Egypt’s Road to Democracy?

A friend sent me an article on Egypt’s latest crisis the other day. She knew I’d be interested in the latest verbal attacks directed at the country. After reading the article, I’ve become more convinced that the news we receive regarding the Middle East is incredibly skewed, we have no chance of really understanding the political, social, and religious climate so pervasive and controversial.

The article EGYPT: The Return to Authoritarianism and the Crisis of Citizenship Rights by Moataz El Fegiery of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies - October 2014,[ARAB CITIZENSHIP REVIEW No. 6] gives the reader an impression of a return to the complete totalitarian regime fostered for 30 years by Hosni Mubarak. The writer’s remarks subtly imply that the Sisi government is doing everything in its power to undermine any steps toward democracy and the accompanying freedoms.

But on closer examination the evidence reveals and almost sinister bias toward the Muslim Brotherhood and all their accompanying policies. Mr Fegiery is quick to bring home sins of repression to the Sisi government while completely ignoring the past repressions under Mr Morsi’s short-lived presidency. These particularly refer to the repression of women’s rights as Mr Morsi unilaterally revoked a woman’s right to travel without her husband’s permission, he re-legalized FGM, one of the worst indignities against women, and in a humiliating move, removed a woman’s right to inaugurate divorce proceedings. These actions were done without any Parliamentary accord as Morsi also refused to call for general elections, another accusation levelled at Sisi.

Whether or not the general elections promised by Sisi will happen by year’s end, and whether or not representation will be equitable in a new Parliament, is yet to be seen. But it must be remembered that Sisi operates under severely dysfunctional conditions as Egypt continues to reel under a series of changes, none of which have improved the economic, social, or political stability so desired by most Egyptians.