Let’s jump right in, shall we? A court in Alexandria, Egypt, has sentenced an Egyptian blogger to four years in prison for the dual crimes of insulting Islam (3 years) and insulting President Hosni Mubarak (1 year). Human rights activists and organizations around the world are condemning the court’s ruling, which appears unlikely to be overturned.
It’s a sad day for the Egyptians — even those who may have opposed what blogger Abd al-Kareem Soliman may have said on his blog — because it’s another reminder that the Egyptian government is more concerned about maintaining a facade of righteousness and political participation even though it has no real intention of actually providing any sort of moral compass or vehicle for popular political participation. The organization Reporters without Border has already added Egypt to its list of “Enemies of the Internet,” meaning that the country heavily censors what content can be accessed by Internet users within its borders. Egypt was actually added to the list for jailing several bloggers who had been part of a pro-democracy movement that got quashed last summer before the … and I use the term only in the most rudimentary sense … ‘elections’ that most of the opposition parties declined to participate in. Harassment of anti-government bloggers is fairly common.
But Chris, you ask, if things are so repressive in Egypt, why do you go and spend so much time there? I suppose it’s a fair question. Egypt is a fascinating example of a nation that functions in spite of itself, but could function so much better if it had a government that worked with its people instead of against them. Egypt is the largest Arab country, with a population of around 70 million, which is expected to double in 20 years. It also has one of the lower standards of living in the Arab world – this is not Saudi Arabia with its gleaming skyscrapers anchored by Starbucks, Marks and Spencer, and Harvey Nichols. This is a country where the average person makes $1,000 a year. It’s a country where schools run three sessions per day, jamming as many students into each classroom as possible. It’s a country that has seen a steady decline in the standard of living over the past five decades – one of the few places on earth where grandparents had it better than their grandchildren.
This mal-de-vivre has led to a resurgence of spiritual thought-radical Islam poked its ugly head up in the early 90′s, to be replaced by a far more successful conservative social movement. There are far more veiled women in the streets of Cairo now than there were when I lived there in 1995. I distinctly remember being able to walk into stores and make purchases during noonday prayer on Friday in the ’90s – today, the city shuts down on Friday afternoon, a phenomenon echoed to some degree during Sunday morning mass at the Coptic churches. And the Coptic patriarchate and the Muslim hierarchy have started working together on all of those conservative social issues they both support: they’re both pro-life, anti-gay, pro-traditional family. (I’m waiting for the day that the Evangelical Right in the U.S. figures out they have far more social causes in common with the growing Muslim population than they have in differences.)
The problem is that this is all happening outside of normal government channels. A few years back, the government in one of its fits of religious righteousness decided to go after the local gay scene, driving an already underground scene even further underground. But the real problem the Egyptian government faces is that its leader isn’t getting any younger – he’s pushing 80, and he’s passed out in public a couple of times. And the people have made it clear that they’re not going to stand for a Syrian style democracy in which the presidency is awarded to his son when he dies. What will post-Mubarak Egypt look like? Will it be the Islamic republic that the West fears? And, frankly, would the style of Islamic republic that Egypt might become actually be a threat to the West, except in the usual trade barrier sorts of ways?
Speaking of which, the other sad example right now is Iran, where president Ahmadinejad seems more determined than ever to provoke the West while letting all of the problems he promised to fix — rampant unemployment, corruption, declining social services — get ever worse.
What digs at me — I mean, really tears at the heartstrings — is that these are countries with such a proud heritage. They have well-educated, well-intentioned people who are genuinely warm and friendly to outsiders. Imagine what they could accomplish if they had governments that actually supported them and cared about making their lives better. Imagine where our world would be today if they’d been doing so all along.
Tags: bloggers, egypt, human-rights, iran, press
