Egypt: Wafd Will Run Despite Boycott Threats
November 1st, 2010 by Anna
After making threats to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections in Egypt, the Wafd Party announced yesterday that it will participate. Last week, the government refused to air Wafd’s television ads, prompting threats of an election boycott by the group. The party’s leader Sayyed al-Badawi said yesterday that the Information Ministry has agreed to permit advertisements for the party to air on state television, but warned that the upcoming elections are the regime’s “last chance” to demonstrate its commitment to free and fair elections. Al Masry Al Youm writes that “[d]espite the threats, it seems doubtful the Wafd ever truly considered boycotting the upcoming vote.” Meanwhile, the High Elections Commission has begun licensing Egyptian civil society organizations as monitors for the election. The commission says that monitor groups must be impartial and will be allowed to report violations if substantiated with evidence.
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Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Political Parties | Comment »
Egypt: Rights Have “Deteriorated”
November 1st, 2010 by Jason
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) sponsored a conference on Saturday that concluded that “[t]he government is ‘restricting freedom of expression to guarantee victory for its ruling party in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections,’” according to a report in Al-Masry Al-Youm. Participants criticized the Mubarak government for restricting media freedom and also criticized some opposition groups, including the National Human Rights Council, for becoming “advocate[s] for the regime.”
Also in Al-Masry Al-Youm, Mohamed ElBaradei is quoted from a recent interview in the Austrian daily Kurier saying that “‘The more unpopular this regime becomes, the more it realizes how much it is hated, the more (sic) authoritarian it becomes.’” ElBaradei goes on to explain that “’Democracy is not like soluble coffee, where you stir it and it’s done. You have to educate people and we weren’t raised for democracy.’”
Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Human Rights | Comment »
Palestine: Services Worsen in Some Areas, Improve in Others
October 28th, 2010 by Anna
The Christian Science Monitor reports today on a “protracted disagreement” between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority over who will pay Gaza’s electricity bills. The standoff means that “for Gaza residents, [the] deep Palestinian divide…not only prevents peace, but literally leaves them in the dark.” Although the European Union used to buy fuel for Gaza from an Israeli supplier, the Palestinians have been paying the bills since December 2009. Now, both sides contend that the other has mishandled tax revenue and international funding: while PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib claims that poor bill collection by Gaza officials has meant that the Hamas-led government pays very little, Gaza Electrical Distribution Company spokesman Usama Dabbour says that Gazans cannot afford to pay the bills. In the meantime, residents of Gaza continue to deal with blackouts and other failures in public service provision on a regular basis.
On a more positive note, USAID released a brief statement today announcing the conclusion of the five-year NETHAM (”Order”) Rule of Law program in the West Bank and Gaza. The program sought to strengthen rule of law in the Palestinian territories by upgrading Notary Public Departments in the West Bank, training judges and judicial staff, streamlining the process for issuing various routine certificates to Palestinians, and providing additional resources to the Al-Quds University School of Law.
Posted in Civil Society, Hamas, Palestine | Comment »
POMED Notes: “Human Rights in Iran”
October 28th, 2010 by Jason
The Brookings Institution held a panel discussion on Thursday titled “Human Rights in Iran.” The discussion was moderated by Kenneth Pollack, Senior Fellow and Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. The panelists were Geneive Abdo, Director of the Iran Program at the Century Foundation, Philo Dibble, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Markus Löning, Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, and Mojtaba Vahedi, political advisor to former Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi.
(To read full notes, continue below the fold or click here for pdf.)
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Civil Society, Diplomacy, Freedom, Human Rights, Iran, Reform, US foreign policy, sanctions | Comment »
Are Elections in Bahrain, Jordan, and Egypt Meaningless?
