. In Egypt, we have another way of doing things. Instead of explaining the situation to the public, the pro-government media lashed out at Internet users, mobile phone owners, satellite television viewers, bloggers, and FaceBook subscribers. The riots in Mahala Al-Kubra, the bread lines, and the rise in food prices were apparently conspiracies designed by all of the above, at least according to many of our esteemed writers.
For icing on the cake, some writers asked the communications regulatory body to design a system to end all "insidious rumours". Some even suggested that the state should abandon its quest to make Internet and computers more accessible to the population at large. Great! Now the whole world would be using the digital revolution to enhance knowledge, promote science, and encourage political participation, and we would be heading the other way.
Some people within the NDP and the government are seemingly eager to clamp down on the Internet and text messaging. They want authorities to set up an Internet police to go after certain users of cyberspace. Fortunately, it is hard, if not impossible to do so, as our minister of communications should have told them. The Internet and the recent riots are totally unrelated matters. Those who see a connection between the two have taken leave of their senses. The Internet is not our problem; those who look for scapegoats are. There are people in this country who hate freedom, dread change, and want us to live in fear. They are the ones we need to worry about, not the bloggers.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/893/op4.htm