In Pictures: Occupy The World

On October 15, Protests Against The Financial Industry and Economic Austerity Erupted Across Six Continents.

Last Modified: 16 Oct 2011 11:02
Courtesy Of "Al-Jazeera"

On October 15 anti-corporate demonstrations broke out in major cities across the world in sympathy with the 'Occupy Wall Street' protests that began in New York City in September. In New York, demonstrators marched through iconic Times Square, where dozens were arrested by police; in Rome, violence erupted as some demonstrators torched cars and smashed windows.

The protests were not confined to the US and western Europe: Rallies drew crowds of various sizes in Melbourne, Taipei, Santiago, Manila, Amman, Tokyo, Cape Town, and Bucharest, among other cities.

Source: Al Jazeera

What Next For Egypt and Its Neighbours?

The Cafe Travels To Cairo To Discover What Role Egyptians Want Their Country To Play In The Region and The World.

The Cafe
Last Modified: 25 Jul 2011 07:54
Courtesy Of "Al-Jazeera"

Can Egypt Peel Away From Its Reliance On Foreign Investment?

Has Egypt Reached The Point Of No Return?

The Cafe
Last Modified: 20 Jul 2011 14:50
Courtesy Of "Al-Jazeera"

Egyptians Gather In The Cafe To Discuss The Challenges Of Fulfilling Their Revolutionary Dreams, Five Months After They Ousted Mubarak:




Is Egypt Really At A Point Of No Return, Like Noor Noor Says? Join The Conversation With The Cafe Team In Cairo:

Egyptians Living In A Rawlsian Environment

By Nathan J. Brown
June 23, 2011
Courtesy Of "The National Interest"

The most striking feature of Egyptian politics that has emerged over the past three months is how polarized it has become. That is disheartening for Egyptians, but it is not necessarily bad news for political reconstruction—as long as the emerging differences are handled wisely.

In the immediate aftermath of Hosni Mubarak’s forced departure from office on February 11, Egyptians experienced a euphoric wave of national unity and pride. The revolution itself was at times a divisive affair, with pitched street battles, torching of public buildings and hysterical bouts of conspiracy-mongering from pro-Mubarak media. But the bitterness quickly passed for most Egyptians; after Mubarak had left it was difficult to find anyone with a kind word to say about him or his legacy.

There was undoubtedly a measure of opportunism involved in this moment of revolutionary enthusiasm, but there was a very profound sense as well that Egyptians had accomplished what nobody—least of all themselves—thought they were capable of. As a legal figure who, by reputation, might have been expected to defend the old regime told me earlier this month, “Everyone is with the revolution.” An army that had kept people guessing about its intentions was suddenly proclaimed to be one with the people. Outbursts of Muslim-Christian tensions seemed one of the few worrying signs, and even those were met with large demonstrations and widespread bumper stickers proclaiming that Egyptian identity trumped all other concerns.

And in the warm but very inchoate atmosphere of the revolution’s triumph, Egyptians began discussing their political future. Did they want a parliamentary system in order to combat the presidential authoritarianism of the past? What systems would provide for the freest and fairest elections?

The country was experiencing what might be called a “Rawlsian moment.” Before his death in 2002, American political philosopher John Rawls had made a name for himself leading a couple generations of scholars in exploring ways to assess and maintain the justice of a political order. His basic approach included an invitation to imagine what sort of system people in a society might construct if they did not know in advance what their position would be in it. Rawls never envisioned this “veil of ignorance” as something that was actually possible; imagining such an abstract deliberation among people writing rules under such circumstances was simply a good way of assessing whether the rules in place were fair or not.

But in February and March, Egyptians seemed actually to be living in a Rawlsian environment. Nobody knew who the relevant political actors would be, what shape their platforms would take, or how strong they would be electorally. Of course, general tendencies could be discerned, but when Egyptians argued about questions of constitutional design, the political scene was so unclear they could put abstract principles above partisan interest.

But on March 19, Egyptians were summoned to the polls to approve a package of constitutional amendments. While the proposals did not clearly favor any party, many revolutionary groups felt that they did not go far enough and risked rushing (and perhaps even aborting) the transition process. Islamist groups concluded just the opposite: that it was a good idea to hasten the process along so that democratic politics could commence and the military could be relieved of its dominant political role.

And in the aftermath of that debate, the prevailing atmosphere in Egypt began to shift rapidly from an expected summer of love to that of a roller derby rink. Earlier this month, when I visited Egypt and spoke to figures from across the political I spectrum, I found Islamist and non-Islamist forces describing each other with increasing distrust and even fear; they now seem focused more on elbowing each other out of the way than linking arms. Differences of opinion among political leaders are necessary to give people democratic choices, but the problem for Egypt is that the suspicions among various leaders are growing so deep that conspiratorial talk of secret pacts, foreign funding of and support for opponents and hidden agendas has become extremely widespread—all this in a context in which the rules of political contestation are not yet written (and indeed must be devised by rival trends that view each other increasingly darkly).

The topic of debate at the moment is whether to proceed with some version the sequence established by the military from the beginning—parliamentary elections, then presidential elections, then an assembly to write a permanent constitution—or to write the constitution first. There are principled arguments to be made on both sides. But those are rarely made. Instead it is self-interest that drives the actors. Non-Islamist leaders are clear, frank and blatantly partisan, even in public: they want to write the constitution first to diminish the role of the Islamists in the process. They are working to mobilize their supporters in the streets in order to prevent their defeat at the polls. Islamist leaders see this as an attempt to rewrite the rules in order to hem them in. And they have therefore parted company with the rest of the revolutionary coalition and are increasingly charting their own course.

