In Cairo Recently, I Was First Unable To Read The Street Signs

News from the Egyptian Street and Media Translated Without Comment from Arabic into English As a Public Service
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For 16 days recently in Cairo, I was unable to read the street signs. I mean the signs of where the Egyptian revolution was heading were confusing. But one thing I was rather sure of: the Revolution which toppled Mubarak on February 11 was succeeded by Revolution II which was pitting the demonstrators of Tahrir against the SCAF (the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) of Abbasia - also in Cairo.

Revolution I demonstrated in Tahrir; Revolution II demonstrated in Abbasia. Rev. I called on the SCAF to step in the void left by 60 years of dictatorship; Rev. II was asking the SCAF to let go with governing Egypt through a supine Egyptian civil government. While three Prime Ministers (Shafik, then Sharaf, and now Ganzouri) succeeded one another, the SCAF kept on sending mixed signals as to the length of its tenure as the supreme executive and legislature of the land.

From Tahrir, the demonstrators marched on the symbols of Egyptian institutional continuity: the Parliament, and the seat of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. Nervous about menacing statements by a member of the SCAF regarding the future power of the civilians over the military, they ignited Rev. II to disastrous consequences. Clashes took place; the two sides, civilian and military cum security forces engaged in stone throwing and Molotov cocktail hurling.  Causalities resulted on both sides.

While the SCAF tried to calm the situation down, promising handing over of power to a civilian President and government on July 1, 2012, Rev. II was suddenly infiltrated by children of the street who had neither knowledge of nor loyalty to institutional Egypt. In most cases, the street urchins were no older than 15 years of age.

They torched L'INSTITUT which housed Egypt's history and which was established by great French scholars who accompanied Napoleon I when he invaded Egypt in 1798 to cut off Britain's imperial lines to India. More than 200,000 books and rare manuscripts were in grave danger of being forever obliterated by fire, and the world, especially UNESCO, rushed in to reconstruct that historic trove. I saw people weeping in anguish for what happened, and the headlines in the Egyptian press screamed in anguish: "Egypt's Heart is Burning!!"

Prime Minister Ganzouri, a great economist, called on the country to help stamp out the chaos. And the SCAF hurriedly put together a Consultative Council made of 30 civilians to help it, together with the Cabinet, run the country whose January 25 Revolution was supposed to be the model for the Arab Spring. And with a tough-minded new Interior Minister, the call went out that peaceful demonstrations and hooliganism do not mix. Thus the see-saw between peaceful demonstrations and forceful suppression went into high gear.

In spite of all of this uncertainty, and in fact in the midst of, fair and orderly elections for the lower house of Parliament were held. Sixty-seven percent of participation by men and women was recorded. The Islamists who were harvesting close to 50% of the contested seats rushed to assure the Copts, women and the tourists that Egypt shall not be a theocracy, like Iran. The principles of Al-Azhar declared on August 17 to the effect that Islam does not call for a State based on religion were stressed. The elections for the upper house of Parliament, the Shura, were to be held in early Spring and a constituent assembly of 100 was to be established with a membership of 100 to draft the new constitution to be submitted to a national referendum. Subsequently, a President is later to be elected. The Muslim Brotherhood, through its newly-established political party (Freedom and Justice) declared that it shall accept the people's choice for President, even a Copt or a woman.

So by the end of my 16-day stay, I found myself hopeful that Revolution II would not be able to destroy Revolution I. The problem of Revolution II is that its goals remain unclear except for its call for the SCAF to depart immediately. Trying to find some answers while in Cairo from December 6 to December 21, I was advised by my friend Aly to accompany him to Kasr El-Aini Hospital. There the victims of those clashes before the Cabinet's seat lay while being treated by under equipped doctors and nurses. I stopped by 2 beds, on each of which lay a young man in his early 20s. Each one of them had the same name; Nabil. One was a Muslim, the other was a Copt. They had been shot by security forces with live ammunition. I asked each of them: "Why were you demonstrating?" The answer was the same: "I want to claim Egypt back!!" 

Suddenly, the Cairo street signs began to be clearer.

Egypt's Revolutionary Nuances

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• In Egypt, you can vote while at the same time be protesting against something.
• You can be against the SCAF (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces), but you can also be for the Armed Forces, the symbol of Egyptian nationalism.
• You can be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but you, being a young person, may be against the leadership of the Brotherhood.
• You can demonstrate in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the Egyptian Revolution, and scream against military rule, even if temporary.  But you may be for the continuation of military rule, with a subservient civilian government.  If so, you don't go to Tahrir, but to another Square, Abbassiya Square, near the Headquarters of major branches of the Armed Forces.
• You may be a resident of Cairo.  But your roots are in the countryside, either in the North (the Delta) or in the South (the Al-Saeed).  So when you wish to catch your breath, you may take a  bus ride to your village where is relatively more peace and quiet.
• You may have been a member of the National Democratic Party (NDP) now dissolved.  But the recent judicial rulings allows you to fully participate in Egypt's political life.
• You may have served in a high capacity under Mubarak's rule, now ended since February 11.  But you may still be called upon to serve the New Egypt.
• You may be shouting in Tahrir a slogan using the examples of revolts in other Arab countries.  In Syria, there is a very bloody crackdown by the military of Bashar El-Assad against demonstrators all over Syria.  But in Libya, a similar confrontation between Gaddafi's military and the Libyan revolutionaries ended up by killing Gaddafi.  So one of the slogans in Tahrir carry an ominous warning to the SCAF: "If you want to turn this into a Syria, we shall turn it into a Libya."
• You may be a graduate of Al-Azhar University, an Islamic Scholar with the distinctive turban of Al-Azhar, which was worn by my late father.  Yet you support the party called "The Free Egyptians" (Al-Missriyoon Al-Ahrar), established by a prominent Copt, Naguib Saweeris.
• You may be a committed Azhari (graduate of Al-Azhar) - committed to Sunni Islam (though there is no basic difference between Sunni and Shii).  Yet you are also committed to the principles declared by Al-Azhar on August 17, one of which states that: "In Islam, there is no recognition of a State based on religion."  That historic document was co-drafted by top Coptic clergy, symbolizing Coptic/Muslim unity, the true fabric of Egypt for more than a thousand years.
• You may be Pope Shenouda, the revered Patriarch of Alexandria, and one of the great scholars in the history of modern Egypt.  He is from upper Egypt (southern Egypt - Al-Saeed).  Yet he is capable of great wit in his discourse with the public.  I attended one of his memorable sessions at the Egyptian Consulate-General in New York City.  Some of his congregants laughingly asked him to tell them one of his favorite self-deprecating jokes.  His response: "God created the upper Egyptians (the people from Al-Saeed of whom he is one) for comic relief!!"
• And if you can read Arabic, you will probably not miss a hilarious cartoon in the Egyptian press, mocking what is perceived to be SCAF's desire to stay beyond July 2012 governing Egypt.  In the cartoon, you see two chairs: In one, there is a bottle of sticky liquid (crazy glue) with the name "Mubarak" as a brand name on the bottle.  On the other chair, sits a military officer of high rank with an indication that that (crazy glue) was applied to that seat before he sat down.  The officer seems to be either unable or unwilling to leave his seat of power.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

