Everyone is responsible. Because human rights and democracy, it´s not about me alone. It´s not about this country alone. It is a responsibility of humanity. If you are violated in a different country, I will defend you. Because human rights does not belong to specific people. And the same goes for the policy of Bahrain and Yemen. You know, why? Are the Yemenis less worthy of a fair government? Are the Bahrainis less worthy? Killing people and torturing them is an acceptable cost to fight back Iran?
I don´t know. Who is benefiting, really, at the end of the day? Is it the majority of the poor people in the world? I highly doubt. So basically, that´s missing the train, not really standing to the principles that is being advocated is basically calling for another wave. But this wave is not going to be as peaceful. As it is, people are getting angrier. People are going to starve.
There is sectarian violence that is taking angry. It is induced and if it goes out of control, it will be very difficult to contain again. How about all of this can influence is really by– and as I said earlier– holding onto the principles, the real principles. We´re talking about freedom. Freedom is not– does not belong to one set of people and the others not. Freedom is not only freedom for the Americans not to feel afraid by terrorism, for example.
If the Middle East– if we all live in dignity, there won´t be terrorists. You know, why do people opt to violence? Why do people choose to kill themselves, reach a point when they´re willing to kill themselves? And it´s not normal human behavior. You reach a level of– hopelessness. For example, in Egypt during the ´80s and ´90s, everyone thought the poor were the ones who were being recruited for terrorism. And in reality, it was university graduates. You know, they had dreams growing up. And suddenly the dreams were stolen.
These are the people who are being recruited. It is not Gamal Mubarak [Gamal Mubarak, Hosni Mubarak’s younger son, was widely viewed as being groomed to succeed his father in office.] or people who are rich. This is basically it. It is telling regimes, it is telling possible dictators that they can get away with their crimes. Just to make things clear, in the revolution, the 25th of January in Egypt, was not made by anyone but by Egyptians and the hope and the determination to really make a dream come true.
Sally Sami has been a human rights defender for nearly a decade. She was one of the main coordinators of the Front to Defend Egypt’s Protesters (FDEP) during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Sami continues to defend human rights, but has become involved in politics and currently is a leading member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party and has been elected its Secretary General for Civil Society Affairs.
Twitter: @salamander
With a history dating back to the 10th millennium B.C., Egypt has long played a central role in the Middle East. Egypt is the largest Arab nation and has an influential voice in Arabic and Middle Eastern culture. Egypt has a diverse economy, but has struggled to create sustained economic growth and opportunities for its population of 84 million people.
The country has little experience with representative democracy. From 1956 to 1970, President Gamal Abdel Nasser ruled Egypt with a strong hand, nationalizing the Suez Canal and taking the country into conflict with the new state of Israel. Upon his death, Anwar al-Sadat became president. Together with other Arab nations, Sadat launched the October War against Israel in 1973. In 1979, Sadat signed a groundbreaking peace treaty with Israel.
From Sadat’s assassination in 1981 until the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Egypt was governed by President Hosni Mubarak. For all of Mubarak’s time in office, and for much of the time since his resignation, Egypt has been under “Emergency Law,” which allows the government to suspend constitutional rights, including limiting political activity and restricting free speech. Emergency Law also allows the government to use summary arrests against political opponents.
For four successive terms, Mubarak was reelected in referenda without an opponent. In 2005, under domestic and international pressure, Mubarak proposed a constitutional amendment to allow Egypt’s first multicandidate presidential elections. Because the amendment would have imposed severe restrictions on the eligibility of opposition candidates, opposition groups boycotted the vote. Mubarak claimed to have won the September 2005 presidential election with an official 88 percent of the vote, amid widespread allegations of fraud and vote rigging. The main opposition leader, Ayman Nour, was subsequently prosecuted by the government for forging signatures on petitions and was sentenced to five years in prison, provoking protests from the United States and other democratic countries.
Following the example of the Tunisian Revolution, large protests swept Egypt in early 2011. The military, led by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), withdrew its support of Mubarak. On February 11, 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi then assumed power in Egypt. SCAF dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution.
In November 2011, Egypt held parliamentary elections that were reportedly fair and democratic. In June 2012, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi was elected President, in part because liberal and secular forces failed to coalesce around a single candidate. Morsi’s popularity declined as he declared his orders immune from challenge, removed judicial review processes, and was accused of taking steps towards the implementation of Islamist policies. Conflict arose between those supporting Islamist policies and those seeking a more liberal and secular government. Protests occurred throughout his presidency until Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013. Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested and their camps and offices raided. Until new elections are held, a SCAF-installed provisional government led by acting President Adly Mansour is in control.
In its most recent report, the independent watchdog group Freedom House classifies Egypt as “partly free.” On its scale where 1 is the most free and 7is the least free, Egypt earned scores of 5 in both the civil liberties and political rights categories.
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