Saturday, March 26, 2005

DEMOCRACY INSHALLAH

By William Fisher

For the first time in the twenty-five year history of American aid to Egypt, the U.S. Government is providing funds directly to organizations advocating for human rights, democracy and fair elections.

The $1 million in grants announced this month is a drop in the ocean compared to the billions the U.S. has contributed to Egypt – second only to Israel as a recipient of American help. It is a baby step.

But its significance should not be under estimated.

The six recipients, all non-governmental organizations (NGOs), will conduct programs with such titles as “Promoting Transparent Elections in 2005 and Beyond”, “Promoting Democracy within Egyptian Political Parties”, “Empowering Youth in Old Cairo”, and “Political and Electoral Rights”. These organizations deserve to be rewarded: They have struggled for years against an authoritarian regime and an absurdly repressive NGO law.

The grant-winning programs were chosen by the NGOs themselves and submitted competitively to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Cairo. The American Ambassador said the Egyptian Government had been consulted and was on board.

But if there is a government more disliked than their own or Mr. Sharon’s, it’s ours. Which might help to explain why some of Egypt’s better known human rights groups declined to participate for fear of being seen to be too closely associated with the U.S.

Nonetheless, it would be reasonable to ask, “What’s going on? Why now?”
As is always the case in the Middle East, a number of complex and sometimes contradictory forces are at play.

Egypt’s President, Hosni Mubarak, said he would alter the nation’s constitution to permit multiple candidates to run in the forthcoming presidential election. The 76-year-old Mubarak, the country’s longest-serving leader, has been reelected by plebiscite for the past 24 years as the only candidate on the ballot.

Inexplicably, soon thereafter, the speaker of the People’s Assembly, Egypt’s parliament, who is among key legislators working on the constitutional amendment, said the Assembly plans to criminalize political parties and NGOs receiving foreign funding to monitor presidential and parliamentary elections or fund election campaigns.

Earlier, there was President Bush’s pledge to ‘bring freedom’ to the neighborhood through his Greater Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). MEPI is supposed to focus on supporting “vital sectors such as education, NGOs, democracy and governance”. But the idea was received with scorn by governments in the region as “democracy imposed from outside”, and little has yet been accomplished.

Then came the Wilsonian rhetoric of the president’s second Inaugural Address – freedom was mentioned too many times to count – followed soon afterward by Condoleeza Rice’s confirmation to be the new Secretary of State.

Then, as if to leave no doubt about who has the power, Mr. Mubarak, the ‘new democrat’, jailed Ayman Nour, the leader of the “Tomorrow” opposition political party. At which point Secretary Rice abruptly cancelled her trip to Egypt. The diplomats in the State Department insisted it had nothing to do with Mr. Nour, but policy watchers saw Dr. Rice’s action as the proverbial ‘stick in the eye’ of Mr. Mubarak.

It would be too easy – and not at all Middle Eastern – to see all these factors coming together logically in some kind of ‘perfect storm’. But, knowing how things work in this part of the world – and knowing the glacial pace of the USAID grant-making process -- the NGO competition would have to have been in the pipeline for some time.

So perhaps there is a more plausible assessment of how these mini-grants emerged from the delicate donor minuet the U.S. has always done with Egypt. It is that the Americans, buoyed by the elections in Iraq and Afghanistan, finally summoned up the confidence to use the leverage that comes from having shelled out billions in aid. Whether it took a war to build such confidence is arguable; giving billions gives you leverage without wars. What was missing was the will to use that leverage.

The democracy-oriented grants, however welcome, are not without irony. One of them goes to the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, whose founder, Dr. Saad Eddin Ibhrahim, was jailed by Mubarak on patently trumped-up charges in 2001 and spent a year behind bars before he was exonerated in his second high profile trial in 2003. More irony: The program for which the Khaldun Center won its USAID grant is eerily similar to the one for which its founder was jailed.

Another stick in the eye?

Perhaps, but that’s not really important. What’s important is that that these grants have happened. And in the Middle East, sometimes it’s best not to try to figure out why things happen, or why they happen when they happen. Maybe we need to be satisfied with ‘Inshallah’ – if God wills it.

Since these grants are a ‘first’, they can hardly been called a trend. But who knows? Six little NGOs have been empowered to do important and potentially seminal work. Americans, unlike Egyptians, know the power of NGOs. These grants might just be the first steps toward teaching the Egyptian people the same lesson.