In Egypt, Is There a Revolution II?

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Yes.  The volcanoes in Tahrir and elsewhere have erupted again.  And with clashes came casualties.  The scenes give the impression that the January 25 Revolution has not yet spent itself.  But why?

The only clear answer which may not be the only answer is that “the Mother of the Arab Spring” is weary of the intentions of the SCAF (the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces).  Having lived under a military dictatorship since July 23, 1952, the 90-million strong Egyptians are trying to show the SCAF the exit door.  They are hungry for the pre-1952 Egypt: a multi-party democracy which was anchored in the 1923 Constitution, but this time without the King.

But the SCAF has not said that it wants to stay beyond the elections, perhaps in 2013, of a President.  What seems to have caused the eruption is the ambiguity of the SCAF declarations.  That ambiguity has expressed its content in rumors.  It is well known that in the absence of credible information, resulting from dictatorship, rumors acquire the force of established facts.

Other factors have compounded the dangers of the November 18 eruptions or Revolution II: the hesitant decision-making by the civilian government of Dr. Essam Sharaf, whose resignation might become a reality.  The populace accuses it of being a rubber stamp for the SCAF.  Though the Sharaf Cabinet includes a Minister for Democratic transformation, Dr. Aly El-Salamy, the march towards the promised land of democracy looks to the anxious public as moving at snail’s pace.

On top of that, one finds a genuine apprehension of the emergence of the new Egypt as a religious entity.  Though the Egyptians, whether Muslims or Copts, are by nature a religious people (monotheism began in Egypt under Akhenaton thousands of years ago), there is fear of the eventual assumption by the so-called “Islamists” of power through the upcoming elections.  Both the Copts and the liberal parties are genuinely concerned about this eventuality.  Such a development would also be abhorrent to women who have reasserted their role, through the Arab Spring, in Egyptian civil society.

It should be also noted that Al-Azhar (the Glorious) has asserted in its document of August 17, drafted by both Muslim and Coptic leaders, that “Islam does not recognize State based on religion.”  But such assurances have been overwhelmed by yet other immediate concerns, namely, the role of the military in the Egypt of the future.

Suspicion of the SCAF, whether rightly or wrongly, is rooted in an article in what is now called “The Declaration of Principles of the Constitution of Modern Egypt.”  That article, “Article 9” states among other things that: “… The Armed Forces have a special status and have their own detailed concerns which relate to national security, and which have to be taken into account when considering their technical matters and budget…  The Armed Forces shall have their Supreme Council which is charged with the exclusive responsibility of considering all their concerns.  The views of that Supreme Council shall be sought in all legislation affecting the Armed Forces before the promulgation of such legislation…”

Article 9, therefore, looks to the millions in Tahrir and elsewhere in Egypt, as creating an exceptional status for the Armed Forces by putting them either above civilian authority or parallel to that authority.  Democratic Egypt rejects such interpretation although the document containing it says that these articles are only “Constitutional Guidelines.”  This is again another cause for concern agitating the masses which call for the establishment of a Constituent Assembly after the parliamentary elections.  The task of the Constituent Assembly is the drafting of a new Constitution.  Thus Tahrir asks: “Why have Guidelines at all” to the basic law document which should be left for its elected authors?

There are even further concerns for the Tahrir masses.  These masses say: “Why has that Document replaced the term a secular State by the term a democratic State?”

In the midst of all these ambiguities, arguments, demonstrations and casualties including fatalities, the biggest concern now is: “In which direction is the Egyptian Revolution --- the Mother of the Arab Spring --- heading??”

The Road to the Future Runs Through Reconciliation

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In Cairo, the Council of State adopted earlier this month a historic judicial ruling.  It stated that former members of the now defunct Democratic National Party (DNC) (the one party which ran Egypt under Mubarak) were eligible to compete as independents or members of newly-formed parties in the parliamentary elections to be held later this November.

