Activists who guided the revolt are expressing impatience with the military command, writes MICHAEL JANSEN
EGYPTIANS ARE positive about their political future but are concerned about the country’s economic prospects, a poll released yesterday finds.
An overwhelming 83 per cent supported the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak and produced a sea change in popular attitudes toward political potential. Nine out of 10 plan on voting in coming elections, as compared with 5-10 per cent who cast ballots in last November’s fraudulent parliamentary election.
The poll, by Gallup’s centre in Abu Dhabi, reveals the Muslim Brotherhood could garner the support of 15 per cent and the former ruling National Democratic Party, 10 per cent. Sixty per cent of respondents are undecided.
Egyptians are demonstrating political sophistication: in a new constitution, 92 per cent say they want freedom of speech, 67 per cent freedom of religion, and 55 per cent freedom of assembly.
Most hold the view that religion is important in their society and 69 per cent favour an advisory role for religious leaders. Few, however, want a theocratic form of government.
While the poll results were positive for the populace, activists who launched and guided the uprising are expressing increasing impatience with the military command that assumed presidential powers upon Mubarak’s resignation.
Of primary concern is the continued detention of 7,000 people arrested during and after the uprising, the torture of detainees and military trials for protesters, while former regime figures accused of corruption, abuse of power and murder appear before civilian courts.
Activists and rights advocates were particularly incensed by virginity tests, beatings and electric shocks inflicted on 18 young women arrested on March 9th by troops dismantling a protest encampment in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square.
Although abuses have been documented by Amnesty, the country’s media have been accused of keeping silent about torture by the military during and after the uprising. Journalists and bloggers who reported these abuses were questioned by military prosecutors. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton declared: “We’re disturbed by the reports of efforts to crack down on journalists and bloggers . . . which we don’t think is in keeping with the direction the Egyptian people were heading when they started out in Tahrir Square.”
In an attempt to head off criticism, the military invited groups involved in the uprising to send representatives to a “dialogue” betweens generals and activists. Although each group was asked for 10 representatives, 35 key groups boycotted the two-hour event, while the Muslim Brotherhood and other religious groups accused of backing the military sent many more. Among the absentees were the April 6th movement and the Revolution Youth Coalition, and the chief Coptic Christian protest organisation.
Instead of engaging in dialogue at the event, three generals preached on the history of the armed forces. Gen Muhammad el-Assar argued the military council was trying to meet both the political and economic needs of Egyptians but warned against the negative influence of media, which he said were trying to defame the military. “You need to be aware that some people are trying to make us look bad and that is really dangerous,” he said.
Frustrated at the paternalistic approach of the military and the caretaker government, the We are the Nation movement has filed a complaint with the public prosecutor against prime minister Essam Sharaf and senior cabinet members for wasting public funds on “completely useless” attempts at dialogue.
Egyptian activists are also disturbed by the closure of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza by Hamas in protest against restrictions imposed almost as soon as it opened to a promised free flow of Palestinian women and children, and men aged over 40. In the first three days after the new regime was put in place 600-700 people managed to cross, but on the fourth only 150 were permitted to depart.
Cairo said the number would be limited to 400 a day, 100 more than under the Mubarak regime, names would have to be submitted 24 hours in advance, and 5,000 people on a blacklist would remain trapped.
Palestinians leaving Gaza for medical treatment have to be vetted by Egyptian doctors. Palestinians accuse Cairo of capitulating to Israeli and US pressure.