Inshallah!

41 comments:

  1. Hi Bill,

    great piece, unfortunately this says a lot about two things.

    1/ The US-Egyptian historical relationship, which was based on "money for peace" as far as the US was concerned. Liberalization was also an issue, but more so economical libaralization rather than political. The Egyptian government stressed security and military issues. The deal seems to have been one of Egypt supporting US strategic policy in the region, peace and moderation. The US seems to have given the Egyptian government a sillent agreement of Egypt handling their political domestic affairs hoveever they wish , as long as they paid lipservice to democratization and economical reform. Of course the other part of the deal was the go ahead to fight militant islam domestically in any way that the Egyptian government deammed appropriate. And also to keep a tight leash on the loyal opposition and the not so loyal unofficial oppposition, in the 80,s the Nasserists, and in the late 90,s untill now the Muslim Brotherhood. So it was not at all surprising when Hosni Mubarak after 9/11 told the world , that "i warned them(the Americans)I have 22 years of experience in fighting terrorism"

    The fact that three of the men directly involved in 9/11 was Egyptians, and at least two of them came from good upbringins in terms of family and economic opportunities(Ayman az Zawahiri an Muhammad Atta) , says more about the society and political system they come from. Being one of the few with opportunities in Egypt, and still opt for a life of "higher meaning", in my view must mean that the society dosen´t offer you any of the essential requirements that need to live a descent life. I would say that their is two basic flaws in the political system that reflects the withdrawal from society of these people. 1/ Lack of any possibility to express in a normal way, your vision for the society you wish for.

    2/The negation of everything important to you, by the political leadership and the establishment, at the same time that the same leadership and establishment claims a monopoly on projecting " the real islam"

    2/
    The American policyshift towards a
    policy of "democracy promotion" will change the relationship of the US-Egyptian "honeymoon" It´s a rude awakeining for both parties. It will break the most important " taboo issues" in Egyptian political selfimage.
    1/"Normalization" The US will push for normal relations with Israel, probably prior to a conclussion of any peaceagreement between Israel and any arab state or entity. The Israeli wish for normal ties(essentially economical- the Egyptian market, with 70 milion consumers would be exellent for Israeli products), and the warming of relations the last six months (Mubarak calls Sharon a man of Peace, The Egyptian-Israeli-US trade agreement, The Sharm al Shaikh summit, the natural gas deal, and the return of the Egyptian and Jordanian Ambassador to Tel Aviv , without getting so much in return , and the latest Israel suggestion of "The roadmap for normalization" This is an issue where the Egyptian official(largely symbollic) resistance to "normalization" has gone hand in hand with the unofficial pragmatic(at times) view towards Israel. But if the US in tandem with Israel pushes to much , then this issue will be one of the clashes of intrest.

    Another one is of course democracy

    Mubarak´s position from the outset of his presidency has been one of democratization in portions. The Bush administration seems to go fo democracy now, eventough they might be content with free elections, rather than a democratic culture.
    The proposed constitutional ammendment will probably not be enough, so this is also a major possible clash.

    Then there is the issue of religious and minority rights which already caused a lot of commotion, since the congress started debating the religious freedoom act witch corresponded with the "Conference of minorities" cohosted by the Ibn Khaldun Centre(Saad Eddin Ibrahim ) and MRG, and created an uproar in the press and iniated one of the largest debates among Egyptian intellectualls, scholars and journalists of the 90´s. Since then the issue of the Copts pop up every spring when Mubarak goes to the US and the(now annual "minority conference and report is held and presented) In Egypt it´s is viewed as outside involvement in Egypt´s affairs. With the background of George W Bush, and his core constituency, It seems inevitable that a clash is comming in this field to.

    The last one is of course the question of foreign money to NGO´s The law stipulates that egyptian NGO´s must report every dime comming from foreign institutions. The irony of course is that the loargest beneficiary of foregin aid is the government. But that does not stop the government from making an issue out of this and trying(and succeding ) in tarnish every NGO and every personality connected to the NGO, calling them foreign agents , unpatriotic etc, with a great deal of help from the press,semiofficial and opposition(Islamist and Nasserist, Saad Eddin Ibrahim and Negha Bourai is good examples of this(Both of them is on the list of projects,you refered to, coincidently)And of course the choir of smeararticles is written once again as we speak.

    Many thanks for a very good blog !

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