The ruling signaled that the Egyptian Revolution, in spite of anxiety about the future role of the SCAF (the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) in Egypt's governance, is shunning revenge.  It was a declaration of revolutionary modernity whereby the Tahrir uprising is seeking to be inclusive of all Egyptians.  What added to the significance of the action taken by the Council of State is that its ruling overturned a prior judgment by a lower court in Mansoura (the Delta, west of the Suez Canal) which banned all those who belonged to the DNC from all forms of political participation.  The lower court has reasoned that the DNC, having been the tool of "political corruption" (i.e. dictatorship) under the Mubarak regime, all of those who carried its membership card were culpable.

It is to be noted here that one of the first acts of the January 25 revolutionaries was to burn to the ground the headquarters of the DNC, a magnificent building overlooking the Nile.  With that building went the hypocritical sign on it that declared to all Egyptians, "We Are for You."  Interpretation by the Egyptian masses: "They Are Not for Us."

The Deputy President of the Council of State, Dr. Mahmoud El-Attaar, in explaining the legal underpinning of that historic act of national reconciliation referred to an earlier decision by Egypt's High Constitutional Court issued on June 1, 1986.

In that decision the Constitutional Court nullified the constitutionality of an earlier law adopted in 1978 through a plebiscite declaring all those who belonged to any political party prior to the 1952 Revolution (the Nasser Coup d'etat) are disenfranchised.  The reasoning for the 1978 law was the same as the reasoning for the ruling of the lower court (in Mansoura) which was stricken out of the books by the Council of State in November 2011, namely: corrupting political life.

But the giants of the Egyptian judiciary and the great judicial publicists like the late Dr. Waheed Raafat and the late Dr. Farouk Abdel-Barr, who belonged to the school of our beloved and departed Dr. Al-Sanhouri objected to the 1978 law, disregarding the results of that plebiscite as pure dictatorial manipulation of the popular will.

The line of Egyptian judicial continuum from nullifying the law of 1978 to striking down the ruling of a lower court in Mansoura was as follows: "These laws deprive Egyptian citizens from exercising their civil and political rights under the Constitution."  It went on to say in the words of Counselor Mahmoud El-Attaar: "That deprivation is very broad in nature, and is based not on specific inculpation of political corruption, but on theory and suspicion not anchored in a specific legal provision."

Nothing could explain the wrongful disenfranchising of a broad sector of Egyptian society under the recently-abrogated ruling, like providing the case of one member of the now dissolved Egyptian Parliament.  It is the case of House member Alaa Makady, Number 333, of Samalloot, province of El-Minya, in upper Egypt, and one of our Regional Representatives of SUNSGLOW - Global Training in the Rule of Law.

Mr. Makady had occupied that parliamentary seat from 2005 to 2010 succeeding to a long line of the Makady family who were always voted in by the public to that seat since 1958.  The Makadys are a proud clan which played throughout modern Egyptian history a critical role in the independence of Egypt from Great Britain and in the development of economic, political, and social life in that part of the great southern Egypt, called Al-Ssaeed.  I have personally witnessed the results of their charitable contributions to the poor in their area of the Province of El-Minya, and their incessant work for interfaith harmony between Muslims and Christians/(Coptic) in southern Egypt.

The Makadys role in Muslim/Coptic harmony has no clear parallel in the Nile Delta (Northern or Lower Egypt) for one simple reason.  Al-Ssaeed works on the basis of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) which we, as law professors in America, teach in law schools.  Upper Egypt acts on Coptic-Muslim disputes, which usually implicate land boundaries rather than religion, on the basis of inter-clan conciliation.  The Nile Delta is not so deeply engaged in that quick dispute resolution mechanism which costs very little and lasts for generations.  I have personally made presentations before the Makady - created "The National Society for Human Rights" where Coptic priests sat in large numbers, next to Muslim Sheikhs, as brothers.

Alaa Makady won his family seat in 2005 not as a DNC member, but as an independent.  So how can he be prevented from exercising his civil and political rights only because he sat in a parliament, now dissolved, which was dominated by the DNC.  I asked Alaa by phone: "Are you now going to run as an independent?"  His answer was a "No" with a hearty El-Minya/Samalloot laughter of satisfaction!!

In a Slow Motion Towards a Constitution

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In his seminal book in Arabic, The Future of Culture in Egypt, the great Egyptian philosopher, Dr. Taha Hussein wrote: "Power derives from the people.  That power does not issue from either ignorance, or distraction, or stupidity.  Nor does it issue form submissiveness, nor servitude."  (p.94)

He was blind, a graduate of Al-Azhar University (The Glorious), educated also in France, married a French woman, and became in the late 1940s Egypt's Minister of Education.  Above all, he was the father of free education including university education, as he espoused the principle that constitutionalism and democracy needed for their protection an educated public.  Taha Hussein saw clearly, though he was blinded since age 5, the indelible link between liberty and education.

Now with the resurrection of democracy in Egypt from the ashes of military rule from 1952 to 2011 (Mubarak was made to abdicate power on February 11, a mere 9 months ago today), Egypt, in a slow motion, is inching towards the drafting of a new constitution for a secular Egypt.

In spite of that slow motion, the excitement is palpable.  On November 10, I received the following email:

"Dear All:  I am very proud today that I was able to register myself to vote abroad in the upcoming elections.  The process was very easy and did not take more than 5 minutes.  Hurry up!!"

That email was sent to many persons including myself by a young physician (radiologist), Dr. Osama Raslan, a friend and the son of friends.  It was in reference to the parliamentary elections which will take place later this month in all the 27 provinces of Egypt.  In these elections, 38 political parties are competing in a broad spectrum from liberals to Islamists emerging from the suppression of military rule.  And what a rainbow of diversity!!