Bareknuckled politics is not bad news. In fact, it is all but necessary for sound constitutional design. Those documents drafted in isolation from real-world politics are often unrealistic and badly conceived. Constitutions should not be written against the will of those who are supposed to operate them. I’ve argued elsewhere that the best processes are those in which rival political forces hammer out an agreement they all can live with rather than one which strives only to enshrine lofty principles for the ages. And a study of which constitutions are most likely to last similarly finds that inclusiveness, flexibility and specificity are far more conducive of longevity than rarefied, rigid and vague documents. Constitutions that show the scars of normal political battles are often ugly, but they are far also more likely to guide politics.

So the deepening divide in Egyptian political life can help if it forces Islamists and non-Islamists to sit down at the table and hash out a deal. At this point, there may still be enough that they can agree on—in terms of a more open, democratic and pluralist order—that a document can be written. The problem right now may be practical. The process outlined by the ruling junta has the newly elected parliament designating a group of one hundred figures to write the new constitution. (There is no evidence that anyone has yet given any thought as to who the drafters should be—what mixture of parliamentarians, politicians, constitutional lawyers and civil society activists—or how various interests should be balanced. Nor is there much evidence that anyone has considered its content beyond a few contentious issues, such as the role of religion and the balance between presidential and parliamentary authority.) The drafters are to complete their task within six months, but there is no clear guidance on what happens if they miss the deadline. Their work is to be submitted to a referendum within fifteen days, but nobody is slated to review it and there will barely be enough time for people to read it before a vote.

Is this the best way for Egypt’s contesting political forces to hammer out a set of rules that they can all live by? Probably not, but changing the rules now would not be politically neutral—it would be seen by the Islamists (not without cause) as aimed against them. The best path now may be for Egyptians to make lemonade out of the lemon of a process by insisting that the assembly be broadly inclusive and by beginning what will likely be a noisy and sometimes unpleasant debate about the constitution’s contents right now.

Image by Jonathan Rashad

'This Time We're Here To Stay'

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters have gathered in Tahrir square to voice their anger and frustration [AFP]


Ask About The "New" Revolution In Egypt and Activists Will Say The Last One Never Ended, and Won't.

By Fatma Naib
Last Modified: 08 Jul 2011 20:18
Courtesy Of "Al-Jazeera"

Pro-democracy activists in Egypt have launched a sweeping campaign - on the ground, online and otherwise - to urge protesters to flood back into Tahrir Square and take back the area in a new nationwide wave of peaceful demonstrations.

"The revolution never ended. The revolution will go on until all the people's demands are met," said Abdelrahman Ghareeb, a 26-year-old software engineer, who has been attending rallies in Tahrir Square since the onset of the revolution on January 25.

Some six months later, July 8 has been called the beginning of a "Million Man" protest, an uprising activists hope will be the largest since the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak in early February. The aim is to demonstrate the widespread public outcry to put former government officials on trial and rein in the military council that has governed Egypt since Mubarak's removal.

Mona Seif, an activist, 24

As Mona Seif, a human rights activist, wrote on her Facebook page: "This time I will be in Tahrir from midnight, this time I am here to stay."

Seif, an organizer of the "Say 'No' to Military Trials for Civilians" campaign, has brought attention to numerous civilian military arrests since the revolution.

The "Million Man" push gained momentum from clashes in Tahrir Square between security forces and protesters onJune 29 that left more than 1,036 people injured.

The violence was followed by the riots that erupted in Suezas protesters tried to storm a security headquarters after a court confirmed the bail of seven police officers accused of killing protesters during Egypt's earlier uprising.

Many Egyptians believe these events, and others like them, demonstrate that nothing has changed since the revolution begun five months ago.

Gigi Ibrahim, a political activist, 24

In the lead up to July 8 protests, many activists changed their profile pictures on social networking websites, notably Facebook, to a picture with a card with "July 8" written on it.

"We are going [to Tahrir] because none of the main demands have been met, which are freedom, social justice and equality," activist Gigi Ibrahim, 24, told Al Jazeera.

"The corrupted people have not been charged at all, starting from Mubarak and going all the way to the policemen that killed the protesters," she added.

Ibrahim continued: "There have been five months now since the revolution started and the government and supreme council have shown no signs that they are are willing or thinking [about] taking take steps to deal with our demands.

"We are coming back to Tahrir and other squares to put the pressure all over Egypt to demand the principles that the people fought for on January 25."

Noor Noor, an activist, 20

Activist Noor Noor, 20, is discouraged that nothing has changed in Egypt since the revolution. He is concerned that the interim military government is manipulating the narrative of the now-iconic uprising.

"It feels like they are trying to fool us into believing that the revolution ended on February 11 when Mubarak left. We are not seeing any positive steps toward change," Noor said.

"We want to remind people that the revolution is just beginning and it needs all our efforts to achieve all our demands.

Ghareeb, the software engineer, said he is going back to Tahrir to protest what he considers a blatant government attempt to use the judiciary to protect government cronies and incarcerate activists.

"The military trials of civilians need to stop. Hundreds of people are behind bars right now without a fair trial. Some of them [are] not just innocent but also revolutionaries who put their lives on the line during and after the revolution for this country. We've been under military rule for far too long. It ends now," he said.

As for the threat of violence at the hands of government forces and pro-government supporters, journalist Sarah Abdelrahman, 23, said it can't be worse than in crackdowns earlier this year.

"I am not scared of brutality because we've faced everything so far, and we will do whatever it takes to get our country's freedom," she told Al Jazeera on July 8.

"We're more than prepared for clashes. They have weapons, we have our dreams." 

Egypt's Army and The Revolution

The ScoreCard

Five Months After Protests Broke Out, Has The Military Met Demands For Political Reform and Social Justice?

