Silencing the Egyptian Opposition

The deputy head of the legislative committee in the lower house of the Egyptian parliament, Omar El-Taher, admitted he has begun a campaign to silence those who “seek the downfall of the current regime.” El-Taher also confirmed there was a confrontation between supporters of the National Democratic Party and followers of Ayman Nour this weekend, but denied Nour’s claims of any violence. Nour has recently spearheaded a broad opposition campaign to prevent Gamal Mubarak from following in his father’s footsteps (see our previous post).

Meanwhile, religious tensions simmered in southern Egypt this weekend. On Saturday, Muslim students hurled stones at Coptic buildings after four Muslims under suspicion of murdering a Copt were detained by police.  In The Washington Post, Michael Gerson explores religious perspectives of Egypt’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Ali Gomaa.

At Arab Media and Society, David M. Faris explores the “future of electronic activism in Egypt.” Using the April 6th movement as a case study, Faris seeks to understand how the Internet “might contribute to the kind of broad-based grassroots political coalition that could in fact force the Mubarak regime into a genuine process of democratization.” In The Guardian, Brian Whitaker cites bloggers among feminists and gay rights activists as drivers of cultural reform in the Middle East. Given that “Arab regimes, by and large, are products of the societies they govern,” any sustainable, political reform must first stem from changes in Arab society.