democrazy

So, tomorrow is supposed to be the second last day of term, but school has been cancelled because of the Egyptian election and the security risks attached to running a school full of international kids. In addition, the staff at the school have advised us strongly to stay inside all day long, and to absolutely avoid the downtown area of Cairo - they say hovering anywhere near the (hopefully) massive demonstrations which will be taking place is too risky, especially for the girls.

This is Egypt's first 'democratic' election, meaning that it will be the first ever election in which multiple candidates have been allowed. The president, I'm sure most of you are aware, is and has been for the past 24 years, Hosni Mubarek, who took over after the assasination of Sadat shortly after he secured a peace deal with Israel. By governing for a quarter of a century under 'emergency law', Mubarek has managed to maintain a degree of political stability in the country, and has both cracked down heavily on religious fundamentalism and retained a level of acceptance of and from Egypt's various neighbours. All this has come at the cost, however, of both the economic interests of Egypt and the basic human rights of its people. The people of Egypt have been crippled by the corruption, violence, control and poor management of Mubarek's regime, and have never before now had any opportunity to allow for change.


For this reason, this election is a symbol of the slow advancement forward. Media control and police coercion have undoubtably decreased in the past year, and this along with the very fact that Mubarek is allowing himself to have to work to keep his job for the first time, is a promising sign. However things are not so rosy as all that... In the last few months, the Kifaya (Enough) group have held a number of peaceful demonstrations across Egypt which have ended in police violence, including a large protest on July 30th in Cairo which resulted in a swarm of plain clothes policemen, wielding trunchons, attacking the crowd and making scores of arrests. Certain candidates, both religious and non-religious, who pose a serious democratic threat to Mubarek have been banned from running in the poll. The remaining opposition, despite such policies as introducing an effective democratic parliament, a less powerful president and total media freedom, are seen by Egyptians as ranging from too weak to totally inept. Despite pressure from both inside and outside the country, international monitors have been completely banned, while a number of local organisations and 500 judges (the ones who insisted on free and fair monitoring) have been disallowed from the process, leaving the remaining local observers unable to cover even a fraction of the polling stations (the locations of which, by the way, have not yet even been announced, due to the threat of terrorism)...

So, basically, its Mubarek's game. Campaign posters of the other candidates are scattered here and there, but Mubarek's solid face is everywhere. Every candidate has a symbol associated with his campaign, to allow illiterate voters from recognising who is who - when one candidate (who was the first to nominate himself) choose the extremely popular Islamic crescent moon as his symbol, Mubarek complained and took the symbol for himself. There is absolutely no way he can not win - in the unlikely event that the elections actually are totally fraud-free, the Egyptian people themselves feel powerless to change a thing, and many will not even turn up to vote at all, or if they do, vote for Mubarek (a) because there's no point in doing anything else or (b) because they believe that he is the strongest and most experienced candidate, despite his many flaws. The election is a symbol of hope for democracy and improved civil rights in Egypt, but more that this it is a simple show for the western world that Mubarek is trying, that at least he's making some, minimum, effort for change.


I really don't know what tomorrow is going to be like - already a theatre which was rumoured to be a polling station has been bombed, and local media is predicting violence across the country, both from the Islamic brotherhood, and from the police force. My housemates are paying a small fortune to isolate themselves in the swimming pool and gym of an expensive hotel for the day, but as for me... I cannot be here in Cairo and not go and see what is happening. I cannot sit inside my apartment and just listen to the streets.

Lets hope the day is totally peaceful.

Insh'allah.