| |
| about us |
| activities |
| publications |
| contact |
| CIVIL SOCIETY |
|
JANUARY 05 NEWSLETTER NEWS
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Visits ICDS On January 26th 2005, a task force from the Council of Foreign Relations, headed by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Congressman Vin Weber, visited the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies. This visit forms part of a comprehensive tour the task force is currently undertaking throughout the Arab world with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of the process of democratization in the region. The task force has been meeting with leaders of civil society organizations and officials in governmental institutions in order to determine the appropriate role the United States should play in fostering democracy in the Arab world. Even though the visit was not official, the reports of the Council of Foreign Relations carry an important weight among American foreign policy makers. The Council of Foreign Relations is a well respected, non-partisan think-tank in the Unites States, whose mission is to improve American understanding of foreign policy. Both Mrs. Albright and Congressman Weber claimed that the promotion of democracy in the Arab world remains in the United States’ best interest given that autocracy results in instability and in the spread of terrorism. Mrs. Albright did acknowledge that at times American discourses regarding democracy stand in stark opposition to its geopolitical and economic interests, as in the cases of Russia and Saudi Arabia. Nonetheless, she believes that in the long-term America wishes to see a democratic and peaceful Middle East. However, as expressed by Mrs. Albright, the negative image of the United States entrenched in the Arab public psyche renders it extremely challenging to convert the “American vision of democracy” in the Arab world into reality. Because American initiatives might backfire, an authentic democratic movement needs to grow from within with the help of outside actors such as the United States. The attendees of the meeting, members of the board of trustees of Ibn Khaldun, raised several questions regarding US involvement in the process of democratization in Egypt. Many called upon the United States to improve its image in Egypt before engaging in any democratization efforts. The United States’ blind support for Israel and its actions in Iraq and Afghanistan decrease the credibility of its democratic message. To eradicate terrorism the Unites States needs to comprehend its root causes; and not combat it with its own brand of terror. Other participants called on the American media to provide a more accurate image of Arab societies. Foremost, the Western media needs to differentiate between Islam as a theology, and the political manifestations that utilize its name to justify terrorism and violence. Other attendees of the meeting were more receptive to the idea of American involvement, they even suggested that the United States should condition its bilateral aid to Egypt on the latter’s genuine democratization. Others also proposed that the United States collaborate more openly with the new generation of young leaders of the ruling party (NDP) who are believed to be more willing to democratize than the old guard. Mrs. Albright closed the visit by expressing her interest in continuing to collaborate and exchange information with civil society leaders in Egypt and the Arab world with the goal of facilitating the spread of freedom and democracy in the region .She did not however suggest any specific strategies and mechanisms for such as collaboration productive and feasible. Delay NDP Affiliates Spoil Meet Ghamr Forum On the 26th of January, ICDS was invited by several members of the Lawyers' Syndicate to a forum entitled "Constitutional Change" that was convened in a Youth Center in Meet Ghamr city. The ICDS delegation consisted of Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Dr. Medhat Khafagy, professor of Surgical Oncology, and Mohamed Farid Hassanien , businessman and former member of the Egyptian parliament.The delegation also included members of ICDS' Forum (Rewaq).. Dr. Ibrahim started the forum by explaining the shortcomings of the current Constitution, which since the 1952 Officers' Coup restricts political participation and retains the hold of the old guard over power. For example, the current Constitution does not allow individuals to run in presidential elections unless they obtain approval by two third - a hurdle which is impossible to surmount- since the parliament is dominated by the ruling party. The regime has also been extremely reluctant to democratize; utilizing an assortment of excuses related to regional conditions, particularly the Palestinian problem to justify delaying the democratization process. Consequently, Egypt remains in a state of no war, no peace, no democracy, and no development. Mr. Hassanien was next to take the floor; he stressed the fact that both the widespread poverty and unemployment in Egypt are products of the corruption and oppression practiced by the current regime. He attributed his resignation from parliament to his dissatisfaction with its performance. He also declared his intention to run in the upcoming presidential elections. Professor Medhat Khafagy addressed the issue of corruption and the misappropriation of the public budget, which consumes 75% of the GDP, in addition to the heavy tax structure, which discourages investors and entrepreneurship and inflates production costs . As soon as the speakers finished, 15 individual belonging to the ruling National Democratic Party joined the audience and started shouting slogans in support of Mubarak. As the meeting was about to disintegrate into total chaos, the manager of the Youth Center intervened to calm the audience and urged for a more disciplined behavior. Then, three figures of the NDP took the floor and criticized the personal attributes of the speakers. They claimed that their city (Meet Ghamr) did not suffer from any aforementioned problems and described Mubark's regime as highly democratic. They attributed Egypt's economic hardship to the private sector, which according to them seeks only narrow personal interests with no concern for the issue of development. In an attempt to disparage the image of the Ibn Khaldun Center, they questioned ICDS' sources of funds and its objectives. However, when Dr. Ibrahim attempted to respond to the questions they raised, they collectively exited the forum. Finally, the manager of the Youth Center picked