October 27th, 2010 by Jason
Writing at Foreign Policy’s Middle East Channel, Shadi Hamid puts the recent election in Bahrain and the upcoming elections in Jordan and Egypt into context: “Saturday’s elections in Bahrain instead reflected a new and troubling trend in the Arab world: the free but unfair — and rather meaningless — election.” While opposition groups were able to adapt and take advantage of the “Arab spring” of 2005, the regions authoritarians were not far behind in creating a “democratic facade” to present to the international community. Hamid says that “[s]ome might consider this a workable compromise: Arabs get to vote and let out some steam. Friendly Arab regimes get to maintain their grip on power.” This arrangement is not viable in the long term, Hamid contends, because young people are becoming restless with the political theater. “If free but meaningless elections become the new norm, the Arab opposition may be forced to adopt a more impatient and confrontational approach, one that emphasizes civil disobedience, mass protest, and other ‘de-legitimization’ techniques.”
Posted in Bahrain, Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Jordan, Reform, US foreign policy | Comment »
Jordan: An Interview With Jordan’s First Woman M.P.
October 27th, 2010 by Jason
Toujan Faisal, the first woman elected to Jordan’s Parliament, was recently interviewed by the Arab Reform Initiative. When asked about her understanding of reform, Faisal answered, “I think that the adoption of the constitution in Jordan in 1952 (i.e. without the amendments subsequently made to it) is the basis of such reform.” She added, “I now think that there is something better: the proportional representation list, and the establishment of an interim government without the power to take major financial decisions, until such time a government with real legitimacy can be formed in the presence of a real parliament.” Faisal was also asked about her views on quotas for female candidates. “I am opposed to all forms of quota, because quotas are in conflict with full equality between citizens […] Women are essentially citizens, and the sole criterion for progress is competence. When society as a whole progresses the situation of women automatically improves.”
Posted in Civil Society, Elections, Freedom, Human Rights, Jordan, Reform, Women | Comment »
Iraq: “Hopes Rest on Reconciliation”
October 27th, 2010 by Jason
At a recent policy forum luncheon held by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, three members of the Institute gave their perspectives on the current political situation in Iraq. Ahmed Ali said that Prime Minister Maliki is “known to be close with Iraqi president and leading Kurdish figure Jalal Talabani,” but that Maliki also brought Minister of Planning Ali Baban along on his recent visit to Turkey, signaling to the Turks that he was not “yielding to Kurdish demands.” Michael Knights focused on the security situation saying that “[s]ecurity metrics are degrading in quality as the U.S. military draws down […] confirm[ing] that stabilization is slowing overall and even regressing in some places.” Michael Eisenstadt reflected on the challenges facing the US and Iraq in the future. “Going forward, hopes rest on reconciliation through politics, with the formation of a broad-based governing coalition that gives elements from every community a stake in political order.”
Posted in Civil Society, Freedom, Iraq, Kurds, Political Parties, Sectarianism, US foreign policy | Comment »
Egypt: Aslan Interviews ElBaradei
October 26th, 2010 by Jason
In a new article at the Daily Beast, Reza Aslan speaks to Mohamed ElBaradei about the prospects for change in Egypt. When asked if he would run for president in next year’s election, ElBaradei responded “‘I might run if there is the prospect for a free and fair election, but I will definitely not run if it’s under the present circumstances.’” ElBaradei expressed concern that the situation in Egypt could deteriorate quickly. “‘If things continue the way they are, I don’t exclude that people will resort to violence,’” he said, adding that the violence would not be a result of his push for democracy, but rather a reaction to the harsh conditions many Egyptians live in. “‘When you have half of Caironese in slums, when you don’t have clean water, when you don’t have a sewer system, when you don’t have electricity, and on top of that you live under one of the most repressive regimes right now…Well, put all that together and it’s a ticking bomb.’”
ElBaradei also expressed frustration with the Obama Administration’s failure to use its influence in Egypt to push for reforms. When asked by Aslan if he would like to see more American pressure put on the Mubarak government, ElBaradei responded “‘Well, it is up to Barack Obama. It’s up to any government to decide how to react to the denial of basic human rights anywhere in the world including Egypt. All I can say is this—those who believe that stability comes with repression are really shortsighted and should not be surprise if the Middle East continues to move toward radicalization.’”
Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Human Rights, Reform, US foreign policy | Comment »
Firewall-Busting Technology Holds Potential in Democracy Promotion
October 25th, 2010 by Anna
In the Washington Post today, Jackson Diehl describes the role of firewall-busting technology in facilitating opposition movements in authoritarian states. One company, called UltraReach, enables people to access web sites banned by their governments, and about half of the system’s users are Iranian. With additional funding, the company’s founders say they could “effectively destroy the Internet controls of Iran and most other dictatorships,” writes Diehl. There have been some small efforts in Congress to help fund firewall-busting firms, which have collectively formed the Global Internet Freedom Consortium. State Department funding for internet freedom programs has been limited by “bureaucratic slowness,” however, in spite of calls from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Michael Posner to defeat internet censorship by authoritarian regimes. Diehl laments that although the technology and funding exist, “the agency still hesitates to act.”
Posted in Civil Society, Iran, Technology, US foreign policy | Comment »
Egypt: The Power of Statistics
October 25th, 2010 by Jason
Writing at The Guardian’s Comment is Free, Brian Whitaker takes Egypt to task for its failure to report basic statistics about its economy: “Imagine trying to govern a country that lacks adequate statistics about economic activity, healthcare, crime, education, urban development and environmental pollution. Imagine a country that relies heavily on tourism but has no figures showing why people visit or what they think of their stay. Imagine a country that relies heavily on agriculture, and yet has produced no data on the quality of cultivable land since the 1970s.” Whitaker cites a recent report by the Egyptian government that exposes the lack of reliable information on a number of issues. The selective usage of statistics by governments to control perceptions about their country is common throughout the world. Whitaker lists Lebanon’s failure to conduct a census since 1932, the lack of data on the number of Coptic Christians in Egypt, and the sensitivity of regimes in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan to opinion polling as examples of the power of statistics.
Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Freedom, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia | Comment »
Egypt: The “Boycott-Participation Divide” and International Monitors
October 25th, 2010 by Jason
In a piece published in Al Majalla, Amr Hamzawy and Michele Dunne describe the ongoing debate within and between Egyptian opposition groups about the “boycott-participation divide” and the necessity of international election monitors. The Muslim Brotherhood, the Wafd Party, and Tagammu have chosen to stand for election, while the Ghad Party, the National Democratic Front Party, and the National Association for Change (NAC, led by Mohamed ElBaradei) have chosen to boycott. “The boycott-participation divide speaks to the fundamental challenges and limited opportunities that the opposition has faced during Mubarak’s presidency,” Hamzawy and Dunne say.
The international monitor issue has also caused rifts within the opposition community. A number of groups are in favor of the monitors, including the Muslim Brotherhood and the NAC. The parties that have rejected international monitors on the grounds that they represent “an intervention in Egyptian affairs,” or are simply “impractical,” are not united on the subject themselves, with some of their members speaking out publicly in favor of the monitors. This increasing support for observers, according to Hamzawy and Dunne, reflects “the growing tendency within opposition movements, as well as a broad sector of the Egyptian public, to favor international monitoring as a safeguard against electoral fraud.”
Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Muslim Brotherhood, Political Parties | Comment »
Civil Society in Arab World Faces Structural Obstacles, Funding Challenges
October 25th, 2010 by Anna
In a recent article, Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Doha Center explores obstacles to the development of civil society in the Arab world. He asserts that NGOs in the region “have been weakened and tamed.” Although Western governments often express rhetorical support for civil society development, “the mode of NGO empowerment remains both flawed and often aimless,” Hamid adds. He outlines three main problems: 1) that many NGOs are co-opted by the government, which limits the social and political change they can drive; 2) restrictive legislation in many countries limits freedom of association and assembly, and organizations often self-censor out of fear of government reprisal; and 3) many supposedly pro-democracy organizations do not actively challenge the dominant political structure. Hamid also highlights issues with Western funding for Arab NGOs: “US and EU funding usually goes to NGO programming that is oppositional but not necessarily conducive to the sort of sustained, structural change that democratization requires.” In light of these difficulties, Hamid writes that Arab civil society organizations must “develop a sustainable model for funding from internal and regional sources.”
