Egypt

ALTHOUGH critics across the board have skewered Egypt's top-down reform efforts as deeply flawed and inherently self-serving, it is clear that measures taken in recent months nonetheless have greatly raised the stakes of political activity. Imbued with new significance, the Egyptian political arena has been swept by a heightened flurry of campaigning, mudslinging and undermining, with competition at times becoming literally cutthroat.

By Jennifer Peterson

By Elaine Pasquini

AFTER PARTICIPATING in the Public Broadcasters Global Media Summit for Combating HIV/AIDS, Nadia Halim, president of Channel 1 Egyptian Television, was guest of honor at a dinner hosted by Consul General and Mrs. Abderahman Salaheldin on May 6. The summit on HIV/AIDS, part of the 28th Annual INPUT Conference held in San Francisco May 1 through 6, was hosted by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), the Public Broadcasting Service and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Following Mrs. Halim's introductory remarks on the importance of mass media in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS, guests viewed a screening of "Let's Fight AIDS Together." The Egyptian-produced 30-minute documentary is being shown on the country's 22 channels to an audience of 200 million throughout the Arab world, Halim said. Featuring individuals with the disease, as well as public health officials who are striving to educate the public on the issue, the film's message is that HIV/AIDS should not be a stigma, and that people should be encouraged to seek advice and treatment and openly discuss the issue.

by Hasan Abu Nimah

Bombers struck again with utmost viciousness at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh last Saturday. The pattern remains relatively consistent; hitting soft targets, killing innocent civilians, attacking countries whose policies are supposed to be close to Washington. There are also some differences compared with past attacks. Last October, bomb attacks on the Egyptian resort of Taba, on the border with Israel, seem to have specifically targeted Israeli tourists. The fact that most of the victims of the Sharm El Sheikh attacks were Egyptian and Muslim will be used to argue that the bombers' violent campaign is indiscriminate and not directed by anger at Western policies. But these attacks seem to have been targeted at Egypt's tourism industry as a whole, and therefore indirectly at the Egyptian government, which, according to statements from extremist websites, is seen as being a servant of the United States. In those circumstances, the cruel logic of the masterminds of this atrocity would calculate that killing Muslims is justified. But whatever intentions we might read into these attacks, the end result is that no innocent person is safe, Muslim or otherwise.

It is clear then, that the wave of attacks the world has witnessed must be universally condemned and rejected and all efforts should be made to eradicate this threat from its very roots. The problem is how?

by Rami G. Khouri

Keep your eye on Egypt, which is stirring politically after a generation of political dormancy. The implications for the entire Arab world could be significant, because Egypt's political and cultural life has always set an example for others in the region.

In the past several months, various sectors of Egyptian society have engaged in more public forms of political protest and activism, reflecting a significant revival of the country's traditional role as a fountainhead of Arab civil society and political culture.

The signs are important and still developing. The kefaya ("enough") movement launched last year has organised modest, peaceful street demonstrations of hundreds of people demanding that President Hosni Mubarak not run for a fifth term this autumn, arguing that his four terms and 24 years in office are "enough". The movement also wants to block the possible presidential succession of his son Gamal, who has assumed a pivotal political post in the ruling National Democratic Party. Kefaya's demands include ending the emergency laws that govern the country since 1981, and holding a real presidential election contested among multiple candidates who all enjoy equal access to the media and public campaigning opportunities.

by Joel Beinin

March 10, 2005

President Husni Mubarak's unexpected announcement that Article 76 of the

Egyptian constitution will be amended to permit a direct and competitive

vote in the September presidential election has captured the attention of

the international and local media and political classes. The substance of

the proposed constitutional amendment, announced on February 26, remains

undetermined. While the president will not run unopposed in a single-party

referendum, as he has done on four previous occasions, a multi-party contest

might not end his 24-year rule. Past multi-party elections for the

parliament have been plagued by voter intimidation, fraud and other dirty

tricks intended to pad the ruling National Democratic Party's majority.

It is far from clear that Mubarak's decision heralds the birth of genuine

electoral democracy on the Nile. Moreover, focusing on top-level political

maneuvering misses the pressure from below that has played a significant

role in forcing this concession from the regime.

March 26, 1979

The Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Government of the State of Israel;

a Jordan Times editorial

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's surprise move to amend the constitution such that it will allow for multi-candidate presidential elections is a response to either public or US pressure, or both.

It could, hopefully, be indicative of more measures on the way to advance the democratisation process in the largest Arab country. What Egypt does on the democratic and human rights fronts would certainly catch the attention of other Arab countries considering taking the plunge. But even with the proposed constitutional change, there are still lingering negative features that will have to be addressed.

As is, the amendment stipulates that any potential candidate for the seat of president must be a member of an official, legally registered party, and his/her candidacy must be approved by parliament beforehand. It is no wonder that members of Egypt's opposition shrugged their shoulders, saying the move was insufficient to instil genuine democracy.