the microphone from Dr. Ibrahim- without any warning- and ended the forum despite the fact that a number of people remained after the abrupt withdrawal of the NDP supporters. ICDS Forums during the Month of January In the month of January the ICDS Forum focused on issues pertaining to both political and religious freedoms. Given that in 2005 many elections are scheduled to take place in the Arab world, two sessions were devoted to the topic of democratic transition in the region. The first focused on the upcoming presidential elections in Egypt. All members of the forum agreed that the Egyptian constitution needs to be amended such that the current method of selecting the president by parliament is replaced by fair and free contested presidential , as well as the restriction of the present sweeping presidential powers.. In fact, petitions forms were designed and distributed with the aim of collecting one million signatures calling for a constitutional amendment. Two members of the board of Trustees of the Ibn Khaldun Center, Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim and Farid Hassanin, announced their decision to run in the upcoming presidential elections ( November 2005). This move is meant to break a political taboo in Egypt for anyone to compete for office against the incumbent president. The second session discussed the Palestinian presidential elections,
which were monitored by an ICDS delegation .Since this elections
which took place in January 9, was the most transparent in modern
Arab history, it raised questions as to the possibility of democratic
transition under occupation The third and fourth sessions of the
forum were devoted to a discussion of the need for religious reformation
in the Arab world. The third session dealt with an issuer specific
to Egypt, namely the deeply ingrained discrimination faced by Christians
within all state institutions particularly within the military,
the security apparatus, and the presidential bureaucracy on the
undeclared ground that where national security is involved and Christian's
loyalty is not totally above suspicion. Egypt Ayman Nour, the founder of Al Ghad Party, was detained on January
29th , 2005 following accusations that he has forged most of the
2000 signatures he collected, required by the committee licensing
new political parties. Ayman Nour, who has also declared his intention
to run for president in the upcoming 2005 Presidential elections,
denied the allegations and dubbed his arrest a "flagrant violation
of the political rights of citizens." Interestingly, his arrest
preceded by two days a scheduled meeting between the ruling National
Democratic Party and the political opposition. The meeting is meant
to address political reform in Egypt - particularly the demands
of the opposition to amend the constitution to allow for direct
elections of the president. However, the regime claims that the
existent referendum system does not need to change since it is based
on the nomination of people's representatives in parliament. Furthermore,
President Mubarak has been hinting for the past month that he will
seek another sixth-term. On January 11th 2005, the Saudi government publicly announced the
judicial sentence of imprisonment and flogging of 15 individuals
who demonstrated for political and religious reform in the kingdom.
The protesters, including two foreign nationals and several women,
were arrested on December 16th, following their call for a new Islamic
constitution, an elected government, and an independent judiciary.
The case is unprecedented given that previously flogging sentences
only applied to cases involving moral offences, while political
ones were punished by prison sentences and fines which scheduled
for April 2005, is feared to be a staged event since the judges
will be appointed by the National Security Office of the Ba’ath
Party and not by an independent judicial authority. Sudan Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, chairman of the Sudan Social Development
Organization (SUDO), was detained by the Sudanese authorities on
January 24th 2005 along with his associate Salah Mohammed Abdelrahman.
Part of SUDO's mission is the promotion of human rights with a particular
focus on Darfur. The two detainees were not charged officially,
and remain in detention incommunicado. Human rights organizations,
suspect that the two were arrested for their human rights activism
and their outspokenness regarding the human rights violations committed
by the authorities in Darfur. Morocco On January 18th, 2005 Al Hayat Al Maghribia editor Mustapha Kechnanni
and Acharq editor Mohammad Lhourd were ordered by the regional intelligence
chief of Oujda to suspend the publications of their newspapers.
The intelligence chief claimed that he was merely following instructions
from the justice ministry, but denied the editors' request to see
the judicial suspension order authorizing the suspension. Though
there seems to be no legal grounds justifying the closure of the
two newspapers. The authorities have ordered the confiscation of
all copies of the two newspapers from news stands throughout Morocco,
and prohibited distribution and printing companies from doing business
with the two newspapers. Several days after the aforementioned suspensions,
the journalist Ali Lamrabet faced harassment by police preventing
him from launching his paper "Free Tomorrow". Thus, Morocco
continues to severely repress freedom of the media. Algeria Kuwait Campaigning starts in Saudi civic polls Kuwaiti Islamist Establish First Political Party in the Gulf Despite the fact that political parties are outlawed in Kuwait, on January 30th 2005, a group of Kuwaiti Islamists announced the creation of Ummah (Nation) Party. The Ummah Party's platform called for political pluralism, peaceful democratic transition of power, the guarantee of women's rights and an end to authoritarianism. According to the party's spokesman Jaber al-Murri its long-term mission is the implementation of "Islamic Shari`ah laws in all political, economic, legislative and social sectors.” The members of the party are still awaiting a response from Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh al-Sabah to their written demands to amend the constitution to allow the creation of political parties. The government retaliated by detaining the founders of the party at a police station for questioning. They have not been officially charged, but a governmental official explained that they are accused of violating a law that bans public meetings without obtaining prior governmental authorization. |