What is emblematic about that forward motion, from parliamentary election, to a constituent assembly, to drafting the new constitution for post-Mubarak Egypt is that the present Cabinet of Egypt includes a Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Aly Al-Salami.  His portfolio is entitled "Democratic Change and Political Development."  In his attempt to convene a conference of all the parties competing in the upcoming parliamentary elections, the Deputy Prime Minister was rebuffed by the "Freedom and Justice Party" which has spun off the Muslim Brotherhood.  Said the Secretary-General  of the FJP, Dr. Saad El-Katatni that all Islamist-oriented parties (which include 4 parties made up of Salafis -the farthest to the right of those Islamic groupings):

"This is an attempt to confuse public opinion by busying it with principles intended to freeze the upcoming drafting of the new constitution within the framework of those principles.  It is a sabotage of the popular will."

The secular parties disagreed.  They were led by the historic party Al-Wafd (akin to the Congress Party of India) which hoisted the banner of Egypt's independence from Great Britain in the Revolution of 1919.  They said that the proposed conference will have before it no less than eight documents dealing with "Constitutional Guidelines."  The sources of these documents are diverse, including one authored, for debate, by the Supreme Military Council which governs Egypt at present on an interim basis.

The essential debate is driven by the fear of sabotaging the march of the new Egypt towards democracy, dignity and development (the 3 Ds).  Thus the opposition to those constitutional guidelines can be seen from the lense of suspicion of authority engrained in the public psyche over more than half a century of army rule.  The term "guidelines" was read "trusteeship."

Egypt's road map towards constitutionalism have these road signs: from parliamentary elections this November; to a new Parliament; to the selection by the new House of Representatives (Majlis Al-Shaab: the People's House) of a hundred "personalities" forming the Constituent Assembly; to the drafting within 6 months from the date of convening the Constituent Assembly of the new post-Mubarak constitution; to a plebiscite to be held within 15 days of completion of that draft on a consensual basis for its approval; then finally to the promulgation of the new constitution.

Against this background, the voice of secular Egypt was raised by one of the new parties "Al-Messriyoun Al-Ahrar -the Free Egyptians" established by Naguib Saweeris, a prominent Copt.

A member of the Political Bureau of the AA, Dr. Muhammad Hamid declared: "There is fear from any form of control or domination by the extreme religious right over the Constituent Assembly!!"  Then in support of the preparation of guidelines for that Assembly as of now, Dr. Hamid added: "We need a constitution which provides for a secular State, for the protection of civil rights and liberties including the protection of minorities, and for principles reflecting a broad consensus."

STAY TUNED!! WATCH FOR THE ACCELERATION OF THAT SLOW MOTION

When the Headlines in Egypt's Press Tell the Whole Story

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The press in Egypt after Mubarak had found its mouth: loud, uninhibited, and very personal.

The news of the forthcoming elections for Parliament later this month are dominating.  Why not?  There are more than 38 parties in competition and the cartoons humorously reflect that intra-Egyptian race for a piece of the pie very cogently.

In the newspaper Al-Gomhouriya (the Republic), the distinguished cartoonist Ahmad Toughan has an interesting caricature.  A candidate in these highly-contested elections comes by accident upon a poorly-dressed man, thrusts his hand forward in a forced hand shake and exclaims to the bewildered man:  "Where have you been, Man!!  I have missed you for a long time!  In fact I am running for a parliamentary seat - ONLY FOR YOU!!"

But electioneering by the parties spawned of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the more to the religious right, the Salafis (see our earlier blogs) issue an assuring election devise:  No banners carrying religious symbols.  The Muslim Brotherhood-oriented political party "Al-Horriyah Wa Al-Adaalah" (Freedom and Justice) carries in its newspaper an interview with the Secretary-General of that party, Mr. Saad Al-Katatni states:

"The Democratic Coalition For Egypt shall enter this race under the motto, We Bring Good Things to Egypt.  This indicates the great aspirations of the parties in that Coalition for serving Egypt and its public during this important juncture in Egypt's modern history."

What about the motto "Islam is the Solution"?, asked the interviewer of Mr. Al-Katatni.  His response was:

"This is the historic motto of the Muslim Brotherhood which established the party and which it uses since 1987.  But the party will not use this motto because it does not wish to impose it on its partners in that Coalition.  But the party may use it in future elections."

Not all of the headlines in the Egyptian press were devoted to those historic elections for the House of Representatives.

Some of those headlines dealt with the attendance of Field Marshal Tantawi, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and the de facto President of Egypt during this eventful transition, at the naval exercises conducted by Egypt in its territorial waters.

Other headlines featured the news of the meeting held by the Prime Minister, Dr. Essam Sharaf, with the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Counsellor Hossam Al-Gheriani, and the President of the "Judicial Club," Counsellor Ahmad El-Zind to solve the problem of the Egyptian Bar.  The problem revolves around what constituted disruptive behavior of some Egyptian lawyers in the Courts.  The Egyptian Bar, located in Cairo, is a member of the Federation of the Arab Bar Associations, also located in Cairo.  The lawyers are claiming immunity from what they regard as harassment by judges presiding over court litigation  These issues are not yet resolved.

While on judicial matters in the new Egypt, the headlines also dealt with the appearance by deposed President Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Jamal, together with former Minister of the Interior, Mr. Habib Al-Adli and others, before the Criminal Court.  The trial has been instituted on the basis of charges of corruption, abuse of authority, theft of public funds, illegal ownership of land and real estate, torture and the killing of peaceful demonstrators by government security forces, during the historic uprising in Tahrir  and elsewhere in Egypt which began on January 25, 2011.

The fear from an unwanted return to military rule or domination of the politics of post-Mubarak Egypt was also palpable in these headlines.  The newspaper Al-Masri Al-Yom (The Egyptian Today) had an article raising dark suspicions regarding the ultimate intentions of Egypt's Supreme Military Council.  It said in part:

"The Council is an integral part of a regime which lost only its head, but not its body." 

