The Power of the Individual
By Naiem A. Sherbiny
Sr. Representative of Ibn Khaldun Center in North America

During the last couple of weeks, I followed two seemingly unrelated events: the first was the shameful presidential elections in Egypt; the second was the march against the Iraq war in severalWestern cities, includingWashington. At a glance, the two do not APPEAR related. Upon close examination, however, they turn out to be two sides of the same coin. No, this is not a riddle! The two events are related where the naked eye cannot see the motives and mindsets of individuals.

The presidential elections in Egypt were shameful, not because the government manipulated the process leading to Election Day. That is old stuff that goes back to the early 1950s when the military took over power. Since then 'electing' the president has been dutifully rammed down Egyptians throats, and 2005 was no exception. Observers did not expect anything different from a government that derives its legitimacy from the brute force of repression, not from the ballot box. The shame in this election was that only 22% of Egypt's eligible voters bothered to go to the voting stations. Many of those who did not vote were opposing a fifth term for Mubarak, but decided to sit the elections because none believed that his/her single vote would make a difference. Due to this inaction, Mubarak was re-elected by less than 20% of Egypt's eligible voters.

Compare this apathy with the courage of a dogged individual halfway across the world. Cindy Sheehan who lost her son in Iraq last year went to President Bush's Texas farm to request a meeting. On behalf of grieved mothers, she wanted to ask Bush to stop the Iraq war in the name of more than 1900 Americans who died and 13,000 seriously injured. She was ignored, yet she persisted, and had a vigil at the farm gates. Initially, many people thought Cindy was nuts, but she kept at it every day for more than 10 days. Though Bush ignored her, the media began to cover her tenacity. An anti-war movement quickly formed and several organizations adopted her cause and coordinated anti-war marches in several cities. By some accounts, more than half a million participated in the Washington march alone. Similar numbers participated in other cities, including London. The persistence of one individual has mobilized millions across Western cities.

What we learn from Cindy's lesson is that even in the mighty political arena the individual matters. With courage of conviction, individuals can make a difference. And what a difference it would have made in Egypt if the millions of disgruntled Egyptians had voted in the presidential elections during those now-famous three minutes of freedom! The challenge for Egypt's opposition now rests with mobilizing the apathetic voters for the National Assembly elections in November. How to make Egyptians go to voting stations instead of comfortably sipping tea and complaining about government excesses is the monumental task facing Egypt's democracy activists over the next few weeks. Let us remember that great rivers originate from mere drops of rain.