By Evan Hill
Last Modified: 30 Jun 2011 10:20
Courtesy Of "Al-Jazeera"

When Egypt's youth-led "January 25th Revolution" forced long-serving President Hosni Mubarak to resign on February 11, Mubarak handed the reins of power to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, an 18-member body composed entirely of high-ranking commanders in the army, air force and navy.

The Council, which has come to be known by its acronym, SCAF, was thrust into a political role for which it had little preparation. Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the SCAF's 76-year-old chairman, is a former infantry officer who received his commission more than half a century ago.

Yet Tantawi and his commanders moved swiftly to assuage the grievances of the revolution, lest they too be swept aside and their deep investments in the state irreperably damaged.

In the five months since protests began, the military has met some of the revolution's most important demands. Parliament has been dissolved and the Mubarak regime's top echelon imprisoned. But the hated state of emergency remains, and protesters have edited their most well-known refrain to reflect their new target: "The people want to bring down the regime" has become "The people want to bring down the field marshal."

Click on the items below, or scroll down, for more information.

Lift the state of emergency
Arrest, investigate and try former regime officials
Dissolve parliament and outlaw Mubarak's National Democratic Party
Hold free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections
Protect protesters and hold police accountable
Suspend the constitution and write a new one subject to public approval
Reform the security forces and limit executive power
Improve the average Egyptians' economic position

Field Marshal Tantawi and his generals have not halted crackdowns on demonstrators [EPA]

Lift The State Of Emergency 

If protesters viewed Mubarak as the ultimate villain in their conflict with the regime, then the state of emergency was the dark cloak in which he draped himself. Five months after the revolution began, it still hangs over the country.

Though emergency law was first instituted during the 1967 war with Israel, its modern incarnation coincided with Mubarak's ascent to power in 1981, after the assassination of Anwar Sadat. Under the law, security forces had impunity to violently break up public demonstrations, search property and arrest civilians without a warrant, detain indefinitely whomever they wished, and refer many to special emergency courts whose decisions only Mubarak could overturn.

Decades of life under the state of emergency set the climate for routine police brutality, leading to cases such as the the alleged police murders of Khaled Said and the lesser-known Ahmed Shaaban. Outrage over Said's death and feelings of police-imposed degradation fueled the revolution; lifting the emergency law was one of the protesters' top demands.

The SCAF, in their second communique, promised to do away with the law "once the current circumstances end," but only the generals know when that may be. The SCAF-approved interim constitution still provides for the imposition of emergency law, subject to parliamentary and public approval, and loopholes leave room for abuse.

Arrest, Investigate and Try Former Regime Officials 

In the wake of the revolution, Mubarak and much of his inner circle have been arrested. Some have already received prison sentences. The haul of former officials reads like a regime dinner party: Mubarak's two sons Gamal and Alaa, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour, Shura Council Speaker Safwat el-Sherif, Interior Minister Habib el-Adly, Trade Minister Rashid Rashid, Tourism Minister Zuhair Garranah and Housing Minister Ahmed el-Maghrabi.

Steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz and Hussein Salem, a major shareholder in the East Mediterranean Gas company, which allegedly sold gas to Israel at below-market price, have both been arrested on charges of squandering public funds. Ex-Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali, who has fled to London, was convicted and sentenced in absentia to 30 years in jail. He and hundreds of other fugitives are wanted by Egyptian Interpol.

Yet the pace of these investigations remains a powerful source of public anger, and Omar Suleiman - Mubarak's intelligence chief and briefly his vice president - has never been charged. Adly, viewed as a key organiser of the counter-revolutionary violence that left more than 800 people dead, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption, but his trial over killing protesters has been repeatedly postponed. Its adjournment again on Sunday sparked a small riot that may have contributed to Tuesday's violence.

Gamal and Alaa have yet to face trial, and neither has Mubarak, who like Adly faces the death penalty for charges of orchestrating the killing of protesters. Tantawi isn't likely to smile on such harsh justice for Mubarak - a military man himself and Tantawi's former boss. The SCAF's third communique, issued the day of Mubarak's resignation, made a point of extending its "highest salutations and appreciation" to the ousted president. 

Dissolve Parliament and Outlaw Mubarak's National Democratic Party 

The SCAF moved quickly to fulfill the first of these demands: Two days after Mubarak stepped down, it dissolved both houses of Egypt's parliament, the People's Assembly and the Shura Council.

For nearly a month, Tantawi and his generals allowed Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's pre-resignation pick as prime minister, to remain in charge of a caretaker cabinet. But when Shafiq ran afoul of the protest movement by defending the hated State Security agency - Egypt's version of East Germany's Stasi - the SCAF removed him and appointed the better-liked former Transportation Minister Essam Sharaf to form a new cabinet.

Dissolving the National Democratic Party (NDP) took a bit longer, but the Supreme Administrative Court ordered the party disbanded in April. The SCAF arguably had little to do with that - a civil court ruled on the case, which was filed by independent lawyers - but it will have a role in deciding whether the NDP can return. So far, it has not banned former NDP politicians from running again.

Hold Free and Fair Parliamentary and Presidential Elections 

The SCAF originally planned to move Egypt to elections quickly; in their third communique, the generals suggested they might only need to rule until August. But that timeline quickly lengthened. The military organised a constitutional referendum in March and said a parliamentary vote could follow in September, but now government officials and high-profile politicians are talking of extending even that deadline as they realize how long it may take political parties to organise.

It does seem clear, however, that Tantawi and his colleagues intend to hold free and fair elections and step back from the limelight. The interim constitution - written by a SCAF-assembled committee - makes it far easier to run for president, and two new laws on political participation will fully restore judicial supervision of elections and allow a much wider array of parties to register, subject to judicial and not political approval, as before.