The article written by a woman journalist, Sahar Al-Jaarah, opined that:

"The continuity of our revolution is our biggest cause for faith in the future.  This is Revolution Until Victory.  There are no other alternatives."

A Tahrir Refrain: "Raise Your Head Up High, You are a Copt"

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When the Egyptian masses rose up on January 25, 2011 to throw off the yoke of the Mubarak regime, they raised in Tahrir both the crescent and the cross.  That is Egypt at its best: inclusive, cosmopolitan, moderate and diverse.  As of that date, all of its population (90 million - one fourth of all Arabs) aspired to a bright tomorrow, with Egypt, both of its Muslims and Christians (Copts) charging forward, leading the region towards democracy, development, and, above all, dignity.

Then came the Maspero massacre of Wednesday, October 19 (see our earlier blogs).  Thousands of Copts clashed with security and armed forces guarding the Egyptian TV building in the area of Cairo called Maspero.  Several from both sides; more were wounded.  It was the Egyptian Revolution darkest hour.  Egyptian blood on Egyptian hands.  Some expatriate Copts even called for internationalization of "the Coptic question."  The unthinkable became almost thinkable.  It was a jolt which caused Egyptian leadership and institution to spring into action.

Consequently on October 24, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the de facto and interim Egyptian Head of State, met with Pope Shenouda, the Pope of Alexandria, and the head of the Coptic Church -one of the most learned personalities whom I know of in that part of the world.  The agenda carried an assuring message: Egyptian Copts and Egyptian Muslims are one and inseparable body politic.

At that historic meeting, there were issues to be discussed, solutions to be put in place, national harmony to be strengthened.  The purpose was to emphasize that Egypt's national interest was supreme, and that Coptic grievances which resulted in the Maspero massacre needed to be addressed.  On top of the list was, not only to investigate the events and the wrong-doers of the Maspero massacre.  But also to deal with the perennial delays in the construction and refurbishing of Coptic churches all over Egypt.  The triggering events which flared as a result of the attack on the Marynab Church in Egypt's deep south had to be addressed.

For his part, Pope Shenouda was eloquently reassuring at this meeting with Tantawi.  The spirit of amity and peace should always govern all dealings between Egypt's Muslims and Copts.  They are, as the Pope of Alexandria said, the sons and daughters of the Egyptian homeland.  Sedition was a danger that should not confront Egypt.

The following day, the Egyptian Cabinet considered a new law governing the zoning, construction and authorization of all places of worship, both churches and mosques all over Egypt.  This law was the product of committees on social justice and legislation, and of "the Family's House" (Bait Al-Aaelah) -an interdenominational institution created by the Grand Imam, Dr. Al-Tayeb, of Al-Azhar, the citadel of Islamic learning located in Cairo for more than one-thousand years.

How is this reflected within the Egyptian community in the U.S.?  In the monthly newspaper entitled Voice of Belady (My Country's Voice), its editor-in-chief, Mr. Mouhib Ghabbour (a distinguished Copt) celebrate with members of the New Jersey Egyptian community, both the end of Ramadan (the Muslim month of fasting) (in August) and the feast of the Virgin Mary in one sitting. The motto of his more than 70 pages in both English and Arabic is fascinating.  It reads: "Separation Between Religion and State -No Turban Is Above the Law."  AMEN, Mr. Ghabbour!!

These expatriates have now been given a potential voice in running the new Egypt.  By a decision of the Egyptian Court of Administrative Justice in Cairo, the Government were instructed to allow Egyptians abroad to vote at their respective Consulates and Embassies.

Said Al-Azhar, through its delegation to Pope Shenouda on October 25: "The Maspero event shall be the last of Egypt's deep sorrows."

Gaddafi's Bloody End As Seen from Cairo

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The headlines in the Cairo press screamed "Gaddafi's Assassination."  It was not in glee on the part of the Egyptian printed media.  It was in reflection on the end of the life of the Libyan dictator of 42 years who once waged war on Egypt only to be hit back by Egypt's airforce as ordered by Sadat.

Then there was this quiet satisfaction in the Egyptian street as it compared between how Gaddafi was pummelled  then shot to death, and how Mubarak was being wheeled on his sick bed into open court in Cairo with his doctors and lawyers in tow.

Within this spectrum of emotions and soul searching, there was no mistaking Egypt's sigh of relief that Gaddafi's end meant a new beginning in neighboring Libya.  There was no dancing in Egypt's streets, yet there was quiet humming of glee for the Libyan masses erupting in song and dance.

The editorials celebrated what promises to be a new beginning in Tripoli.  The theme in the main editorial in the Egyptian Government newspaper Al-Ahram (established in Cairo by the Takla Christian Lebanese brothers 136 years ago), in its issue number 45609 summed up Egypt's mood. 

"Yesterday, the curtain fell on the Gaddafi era, in order for a new age to begin.  This beginning is not for Libya only, but for the entire Arab region, and perhaps for the world.  It was an era marked by dictatorship, oppression, suppression of the freedoms and rights of the citizen, and murder.  The Gaddafi period was characterized by disrespect for the people's destiny, by frittering away national wealth in order to feed personal ambitions and external whims.  In this, the Libyans, the legitimate owners of that wealth, were permitted no say, no opinion, not even a whisper.

More than any other leader in this area , Gaddafi personified this dark period in Arab history.  Since his assumption of power in 1969, he pushed his behavioral antics to grotesque limits... Those antics included his strange theories which he posted in his book "The Green Book" in which he developed a philosophy of governance all his own.  Through that philosophy, he made the Libyan people his field of experimentation from populism (jamahiriya), to socialism (ishtirakia), to rule by "popular committees."

