Comment
An Arab Model for Democracy
The time is ripe to crystallise a creative vision for Egyptian
democracy, one that can perhaps be used as a model by other Arab
countries.
By Khaled Diab -
22 Feb 11
If Egyptians are to create a democratic system that suits them, then
they must dare to further unleash the creativity so abundantly
demonstrated in this revolution. (Photo: Monasosh/Flickr)1
On Friday, February 18, as many as two million Egyptians gathered in
the (now-aptly named) Tahrir (Liberation) Square for what was dubbed
the Friday of Victory and Continuity ('Victory march' fills Cairo
square).
And the assembled throngs – resembling all at once a World Cup victory
celebration, Hyde Park speakers’ corner and a performing arts festival
– had plenty of reason to celebrate. The revolution had succeeded,
just one week earlier, in toppling - one could even say dethroning -
Hosni Mubarak (Mubarak: the life and times of a dictator), the
country’s pseudo-king for the past three decades.
But announcing victory is somewhat premature. The revolution will not
be truly victorious until the old regime is replaced completely by a
free and fair system that responds to the will of the people, as well
as triggering a profound process of social evolution (From political
revolution to social evolution).
The protesters and organisers were well aware of the dangers ahead and
the Friday of Victory was a subtle warning to the army that reneging
on the revolution’s demands was not an option people were willing to
contemplate.
Ever since Mubarak’s ousting on February 11, the army’s supreme
council has been in charge of the country. In the 18 days it took to
topple Mubarak, the army won many fans among the Egyptian population
for its intelligent and relatively enlightened handling of the
demonstrations and its support for what it called the “legitimate
demands” of the people, which prompted demonstrators to coin the
slogan that the “army and the people are a single hand”.
Although the public expression of this high level of trust was partly
tactical, in order to keep the army on side against Mubarak’s state
security apparatus and other assorted thugs, it still caused me a
certain amount of concern.
The army may have extended a hand of peace to the population but what
about its other hand: is it holding an olive branch or getting ready
to slap the people in the face or, worst, crush them with a fist of
steel when the opportunity arises?
It is the army which has run the country for the past 60-odd years,
during which time Egypt has not had a single civilian president. That
said, Mubarak, though he was a military man, had sidelined the army
with his “businessmen’s cabinet” and his strengthening of state
security.
It is certainly possible that the army could be dealing with the
people in good faith, reluctantly executing what amounted to a coup
d’etat when Mubarak refused to go and hand over his powers to an
interim council.
Then again, the military might see this as the perfect opportunity to
re-launch its star, especially as it has suspended the constitution
and dissolved parliament, ostensibly to meet the demands of the
revolution, but effectively creating a situation of martial law which
can potentially be abused.
So vigilance must be the order of the day. The Coalition of the Youth
of the Revolution, one of the main forces behind the demonstrations,
has vowed to continue mass protests until the revolution’s demands are
met, including the ending of the decades-old state of emergency, the
creation of a transitional presidential council and a technocratic
government drawn from across the political spectrum, as well as a
clear timetable for the holding of free and fair parliamentary and
presidential elections.
But in addition to this constant grassroots pressure, perhaps it is
also time for the revolutionaries to force the army’s hand by creating
certain facts on the ground. For example, the military has created its
own constitutional review committee, headed by the prominent judge
Tarek el-Bishry, to oversee the crafting of a new constitution.
Although Bishry is highly respected among most of the opposition, the
demonstrators need to ensure that the new document meets the people’s
demands and expectations.
One way to do this is for the revolutionaries to set up their own
parallel committee drawn from across the political and social
spectrum, whose members will not only deliberate among themselves but
will launch a broad public debate on the content of the new
constitution. In order to gather input from every strata of society,
the power of traditional, online and social media can be harnessed, as
well as good old-fashioned surveys.
Moreover, to guarantee maximum legitimacy and to avert any chance that
the army or any other vested political interest can manipulate the
process, the popular committee should pledge that any document it
produces will be put to a referendum.
The time is also ripe, given that any action or inaction now will have
ramifications far into the future, to crystallise a creative vision
for Egyptian democracy, one that can perhaps be used as a model by
other Arab countries.
At present, little or no effort is being made to articulate a
democracy that meets local circumstances and needs. This is
understandable, given that the revolution has a multitude of immediate
concerns to deal with. Nevertheless, if Egyptians are to create a
system that suits them, then they must dare to further unleash the
creativity so abundantly demonstrated in this revolution.
One concern that has regularly been voiced is that, after 60 years of
either one-party rule or a toothless multi-party system, Egypt has
been left with few viable political movements on which to found its
democracy. Moreover, the youth who launched and steered this secular
revolution do not fit easily or comfortably into any of the existing
political parties.
In Egypt, there has been talk of relaxing the country’s draconian
rules on party formation to allow all political currents to create
their own movements in time for the elections. There is also the
option of allowing protest movements, such as the 6 April Youth
Movement and Kefaya (Enough), to register as parties.
However, even if a slew of new parties can be set up in time for
elections, they will be, with the exception of the Muslim Brotherhood
and the reinvented secular opposition parties, largely unknown to the
public.
In my view, this contemporary reality provides us with an
unprecedented opportunity to rethink the mechanics of democracy, and
especially the party political system. Given that they provide certain
advantages, such as unity of purpose and discipline, political parties
are the cornerstones upon which most governments around the world,
whether democratic or not, are built.
But they suffer from certain drawbacks, such as the pressure they
exert on members to toe a party line, even if they do not believe in
it. In democracies, perhaps the most acute example of such party
tyranny is the first-past-the-post system. In the United States, for
instance, the system has evolved to the point where voters only have
two realistic options to choose from and many feel that the two main
parties are so alike that they do not provide true alternatives.
Egypt would be better served with a flexible, representative democracy
in which individual candidates run, whether for parliament or the
presidency, on their own merit and personal manifesto. This will
provide individual politicians with the flexibility to vote according
to their conscience and the will of their constituents, while
organising informally around certain issues of the day.
For example, on certain key issues – such as youth unemployment,
gender rights, social policy, trade and foreign policy – groups of
politicians of similar conviction can form temporary, unofficial
alliances, rather like the Egyptian opposition has already been doing
for several years.
Over and above this, politicians can be kept in check through a hybrid
direct democracy in which the people are consulted directly on vital
issues and in which concerned citizens who are unhappy with certain
decisions taken by their representatives or wish to launch their own
initiatives can take immediate action, if they gather enough
signatures, rather than have to wait for the next elections to voice
their views.
Egyptians have a golden opportunity not only to reinvent their
country’s politics but to reinvent democracy itself.
Khaled Diab is a Brussels-based Egyptian journalist.
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