Lessons from Egypt

The people of Egypt have decided that they have had enough of corruption, bogus elections and cronyism. They have taken to the streets in the major cities of the country demanding that the president and his government step down immediately.

The hundreds of thousands of demon-strators who have occupied Cairo's Liberation Square will allow no opposition flags, songs or slogans. The message they are sending is that this is not a partisan demonstration. They do not want the protests to redound to the benefit of any particular political party, because this is about Egypt, not politics.

I find it interesting that they want the president to resign, but have not advanced any clear alternative president. In Jamaica, if we had any such demonstration, it would be thoroughly partisan - musical chairs - calls for one 'P' to be replaced by another. And any such demonstration here would be about politics, not Jamaica.

The hundreds of thousands of demon-strating Egyptians want an end to their corrupt political and electoral system. It is hard to believe that Egypt had parliamentary elections just a few weeks ago (December 2010) in which President Mubarak won by a landslide! Of the 518 seats contested, Mubarak's party increased its majority from 330 to 420. What we are seeing on the streets of Cairo is popular discontent with a bogus election!

Counterterrorism law

First, it's important to note that the election took place under a state of emergency. President Mubarak promised in 2005 that he would enact a counterterrorism law that would make unnecessary the state of emergency in place since President Sadat's assassination in 1981. But in 2010, Mubarak renewed the state of emergency. The people didn't like that.

Second, the election was not under the supervision of any national court or observed by any international monitors. This opened the door to bogus voting and various irregularities.

Which leads to the third point: allegations of fraud on election day included vote-buying, illegal campaigning at polling stations, exclusion of opposition supporters, especially those backing the Muslim Brotherhood, and discarded votes. Sounds like Jamaica a few years ago!

And the fourth point we could make is that the government has cracked down on freedom of the press. About a month before the elections, the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority decreed that the private media and cellphone providers would have to obtain new licences from the Ministry of Information. The opposition saw this as a hindrance to mobilise supporters, and said that this "clampdown on mass communication" sought to prevent coordination of opposition efforts during the election.

On October 19, 2010, Egypt suspended the licences of 12 TV channels, after a previous ban on five stations. This was seen as a further crackdown on the media and the opposition. Several opposition supporters were arrested while putting up election posters. On November 19, 2010, an independent candidate led a rally that was disrupted by the police. Several hundred members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested. The police forcefully dispersed more than 1,000 people seeking to observe vote-counting in Mahalla.

The government took no notice of claims of vote-rigging. All of this explains why the crowds are shouting that the present government is illegitimate.

Us complicity

And fifth, the government of the United States, the self-proclaimed leader of the free world, has continued to support Mubarak over the 30 years he has been in power because he has shored up their pro-Israel Middle East policy. And the people definitely do not like that!

Over the years, the US has backed authoritarian, undemocratic regimes when it has suited it: like 'Papa Doc' in Haiti, Batista in Cuba, Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, the Shah of Iran, Saddam in Iraq, Noriega in Panama, Samoza in Nicaragua, to name a few; and has armed and trained insurgents it has later come to regret, like Osama bin Laden and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan (and, possibly, the anti-socialist Shower Posse).

Egypt is bribed heavily to support US foreign policy towards Israel. US military aid to Egypt totals more than US$1.3 billion annually. In addition, the US Agency for International Development has provided more than US$28 billion in economic and development assistance to Egypt since 1975. This investment seems to have been poorly spent, and represents the failure of US foreign policy in the region.

The US has to take some responsibility for the corruption and repression in Egypt, and for the demonstrations in the streets.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.