Curiously though, the SCAF-approved interim constitution bars anyone with multiple nationalities or a non-Egyptian spouse from running for president, which was not one of the protesters' demands, and its draft election law maintains that two-thirds of the People's Assembly be elected individually, by district, which long allowed local elites - almost always from the NDP - to maintain power.

Protect The Revolution's Demonstrators and Hold Police Accountable 

Though the military has paid effusive public homage to the revolutionary youth and those who died in the protests, it has failed almost completely in its promise to protect demonstrators and rein in the police.

"We guarantee there will be no legal pursuit of the honorables who rejected corruption and demanded reform," the SCAF claimed in its second communique, issued the day Mubarak resigned.

Yet on at least five occasions since then, the army has helped assault and arrest protesters occupying Tahrir Square, and activists believe military police have arrested up to 10,000 civilians, hundreds of whom were peaceful demonstrators. Many are then subject to ad-hoc military trials without legal representation and given suspended sentences in the hopes of preventing them from protesting again. Some have been shipped off to prison.

Photographs and eyewitness testimonies have described army troops beating protesters with cables and electrified batons, and the head of military intelligence recently confirmed to Amnesty International that soldiers conducted virginity tests on 17 female protesters in March.

Meanwhile, Egypt's Central Security riot police, who disappeared during the revolution, have returned with a vengeance to violently confront demonstrations. At best, the army attempts to separate protesters and riot police; at worst, it assists in the crackdown. Only one policeman, Mohamed Abdel Moneim, has been tried and sentenced for killing protesters during the revolution, but he remains at large.

Suspend The Constitution and Write A New One Subject To Public Approval 

On the same day the SCAF dissolved parliament, it suspended the constitution. The drafting of an interim constitution and its approval by public referendum quickly followed, but the process was marred by lack of public debate, and many activists wish the government had gone further.

The committee that wrote Egypt's interim constitution - in fact, they only wrote a small set of new amendments and left the rest suspended - was selected by the SCAF. It included a Coptic Christian judge and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there were no women, and some activists were concerned that its chairman - moderate judge and Mubarak critic Tarek el-Bishry - had Islamist associations. The military made public their final draft only three weeks before it went up for national vote, though the vote was considered orderly and transparent.

The interim constitution opened up political participation, reinvigorated the judiciary and restrained some executive power - reforms that were welcomed by protesters - but it fell short of overhauling the system, and many Egyptians, especially liberals, wanted an entirely new document written prior to elections. According to the interim constitution, a new one will be written by a 100-member committee within six months of the new parliament taking office.

Reform The Security Forces and Limit Executive Power 

Egypt's loathed State Security agency was responsible for many of the worst abuses of the Mubarak era, including rampant domestic surveillance and torture. In March, the Interior Ministry announced that the agency had been dissolved and replaced with a new National Security Force, whose mandate would not include "interfering in the lives of citizens," but activists believe the change was purely cosmetic.

Former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly and several of his top lieutenants are facing trial, and dozens of State Security officers reportedly have been arrested for destroying evidence, but the government has announced no program or reconciliation committee to deal with the agency's thousands of other employees or the distrust citizens maintain toward the ministry. Similarly, the Central Security forces have not been subject to reform. Their involvement in breaking up the Tahrir Square protests on Tuesday and Wednesday left more than 1,000 people injured.

Egypt's interim constitution does limit executive authority - it allows the president only two terms of four years each and requires at least one vice president - but it still grants the ability to call for a new constitution and declare a state of emergency, subject to parliamentary approval. There are also fears that the military may try to hold onto its own kind of executive authority: In mid-June, General Mamdouh Shahin suggested the new constitution exempt the military from budgetary oversight and grant the power to intervene in political affairs.

Improve The Average Egyptians' Economic Position 

While it's unfair to expect the SCAF to rapidly lift millions of Egyptians out of poverty, the desire to win some kind of social justice for country's millions of poor citizens was one of the basic hopes of the revolution.

In response, despite the uprising's deep blow to Egypt's revenues, the caretaker leadership has at least taken steps to avoid worsening the situation: State spending on fuel subsidies and salaries in the coming fiscal year will both rise by more than 20 per cent, a monthly minimum wage of $118 has been introduced, and the income tax rate for businesses earning more than $1.6 million has risen from 20 to 25 per cent.

But much of the country's economic policy remains unsustainable and likely won't begin to be fixed until the SCAF leaves power. Fuel and food subsidies are popular, but the entire subsidy system is three times the size of the education budget and perversely tends to help businesses more than the poor, the Economist magazine has argued.

Egypt is accepting billions in foreign donations but turned down a $3 billion package of loans from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund that could have served as a stopgap measure. The government argued that a revised budget deficit made the loans unnecessary but did not say how it would actually make the reduction; activists, meanwhile, distrusted the IMF and denounced the offer as likely doing more to hurt the poor.

The loan rejection may also have reflected the SCAF's internal logic: Analysts believe the military controls at least one-fifth of the Egyptian economy, and its wariness of foreign influence - the same wariness that seems to lie behind the nationalistic limitations on presidential candidates - may spring from a desire to maintain the status quo.

Egypt Rejects IMF Conditions

Analysis by Emad Mekay
Courtesy Of "IPS News"

CAIRO, Jun 30, 2011 (IPS) - Egypt has cancelled plans to borrow 3 billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund because of conditions that violated the country’s national sovereignty and a public outcry that warned against terms that were blamed for impoverishing many Egyptians.

According to several Egyptian newspapers, General Sameh Sadeq, member of the country’s ruling military council, said the country turned down the loans, and those under discussion with the World Bank, because there were "five conditions that totally went against the principles of national sovereignty." Gen. Sadeq didn’t detail what these conditions were.

The IMF loan would have made Egypt the first recipient of funding in the Middle East since the so-called Arab Spring movement against Western-backed dictatorships began late last year.