Gaddafi swung wildly from the concept of Arab unity, to divorcing that concept in preference for African unity.  Throughout his reign, he tried to impose his views on his people and their neighbors.  This he did through money, weapons, terror and intervention in their internal affairs.  This led him to wars with Chad, Sudan, Egypt and Tunisia.

His mischief had an overreach beyond North Africa.  He got involved in conflicts in Northern Ireland and in Latin America.  Then abruptly, in later years, he tried reconciliation (after Lockerbie) with the West, by giving up his nuclear material and allowing western companies to pursue investments in Libya.

But the Arab Spring, armed and determined, flared up, ending his reign -a reign which was based on family and tribe, through he clothed it, once in nationalism, then in socialism.

No doubt, the post-Gaddafi world will be both different and better.  It is our fervent hope that, in its new era, Libya shall open a new page based on democracy, respect for human rights, and responsiveness to the Libyan people's aspirations.

During the long Gaddafi period, these were all values which were nowhere to be found."

Egyptian Blood on Egytpian Hands: The Maspero Massacre

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The email came to me, fast and furious.  It was from a young Coptic lawyer, one of my collaborators.  It was dated October 11 on a horrific disaster which befell all of Egypt on Sunday, October 9, at Maspero.  That is where the Egyptian Television is located, facing both the great Nile and also thousands of mainly Coptic demonstrators.

On that eventful day, perhaps the most eventful since Dictator Mubarak was chased out of office, 26 demonstrators were killed, 329 injured.  The cause of the Maspero uprising: an attack in upper Egypt on an Egyptian Coptic church in the most southern of Egyptian provinces, Aswan Province.  It was the spark that ignited the Copts who marched from their area of mostly Coptic concentrations in Cairo, called Shubra, on the symbol of Egypt's newly found freedom of expression, the state-run Egyptian Television at Maspero.

In his email of October 11, my Coptic lawyer friend said: "Egypt is crying blood and all the reason for that is the selfishness of some political parties and internal/external groups that want to see Egypt in this catastrophe.  I am really wondering why this is occurring for our dear country which really does not deserve all of that.  I also bring this tragedy to the lack of rule of law (for) which we all should work to strengthen (it.)"

Reflection of this extreme anxiety about the future of the Revolution of January 25 was through a cartoon in a government-controlled newspaper called "Rose Al-Youssef" which made the rounds throughout the Arab world.  The gifted cartoonist by the name of Anwar, had 2 persons wading into a pool of blood: one representing the military, the other, the civilian Prime Minister, Dr. Essam Sharaf.  On top of these two figures, the ominous words read: "Do you think we should open an investigation in where this blood came from, or is that not necessary?"

That bloody confrontation was between Coptic demonstrators on one side and security forces bolstered by military police on the other.  Muslims seem to have been split into two factions:  one group sided with the Copts, the other with the forces of the Government.  The first group was rewarding the Copts for their principled stand for national unity during the anti-Mubarak uprising; the second was rewarding the army for keeping its powder dry when Tahrir was aflame in quest of Mubarak's removal form power.

Who is to blame?  All parties.  Who are the winners?  Nobody.  Who are the losers: EGYPT.  In an email, my dearest niece told me from Cairo: "My heart is breaking for Egypt."

What are the consequences?  The honeymoon between the army and its people seems to have evaporated -at least for now.  There is suspicion that the military is angling for overstaying their welcome by extending the period of military rule, with a facade of a supine civilian government.

Yet actions by the Government were swift as were mutual recriminations.  Partial night curfew was declared for central Cairo; the Supreme Council of Armed Forces instructed the Government to conduct a thorough investigation and to bring to justice all those who were the cause of that mayhem; the Prime Minister called for national unity; the Copts called for the internationalization of sectarian strife, accusing the army of complicity.

In such complicated event, the conspiracy theory takes a front seat in the drama of the new Egypt taking its first baby steps towards democracy.  PM Sharaf declared: "There are criminal internal and external fingers which played their part in the violence in central Cairo to impede the establishment of a democratic system in Egypt."  Then he went on to tell the nation on TV: "The worst dangers confronting Egyptian security are the attempts to disrupt national unity; to sow disunity (between Muslims and Copts); to drive a wedge between the people and their army... It is difficult to characterize what happened as a sectarian conflict."

PM Sharaf seemed to have a boost for his theory from Pope Shenoudah, the head of the Coptic Church.  His Eminence, through the Holy Clerical Council which included 170 bishops, declared: "Christian faith rejects violence.  Outsiders penetrated Coptic demonstrators to commit those atrocities and then point the finger of blame at the Coptic community."

As for Al-Azhar (the Glorious) (Seat of Islamic learning for more than 1000 years), it declared through its Grand Imam, Sheikh Dr. Ahmed El-Tayeb:  "The Egyptian military was and shall always be the expression and manifestation of the principle of Egyptian citizenship."

The root cause of Coptic unrest was also tackled:  The Council of Ministers is slated to approve within two weeks a new law for standardizing the zoning rules of the construction of both mosques and churches.

If it does, then the flames at Maspero, which were ignited from a small church in Aswan Province, might have been converted into light guiding Egypt in the near future towards civilian and democratic rule.

Between the Egyptian Army and the Revolution: What is the Deal?

News from the Egyptian Street and Media Translated Without Comment from Arabic into English As a Public Service
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No body knows for sure, except that the revolutionaries are impatient.  They want a date certain for the transfer of power from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to a civilian government.  They want an immediate lifting of the state of emergency law which has been in effect for nearly the entire reign of "El-Askar" (the army) from the early 1950s till now.  Under these laws, detainees can be held without charges or trial for an indefinite period of time.  They want to abolish trials before military tribunals.  They want jobs with salaries commensurate with the inflationary pressures.  The want... They want... They...!!

