Alarm bells sound in Egypt
Attacks on peaceful dissent should stir U.S. action
CAIRO, Egypt – Dozens of dark green trucks blocked off the streets. Cairo police stood shoulder to shoulder, arms locked together in a human fence.
There was no way to reach the small demonstration outside a courthouse in central Cairo on May 11.
A beefy plainclothes cop looked on as a couple of American journalists talked to people shut out from access - lawyers, local residents, even a couple of members of Parliament. After a few minutes, he had a message for our interpreter: Move along or we'll beat you up.
And then we saw what he meant.
Suddenly a line of police, swinging batons, charged down the street. Their target: a knot of a few dozen people on the corner across the street who were chanting, "We will bleed but we will not die."
I was in Egypt on a two-week program run by the International Reporting Project at Johns Hopkins University, with support from the Stanley Foundation, to educate journalists about foreign affairs.
The scene I saw was repeated over and over that day, according to news stories. Protesters, passersby and journalists were hassled, roughed up and beaten. Hundreds were hauled off, under arrest.
An interpreter read me the message on a banner that hung from the top floor of the courthouse: "Yes to the independence of the judiciary. No to a police state."
Obviously not a sentiment that registers with President Hosni Mubarak.
Thousands of riot cops filled the streets below. Battalions of thugs in civilian clothes stood ready to crack heads without the obvious imprint of authority.
America prodded Mubarak to crack open the door to political expression last year. Political debate and dialogue began to flourish as the country headed into its first multi-candidate presidential contests, followed by parliamentary elections. But the voting was marred by fraud, violence and arrests of opposition supporters.
Now, Mubarak is slamming the door shut. And America's reaction is far too restrained.
His main opponent in the election, Ayman Nour, is in prison on trumped-up charges. Two prominent judges who criticized the electoral process were accused of professional misconduct. Their disciplinary hearing sparked the protests we saw.
One lawyer, blocked from getting to work, fingered his key chain like prayer beads. Looking at the ranks of security police with their face visors and heavy shields, he said, "They're pulling my heart out, because this is my country. What is happening is against humanity, freedom. I can't even breathe, I'm so choked up."
At 78, Mubarak might not run again. But he clearly plans to make the presidency a family affair. Crushing the opposition helps clear the way for his son, Gamal, to succeed him.
Mubarak testily argues that America should butt out of criticizing his repressive tactics. He holds up the specter of the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist group with visions of creating an Islamic state. Although officially banned, the brotherhood won a startling 20 percent of legislative seats last year by running candidates as independents.
Mubarak reacted by postponing this year's municipal elections until 2008. In April, his National Democratic Party extended the despised emergency law of 1981 that gives police sweeping powers and drastically restricts political activities. Every little clump of people we talked to outside the demonstration was illegal, because public gatherings of more than five people are banned without a permit.
The United States has backed plenty of autocratic regimes out of self-interest.
But repression in the biggest country of the Arab world runs counter to our own long-term interests.
• Without the political space to develop, secular parties are stunted and weak. That leaves the Muslim Brotherhood as the only outlet for political discontent. The group has the ears of millions of Egyptians through mosques, and it wins support by filling a need for clinics and social services that the government ignores.
• Putting the Muslim Brotherhood in the open is less risky than having it flourish in the shadows. The Brotherhood, which renounced terrorism years ago, is positioning itself as a moderate Islamist group. We may be skeptical about its long-term commitment to democracy, but there are advantages to making it a legal political party, forced to lay out and defend its positions. In demonstrations a week after I left, the arrests included two Muslim Brotherhood leaders interviewed by our group of journalists. Maybe the government will intimidate them. More likely, it's creating local heroes.
• America is getting a black eye. I saw a man point at the long batons of the security forces. In English, he said, "This stick from America." We may not be buying the truncheons, but America is pouring money into military aid for Egypt: $1.3 billion, almost three times the $495 million for economic assistance. When Mubarak unleashes force against his people, America is bound to get blamed.
• The massive resources devoted to security could go a long way to improving the lives of average Egyptians - and reducing the appeal of extremists. Spotting my reporter's notebook, a man grabbed our interpreter: "Tell her inflation is too high. My kids are university graduates and can't get jobs. I want to marry off my daughter, but I can't afford it."
When the United States is promoting democracy as one of the antidotes to terrorism, we must take every step to stop the attack on peaceful dissent in Egypt.
One demonstrator had a dramatic way of showing the public's ability to express itself today: He put a gag over his mouth and wrapped chains around his wrists.
American officials occasionally upbraid Mubarak for his tactics. And that's where it ends, as if giving Mubarak free rein ensures that we'll have a key ally against terrorists like al-Zarqawi. A State Department official recently testified to Congress that withholding any of Egypt's annual aid would be "damaging to our national interests."
Too bad members of Congress couldn't hear the voice shouting out of a crowd hemmed in by riot police in Cairo: "What is happening now will create a million new al-Zarqawis."
Copyright © 2005 International Reporting Project. All Rights Reserved.