Editorial
A Healthy Phenomenon

Participating in political demonstrations and political protests are forms of active, conventional, and instrumental political participation that has proven to be successful in pressuring a government. They are also considered an indication that freedom and democracy are gaining ground.

In Egypt, the month of March has witnessed the emergence of a healthy phenomenon represented in the eruption of numerous demonstrations and political protests that spread every where in Egypt form the South to the North. The demonstrations put forth various demands ranging from calling for a more credible constitutional reform that paves the way for fair and competitive presidential elections to the abolition of the state of emergency that has choked freedoms and held Egyptian political life in quarantine for 24 years. Protesters' demands also included the call for the prompt release of all political prisoners and detainees that are presently estimated to be in excess of 18,000.

The demonstrations were organized and sponsored by different political movements such as the banned Muslim Brotherhood organization and the Egyptian Movement for Change, as well as by other political parties such as El Ghad party, the Nasserite party, and the banned Labor party.

There is no doubt that the latest Lebanese demonstrations, that erupted in the wake of the assassination of Rafic Hariri, which brought down the government and contributed to the withdrawal of the Syrian forces, have significantly impressed Egyptian public opinion, and encouraged political activists to emulate the Lebanese and take to the streets in pursuance of their demands for freedom and democracy, which have long gone unheeded by the regime.

In the past, such demonstrations and protests were strictly confined to university campuses, and were ruthlessly suppressed by the Security Forces when the demonstrators attempted to break out into the streets. . Nowadays, despite the government's continued practices of repression and detention against demonstrators, the Egyptian street is increasingly becoming more vibrant and more ambitious to effect meaningful political change.

Though the participants in the demonstrations are affiliated with diverse political parties and movement, each with its own ideology and political agenda, they are unified in their demand for lifting the suffocating grip of the present authoritarian regime. The demonstrations will doubtless serve as a learning ground and a motivating instrument for people who are unaware of their political rights and others who were so far intimidated by the coercive powers of the state.

Civil Society organizations, including political parties, should exert greater efforts to empower citizens through participation in such peaceful demonstrations. After all, freedom and democracy should not be expected as gifts from autocratic rulers.