Egypt: Is this a turning point?

By Claude Moraes MEP

Thousands of protestors in Egypt have found the courage to take to the streets, a legitimate demand for political reform that has inspired worldwide declarations of support and encouragement.

Egypt is a key regional player in the Middle East. This is what makes the protests, so inconceivable a few short weeks ago, now so important. No doubt the various media are correct when they say this sea change from order to disorder has, in part, come about due to inspiring recent events in Tunisia – the ‘Jasmine Revolution’ which resulted in the overthrow of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. But there are wider, deeper reasons for these protests occurring now, and wider connotations outside the immediate region.

First is the long history of oppression in Egypt, where a corrupt autocracy has been in place for 30 years. I’ve seen first hand how the issue of human rights in Egypt has been on the European agenda for many years, and nevertheless not improved rapidly enough in all the ways that we would like. The European Union promotes the protection of human rights and freedoms in Egypt, but clear tensions and inadequacies have remained, meaning we have now reached “institutional capacity” in terms of keeping a lid on these protests.

It cannot be a surprise to anyone in Europe that this has resulted in Egyptian government denying citizens access to internet for several days, as well as impairing the mobile phone network in an attempt to hinder protestors. In taking these repressive actions, the Egyptian government has demonstrated a minimal regard for civil liberties, something typical of non-democratic regimes.

But this leads to our second, perhaps more important point: what the protests in Egypt and Tunisia might mean globally. This is especially true for the dividing line between states that are democracies, and states that are not.

On the one hand, it may be that the Egyptian protests suffer the fate of previous protests – for example, those brave individuals and groups who were nonetheless oppressed in the famous 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square. But it may be that another path unfolds, and that these protests become a warning to, and then a forest fire within, countries where human rights are disregarded.

Consider a recent Wall Street Journal report that points out how in China, national authorities are scrabbling to censor or spin reports of Egypt’s protests with the same gusto ordinarily reserved for domestic matters, for example Tibet or the Falun Gong. This is not simply because it suits the Chinese government to control information about the power of protest in general. Instead, it points to how non-democratic regimes understand they cannot always count on the pay off between rapid growth or development and growing political frustration, especially in anaemic economic times.

Egypt, with inflation at 10% and youth unemployment at 25%, is a clear example of this potential.

I believe the Egyptian protestors must be supported, and their peaceful methods promoted, not just because they are exercising their universal human rights, but because of what is at stake in Egypt, the region and the world. This is the potential for new domestic pressures to emerge on undemocratic governments, pressures that could rapidly change globalisation in new and important directions.

We should of course always be mindful of the growing number of casualties reported from the Egyptian protests. The struggle for democracy and fundamental human rights should not be accompanied by violence on either side and we should be very wary of supporting any unfolding situation that could damage or cost innocents lives.

But people willing to risk so much as they continue to defy curfews in Egypt must be something that points to deeply felt and legitimate grievances. And reports of large-scale protests in Algeria, Jordan, Morocco and Yemen must point to a growing trend.

The EU is the leading global force in the fight to uphold civil liberties and human rights worldwide and so ideally placed to support the current Egyptian calls for democracy. Regardless of how soon President Mubarak may resign, simply by pledging to stand down at the next election, some 7 months away, he has demonstrated the potential for a sea change to take place.

This change could be as simple and as bold as a total reconfiguration of the relationship between leaders and led in countries without democracy. And it could be on the same scale and global import as the slow, decades long unravelling of the former Soviet Union that we can now, with hindsight, understand.

However successful, and whatever the long term outcomes driven by these protests, by simply continuing to occupy the streets of Egypt’s major cities, protestors have made clear what they think of Mubarak’s regime. And they have also given the wider world pause to think.