At a Group of Eight summit last month in Deauville, France, the IMF announced that it could make available as much as 35 billion dollars in loans to the countries of the Middle East over the next few years.

World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick in May announced 6 billion dollars in funding over the next two years for Egypt and Tunisia, the two countries where the Arab uprisings started, to help the two post-revolutionary nations modernise their economies. Egypt’s share would have been 4.5 billion dollars.

General Sadeq’s statements on Tuesday contradict statements by the government of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and his Finance Minister Samir Radwan, who both served under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, that the new loans came with no conditions. Both officials have advocated publicly for more loans to ward off the specter of a budget deficit, a staple argument in many countries for IMF and World Bank loans.

The decision was taken first on Friday by the country’s military rulers, who took over after a popular revolution ousted the Western-backed Mubarak on Feb. 11. The military have said that some conditions by the IMF and the World Bank on previous loans, that included privatisation of banks and massive food and energy subsidies cuts, fomented public anger at the Mubarak regime.

The Finance Ministry has so far reluctantly backed down from its loans decision and said in a statement on its website that the measure to reject the loans came in response to "public debate and to consultations with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces."

The ministry said it now revised its budget deficit to only 134.3 billion Egyptian pounds (22.4 billion dollars) from 170 billion Egyptian pounds forecast before agreeing on loans with the IMF.

The military’s council, which is acting as a president until a new parliament is elected in September, said there was enough financing locally and from regional countries that made borrowing from the two Washington-based institutions unnecessary.

"That deficit can now be covered from the local market and from some grants and assistance that Egypt will obtain from friendly nations and other international institutions," the Finance Ministry statement said. In recent weeks, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United States and others have promised large amounts of assistance to the country.

Moustapha Abdelsalam, a banking sector expert with Al-Alam Alyoum business daily, said that local banks can easily cover the budget deficit. The government can finance the budget deficit mainly by borrowing 120 billion Egyptian pounds (20 billion dollars) domestically.

The military’s decision comes after a public outcry, and many anti-debt activists warned that the new loans could subject Egypt to a new set of Bank and Fund conditions and outside pressure, something many here say they hoped the revolution would end.

The Council for Revolutionary Trustees (CRT), a non-governmental organisation formed after Mubarak’s ouster of Internet and democracy activists who faced up to the powerful security forces of Mubarak over 18 days of revolution, issued statements saying "outside borrowing contradicts the principles of the Egyptian Revolution that called for freedom from all sorts of local and foreign pressure."

"The Egyptian people who are about to begin a new era do not want to start their new life with a new set of loans," the CRT said. "We prefer to live in hunger than to extend a begging hand to those institutions."

The move to borrow by the Sharaf government was surprising because it has been appointed as caretaker for less than six months and is widely believed to lack enough delegation from the Egyptian people. A host of columnists rebuked the government for taking such major decision without representation from the Egyptian people.

Earlier in June, the IMF announced that Egypt has reached agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a draft 12-month 3 billion dollar financing package to support the country’s programme of economic changes.

The IMF, World Bank and other multilateral development banks announced the "Deauville Partnership for the Middle East" to offer loans to other countries in the region at the Group of Eight summit in late May.

The World Bank has pledged 4.5 billion dollars in loans to Egypt over the next two years to address budget and reserve shortfalls and to finance economic changes that strengthen its credit and investment prospects.

It is not yet clear now if Egypt’s decision might influence plans by other countries in the region to borrow. (END)

Clashes Return To Tahrir Square

The Egyptian cabinet says nine people have been arrested and face questioning by the military [Reuters]


More Than 1,000 Injured As Police Fire Tear Gas At Thousands Frustrated By Slow Pace Of Change Since Egypt's Eevolution.

Last Modified: 29 Jun 2011 20:10
Courtesy Of "Al-Jazeera"

Clashes between Egyptian security forces and more than 5,000 protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square have left more than 1,036 people injured, according to witnesses and medical officials.

Tahrir Square, the epicentre of protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's former president, was sealed off early on Wednesday as lines of security forces in riot gear strived to regain control from demonstrators.

Witnesses said the clashes started on Tuesday when police tried to clear a sit-in at the state-TV building, which included families of those killed during the country's revolution earlier this year, known as the "martyrs", according to the Daily News, an Egyptian news website.

Witnesses said police attacked the families outside the Balloon Theatre in Agouza, where a planned memorial service for them was taking place.

The interior ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that "people who claimed to be families of martyrs, tried to break into the theatre" in which the service was held.

The Egyptian cabinet on Wednesday announced on its Facebook page that nine people had been arrested and will face questioning from military prosecutors. Later in the day, the newspaper al-Masri al-Youm reported that 44 people had been taken away for questioning, with Reuters reporting that an American and Briton were among them.

Violent Clashes

Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Cairo, reported: "The original dispute happened between families of the martyrs of the revolution as they were trying to attend an event [and were denied access].

Click here to follow Al Jazeera's Egypt Live Blog

"At that point there were clashes between police and some of those family members that ultimately spilled over to other parts of the city.

"The protest gained momentum and made its way into Tahrir Square, and ultimately to the interior ministry," he said.

Rocks and shattered glass littered the streets around Tahrir, as protesters chanted: "Down with the military junta."

As protests at the ministry died down, the army replaced riot police in guarding the building.

According to the Egyptian health ministry, 1,036 people had been hurt in the clashes, with 40 members of the security forces among them.

Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has said that he ordered the police to withdraw from Tahrir Square to reduce tension.

Ahmed al-Samman, the prime minister's media advisor, told Egypt's official news agency that "extensive investigations" were underway.

"The government won't rush into judging the events or accuse anyone or any party, but will wait for results of the investigations, and will announce them in all transparency," he said.

