Egypt vs Zimbabwe By Salama A Salama
Some people have been amusing themselves by drawing parallels between Egypt's local elections and the recent municipal elections in France. In the French poll Sarkozy's party lost and the results were seen as a clear indication that the public was running out of patience with their president's policies and style of government. This is a far cry from what happened in Egypt.
The French not only have free elections but a whole set of values that go with it -- the acceptance of otherness, freedom of religion and opinion, the right to form political parties and labour unions. The list goes on. In Egypt we cannot compare ourselves with France. We cannot even compare ourselves with Pakistan, Zimbabwe or Kenya
Is it too much to hope that our ruling elite -- the same elite that closely follows the meetings of the European parliament and feel incensed when Egypt is accused of human rights abuses -- might actually start mimicking what other nations have been doing? Is it possible that they might tray their hand at conducting a fair election? You'd think that they would be more than happy to encourage the nation to participate in politics since that is the only way political and social conditions in Egypt will be improved. How else can we credibly fight corruption and poverty? How else can we improve public services, end discrimination against women and Copts and stamp out violence in all its shapes and forms? But this is the last thing on the minds of our leaders. For them the status quo is the only way to go.
Egypt vs Zimbabwe By Salama A Salama
The French not only have free elections but a whole set of values that go with it -- the acceptance of otherness, freedom of religion and opinion, the right to form political parties and labour unions. The list goes on. In Egypt we cannot compare ourselves with France. We cannot even compare ourselves with Pakistan, Zimbabwe or Kenya
Is it too much to hope that our ruling elite -- the same elite that closely follows the meetings of the European parliament and feel incensed when Egypt is accused of human rights abuses -- might actually start mimicking what other nations have been doing? Is it possible that they might tray their hand at conducting a fair election? You'd think that they would be more than happy to encourage the nation to participate in politics since that is the only way political and social conditions in Egypt will be improved. How else can we credibly fight corruption and poverty? How else can we improve public services, end discrimination against women and Copts and stamp out violence in all its shapes and forms? But this is the last thing on the minds of our leaders. For them the status quo is the only way to go.
Egypt vs Zimbabwe By Salama A Salama
posted by temporal at 4/12/2008
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home