Revolutions are never tidy affairs.  They are, as in all countries in the region affected by the Arab Spring, cascading events, popular explosions, sudden upheavals where there is hardly any planning or any recognizable leadership.  Euphoria is the result especially, as in the case of both Tunisia and Egypt, the dictator either flees (the case of Tunisia's Ben Aly) or is prevented from leaving the country and is put on trial (the case of Mubarak of Egypt).  In Egypt, the guns of that one-million man cohesive army remained silent, and the generals were invited to rule in an interim capacity (ruling by the Supreme Military Council under Field Marshal Tantawi, and governing by a technocratic government led by Prime Minister Dr. Essam Sharaf) until after elections, both parliamentary and presidential.

Although the honeymoon between the protesting public and the military seems to have lost a part of its steam, but the bond between these two poles of power seems to survive in the following manifestations:

• The fear of a pro-Mubarak conspiracy to sour that relationship persists;
• The responsiveness to the public demand for a definite time-table for parliamentary elections (with 38 parties in the competition), now set for November, to be followed by presidential elections on the basis of a new constitution to be drafted thereafter;
• The declaration by Field Marshal Tantawi that the military would not offer a candidate to be Egypt's next president.  This declaration had a calming effect with regard to the new Egypt becoming, once more, a secular democratic polity;
• The trumpeting of the completion by the Egyptian army corps of engineers of a speedway stretching for 309 kilometers (192 miles) from Giza, at the foot of the pyramids to Assyout, the de facto capital of southern Egypt, nearly halfway from Cairo to Aswan;
• The pomp and circumstance attending Armed Forces Day, October 6, in which the public came out in strength to celebrate;
• The avoidance of showering praise in the Egyptian media on the generals for fear of a slide-back to the military dictatorship which collapsed on February 11, 2011 after 60 years of oppressive rule;
• The call by leading opinion-makers in the Egyptian media for the armed forces to show more muscle in dealing with the chaotic conditions resulting from the continuity of demonstrations in Tahrir and elsewhere in Egypt;
• The rejection by the public of foreign criticism of the slowness of the pace of Egypt's transition from military to civilian rule as interference in Egyptian internal affairs;
• The repeated assurance by Tantawi and other leaders on the Egyptian Supreme Military Council that once the acts of instability cease, and the re-organized police forces are back to the business of maintaining law and order, emergency laws will be lifted.

These are indications that both the military and the Tahrir throngs are adjusting to a basic revolutionary reality: filling the vacuum left by the defunct regime takes time.  And solutions for the economic downturn cannot be fashioned by decrees alone. 

But the anxiety about the speed of the return of the military to their barracks is catalyzed in an old Arab proverb reflecting the fear of the return to military rule.  The proverb says:

Those who have once been bitten by a snake suffer a jolt upon seeing a twisting rope being dragged.

This proverb explains why a frenzy of speculation gripped the entire Egyptian political spectrum because Field Marshal Tantawi was seen recently for the first time out of uniform walking the streets.  His mere appearance in a civilian suit and tie evoked the grim speculation of yet another military officer grooming himself for the post of president.  Tantawi was quick to respond to the rumors by saying humorously, "Would it have been better if I wore a torn up civilian suit?"

The Tahrir Refrain

News from the Egyptian Street and Media Translated Without Comment from Arabic into English As a Public Service
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"Hold Up Your Head High - You Are an Egyptian!!"  It is the joyful cry of retrieved dignity and national pride.  The flags of Egypt were held high, some emblazoned with the inscription "I Love Egypt."  After 60 years of dictatorship, of which the last 32 years were under Mubarak, Egypt woke up to a new dawn of liberty.  The long search for reviving democracy has begun.

How do these feelings of "don't step on Egypt's dignity" manifest themselves in this 8-month old revolution, internally and externally?

Internally, 38 political parties were created.  The spectrum stretches from the liberal secular to the parties which sprang from the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis.  They were all licensed except for groups which espoused archaic precepts of Islam.

How about the now-dissolved National Democratic Party, the Mubarak party, whose imposing Headquarters overlooking the Nile with a sign reading "We Are for You," was torched by the Tahrir demonstrators at the start of the Revolution in January, 2011?  Its members were suspected of coming back to the halls of Parliament through the elections of November 2011 as "independents."  The new elections law allowed for one-third of the seats to be allocated to non-party affiliated independents; Two-thirds for voting on party lists.

The fear and suspicion of that group were palpable.  Thus the Supreme Military Council, the interim Government of Egypt, pending the full return to civilian rule, had to be pressured through the Tahrir demonstrators to amend that offending article (Article 5).  The military gave in to the national will.

The right to peacefully assemble and demonstrate has become enshrined by both law and practice of the new Egypt.  Tahrir has proved this principle of civil rights.  That right cannot possibly be abridged by a fatwa (a religious decree), as in the case of Saleh of Yemen, declaring that it was sinful to protest against the State.  That impossibility comes not only from Egypt's legislated laws; but also from Islamic jurisprudence under which an unjust ruler should be toppled by his subjects, when circumstances permit.

Thus the Friday of September 30 called "the Friday of Retrieval of the Revolution," meaning demonstrations to pressure the Egyptian military to amend the Elections Law, as noted above, and to end the so-called Emergency Laws was both possible and productive regarding the Elections Law.  Now proportional representation on the basis of voting for party lists is the means to become an Egyptian legislator once the November elections are held.