PM Sharaf stressed that the performance of the police had been improving, though some people may not be happy with the gradual return of police and security. He "urged the youth to protect their revolution".

Our correspondent in Cairo said that police had been aggressive in pushing the crowd back.

He also added that they [police] had not withdrawn completely: "They have moved back from the centre, but they remain in the square."

'Undermined Stability'

The ruling military council issued a statement on its Facebook page early on Wednesday.

It said the Tahrir events aimed at disturbing the security and the stability of the country in an organised plan.

IN VIDEO

Hisham Safie Eldin, a former Egyptian police officer, described the police action as not 'excessive'.

"The regrettable events that have been taking place at Tahrir Square since last night and till dawn today have no justification except to undermine stability and security in Egypt according to a calculated and coordinated plan in which the blood of the revolution's martyrs is used to cause a wedge between the revolutionaries and the security apparatus in Egypt to achieve these goals.
       
"We urge the great Egyptian people and the youth who launched the revolution not to be carried dragged by such claims, work on resisting and aborting them to maintain Egypt's security and safety in such difficult circumstances."

Families of those killed during the revolution have repeatedly voiced frustration with the slow pace of the trials of the policemen and officials accused of killing and ordering the killing of their relatives during the protests. They have also called for Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), to stand down.

Our correspondent said:"The standoff between the police and the protesters has intensified given the last few months and the pace of the process towards a democratic and civilian government.

"Many Egyptians have been extremely frustrated by the wheels of justice not spinning fast enough."

"One of the consistent demands of people across Egypt is that justice for many of the former elements of the regime has been extremely slow," he said, adding that there concerns about the lack of transparency at the trials as well.

US Official Meets Tantawi

After a meeting with Field Marshall Tantawi, the head of the SCAF, on Wednesday William Burns, the US under-secretary of state for political affairs, said a "fair and thorough" inquiry into the violence must take place.

"I emphasised throughout those discussions [with Egyptian leaders] American support for open and inclusive
political process in Egypt, the importance of following through on the commitment to lift the emergency law before the elections. The importance of protecting freedom of expression and freedom of assembly," he said.

By 3:30pm local time (1:30pm GMT) on Wednesday afternoon, Mohyeldin reported that traffic was once again flowing at Tahrir Square, and things were returning to a sense of normalcy.

In the first ruling of its kind, however, a Cairo court on Wednesday ordered the interior ministry to pay 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($8,389) to Samir Abdel Mageed, a protester who had been shot in the eye by police on January 28.

View More Photos:

Mourners on Tuesday by the coffin of Mahmud Khaled, who was run over in January, he died from his injuries five months after the incident [AFP]



Protesters at Tahrir Square flee as riot police fire tear-gas [Khaled Desouki/AFP]



A protester burns debris in a street near the square [Asmaa Waguih/Reuters]


Demonstrators help a fellow protester after he was injured during clashes with police [Asmaa Waguih/Reuters]


Riot police fire tear-gas at demonstrators early on Wednesday morning [Asmaa Waguih/Reuters]


A protester wearing a riot-police helmet kicks a tear-gas canister back at officers on a street near Tahrir Square [Asmaa Waguih/Reuters]


Protesters throw stones at riot police during clashes at the square [Mohamed Hossam/AFP]


A demonstrator at Tahrir Square holds tear-gas canisters fired by police [Amel Pain/EPA]


A protester shouts for people to come and face security forces at a street leading to the square [Amel Pain/EPA]


A demonstrator takes cover during clashes with riot police near the ministry of interior [Mohamed Abd El-Ghany/Reuters]


Protesters are seen in front of smoke burning from a destroyed police booth [Mohamed Abd El-Ghany/Reuters]


A protester stands near a fire burning in a street near the ministry of interior [Mohamed Abd El-Ghany/Reuters]

Egypt's Struggle To Reinvent Itself

A demonstrator waving the Egyptian flag above a packed Tahrir Square in Cairo in April.


After The Revolution

A new state is being born in Egypt in the wake of the revolution. While the old guard is battling to preserve its influence, scores of new parties are jockeying for power, including the Muslim Brotherhood, which is resorting to shrewd tactics in a bid to cement its political clout.

By Volkhard Windfuhr in Cairo
June 27, 2011
Courtesy Of "Der Spiegel Online"

On the banks of the Nile, politicians of all kinds are vying for power in a democratic contest the likes of which Egypt hasn't witnessed in generations. The severity of their clashes shows how rapidly freedom of opinion has developed -- and how limitless that freedom now is. But the dreams of the fearless protestors who took to the streets in January are at risk of being crushed in a power struggle among Egypt's resurgent old guard.

Five months after Hosni Mubarak, who ruled the country for 30 years with a single political party and a clique of corrupt corporate leaders, stepped down at the age of 83, Egypt's population of some 80 million is mired in a political swamp . It is hard to discern the democratic reforms , the long-overdue improvement in living conditions and the more equitable social order that Egyptian protestors longed for. "It's business as usual," wrote the popular weekly newspaper Al-Fagr (The Dawn) in a resigned commentary. "The old powers are still in control."

Very few of Egypt's key government decision-makers have had to give up their posts. Only a handful of prominent officials, such as Information Minister Anas el-Fiqqi and Mubarak's previous long-standing advisor and secretary general, Safwat el-Sherif, were replaced. Their staggering corruption and blatant nepotism rendered them untenable.

The cleaning-up necessary for a credible fresh start has been sluggish, even though Egypt's political parties have gradually been putting pressure on the country's ruling military council. However, even critics concede that some progress has been made: Mubarak's sons have been detained, and the former ministers of housing and tourism have each been sentenced to five years in prison. The government has also asked Interpol to help track down former officials who fled Egypt -- another step forward. But attempts to cover up past transgressions, and the continued delays in prosecuting Mubarak -- who is permitted to order his personal hairdresser to come from Cairo to his residence in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh -- betray the reluctance of the military council and the justice system to deal with the legacy of the old regime.

