Then, as
protests built in the streets of Egypt
following the overthrow of Tunisia’s dictator, I heard Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton’s assessment that the government in Egypt is
“stable” and “looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and
interests of the Egyptian people”.
I was
flabbergasted—and
I was puzzled. What did she mean by stable, and at what price? Is it
the stability of 29 years of “emergency” laws, a president with imperial
power for 30 years, a parliament that is almost a mockery, a judiciary
that is not independent? Is that what you call stability? I am sure not.
And I am positive that it is not the standard you apply to other
countries. What we see in Egypt is pseudo-stability, because real
stability only comes with a democratically elected government.
If you would like
to know why the United States does not have credibility in the Middle
East, that is precisely the answer.
People were absolutely disappointed
in the way you
reacted to Egypt’s last election.
You reaffirmed their belief that you are applying a double standard for
your friends, and siding with an authoritarian regime just because you
think it represents your interests. We are staring at social
disintegration, economic stagnation, political repression, and we do not
hear anything from you, the Americans, or for that matter from the
Europeans.
So when you say
the Egyptian government is looking for ways to respond to the needs of
the Egyptian people, I feel like saying, “Well, it’s too late!” This
isn’t even good realpolitik. We have seen what happened in
Tunisia, and before that in Iran. That should teach people there is no
stability except when you have government freely chosen by its own
people.
Of course, you in
the West have been sold the idea that the only options in the Arab
world are between authoritarian regimes and Islamic jihadists. That’s
obviously bogus. If we are talking about Egypt, there is a whole rainbow
variety of people who are secular, liberal, market-oriented, and if you
give them a chance they will organize themselves to elect a government
that is modern and moderate. They want desperately to catch up with the
rest of the world.
Instead of
equating political Islam with al Qaeda all the time, take a closer look.
Historically, Islam was hijacked about 20 or 30 years after the Prophet
and interpreted in such a way that the ruler has absolute power and is
accountable only to God. That, of course, was a very convenient
interpretation for whoever was the ruler. Only a few weeks ago, the
leader of a group of ultra-conservative Muslims in Egypt issued a fatwa,
or religious edict, calling for me to “repent” for inciting public
opposition to President Hosni Mubarak, and declaring the ruler has a
right to kill me, if I do not desist. This sort of thing moves us toward
the dark ages. But did we hear a single word of protest or denunciation
from the Egyptian government? No.
Despite
all of this, I have hoped to find a way toward change through peaceful
means. In a country like Egypt, it’s not easy to get people to put down
their names and government ID numbers on a document calling for
fundamental democratic reforms, yet a million people have done just
that. The regime, like the monkey that sees nothing and hears nothing,
simply ignored us.
As a
result, the young people of Egypt have lost patience, and what you’ve
seen in the streets these last few days has all been organized by them. I
have been out of Egypt because that is the only way I can be heard. I
have been totally cut off from the local media when I am there. But I am
going back to Cairo, and back onto the streets because, really, there
is no choice. You go out there with this massive number of people, and
you hope things will not turn ugly, but so far, the regime does not seem
to have gotten that message.
Each day it gets
harder to work with Mubarak’s government, even for a transition, and for
many of the people you talk to in Egypt, that is no longer an option.
They think he has been there 30 years, he is 83 years old, and it is
time for a change. For them, the only option is a new beginning.
How long this can
go on, I don’t know. In Egypt, as in Tunisia, there are other forces
than just the president and the people. The army has been quite neutral
so far, and I would expect it to remain that way. The soldiers and
officers are part of the Egyptian people. They know the frustrations.
They want to protect the nation.
But this week the Egyptian people broke the barrier of fear, and once that is broken, there is no stopping them.
Mohamed
ElBaradei was awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize along with the UN's
International Atomic Energy Agency, which he headed at the time. Since
his retirement at the end of 2009, he has emerged as a political force
in his native Egypt.
When Egypt
had parliamentary elections only two months ago, they were completely
rigged. The party of President Hosni Mubarak left the opposition with
only 3 percent of the seats. Imagine that. And the American government
said that it was “dismayed.” Well, frankly, I was dismayed that all it
could say is that it was dismayed. The word was hardly adequate to
express the way the Egyptian people felt.
