Egypt’s Trappings of Democracy

Rannie Amiri writes in The Middle East Online that “it is always amusing to see how authoritarian regimes endow themselves with the trappings of democracy - a  party, parliament, ‘elections’ as if they somehow confer legitimacy to otherwise undemocratic governance.” Specifically, President Hosni Mubarak  has turned Egypt into the “epitome of a police state.” Amiri quotes Egyptian dissident Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who explained in 2007 that “any real or potential competitors, especially ones with charisma and name recognition, are to be defamed, jailed, driven from the country or otherwise eliminated.” Amiri predicts that “just as with King Abdullah of Jordan, Bashar Assad of Syria, and the current grooming of Libya’s Saif Ghaddafi, it will be a dictator’s son who assumes power, a ‘candidacy’ endorsed by Washington, and one in which the Egyptian people, regrettably, will have very little say.”

Responding to the recent audit of USAID’s democracy and governance assistance to Egypt, David Kenner asserts “it is hypocritical for the United States to preach the virtues of democracy while still devoting most of its funds to efforts which have proven ineffective.” He concludes, “U.S. policymakers know perfectly well how to design more effective programs in Egypt. They should do it.”

Finally, Egypt’s Prosecutor General ordered the release of three members of the April 6 Youth movement after their arrest earlier in the day. Police had claimed Amr Osama, Mohamed Adel and Amr Ezz were”propogating [sic] false news, disrupting public security and the possession of printed material with the intention of distributing it without a permit” after the trio were caught writing anti-Gamal Mubarak graffiti. Prior to their release, April 6 released a statement declaring “the youth will not give up in the face of the NDP’s deception and suppression of the masses; we will continue to fight peacefully.”