Egypt May Soon Have More Than 45 Political Parties

Security also leaves much to be desired. Crime is rife due to a lack of police operations. Unknown gangs have meticulously dismantled and stolen some 300 kilometers of train track along an important route across the Suez Canal towards Palestine and Israel.

For weeks, the political landscape 

has been in a state of surprisingly spirited transformation. The country may soon have more than 45 political parties, if all of the announcements are brought to fruition. The approval process is simple. The military council only bars political parties that are based on religon. Religious parties are forbidden.

That rule is no longer being enforced to the letter. But the leader of the Coptic Church, Shenouda III, forbade his 10 million followers from establishing Christian parties. And even the Arabian Peninsula's wealthiest resident, billionaire Egyptian business leader Naguib Sawiris, has adhered to that requirement and limited his political activity to providing financial and staff support to liberal parties. His In-TVhas become the most popular non-partisan television channel. He doesn't transmit pro-Christian propaganda.

The heavily traditional Wafd Party, which has for decades embodied modern secular values, also abstains from any religious symbolism -- with the exception of the crescent and cross which form the party's emblem. To emphasize its openness to all denominations, Wafd established a scarcely credible alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful Islamist movement. But powerful Wafd party members such as executive committee member Mohammed Sarhan quickly rebelled against the alliance, and the anti-Islamist party youth arm plans to establish a "completely liberal" Neo-Wafd Party in a few days.

How Egypt's New Politicians Are Jockeying For Power

Many of the new liberal parties have formed electoral alliances, and some of them even share members. The goal is a new democratic state with a civil social structure protected by the constitution. That is how Egypt plans to circumvent the term "Laicism" that representatives of political Islam have decried as an "attack on God and Islam."

The Freedom and Justice Party of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which has, since its foundation in 1928, never held government power, runs a propaganda network unlike that possessed by any other political group. Internet, Facebook and YouTube experts are working to sell the Brotherhood as a normal democratic power with an Islamic ideology.

The Brotherhood's leader, Mohammed Badie, has set the ambitious goal of seizing 50 percent of parliamentary seats. He wants to institute Sharia law, the Islamic code of justice that has been seen as the "first source of jurisprudence" since the era of former President Anwar al-Sadat. In order to gain acceptance socially and in the international political sphere, the Muslim Brotherhood, among whose stated goals include that of establishing a caliphate, says it agrees with the principles of civil government. But the flaw can be found in the details. Prominent spokesmen and members of the Muslim Brotherhood's leadership, like Professor Salih, reveal in talk shows how far their supposed concession to a multi-faith society really goes: "Even the state of the Prophet Mohammed was based on a civil society," said the normally eloquent Salih.

The Brotherhood has opposed suggestions that the parliamentary elections currently planned for September be postponed. This could, and would, help the new liberal parties, especially the politically-inexperienced revolutionary youth, by giving them more time to cultivate their image -- to the detriment of political Islam.

The pious are fighting for their future and they have no qualms about the tactics they deem necessary to win. The Brotherhood offered Christian lawyer Rafiq Habib the post of the party's deputy president. He accepted. Many in the Christian community criticized the move as an act of treason.

The presidential candidates are still far from achieving political breakthroughs.

• The ranking compiled by neutral Egyptian media is topped by Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister who was Secretary-General of the Arab League until last week. Many Egyptians, both Muslims and Christians, are pinning their hopes on him. They were impressed by his open support for the revolutionaries from the very beginning, his political distance to President Mubarak who had removed him as foreign minister because of his growing popularity, and his criticism of the US policy on the Middle East.
• At the bottom of the list is Ayman Nour, the founder of the small, liberal, chameleon-like El Ghad party (Ghad means Tomorrow). Washington had long described him as the most promising candidate. But even the army's poll of presidential hopefuls published this week gave him just 1 percent.
• Mohamed ElBaradei remains an important candidate. He campaigned for democratic change, which gained him support especially in the West. He is working with political think-tanks on drafting proposals for a new democratic constitution. But others had already done so before him, such as members of the Wafd Party and various youth forums following the start of the revolution. The first brave Egyptian to call for democracy and freedom of opinion was the Catholic founder of the mass movement Kefaya, George Ishak.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood is making headway in its campaign in the villages and city slums where imams are trying to persuade the faithful that everyone who denies the party of the Muslim Brotherhood his vote is betraying Islam.

Liberal Parties Taking Action Too

But the liberal parties are now engaging in similar agitation and aren't doing badly, even though they joined the fray fairly late. The liberal parties want to exercise control over the Brotherhood, which poses dangers to them. They have entered into an electoral alliance with the Brotherhood in which all participants must commit to refraining from religious election propaganda, discrimination based on gender and membership of a social group is forbidden and all political principles that apply in the democratic West must be adhered to. "We pay very close attention to that," Kefaya leader Ishak told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Anyone who doesn't stick to these rules isn't our partner anymore."

This Tuesday several revolutionary youth organizations will announce the formation of a "Party of Revolutionary Change." The popular 24-year-old politician Mu'adh says: "We will set sail with our feluccas (traditional Nile sailing boats) under the right wind. New million-strong protests on Tahrir are possible."

If the army sticks to the timetable, there will be a democratic Egypt in less than one year, even if parliamentary elections are delayed for several months. The question of whether there should be a new constitution before the parliament and president are elected isn't as crucial as critics claim. The basic elements of the new constitution have already been set since March: free elections, a presidential term limited to five years, the removal of religion from all party propaganda, equal status for all citizens, and the construction of a free civil society.

May Allah provide a strong wind to the triangular sails of those feluccas.