But again "Hold Up Your Head High - You Are an Egyptian" was at work externally.  The calls from abroad for elections supervisors from outside Egypt were rebuffed.  "Observers," yes; "supervisors," no.  After all, Egypt, since 1923, has been in the business of democratic elections - a tradition which was aborted by the onslaught of military dictatorship which began with Nasser, in 1952, and ended with Mubarak, in 2011. Egypt would thus accept observers, for example, from the Carter Foundation.

Within the same trajectory of pride in the new Egypt, the conditions which are now attached by the US Senate Appropriations Committee to U.S. aid to Egypt are objected to beforehand.  This objection applies to both economic as well as military aid.

That objection was announced by Egypt's new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Muhammad Kamel Amr, after meetings with US officials in Washington D.C.  The conditionality applied, among other things, to increasing border security in Sinai, and to having the Egyptian army commit to observing Egypt's obligations under the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.  The new Egypt, while not expressing its present objections as rejection of U.S. aid, said in effect, through its Foreign Minister, "Before the Revolution, no conditions were placed on that aid.  So why now?"

The issue here for the new Egypt was sovereignty from which national dignity flows.  The Egyptians, in whom sovereignty resides, have become, with their relevant institutions, co-makers of foreign policy.  This, at times, poses difficulty in dealing with foreign powers, as in this case, the U.S.

However, to be allied with the people of Egypt is a more durable alliance than with their former dictators. A writer by the name of Baher Shaarawi chose this apt title for his recent article on people's power, "People are more durable than their rulers."

Wael Ghoneim, is the young Egyptian and Google Executive who ignited the Egyptian street by the means of social media.  It was fitting to honor him in Boston in June 2011 by bestowing upon him the annual John F. Kennedy prize for courage.

Towards Deomocracy By Baby Steps

News from the Egyptian Street and Media Translated Without Comment from Arabic into English As a Public Service
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Those who say that Egypt has never experienced democracy should revisit its history.  The Egyptian Constitution of 1923, promulgated during the monarchy was a model Basic Law.  It guaranteed popular elections based on a multiparty system, freedom of expression, and the right to assemble peacefully.  That was 88 years ago.

So what happened?  In came Colonel Nasser with his Coup d'Etat in 1952.  Creeping military rule was now in motion.  The difference between a coup and a revolution is that a coup is undertaken by a junta; a revolution is undertaken by the masses.  Dictator Nasser found in the Constitution an obstacle to his rule.  In 1954, he directed his goons (baltagiahs) to attack an iconic institution, the Council of State, and its then Chairman, the great jurist El-Sanhouri.  El-Sanhouri was beaten up by the Nasser mob to the ignorant cries of "Down with the Constitution!!"  A dark age has descended on Egypt, and was to continue till the dawn of the Revolution of January 25, 2011.

A body politic, like that of Egypt of today, is beginning to learn again how to walk in the flowery park of a constitutional system.  The call for a constitutional change was in fact uttered in 2009, during the Mubarak dictatorship.  It was courageously uttered by Dr. Muhammad El-Baradie, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. El-Baradie, a Nobel Laureate, is today running for the post of President later this year.

But the crippling effects of the non-practice of democracy are a temporary restraint.  Baby steps toward democracy are usually transformed into forward leaps.  Hardly any training is required.  Practicing democracy is an on-the-job training.  The innate desire for freedom kicks in, and all that is needed is choosing the candidate, finding the way to a polling station, being in the proper voting district, proving your identity, being safe as you vote, and, BINGO, you have become a voter!!

This formula applies neatly to Egypt's present baby steps towards a democratic and secular State:  Some of these steps or manifestations thereof are produced hereunder as a guide post for this historic march:

• Selection of university presidents and college deans by elections held by their peers, not by appointment by the country's President upon recommendations by the security apparatus of that President;
• Broad criticism of Prime Minister Dr. Essam Sharaf for his recent statements to Turkish media that "the Camp David Agreements of  1978 which led to the Egypt/Israel Peace Treaty signed in Washington, D.C. in March 1979 is not a sacred document which is immune from amendment."  Egypt has a long history for respect of treaties.
• The euphoria of the masses at seeing their former tormentors (Mubarak, his sons, and members of his cabal) standing trial.  The notion of equality before the law is seeping in.
• The Youth Coalition, namely the young millions in Tahrir who lost 850 victims to the guns and tear gas of the Mubarak security regime, and for whom the guns of the military remained silent thus forcing Mubarak out of power, that Revolutionary Youth Coalition will field as many as 200 candidates in the Parliamentary elections.  Why? "To counter organized Islamic groups."
• Ahmed Ezz, the steel tycoon and monopolist, who was the Secretary of the now defunct National Democratic Party, was sentenced to 10 years in jail for unfair monopolistic practices.  During the Mubarak regime, Ezz was feared to the point that, prior to the Revolution which brought him to the halls of justice in Egypt, used to change the law on his own to suit his own monopolistic and corrupt devices.
• Egypt now laughs at a statement made by Omar Soliman during his few days of tenure as VP of Egypt during the waning days of the Mubarak dynasty.  The TV interview by Christiane Amanpour with Soliman featured Soliman's response to her question regarding Egypt's readiness for a transition to democracy.  His emphatic answer was: "The Egyptians do not possess the culture of democracy!!"  So in his popular column in Al-Ahram newspaper, entitled "The Reconstruction of the State," Atef El-Ghamry says: "The Mubarak regime has robbed Egypt of 30 years.  For it ran the country with the logic of a business corportation to which the regime grew accustomed, namely profit for the management (i.e. the Dictator and his cronies)."
• Now there is a clearly announced schedule for parliamentary elections in November, followed by presidential elections in December, followed by drafting a new constitution which will be submitted to a popular plebiscite in 2012.

Are these "baby steps" towards a secular and democratic Egypt? Maybe that baby has a sudden spurt of growth.  Go!! Go!! Go!!