Posted in Civil Society, Democracy Promotion, US foreign policy | Comment »
Jordan: Debates Are Good For Democracy
October 20th, 2010 by Jason
Daoud Kuttab, writing at the Huffington Post, describes an all too rare moment in Jordanian politics. Hamza Al Soud, of Radio al Balad, asked Odeh Kawas, a candidate for parliament and human rights activist, “Are you in favor of a constitutional change that will allow prime minister’s to be elected and would curtail the King’s power’s to dissolve the parliament?” Kawas answered by saying that constitutional changes should be studied by an “elected group of experienced thinkers,” but that he does agree “that the prime minister should be elected and not appointed and that the King’s power to dissolve the parliament should be curtailed.” Kuttab notes that this kind of candor is unusual in Jordan. The debate is one of a series being held in Jordan prior to the November 9 parliamentary elections.
Posted in Civil Society, Elections, Freedom, Jordan, Journalism, Political Parties | Comment »
Egypt: Election Date Set, MB Leader Interviewed
October 20th, 2010 by Jason
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced today that the parliamentary elections will be held November 28. He also announced that the run-off vote would be held December 5 and the new parliamentary session will begin December 13.
In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Mohamed Saad al-Katatny, head of the Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc, said that the group plans to continue the use of the slogan “Islam is the Solution” in spite of pressure from the Egyptian government. When asked by the interviewer if he thought election monitoring was necessary, al-Katatny responded “If the regime intends to have fair elections, it will allow the international community or civil society to monitor. Preventing monitoring means there’s an intention to rig elections.” Al-Katatny was also asked if the Brotherhood planned on fielding a candidate for president, to which he answered “No.”
Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Islam and Democracy, Muslim Brotherhood | Comment »
Bahrain: Unrest Not a “Sectarian Clash”
October 20th, 2010 by Jason
Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen and Christopher M. Davidson write at openDemocracy that Bahrain has taken a “tactical shift […] combined with some of the pathologies associated with an authoritarian regime […] In these circumstances, any illusion of Bahraini democracy is rapidly being dispelled.” Describing a pattern of repression and inequality, the authors state that “what is happening in Bahrain can no longer be plausibly presented as what the Al-Khalifa […] seek to make you believe it is: a sectarian clash. In fact, neither a great Sunni-Shi’a conflict nor an Iranian conspiracy is responsible for Bahrain’s unrest. Its core is rather a genuine popular movement against the injustices and abuses perpetrated by an outdated regime.” The authors see in Bahrain a possible script for other nations in the gulf that face resource, population, and civil society challenges in the near term. “A regime that is unable to keep distributing wealth and maintain its population in a depoliticised condition, and sees repression as its only recourse, represents a model that the other sheikh-dominated regimes will have to face in the coming post-oil decades.”
Posted in Bahrain, Civil Society, Elections, Freedom, Human Rights | Comment »
Egypt: Are International Monitors only for Failed States?
October 19th, 2010 by Jason
Issandr El Amrani writes in Al-Masry Al-Youm today that “There’s an unusually virulent strand of political surrealism surging through Egypt at the moment […] And at the center of the debate is the question of whether raising Egypt’s practice of democracy–or lack thereof–is an infernal foreign plot.” He cites the recent comments of Mufid Shehab, the minister of parliamentary affairs, as an example: “This week he (Shehab) told the National Council of Human Rights that Egypt could not possibly envisage having foreign election monitors because that is something that is reserved for failed states.” As Amrani notes, the U.S. and Germany, among many other countries, allow international monitors to observe their elections. He goes on to mention the machinations surrounding S. Res. 586, and says that the U.S. State Department “has tried to make small changes in the bill to sweeten its language, perhaps in preparation for the unavoidable uproar at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which in recent years has developed quite a knack in terrifying diplomats about ‘interfering in Egypt’s domestic affairs.’”
In related news, Al-Masry Al-Youm reports that President Mubarak has ”ignored demands by the political opposition for free and fair elections by issuing a law on political rights that does not include a single reference to the need for judicial oversight of elections.” The new law does include an amendment that would create a 64-seat quota for women in the parliament, raising the overall number of seats from 454 to 518.
Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Legislation, US foreign policy | Comment »
Pakistan: A “Defective Democratic System”
October 18th, 2010 by Jason
Bilal Hussain writes at the Guardian’s Comment is Free that democracy in Pakistan only serves as “an interval before the arrival of the next military regime.” Hussain attributes the weakness of democracy in Pakistan to “age-old feudal, tribal and panchayat systems,” that retain their influence over politics in the country to this day. Hussein focuses primarily on the feudal system, whereby elites are elected to office solely “on the basis of their birth in a particular family, caste or place.” The result of this system, aside from inefficiency and ineffective governance, is “[a]lienation and disengagement from politics.” Hussain describes the reality of Pakistani democracy as he sees it: “Today, democracy is more seen as a peaceful way of tyranny and suppression; a reductionist version of justice, a fallacious idea of the rule of law and a deceptive concept of equality before law. Those who once comforted themselves that a democratic government would never let all this happen might now abandon a last delusion, that their freedom is inviolable. From liberty to equality, fraternity to sovereignty, an independent judiciary to the rights of the people, all are denied and demonised by the defective democratic system.”
Posted in Civil Society, Pakistan | Comment »
Iran: More Opposition Arrests, Tensions With Clerics
October 14th, 2010 by Jason
Muhammad Sahimi writes at the Tehran Bureau that a letter critical of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s handling of political prisoners, supposedly written by Sadegh Larijani, chief of Iran’s judiciary, has been published on an opposition website. Sahimi questions the authenticity of the letter, but does not rule out the possibility that it is genuine, noting that “if a letter with the above content has actually been sent to the Supreme Leader, it would represent a historic document.” The letter contains many accusations that the Supreme Leader and regime loyalists interfered with the judiciary both before and after the elections in 2009. Sahimi highlights one accusation in particular. ” [The letter] states, Khamenei revoked the power of the judiciary the day before the election and transferred it to the SNSC (Supreme National Security Council), which is packed with his cronies. What was he anticipating that he could not trust the judiciary and had to order a transfer of power?”
In other news, Radio Free Europe reports that an Iranian blogger critical of the regime, Mehdi Khazali, has been arrested. The article notes that the arrest is particularly interesting because Khazali’s father is Ayatollah Abolghassem Khazali, a conservative cleric and supporter of the government. Radio Free Europe also reports that Ali Shakurirad, a leader of the banned Islamic Iran Participation Front, was “summoned for questioning and detained”, most likely in response to an article he wrote about Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, the chief prosecuter of Iran.
Posted in Civil Society, Elections, Freedom, Human Rights, Iran, Islam and Democracy, Judiciary, Political Parties | Comment »
Yemen: Corruption Threatens Future
October 14th, 2010 by Jason
Abdulwahab Alkebsi, the Center for International Private Enterprise’s Regional Director for the Middle East and Africa, and the Carnegie Endowment’s Christopher Boucek have a new article at Real Clear World discussing the troubles facing Yemen. The authors identify numerous areas of concern: “The country faces an astonishing confluence of unprecedented challenges: violent extremism, economic collapse, a looming water shortage and a growing secessionist movement. Any one of these challenges, if left unaddressed, could overwhelm any government.” And the situation will only deteriorate when Yemen’s oil and water resources begin to fail. The root issue is systemic corruption, the authors argue, adding that ”30 percent of government revenue” fails to reach government coffers. Alkebsi and Boucek conclude that any true reform initiative in Yemen must include ”simplifying economic regulations and eliminating contradictions between laws, reforming and simplifying the tax system, clearly defining the authorities of civil servants by specifying their duties by law, ensuring enforcement of contracts and property rights, and enhancing the rule of law to protect individual rights and rights of the business community.”
Posted in Civil Society, Freedom, Reform, Yemen | Comment »
POMED Notes: “The Sudan Referendum: Dangers and Possibilities”
October 13th, 2010 by Jason
The Brookings Institution held an event today entitled “The Sudan Referendum: Dangers and Possibilities.” The featured speaker for the event was Representative Donald Payne (D-NJ), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States House of Representatives. The discussants for the event were Richard Williamson, non-resident fellow on foreign policy at Brookings, and Mike Abramowitz, director of the Committee on Conscience at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
(For full notes, continue below the fold or go here for pdf.)
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Posted in Civil Society, Human Rights, Oil, Political Parties, Sectarianism, Sudan, US foreign policy, sanctions | Comment »