Post-Mubarak Egypt Inches Toward Iran

By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani,
June 28, 2011
Courtesy Of "Anti-War"

CAIRO — Based on several recent statements by Egyptian and Iranian officials, Cairo and Tehran appear closer than ever to restoring diplomatic ties following a 31-year hiatus.

“The Egyptian foreign minister and the Islamic Republic of Iran have announced their readiness to expand diplomatic relations between the two countries,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on June 18.

Under the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, Egypt — long considered a “strategic partner” by Washington — had rebuffed repeated Iranian overtures, often expressing downright hostility toward the Islamic republic. Under the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), however, which has managed the nation’s affairs since Mubarak’s February departure, Cairo’s attitude toward Iran appears to have undergone a sea change.

“In Mubarak’s time, Egypt slavishly complied with U.S./Israeli policy in the region, a major component of which is the isolation of Iran,” Wahid Abdelmagid, political analyst at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told IPS. “But since the revolution, Egypt’s official position vis-à-vis Iran has reversed course.”

The first sign of the apparent policy realignment came less than a week after Mubarak’s ouster, when the SCAF granted permission to two Iranian warships — for the first time in more than three decades —  to pass through Egypt’s Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea. At the time, Israeli officials described the move as “a provocation.”

Then, in early April, Nabil al-Arabi, Egypt’s first post-revolutionary foreign minister, declared that Cairo was ready to “turn a new page” with Iran. “The Egyptian and Iranian people,” he said, “deserve to have mutual relations reflecting their history and civilization.”

On May 25, al-Arabi met with Iran’s Salehi on the sidelines of a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Bali, Indonesia, where the two men reportedly discussed the prospect of reactivated bilateral relations. Less than a week later, a 50-strong Egyptian delegation — made up of revolutionary activists, clergymen, and cultural figures — visited Tehran, where they, too, discussed with Iranian counterparts the possible resumption of ties.

“Since the revolution, there has been a marked increase in activity, both on the official and popular levels, between the two countries,” Ibrahim Mansour, an Egyptian political analyst, told IPS.

Iran, for its part, which had unequivocally supported Egypt’s Jan. 25 Revolution, has welcomed the new, friendlier climate. Salehi, describing the Egyptian delegation’s visit as “a step toward preparing the ground for improved relations,” said Iran was ready to resume relations with Egypt “as soon as possible.”

Iran severed diplomatic ties with Cairo in 1979 in the wake of Iran’s Islamic revolution, after former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed the Camp David peace agreement with Israel. Cairo further alienated the nascent Islamic Republic later the same year by granting political asylum to deposed shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Relations remained hostile through much of the 1980s, when Egypt supported Saddam Hussein’s Iraq against revolutionary Iran in the two countries’ eight-year-long war of attrition. Today, Cairo remains the only Arab capital not to have formal relations with Tehran.

Over the last decade, Iran has frequently expressed its desire to restore ties with Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country. “If the Egyptian government was willing, we would open an embassy in Cairo the same day,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in mid-2007.

But the Mubarak regime — taking its cue from Washington and Tel Aviv — repeatedly rebuffed such overtures, choosing instead to paint Iran as a “threat” to regional security. Egypt also cited Tehran’s Khaled Islambouli Street, named after one of Sadat’s alleged assassins, as an excuse to hold off on a formal rapprochement.

“Iran repeatedly signaled its desire to restore ties, but the Mubarak regime manufactured reasons to keep relations frozen,” said Mansour. “But all these excuses — including the street name — have now fallen by the wayside, along with the former regime.

“Now the only ones voicing objections to the notion of restored Egypt-Iran ties are the U.S. and Israel,” he added.

Politics aside, Mansour believes restored relations with Iran would prove beneficial for Egypt’s ailing economy. Along with activating bilateral trade, he said, such a move could give Egypt’s tourism sector —  which before the revolution had been a foreign-currency mainstay — a badly-needed shot in the arm.

“If relations were fully restored, a million Iranians would come every year,” he said, pointing to Egypt’s many religious shrines sacred to Shi’ite Muslims. “This would give a huge boost to Egypt’s tourism industry, which has suffered badly in the wake of the revolution.”

Prospects for rapprochement, however, suffered a possible setback in mid-May, when al-Arabi was elected secretary-general of the Arab League in the place of outgoing league chief Amr Moussa. Last week, the ruling SCAF appointed veteran diplomat Mohamed al-Orabi to take al-Arabi’s place at the foreign ministry.

According to Mansour, al-Arabi’s sudden transfer to the Arab League came as “a big disappointment” to those who had been heartened by his promised foreign-policy changes.

“Al-Arabi’s initial statements had prompted a good deal of optimism on the part of the public about anticipated changes in Egyptian policy and the restoration of Egypt’s leading role in the region,” he said. “But these hopes were dashed when he was abruptly kicked upstairs to the Arab League.”

“The move will certainly affect the current drive to restore relations with Iran,” said Mansour. “But we won’t know exactly how until we understand the new minister’s policy orientations.”

Abdelmagid, for his part, said that dialogue with Iran would likely continue during Egypt’s current transitional phase. “But I doubt we’ll see a formal restoration of ties until after Egypt holds presidential and parliamentary elections,” he said.

Parliamentary elections are slated for September, according to the timetable laid down by the ruling SCAF. Presidential elections are expected to be held four months later at most.

(Inter Press Service)

Read More By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani

• Egyptian Military Under Mubarak’s Shadow – February 18th, 2011
• People Power Pushes Mubarak Out – February 11th, 2011
• Egypt’s Fate Lies in a Square – February 4th, 2011
• Egypt Punishes Gaza More – July 26th, 2010

• ‘Mediterranean Intifada’ Helping Hamas – July 9th, 2010